Secession in Thailand

This thought must be in the minds of the Thais for a long time but not spoken. Finally it is in their lips and openly spoken as an option to the political crisis. The Yingluck govt may be appearing soft and may be taken for granted by the Democrats and the Bangkok elite. But beneath this apparent weakness and inaction is a very powerful message. It exposes the real thugs and trouble makers and how these people are out to destroy Thailand at all costs. Thailand can be led into turmoil with blood and bodies on the street to achieve their political goals with the support of the minority in Bangkok. The protestors are ignoring all reasons and sensibilities and the welfare of the Thai people. They just want to grab power.

The Yellow shirts are proving themselves to be unreasonable political thugs. The Red Shirts, being the real majority, are now the sensible party, cool, composed, non violent and seeking a govt to be elected constitutionally and democratically by the people. They have been patient and restrained and avoiding a direct and bloody clash with the Yellow Shirts. They are not going to give the army a reason or a chance to stage a coup against a popularly elected govt.

What is the next step or change of event? There could still be a coup or a revolt by the Democrats and the Bangkok elite. What are the options available to the Red Shirts and the majority of the Thais in the rural north? A direct confrontation is possible but this would only lead to more bloodshed and lost of lives and properties. Bangkok and Thailand could be burnt down, shut down. This is an option that the Red Shirts have shown to want to avoid.

A possible option is secession and with Thailand breaking up with the North under the Red Shirts and Bangkok and the South under the Yellow Shirts. Such an alternative could or could not see a civil war. The military could be split and how they would make up is still uncertain. If they are willing to part the country to avoid an open conflict, this secession option could be an ideal option to the impasse. They could still opt to start a civil war that would destroy Thailand and the Thai people. The blood letting would be unprecedented. The cost is huge and would cripple Thailand and not desirable to all Thais.

Which course would the Thais choose if force to decide when the Yingluck govt is forcefully dethroned? The Red Shirts would not take it lightly and would be forced to take a stand. And they are in the majority and have the northern Thaliand on their side. They are playing their cards close to their chest and have so far refrained from posing a direct challenge to the Yellow Shirts. Would the Yellow Shirts believe they have the support of all the Thais and push for a climatic change through the use of violence?

Would Thailand turn into a battle ground for the Thais to fight one another, or would the lesser evil of a parting of the two camps in peace? The Yellow Shirts are stubbornly holding on to an unyielding position, either accept their way or fight. The Red Shirts are trying to negotiate for a compromise without resorting to violence. This only emboldens the Yellow Shirts to dig in thinking that they have the upper hand. Either the Red Shirts be forced to fight or to take the break away path to minimize the casualties on both sides.

What is the greatest blooper of 2013?

2013 shall be remembered as a very eventful year till the very last day with the massive jam caused by the most expensive crooked expressway in the world. This is kind of hard to beat really. But through the years there were several other outstanding events that really shook this little island like a little tsunami.
 
Let me recall, the two high level corruption cases involving top civil servants when money was still not enough to stop them from being corrupt. In both cases it wasn’t money that led them astray. This may call for a rethink on what else is needed to keep officers in public service clean short of recruiting monks and priests for the job.
This was followed closely with a long list of luminaries involved in underage sex with a nymph. Quite shocking that this happened in such a scale and involving so many prominent people, including the scions of famous clans.
 
The courts really were doing roaring businesses with God’s money being passed around in circles that were called round trippings. And poor God had to apologise to his dear messenger for the mess and putting him under the authority of human judges.
The headless body and the numerous crimes were pale in comparison to these events and the Little India riot that saw policemen running for their lives and their vehicles overturned and burnt. It turned out that the culprit was alcohol.
 
Would the challenge by a cleaner threatening to take the PM to court over some acts in the Election Law be considered another great blooper? Or would the Presidential Election when the elected President won by the skin of the teeth and with barely 35% of the popular votes be considered a bewilderment? The discovery of election boxes left behind in a school months after the Presidential Election did raise some eye brows and must surely be a worthy blooper of the year. Or would a top notch talent of the ruling party losing to an unknown ordinary female candidate be earth shaking enough to be included as a big blooper?
 
What about the Rolls Royce equivalent folding bicycles for the comfort of rangers to patrol the parks in the garden in a city? And to top the issue of corruption there was a deputy director of the CPIB being charge for corruption.
 
What else is equally worthy? The contents of a minute about cleaning of hawker centre or a $2 company buying a customized software and selling it at a friendship price may also be good choices vying for the blooper of the year award.
 
What other hilarious or nightmarish events that could draw the oohs and aahs from the people with comments like, ‘like this also can’? Would it be the PWP, Natcon, or the frequency of train breakdowns with the new Downtown Line breaking down on its first day of operation?
 
What do you think? Which event is truly deserving of being awarded the Blooper of the Year Award? I almost forgot about the Messiah, or is it the owl, and the sudden downtime of govt websites for maintenance, the Media Acts to control social media. There are just so many interesting and outrageous events that made 2013 a really eventful and memorable year. And the haze, oh it reminds me of you know what. And the list could go on.
 
What would you think deserve the honour of being the Blooper of the Year?

A lesson from the Rakhine state in Myanmar

There is a documentary serial in Channel News Asia hosted by a Dr Farish Noor called Cross Borders. His last episode was on Myanmar and he visited the Rakhine state where the Rohingyas lived. The Rohingyas are muslims and originated from Bangladesh. They are very different from the Buddhist Myanmese in look, culture, religion and way of life.
 
There is an on going war or persecution against the Rohingyas by some sectors of the Myanmese population. The Rohingyas are not welcomed by both states of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Many are running away, risking their lives as boat people rather than remaining in Rakhine. They are not wanted by Bangladesh as well. And they are lucky if they survived their journey by small fishing boats.
 
What makes the Rohingyas intolerable to the Myanmese is their claim for an independent state from Myanmar. No Myanmese govt is going to carve out a piece of their land for them for sure. They are not Myanmese but migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, some kind of equivalent to the untouchables of India.
 
At the end of the documentary, Dr Farish expressed his gratefulness for having a country to go back to. The Rohingyas are people without a country.
 
What is the lesson to be learnt? Sinkies better treasure this little island they have and called home. And they deserved to be boat people if they are careless, complacent and disinterested in protecting their rights as citizens of this island. The silliness of inviting so many foreigners as citizens could one day be the source of their own downfall and be evicted out of this island, their homeland.
 
The lesson of Rakhine is that when a group of people becomes big enough, with a critical mass, they are going to demand for more rights as a group. They would demand for recognition for their way of life, language, culture, a TV channel and religion, and in the case of the Rohingyas, a separate state. If we mindlessly and irresponsibly allow so many foreigners to come into our homeland, one day they are going to make demands on us when they are big enough and to stake a claim to this land.
 
By then all the kpkb would be useless, futile. By then, Sinkies would have to fight for every inch of their land and every privilege as citizens of this island with these foreigners turned citizens.
 
Do not be complacent, do not be stupid and give up your rights to this land so easily. Do not be daft. Do not be conned by the daft against your interests. You will pay a very heavy price for it. Your children will curse you for your stupidity and indifference when you can stop the change, when you can stop losing your country to foreigners.

