Singaporeans new aspirations

Singaporeans are a happy and contented lot. Thanks to so many years of good government, they have even left their brains in the locker, no need to think any more. Everything is being thought out and planned for them by the govt. They only need to do what the govt told them to do.

We used to aspire to be the Switzerland of Asia with Swiss standard of living. Some have achieved that and are very contented with their lives here. Those who haven’t are still aspiring to be one and are working on it with the govt helping them in the process. Those who are falling behind need not worry. The govt is coming up with many charitable schemes, rebates, subsidies, cash, some can touch, some cannot, there is money everywhere and no one is complaining.

Recently the govt has been churning out many new initiatives for the people to look forward to. Those familiar ones are like aspiring to get a degree to become taxi drivers and security guards. I can understand why they want to be taxi drivers. Think of the freedom and the benefits of being able to drive around in a car in the most expensive city in the world when a car costs more than a house. Those able ones are driving around in cars that cost more than the most expensive govt built flats, $500k, $1m or more. Driving around the city’s first class roads in a 4 rm flat is a common sight. And the taxi drivers can boast of being their own bosses, and all the free time they chose to take. I cannot think of a good reason to aspire to be security guard. Perhaps it makes one feeling safe and secure wearing uniform.

Let me just list down a few of the new aspirations of Singaporeans other than the dream job of being a taxi driver. Owning and riding a soup up good looking bike is now another great aspiration. Since cars are so expensive, to be able to move around the island, to feel the freedom of fresh air in the face, a good expensive bike is a good alternative. And the govt is making this a happy experience by building more bicycle tracks for the new HDB rich.

Lately this has not been spouted for sometime, but Singaporeans are aspiring to buy smaller and smaller flats in terms of size but more expensive in monetary terms. The good thing is that everything is within a hand’s reach. No need to walk around in a big flat. And they can use their unused brain to think for once on how to make every little nooks and corners useful. It requires a lot of careful planning and thinking to squeeze little pieces of furniture into their newly acquired small flats, a new style of living, without compromising on the quality of life. Oh, small flats easier to maintain, not much space to clean up.

Yes, many can keep pets too, like big exquisite dogs, in their little expensive flats. Why not when they don’t see the need for children to share the limited space? It is a lifestyle thing and dogs or pets are important to have.

The latest, their children are going to have stress free education and they could learn anything they want as long as they fancied them and would still go to university if this is still their aspiration. If not, and actually not necessary if they aspire to become hawkers to cook designer food to make a living. Can become very rich, with little need for higher education.

Being rich aside, the new education system will make the children and their parents very happy and stress free. Must be really good stuff. This must be an extension to the concept of study less and learn more. This will soon become a sought after model for the rest of the world to emulate.  I did not bother to read the details, but I can only presume that everything is carefully thought out and our education system will produce graduates from the hard disciplines as well. Forget about the old and outdated belief that you need to put in hard work to achieve, to do well. Hard work and sacrifice are no longer necessary. Please excuse me, I have retired my brain in the closet. When the govt said it is good, it must be good.

I think there is another big aspiration in the planning stage. This must be how to ensure that all the Singaporeans have a lot of money in their CPF. With the likelihood of no retirement age, Singaporeans can aspire to work forever, and to keep their CPF savings in the CPF forever and to feel very rich.

I am so elated that I am lost for words and can’t remember the other great aspirations of the millennial. Has it got to do with having all the good stuff but no need to work for it, or having a good life, a happy life, and not having to put in any effort, be happy, everything will be fine? Who said no effort no gain? Oh, just in case anyone forgets, riding bicycle needs strong legs to peddle even if you have 24 gears on the bike.

Turkey – All fingers pointing to Washington

You may not want to believe this, but what is so difficult to believe in a country that thrives on military coups, regime change and assassinations of independently elected leaders? Let me put the pieces together to show how it all worked out. Though Erdogan was an ally of the US and Europe, this is what they had said about him as reported by The Telegraph on 16 Jul 16.

 

‘Vengeful, irascible, authoritarian, obdurate. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was all of these things even before a cabal of Turkish generals tried to cast him into oblivion. Now that he has survived their machinations, his worst instincts will be redoubled and reinforced.

If Mr Erdogan was a maddening ally for Europe and America in the past, the leader who has just overcome a military coup will be capable of almost anything. 

In one sense, Mr Erdogan has been vindicated. Before the turmoil began on Friday night, one criticism that he found most infuriating was the charge of paranoia.

Westerners would deride Mr Erdogan’s claims that dark forces were massing to overthrow him and a conspiracy existed within the Turkish state, plotting his downfall.’

