GE2020 - The power of an image

Ivan Lim of PAP

Leong Mun Wai of PSP

Another bad pics of PSP. The candidates look much better in person or in any pics but not this one.

The power of the pen is a familiar phrase in journalism that tells how powerful and influential a writer can be by just waving his pen. A painter or photographer too can wield similar power and influence by the picture they created.

Above are two pics of two candidates from two different parties in the coming GE. Oops, one ex candidate. To the readers, the impression of the two candidates, just by looking at these pics would create very different perceptions and impressions of them, positive and negative, likeable, acceptable, unpleasant etc etc.

Actually I did not want to post Mun Wai's pic here as it does not do justice to him as like many pics of him posted in the social media too did not make him look good. I have to post this here just to show the impact of what a good and decent pic or vice versa can do to the candidate. Look at Ivan Lim's pic, so handsome, so likeable. Auntie killer look, or boy next door look.

Incidentally both pics were taken from www.theindependent.sg. I would suggest to PSP to have a word with theindependent.sg and offer them pics of their candidates that they would like to use if theindependent.sg did not have any decent looking pics to post. Do not underestimate the power of the media, images and the press. Organisations paid millions to PR agencies just to make sure the pics of their people and organisations came out right and not offensive or unattractive.

Netizens call for Ho Ching to join politics after Lee Hsien Yang joins the PSP

After typing the above I feel that something is not right leh. But I just can't figure out why. Below is the opening paragraph and the last paragraph of the article in theindependent.sg.

'After Lee Hsien Yang, the brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, joined Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s Progress Singapore Party (PSP), netizens called for Ho Ching to join the political scene as well.

Dr Tan announced the younger Mr Lee’s membership on Wednesday morning (Jun 24) after having breakfast with him at Tiong Bahru Market.

“I have great pleasure in giving this (Progress Singapore Party) membership card to Lee Hsien Yang,” said Dr Tan, adding that Mr Lee joined “some time ago, but we couldn’t communicate this”....

In the comments on social media, netizens called for Ho Ching, the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd and PM Lee’s wife, to join politics as well.'

Here are the calls by netizens as quoted from www.theindependent.sg.

Did anyone smell a rat? What is wrong with this article in theindependent.sg? Was there a call for Ho Ching to join politics? Two questions. what is the agenda of this article? Is the author so stupid and cannot tell the difference on who is who's wife?

With the consistent choice of posting awful and unpleasing, unpalatable pictures of opposition candidates in theindependent.sg, and this kind of article, I am getting suspicious. The foxy tail is showing.

Opposition Parties, Intractable, stubborn, selfish, inflexible - No More

The sun rises from the West. The inconceiveable has happened to the opposition parties in Singapore. The days of being intractable, stubborn, selfish, inflexible, not negotiable are over. The days when every opposition party was thinking only of itself, refuse to cooperate, negotiate, refuse to butt when contesting in the GE and stubbornly engaging in now win 3 corner or 4 corner fights are looking like history if what were happening in the last few days are going to be the new ethos of the day.

Kenneth Jeyeratnam of Reform Party has graciously concede the West Coast GRC to Tan Cheng Bock's Progress Singapore Party, a GRC Reform Party had fought for several GEs. This was unthinkable a few days ago but it happened. And People's Power Party has given way to Reform Party in the single seat Radin Mas constituency to avoid a 3 corner fight.  Can anyone believe this is happening in the opposition camp?

If this is the trend going forward, there could be more amiable settlement and lesser 3 corner fights in this GE and puts the opposition camp in better light. In past GE, the inflexible and recalcitrant stand of the opposition camp were a joke, making them looking so silly fighting a no win GE with 3 and 4 corner fights when a straight 1 to 1 fight was already a lost cause. It made the voters wondered what the hell was going on, why contest when it was sure lose with weak opposition candidates engaging in 3 corner fights against the incumbent PAP.

Let's hope this new trend will be the order of  the day. Let's hope no silly loser party would still insist on 3 corner fights to guarantee losing the contest and even their deposit money. There is hope and optimism with these two announcements. There is an awakening, the scale in front of the eyes have been removed and the opposition parties are now able to see more clearly and to put themselves in a better position, a more credible position, to contest this GE.

Another positive news is that Jee Say has dissolved his Singapore First Party so as not to dilute the opposition camp. With Ang Yong Guan in the camp of PSP, maybe more of Singapore First members would follow suit to strengthen the PSP.

But be prepared, be sure that there would still be some clowns surfacing to spoil the broth, for obvious reasons...clowns are clowns.

No more heroes or prima donnas in the opposition camp. Every party must be flexible and be willing to do some horse trading to give themselves a better chance to challenge the incumbent party and to replace them. The voters too would have more confidence when they see the opposition parties are serious and are acting seriously and rightly and strategically to want to represent them and to win the election.

May the force of goodness be with the opposition camp. When the opposition camp can get their acts together, it will shake the earth and send fear to the ruling party. No more easy walkovers because of stupid infighting among the opposition camps.