It is not easy to have a country of our own. Bringing in foreigners is as good as giving a part of our country to them, giving our country away. It is not as innocent as you think. The consequences are far reaching and very serious to our own well being.

PS: And don't forget your kopi. According to google my kopi level is at a critically low level. Just spare me 10 sec will do.

Thanks.

Time to be selfish

A new year and a new beginning. How many Sinkies are willing to share their homes with foreigners? How many Sinkies are willing to share their spouses with foreigners? There is a limit to sharing and some things just cannot be shared or be given away at our own expense. How many of you are willing to share the good jobs with foreigners while you end up jobless, underemployed? How many willing to share university places with foreigners so that you can send your children overseas? How many of you willing to share your country with foreigners and risk being kick out by the foreigners one day?
 
Tomorrow is not going to be better if Sinkies continue to be so generous in sharing everything they own or should be theirs with foreigners. Sinkies cannot keep doing charity to foreigners. The foreigners are not going to be charitable to Sinkies in return. Mark my words. We have heard so many horror stories of foreigners exploiting, abusing, discriminating and cheating Sinkies blatantly, right in their faces.
 
Sinkies have to be selfish for their own survival in their home country. Sinkies need to think of self first. When Sinkies are well provided only then can Sinkies afford to be charitable. Let the rich Sinkies and elite be charitable as they have the means and extras to be charitable. The rest of the Sinkies must think selfish if they are going to live better and if their children are going to live better.
 
Selfishness is good. Selfishness is a kind of defensive mechanism. What happens to Kiasuism? Selfishness is kiasuism in another form.

An airport is not a destination

The flood of criticism against the Jewel to be built at Changi Airport as a game change is drawing Changi Airport management out in defence of this financial concept. They are still thickly in support of this concept, that you need more thrills and frills to bring travellers to the airport.

Just a simple question, if 1000 travellers’s destination is Shanghai or New York, or KL or Jakarta, would they change their plans and come to Changi because of the Jewel?

An airport is to serve leisure and business travellers. As far as business travellers are concerned, if their business is in Timbuktu, no jewel there they will still be there. Business travellers have fixed itinenary and will not be distracted by frills and funny gardens and funny jewel or shopping malls. The only people attracted to shopping malls are bored Sinkies that have no where to go and dunno what to do with their time and money. This shopping mall stuff is a Sinkie mentality.

As for leisure or adventure travellers, they would think of Chinatown and Little India. Would they think of the Changi Jewel? International tourists who want top end shopping have Paris, New York, London and Tokyo to flock to. Would a jewel make them change their minds? They want to look at real western models in person rather than posters and billboards. That is something the Jewel would not be able to offer.

But I can guarantee you that the first month on opening the Jewel will be attract a massive crowd, with Sinkies queueing overnight just to get in, just like the JEM in Jurong East and the funny garden at the Bay. After the novelty is over, it would be serious moments to think of how to recover the cost and the operating cost. Who would be dragged in to subsidise the losses if it is not viable? Think the Garden at the Bay.

Personally I think the assumptions that the Jewel can become a destination are conceptually and financially flawed.

All clear on the MCE

From my window the sun was bright and hazy as usual. In the distance, the surface road parallel to the MCE that was clogged up on Monday morning was a totally new sight to behold with traffic flowing smoothly like a miracle. The vehicles were staying about 50m apart. It is quite puzzling how on earth could the 3 hour jam could happen on the first working day of its operation and now everything is so smooth, with so few vehicles on the road.
 
Let me venture a guess. It was typical of Sinkies to head for something new on the first day of the MCE’s operation. Everyone wanted to experience this new wonder. They may want to be the first on the MCE or get their names in the Guinness Book of Record for travelling on the first day in the most expensive expressway, and now with the added 3 hour jam to remember. They must also be encouraged by news on how it would shorten travelling time plus the novelty, let the herd heading the same way. And the choke points on the surface roads only compounded the problem further. Maybe they should not have blow the trumpet so hard. This could be another reason for the big jam.
 
Today is the beginning of a new year and a new excitement. But there is no excitement on the MCE anymore. It is all routine. No need for red faces too.
Let me hazard another guess why this is so. Most of the office workers are likely to be back to work and traffic volume is expected to be high. But looking at the number of vehicles on this road, one wonders why there are so few cars on it. The no jam picture is likely due to the series of remedial actions taken by LTA to reduce the choke points and installing more traffic signs along the way, thus making driving easier. The motorists too will be more familiar with the new roads by now.
 
Some are still cynical and think that it is likely due to the large number of motorists avoiding the MCE altogether. With the greatly reduce traffic, sure the MCE will be like a free way for Formula One racing.
 
Whatever, it is a good start and people will gradually get use to this MCE and things will be better in times to come. Tomorrow will be better. Some people can breathe a sigh of relief that the $4.3b are well spent.

Snippets on the MCE

On Monday morning it was like the sky opened up. No it was not pouring rain. The sun was out there though a bit hazy. And the haze got worse when all the cars, buses, lorries etc caught in one of the most massive traffic jam in our recent history started to pump out more gas into the morning air. Getting stuck in this jam for more than an hour was considered lucky. Some got stuck for 2 to 3 hours, enough time to get to Malacca or KL.

Criticism of the most congested or massive congestion expressway was widespread, spontaneous and furious. $4.3b were spent on this great piece of maze that transformed a straight expressway to a crooked and longer one to help motorists to reach their destinations faster by 2 to 3 hours more. Some were shaking their heads that we need to spend $4.3b to replicate the jams in our neighbouring capital cities. Surely that must not be the intention unless it is done to show the people what bad govt is all about. Just hope it is not the outstanding contribution of our FTs.

Maybe the jam was a fiction of one’s imagination as some eminent motorists were claiming that they reached their destination in much shorter time driving through the MCE. Maybe that was the truth, the MCE was smooth flowing. The jams were on the surface roads after exiting the MCE and got caught by some choke points.

Several recommendations were put up by the netizens. One, since MCE is free and smooth flowing, the LTA should remove the ERP charges. But this suggestion is bad if no alternative sites for ERP are erected to recover the $4.3b construction cost. Actually there is no lack of roads for new ERP gantries. All the exit roads after the MCE are ideal locations for ERPs as these are the places that the jams occurred.

Some also suggested having more electronic signboards along the MCE, like those for car parks, to tell motorists which exits are free and which exits are jammed. Motorists would then be well informed on which exit to take to avoid the jams.

Some were wondering why the traffic planners and experts did not conduct computer simulations on the new traffic pattern with such major changes. If they have done so, more pro active measures could be taken to avoid the once in 50 year traffic jam.

One more recommendation, maybe LTA should reconsider the closing of existing stretch of ECP to give motorists more options and expressways to drive through. Driving in a straight expressway must be shorter than driving through a crooked one. This principle must be made know to the road designers so that in future when they design expressways they would not attempt anything crooked.

Those who were stuck in taxis in the jams are asking the LTA for a refund as the $16 fare could go up to $50 or $80. Can refund or not? They must be paying for sitting on the most expensive expressway in the world.

