Elected President - You got to believe it

I have said enough of this EP thing and there is really nothing much more to add. Hsien Loong had said it many times, that this is something he has to do, he will do it and there is nothing to stop him from doing it. You can kpkb, but it will not matter. He has decided that this is the best thing for Singapore. And no bets for how your representatives will vote in Parliament when this bill is up for MPs to ask questions. But there is one niggering point that I just want to clarify before race is enshrined into our race neutral Constitution, before race compromised meritocracy is justified as the new normal, that meritocracy is not compromised, that’s what they said. I am the law, whatever I said must be right, logical and unquestionable. It is good for Singapore, and definitely not against any individual. How not to believe a govt of honourable, sincere, selfless and flawless men and women sacrificing to serve the people and nation? If the people cannot believe in them, then who else can they believe?

Now what is this thing that needs to be spoken? The assumption in this thing is that the majority Chinese is racist and eventually minority race, or some minority race, would not have a chance to be the EP of this island. The Chinese would have this special advantage and would choose to elect only Chinese to be the EP. How many sensible people would believe in this racist line of logic? Proven? Has this been proven?

Never mind. The Constitution will be race neutral, really? It is at the moment. The founding fathers, including Lee Kuan Yew made sure it is. After this bill, when it is crafted to ensure that all minority race would have a chance to be the EP once in a while, would the Constitution still be race neutral? So would it be written in such a way that if any minority race is not represented after a number of years, that a reserved election would be held just for that race? This sounds fair for the minority races.

What if the assumption is false? What if the Chinese are not racist and would choose to vote for the best candidate and continuously vote for non Chinese candidates over a long period of time or over several terms? Would there be a reserved election for the majority Chinese to have a chance to be elected as the EP? See the point?

If the wording of this racial EP election is about protecting minority race and the word minority is added, then the majority will be excluded and not protected based on the assumption that the majority Chinese are racist and would always vote for a Chinese EP.

Don’t say it would not happen. Though there are definitely some Chinese that are racist, chauvinist, I believe the majority are not. Many are colour blind if one is to look at their voting pattern in the past and how they voted overwhelmingly in favour of minority candidates. Put Tharman up for election as the PM today, he would have won hands down.

What is the point of this post? Should the majority race also be protected in the Constitution in case the racist assumption is proven false? Maybe the Constitutional Commission has already thought through this and the wordings in the Constitution would be race neutral and the safe guard would be for all races that did not have a chance to be the EP for a certain time frame, not just the minority.

Oh, I also assume that all races meant CIMO and not Pinoys, Myanmese, Thais, Vietnamese, Europeans etc etc. In this rush to make sure the new rules would apply in the next GE, the definition of minority is conveniently not spoken. Our minorities are not just the Indians, Malays and Others, there are new minorities that are quite substantial in numbers and they would want to be represented as a race in the EP in the future. And if the Constitution is to pretect minority races, this issue or definition of race cannot be callously ignored. It is a time bomb that will go off if allowed to slip into the Constitution undefined.

The new minorities would be asking for their own representation in times to come. It would not just be the Eurasians in the Others category. The Pinoys, Myanmese, Vietnamese, Thais and Europeans, not Eurasians, would want to be counted. They would want their turns to be EPs. How to tell them that they are not minorities like the Indians, Malays and Eurasians?

What do you think?

Zika – Invite the mosquitoes for tea

Masagos is complaining that it is very difficult to find mosquito breeding grounds. Many are actually inside people’s homes or inaccessible little corners. Since January to July 748.000 inspections have been conducted by NEA with 44,000 done in construction sites. Look at the numbers again, in 7 months, it works out to more than 100,000 inspections a month or 3,333 inspections a day. How many manhours involved to conduct these inspections?

Has Masagos ever thought of an easier way to get to the mosquito breeding grounds? How about inviting them for tea? This idea is not new. It is so simple, so effective, so easy on manpower, so easy to reach the mosquitoes and round them out. Why so difficult and so troublesome running around to look for mosquito breeding grounds?

If NEA is to provide conducive environment and convenience, the mosquitoes will come marching, queueing to deposit their eggs in simple contraptions laid out for them. Why is this method not done? Have them in the construction sites, on the ground floor of housing estates near the gardens or shrubs and just collect the eggs/larvae regularly for disposal. If half of the mosquitoes are attracted to lay their eggs in these convenient stores, there will be half less to find.

Why always think of difficult and expensive methods? Why waste so many man hours  hunting for mosquito breeding grounds when you can send out invitations to them to come calling, to breed at  your chosen contraptions provided for them, at your convenience?

So difficult meh? Or this method is too simple, too cheap, too easy, so cannot do?

The Asean Summit in Laos

The two day Asean Summit came and gone minus the high tension of the last few summits when the Americans and the little Americas were working hand in glove to pressure China with unreasonable demands on the South China Sea island dispute. The Americans thought they could reenact the play like they did before, with the Philippines as the point man, and with greater influence with Obama and Abe to lend weight to the little Americas.
 
