When racists and religious bigots rule

How sad it would be if this island is taken over by racists and religious bigots that went around attacking everyone and claiming to be victimized and discriminated but the truth is that they are the real racists and religious bigots using racism and religion as a tool to attack the innocent.

These racists and religious bigots are hiding in every corner, especially in social media to attack everything under anonymity. They accused everyone as racists or anti their religion at the slightest excuse and putting themselves as the righteous ones. There are also many cases quoted in the main media of such reckless and wild attacks and the innocent victims that have no intention of discriminating anyone ended up feeling so guilty and having to apologize to these racists and religious bigots.

The govt must step in, take a stand on this, be the main arbiter of who and what are racist/ racism and anti religion. The racists and religious bigots must not be allowed to rule the day and dictate to the people what they think things should. These racists and religious bigots must be taken to task for their wild and spurious attacks against the innocent.

Singapore is the most free from racism and religious discrimination country and must not allow the racists and religious bigots to blow their trumpets as and when they like, like Singapore is a highly charged racist country and intolerable to different religions. No one in Singapore has been attacked and spitted at because of the colour of their skin or their religion.

This menace must not be allowed to spread. The govt has the responsibility to nip this in the bud, starting with exposing and naming the racists and religious bigots hiding under anonymity in the internet and attacking the innocent. If this is not stopped, anyone dying his hair blond could also be accused or racism because he is insulting others for not having blond hair, like discriminating against black or brown hair.  The stupidity of racists and religious bigots is beyond your imagination.

Stop racism and religious bigots before they think they could set the agenda for the rest of the people. This scourge is rising and must be stopped immediately. The racists and religious bigots are attacking everyone when they are the real racists and bigots.

Duterte unsettles Asean

The move by Duterte to patch up relations with China, to lean closer to China is now touted as unsettling to Asean. When the Philippines were leaning to the USA, be the barking dog of the USA, raising tension in the South China Sea, that was not unsettling to Asean. What this new slogan is saying is that Asean should be leaning to the USA against China, and this is what the Asean states wanted. What about Thailand and Malaysia turning to China, to raise their relations to a higher level, are they also unsettling to Asean?

Look at it from another angle, the only gang in Asean that is unsettled is the pro US camp, the cronies and barking dogs of the US, aka little USAs. These cronies would be very unsettled now that Asean is no longer the puppet on a string to be dragged on by the nose by the Americans to create tension in the region. Their only agenda, is to let the US use Asean to encircle and contain China of which Obama is so proud and bragging about it.

Would not Asean countries be happier now with lesser tension in the SCS? Would not the Asean countries praise Duterte for maintaining peace in the region and bringing more economic development to his country and bettering the lives of the Pinoys instead of trying to pick a fight that it could not win?

For Singapore, there is nothing to worry about. Singapore is neutral and did not take sides. Singapore will support an independent and neutral Asean balancing the interests of big powers without being a crony or barking dog of any big power.

Let those cronies and barking dogs get unsettled for trying to be little USAs or Trojan Horses. Singapore is a principled country and meant what it said. Singapore does not take sides. Singapore is neutral. How brilliant of our leaders.

Singapore is safe while Asean is being unsettled by more Asean countries turning away from the USA to China. Singapore can sleep well, very well while those American barking dogs would have sleepless nights wondering what to do next, to cosy up to their American masters and to plot against China.

Uniquely Singapore – or another fiasco?

There are more than 2m foreigners in the island of 3.5m population. Several hundred thousands of these foreigners from half past six countries and half past six universities are gainfully employed, happily employed, replacing the supposedly better qualified Singaporeans in their jobs. And the Singaporeans, the experienced and well qualified, the young graduates, are crying for jobs. They are unemployable, underemployed, they are mismatched!

 

And all we heard of is that it is all because of mismatch. And these jobless
Singaporeans are told to go overseas to find their rainbows. Not in Singapore. They are mismatched, they are misfits in their own countries. Their hundreds of thousands dollar education and degrees are useless, cannot eat, cannot find a job. They are only good enough to compete overseas, forget about in the US and Europe if they can’t even find a job in home town, unable to compete with half past six degree foreigners. They should go to third world countries to sell their skills and earn cheap currencies. And don’t think of coming back, don’t think of earning and saving enough to be able to survive back home. The cheap currencies they earned will become cheaper when brought home to spend in the world’s most expensive city. They are failures in Singapore and how could they expect the third world countries to hire them and pay them well? Even if they wanted to, they could not afford to.

