A Singaporean to head NUS

My  alma mater has made Singaporeans proud by believing in the abilities of Singaporeans as among the best academics in the world. After the disaster in NTU where the heart of Chinese education continues to be headed by foreigners and the incident of Chinese language not allowed, it is a pleasant surprise to see NUS raising the flag of Singapore in appointing another Singaporean to be the President of our premier university. I would not know where to hide my face if all the heads of Singapore's universities are headed by foreigners.

This was reported in Channel News Asia on 29 Jul 17.

SINGAPORE: The National University of Singapore (NUS) has named Professor Tan Eng Chye as its new president, an appointment that will take effect in January 2018.

Prof Tan, a mathematician and an NUS alumnus, has been the university’s provost for the past 10 years. He will succeed current president Tan Chorh Chuan who will be seconded to the Ministry of Health, said NUS in a news release on Friday (Jul 28).

The incoming president, 56, said he will be focusing on three areas - lifelong learning, personalised learning and inclusive learning....

If Singapore and Singaporeans do not believe in Singaporeans, then this country would go to the dogs. Singapore belongs to Singaporeans, true blue Singaporeans, not those instant tree Singaporeans. Singaporeans need to take back control of this country before it is taken over by foreigners and instant trees.

I am proud of my alma mater.

The CNA also reported this,'
 

'NUS also announced the appointment of Professor Ho Teck Hua as its new senior deputy president and provost from January 2018. He is currently the deputy president (Research & Technology), and heads two national research and development programmes in artificial intelligence and data science.

“With these two appointments, NUS will have a truly outstanding leadership team,” said NUS chairman Hsieh Fu Hua who led the search for the new president.

The myth of Bhutan’s happiness

Recently Singaporeans have been bombarded with the myth that Bhutan is the heaven on earth where the Bhutanese are the happiest people in the world. There are some truths on this statement without the ’buts’ being exposed. The happy Bhutanese are as happy as the caged canaries. A caged bird’s happiness is about living in a cage with food provided, secure and safe from the paws of a hungry cat and ignorant of what lies outside the cage.
 
Bhutan is in all definition a protectorate of India. It has an agreement with India, supposedly signed voluntarily and happily, that India guides its foreign policies ie India decides its relations with other states. In the current border dispute with China, or India’s border dispute with China by actually hijacking Bhutan’s border to start a dispute with China, it was repeatedly highlighted that Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with China. It did not say that Bhutan also did not have diplomatic relations with all five powers of the UN Security Council. Why would not Bhutan want to have relations with the five powers or with more countries of the world? Because India decides it to be so. Having relations with other powers and countries would be bad as it would reduce the influence and control of India over Bhutan.
 
Why didn’t Bhutan wants to participate in the BRI project? A landlocked country would definitely benefitted from more access to the rest of the world. No, India would not allow that. India would not allow Bhutan to have FDIs other than those from India. Japan and European countries and now China would like to invest in Bhutan. But permission was not allowed. Whose permission? Bhutan or India?
Bhutan has very little trading activities and trade relations with other countries, not allowed to participate in such activities. On the surface, Bhutanese love to remain in their present state of heaven and are very happy with their way of life and want to be protected to be in this state of living forever.
 
Is this what the Bhutanese want or what India imposed on the Bhutanese? The current border trouble with China, or is it Bhutan’s trouble with China or India’s trouble with China? India is claiming that China wants to invest in Bhutan, wants more relations with Bhutan and wants Bhutan to participate in the BRI project. But Bhutan refused and wanted to remain a protectorate of India, did not want to open up, want to remain a happy cage bird, look after and fed by India, and to remain a nation of very happy canaries. Oops.
 
What do you think is the truth? Do the Bhutanese have any aspirations and ambitions to be a free people, to decide what is good for them, to be a normal country like everyone else? Are they really happy to be canaries in a cage?
 
The current border dispute is India's excuse to move in troops into Bhutan to strengthen its control over Bhutan in the name of protecting Bhutan. And Bhutan could hardly say anything within the approval of India. The canary can only sing but not speak up for its own interests

Time to defang the evil Empire

The UN has started a move, led by the small nations of the world to ban nuclear weapons. But knowing how powerful is the evil Empire, this move is at best dreaming and chest thumping. The evil Empire will not give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons. Without the nuclear weapons it would not be able to bully every country that it chose to demonise by threatening to conduct preemptive nuclear strike on them.
 
The evil Empire is sending its nuclear forces of aircraft carriers and bombers to the east of the Mediterranean Sea poised to attack Syria. It is also sending its nuclear fleet and nuclear bombers to threaten the North Koreans as well as Russia and China.
The North Koreans have warned that the evil Empire is flirting too close to ignite a nuclear war. Many people still did not know how destructive is this coming war? It would escalate beyond control and half the world would be wiped out and become inhospitable for centuries to come, becoming nuclear wasteland. And to the Americans, please, the American continent would not be spared either as the top target in a nuclear war. You will be wiped out while your soldiers are out there wiping out other countries.
Is this what you want? No, you do not think you too would be victims of a nuclear holocaust? You think your so called nuclear shield, the stupid Thaad system, could protect you from a nuclear war? The trial shooting of pre planned inert targets is proof that it would be able to shoot down real targets that are designed to evade the Thaad missiles?
 
For the rest of the world, pray hard that your leaders did not get involved and be spared from becoming collaterals in this war. The bad news is that even if they did the right thing, not to get involved, the nuclear clouds would be all over the world and there is no escape.
 
