Pesta Sukan - SMTFA masters in full force

I have taken quite a number of pictures yesterday on the masters participating in this year's Pesta Sukan. SMTFA was there in full force, running, jumping and throwing, in practically every event available. I will post the pictures in batches over the next few days. Here are some of the actions that took place yesterday.

Yew Yong and Foong Wee trying to outrun each other

Christina setting the pace

Taka pushing himself at the finishing line

Men's 400m with Foong Wee on the right, Hon Cheong centre and Hoo Tim on the left

The determination of John in the 400m for 70+

Yenn making a leap in the Long Jump Event

Karen reaching for the sky

Abitha making a landing

Uncle Salam at 70 can fly too

Kim Seng showing how to land

Jack Lam landing a bit too deep into the sand

Charles trying to do it his way

Jason showing how it should be done

Pretty medal winners

Christina is sooo happy with her win

The guys can win medals too

3 of the fastest men from SMTFA with Tang Weng Fei, President of SA, after the medal presentation

Charles, Hon Cheong and Henry and their 100m medals. The shortest man wins. Also for Long Jump.

Now the tallest man wins. Mogan, Kim Seng and Michael with Tang Weng Fei

Uncle also wins a gold in the 100m for Men 70+ with Salam and John

Will post more pics tomorrow.

Singapore can have all the sand it wants

Malaysia and Indonesia did not want to sell sand to Singapore. The Americans too would not want to sell sand to Singapore. They are only interested in selling weapons like the F35s to Singapore. How much sand could Singapore had for the price of the 4 F35s it is ‘forced’ to buy from the Americans? Goh Keng Swee must be turning in his grave if he knows that Singapore is spending billions to buy 4 flawed fighter aircraft and hoping that the flaws would be rectified before delivery. During his time, Goh Keng Swee would not even buy aircraft that had not been tested in operation, not just being flawed.
 
How is spending billions related to buying sand? There is sand everywhere, especially in nearby South China Sea. The Chinese are the experts in dredging sand from the sea to build islands that could equal the size of Singapore. Their cutter suction dredger(CSD) are the biggest in the world. The CSD Tian Kun Hao could dredge 6,000 cubic meters of sand in an hour, filling the size of a football field.
 
If only Singapore’s relation with China is better, Singapore could buy all the sand it wants from China in the South China Sea. And these are clean sea sand. Why isn’t Singapore buying sand from China? And the cost of the sand would be so little compares to the cost of the F35s. How much sand could Singapore buy with the money spent on the 4 x F35s? Maybe enough sand to build a land the size of Tekong.
 
Did Singapore approach China for sand? Or was Singapore rejected by China as well? It would be so easy for the CSD to fill up the barges in matters of a few minutes per barge and Singapore can have all the sand it wants to reclaim more land and more islands. If Singapore can buy sand from Vietnam and Cambodia, the South China Sea is not too far away and the cost not prohibitive to do so.
 
Better still, just hire a CSD from China to dredge from our littoral sea, deepening the surround sea and building islands at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

How to save Iran and the rest of the world

The Americans are dead set to attack Iran militarily and are amassing the biggest naval force in the Gulf of Oman since the invasion of Iraq. There is no good and justifiable reason for the Americans to start a war with Iran under international law and norms. The only reason for the Americans to want to start a war with Iran is for American hegemony and dominance in the region.
 
The world cannot allow this to happen. Russia and China and other friendly countries to Iran cannot allow this to happen. What can Russia and China and the rest of the world do while the warmongering Americans are beating the war drums and mustering up a coalition of pro American countries to attack Iran?
The British have started the ball rolling by hijacking an Iranian super tanker on the false allegation that it was supplying oil to Syria. This kind of international piracy is irreprehensible and cannot be tolerated by the rest of the world.
 
The unilateral sanction against Iran by the Americans, like the sanction against Venezuela, is causing untold hardship to the people of Iran, and also Venezuela. Both countries are suffering from economic hardship with Venezuela at the verge of collapsing.
 
Small countries cannot be subject to the bullying of the Americans, be threatened by economic sanctions and the threats of war. Small countries must be free from the coercion and threats of big powers like the Americans and European powers to choose their way of life. For this to happen, small countries must have the option to say no to the American and European bullying and threats.
 
