Trump, the chosen One

I viewed a couple of video clips in the net on the coming of Donald Trump. One pastor from Australia spoke about evidence in the Bible prophesising the coming of Trump as the last President of the USA before end time. In his delivery he quoted a few chapters and versus and how The Donald, what Trump is popularly known, is stated in the Bible and the meaning was the one who would ruled in triumph.

Another American believer was more explicit, that God spoke to him several times and revealed to him that Trump is the chosen One. He said God has created Trump, made him rich and not beholden to anyone so that he could do God’s work by ridding America of the evil regime that has been running American to commit hideous crimes all over the world.  Trump is his own man, chosen and groomed by God. Actually he revealed that Trump was supposed to be the President in 2012, but the Americans were not ready for him.

Trump, in a way like Jesus, has been condemned by the American elite and power brokers. Trump has been called all kind of names, sexist, arrogant, racist, and so many other things. But he added, every time they attacked Trump, he grew stronger. Some of his attackers met with accidents or mishaps for attacking Trump. He quoted the female anchor of Fox News and Mario, another presidential hopeful that either lost their jobs or struck with disasters. His message, God is protecting Trump all the way to the White House. Trump would win a landslide victory against Hillary who would be indicted just before the Presidential election.

This guy was convincing and very serious. Trump is the One to save America from the sins and crimes of the establishment. Trump would appoint 5 new judges to replaced the corrupt judiciary, get rid of the corrupt and sinful regime. Trump would make the USA the most powerful nation once again.  Trump would be the most powerful American President ever.

Funny, I got this feeling that God is white or an American, and only care about the Americans. And all the riches robbed by the enemies of America would be returned. He did not clarify if the enemies were foreign powers or the bankers and the corrupt regime.

If the prophecy is true, there will be a new World Order under Trump and all goodness for the Americans. And all the evil men and women in the American establishment, in the White House, in the Pentagon and in Congress would all be put behind bars for crimes against humanity.

Elected President – Protecting the minorities

So the Constitution Commission is set up to protect minority interests, so that minorities are represented or elected to the Presidency. Everyone is taking this minority interest at face value, that the minorities mean the Malays, Indians and the Others. I have earlier wrote about the definition of the minorities and how the great influx of foreigners here has actually changed the social fabric of our country and several third world people are now forming significant numbers as minorities here and would definitely want to be included into this minority or racial game. Why not when the door is open for all the minorities to stake a claim to the Presidency?

I am quite sure our Constitution does not define who or which racial group will be regarded as minorities and thus entitled to be appointed for the Elected Presidency on a merry go round or roulette wheel system of preference. Perhaps the Commission would also have to toy with the idea of amending the Constitution to define which racial groups would now be officially, legally and constitutionally given this special right to the pot of gold. Did I just say Special Right? Would Singapore, a democratic country based on justice and equality regardless of race language or religion, be sanctioning a Special Right to the minorities based on RACE?

By doing so, is Singapore starting to play the race game? I really hope not and no race is Special to have their rights protected by an amendment in the Constitution. I dread the day when the minority definition would include the Pinoys, Myanmese, Indonesians, Bangladeshis, maybe Vietnamese or what not and be protected by the Constitution saying that they will have their turn to be the President of Singapore.

What is the real definition of the word minority? So far everyone is presuming, assuming that it is all about race and all about Malays, Indians and Others.  But they are many kinds of minorities in the island. There are the religious minorities, the social minorities, the gender minorities, the cultural minorities and also the economic minorities. And there is also the elites that would form another economic minorities as the super rich, the natural aristocrats are a minority too.

Let me try to imagine protecting or ensuring that the minority of natural aristocrats, the super rich and powerful, are also a minority group to be protected by the Constitution so that they can be the preferred choice for the Elected Presidency. Does it make sense? Can this be a possibility? Protecting a small group, a minority, the super rich elite to be the Elected President?