There is no need to worry about complaints that the MCE would become a white elephant if the closed section of the ECP is reopened. The MCE is already built and the money spent, water under the bridge. Just make a few explanations and life will go one. The final result must be lesser congestion when there are now two expressways instead of one.

What do you think?

Singapore becoming a failed state

Don’t get me wrong, this city will still be a glittering jewel in the 3^rd World. It will have the finest buildings, infrastructure and funny gardens and shopping malls where only very rich govts have the money to build. It will have all the trimmings of a world class metropolis. But it will fail the Singaporeans, the citizens of the island. The city state will be owned by foreigners and for the good and interests of the foreigners. The Singaporeans, I like to call them Sinkies, as they are sinking everyday to a lower level without knowing, will become the nuts and bolts of the glittering mess. More Sinkies are encouraged to product more babies for the Singapore Matrix.

Glance at any of the fine living or lifestyle media, at the main media, at the bill boards, you will not believe you are in an Asian city. All the handsome and beautiful people featured are Europeans. Even buying a home, you will see European models as the lifestyle choice. And more and more of the high end homes are now homes of the world’s rich and famous.

In the corporate world, the top jobs often ended with a foreigner sitting on it. The top management are increasingly filled by foreigners, in public offices or in private companies. Our parks and recreation establishments are run by foreigners as if no locals are up to it. Compare to Resort World which is an international organisation with an international market, they are confident that their locals are good enough to helm the company. They have foreigners but as technicians, the technical and professional people, not the top management.

How many of our local MNCs or govt departments really need foreigners to helm the organisations when a local will do? Do the foreigners make that much of a difference especially in an industry when the customers are local? And we have fake locals in the forms of PRs and new citizens to give the impression that they are one of us and deserved to be paid the millions from our money while Sinkies are not. Some citizens are so sore over this that they are calling this game change traitorous, a selling out of Sinkie interests.

And one is not far from the truth to say that more than 50% of the residents in the island are now foreigners. And if one is to include the new citizens, the original Sinkies are an absolute minority and will soon need affirmative actions to protect their right to live in this island.

Singapore is morphing into a failed state to the Sinkies. It is only a matter of time when the island is fully owned and occupied by foreigners and owning all the great and glittering infrastructure and the island. It is a great economic success, a great infrastructure and architecture wonders for the foreigners and a few elite. The rest of the Sinkies, if they are still around, will be turned into serfs of foreigners. They will lose ownership of their home island. This will be the great and sorrowful transformation of modern Singapore, a transfer of ownership to foreigners with the helpless Sinkies not knowing what is happening.

Shall I wish all Sinkies a Happy New Year?

First time Kishore sounded so hollow

Kishore’s article in the media yesterday, ‘How to prevent a war between China and Japan’ gave one a little anticipation that he was offering some enlightening wisdom to a historical Gordian Knot. His recommendation was anything but a sign of lacking in depth in the understanding of China Japan relations and the history of the Diaoyu Island dispute.

The Noda govt before Abe put on a farcical act claiming that it was trying to defuse a nationalistic move to buy the Islands by Shintaro Ishihara, the Tokyo governor. The buying or selling of the Islands by any Japanese is offensive to the Chinese govt and the Chinese people. The excuse by the Noda govt to buy the Islands instead was taking the Chinese people and govt as fools. It was a national insult to think the Chinese did not know what the whole play was about.

This kind of offensive act at the expense of China was prevalent in the 19^th and 20^th century by Imperialist Japan. Such acts were committed over and over again to violate the national sovereignty of China and grabbing chunks of Chinese territories. The humiliating acts were possible at a time when China was the Sick Man of Asia, invaded and semi colonized by the European powers and Japan.

A renewed China that is good enough to keep the Americans from attempting wild designs on Chinese territories would not give an inch to a little Japan intent to keep the Diaoyu Islands it seized from Manchu China. And for Kishore to suggest that China would be pleased if Abe would to sell the Islands to any Japanese non govt entity would appease China must be, not being rude, patronizing and naïve.

The ignorance on China Japan historical disputes is showing. China would never give up taking back the Islands. No country with the military means would allow a weaker nation to occupy its territories. Japan can go on an arms race with
 

China, even with the backing of the Americans, it would still end up suffering a bloody nose this time. And attempt to start a war will see Chinese soldiers in Japan and returning the favour with Nankin vividly in the minds of all Chinese. Japan may want to commit to another suicidal defence of the main Japanese islands like in Okinawa and the Pacific Islands defending against the American forces. China now has absolute numerical superiority in all fields of military hardware and headcounts.

The game has changed. China is now not a helpless underdeveloped and ill equipped or ill prepared poor country. It has the full compliments of all the arms of a full fledged superpower and a massive war industry to go with. Japan can try to go on an arms race with China and see if it has the unlimited resources to do so. Even the Americans are bankrupting itself trying to maintain its huge armed forces and will be broke without having to fight a war.

If Japan is bent on keeping the Islands, it is a matter of when before China take the Islands back by force. There is no other option, no buying and selling of the Islands by the Japanese in anyway that would be acceptable to China. The only way for Japan to avoid a showdown with China is to return the Islands voluntarily and gain more goodwill and clean up its war debt with China.

China or any other country will never compromise on its core national interest. Diaoyu Islands are everything about China, about China as a respectable nation, as a superpower. There can be no compromise on territorial integrity.

Pouring cold water on Chuan Jin’s optimism

 In his latest interview, Chuan Jin expressed confidence that the PAP would be in good stead in the next GE and likely to rule for at least another term. I do not wish to elaborate further on this assumptions and reasoning. All I can say is that the PAP is in for a rude awakening.
 
I just want to mention what happened at Punggol East as a good example of what is installed for the PAP. Punggol East may be just a single ward constituency. The message from Punggol East is loud and clear. And if I were to analyse for the PAP, it is most worrisome.
 
Punggol East was a total rejection of everything the PAP stood for, super talent, successful professional and big income candidate that was equivalent to a good and desirable MP. Punggol East said not interested. Punggol East was about PAP and the opposition and more, it was about a new alternative. The message was clear, anyone but PAP. Punggol East was about a careful and thinking electorate who knew what they really wanted and what mattered. Punggol East was about voting seriously, when every vote must count. The conscious choice of casting all their votes to one opposition party was a near miracle. It was like an invisible hand orchestrating the voters to vote for the WP. Punggol East was about sophistication and a new thinking, a new seriousness to vote for the best opposition candidate into Parliament. Punggol East is no fluke. Don’t pray pray.
 
All it needs now is for the voters of a few GRCs to think and behave like Punggol East and PAP will be history. And the likelihood of this happening is so real. It doesn’t take much really. It was the collective consciousness of the people fusing together as one. This is damn powerful to have happened. No politician could work out a thing like.
 
It is also good that PAP should continue to think that the people still support its policies and its chosen candidates and would not dare to say no, to fear rocking the sampan or changing ship. More good years, Medishield Life is really good, PWP is the best, more minimum sums, more foreigners, higher property and car prices…. It is good that the PAP continues to be confident that it can continue the way it was, that things will be the same and that it would be voted to form the next govt again.
 