Russia and China must step in to fill this void, to offer small countries the protection and support when threatened by the Americans and European powers. A very good example is the Russian and Chinese support for Syria and Venezuela. Without these supports, the popularly elected governments of both countries would have been toppled by the Americans.
 
Iran is facing the same threat and more deadly with the Americans ready to attack Iran at any moment. It is better to prevent a war from starting than to get involved militarily once a war is started. The best and most immediate action to prevent such a dangerous and disastrous war is for Russia and China to sign a military alliance with Iran to tell the Americans that an attack on Iran is an attack on Russia and China. Both Russia and China would then have the obligation and justification to come to the defence of Iran when the latter is attacked by the Americans.
 
The Americans have been using military alliances to justify their military involvement, in the name of defending their allies, to engage in a war with other countries. Russia and China must do the same, to justify their engagement in wars against an aggressive power attacking their smaller allies. Military alliances are necessary to save and protect smaller countries from being attacked by bigger and belligerent powers like the Americans and Europeans. In the absence of such alliances, more and more small countries would be at the mercy of the Americans and European powers as they are absolutely hapless against such overwhelming military might. Only Russia and China can provide the protective umbrella to smaller countries to live alone and in peace.
 
Russia and China have to shoulder this responsibility to protect the rest of the world from the aggressive American hegemony and threats of war and economic sanctions. Russia and China combined today are economically and militarily strong enough to keep the hostile Americans and Europeans from bullying the rest of the world.
 
Russia and China cannot wait for the Americans and Europeans to start attacking Iran as it would be too late. Iran and its people would suffer untold damages and destruction when attacked by the Americans and its coalition of equally militarily adventurous allies.
 
Russia and China must act now to protect and defend Iran and prevent the outbreak of war in the Persian Gulf, a war that would engulf the whole region with neighbouring countries being involved and destroyed. A military alliance with Iran would tell the Americans and its belligerent allies to cool off and leave Iran alone. Without this military alliance, the Americans and its lackeys would be emboldened to attack Iran.

Asean Countries Should Be Wary of US Evil Designs in The South China Sea

               Last week over one hundred US businessmen, professionals, ex-ambassadors and diplomats in an open letter to Trump advised that China is not an enemy of America. This week about one hundred and thirty warhawks from the Pentagon, CIA, Whitehouse, Congress and the Senate sent a counter open letter to Trump advising  that China post a threat to America's design of achieving a new one world order under America's absolute control and hegemony and told Trump not to negotiate with China until China is defeated and taken down.

The free world must seriously take note of these warhawks intent of open confrontation not only with China but also with Russia, Iran, DPRK, Venezuela, Cuba and other countries which do not subscribe to US dictates.

Bearing this in mind Asean countries must beware of US evil sinister design in the South China Sea. The South East Asian countries must not fall into the American trap of instigating and fomenting wars and conflict in the South China Sea between them and China as they had done in the Middle East. They must not be taken in and succum to US fake and false allegation and propaganda that China post a threat to them. Unlike US and its European allies China had never taken an inch of other people's lands. On the contrary China had lost hundreds of thousands of square miles of lands during the western imperialist and colonial wars against a former weak China, the lost lands of which are now in the possession of ex-colonies.

Having stated the facts South East Asian states must not be befuddled by the US created South China Sea issues. They must be honest and clear in their minds as to who actually owns the islands in the South China Sea historically and legally.

Historically the islands inclusive of the Paracels and the Spratly islands have been Chinese sovereign territories for thousands of years. They were occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War . However, after the Second World War all the islands were legally returned to China by the United Nations via many treaties all duly signed by US, UK, France, Russia, China and Japan. Back then no one, not even US, UK or Japan or any other Asian country dispute China's ownership of these islands . By the way Vietnam, philippines, Malaysia and Brunei were still colonial territories governed by France, America and England respectively. They were not independent countries and their then colonial masters did recognise China's sovereignty and ownership of these islands through proper United Nations announcements and promulgations in many solemn treaties all duly signed.

It was when after China came under Chairman Mao's communist rule that US reneged on the UN treaties which legally returned the islands to China. Even then they did not dispute the fact that the islands were indisputedly Chinese sovereign territories.