With this kind of reputation, how would the West tolerate this man as their ally? Is he dependable or is he a friend of convenience? Didn’t Erdogan’s pilot shot down a Russian fighter and putting the Turkey at the brink of war with Russia to the delight of the West? Should not Erdogan be rewarded for this reckless, unexplainable move? Or was there more than meet the eyes, that the shooting of the Russian aircraft was done without Erdogan’s approval? 

This coup is now shedding more light into this mysterious and very difficult to explain act. Why would Erdogan want to risk a war with the powerful Russians that is a nuclear power?  With the commander of the Turkish Air Base where Americans flew their warplanes arrested as member of the coup, does that ring a bell? Could the fighter aircraft that shot down the Russian jet be American or under the order of the Commander of this Air Base? Was the Commander involved in the shooting down of the Russian aircraft without the approval of Erdogan? What seemed to be a rash act of bravado starts to make sense after this coup.

How did Erdogan defuse the tension with Russia led by Putin, a man that meant serious business, a likely counter attack against Turkish war planes? None of this happened and Putin seemed very lame. Did Erdogan spilled the beans and revealed in secret to Putin that it was a false flag incident and avoided further escalation of the tension with Russia?

Then there was the visit to China and the mysterious application to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in which Russia is a major partner. Erdogan wanting to join the SCO instead of Nato and sit beside Putin? How could these fit into the jigsaw puzzle of the real picture and intent of Erdogan as an ally of the West or as someone straying to join the Russia China camp?

This coup says that the latter is the likely truth, that Erdogan is moving towards the Russo China camp and must be taken out, and here is the coup to get the job done. Erdogan has yet to accuse the US for this coup but asking for the extradition of a cleric called Fethullah Gulen residing in the US in the warm embrace and protection of the Americans.  And the Americans are dragging their feet. This is what John Kerry said in the BBC, ‘that Turkey should "present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny’, in other words, no deal, Fethullah Gulen would not be extradicted, he is friend to the Americans, to Washington, just like the Dalai Lama serving the same role.

This is the first of a series of Freudian slips. Here is another one.  John Kerry ‘strongly rebuked a Turkish minister who suggested Washington was behind the coup. He said "utterly false" insinuations were "harmful to our bilateral relations". Ah, a defensive posture to cover his arse by using bilateral relations to threaten Turkey instead.

Here is another slip by Obama now under pressure when more than 6000 people taking part in the coup were arrested and Erdogan is threatening a cleansing of the security forces. Obama panic and this is what he said to protect the coup leaders and soldiers, no condemnation or punishment.  BBC – ‘US President Barack Obama has joined other world leaders in calling for all parties in Turkey to "act within the rule of law’. Why is Obama sticking his neck out to protect the rebels now charged with treason?  And who are these so called world leaders wanting Erdogan to act within the rule of law? Nato leaders?

And here is what the French Foreign Minister said as quoted by The Independent, ‘French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault raised concerns over Turkey's ability to fight Isis amid growing political instability in the country following the attempted coup against Mr Erdogan’s regime…and Turkey may no longer be a viable partner in the fight against Isis in Syria.’ What did the French Foreign Minister know that made him so sure that Turkey is a gone case, no longer a partner?

And the EU has jumped in, the whole wolf pack is saying the same thing, if Erdogan were to impose the death sentence on the coup leaders and soldiers, Turkey would not be allowed to join the EU. In other words, do not touch the coup leaders and the rebel soldiers.

Erdogan may have won the first round against the coup leaders but his life is in great danger. The mastermind behind the coup leaders, the external powers, would be gunning for his life. They must take down Erdogan, dead or alive if they are hoping for a slim chance for Turkey to stay on the side of the West ‘to fight IS’.  Erdogan must be terminated and a pro West leader be put in place quickly to keep the balance in favour of the West in the war in Syria against Assad.

This coup is a game changer. Erdogan is now on the Russo China camp and Russia would soon be pledging support for Erdogan and Turkey. Another key ally, an unwilling partner of the American and the West has fallen out. The Turks have broken free from the Dark Side.

The Hague ruling – Sing a song of six pence

The main media are still publishing articles crowing about the rulings from The Hague tribunal as if they are oblivious to its dark sides. In our blog we have established that the Permanent Court of Arbitration is not what it is supposed to be. Some even said that the PCA was only providing secretarial services to a ‘make shift’ tribunal hammered together by the Japanese and the Americans to give it a semblance of legitimacy when it had totally nothing to do with the PCA. The UN has also dissociated itself from this farcical setup as it has a dedicated court, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas, ITLOS to deal with such issues in an internationally recognized court of law.

