Singapore: Perennial P1 Registration Problem

Volunteers in school activities to help out the school have top priority for the registration of their children for primary one. However, they still have to go through balloting like all the rest.

Recently, some volunteers (probably PR foreigners with the entitlement mentality) insisted that the Ministry for Education should "guarantee" their children a place in the school they have volunteered to help out.

However, some netizens feel that it would be unfair to all the other children, especially those from poor families. They said that the more well-to-do families are able to commit time to volunteer in school as they can depend on a single-income stream, especially people such as the wives of PRs who robbed Singaporeans of their high-paying jobs.

Wealthier families may also have extra perks such as having a helper/maid or more flexible working hours.

Conversely, lower-income families may not have such luxuries and advantages. Also, for the “top schools” located in wealthier neighbourhoods, lower-income families do not have the option of moving nearer to these schools.

Actually, such Primary One Registration problem has been continuing to plague the Singapore’s education system (Is there a system? Or rather a System Of No System?) for many years, despite assurances by Million Dollars Salary
Ministers of “Every school, a good school.”

In reality, I believe that anyone who spouts "any school is a good school" is either deliberately lying or is mentally sick. No fingers are of equal length. This is commonsense knowledge. So how can every school be the same?

Nevertheless, it depends on your interpretation of "good" school.

Fair is foul, foul is fair. Good is bad, bad is good.

P/S: MOE can also mean Ministry Of Experiments, or Ministers Of Expediency.


SSO

Trump said - Americans cannot be trusted

Trump, true to his colour, is lying all the way to win votes. He will do anything in order to get re-elected for a second term. SSO

All of us, in fact the whole world, have been given a treat with no holds bar on the true nature of the Americans. They are all liars and cheats, starting from Donald Trump and his gangsters in the White House like Pompeo and Esper and many that he had sacked. There is no more need for any explanations or ifs and buts. Trump has been lying through the skin of his teeth, not just about Covid19, saying black is white and white is black to his advantage without blinking his eyes. Many viewers were so exasperated that this is the President of the USA and this is his character of a man, a liar, a cheat and a conman, not to mention his other attributes like morality are reprehensible and unacceptable.

While everyone has gone gaga at what Trump is and how the Americans feel so proud of him and all his character flaws, a reflection of how shameless the Americans as a people is, to elect such a man as their President, there is one point that we all missed.

Trump has been repeating daily that the Americans as a people cannot be trusted. Look at the irony of it all, smearing and demonising China and Chinese people as untrustworthy when he admitted on national TV, that the Americans are cheats, liars, and everything and cannot be trusted. 

Now when did Trump said these unpleasant truths about the despicable Americans? Did you hear him saying it? Of course you did but not paying attention. Trump is telling his Americans and the whole world that the American election system is fraud, cannot be trusted even run by the Americans themselves. Can you beat that? He would not trust the Americans administering the election process and would not accept the results! The cheating is systemic and widespread and all the Americans involved in the whole election process, including the referees, supervisors, the checkers etc etc. all cannot be trusted.

Trump is the best man to reveal this truth. He spent all his life cheating and conning people. And he knew that other Americans are doing the same, cheating and conning and lying. This is a good example of setting up a thief to catch a thief. And Trump knew that all the Americans are like him, cheats and conmen and liars, cannot be trusted.

I rest my case. I may have wrote about it. Many people also have wrote about it. But everyone would have their doubts. Now we are hearing it from the President of the USA, an American in the highest office that don't even trust the Presidential Election Process and the Americans behind the system. What more proof is needed to confirm what Trump is saying is the truth? 

Thank you Trump for this revelation and confirmation, that all Americans are cheats, liars and conmen and cannot be trusted. In fact the whole American system cannot be trusted. And please tell that fat slop, the lump of lard, not to walk around making a fool of himself. No one in his right mind would believe that liar, cheat and thief in one pack. Every leader was being polite by not calling him out as a liar.

People of the world, please wake up and see the ugly Americans as they truly are. Take note of Trump's confession and stop being a blind believer that would only make you look stupid and silly. They cannot be trusted. America is a nation of cheats. Trump said so.