I don’t think anyone would dare to have such a thought or make such a suggestion. Got or not? But what is de jure may not be possible does not mean that what is de facto without being de jure cannot be a reality. Would we end up with a system, written into the Constitution whereby an economic minority, the super rich or super powerful, or super talented, or natural aristocrats be protected and have a Special Right to be the Elected President? Would we end up with a situation where some people are more equal than others and provided and protected by the Constitution?

What do you think?

Good news, no fleeing of capital and foreign investors!

When news of Heng Swee Kiat’s collapse in a cabinet meeting hit the streets, there must be fear of a fleeing of foreign capital from the island. This rumour or line of thought has been speculated for several decades to frighten the Singaporeans, that stability of a one party, one man govt is the key to Singapore’s success. Now that the one man is no longer around, it is the composition of the one party that matters. And the composition of the one party actually is about a few men countable by the fingers in one hand. And Heng Swee Kiat is one of the fingers, touted as the future PM.

Heng Swee Kiat’s collapse may send fears to some that it is a sign that Singapore may be collapsing or the future is collapsing. So foreigners, those from the first world, would be packing their bags and businesses and running away. There is no fear from those of the third world as Singapore is still too good for them than their third world homeland. They die die will stay.

Nothing happens. No one is running away. Let me offer two possible reasons. The foreigners and their investments did not see anything fearsome to want to run away. Two, there are very few from the first world. Most of the foreign investors and investments are from the third world, where else to run to?

Oh, a third point, Singapore is now quite stable. It is no longer dependable on one man or one party to continue to grow and prosper. The country is stable enough to withstand the loss of the one man or the one party and its constituent key members.

This is the good news. Singapore will not be shaken just because of the loss of one man or one party. Singapore will not be turned into a third world country just because one opposition candidate gets elected into Parliament. No foreign investor will panic just because Chee Soon Juan would to get into Parliament.

Singapore is safe. The govt has done a good job to ensure that the country will continue to prosper with or without one man or one party.  Thank you very much. This is like a corporation not depending on an indispensable CEO and would collapse if the CEO is dead. I think my conclusion is good for Singaporeans. A country with a stable and sound system that would not be shaken and fell like a pack of cards when one man or one key minister suffered a stroke. I don’t think the situation would be different if it was not Heng Swee Kiat but someone else, like Tharman, Chee Hian or Hsien Loong.

The system will continue to run as if nothing had happened. The island would still be here. The property prices would not fall, and no one’s daughter or wife will become foreign maid. Singapore has passed its second durability test.

China’s inexplicable policies in the South China Sea

Everyone is making claims to the islands in the South China Sea. China’s 9 dash line claims it meeting overlapping claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Until the dispute is settled, the claimant countries are trying their best to enforce their claims by exerting control of the seas with their patrol boats. No clear cut answers would be appearing in the near horizon.

The biggest teething problem is not land reclamation but the presence of fishing boats in the disputed seas. Chinese fishing boats, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Thais, Malaysians and Indonesians have often been caught by the patrol boats of respective countries, some held for ransom, some blown to pieces.

Chinese fishing boats appear to be a common feature in being arrested by the claimant countries’ patrol boats, impounded or blown up. And other than some protests from the Chinese government, there seemed to be nothing that China could do to protect or demand the release of the fishing boats and the fishermen.

The fact that Chinese fishing boats and fishermen were arrested by claimant countries is an implicit sign that the fishing boats and fishermen were in the wrong, operating in other country’s territorial sea. It must be. If they are operating in Chinese or international waters they would not be arrested. If this is the case, it is simply a legal matter and rightly China cannot and should not be doing anything to protect the wrongs of its fishing boats and fishermen.

What if the fishing boats and fishermen were arrested in disputed seas claimed by China and other claimant countries. The implications, China has be default of its inaction, conceded that the fishing boats were in the claimant countries’ territorial waters. This would weaken China’s claim of the area under the 9 dash lines. The second implication is that China is a weak power, unable to protect its citizens in its own territorial waters. This point is even more damaging to China’s reputation as a sovereign and big power.