It is good that the PAP can forget about Punggol East and think it is just an isolated event. It is good that the PAP thinks it has done well and has won over the voters again with all the pro people policies and the talented MPs and ministers in its stable.
Only the next GE will tell if the people are still with the PAP or have chosen the Punggol East way. What Chuan Jin or the PAP believes or what anyone of us believes is not important, irrelevant.

The labelling game ricocheting

For decades, the branding game was one sided. Names like communist, extremist, terrorist and a danger to country were quite often attached to the ‘undesirables’ and some unfortunate ones ended up behind bars while some left on a self imposed exile. The milder forms were anti govt, quitters, xenophobia, racist, betrayers and yes traitor, were also used on those not in favour.

With the advent of the internet, this branding game is now played with greater vigour by the other side. The anonymous bloggers have had a field day calling the govt all kinds of fanciful names, and yes, including traitor, selling out the people and country. Corruption, cronyism, greedy, untrustworthy, and many worse labels that were very personal and very unpleasant.

Not that these labels are true, but true only to those who did the labelling, the way they are being used is going to rub people the wrong way. The scathing attacks of course are undesirable and should not be encouraged on all sides. It is best that people avoid labelling people or boxed anyone into any pigeon holes they wanted to put the other party in a bad light. It reflects badly on the person who did the labelling as well.

The only good thing arising from this nonsense is that both camps must now know that both can play the game and both have their own avenues to do so. This is like the possession of nuclear weapons, both are just as destructive and it is best to avoid using them. In the internet, the use of labelling is quite new as this was not available to the users till now. The novelty of a newly acquired tool would entice the users to be more generous and frequent in its use. Hopefully both sides would know that it is to their best interest that this tactic of branding be ruled out and be avoided,

Let there be lesser or no name calling so that both sides can appear more civilised and nicer to each other. The playing field is quite level or at least being levelled.

The Most Congested Expressway MCE

The MCE opened to traffic on a hazy Monday morning and caught motorists by surprise when jams started to form near the Garden by the Bay towards the Marina Bay Financial Centre. The 4 photos are in sequence starting from the Garden, straight and running parallel to the empty closed stretch of ECP, turned right and under the ECP to a traffic light junction just next to Tower 3 of MBFC.

The cause of the traffic snarl was likely due free moving highway traffic converged and came to an abrupt halt at the traffic light. At this junction, traffic turning left towards MBFC and Lau Pa Sat entered a two lane road that was subsequently widen by the removal of concrete road dividers into 3 lanes. That did not really help that much and the 2 to 3 km jam was cleared only in mid afternoon.

Many motorists were held up by at least an hour in the jam. By the way, the MCE is underground and underwater, all $4.3b of it. The jam was on a new surface road leading from the exits of the MCE to MBFC.

A Jewel to save Changi Airport

There is an editorial piece in the ST stressing how important the Jewel is going to be to save Changi Airport as the preferred aviation hub in the region. Changi is facing competition from KL and Bangkok and needs a game changer to stay in the race.
Now, what is the race about? Are travelers choosing to fly into Bangkok and KL or Singapore because of a shopping mall or a shopping mall that is dressed up as a jewel? 

I will be equally thrilled to know that those travelers will fly to Changi when their destinations are Thailand and Malaysia just because they want to visit the Jewel. So, after visiting the Jewel, they will then fly back to Bangkok and KL? I am still scratching my head over this kind of logic.
 
I think the only big difference that the Jewel can make is to replace Paris and London as the fashion and shopping centre of the world. Now how to do that when a shopping mall is a shopping mall and when a fashion centre is not just a shopping mall? I think the Jewel can be different by pricing all its goods out of this world like our minister’s salary. So all the rich travelers who just want to buy the most expensive luxury goods must come to the Jewel and no where else. It is another kind of branding, the most expensive city with the most expensive expressway and the most expensive shopping mall. And all the goods bought will have a Changi Jewel tag as a statement that it is the most expensive caused it was bought at the Jewel.
 
Other than this most expensive branding, what else would make the difference for travelers to fly to Changi just to be in Changi to be in the Jewel when their destination is Bangkok or KL?

Is there a conspiracy to keep retard Sinkies from banking and finance?

Singapore is a financial centre but increasingly Sinkies are found wanting in banking and finance. There are very few Sinkies that have the experience for top and middle management in banking and finance. And this great financial centre has to go to the 3rd World where banking and finance are rudimentary at most to find experienced bankers to fill up senior banking and finance jobs.
 
Is this crazy or idiotic, I dunno. Is there a conspiracy to keep Sinkies out of these jobs? I dunno. What I do know is that in a matter of time no Sinkie or very few will have the experience to be even considered for such jobs. A Sinkie financial centre will be run by foreigners from the 3rd World when banking is but little finance companies and pawn shops.

A year of masturbation

I was quite amused by this article in the Today paper by Devadas Krishnadas. It has a title, ‘A year of maturation for Singapore’. He went on to list out some of the major events that happened and how PAP reacted to them. Let me take a different perspective on the events that were the highlights of 2013.
 
The most fearful and unhappy event was the Population White Paper with a 6.9m target by 2030. The two huge protests that were unexpected let to a series of masturbations with the 6.9m being explained as only a planning number. This was subsequently supported with great plans to build three mature housing estates that could take in enough people to fit in nicely with the 6.9m number. Maybe these housing plans are also for planning purposes only.
 
The attendance numbers of those protestors in Hong Lim were masturbated from a range of 10,000 to 2,000, the former reported in social media and the latter in the main media. The crowd was so big that the reporters had serious problems counting or telling the difference between a 10,000 crowd and a 2,000 crowd.
 
A related problem to the 6.9m population is the influx of foreign workers and how the citizens were losing out to foreigners in employment. The trick to soften, blur, diffuse or confuse was to throw out employment numbers with citizens and PRs lumped together as locals. This kind of masturbation did not bring about the ecstasy but more anger and ridicule by the unhappy citizens. They refused to be misled by such wishy washy data and are demanding that the masturbation stops. Unfortunately no one is listening and data for locals continue to be published as the right data.
 
The next masturbation was the PSI numbers churning out and reported in the news as current numbers. These were met with another outcry when the people on the ground were engulfed by thick haze but the PSI numbers were reported as non hazardous. With the protest getting louder, it was further explained that a 24 hour PSI number is better than a current number. Of course no one believed in this baloney.
 
The new Media regulation to masturbate the new media needed no further explanation. It was crude masturbation under the glaring eyes of the public. What else is there to say?
 
And there was this huge National Conversation that was abbreviated to Natcon. Subsequently, after a few more sessions of masturbation it was renamed Our Singapore Conversation. And the intent was to get Sinkies involved in national policy making or like bringing the govt to ground level.
 
The Little India riot was unforgettable. How to masturbate a major outbreak of violence on the streets when policemen were injured and police vehicles were burnt? It ran short of calling it a once in 50 year happening. It was a once off incident caused by alcohol. And the rioters were very nice people. And some even said it was normal, they are like that. So no big problem really. It would not happen again.
 