The other point to note is that The Hague rulings were issued under the name of the PCA and the PCA has not said anything to distance itself from the rulings.

The issue here is not so simple. It looks like there is another big conspiracy cooked up by the Americans, Japanese, the Philippines and the western media to sing a song of six pence, that The Hague ruling is legitimate and binding. The local Today paper has at least 3 articles about The Hague rulings today with the authors taking the position that it is legal and legitimate. Prominent academics attached their names to this story. I have not read the ST, very likely the same kind of stories would be rolled out, to give a picture of legality and legitimacy to The Hague rulings on the South China Sea.

Is this true? If not, if The Hague in this case is not what it is, that the tribunal was anything but legitimate, why are the main media putting up such articles to make it sound legitimate? What is the agenda and who is behind this international scam? Have the main media established the background of this make shift tribunal? Or they just don’t bother and for some reasons must sing the song of six pence?

What is the truth? What is real and what is unreal? Would the main media be involved in plastering half truths or untruths in their pages and want the readers to think that these are the truths? There is no excuse for publishing half truths or lies as the main media have all the resources and professionals to establish the facts and truths.

Would there be investigative journalists to get into the details of this Hague tribunal to tell the world what is going on?  The Fourth Estate is the last bastion to stand up for justice and righteousness. When the Fourth Estate is also corrupted and joined the Dark Side, there will be no light on earth.

The Empire rules from the Dark Side.

SGX outage – a positive perspective, just think everything is fine

The stock exchange was out of business for more than five hours yesterday, the system was down and no trading for the whole afternoon session starting from 11.38 am due to some system fault. And as usual there were a lot of hue and cry by the remisier community. This is only natural as the down time would affect their income. So SGX please bear with the noises. Luckily no one is thinking of suing the SGX for loss of income. Half a day got no business can be very serious especially when the income is already down to $1,000 pm. How to make ends meet?  For those contra players that incurred losses as a result of the outage, just too bad, bear with it. The system cannot be perfect, sure got problems now and then. Nonetheless as reported in the Mypaper, ‘Frustration and disappointment gripped the trading floor, as remisiers took calls from anxious clients.’ What to do?

Oh, Jimmy Ho, President of Remisiers Society, don’t say this is unacceptable leh. Cool man. It is definitely acceptable. Hear this…

The most sensible comment came from David Gerald, SIAS Ceo. This was what he said and quoted in the Mypaper. ‘As I understand, duplicate trades are not problems unique to SGX…The trading halt is necessary in the interest of investors and to allow brokers to reconcile the positions.’  I must say this is true. With so many trades done, the brokers need time and better a lunch break to reconcile their positions. Now they have to wait for outages to do such a chore. So when there is no outage, I wonder how are they going to cope with their businesses and reconciliations? Really jialat. How nice to have lunch breaks to do reconciliation when they are so busy and cannot cope with the hectic trading.

David Gerald was also quoted in the Today paper saying, ‘Singapore is not the only financial centre where this sort of thing happens. It has and is happening in the American and European markets, as well as in Hong Kong and Japan,…Investors must understand that this is one of the risks they have to take in this market, like investors in the overseas market understand this risk well.’

I hear hear this kind of comments also feel shiok already. This is normal lah, so don’t get over excited. Boon Wan should also tell the critics of train breakdown that it is normal and common. So many trains running for so many hours, having a few breakdowns are normal mah. And when got breakdowns, can use breakdown time for repairs and maintenance and fault findings.

Quietly I said to myself, heng ah, that fella is no more around. Wonder what he would say if he could get up again. I think he would have to get use to new normal. Making mistake is ok.  Only one question that I am unable to reconcile, why pay people millions to make mistakes? Maybe I will find time to reconcile this contradiction in the next outage.

And Kenneth J, hold your horses man. ‘Trading outages damage Singapore Stock Exchange’s reputation?’ It would not lah. The outages are normal lah. Everywhere also got outages. Not to worry, not to worry. Peace, peace. Everything is fine, will be fine.

The mischievous rulings of the Permanent Court of Arbitration exposed

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is an independent judicial body established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention. The Tribunal is composed of 21 independent members, elected from among persons enjoying the highest reputation for fairness and integrity and of recognized competence in the field of the law of the sea.

The Tribunal has jurisdiction over any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention, and over all matters specifically provided for in any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on the Tribunal (Statute, article 21)….

The mechanism established by the Convention provides for four alternative means for the settlement of disputes: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice, an arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VII to the Convention, and a special arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VIII to the Convention. 