Obama repeated the same call that China must accept the ridiculous rulings of The Hague as binding and to respect them as international law. The big question is whether the Americans would abide by such a ruling when the procedures and composition of the court members and their biased agenda were no different from a kangaroo court? For that matter, would any of the American allies accept such a ruling as binding when the whole process and protocol was anything but fair and just?
 
The outcome of the Summit would have been the same, with the heads of states politicking and wasting their time on the South China Sea dispute, raising tension and temperature but with no solution or progress on the matter. What the Americans and their allies did not bargain for, did not plan for, was that this time the Philippines have called out, did not want to participate in an American farce and using the Philippines as a political pawn.
 
In President Duterte was a man that could see through the intrigue and conspiracy of the Americans and their allies and most importantly the hypocrisy of the scam. Once Duterte called out, there was nothing else that the Americans and their allies could do to continue with their political game. The Summit returned to its normal self, to discuss issues that would unite and project Asean interests than the interest of foreign powers, to discuss on more important issues and challenges facing Asean instead of dramatising to raise tension and disunity in the group.
 
Asean concluded the Meeting with positive pledges to work by peaceful negotiation with interested countries, particularly China, to settle their differences. Obama and Abe returned empty handed, unable to stoke fire in the South China Sea dispute and must be very disappointed for failing to do so, to divide Asean and raise tension in the South China Sea. Normalcy has returned to the region and it is business as usual. The threats of military confrontation and the use of force manipulated by extra regional powers is passé.
 
After several years of highly tense and unproductive summits, this is perhaps the best Summit for Asean with Asean setting the agenda and not be influenced and dictated by big powers. Asean has taken charge and would henceforth be in control of future meetings and chart its own destiny.

CPF Investment Scheme – Another bird brain scheme to be shelved

Actually not nice to call this a bird brain scheme. Dunno whose stupid idea was it. Ok not nice to say stupid idea also. When it was started, remember, the media was flooded with glowing reports about how such investments in equities would grow in the long term, 20%, 30% etc etc. Definitely, guaranteed, better returns than putting the money in fixed deposits. Sure make big profit one. And every CPF member was encouraged to dump their lifelong savings into stocks. If I am not mistaken, it started with 90% of CPF savings allowed to invest in stocks.

Some 20 years down the road, many CPF members got their fingers burnt until ‘chow tar’. Dunno how many billions were lost in the stock market by CPF members. Anyone dares to print the real figures on losses? It is frightening if you know the real numbers.

The damage control came in and the sum allowed to gamble in stocks, oops, invested in stocks, was drastically reduced, frantically. But too late, billions were washed away in the stock exchange longkangs. Many CPF members are still licking their wounds quietly.

Today the figure quoted by Tharman, ‘The DPM said that 45% of investors made losses while 85% of investors earned less than 2.5% on their OA, thus calling the CPFIS "not fit for purpose". 85% made profits, from when to when? This is only the tip of the iceberg. But it is frightening enough for Tharman to call for a review of this bird brain scheme that resulted in many CPF members losing a big chunk of their life savings. And now the govt is complaining that CPF members did not have enough savings for retirement. And mind you, does anyone know how much is wiped out by the silly asset enhancement scheme when HDB prices were marked and priced to market? And also the billions wiped out by the MedishieldLife plans.

Too late, too late, too bloody late! All the money lost is like water under the bridge. No more, habis leow. Now where is the joker that came out with this bird brain scheme? Cry also no tears left. Who was the pipe piper?

Haze- Saying something good about Jokowi

Actually I wanted to write something positive about Jokowi and his team tackling the haze problem last month but had to hold back when haze struck again. Two weeks had passed and the situation is not that bad after all if one is to look back last couple of years around this time. Haze would have engulfed the island by now and for a month at least if the Indonesians have not done something positive to improve the situation. Since August, we only have a few bad days but still tolerable, thanks to the effort by the Indonesians in what they are doing.

We should not expect the haze problem to go away overnight. This perennial problem was allowed to build up over the years through neglect and tiada apa attitude on both sides, allowing the culprit to think they could get away with murder. The Jokowi team has been on it only a few months and must admit there are clear signs of improvement and we could breathe easier. If the condition can be maintained and better in the next few months, we must send a thank you note to the Indonesians. They meant business and are doing everything they could to curb this annual problem facing the neighbouring countries.

Yesterday the Indonesia pulled out another trump card to make sure the people on the ground, the small plantation owners, understand the seriousness of the haze. The nation’s top Muslim agency was brought in to issue a fatwa against burning forests and making a profit from it. Both are declared as haram, against the teachings of Islam. How much more can we expect the Indonesians to go to control and manage this problem?

This is the first time the Indonesians are putting money where their mouth is. They are working at it seriously, conscientiously. Give them a bit more time and the haze problem is likely to be a problem of the past.

Thank you Jokowi and the Indonesian haze management team.