The biggest and most natural of all the masturbations must be the two cases involving senior public officers in the car parks. And the icing was that the women were throwing themselves at the ‘pop stars’.
 
What a year of masturbation!

Descent to lawlessness

After so many years, the plague of loan sharks is still haunting the people. How many cases are happening daily? Is it so difficult to eradicate loan sharking in a little island? Maybe if the loan sharks are smarter and more shrewd than the best of our super talents?

And the scale of violence against the citizens is getting bigger. It used to be individuals beating up the citizens, mostly foreigners beating the daft Sinkies. The latest is a group of 7 to 8 viciously beating up a taxi driver for not wanting to pick them up, and his whole taxi was smashed. Whether they are locals or foreigners, this is an affront against the law, a kind of attitude that said to hell with the law, a dare devil lawlessness. Hope the police get them fast and deal with them harshly like the way they bashed up the taxi driver. And any complaint of police brutality against these assholes should not be entertained. These bastards needed to taste their own medicine.

At a bigger scale of lawlessness was a crowd of more than a hundred people in Geylang confronting a few policemen. They were willing to attack the police as they felt comfortable with their numbers. And of course the bigger one was the Little India riot when a few hundreds thought they were big enough to beat up anyone and burn police cars.

The bigger the number of people get together, especially foreigners from the 3rd World when rioting and disorder is normal to them, the higher the possibility of such violence happening. And with the latest incidents, more and more will be emboldened to be more violent when they see the law as weak on its knees. With so many silly cries of cuddling and kissing the rioters, and so many being given chances to get away with a warning, what kind of message is being sent to these village thugs?

And the smart rogues would turn around to accuse the police of brutality and the police would panic and start investigating their own kind for roughing out the very nice, innocent and gentle rioters the wrong way. Gone were the days when the red van was a sight to fear and entering one meant being given a physical lesson on muscle toning and rib massage. When the law is not feared by the rioters, when silly people kept saying how nice the rioters were, you can bet the rioters would be nicer and greatly encouraged to be even nicer in their next riot or their next taxi driver victim.

This descent to lawlessness is in a way encouraged by the softies living in our midst. They cannot see anything wrong with rioting and the violence on the streets. And they want to be gentle on the rioters. No one has any harsh words on the rioters, on the breakdown of law and order.

Welcome to this new 3rd World and 3rd World mentality, that rioting and violence are normal. I really hope they are not going to prosecute any men in blue for their rough handling of their darling rioters.

Be practical with education choices

Many parents are still spending millions on their children’s education. They often empty their nest eggs just to get their children a place in the best university, locally or foreign. This was a good thing in the past when such a degree will guarantee a good career and a good return on their investments.

The reality today is very different. A good education is not only a financially depleting enterprise, it can be very depressing and even suicidal to some when the good jobs did not come along with the degree but an outstanding debt for the parents and a child feeling so indebted and guilty to their parents. The simple equation of pay for a good education and ending with a good and rewarding job is not working anymore. There are many depressing and heartbreaking stories of jobless graduates or graduates ended up as waiters, temp staff, taxi drivers and even security guards. What is the point of an education, a very expensive one, when the end is a broken dream and joblessness?

Under such circumstances, it is important for parents to seriously understand the new ball game and be prepared for it, to know what they want and whether it is value for money. The time and money invested in the child must be proportional to the returns and the expectations. Study the job market and find out what jobs go to who and from where and work the sums and plan accordingly.

Those who want their children to be top civil servants or millionaire politicians, there is only one route, get a scholarship from the govt. A PM scholarship is useless, I mean a Papa Mama scholarship would be unworthy for such a quest.

For those who want their children to be in the banking and finance industry, there is only one place to go, India. Practically all the hires in the industry are graduates from Indian universities. The top guys are from India, the recruiting agents are from India, the people doing the interviews are of Indian origins. This is real, and if one aspires to be a banker, go get an Indian university education. And better still, marry an Indian and get the right connections. This is a piece of practical advice, a gem.

Not very long ago, all the Indians who want to be a top civil servant or minister would want to marry a Singapore Chinese. This formula is not going to work in the future. The trend is reversing.

And India is also good for those who want to be in IT. It is a must place to go. Forget about those top ranking local universities. They are good only on paper.

And for those who are looking for a career in the service industries, like waiters, counter boys and girls, telemarketing, the place to go is the Philippines. They are producing the best and the highest number of employees in these fields. Even answering services, the best place to go is now the Philippines. Use to be India. And the university fees and cost of living are also cheaper. The total cost for such a degree is probably 20 percent of those in our local universities and 10 per cent for one in Australia, US or UK.

Now, why would parents want to spend so much in the education of their children to become a counter service staff or a waiter or waitress when a degree in the Philippines will do? And why go to Australia, UK or US when a degree from India is so much cheaper and in demand?

Parents must think out of the box, be practical and realistic. The world is changing. Get a degree from a country that is marketable. And now India is tops and the Philippines is second.

Good luck to all of you and your children. Hope they will get their degrees and their waiter or counter service jobs. Of course a cheaper and better choice is not to waste the money, just be a hawker, no need degrees.

Snowden a role model for civil servants

Mandela is a role model for ex colonial leaders that were abused, beaten and locked up by the colonialists but was willing to let bygones be bygones, kissed the colonialists and moved on with life. Snowden is the shining role model for citizens working for their govt and made to do the unsavoury, the unethical and committing crimes against their citizens and brave enough to stand up to expose the trespasses.

Modern societies are hijacked by crooks in the govt and big corporations, all with the intent to exploit the innocent and ignorant masses for their own personal good. And while claiming moral righteousness and authority, they are doing exactly the opposite. The biggest culprits are the Americans that the gullibles across the world believed were angels, the guardians of human rights and human goodness. They are the most depraved and wicked of all human beans, perpetuating terrors, inciting and starting wars and killing the innocents in a scale never known before.

Snowden has reappeared in the news again. And he is proud to say that he has done what he set out to do, mission accomplished. Snowden told the Washington Post that ‘he was satisfied because journalists have been able to tell the story of the US govt’s collection of bulk Internet and phone records, an activity that has grown dramatically in the decade since the Sept 11,m 2001 terror attacks’. He added that he did not want to change society but want to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. And referring to his employer, the NSA, Snowden said he was not trying to bring down the NSA but to improve it.

What Snowden said was as good as telling govt officers to be morally upright and stand for justice to the people. When a govt is playing dirty, unethical, or demanding govt officers to stoop to disgraceful and morally wrong practices, the govt officers must stand up to stop the wrong, to expose the govt. By doing so, it is helping the govt, the agency he works and the fellow officers to be better, to not do things that are morally wrong, to prevent agency and officers from being made to commit crimes against the people.

This is a very strong message that Snowden is sending out to all govt officers. Do not be made an accomplice of crooked govt officials and be a part of the crime. A govt, a govt agency, can only be upright and do the right thing if the officers are upright and not be cowed or beholden to do the wrong things. Only then can the country and the people progress and live a life as free people and with dignity.

Snowden is labeled a traitor by his govt. The truth is that his govt leaders are the real traitors to his country and people.

