Tharman in panic mode

This is the first time Tharman has lost his cool and furiously trying to defend himself all because of a survey commissioned by Yahoo and conducted by Blackbox. And The Independent Singapore posted this comment, The Independent Singapore social media site said this, ‘We asked our readers on Sunday (4 Sep) who should be the next Prime Minister of Singapore. As at 12pm today (6 Sep), we have had 2,316 responses to the poll – and most (1882 votes) voted for Tharman Shanmugaratnam to lead Singapore into the future.’
 
The report saw Tharman desperately denying that he wanted to be the PM and that he was not suitable to be one. Such modesty and humility are rare in Singapore, that a people’s choice candidate had to dispel such a notion or chattering in the political grapevine. This was what Tharman said, 'Just to be absolutely clear, because I know of this talk that's going around, I'm not the man for PM. I say that categorically. It's not me. I know myself, I know what I can do, and it's not me.'
 
The big question now is whether what Tharman said is good enough for him to have a peaceful sleep at night. Or would he be so bugged by it, or would he think other people would not leave him in peace, to keep calling him to take his rightful place as the next Chosen One?  Maybe he should make a public statement, a pledge or something like that, to say even if offered, he would reject the PM post. Now that would be something. And I am sure he would then be able to sleep in peace.
 
This episode is looking quite funny and quite scary. This is the greatest honour bestowed on a man by the people, telling him that he is their choice, but driving the man into panic mode, not wanting to be the Chosen One is just strange. It is not a death warrant! It is a great honour.
 
Of course the polls would be quite embarrassing to those Chosen Ones to know that they ranked so low in the eyes of the people.  It is like what Shanmugam said, if one cannot get the majority votes of the people, it would become a joke. All PMs to be must enjoy the popular votes of the people to be able to stand in front of them to talk to them as their leader.
 
And Tharman is the man but is running away from the call of duty. He would have dug a hole to hide himself literary.  No agencies should anyhow conduct polls like this one. A lesson learnt I hope.
Poor Tharman.

Hugh White - Don't be so presumptious

 

In his article in the ST on 27 Sep titled ‘Choosing between America and China’, this Australian academic could not resist wearing his pink lenses and all his western biases to discuss the China American relations in Asia. ‘None of us in these countries want to live under China’s shadow….At the same time, all of us want America to stay engaged in Asia, to help balance China’s power and set limits on how far its regional leadership develops….’ Who were these ‘none of us’ and ‘all of us’? Australia and Singapore, or do they include Laos, Cambodia and other neutral states? Hey mate, Asia is not only Australia and Singapore and American allies. Now the Philippines is not going be counted in your ‘none of us and all of us’, get it? The ‘us’ must be the Little USAs right?

Now what is your problem, what is Australia and America’s problem, an assertive and expanding China upsetting the balance of power in Asia? What is the picture, what kind of balance of power? China expansionist, assertive and has no right to want to have a bigger breathing space and room to play with? Look at the chess board, China is occupying only two squares in a corner. The rest of the squares are occupied by the Americans. This is the status quo that the American and the Australians and the ‘us’ would want to preserve as the status quo. And this was what he said in the rest of the article. China must be contained in the same two squares, by persuasion, coercion or war.

Now, who is pushing who into a corner? The American Empire is very comfortable to constrain China in a corner, with two squares and the Empire controlling the whole chess board. So, is China pushing outwards against the squeeze put up by the Empire, trying to break free, or being assertive and trying to eat into the space of the Empire?

He then dwelt with the reality of accepting China as an equal partner to the US, that the rise of China is inevitable. How could the relationship be equal if the Americans insist on sitting on 62 squares and demanding China, as an equal, to sit in the corner with 2 squares?