It was after the discovery of rich oil reserves beneath the sea that US started its insidious plans of trying to deprive China's ownership of the islands. The result was the US created UNCLOS - United Nations Convention on the Law of The Sea , which allows coastal states to claim up to 200 miles of shore for economic priviledge.

China agreed to the treaty with the proviso of UNCLOS  Aricle 298 , and with the clear stipulation that the treaty must not and will not impinge or supercede on Chinese historical and legal ownership of the South China Sea islands.

It was the US which initiated the UNCLOS treaty . But strangely enough US and some of its allies walked away from the treaty and never signed it. On hindsight it is realised that if they did UK and US would have to return hundreds of islands which they had previously occupied illegally to their rightful owners.

Apparently the UNCLOS treaty was created with the vile intention by US to induce the few naive South East Asian countries to claim 200KM of shore sea front with the ill intention to encroach and impinge on Chinese sovereignty and ownership of all the Chinese island territories in the South China Sea.

In the meantime with US encouragement and backing in the later part of 1970s, when China still did not have a decent navy to patrol her seas and waters, Vietnam unashamely stole 25 of Chinese islands, the Philippines 12, Malaysia 7 and Brunei 5. Now with US support they openly claim these Chinese islands as theirs base on UNCLOS , which China had clearly stated under UNCLOS Article 298 that the treaty must not and will not impinge or supercede on the historical and legal ownership of China of these islands.

The Evil Empire is playing with fire in the South China Sea. It is trying to start proxy wars between some South East Asian countries and China for its own selfish interest. Do Asean countries want to see South East Asian region fall into the same war torn quagmire of the Middle East as created by the Evil Empire and suffer the same consequences. So beware of the evil empire's trap. Just as US has for years been posting dangers to many countries in the Middle East, South America, Africa and North East Asia, it is now posting a great danger to the South East Asia region of the South China Sea.

However, China did not dislodge these illegal occupiers from the Chinese islands physically and militarily but hope to talk to the countries concerned peacefully through negotiations in a civilize manner. China is very magnanimous and is prepared to share the oil and other resources below the sea bed thrhough joint operations. Hope Vietnam, philippines, Malaysia and Brunei will have the wisdom to see China's benign power and generosity and not become stubborn and intransigent to fall into the American trap of enloping the region into a new war zone of wars and conflicts.

Southernglory1

Thursday, 25th July, 2019

GST hike will not increase cost of living

'The Ministry of Finance has countered a student’s view that the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike will increase the cost of consumer goods and further disadvantage those who earn lower incomes.

During his Budget speech last year, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the GST will increase by two per cent. This tax hike will raise the GST from the current seven per cent to nine per cent and will be implemented sometime between 2021 and 2025, in a progressive way.
21-year-old Marcus Aw Chen Feng, an undergraduate student, has asserted that the impending GST hike can “negatively affect economic growth” and further disadvantage the needy....'

The above is posted in theindependent.sg with the title 'Finance Ministry counters student’s view that GST hike will increase the cost of goods and disadvantage the needy'. It asserted that MOF counters the student's view which I think is incorrect for two reasons. 

First, GST hike will definitely not lead to higher cost of living in Singapore. This has always been the case since the first hike and will always be the case, and this case would not be different. This is my personal view. Anyone got data to prove otherwise? In fact GST is always to help the poor and is always a good thing in exceptional Singapore. I can't say this about other countries.

My second point is drawn from the very well crafted reply by MOF. Never did they said anything about hike or no hike in cost of living in its reply. So they could also be admitting that there would be a hike in cost of living without saying no to it. But their reply suggested that the hike is good, meant to help the poor as before. So they are not countering the student's view and it is wrong to say that they were saying otherwise.  Read on.

'In response to Marcus’ letter, MOF’s director of Corporate Communications Lim Yuin Chien asserted that the GST that is collected will “support public spending that benefits Singaporeans.”

In his own forum letter published by the Straits Times, Lim reiterated Minister Heng’s reasons for the GST hike – that it is necessary to support rising expenditure in caring for an ageing population, keeping Singapore safe from security threats, and investing in early childhood education.

The MOF representative added that the Government will “fully absorb GST on subsidised education and subsidised healthcare” for lower-income households and will continue implementing the GST Voucher Scheme “to defray costs for lower-income households and seniors.”'

See, I am right in my reading of the MOF reply, right?