Singapore's 15 year olds top in Pisa study

Singapore's young have repeatedly top in international competitions to test their knowledge and understanding of world issues.  This time they even better themselves against Canada in second place, Hong Kong in third, followed by Taiwan and Scotland.

This apparent good news, repeatedly happened many years and decades ago, should be a recognition of the quality of our young. Unfortunately the prowess of our young often did not turn out good when they joined the market. Yes, they would continue to do well in their studies and scoring straight As in their O and A levels and even universities. But when come to seeking a good job, many would be found wanting by foreigners from funny universities with funny degrees.

Many would have to attend interviews by foreigners, called foreign talents by the imbeciles, and found to be poor in everything, no drive, lack of creativity, lack of initiative, even lazy and without skills and knowledge that would fit the jobs. And the interviewers would be the unplaced in Pisa study, ranked probably at the bottom, from unknown and unranked third world countries. 

Even if our best would to be hired, they would likely to work under the so called talents, yes the unplaced talents from third world countries and from funny universities. And they would be booted around and often be asked to leave as they are deemed to be unsatisfactory by these so called foreign talents.

This is the sad state of affairs when the judges of the ability of our young, our talents, are the third world talents that would not feature in Pisa test.

How come, you ask me, I also dunno. No body judge the judges once they are put up there on top of the totem pole and presumed to be gods, and given the power to make judgements against those under the totem poles, the Singaporeans.

For so many decades, our promising and young talents, recognised as the best in Pisa test, mostly turned into duds, unemployed or under employed while those that never featured in Pisa test, came from no where, are now the sought after talents.

What a pathetic state of affairs. How come?

This reminds me of the appraisal system of the govt and political office. They kept changing and modifying the tools without a second thought on the users of the tools. Are the appraisers competent to do the appraising, that they understand the tools and would diligently use the tools to appraise their subordinates objectively? What if the appraisers are the duds and treat the appraisal exercise as a joke for them to write whatever they suka?

No tools can do a good job if the users of the tools did not know how to use the tools or did not want to use the tools correctly or even abused the tools. An appraisal system, an appraisal tool is as good as the users and their competence.

Bilahari Kausikan - Would Singapore distance itself from what Bilahari said?

Singapore—Retired diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, who found himself in trouble concerning remarks he made on Friday (Oct 23) suggesting that Cambodia and Laos be expelled from the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has dismissed accusations that he is a foreign agent.

He made these remarks at a round table discussion organised by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, saying, “To state things bluntly, I see Cambodia and Laos teetering precariously on the edge…They have some difficult choices to make. And if they should make wrong choices, they will confront ASEAN as a whole with difficult choices. We may have to cut loose the two to save the eight.”

Mr Bilahari emphasised this point further in a Facebook post on Oct 24, writing, “Not imminent or something ASEAN would do lightly or willingly, but if a limb turns gangrenous, amputation may be the only way to save a life.”

On Tuesday (Oct 26), an unsigned letter allegedly from former and current Cambodian diplomats was published in Fresh News, a Cambodian news site, calling Mr Bilahari a person who is “attention-seeking, inconsistent, and incoherent.”

The letter writers called out Mr Bilahari and ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute for pushing the notion that Cambodia is a puppet of China, and questioned whether this is the Singapore Government’s the official position.

“Bilahari and ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute should stop pretending as if they have the monopoly on knowledge and wisdom. [S]peaking of agency, which was the whole gist of Bilahari’s paper, one wonders for which power is he and ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute acting as ‘agents’ for?” the letter reads.

“What we find repulsive is his arrogant and condescending tone, not just about our country, Cambodia, and Laos, but even towards our current Asean leaders, a behaviour unbecoming of a former diplomat. He made a barrage of misleading and flawed claims that are intellectually deceitful and normatively detrimental to the region, especially Asean,” the letter writers added.

 Above is from Yahoo News.

