By election to vote for a new MP for Bukit Batok?

Does anyone know what they are voting for in the by election? Sure, we are voting for a MP. What is a MP? A MP is a member of Parliament. Is it? I thought they are voting for an estate manager.

Ya hor, they all talk about improving the estate. Some want to do this, some want to do that. Do they know that they are supposed to be member of the Parliament? Or should they change the election to By Election for an EM? What is an EM? You did not  misspelt it for EP right? What EM? Estate Manager lah.

Ya ya, they better vote for estate manager. No need to attend Parliament sitting, got more important things to do than to attend Parliament. What for attend Parliament, talk, talk, talk and ask question only? Voting decided by the Whip, so no need to think, to agree or not to agree, understand or not understand the bills never mind, just vote when told to vote lah. No need to know what the bill is all about also. Absent from Parliament how to know? But when people ask, cannot say like that. Must you know what you are voting and you agree with the bills not because told to vote against your will, values, principles, or lagi best, dunno what the bill is all about.

What is more important in an election for an EM, oops I mean MP? To be representative of the people, to speak for the people, to make sure changes in govt policies, in laws, should benefit the people. But how to make sure when you can only vote what the party tells you to vote?  Or when you don’t even have time to attend Parliament? KNN getting $16,000 plus plus to be MP but got no time to attend Parliament. How can like that one?  Everything part time, attending Parliament also part time.

Ya hor, no wonder no need to attend Parliament. Like that all election should be called election for an estate manager. No need to waste time to attend Parliament. No need to call them MPs or Members of Parliament. No need to pay them MP allowance of $16,000, got bonuses some more, for not attending Parliament. Just pay them market rate for an estate manager enough leow.

What do you think? You know what is an MP or not? Yes, yes, an MP is an estate manager. Tiok, pass.

Vivian wants Japan to sustain its role in SE Asia

Vivian is in Japan and encouraging the Japanese ‘to sustain its role in SE Asia’, to be more involved as a part of South East Asia or Asia as ‘Japan is also integral to the stability and prosperity of Asia’. History students and the senior citizens of Singapore and Asia would have a very different view of what Japan meant to the stability and prosperity of Asia. Vivian better don’t ask them for a view on what he said in Japan.

Japan was very active and destructive during the Second World War, to include South East Asia as part of their grand plan for a East Asia Co prosperity Sphere, ie the Japanese Imperialist Empire. And in their implementation of this plan for co prosperity of East Asia, it was not about stability but conquest. The plan was the invasion of Asia and South East Asia that led to great pains and sufferings and millions of death to Asians and South East Asians. The countries in the region were invaded and colonized and looted, their people raped and killed en mass.

When talking about stability and prosperity in Asia with the Japanese, one must not talk blindly, in a vacuum, unthinking and without reflecting on the meanings of such terms in the minds of the Japanese and to those who had suffered under Japanese brutality.  For children born after the war, and if they did not read history or their parents did not tell them what happened then, they may think that Japanese are all wearing suits and ties and very nice people. They have different plans for the Asians and South East Asians, and stability and prosperity in Asia meant different things to them. And inviting the Japanese to sustain their roles in SE Asia, without qualifications, without understanding history, is a dangerous and uncalled for remarks.

Japan should be invited to play an active role in the prosperity of Asia from the economic point of view ONLY, and not security and definitely not a military one. People who don’t learn from history are likely to ignore history and repeat history and suffer the same consequences of their forbears.

Japan was not an angel like they want to present themselves today. Japan’s role in South East Asia in the past was that of an invader, an occupier, colonialist, imperialist, and barbaric, killing and looting Asia and SE Asia. No one in his right mind would want to invite Japan to play the same barbaric role as invaders and conquerors of Asian and SE Asian countries all over again.

The militarization of Japan and the tearing away of the Pacifist Constitutions should be taken heed, that Japan is reverting to its military past and wanting to go to war again. The Japanese ambition as a military power at the expense of Asia and South East Asia must not be simply forgotten and taken lightly. Invite the Japanese to grow and prosper with Asia and South East Asia, but the Japanese must be reminded that their military ways would not be welcomed unless these countries would not mind being invaded once again. Do SE Asians want to suffer the same fate as their forefathers under Japanese rule?

Singapore would not want to be ‘Syonan to’ once again. Singaporeans would not want to sing the Japanese national anthem once again. Singaporeans would not want to be butchered and beheaded and shot at point blank by Japanese soldiers and buried in Tanah Merah or Blakang Mati Beaches. The Singaporeans killed were literary digging their own graves, forced by the Japanese soldiers.

Singapore must really teach history all over again to make the young Singaporeans smarter and wiser, especially to those born after the war. Many did not know what they are talking about.

SDP unprepared for By Election

Tharman has taken the first shot at the SDP that they were unprepared for the by election. That must be the truest of all the statements made so far. How could SDP know that there will be a by election coming so soon after the GE and be prepared for it? I don’t think anyone in the SDP could foresee that something like this would happen and be prepared for a by election. Only those who knew what is coming could be prepared for it.

Is the PAP prepared for this by election, knew that it is coming? Who knows better, but PAP is surely more prepared than the SDP or Tharman would not be using this as a strong point to use against the SDP.  SDP is unprepared, heheh, we are.  PAP is prepared and ready for the by election with its new programme launched by Murali. Is the new programme similar to the programme David Ong promised the residents of Bukit Batok? Some numbers were quoted, that David Ong’s programme was very comprehensive and amounting to $24m while Murali was talking about $1.9m. Please enlighten me on this.  Oh, before I forget, let me use the often uttered phrase by the rich people. What is $1.9m? This is even less than one year’s salary of a minister.  Maybe Murali was talking about a small portion of the programme or the $24m was the whole programme that includes other constituencies. SDP must be forgiven for being in the dark about this whole affair as they were not a party to it. Sure, they don’t know.

