Fake news or the real stuff?

'At end of China visit, DPM Teo highlights good relations and commonalities between Singapore and China'

Mr Teo said the visit was a good opportunity to reunite with longtime friends, forge new relationship ties, as well as to discover new ways for cooperation between the two nations, including a new bilateral council to be established in Shanghai for the purpose of exploring new paths of engagement for Singapore and Shanghai....

 Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean was jubilant in expressing his satisfaction in the country’s dealings with China as according to him,  “Bilateral relations between China and Singapore have grown from strength to strength in the past year.” He further said that Singapore’s relationship with China has progressed “very well” over the past year and hopes this can be taken further in 2019.
On his six-day visit to China, DPM Teo was welcomed by top Chinese anti-graft official Zhao Leji at the Great Hall of the People where both men reaffirmed the two countries’ “excellent state of bilateral relations.”....

The officials from both countries were one in their opinion that Singapore-China relations have been “progressive, forward-looking and strategic,” and they have committed to working closer together in a wide range of areas, from science and technology to trade and culture...

They also vowed to keep to the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.'

How many of you reading the above will say this is fake news, or how many of you will say this is real? What if I say the above is copied from a social media site, theindependent.sg, would this fact helps one to decide whether this is real or fake news?

Although many people in high places have been badmouthing social media as the source of fake news, unreliable, undependable, I think this is real, after discounting the dark days of fake courts of UN in the Hague ruling on the South China Sea claim by the Philippines, the Terrex affair, the rules of laws, the principle stand of not allowing foreigners to influence the policies of the govt, the regularity of unkind news about China, and the brazen 'Gang of Four' attacks on China, I must confirm that Singapore's relations have always been very good, excellent, with China.

Nowadays, because of the fake news law, I have this habit of asking people to feel free to disagree with me, especially my opinions posted here.

Oh, with Singapore China relations in such an excellent state, I think in the not too distance future Singapore would likely sign a CECA with China and also offer Chinese naval ships to make permanent calls at Changi Naval Base, to balance against the American Empire instead of to balance against Chinese presence in the region. Then the excellent relationship will be elevated to a strategic partnership level.

What do you think?

Foreign academics concerned about fake news law in Singapore

'Nearly 100 academics worldwide have expressed concern over Singapore’s proposed law against “fake news”, warning it could threaten academic freedom and hurt the city-state’s ambition to become a global education hub.

The government this month unveiled a bill containing tough measures, including powers for ministers to order sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter to put warnings next to posts authorities deem false, and extreme cases, to take them down.

If an action is deemed malicious and damaging to Singapore’s interests, companies could be hit with fines of up to Sg$1 million ($740,000), while individuals could face jail terms of up to 10 years.

Authorities in the tightly-controlled country insist the measures are necessary to prevent online falsehoods sowing social divisions, but the move has sparked anger from press freedom groups and tech giants such as Facebook and Google.

Now ninety-seven academics from around the world with expertise in Singapore and Asia have signed a letter warning the proposed legislation “may deter scholarship and set precedents harmful to global academia”.'

The above is part of an AFP article posted in theindependent,sg.

What is the problem? I could not see any. Any of you see any problem with fake news and fake news law? I have my reasons to say that there is no problem, all fake news or violation of fake news law would be carefully scrutinised by Shanmugam and he has expressed in Parliament that he would take undue care to make sure fake news are fake news and no unnecessary abuse of law will take place. Not to worry, trust our leaders. No one in the world has there be such a pool of honourable and righteous leaders, men and women of unquestionable integrity, to govern the people and to take care of the people for the good of the people. If such incorruptible individuals cannot be trusted with the implementation of a simple law like fake news, then no govt leaders in any part of the world can be trusted. We have the best govt in the whole world with the brightest and good as priests and priestess people in the govt. What more can you ask for. They are near to infallible, like they said, immortals.