Singapore is not for Singaporeans. Singaporeans are only good enough to work in third world countries. And the govt knows that and are helping them with a lot of courses and training programmes to equip them to survive in third world countries. Probably they will teach them how to lower their expectations, how to live life in a third world countries, how to get use to third world standard of living, how to tighten their belts.

Singapore is good only for foreigners, especially those from third world countries. These are the highly skilled and trained talents Singapore needs, with half past six degrees. Though they came from half past six universities, they have no mismatch problems. They matched beautifully with the needs of this first world city. The proof, a few hundred thousands of them are already here, employed in jobs that mismatched Singaporeans cannot do.

Did anyone say Uniquely Singapore? With so many silly mismatched PMETs, what more proof is needed to confirm that Singaporeans are daft? The daft Singaporeans don’t even know why they are unemployable, why they became mismatched, misfits. The only thing they know, is that they are told that this is the reason. And everyone accepts this silly reason with no further question asked. Several hundred thousands of half past six foreigners are fit, not mismatched and taking over the jobs of the misfit Singaporeans. To laugh or to cry?

 

And we are boasting about having three of the world’s best universities run by foreigners, the bulk of the academic staff and administrative staff is foreigners. I am waiting for the Parliament to be taken over by foreigners and pronouncing that Singaporeans are misfits to be in Parliament and should go elsewhere to live. This is only a matter of time.

Where is the real mismatch?

My adventure into alien territory

It took me a long time to decide on this adventure, to venture into alien territory on a Saturday morning. I have never done this for decades and whatever memories of this place were from the time when I was a kid. Finally, with much reluctance, I bravely trotted into this corner of Singapore that I have never treaded for a long time.

I arrived just about a quarter to 10 in the morning. I was a bit lost with the geography of the land and had to ask to get to where I want to be. I was shown this queue machine and got my Q number.  There were quite a lot of people and also ample staff to guide the new visitors like me. I waited for 10 minutes before my Q number flashed on the big screens. I registered and the customer relations officer was all helpful and friendly. What a pleasant start on this adventure. She even explained to me the procedure to save waiting time. I could make an appointment from home by logging into the system. She apologetically said I would have to for an hour before my appointment for just walking in.
To me, recollecting on my childhood experience, an hour of waiting was fair game. I went for coffee and still had a lot to time to take a look at the waiting area and the Q numbers called. Wow, another 100 numbers ahead of me.  Now how to kill one hour of time doing nothing? Ok, visited the restroom. My, another big surprise, spanking clean, dry and odourless, as good as home. Because it was so comfortable, because I had one hour to spare, I took my time. I thought I had more than half an hour and strolled out casually only to find I just missed my turn. Spoke to the customer relations officer and she took up my case and yes, I was called immediately to see the doctor.

I have this blurring or clouding of vision on one eye for a couple of years.  After the preliminaries he asked which hospital would I want to get the cataract done. I told him to get me the cheapest. He broke into laughter. Ok, the most convenient is Ng Teng Fong Hospital. What about the fees? Not to worry, they charged the same rate. It was a quick appointment. And I also asked for some medicine for my flu and cough. All over in less than 5 minutes.

I went to the Pharmacy and collected my medicine in less than 5 minutes and happily wanted to leave the place. Then I remembered her saying to go to the counter behind. Oops, I got to pay for my medicine. I could have just gone home without knowing that I got to pay for it.

At the payment counter the cashier said three eightty five. I said, uh, so expensive. She was apologetic and explained that I had two kinds of medicine. Ok, gave her $10 and got my change of $6.15. There was GST but absorbed by the govt, ie not GST.

My next stop was for an appointment for my ops. The cashier said go to counter 10 and press 3 on the machine. A bit puzzled but just did as told. Found the counter, found the machine, and yes there was a button for 3. Press it and was wondering what’s next. Oh, a Q number.  That was wbat the button 3 was for. Took the Q number and wait. This time waited for 15 minutes, the longest wait in the whole process.