A word of advice to all the opposition parties, please be prepared for more by elections and not be caught with their pants down and got to make last minute plans and programme changes. The PAP is always prepared for all contingencies like surprise by elections. This is something that the opposition parties can learn from.

Ok, SDP, please admit that you did not see it coming and therefore not prepared for it, unless they knew what was happening in Bukit Batok’s grassroot affairs.

Stupidity has no cure

Good news for remisiers and investors. The SGX has signed an agreement to bring in more red chips to improve the vibrancy of the stock market with more new and promising stocks from China. With the experience we had with CLOB shares and the first generation of red chips, SGX must have learnt a lot of good practices to introduce into the system before bringing in more red chips into the market. I am very sure they knew the risks involved and have done their homework to make sure history does not repeat itself and Singaporean investors would not be robbed once again. I am very sure many safeguards have been put in place by now. No? Doing the same thing all over again?

Let me try to recall what happened. My memories are fading fast, maybe getting dementia soon, how many red chips were IPOed here and how many left, yes left got two meanings, left the market, delisted or simply disappeared, or left in the market that you need to scratch with a changkol to find them? And how many are left with prices that are more than 10c, how many are left with prices that are 1c or less than 1c like 0.1c or 0.2c?

Don’t get me wrong for bringing up such memories. I know some are making good money by trading in these micro value stocks that can double in value by moving just one bit like from 0.1c to 0.2c. From a $1m investment it can become $2m if the stock moves by 0.1c. This is very, very attractive, better than buying Merrill Lynch, City Bank, Goldman Sach or SBC.  If more stocks in SGX are 0.1c, there will be more opportunities to double your money.

Another point, when new IPO red chips are brought in, there is likely to be a new round of euphoria and with more suckers coming in to chase up the prices. My advice, oops, cannot advise, just my wild guess, if new IPO red chips are in play, it may lead to a secondary play in the tired and retired micro chip stocks of 0.1c. When the attention is turned to these micro chip stocks, there will be good opportunities for some to double their money for sure.  This is the silver lining in brining in more red chips into the market.

And for sure, the stock market will be more vibrant with more new investors rushing in with their money to invest in the red chips, for the long, long term. Just be warned, investment in stocks is for the long term and one must be prepared to hold out for 20 or 30 years and 0.1c stocks could turn into diamonds and worth like diamonds.  Oh, let me balance my views, micro chips of 0.1c can run up to several cents, those new red chips of several cents or dollars can also run down to 0.1c. Historically this has proven to be possible. Must be the work of gravity I think.

Trade with care and make a lot of money if you can. Get your savings ready to invest in the red chips that are coming this way. Just be prepared for the long haul.

I have a suggestion, not sure if this is good or not. All the new red chips should have a prefit CE in front of their names, eg Spring Chicken should be listed as CE Spring Chicken.  CE is not meant to be abbreviation for China Equity or Cum Entitlements. It is meant to be Caveat Emptor, ie buyers beware.

Singaporean Winsemius trained to become dish washers and security guards

Does anyone bother to think how many Singaporeans out there that have enough training, education and experience to become the equivalent of Dr Winsemius to many third world developing countries? We have a very big pool of experts in many fields that would be most welcomed by developing countries to offer them advices in national development, infrastructure building, city planning, setting up govt agencies, setting up industrial parks and businesses. These experts were directly involved in the building of a world class city, not the so called experts from third world countries that ran rundown third world cities and infrastructures and continue to run them like slums and shabby towns and being called experts and invited to run first world cities.

At the next level, many of these senior managers, CEOs, engineers etc, could become resource people to developing countries, to UN agencies, where they could contribute productively to these countries and their people. What is happening is that many of these experts and their expertise are not recognized or treasured, and instead they are being herded like no brainer sheep to be retrained to be cashiers, sales workers, taxi drivers and of course security guards.

Many of our oldies are real treasures like the Chinese saying, 家有一老，家有一宝. It is so sad that these treasures are wasted by the fools who could not see any use in them. A friend said many of the pioneer generation seniors are already trained by the military and the police during their NS days and reservist obligations. In times like this, when more manpower is needed to keep a look out and prepare for terrorist threats, who would be better and more cost effective and dependable, safer to trust than the pioneer generations to take on these roles?

It would need some organization, some retraining, reskilling and mindset, to organize the pioneer generations to guard our country and homes, to protect our own people, our families instead of depending on queer foreigners whose backgrounds are unknown and pose greater risk than security to our country and people?  The naivety of Singaporeans to be so trusting of foreigners is a danger to the security of our country.  When redeploying the seniors, do not expect the seniors to work for free but they would not be demanding millions to serve the country, to protect the country.

It is time to put on the thinking hat and make use of the pioneer generations productively and in a meaning and useful way for the good of the country. Dad’s Army may be a comedy, but our pioneers, those that are still clear in thinking and physically able, could be a force to be reckoned with, given the financial and organizational support instead of being wasted away. Some can be Winsemius, some can be the guardians of our country, the country they built and will die for.

The amount of money wasted in the SkillsFuture Scheme can be more targeted and be made to be more useful and meaningful if more thoughts are put into it.