When would the American masses put a stop to the evil men and women in charge and stop this menace from destroying human civilization? There will be no Sunday morning cuppa of hot coffee or football games to watch, no more Saturday night fever or basketball or baseball games, no more hamburgers or hotdogs to tuck in. The devastation would be horrendous. You want your good life to be destroyed by your irresponsible and reckless monsters in the White House, in the Pentagon, in Washington?
 
You still have a chance to stop them before it is too late. The mad men and women and their madness will drag you into the sea of fire. You have to take charge now and throw out all the mad men and mad women wanting to go to war, to provoke a nuclear war with North Korea or in Syria and surrender the peace and good life you are having today.
 
God save the poor Americans, they are inviting disasters onto themselves thinking that they would be spared. They could destroy others and others could not destroy them. The monsters in Washington do not care a shit how many million people would be annihilated when this war starts. Not to worry, the North Koreans may not hit you, but don’t count on China and Russia not hitting you. It is World War 3, damn it! Keep on threatening others, keep on provoking others. Just keep trying.
 
The time to remove all the nuclear weapons on mother earth is here. Get rid of them or they will rid you from mother earth. Small nations must stand up, especially the principled ones, to blow their trumpets loud and clear, that nuclear weapons are harmful not only to small nations but to the whole world.

Malay is Muslim, Muslim not necessarily Malay

This controversy over what is a Malay and what is a Muslim has precipitated finally, thanks to the Constitution on the definition of what is a Malay or who can represent the Malay community as a minority President. According to Article 19B of the Singapore Constitution, "any person, whether of the Malay race or otherwise, who considers himself to be a member of the Malay community and who is generally accepted as a member of the Malay community by that community" is qualified to run as a candidate for the reserved EP for Malays.
 
The dichotomy between a Malay and a Muslim has never been in question or was a non issue before. It was not important enough or there was reason to want a clearer definition of a Malay and a Muslim. It is common knowledge that all or nearly all Malays are Muslim, with a few exceptions. For those Malays that are non Muslim, I am not sure if the Malay community still regards them as Malays or ex communicado.
 
On the other hand, all Muslims are not necessarily Malay. One can be a Muslim from any race or nationality. A Muslim can be European, Caucasian, Arabs, Pakstani, Indian, African or Chinese and living totally different ways of life. Ok the Singapore Constitution understood this and further clarified that a Malay is not only a Muslim but practises Malay way of life. The ‘otherwise’ in the Constitution is very extensive and inclusive to the extent that anyone not of the Malay race can be considered as a Malay if the Malay community, reads as the Committee set up by the govt, accepts the person as a Malay.
 
The big issue, what is this reserved EP all about? Isn’t it about the election of a Malay rather than anyone not of Malay ethnicity? A Malay is a Malay by ethnicity. Period. Though this is further complicated by mixed marriages, a person that has no Malay ethnicity in him despite him practising the Malay way of life and being a Muslim, is not a Malay by any means except by a round about way of interpreting what is written in the Constitution.
 
Coming to this big question of a Malay that is not a Muslim. Does the Malay community regard a Malay that is a non Muslim a Malay or no longer a Malay? What about the legal interpretation of a Malay? Is it by ethnicity or by religion? Legally, I would presume that Malay parents or mixed Malay parents that are not Muslims but chose to register their children as Malay at birth have the right to do so and no one can deny that they are Malays when registered. Things get more complicated should non Malay Muslim parents decide to register their children as Malay at birth. What would be the status of such persons legally? Malay or non Malay? Going forward, with the EP pie beckoning, would Pakistanis, Indians and Pinoys choose to register their children as Malay to take advantage of this loophole? Would the babas also do likewise?
 
How would this debate continue and would it lead to a better definition of what constitute a person being accepted as a Malay or would the definition in the Constitution be final and the end of the story? Is this mess necessary or can be avoided? There is no such problem before this minority EP thing.

Alternative News from across the Causeway

This is what a Malaysian said of corruption in high places in Malaysia. Where got problem? It is ok if the corruption did not lead to high cost of living. Who is going to complain when seeing a govt doctor cost RM1. Who is going to complain when the delivery of a child in govt hospital cost RM1?
 
Then there is public housing where a 2 bedroom apartment cost RM50,000. Complain for what? This is good govt, a govt that looks after the welfare of the people. What corruption? Who cares?
 
Najib just announced a RM1.42b package for Felda. How is this to be spread among the people? This is what AGENCIES reported, ‘Cash incentives of RM475 million, or RM5,000 to each settler. Forgiving RM128 million in debt for settlers who took out Felda Global Ventures equity loans. Debt forgiveness of RM519 million, or up to RM5,000 for each settler that had taken part in Felda’s scheme to replant unproductive oil palms, and A special fund of RM300 million to be set up for 2017 to 2021, to help with replanting operational debts of RM40,000 or more.
 
And everyone knows that this is pre election budget. The Malaysian govt is buying votes and the people are not worry as the govt would not be coming up with high taxes to take back everything they gave during the election. Why not? If the govt is giving money to the people, this is the kind of govt that the people will vote for. Why vote for a govt that promises everything under the sky but what comes after the election are tax hikes in everything. Malaysians are smart, unlike the daft Singaporeans, got conned and conned after every GE and still never learn.
 
The Malaysians love their govt, a govt that takes care of them and their welfare. It is ok if they take care of themselves, pocket a bit more, but give the people more also.
Which govt do you think is good for the people? Which govt is not corrupt? What is important is whether they are making life better for the people or not.
 
What do you think?

PS. Anyone can help verify the numbers?