Another way to look at this is to look at the American govt. They are not only the policemen of the world but also defenders of human rights and freedom of speech and expression. If the Americans did not protest, did not see anything wrong, then it can be safely concluded that the fake news law must be good and unquestionable. We are a rule of law country and we maintain our laws judiciously and we respect our laws more than the Ten Commandments. Throughout our history there has been no cases of abuse of the law, abuse of our laws by the ruling govts of the day. Is that not good enough proof and assurance that this law is good law and good people will make sure the law will be used only when necessary.

I think everything is crying wolf, just like the Americans warning the world that Huawei is dangerous or Chinese loans will only lead to debt traps and nothing else. It is all hypes and fear mongering when really there  is absolutely no problem at all.

What do you think? OK you may disagree with me, I know many of you will. I only use my freedom of expression to say what I think is right.  See, there is freedom of expression and the fake news law will just be used against people that misuse the freedom of expression to spread fake news. As long as you are telling the truth, like I just did, you can be sure you will be safe from the fake news law.

Do not be surprised the Americans or Donald Trump will come out in support of our fake news law.

Boy PM biting more than he can chew

The highly controversial and political detention of Meng Wanzhou by the boy PM in Canada is still unresolved. China would not take it without giving the boy PM a kick in the ass. Other than a few Canadians being arrested and one sentenced to death, China is adding more economic pressure on Canada. Let me just talked a bit about the drug trafficker that was sentenced to death in China.
 
When relations were good, China could be very lenient to Canadians breaking Chinese laws. The Canadian drug trafficker was caught for trying to smuggle a quarter ton of drugs to Australia. Mind you, smuggling a quarter of an ounce of drugs in China will get the death sentence. His lawyer arrogantly appealed against the 15 year jail term, hoping for a lesser sentence. He could get his way when China was treating Canada as a very good friend. Unfortunately after the appealed, boy PM went crazy to arrest Meng Wanzhou under the instruction of the Americans and stubbornly and stupidly claiming that it was all a matter of rule of law, ie Canada is a country that respect law and China has no laws or does not respect law despite behaving like a gangster in arresting Meng Wanzhou, a top Huawei executive that did not commit any crime in Canada.
 
With such stupidity, the poor drug trafficker found himself in the centre of an unnecessary political conflict and ended not only failing in his appeal but the lenient 15 year sentence was converted to what he should be given in the first place, a death sentence.
 
In the economic front, China has discouraged its citizens from visiting Canada as tourists, stopped importing Canadian Canola oil resulting in Canada losing tens of billions of dollars and more when salmon, seafood, rapeseed, and other agricultural goods were also banned from the Chinese market. 250,000 Canadian workers are risking losing their jobs because of the stupidity of the boy PM who is still clinging to his stupid rule of law garbage and refusing to admit that he has turned himself into a pawn of Donald Trump, and Canada and Canadian farmers are paying heavily for it.
 
When would this stupid boy come to his senses and walk away from his stupidity? The farmers are crying and screaming and making many appeals in the Parliament demanding the boy PM to resolve the issue but in vain. As long as the stupid boy PM, incidentally his credential to be a PM was being the son of the former PM and a drama school teacher, he is probably thinking that all the drama is just another great performance and nothing serious, it was all play acting.
 
Do the Canadians deserve such a silly PM and his equally silly Foreign Minister, another little girl whose expertise is literature? Just imagine if the Americans settle their trade deal with China with the Americans agreeing to drop all charges against Meng Wanzhou and China continues to ban all imports of Canadian products even if Meng Wanzhou is released since there will be no more cases against her?
 
Where would the boy PM and girly FM going to hide their faces?

Graduated to Unemployement...and disappointment

'It is such a crying shame if many of our PEI graduates eventually end up as another private car driver or “protection officers” who are really just security guards. These is a grim situation against a backdrop of thousands of foreigners who are holding Employment Passes and S-passes in Singapore
Singaporeans must pay dearly in different ways when they elect an incompetent government that is unable to create any more opportunities for its people. Our citizens must by now realised that there are heavy prices that they must pay for electing a useless PAP government who cannot fly any higher or any further anymore.'

The above pic and comments were in an article posted by Simon Lim in TRE.