Don’t waste your money on tertiary education

It is not worth it. Read the below comment by a mother posted in TRE.

‘mala:

December 20, 2013 at 7:04 pm 

I m 62years mum, my son nus graduate is jobless for nearly 3years.he is depress now and on medication.can the pap gov understand my pain and how my heart is aching.’

Sadly, many parents and their graduate children are in the same dire straits. Many have dug out their life savings to put their children through universities. Some sold their properties, downgrade from private to HDB, some from bigger HDB to smaller HDB flats, to squeeze the money needed for overseas university tuition fees, for the sake of their children. And what happened? They could not get a decent job in their home country, the same country they called home, served NS and pledged to defend with their lives, while there are more than a million good jobs taken up by foreigners.

I encourage all parents not to waste their money sending their children to universities, here in world best universities, or overseas in unranked universities. Many would end up jobless and suffer depression. And if they ended up working in part time jobs or driving taxis, they would never be able to earn enough to recover what the parents had paid for their education.  If parents do not want to heed my advice, never mind, just listen to the good ministers, no need university education, be hawkers or be other skill workers. These are good advices from people in the know, people who made policies that affect everyone of us. Don’t listen to me, listen to them.

I feel very sorry to so many parents and their graduate children who ended up jobless and had no better choice than to drive taxis while foreigners are swarming this Sin City to replace them. Sad indeed.
This is the real hard truth that more and more Sinkies would have to live with. Great place to live, and a great life, for the very rich and for foreigners. Sinkies must be grateful for their good fortune to live in this great city.

Kee chiu to support fare hike

The poll is coming to an end in a few minutes and 238 voters have casted their votes. 230 have kee chiu but not to support the fare hike. Instead they opposed the fare hike. So, what kind of poll will say many supported the fare hike when a simple poll shows that 96% is against the hike?

I think this poll here must be misleading, drumming, not telling the truth. Ok please ignore this poll. It is saying the wrong thing. Let's move on and welcome the fare hike whole heartedly, as sure as the sun will rise.

Thailand, Anarchy approved

The violence in Thailand is not a spontaneous uprising of a people under oppression. From the look of things, it is a carefully planned violence orchestrated by some very powerful forces that no one would want to talk about. The confidence and arrogance and law defying protestors speak volumes as to where they are coming from. This violence is going to increase in tempo and will lead to more bloodshed. And no forces, not the govt, is able or wanting to contain it. For they know what the dark forces are. And the rioters went about as if knowing that they have the licence to kill. So the govt cannot act, the army would not act. It is a kind of paralysis, and a stage set for anarchy.

Anarchy is going to be the order of the day. And the Yingluck govt may just stay its hand and let the mob do its utmost destruction to Thailand. Any attempt by the Yingluck govt will see greater forces being unleashed to bring it down. The dark side is bent on bringing down Yingluck’s govt by any means and waiting for the govt to act against the rioters. Maybe this is just the natural order of things to come when a dynasty is about to eclipse itself and a new mandate is being slated to take its place.

When the dark side has expended its forces and reveals itself as the forces of evil, a more powerful and spontaneous force will sweep across Thailand to welcome and establish a new order. In the aftermath of destruction will rise a new Thailand.

Would this be the fate of Thailand or will the old hierarchy be reinstated with the defeat of the Yingluck govt? Who will ultimately triumph, the old autocrats in Bangkok or the poor peasants across the country?

Time for affirmative actions

There are many things that the govt can do but not doing. And they choose to hide behind market forces, laizze faire, and allow Sinkies to be disadvantaged, cheated, discriminated in their home land and crying for help but no answers from the govt except some crappy excuses. For those without a job, go for retraining to take on a lower paying job that could be many times below their qualifications. For those without a home, go buy from secondary market or private properties like can’t afford chicken eat sharksfin. For those without a place in the local universities, go overseas. For those who cannot afford medical treatment, don’t worry, no one will be deprived from medical help because they cannot pay. The govt will work up better schemes so that they can afford to pay, like Medishield Life. In Medishield Life everyone will be made to pay even if they have no money.  Very affordable. For those who need financial assistance, don’t worry, just don’t demand for restaurant food.

There are many affirmative actions that the govt can take so solve its 3^rd World problems and only 3^rd World solutions. One, it is so easy to ensure every Sinkie a job whether in the govt services or in private sector. Just make a foreigner to ship out. Unfortunately the truth is that foreigners are shipping in to replace Sinkies.

Two, Sinkies that are still homeless, just offer them one within their means from the HDB. Stop using all the silly reasons and excuses. All Sinkies need a roof over their heads and not everyone can afford a private property. As for the later, no one should be forced to bankrupt their savings to buy private. Only black hearted idiots in the govt will insist on this. The Sinkies are paying and they are not asking for free housing or discount. But the govt insists on denying some Sinkies from housing.

Three, every Sinkie should be offered a place in the university if they are qualified. This is not easily done when the demands are so great. Don’t ask me for an answer. I am not super talent and am not paid super talented salary to provide solutions. If we can give so many places to foreigners, why not a few more to our own citizens? To hell with all the stupid rankings that insist on having foreign students and professors to get better rankings. We don’t need such silly stuff like the World Cup and more gold medals by foreigners.

Four, every Sinkie needing medical treatment shall not be denied treatment. This is an easier problem to solve even without the Medishield Life, which in the minds of many has a wrong motive. The govt cannot blame people for being suspicious of the intent and purpose of Medishield Life. It is too obvious to the people.

Five, every Sinkie needing financial assistance can be helped. What is the point of having trillions or hundreds of billions in our reserves? Stop wasting money on one silly mega project would have plenty of money for many hardluck Sinkies.

What say you?

One more charge for the rioters

I still remember clearly that the rioters accused the police officers for assaulting them while in custody. And the deputy police chief promised an inquiry.
 
Now you read first hand narrations of the officers under attack by the rioters. 39 of them were hurt. How many rioters were hurt? How many claimed they were beaten by the police?
 
I hope the police would conduct an investigation on the attack on police police officers and put another charge on those rioters found guilty. Or is it a case that the rioters can assault the police officers because they were rioting and they cannot be charged for assault but officers hitting them for rioting can be charged for assaulting them?
 
What kind of justice is this? Rioters have rights not to be beaten but they can beat up police officers apprehending them? The laws protect the rioters and not the police officers?
 
Is there any rioter being accused and charged for assaulting the police officers?

Abe unmasked, or should it be Japan unmasked?

The visit by Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine puts all doubts to rest as to the real intention of Abe and his administration. All the disguises have now been taken down and Japan is making its claim to remilitarize and resume its imperial ambition as a military power. The last cheap lie by Abe that his visit to the Shrine was to pledge for world peace is not going to deceive even the most pathetic believer that Japan is coming out to be a peaceful member of the international community. For the last couple of years of his administration, Abe has been doing one thing consistently, that is the rearming of Japan, increasing military expenditure and committing Japanese forces to foreign soils and the oceans, and making war cries of Japanese Imperial ambition.
 
