Next PM, a succession plan that was not there

The statestimesreview has posted an article on Inderjit’s comment about Hsien Loong’s succession plan, and that is too late and too little. Here are a few paragraphs of the post,

‘Former PAP MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Inderjit Singh yesterday (Dec 26) criticised Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for dilly dallying on his decision for a successor, saying that it is already too late to choose one now. The ex-PAP member said the successor should have at least 10 years of experience as a Deputy Prime Minister as preparation before taking up the PM role, like as was the case for Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong:

“The next PM should ideally have served for two terms as a deputy and be given the exposure and responsibility on major policies before he or she can confidently take on the job. The future Prime Minister should have started taking key duties by now… It is already too late.”….

Former PAP NMP Eugene Tan told state media Today that he is worried that the new PAP administration have no time to be ready for governance:

“For a government that has always emphasised renewal and succession, this raises legitimate questions about the readiness of the fourth generation leadership, if not about the much vaunted process. By the time PM Lee steps down, he (could) be the oldest of our Prime Ministers.”

There are currently two front runners for the PM race – former army general Minister Chan Chun Sing and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat. The army general however lack etiquette and depth to lead due to his numerous gaffes. Minister Heng Swee Keat may be more thoughtful and measured his words and actions, but his health was a major concern after he suffered a stroke during a Cabinet meeting in 2016. …’

My question, is there really a plan? PAP always bragged about its meticulous planning and thought processes, to be proactive, to plan ahead, and the succession plan cannot be an exception.

Taking Inderjit’s thinking, a typical PAP mindset that foretold of a dynastic thinking behind everything, that a political party is so entrenched that it has taken for granted that all the future PMs will be from the PAP, and PAP would forever be in power.  With these assumptions, a PM must undergo 10 year apprenticeship to be fit to be a PM, to have time to learn the ropes on how to do the job of a PM. Without this training no one is fit to be a PM. This is typical ruling party hogwash.

How many PMs or Presidents in the world have such a privilege and opportunity to undergo 10 years or more of apprenticeship? And how did they perform for those that went through formal apprenticeship scheme and those that did not? Were those that had gone through political apprenticeship performed better than those without?

According to this PAP mantra, the one with apprenticeship scheme must be performing very well against those that did not. So opposition parties that won an election would be bound to fail as they would not have the chance for apprenticeship scheme, not just to be PM, but also as ministers and MPs.

Given that this is a serious premise to start with, why are the two potential PM material not acting PMs like Chok Tong and Hsien Loong to prepare them for the job? Why were the two DPMs appointed when they are not going to be the next PM and having the privilege of acting as PMs, ie learning the ropes?

Is this not queer? If there is a succession plan, it has to be put in place at least 5 years ago, with the crowned prince appointed and going through his apprenticeship. Who is the next crown prince and undergoing apprenticeship training? None? If this is the answer, where is the succession plan? It is one thing to put it into motion and another to talk about it without implementing it.

If Chan Chun Sing and Heng Swee Kiat are the successors and be put to take on heavier responsibilities, then the two DPMs would have nothing to do. How can, paying two multi million dollar DPMs for doing nothing?

The other reality or truth, many heads of govt around the world did not have the privilege of an apprenticeship scheme and are doing fine, very fine, excellent in their jobs. How much value should one put into such a political apprenticeship scheme except for princes of kingdoms and sons of dictatorship?

An apprenticeship scheme is not the prerequisite to become a PM or to become a good PM. A dud will never learn or will not learn anything good. Political leadership often is not nurtured but a product of history, a leader of the time thrown out by society and circumstances to deal with the issues of state and people’s livelihood. A leader in most circumstances is born and made by the events of the time, by history, a calling. A textbook leader is just what it is, a textbook leader.

Is Singapore a state of the USA?

The media has reported widely about the corruption case involving Keppel O&M and a Brazilian company. And somehow the US Justice Dept is the authority on this case as if it has jurisdiction over Keppel O&M operating in Brazil or jurisdiction over commercial crimes in Brazil. Below are some details of the case posted by Kenneth Jeyaretnam in TRE.
 
‘Quietly over Christmas the US Justice Department announced that it had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with Keppel Offshore and Marine. Under the agreement Keppel O & M, a unit of Keppel Corp, will pay $422 million to resolve charges that it paid $55 million in bribes to Brazilian politicians to win business from the state oil company Petrobras, an offence under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
 
According to the WSJ, “Keppel admitted in court documents that it paid about $55 million in bribes to officials at Brazilian state-owned oil company Petróleo Brasileiro and the then-governing party in Brazil from 2001 to 2014 to win 13 contracts with Petrobras, as the company is also known, and another company. It paid the bribes through outsize commissions to an intermediary, who in turn made payments to the officials and the political party, prosecutors said.”’
 