The Graduation Ceremony used to be the pride of parents and their children, the event to ended a regime of self sacrifices, regimentation and financial expenses and the beginning of hope of a better future.

Is this true today? How many of the graduates are walking into the adult's world armed with their degrees and diploma and hope of a good job and better future and to doing their parents proud?

How many would be wallowing in self pity, loss of confidence and in financial straits, unable to repay their loans or their parents for paying for their expensive tertiary education when funny graduates from cheap funny universities overseas are beating them to the valued jobs and leaving them jobless? Who is to be blamed for their plight, the highly disturbing CECA, or the people that signed the CECA or allowed it to happen to seal the fate of our young people?

What do you think? Do our young deserve this bleak future, when Graduation Day is the day they graduated to join the ranks of the unemployed? How pathetic can our young be? Who cares, who did they vote for to deserve this?

MIG 21 shot down F16, MIG did not shoot down F16….shot down, did not….

There is a heated debate going on in the internet about the Indian Air Force MIG 21 shooting down a Pakistani F16.  Many wonderful stories were spun about how this Korean War relic could shoot down one of the most advanced 4^th generation aircraft are worth reading if one is in need of some laughters or cannot fall asleep. One version, the Pakistani pilot was a kopi licensed pilot and thought he was on vacation, or was snoozing when the Indian pilot closed in on him and shot him down with a catapult. Another version, the Indian pilot was so well trained that the Pakistani pilot was no match despite having a more advanced and modern aircraft. There are many fascinating stories of this dog fight, some claiming to have videos showing how it went.

The consequences of this modern myth, or was it a fake story, are more interesting. Lockheed Martin, the maker of F16 is going bankrupt as all orders for F16s were cancelled. F16s are now selling in the black market for the price of a song, like junks and no takers. All the American allies that have bought the F16s are retiring their fleet and moving them to the museums. No pilots would want to be seen flying a F16 for the fear of their lives.

On the other side of the coin, closed down MIG factories are roaring to life. Orders are coming in for more MIG 21s. Delivery time is 3 years from date of purchase order. The factories are running over time, working round the clock to reproduce these antiques that are now highly desired by many air forces for their air superiority, to be able to shoot down F16s. This is really a cheap and good story. But the prices would not hold for long as the demands outstripped the supplies and prices are shooting through the roof. Who cares about F16s or F22s or even F35s when all they need is MIG 21s?

Would Singapore be cancelling its buy orders for four F35s and ordering 200 MIG 21s instead for the same money? With the crash of the Japanese F35, Turkey is the first to chicken out and has cancelled its order for F35s and switching to SU 57s. Other European countries are also thinking of doing the same. Lockheed Martin is going to face the same fate as Boeing with more orders cancelled.

Actually I have another version of the truth. When the Pakistani pilot saw the MIG 21 he thought he was dreaming. Where on earth could one find such a relic flying, where was he, watching a Bollywood movie? It could not be true, no modern air forces in the world is flying such antique aircraft anymore. China has converted their MIGs to drones, fly by wire. The Pakistani pilot was in a daze. So, while he was musing about what he was seeing, he forgot that he was in a war zone and at war. So he was shot down before he knew what was happening.

And the shot was so accurate because he was not taking evasive action, and was so near he was blown to pieces, literary turned to dust, and his body could not be found, untraceable. If he was shot down like the MIG 21 by Pakistan, he would be able to bale out in time and be caught like Wing Commander Ahbinandan when he landed on his parachute. And he could then be sent home and received a hero’s welcome for being shot down and captured by the enemies and survived. And the remains of the wreckage would be found and filmed as proof.

This episode has given a big boost to Russian MIG aircraft manufacturer and big profits. There is no better advertisement than an antique shooting down a modern and advanced aircraft that cost a fortune to buy. The most unhappy people must be the Americans, unable to sell their modern aircraft anymore. Who would want to waste money buying expensive American aircraft that could easily be shot down by Russian antiques that could be bought for a song?

The above article first appeared in redbean’s Sunday tabloid.