China and the Koreas have been reading him rightly all this while and refused to speak to him. With the encouragement and backing of the Empire, Abe is unstoppable in his pursuit of a militant Japan to reclaim its place by the use of force. It is flexing its military muscles in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, vowing to support countries to challenge China.
 
Japan under his administration is edging closer to war with China and the Koreas everyday. China and the Koreas, and those Asean states should remind themselves of what an aggressive and expansionist Japan could do to them. History must not be allowed to repeat itself with the Japanese running across East and Southeast Asia. Japan is no longer hiding this ambition. It will commence its imperialist plan to expand its military might to resume its former status as the number one military power in the region, unless it is being stopped. This is going to be very difficult when it is not going alone but with the full support of the American Empire.
 
It would take the might of the Chinese, Russian and the two Koreans to be able to resist the military dominance of Japan and the American Empire over East and Southeast Asia. The naked ambition of the Japanese and the Americans are no longer a pretense. It is very real. The American pivot is not for peace but for domination.

I fainted a third time

Yesterday I sent a reminder to all my clients telling them to reply and confirm that they would want to continue to receive my messages so that I would not violate the new DNC regulations and be fined $10k. This morning I read the media and found that it was not necessary to do so. Businesses can continue to send messages to clients that have an existing relationship even though they have signed the Do Not Call Registry. Shit, why did they not said it earlier?
 
The official excuse is that they did not receive enough feedback from the public so they are now amending their earlier policy directives. Ok, Sinkies, please take note of this. The govt needs your feedback or else they cannot think properly and cannot come out with a practical and workable solution. It is your fault. They cannot think very much and very far when making sweeping policies unless the people feedback to them, not with all the super talents being paid super talented salaries. Uniquely Singapore?
 
Boon Wan is also amending his housing policy because he received feedback that the policy is outdated. I also want to tell him his income ceiling for HDB flats is outdated when the prices of public and private housing have gone bonkers and unaffordable to those outcasts banned from buying public flats. They are the new sandwich class, earn more than the average but cannot afford private properties unless they want to be trapped with a huge mortgage and be cursed for the next 30 years. And they are the new homeless in this country they pledged to defend with their lives. Thanks to the kind govt policies that many of them would be migrating since the govt treated them as unwanted citizens, worse than new citizens.
 
Let’s see if this feedback will get to Boon Wan’s ear or his ear is only for selective feedback, hearing only things he wants to hear.

Could Chuan Jin rise above the heap of mediocrity?

There are a few urgent issues affecting Sinkies and Sin City that would make or break the dominance of the PAP. Housing is obviously a major one and Boon Wan has to some extent avoided the fall over the cliff. But he could not do more than what he has done now without turning everything topsy turvy as the problem is now too big and too complex to rewind the damages done. And there is still a big batch of young people caught by the dastard policies and still cannot buy HDB flats cause their incomes have exceeded the stupid income ceiling. They will be forever not allowed to buy HDB flats, like the outcasts or lepers of Roman Empire. They can only curse and swear to vote the govt out for causing the harm and damage to their lives, the ONLY group of Sinkies that cannot buy HDB flats.
 
I would not bother to deal with the others but just one, ie jobs for Sinkies which is also related to the high presence of foreigners here. To unravel and solve these two issues would put a minister in a position of great admiration by the Sinkies. Chuan Jin is strategically placed to tackle these issues and could make or break his career as a result. He either succeeds or become just one of them, seen as anti Singaporeans. He has all the potential to rise above the heap of mediocrity, to make a real difference to the lives of Sinkies and the future of this island.
 
What Chuan Jin needs is the confident to go where the heart is and what is right and good for the Sinkies. To do this, he must be prepared to take on the big wigs of his party and the foreigners making outrageous demands on the system. Get the jobs for Sinkies, cut down the unduly huge foreign presence especially in PME positions and even top jobs. It is a bit nationalistic but there is no reason why talented Sinkies cannot replace the foreign imports. We built this City on the back of local talents. The foreigner are here standing on our shoulders, on what we have built. They did not contribute much or anything towards our achievements but being rewarded unashamingly.
 
Would Chuan Jin have the courage to answer this calling and be prepared to challenge the conventional wisdom of the party, and risk being kicked out from the Party or being called traitor to the party? He has the all wither to go for it.
 
The only misgiving is what he said about Sinkies preferring contract jobs instead of permanent jobs. I hope he is fed with misinformation and know that this is false. If he really believes that Sinkies wanted short term contract jobs instead of a long term career, then I take back everything I said above. For if he believes that Sinkies are so daft, then I see no hope in what he will do as the premises on which his policies will depend on is misleading. He would thus be pursuing a policy direction that is not attuned to the aspirations of Sinkies, or he could not understand the aspiration of the Sinkies. That means he would be working and walking in a different direction and ending in nowhere, no difference from where he started. Then everything will be in vain.
 
Whither will Chuan Jin be heading? Would he seize the moment and be the one that makes the difference at a critical time when a maverick is needed? Or would he squander his chances and just crumble and merge into the same heap of mediocrity?

The compulsory Medishield Life is the best thing to happen...

Before you read further, let me clarify that this view is only applicable to those who have all the money to pay for the premium and living an extremely good life and want to live forever. I came to this view after watching a short 2 mins of the SG+ on the Medishield Life and the views expressed by a super talent who was obviously very rich and paying was not an issue. This super talent was so excited and exuberant, and was all praises for the Medishield Life Scheme and I can understand why.

The Medishield Life has to be compulsory so that the cost of premium can be shared by everyone to be affordable. If you allow those losers, those that cannot afford to pay for the premium, those whose life is better dead than alive to opt out then the premium would have to be much higher. So it is crucial that no one be allowed to stay out of this wonderful scheme.

Did I get the feeling that the rich and those who have a wonderful life to live on is roping in all the poor who rather die to help to finance their good life? The TV crew did an on the spot interview with some of the heartlanders and one interviewee pointedly insisted that he wanted to opt out of the scheme. He was a pensioner, no income, how to pay for the premium? Without an income even $10 is too much for him. Unfortunately he cannot get away. It is compulsory and he would have to find a way to pay.

As for the rich, they would all love to pay. And it would be so nice if they can get the poor to help out to defray the cost. The reluctant poor, the unwilling poor, the poor that wanted to die than to live, must not get away from paying. It does not matter whether they want it or not, it does not matter whether they need it or not, just make them pay.

No one bothers about lowering medical cost which is the main cause of fear of not being able to pay. And if there is such a great Medishield Life Scheme, the medical cost can continue to go up and away since there is this scheme to pay for it. Did anyone mention that they want to prevent a buffet syndrome? Didn’t they know that with this scheme, they are actually encouraging the buffet syndrome directly as everyone would feel more comfortable to seek medical services? Those that would have little reason to want to live would also choose to seek medical treatment since they have been compulsorily made to pay for it.

Shouldn’t those that have a good life to live and to live forever and so happy to have such a medical insurance scheme be paying for themselves and not imposing or compulsorily forced those that cannot afford to pay to be robbed into paying? I am so happy too, I think I can afford to pay with the help of those that cannot afford to pay but forced by compulsion to pay and reduce what I have to pay. I would say a big thank you to them too. Needless to say, I too would be very happy with this Medishield Life. The only problem is that I do not know when misfortune will strike and I would find that I would not have the money to pay for the premium. Then I don’t think I would be happy like the happy rich anymore.

