Singapore’s philosopher king?

In the Republic, Plato talked about an ideal situation when a state is ruled by a philosopher king, a wise man king, a ‘knows all’ that is supposed to be good, virtuous, and with unquestionable wisdom. After more than 6,000 years of civilization, this ideal philosopher king has yet to be born. No kings, emperors, presidents, dictators or whatever heads of state has come near to such an unusual human bean.

Presumably under the rule of such an ideal philosopher king, he is the one that knows best and would do best for the people, and the people need not doubt his thoughts, his ideas and his actions and decisions. He is right all the time and will rule for the good of the people.

We have heard it all over the media what Hsien Loong has said about the need to have a minority Elected President and all the stringent criteria that came along. We heard him saying that this is something he has to do and he would not let others down the road to do it. He is taking responsibility for this idea. This is the idea of one man and the decision of one man, and a very good one for the people and country. And the people got to believe in him, that it is for their own good and to be grateful. Get it right, it has nothing to do with CB.

We are now going to change the Constitution all because of one man and his idea and wants his idea to be implemented as the one good thing for the people. I just hope that Hsien Loong is the philosopher king that Aristotle was talking about, and that his idea is good, virtuous, benevolent and wise, must be wise, and is the right thing for the country. For the people they have no choice but to go along with it. There is no option for the people to say no to this idea and all the changes that are going to take place.

Forget about the deliberation and voting in Parliament. The MPs are not going to ask the people what they think and how they want the MPs to vote for or against the issue. The vote is as good as done even before it is started. At best someone might sneak into the toilet when voting is called. Why, because it is the best idea for the good of country and people. The MPs and ministers know this and therefore would support it wholly with no objection. The ideas of a philosopher king are usually this way, unquestionable, unchallenged and undisputed. No one is up to it to challenge such a wholesome idea, not in this cabinet or Parliament.

Singapore will be blessed if Hsien Loong is the philosopher king and his idea is the undisputed way to go. This minority president idea is looking like the best thing to have happened to Singapore. So far it looks that way. All the wise men and wise women in Parliament, in the academia, in the elite circle, in the legal fraternity, in the medical profession, agree with it. No one thinks it should be questioned, doubting it or saying that it is flawed.

See how powerful and supreme this idea is! It is like the unquestionable truth. If it is not, all the great minds and thinkers in the island would have spoken up. The 8 wise men and one wise woman agreed, must be, or else they would have mentioned it in their report.

The political thinkers in the academia, both local and foreign, also did not say anything to dispute its goodness. Remember, they are foreign talents, the best foreign talents money can buy and also great believers of freedom of speech and expression. If they did not comment about this great idea, it must be their way of saying it is good.

This is the first time in the history of mankind that an idea is not questioned or disputed by the wise men of the time, of an era. Kpkb in social media not counted, just noises in the wilderness, from the daft and mindless peasants.

Singapore's future can only be better going forward with this great idea. This is the closest one can get to a philosopher king.

Jonathan Eyal, ST Europe Correspondence, wrote this yesterday in his article ‘Is this the era of post truth politics?’, ‘Politicians may be strident in misleading voters but professionals must stand up to expose the lies’. This is only true if politicians are just politicians. It does not apply to philosopher king.

Sports rewards – Equal for all sportsmen, including Masters Athletes

 

The one million dollar question is in everyone’s lips. Yip Pin Xiu’s gold medals in the Paralympics should stand shoulder to shoulder with Joseph Schooling’s gold medal in the Olympics. Both should be given the $1m cash award.

Paralympians faced greater odds because of their disabilities. And don’t blame them just because they are competing against a smaller pool of competitors. It is not their faults. They cannot determine how many competitors in the race. So don’t be sour grapes. Even though sports is not about money, but about competing, about sportsmanship, but if you give someone one million bucks, it is only fair to give the paralympians the same one million bucks.

The other argument for the Open Olympians is that they are competing in an open field, against anyone that chose to race, chose to compete, be it 10 year olds or 90 year olds, normal or with disabilities, it is an open challenge.

How about a little support for the seniors competing in such events? The seniors’ only handicap is their age and the ageing muscles that refused to behave like when they used to. They are in no condition to compete in the Open category with the younger guys. I tried, a 10 year difference, or even 5 year difference would mean a few seconds difference, unless one is super fit and running against an unfit younger man. How about allowing the seniors to compete in the Paralympics? Maybe the 35 year old Masters athletics would pack too much power. How about the above 60 or above 70 Masters athletics? Their physical conditions are very challenging.

I have competed in a few masters events in the 100m sprint for the 65 – 69 age group. Not many competitors but understandable. How many oldies could still run or do the 100m dash?

Oh, I am not asking for a million dollar reward in the World Masters Event. That would be asking too much. I have known Masters athletics that have been consistently attending and participating in international meets for more than 30 years but barely got a cent in support from the Singapore Sports Council. They have to pay every cent for everything, air fares, accommodations, food, supplements, training, medical assistance, all from their own pockets.

Would the Minister in charge of Sports, of Singapore Active, think about giving a little financial support to the Masters athletics to compete and to keep healthy. No need million dollar awards. These Masters athletics are doing it for sports, for the love of being active, and in the course of it, representing the country too. Oh, Singapore Athletics did provide the sports attire when the masters are competing in major international events. How about a little support in transportation/air fare and accommodation, for representing Singapore?

No need million dollar awards. But a little or small award would really be nice. What is Singapore Active waiting for when so much money are spent on other athletes and sports? The seniors need some encouragement in what they are doing, to stay healthy to compete in sports. The medicine and supplements to keep their bodies supple and functioning are not cheap.