Hugh White could not see this inequality, inequity, that the Americans have been occupying too many squares in the chess board and it is time to relinquish some space to an equal partner. How about each power sitting on 32 squares? Is it too much for China to want to sit on half of the squares in the chess board? Why is China called aggressive and expansionist and ambitious, when it has only 2 squares and wanting a few more squares to breathe easier while the Americans refused to vacate a few of the squares?

What kind of balance of power is Hugh White talking about? What kind of equal partnership is he advocating for China to accept? What was clear in his article is this, the fear that ‘America might start slowly but surely, to withdraw from Asia’. What kind of foundation for a regional order would he think would be acceptable to both China and the US? A chess board where the Americans continue to sit on 62 squares and China to sit in 2 in a relationship among equals and with the Americans pointing a gun at China not to move?

To the western narrative, China’s OBOR, AIIB are all expansionist and belligerent in nature, a country that is planning to conduct wars, to conquer other nations. On the other hand, all the wars conducted by the Americans and western countries all over the world are for peace. Signing up military alliances and conducting war games are for peace, friendly gestures to the countries targeted, even when conducted outside their doorsteps.

Finally there is an Asian leader, brave enough and clear thinking to admit the truth, that conducting war games are aggressive in nature and would raise tension in the region. Duterte is going to end all military war games with the Americans. No provocative joint patrols in the South China Sea. I said he is brave for his life is at stake for going against the ‘peaceful’ Empire. He would be removed by the Empire, dead or alive. His Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay is negating almost everything he said to appease the Americans. Yasay could be a hot favourite of the Americans to be engineered to take over from the fall of Duterte. Duterte must watch his back and his every move. Defying the Empire is very risky thing to do. It is better to be Little USAs to be safe and be in the good books of the Empire.

80% readers want Tharman to be PM – The Independent Singapore

The Independent Singapore social media site said this, ‘We asked our readers on Sunday (4 Sep) who should be the next Prime Minister of Singapore. As at 12pm today (6 Sep), we have had 2,316 responses to the poll – and most (1882 votes) voted for Tharman Shanmugaratnam to lead Singapore into the future.’ The votes for the other hopefuls, touted as potential PM by the main media, with their votes indicated, are Chan Chun Sing(53), Tan Chuan Jin(28), Heng Swee Kiat(288). Lawrence Wong(21), Ng Chee Meng(26), Ong Ye Kung(1), Grace Fu(1) Masagos Zulkifli(14).

It would be interesting if Hsien Loong was included in the survey. Chee Hian managed 17 votes. Now what did the numbers above said of the voting pattern of Singaporeans, presuming the readers taking the poll made up of a fair sample of Singaporeans? And what did they said about the current prevailing official truth that Singaporeans are racists and would vote for candidates of their own race?

Unless Tharman is just the proverbial dark horse that is a flash in the pan case, the polls reviewed affirmatively that the readers did not vote according to race. Tharman is popular and has been popular among Singaporeans. Period, no dark horse, not dark horse. He is a force of his own to be reckoned with. He has a very strong following among all races.

The seond point, Masagoes even scored better than Grace Fu and Ong Ye Kung. So, another confirmation that race did not really matter that much?

What is interesting about this poll, if it is representative of the general population, Tharman would beat every one of the Chinese ministers hands down. But would this translate to him being the PM should there be an opportunity to elect the next PM? One thing for sure, the views and wants of the general population do not count in the selection of who is the PM. It would be decided by a small group of inner circle members within the PAP. The question then, is this group racist and would vote or select the PM based on their racist biases? Would they be different from the readers and the general population in wanting Tharman to be the next PM?

Who is the racist or more racist? The general population or the inner circle member so the PAP?

What do you think? Did the strong votes for Tharman debunk the current official wisdom that is being parroted by everyone in the political leadership, that voters are racists? Shanmugam and Tharman agreed with the official wisdom as well? With all the talks of a minority President, the inevitable outcome or consequences of raising this issue is the position of the PM and the minority’s interest in wanting a minority PM. Would there be a challenge to Hsien Loong’s position as the next PM given Tharman’s popularity in the next GE?