Mind you, don’t ever think that you would always have the money to pay even if you can afford it today. If you don’t care a damn about those who cannot afford to pay and still wanting them to cough out blood to defray your cost, you are likely to end up like them one day. What goes around will come around. Getting the poor to subsidise the rich is simply wicked.

Is Valencia Worth It?

‘$418 million! That’s the amount of debt Spanish football club Valencia but it’s no deterrence to Singaporean businessman Peter Lim. The Singaporean businessman has a net worth of $2.3 billion and has pledged to wipe out the debts and make money available to buy new players for the club.

Now this is not the first time Mr. Lim had tried to buy a football club. In 2010, Mr. Lim made a failed bid for Liverpool so this bid does not come as a total surprise, but…why Valencia?

I don’t get this purchase. Valencia is so heavily in debt that Mr. Lim would need a sixth of his asset just to clear the debt. Add to that the money needed to buy new players, the money needed to finish their stadium; the total money involved would be well above $500 million….’

The above is copied from an article appearing in Musings from the Lion City.

Someone once asked a senior gentleman why he would spend $200k to put his uncle in Mt Elizabeth for an operation that had a 90% chance to fail when the condition of the illness had reached its terminal stage. The money could be better spent giving it to the family of the sick uncle. It was just being practical and realistic. The gentleman simply said it was his money and he was happy spending it.

I am not saying that Peter Lim is just happy spending his money on a flimsy project. He is a very successful and shrewd businessman and must have done his due diligence before putting the money where his mouth is. He is not spending other people’s money. Even if he loses his money, it is his money to lose.

I can’t say of people who spent OPM indiscriminately, often with minimal due diligence. I can’t say much of people who spent OPM on fetish projects that are at best good for personal egos. I can’t say of people who spent OPM for knave ideas they dreamt of during a wet dream.

There is a huge difference between spending your own money and OPM. The latter owes a huge obligation and responsibility to spend the money wisely, carefully, with great due diligence and not wantonly like an asshole thinking he is spending his grandfather’s money. The plan for a huge year long celebration to commemorate the good relations between two countries is one such example. It is so easy to spend OPM without thinking of where the money is coming from and what good the money can do for the people.

I will say Peter Lim has all the right and excuses to spend his money anyway he wants it. It is his money. Is Valencia worth it? It is for Peter to answer or not to answer. But when one is in authority and spending the people’s money, it is the people’s problem and it is the right of the people to ask if it is worth it.

And there is a 5 billion dollar question that the people should be asking. Is the F35s worth it?

Get every Sinkie a job

The stories of many Sinkies that are jobless for months or years are very depressing and make one boils down under. On the other hand, more than a million foreigners are here gainfully employed, some through foul means make things more difficult to swallow for the Sinkies. And many foreigners are coming in forming a long queue, I hold your hand, you hold another, with jobs fixed up for them by their countrymen. This is not only not cute but disgusting, intolerable and must be put to a stop.

There is this latest letter by a Susan posted in Gilbert’s Transitioning.org blog. I reproduce a part of it here.
 
‘I graduated from NUS in July this year, and have since been unemployed.
Over the past 6 months, I have been sending out – I would say 50 or more – resumes daily via Jobsdb, Jobstreet, Jobscentral, NUS’s career site for their Alumni etc. You name it, I think I did it.
 
I did receive invitations to attend interviews for around 3-4 times each month.
Unfortunately no offers were presented after each interview.
 
To know that my friends from the same course have since found a job or attended paid internships after graduation does place stress on myself.
 
I have tried several times to contact someone and ask for assistance to review my resume and cover letter, but not much improvement on the process of my job hunt has been seen.
 
Months of staying at home without a proper job is tough, even tough my family is still doing fine with my father still working. I would love to be able to lessen his burden by finding a job. After all, they worked hard to get me through to a university and placed high hopes on me being able to get employed with a decent salary….’
 
Why are Sinkies ended up in such a deplorable state in their own country when they did everything that was needed, to get the necessary qualifications, to actively job hunt for an entry level job, but getting nowhere? Young people trying to do their bit to help their families could not even do so because of a system that favours foreigners.
 
This is not a challenge for the govt, but a responsibility to the people. If the govt does not see this as its duty but to look after foreigners, then the govt does not deserve to govern, does not deserve to be elected. Every Sinkie that is willing to work, actively seeking to work, except those that are a problem themselves, must be employed within a short period of job search, and employed in a job commensurate with their qualifications and experience. It is sick and arrogant to demand a qualified Sinkie to downgrade and be underemployed. Not acceptable. It is an abuse of the Sinkies.
 
We have a full employment situation and jobs must not be so difficult to come by for a willing Sinkie. I am not going to tell the govt how it can be done or should be done. It is their responsibility to see it done, and if necessary, cut down on foreigners, get the foreigners replaced by a Sinkie and NOT the other way. It is a fact that foreigners are here replacing Sinkies in good jobs. It is unacceptable to close one eye and pretend it is not happening.
 
There are many Susans and PMEs that are still unemployed or underemployed and are willing to take on any job that are reasonable and they are not demanding for the sky. Why are they still unemployed? It is not only a matter of no income, it is depressing, humiliating, psychologically painful to go on searching and getting rejection after rejection when the govt is claiming that there are so many jobs around and so many foreigners are happily coming in daily to make up the 6.9m. Can you blame them for feeling betrayed?
 
The govt owes the people a job, NOT the foreigners. If the govt refuses to act on this, let it be. The people shall decide who they want to be the govt to look after their interests. There is a social contract between the govt and the people. Who brays about betrayal when MPs tried to do something good for the people?

A thought for Christmas

Hsien Loong was reported to have said that the riot in Little India was ‘a good reminder to Singaporeans that even in a stable society, such an incident can happen’. And he added that what was important was ‘to have a Home Team that can deal with the situation in a calibrated, thoughtful and decisive way’.

I would like to look at it from another perspective with Christmas in mind. Many Singaporeans and Home Team officers may not be Christians but they too want to be home for Christmas, to enjoy the holiday with their families. And to expect and take it for granted that a riot would be a good reminder, and we are sure to have them, and what is important is to have the Home Team ready to deal with the rioting should not be the approach to this problem.

The key issue is not to create conditions to allow such riots to take place. And they are a host of obvious causes to this riot. These causes must be removed. And to fall back on a Home Team must be the last resort. Having our men there fighting and quelling a riot is risking their lives, and should the unfortunate happen to any one of them, no amount of kind words can ameliorate the pain and suffering of losing a loved one in the call of duty to the country.

Get rid of the causes and minimise the risk of putting our men in the front line. The best solution is prevention, not the cure, not to think it is ok to have riots as long as we have a Home Team to tackle them.

We want everyone, including the Home Team officers, to be home for Christmas. Every officer is a father/mother, son/daughter, husband/wife or sibling of someone and should not be put to unnecessary risk and harm if this can be prevented.