Keppel O&M committed an offence under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? OK, one of the parties involved in the corruption is a US citizen. This person could be charged under US law. Does this mean that Keppel O&M, a Singaporean company operating, maybe registered in Brazil would also come under an American Law, governed by an American Law? How could this be? How could this happen? Is Singapore or Brazil a subject member of the American Empire that an American Law can be applied over them?
 
I can’t believe this. This is just like the Americans legislating a law to conduct relations with Taiwan and telling China to obey and respect this American Law. Like that the Americans can fabricate all kinds of laws to govern all the countries in the world.
 
Can other countries also legislate laws to govern citizens and organisations of other countries including American citizens and corporations? Can China, Russia or Singapore come out with their own Foreign corrupt Practices Act to apply to everyone, including Americans?
 
If the crime of Keppel O&M were committed in US territory, there is no question about US jurisdiction. This offence was committed in Brazil, why would Keppel O&M subject itself to American laws and sheepishly and willingly admit to the crime, accept the fines of an American court?
 
I don’t see why Keppel O&M should submit itself to American jurisdiction, to be judged by the American courts, with no objection, no protest as if this is a right and normal thing to do, and so happy about it. Are Singaporeans subjects of the American Empire?
 
The American Empire rules! Singapore has to accept the rule of the American Empire? Singapore and Brazil are sovereign states, not states within the USA.

Khaw Boon Wan acting PM

Khaw Boon Wan was appointed acting PM while Hsien Loong was on leave. He assumed the position for one week while Teo Chee Hean stood in for the other week. Tharman was not mentioned or appointed as the acting PM while being the second DPM like Chee Hean.
 
This move has caused an uproar in the social media speculating that Tharman was by passed. One even said in the TRE that this is a signal to Tharman that he was not going to be the next PM. I disagree. I think it was very likely that Tharman was also on leave during the same period as Hsien Loong. So it was a non issue at all.
 
Even if my reading is not right, it does not matter to Tharman as he has made it clear many times, that he is not interested in being the PM and not the right man for the job. He has vehemently denied that he wanted the job.
 
So what is all this noise about, except for nothing. It is not what the social media think who is best suited to be the PM. It is not what I think who is the best person to be the PM. It is not what Cheng Bock thinks who is the best man for the PM.
 
Though the situation is such that Tharman appears to be the best man for the PM job, he is not interested. Period. What if the inner circle of the PAP thinks that he is the right man and voted for him to be the PM? This would be tricky. Would Tharman then reluctantly accept his fate, as the chosen one, as the reluctant PM of Singapore?
 
For the time being, this so called message to Tharman is just pure hogwash. The most probable reason as I said, was that Tharman was on leave. There is no reason to read more to it than just a matter of coincidence. Nah, it is not a matter of a confluence of events. Hsien Loong would not do such a darn thing to Tharman. Singapore is a democracy and the people choose the PM. Oops, sorry, the people do not choose the PM. Only the inner circle of the PAP chooses and decides who should be the PM of Singapore.

Singaporeans alternative career opportunities

It used to be getting a degree and finding a cosy executive or professional jobs as the career choice. In the early years of our independence, getting a degree would mean a relatively comfortable life afterwards. The pursuit of education was then the right path to a better future, to own the 5Cs. Parents poured in thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars, for their children to get that much coveted degree.
 
While the cost of education has risen to a point when the returns, financially, for the money spent becomes a diminishing return as in economic theory, this did not deter the parents from their hopes of a better life for their children. Why spent so much just to earn so little in a part time job, in contract job, or in driving Uber or Grab taxis? It just doesn’t make sense anymore.
 
Ministers have chipped in to say a degree cannot be eaten and some even say a degree is not necessary. The young are encouraged to take on skilled jobs, like crane drivers and hawkers. The cosy jobs should go to the foreign talents from the third world armed with fictitious or fake degrees or fake work experience. These are the talents that are deserving of the cosy jobs that Singaporeans are no longer fit to be employed, even if they get their degrees from the two native world class universities. Don’t laugh, when a country is run by silly people this is the end result.
 