Canadian boy PM exposing his stupidity

OTTAWA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday (Jun 25) rejected calls to step in to halt the extradition trial of Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, saying it would risk more arrests of Canadians overseas to pressure Ottawa.

His comments were in response to a letter penned by 19 Canadian former lawmakers and diplomats, backed by the family of ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig, urging Ottawa to free Meng....

But their proposal is shortsighted, he said.

It would, he explained, "demonstrate to China that all they or another country has to do is randomly arrest a handful of Canadians to put political pressure on a government to do what (they) want," he said.

And that "would endanger the millions of Canadians who live and travel overseas every single year."

"We cannot allow political pressures or random arrests of Canadian citizens (by foreign governments) to influence the functioning of our justice system."

 

The above AFP report only reveals how stupid this boy is. His stupid reason for rejecting the proposal to exchange two Canadians charged with crimes that would lead to death penalties against a fake commercial crime of Huawei executive is ludicrous.  He is prepared to risk losing the lives of two Canadians for his involvement in an American political conspiracy which has nothing to do with Canada and nothing to gain for Canada except to be called 'good boy' by Trump.

And he is alleging that there would be more arbitrary arrests of Canadians by China if he did the exchange.  Now who did the silly arbitrary arrest of a Chinese citizen on transit in a Canadian airport in the first place? And how did the two Canadians got arrested for espionage if this silly boy has not agreed to arrest a Chinese citizen on the calling of the Americans? He cannot see his own stupidity in getting himself and Canada involved in a political conspiracy to start this sad story and stubbornly wanting to continue down this dreadful road that would not only lead to the life imprisonment or execution of two Canadians, but also the economy and trade between China and Canada.  To this boy PM, the lives of two Canadians are worth losing to play the dirty game of the Americans.

All for what? For being in the good book of clown Trump and his gangsters in the White House? The Canadians should slap this idiotic boy to wake him up from his folly and save the lives of the two Canadians and the Canadian economy and not looking like another silly ass in the world stage.

Children should not get involved in the dirty games that adults are playing without knowing what is happening. They will end up the losers.  Unfortunately this idiotic boy cannot see it.

USA wanting to lead in 5G technology when it has none - What a joke!

NEW YORK: The United States on Monday (Jun 15) confirmed a Reuters report that it will amend its prohibitions on US companies doing business with China's Huawei to allow them to work together on setting standards for next-generation 5G networks....

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed the action in a statement to Reuters.
"The United States will not cede leadership in global innovation," Ross said. "The department is committed to protecting US national security and foreign policy interests by encouraging US industry to fully engage and advocate for US technologies to become international standards."
The Commerce Department publicly announced the move later on Monday. It noted that US participation in standards-setting "influences the future of 5G, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies."...

"Confusion stemming from the May 2019 entity list update had inadvertently sidelined US companies from some technical standards conversations, putting them at a strategic disadvantage," said Naomi Wilson, senior director of policy for Asia at the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents companies including Amazon.com Inc, Qualcomm Inc and Intel Corp.

"This much-needed clarification will allow companies to once again compete and lead in these foundational activities that help enable the rollout of advanced technologies, such as 5G and AI, across markets," she said. "We look forward to reviewing the rule once posted and working with the administration on implementation."

Reuters exclusively reported last month that the amendment had been drafted and was awaiting approval.

Can you believe it, the Americans are trying to claim leadership in 5G technology when they have none, and wanting to set the standards and specifications for this technology? After banning Huawei from the American market they suddenly realised their stupidity by excluding themselves from being a player in 5G technology, no speaking rights, and quickly rushed in to want to be the leader and to set the agenda! This is like a blind man crashing into a meeting to tell the group that he is there to show them the way, on what can be done, what cannot and how it should be done.

5G is a revelation on how backward the Americans have fallen behind the Chinese and desperately grabbing at straws trying to thwart the progress made by Huawei, China, and even wanting to lead the conversation.

When you are behind, backward, you are behind and backward. Stop pretending otherwise. Huawei China is the pipe piper in this race and setting the standards. There is no need for someone who did not know what is 5G to gatecrash into a meeting to call the shot.

And stop spreading the lie that China is stealing American technology when there is nothing to steal in the first place. It is the Americans that will be stealing Chinese technology on 5G.

PS. And Singapore awarded 5G infrastructure building to Nokia and Ericsson.  Do these companies have 5G technology? If not, would Huawei, out of contention for whatever reasons, become the subcontractor to these companies to finish the jobs for them if they can't? Why not give job to Huawei who is world leader in 5G technology? Would this become an expensive mistake for awarding the contract to companies that are far behind Huawei in 5G technology? Singapore not going for the best and cheapest? Funny, funny, funny.

It is like letting the Americans to dictate the regulations on 5G technology when they did not know what 5G is all about.

This brings back to the time when contracts were given to foreign companies who then subcontracted to Singapore companies to do the job and got paid the giant share of the contract while Sinkies did all the work and got peanuts.