A State Party is free to choose one or more of these means by a written declaration to be made under article 287 of the Convention and deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (declarations made by States Parties under article 287).

If the parties to a dispute have not accepted the same settlement procedure, the dispute may be submitted only to arbitration in accordance with Annex VII, unless the parties otherwise agree….

The Tribunal has jurisdiction over all disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention, subject to the provisions of article 297 and to the declarations made in accordance with article 298 of the Convention.

Article 297 and declarations made under article 298 of the Convention do not prevent parties from agreeing to submit to the Tribunal a dispute otherwise excluded from the Tribunal's jurisdiction under these provisions (Convention, article 299).

The above are text in the official site for the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea.

Li Jinming, a professor of international maritime law at Xiamen University, pointed out that the use of terms such “UN tribunal” or “UN-backed tribunal” – frequently reported by Western media – is incorrect, as they confuse the PCA with the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/141125/arbitral-court-not-a-un-agency#ixzz4EXyUEu5K

So far the UN has never stood up to claim any relationship with the Permanent Court of Arbitration and it is puzzling why countries and reputable academics and even the crafty politicians would claim that this PCA is an UN institution or backed by the UN. What is obviously a glaring question now is that why would the Philippines, with its backers in the US and Japan, chose to go to the PCA and not the ITLOS? The distinction and authority of the two institutions are blinding. One is an official institution of the UN and the other is a private institution that has nothing to do with the UN.

The value of the PCA and its judgement is clearly a case of two willing parties agreeing to seek its arbitration. It is totally irrelevant and meaningless when another party refused to be arbitrated by the PCA. A one sided arbitration and judgment by the PCA is as good a piece of waste paper to an unwilling party. How silly it is for the Philippines and those calling for China to abide by a nothing more than a back lane commercial institution ruling is hilarious. The PCA’s ruling has no credibility and legal standing to an unwilling party. Period.

Again, why did the Philippines go the PCA and not the ITLOS? Base on the issues raised, the ITLOS would have thrown out the case as inadmissible. The ITLOS would abide by the provisions of UNCLOS, article 298, that forbid it to judge over an issue of territorial claims. And the Philippines and its backers, the Americans and Japanese knew very well that they did not have a prima facie case to start with.

More questions. For objectivity, fairness and justice, the provisions of the ITLOS are very specific, from the appointment of neutral judges to the consent of both litigants are spelt clearly. It does not arrogate itself to judge on territorial disputes without the consent of both parties. It has a panel of independent judges to hear the case, not judges to be appointed at the whims and fancies of interested parties and not judges that are paid by the interested parties as in this ICA case.

In this South China Sea dispute, it is obvious who foot the bills of the judges, the court and the legal counsels, and who did not. How could this be a fair trial conducted by disinterested parties? And what authority has a private institution, a ‘back lane’ tribunal has on sovereign states to demand that sovereign states respect and accept its judgment?

The Americans, the Japanese and the Philippines would want the rest of the world to believe that the PCA is an authoritative body, an international body sanctioned by the UN and has the jurisdiction and power to decide the fate of nation states and to delineate their territorial space, that its decision is final and binding and to disregard them is to ignore international laws and order.

How convenient to take such a stand with the western media and cronies singing the same tune, that the PCA represents the international law and order. What a joke. It is an insult to the intelligence of the people of the world and sovereign states to think they could pull wool over their eyes.  The PCA is a private institution whose judgment is only as good as willing litigants want it to be, nothing more, nothing less. It has no legal status and has no jurisdiction over national territorial issues.

In this South China Sea ruling it is as good as a farce, totally devoid of credibility and legal standing. It is a political and mischievous act to deceive the world that it is legal and binding on China. Anyone that believes the PCA ruling is a legal and binding judgment must be an idiot whose intellect is next to zero. The Americans, Japanese and the Philippines must be laughing themselves silly that there are so many simpletons in the world that could be so easily duped by such an amateurist ploy.

PS. It is important to enlighten the masses that did not have the full facts of the case and did not know what the Permanent Court of Arbitration is all about. Even main stream media are in a daze and telling its readers that the PCA is an UN backed institution. Did they do their homework, done their due diligence? They are supposed to be professional news makers, to check and double check their facts before putting it out as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

How many main stream media are worthy and reliable in this regard? How many are plain stooges, paid by the Americans and Japanese to take a false stand? For sure they are not paid by the Pinoys as the Pinoys could not afford such wasteful paychecks. I am very sure that the judges in the PCA are not paid by the Pinoys. You know who were the paymasters? No prizes for the right answers.