Actually I did not want to waste time talking about Bilahari. He is passe, history, irrelevant.  Now that this piece of information is everywhere, let's ask a few questions about where he is coming from and his intent and motive. Hopefully this is not Singapore's position as it did not appear in the ST, I think. If it does, it may implicate Singapore as it already implicated ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

Why would this Bilahari be making such a strong view at this time when the evil Americans are gearing up to start a war with China, with lol Pompeo, Esper and a few others all out to smear and demonise China? Is this part of a coordinated American campaign or just a private individual's view, not related?

The position taken as if he is speaking with some authority in Asean, wanting Asean to sack Laos and Cambodia for being friendly to China, just like Singapore being friendly to the USA, and for letting China build a sea port in Cambodia as an act of a proxy while Singapore offering a military base for American warships as not a proxy, call for a lot of questioning of his intent and where he is coming from. 

It would be very unfortunate for an ex govt official to be making such a strong stand, coming out as someone with an agenda and with Singapore being thrust to the forefront of the American's anti China war conspiracy. Would the Singapore govt deem it necessary to dissociate with this man, that he is no longer with the govt and his view does not reflect the govt's thinking?

Bilahari and a few others were very vocal against China during the silly Aquino fake court case in the SC Sea island dispute. That event let to the unfortunate Terrex Incident and souring of relations between China and Singapore. Subsequently nothing more was heard from this gang of four. But it seems that Bilahari is the only one left standing and still spouting his anti China and pro American stand. The others have been made to hold their peace or silenced.

What do you think? Is this undiplomatic outlash good for Sino Singapore relations when a lot is at stake? Singapore is trying to latch on to the Chinese economic growth engine to drive its lethargic economy and cannot afford to have a loose cannon firing at China that could be misinterpreted as the govt's position. Singapore cannot afford to make the same mistake again and ended with another Terrex Incident and flung all its effort to reestablish trust with China into the longkang.

What do you think?

US destabilising South China Sea in attempt to turn it into an American pond

 The United States will deploy Coast Guard patrol ships in the western Pacific to counter what it described as “destabilizing and malign” activities in the region by China, the country’s top security adviser said on Friday.

The US Coast Guard was “strategically homeporting significantly enhanced Fast Response Cutters … in the western Pacific,” White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said in a statement.

Describing the US as a Pacific power, the statement added that China’s “illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and harassment of vessels operating in the exclusive economic zones of other countries in the Indo-Pacific threatens our sovereignty, as well as the sovereignty of our Pacific neighbors and endangers regional stability”.

 

The above is reported in the Al Jazeera news. The Asia Times also had this in his headlines, 'US Coast Guard churns South China Sea tensions'.

 

These news of the evil intent of the aggressive American adventurism in South China Sea is raising concern among Asean states.  Coast Guard ships are mainly for patrolling territorial waters equivalent to a police force, not the military or marines. The Americans deployed its Coast Guards to guard the territorial waters of mainland America and surrounding seas of its islands like Hawaii and Guam. 

 

To deploy American Coast Guards in the South China Sea is as good as signalling to the countries in the littoral states that the Americans are making a claim to the not only the islands in the South China Sea but the South China Sea as American territory.  This illegal and provocative behaviour of the evil Americans is dangerous as it stokes the fire of war in the South China Sea. Not only China would be provoked, the expansionist intention of the Americans would not be welcomed by the Asean states.  Any such moves by the Americans could mean war in the South China Sea.

 

The evil Americans are bent on starting a war in the South China Sea and turn the region into another war zone. This is all the American's doing, sailing warships and coast guard ships thousands of miles from American shores to the western Pacific, an area owned by China and some Asean states.

The evil Americans have dropped its mask of pretension. It is going to seize the South China Sea after failing to agitate the Asean states to fight China.  It is claiming territorial sovereignty of the South China Sea! The evil Americans are going to do it on their own, to confront China and Asean states, and China would have no choice but to fight the Americans to protect its territorial waters and islands.

The Americans are going to start WW3. The Americans are solely responsible for this massive war of destruction of the human kind. It is aggressive American provocation, provocation and provocation all the way.

 

PS. My Saturday contribution as I will out early in the morning and unable to post on Sat.