The people has been agitated to think that a minority President is just tokenism and the real stuff is a minority PM and would be making more demands for a real change. What now, brown cow? Anyhow opening a can of worms has its consequences and a price to pay.

PS. The survey was commissioned by Yahoo and conduct by Blackbox.

Singapore wants to improve ties with Japan

‘Japan is an "important friend" to Singapore and a key contributor to the region, and Singapore hopes to take the relationship between the two countries further…In our early years, Japanese investment made a lot of difference to our economy….’ Hsien Loong said these in Tokyo.

He was polite not to mention that much earlier, in the 1940s, Japan invaded and conquered Singapore, colonized Singapore, and massacred hundreds of Singaporeans during the Occupation. But that was too long ago and Singaporeans have gotten that Singapore was once Syonan To, and many were forced to learn Japanese and to bow to Japanese or be slapped or kicked or even bayoneted.

During this 4 day official visit Japan had in a way apologised indirectly by giving a posthumous award to ‘the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulow nia Flowers - an award Mr Lee described as "a great honour".’ Hsien Loong and Ho Ching were also given an audience with the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and had tea with them. This is another rare honour.

With improving relations between the two countries, maybe the next person to be given a posthumous award in the same Order would be past President SR Nathan. Maybe next year.

A storm is brewing between Singapore and China

The Global Times, a China media, lashed out at Singapore for raising the South China Sea Dispute at the Non Aligned Movement in Venezuela. The hard hitting piece by Global Times pointed out Singapore as the agitator behind the move to include Asean’s view on the Dispute into 17^th NAM Final Document. The Global Times were cocksure who was the culprit behind the Asean proposal.

Singapore’s Ambassador in Beijing, Stanley Loh, protested with an official letter to the Global Times denying Singapore’s role in the last minute fiasco at the NAM. It was all an Asean’s joint stand on the South China Dispute. Singapore is absolutely innocent. Singapore had no part in pushing the Asean proposal. You can see the halo over Singapore’s representatives.

Is this a case of no smoke without fire? All the jockeying around behind closed doors among the Asean members, who said what, who wanted what, who was trying to fix China, were open secrets. Every Asean state must know that China had its Trojan Horses in Asean. And it is pure stupidity and dumb arrogance to take an anti China position behind closed doors and to think China would not know what was going on.

Stanley Loh is quoted in the media today to say, ‘We are disappointed that an established newspaper published this irresponsible report replete with fabrications and unfounded allegations with no regard for the facts’. This is a very strong comment that demands an explanation and a reply. If Global Times could not support its allegations against Singapore, it must apologise to Singapore. It must response and proves itself. Let’s hope Singapore is really innocent or else dirty linens would be aired in the open. The ball is now in the court of Global Times.

What I am sure is that both sides know the truth. Whether Singapore was the main culprit behind the Asean proposal must be crystal clear to both sides. There is no place to hide. The truth will be out. With the main protagonist, the Philippines refusing to pursue the matter, who is behind the drive to want to incite more attention in the South China Sea, to keep the flame burning? To whose advantage would the inclusion of the Asean proposal in the NAM statement be? Who has an agenda for this to happen?

Would Singapore be vindicated and clear of the smear put up by the Global Times? It better be or the consequences would be very ugly and very embarrassing. From the vehement retort by the Singapore Ambassador, Singapore must be innocent. It must be or his whole credential would be at stake and so is Singapore’s credibility in the eyes of the Chinese leadership.

On the other hand the Global Times would not go shooting at Singapore only to have to retract its statement and even to apologise to Singapore by publishing fabrications. The Global Times would not be shooting from the hips if they did not have concrete evidence to justify the attack. This was no error and not a rash act that could fall flat as falsehood, or would it be so?

Which truth is the truth? It is so funny. It is like two persons inside a lift accusing each other of farting.

Would there be a sequel to this storm?