Obama visiting Vietnam – Time to reminisce Nam

The Obama visit to Vietnam is getting a lot of attention in his last days in the White House. And many war veterans are taking the opportunity to reminisce their exploits in this tropical jungle in their youth as 18 and 19 year old draftees, sent to kill Vietcongs in the hot tropical jungle.

The main concern of most Americans is the remains of Americans, dead or alive, in Vietnam. They have no interest in what they did to that country and the number of Vietnamese killed and maimed. They are not interested in the number of Vietnamese children still alive and still falling victims to Agent Orange.  Like in the Middle East, those were war collaterals. But in Vietnam, they were more, enemies, to be killed at all costs. The carpet bombings by B52s over the Plain of Jars, over the expanse of the jungle and country were testimonies of the savage hate for the country and its people, the Vietcongs.

Those were the glorious days of American fire power demonstrated in its full ferocity, not giving the VCs any chance of survivor.  Let me quote a Nam veteran in Chuck Hagel, ex Defence Secretary, ‘It still haunts us. That terrible waste of lives and the lessons we learnt there, the terrible lessons that still hang over us.’ Yes, the terrible lessons still hang over the US, but no lesson learnt. If the Americans have learnt anything, they would not be agitating and starting wars and fighting wars all over the planet. The victims in the Middle East are just as devastated as the victims in the Vietnam War. And there will be more victims if the Americans continue with their pivot to Asia to start more wars.

And what is there to regret about? To John McCain, it was the lack of acknowledgement for the boys and their good works in Vietnam, killing VCs and dying for the country, the USA.  He said, ‘The lack of a welcome home is still a national shame. You had…draftees who did their duties and were…spat upon by their fellow citizenry when they returned.’ Why? Why were they spat on by fellow Americans? Because they were sent into other people’s country and homes to kill them. The same soldiers returning from the Middle East and Afghanistan would also share the same fate. You are invaders, aggressors, killers, murderers of innocent people who have nothing to do with you Americans.

Yes, it is not right to shun the draftees. They were innocent young men who did not know what they were doing. They were sent by the orders of the evil regime in Washington, to kill equally innocent people they did not know and did not want to cause them harm, had nothing to do with the Americans and their lives.  The young draftees, the war veterans, deserved to be honoured even if they did the killing and destruction of the lives and homes of innocent people far far away.  They did not know what the hell was going on, they did not know why they had to kill innocent people.

Would the Obama visit bring a closure to the Vietnam War, like the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? John McCain is still reminiscing his war in Vietnam, as a POW. ‘To this day, I’ll get up real early sometimes and go down to the Vietnam Memorial just as the sun is coming up…It is always a great experience for me to think and remember.’

The real leader is a dead man

This phrase came out in one of the comments in the blog. The first impression is that the reader was referring to China or North Korea where the big names were Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung. These two names are so big in the two countries that Deng Xiaoping and Kim Jung Il and Kim Jung Un paled in comparison.  Though dead many years ago, they are still revered leaders to their people, legendary heroes, folk heroes.

In this case, the blogger was referring to Singapore. The real leader of Singapore is still Lee Kuan Yew.  Singapore just celebrated in a big way, with spontaneous ground up cries to revere Lee Kuan Yew. The initiatives came from the people, more than 100 celebrations, I heard, were organized by the people, ground up initiative, to show their love for their leader, like he is still alive.

To many of the supporters, the leader is still alive, never left, so no need to jump up from the grave.  To many Singaporeans there is and always will be one leader. No one could come near him as a leader, no one is seen as a leader in the same light. Singapore is Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Kuan Yew is Singapore.

In this sense, yes, the real leader of Singapore is Lee Kuan Yew. People still look up to him for leadership, for direction, for solutions and answers when things go wrong.  Lee Kuan Yew is still the leader of Singapore, like him, hate him, it doesn’t change anything.

If this is the case, when would Singapore have another real leader? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

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?