China’s nightmare gone to passé

China was lucky to have Cambodia and Laos as the Chair of Asean in the last two summits. Without these two allies, China would be dragged into the mud by pro American Asean members with the US and Japan cheering them on. Those two years were really treacherous for China. Asean could have been manipulated by the Americans and Japanese to go head on against China precipitating in a war or high tension in the South China Sea. With the Philippines and Vietnam and a couple of little USAs conspiring against China, China should count itself lucky to get away unscathed.

But this could not last long as the Chair of Asean is in rotation and China’s nightmare was about to begin with the Number One Asean protagonist taking over the Chair in the Philippines. The Chinese must have had sleepless nights trying to walk out of this Gordian knot. The Philippines under the Aquino regime was the point man for the American and Japanese aggressive war machine, and a very willing one, supported by a few even more zealous and eager little USAs.

And now the Chair of Asean is in the Philippines. What the plotters and schemers did not bargain for, while they kept plotting and scheming against China, is that the mighty One up there would not let them have their evil ways. No, the Philippines must not be allowed to spoil the day and the rise of China. It must be stopped. The only way to stop this farce and to keep Asean on an even keel is for the Philippines to change course, to be at least neutral if not pro China.

And He did it by bringing in Duterte to replace Aquino and the whole picture changed. The damages planned for China in Laos was a washout, down the sewers when Duterte refused to be the point man to do the dirty work for the American Empire and Japanese conspiracy. It is unimaginable for China if the Philippines is still under Aquino and taking over the Chair of Asean.

Now, instead of stern faces and bracing for the worst, China is smiling while the hapless Americans and Japanese and their little USAs straggled into darkness, into oblivion. Without a willing point man, without the Philippines doing the dirty work for them, even the little USAs could not do anything.

China is safe for another year with the Chair of Asean in Manila. The nightmare did not come true and the day is bright and chirpy for China until the next little USA takes over the Chair of Asean. And the Philippines would be the Chair or Asean China relations for the next 3 years. This is a bonus that China did not expect. From the verge of being dragged into the arena to be bashed around, the new Philippines would just do the opposite to the chagrin of the American camp.

Man proposed, Heaven disposed, how true, how true. The rise of China is unstoppable with the mandate of heaven. When heaven is on the side of China, there is nothing the Dark Side can do to overturn the apple cart.

Just when you think no more Chee By election

The Bukit Batok by election was all about Chee Soon Juan and was popularly and cheekily called the Chee By election. With such a phrase so easy on the lips the Chee By election would be remembered for good. And just as we think this co incidence is a rare find, and would not be repeated for a long time to come, who knows when there would be another by election to be called a Chee By election again?  The Chee persona is everywhere in this by election, even the root cause of it. If there is going to be another by election, Chee may not be the candidate to dominate the discussion or may not even be fielded at all.

No more Chee By election? Don't be too sure. The next coming presidential election is going to be all about Tan Cheng Bock. And, you got it, some are already calling it the Cheng Bock president election or CB president election for short. It is all about CB and whether he is or is not the target of all the changes in the next president election. It is all about whether CB will be eligible to stand in the next election. Don't get me wrong, CB is Cheng Bock's initials.

So, would the next president election be called a CB president election, with or without Cheng Bock running? It would be easy to call it a CB president election if Cheng Bock is running. It would even be easier to some to call it a CB president election without Cheng Bock running. Again this time it is all about CB and nothing else. Oops, I mean Cheng Bock and nothing else.

CMIO classification – Greater importance and indispensability

For a long time, there have been calls for the removal of the race classification in our identity card. Some believe that the presence of race in the ID is itself a racist thing, a divisive thing. We are all Singaporeans and there is no need to identify which race we are from. It just increases the awareness of our differences. Do away with it and over time we would become one people, less conscious of our different races. I am not sure if the Americans carry identity cards like us and whether there are similar documents to identify them as Africans, Hispanics, Asians, Middle Eastern, native Indians, India Indians, etc etc.
 
To those who are rooting for the abolishing of this racial distinction in our ID, they would not be saying the same thing after the constitutional changes on the Elected Presidency come into effect. The minorities would want to be identified as what they are. The Malays and Indians would want to be identified as such. Why?
 
Being a minority, they have two chances to crack at the post of EP. They could stand for election in the open category. They could also be given a second chance with higher probability in a reserved EP election once every 30 years if they did not get elected. The majority Chinese got only one chance.
What about the Eurasians? They will be most happy to be in the Others category. For in this category the chances are even higher as they are the absolute minority with relatively lesser numbers.  But this could change with the influx of foreigners that may end up in this Others category.
 
I think children of mixed marriages would now be very pleased if their parents have chosen to put them in the Others category. Hopefully there would not be a big scramble at the ICA registry for citizens to want to switch to this Others category to improve their chances to be an EP.
 
And hopefully the Others category would stay and not be amended when other minorities claimed they are discriminated and want their own race to be reflected as other minority races to improve their chances and their share for a reserved election to be the EP.
 
Many parents of mixed marriages would now have to consider this classification very carefully and choosing a minority category or Others would be a favoured choice if they are eyeing the EP. Race category comes with its own privileges, a bit like bumiputras but in favour of the minorities. Would we be creating a different kind of 'bumiputras' in Singapore? The danger about such a change is that it is very much more difficult to remove or unwind the situation once done.  A time bomb in the making.
 
Now you see why the race category in the ID is gaining importance? It carries a lot of rights and privileges to be an elected EP.  Being classified as Chinese would become a disadvantage when this thing happens.
 
Looking down the road the population of classified as Others could grow at the expense of the Chinese when mixed parentages opted for Others. The Chinese majority would thus decline in numbers while Others could become an absolute majority.
Race has its advantages, especially the minorities.