Small countries punching above their weights?

Sometimes people are made to believe in fiction. Sometimes, after believing in fiction for too long they think fiction is the truth. This mantra of small countries punching above its weight is something Singaporeans were told to believe, ie, Singapore is a small country but can punch above its weight. In some circumstances this is true, like when people messed up their finances and come begging for money and we have the money to throw. When people want to build a monument and we have the money to help them pay for it, we throw money around thinking that we are some rich philanthropists and people are admiring at us, at the amount of money we can throw. When there are big white elephants that no one dares to touch, we would go out to buy them at a handsome price, like buying a piece of fake art at an auction to show people we have the money, we are rich.

In situations when national interests are at stake, no amount of money can buy glory, no amount of money can a small country get what it wants.  I have been writing about this, that the ability to punch above one’s weight is because the other parties allowed the small country to do so. Or the small country is like the proverbial little rat standing on the head of a lion and shouting at everyone, thinking it is really powerful.

This mantra of punching above our weight is now put to test by the Indonesians. Among the haze affected countries, we have been shouting the loudest. We finally have the gut to want to pull the culprit corporations to court. This is the right thing to do, except that when the jurisdiction is transboundary, when the parties are not inside this island but in other countries, you need to measure how much power or authority you have to bring the culprits to justice. You cannot simply send a legal letter to someone and demand that he appears in your office, in your courts, in your country. Oops, you can, but whether he would appear is another issue.

If you want to punch above your weight you better know who you are dealing with. The Indonesians are furious and are reviewing all agreements with Singapore, haze related and others.  This is like the Indonesians are tearing every agreement they have signed with us, or are going to tear them if they are not happy with them. And they are doing it unilaterally. They do not need to consult us and they are not going to consult us. They would only tell us what they have decided and what they want to do. 

The Indonesians are telling Singapore to shut up and haze is their problem and they will deal with it the way they like it. They are saying it is none of Singapore’s business even though the haze will affect the way of life, the economy and the health of Singaporeans. Now Singapore is put in a spot. What is Singapore going to do or can do with this snub? Now is the time to mean business, to see if Singapore can really punch above its weight with a neighbouring giant.

This is a new drama that is unfolding. When a giant flexes its muscles, the small countries better take notice.  Now to bring an Indonesian corporation to task, to appear in our courts, is going to be a very sensitive and touchy issue.

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?