The new graduates and undergraduates understood the new realities and the advices by the ministers. They no longer expect to be employed in the cosy jobs they once longed for. They know that they are not good enough and these jobs are reserved for foreign ‘talents’. There is an article in Channel News Asia highlighting the latest choice of our young undergraduates doing interns, as hawker assistants.
 
Here is the report, ‘The 'hawker interns' selling prawn mee: Choosing the hawker life over the tried and tested route
 
Joanne Heng and Chan Kheng Yee were about to graduate from university, and were looking for a full-time job. But a "random" job ad online set them on the path to hawker life.’
 
The young Singaporeans, the generation XYZ are practical people, just like their parents and grandparents. They are not choosy about the jobs they are doing, as long as there is a job. Now who are the silly guys that said Singaporeans are choosy and difficult to please when jobs are concerned? And these young people are also just as obedient (read dumb) as their parents, and would listen to the wise govt on their career choices and life style. They understood that a degree cannot be eaten. A skilled is more important to get a job. So more and more will be turning to become hawkers, crane drivers and Grab and Uber drivers. They know that they could not compete with the best of the best of foreign fake talents possessing genuine fake and fictitious degrees or degrees from half past six universities.
 
There is hope, a different kind of hope, and a different kind of future for our young graduates from our world best universities. Their expectations in life are simple, realistic and not over demanding. Any job is better than no job or part time jobs. Did they ever think of the disappointments in their parents, their dreams crashed when after spending thousands of dollars, getting a degree from world best universities, their daft children would end up as hawkers and drivers? Could they feel the pain of their dejected parents, their pride of having children graduated from universities only to become manual workers?
 
Welcome to the brave new world. The parents should save their money. There is no need to put their children to universities if the expectation is to be hawkers, crane drivers and cab drivers.
 
PS. If cooking to be a hawker is good enough, they could learn all the tips from their mothers or grandmothers, at home. No need to pay expensive tuition fees and mug for examinations.
 
Dunno to laugh or to cry. Stupidity has no cure. Oh, this is the kind of things that our reporters and journalists are assigned to write about. So intellectually stimulating. Though they may not get a Pulitzer, there are many prizes that the local media industry could dish out for them to be recognised as best reporters and journalists. This is progress. Our graduates should be encouraged to become hawkers and Uber or Grab drivers. Our reporters can write about them as the new and desirable lifestyles of graduates. It is a dream job to be Grab or Uber drivers and also to be hawkers.

Trump declares national emergency - Obama on the run

There is a video discussing about the fate of Obama, that he is wanted for committing felony, and could serve time behind bars. Just watch this, https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=obama+on+the+run&&view=detail&mid=ECA436FE9D9066B1EE7BECA436FE9D9066B1EE7B&rvsmid=A7BC92DBD2C8F2257668A7BC92DBD2C8F2257668&FORM=VDQVAP
 
Though this video is a bit dated, the latest declaration of a state of national emergency is still unfolding. Trump is out for the blood of Obama, Hillary and Comey, the trio that abused the power and expertise of intelligence agencies to listen to phones of presidential candidate Trump and also in hacking election results. Yes, election results can be hacked. What does this means? It means they could jig the results of an election to favour a candidate. Obama did that in 2008 and they did the same thing for Hillary against Trump. But this time it did not work. Why?
 
My understanding, they fixed the results with certain percentages of the votes to favour their candidate. Unfortunately, after loading on the results, it still failed because the votes in favour of Trump were so huge, so overwhelming that the loading still could not help Hillary to win.
 
This kind of hacking or jigging of election could mean two kinds of results. The favoured candidate lost marginally because of an overwhelming votes for the other candidate. On the other hand, if the voters voted in favour of the favoured candidate, the result would show an overwhelming win for the favoured candidate as the votes would add to the already loaded results.
 
The Obama/Hillary/Comey camp was very sure that this could be done as they had done it, according to the video. So after losing, they were confident to accuse the Russians of hacking the results. It could be done. It could be done, and they knew it.
The key point, even in the USA, election results can be hacked, rigged, and fixed. The revelation of this truth is going to shock the world. Votings can be hacked if it is computerized, electronic hacking. Anything computerized can be rigged by the hackers if they can gain access to the data. And no one is wiser.
 
Now we should sit back and see how Trump bring the election cheats and put them behind bars. Obama is hiding in Tahiti, French Polynesia, with no extradition treaty with the USA. If Obama remains there, you know that he is damn guilty.
 
There is now news or fake news that Trump has ordered the seizure of properties and assets of Obama and Hillary. Now if only this is real, the world is going to see something really big.