What is China’s stand or what would China do to maintain order and respectability in such cases? A straight forward position is for China to protect its fishing boats in the disputed waters and prevent them from being hauled away by claimant patrol boats. This is the least respectable thing for China to do and to uphold its claim to the sea within the 9 dash lines.

If China does not want to enforce its claims in the disputed waters, does not water to use force to protect its fishing boats, China could simply order its fishing boats to avoid the disputed waters. It would save the embarrassment of them being arrested and blown to pieces.  By allowing its fishing boats into disputed waters and be arrested is bad news, bad publicity from all points of view.

Would China take a firm and clear position on this matter to avoid being embarrassed? It is either enforce the claim or keep the fishing boats from trouble waters. The present situation of no policy and no stand is a bad policy.

The bigger question is would China take a stronger stance against the American provocation by sailing warships within the 12 nm of China’s territorial waters? Not doing anything would only encourage the crazy Americans to think China is weak. The latest report said China had scrambled fighter aircraft to intercept the ship. Is that enough or would China have to do like what Putin did in the Baltic Sea by screaming pass the ship at low level or more?

The attack on China continues

Tang Siew Mun, Head of Asean Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, continues the attack on China by calling on Asean to stick together to confront China in the South China Sea dispute or be hanged separately. I think this must be his personal view and not that of the Institute or the govt.

Let me quote what he said in his article, ‘Hang together or hang separately?’ published in the ST on 12 May.  I think as an academic his comments would not draw another strong protest from China for meddling with China’s internal affairs and not having to qualify that he is speaking in a personal capacity.

‘Asean has to take a firm stand on the SCS not because it wants to favour one claimant over another, but in order to protect the integrity and unity of the 10 member organization. If Asean shows that it is susceptible to any kind of external interference, it would lose its credibility and in the process declare itself “fair game” to any external powers.  Benjamin Franklin’s advice that “we must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately” is particularly pertinent for the Asean leaders.

The above comment emphasizes integrity and unity of Asean and the assumption that Asean as a united block can take on a big power as an equivalent of a big power.  Talking about integrity of Asean is laughable since Asean discarded the concept of a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality. When Asean countries started to become allies of big powers, providing military facilities for big powers to exert their influence in the region, signing military alliances with big powers, engaging in warfare on the side of big powers, the integrity of Asean as a neutral block of countries is already a big question mark. 

Asean unity? Asean as a united block too is an aspiration rather than a reality. There are the pro US and pro China camps within Asean.

What is more naïve is to think that Asean, acting together as a block, would be a force to be reckoned with against big powers like the USA, PRC or India. Such big powers would give Asean a kick in the arse when they deemed fit and when their interests are challenged. The insanity of small countries thinking that they can punch above their weight or a small half past six regional block taking on the big powers can only be found in Asean countries. Some wanting to go to war with China, some wanting to push China out of the South China Sea. The most realistic of the Asean countries, and the most powerful militarily, having fought and defeated the Americans and a border war with China, understood what it is like to take on China in war. 

The only chance for Asean to hang together is to add on the American factor, to hang together with the Americans and go and fight wars all over the world with the Americans. Other than this reality of joining the international gangster, punching above your weight is only possible when the big powers graciously allows you to do so, partially also to cater to their interests. When their interests are at stake or violated, you will be punching a hard rock. And the weight of a mustard seed against a big rock is not difficult to comprehend.

Singapore is praying very hard to hitch a ride on the Chinese economic locomotive and is best not to be too cocky and indiscreet in taking sides when China’s core interests are involved. Yes, Singapore is a non claimant state in the SCS. Why is Singapore crying out loud everyday when the other claimant states are lying low?  Oops, it is not Singapore that is ruffling the feathers of China, but individuals speaking in their private capacity. And pray China would not because of these casual remarks by individual Singaporeans and cut off Singapore from the Chinese gravy train.

Where are these anti China rhetoric coming from? What is the agenda?