When my turn came, the customer relations officer entered my particulars and said Ng Teng Fong Hospital would contact me for the appointment. And that’s it, all over in less than an hour, without making an appointment in advance.

This was my adventure to a Polyclinic on a Saturday morning. It was simply not the same as decades ago when waiting time was long and waiting unnecessarily was the norm.  Everything was so organized and befitting for a first world experience. I could not find any fault with the organization, the set up and the staff. It was clockwork precision, too efficient that I almost missed my appointment when I thought I would have an hour to wait but actually half an hour.

Every staff was professional and courteous, and, you don’t believe this… I thought I was entering alien land, at least that was what I was told. If I am not mistaken, all the staff, including the doctor, was Singaporean. At least their names and the way they sounded when they spoke. No aliens!
Whoever reinvented the Polyclinics, the organization, the processes and procedures, and the staff operating them, one could not ask for better. This is the standard to be copied by all the ministries.  My adventure was in a way a very pleasant experience and a very comfortable one, for $3.85, inclusive of consultation and medicine.

This is my Singapore, the Singapore Singaporeans are proud to call home, the efficiency and quality of service that made Singapore a hallmark and model for the rest of the world.

Please keep Singapore this way. I must say I was happily surprised that the Polyclinics are still Singaporean territory and in tip top condition.

Asean – The Obama foul up

Asean was originally an organization built by its founding fathers to be a neutral and independent regional organization free of big power interference. Over the years, willingly or otherwise, some members started to lean closer with the Americans, even signing military alliances to be part of the American Empire. Though Asean still maintained its neutrality, and the American allies played their American card close to their chest, gradually the mask came off, and they openly took sides with the Americans and fronting up for American interests. On the Chinese camp, a couple of new Asean countries joined the organization wearing their historical ties with China on their chests.

The expansion of Asean also led to the transformation of Asean with two opposing camps and allies strutting around with pride that they are allies of big powers. The veneer thin Asean neutrality was history and no longer touted as the key principle of what Asean stood for. The myth of a neutral Asean, built on the cardinal principle of neutrality has become bullshit.

As recently as the beginning of the year, the Americans were boasting about their pivot to Asia, a veiled expansionist move to stay in Asia by relocating their military hardware into the region. This move was generally supported by some Asean countries, namely Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore and to a certain extent Thailand. The rest of the Asean states were neutral except for Laos and Cambodia that were traditionally China’s close neigbours. Asean totally ignored the interest of Indonesia as the big brother and brought in a monster to rule the region, making Indonesia looking like a part of the Empire.

Obama was riding high and American projection of military power in Southeast Asia was as good as done with the Philippines and a few hardcore Asean states openly and covertly egging the Americans to stay in the region. Obama had 5 aces in his hand in Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. And the Americans agitated the SCS dispute to its full advantage, encouraging these countries to confront China and to make counter claims on Chinese islands.

All this is history. The aces in Obama’s hand have turned to 2s. The Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have switched sides. They refused to provoke China on the SCS claims, choosing to court China for economic development and trade and opting to talk and negotiate with China for a peaceful solution. The tension and threats of war in the South China Sea fizzled out. Obama is now left with only Vietnam and Singapore as the two aces in his hand.

China on the contrary have turned around and now holding 5 aces in Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia with the rest of Asean states remaining neutral other than Vietnam and Singapore.  Vietnam is looking like making a U turn as well with China waving the carrots of more trade and economic development, with no interference in their domestic affairs.

Obama’s hand is now weak, as weak as his last few days in Office. There is an Asean Revolution against the Americans. The stoking of tension and probability of war in the region failed. What Ash Carter said about isolating China has backfired. It is the USA being isolated and the last nail onto this coffin would be the killing of the TPP, the futile American attempt to isolate China.

Bye bye America. Or as Duterte has said, America, you lost. Southeast Asia would not be dragged into a war and turmoil at the will of the Americans. The Asean leaders are not that stupid (there are exceptions) to be at the becks and calls of the Americans to destroy their countries and the lives of their people. They want peace and progress for their people, not war, not death and destruction.

The American nightmare is just beginning.

PS. Happy Deepavali to all our Indian brothers and sisters.