The things I would like the PAP MPs to raise in Parliament

There are many national issues that the people are unhappy about.  And these are not play play things like no water festivals or no tickets to watch the National Day Parade. They are very serious matters that affect their lives and livelihood. But these matters are somehow only raised by the opposition MPs. PAP MPs may disagree and want to tell me they have raised them too. I choose to disagree.

Perhaps the PAP MPs may want to prove me wrong by raising more issues that the people are unhappy about like 6.9m population, jobs for the unemployed or underemployed PMEs, discrimination by foreigners, including CEOs for recruiting their own kind and sacking Singaporeans in the process, scholarships/university places for foreigners, CPF withdrawal age, high COEs and unaffordable car ownership, housing for Sinkies that are banned from buying public flats, foreigners taking control of banking and finance industry, our universities being dominated and controlled by foreigners, etc etc.

There is only one reason why PAP MPs would not raise such questions. They do not see them as problems and are fully in support of govt policies in these matters. They believe the govt policies are right, on the right track. True?

If that be the case, let’s hope that when they left office, they would not stand up to say, actually they don’t agree. It would not reflect very well on them if they do so. It would by hypocritical. Now is the time for them to stand up for the people if they think the policies are not good for the people. It is now when they can do something, to say something, and not after they have left office and no longer consequential.

Funny, didn’t the people elected them to say things for them? Didn’t they say that if elected they would speak out for the people? There are many questions going to be raised in Parliament next week. Just watch what were being raised and are there anything that really mattered to the core interests of the people.

Kopi level Red yesterday.

Tommy Koh wants China to go ICJ to settle territorial disputes

Tommy wants China to place itself under the jurisdiction of modern day international laws when China’s claim to the South China Sea Islands was based on historical precedents during a time when it was finder’s keepers. China is claiming these islands that were uninhabited and they were the first to arrive on the islands to claim it.

Compares this to the Americans’ claim to North America and the Australian’s claims to Australia, the British’s claims to New Zealand, and other colonised countries, would the Americans, Australians, British New Zealanders be willing to go under the jurisdiction of the international courts if the native Red Indians, the aborigines and the Maoris make a claim to their land? Would the Americans go to courts with the Pacific Islanders wanting to reclaim their islands in the Pacific Ocean?

In the case of China and the South China Sea islands, once China agrees to go to the ICJ, it will open the Pandora box to every littoral states of the South China Seas to make their claims. And if the ICJ once decided that the new international laws supercede historical claims, China would stand to lose practically every island it claimed and under its sovereignty.

Why would China want to go to court and risk losing anything to anyone that can just make a claim to the ICJ when it is already exercising sovereignty over these islands? Are the Chinese leaders idiots?

There is a big difference in the thinking of the Chinese leaders versus the Singaporean mindset. The Chinese leaders would not give up their territories to anyone. They had lost a lot of land during the era of colonialism and conquest by the western powers and Japan. Today they are able to defend their territories and they will not yield an inch without a fight. The Singaporeans would give their country away willingly on the ground of ‘meritocrazy’, the fittest shall inherit their country, regardless of nationality. It is going and soon will be gone.

Exceptionally talented politicians

Looking at the quality of life today, not the future, and comparing it with the pre independence era, material comfort is definitely incomparable. The convenience of life has improved tremendously at this point in time, putting aside the extremely high cost of living that is building up daily. PAP has a glorious past record and chalked up a lot of goodwill among the older generations. Until the year 2000, political analysts could have concluded that this party would go on and be elected for the next 100 years. As a political party, it has done very well to uplift the material comfort of the people, education, healthcare, safety and security, to the envy of countries around the world. The citizens really have very little to complain about.

And don’t forget it has so much money stashed away as the nation’s reserves. Just by spreading this money to the people to make their lives better would assure their reelection year after year. But that is not necessary. The money can be used to pay their top salaries and the salaries of those managing this money and the Sinkies would not care a damn, if only they stop squeezing them with higher housing, medical and the price to own a car. They have no reason, with so much money in the reserves to want to squeeze the people for their last drop of blood and leading to a lost of faith in their leadership. Funny thing is that they chose to do it this way.

In less than 15 years things have changed so dramatically. There is now so much anger against the party due to so many bad policies affecting the lives of the citizens, and going forward is really not looking pretty. Of course the PAP does not think so and still thinking it is doing all the right things and very proud of their achievements.

The opposition parties have been trying very hard to bring down the PAP, or at least challenging its dominant position in the polity but could barely make any inroads. But what the opposition parties failed to do, the PAP and its super talents did very well, to erase all the goodwill built over the years by the earlier leaders and creating so much negativity towards the party. The support of the people is at the lowest level the party has ever hit. It requires exceptional talents to do this, to self destruct, singlehandedly, without the opposition having to do much. This calls for really exceptional talents to do it so successfully.

The commonly acknowledged distribution of voters is 30% opposition, 30% PAP and 40% swing votes. This pattern has shifted quite ostensibly in recent years. The 40% middle of the road voters are actually for the opposition but voting for the PAP because they have no choice due to lack of good opposition candidates. But this is changing. The mindset is that any decent opposition candidate will do, will be better than top grade scholars and top earning professionals. It thus reads 70% for the opposition. Scary right?

What about the 30% hard core PAP supporters? This number is also shaky. Other than maybe 10% that would not switch come what may, the balance 20% voted PAP for vested interests. And if they think PAP is not going to serve them well, some of them may switch camps quite easily. They are political animals and only think of their own interests. The actual supporters for the PAP could be very small in reality and could be less than 30%. A big shift can happen anytime if the PAP is not careful. The PAP can no longer expect the people to be on its side anymore, there is no certainty like in the past.

 Thanks to the super talents in the PAP to bring the PAP to this sad state of affair. It is no small feat to do it. It is unbelieveable but the super talents in the PAP have delivered the PAP support to the opposition. They are making it so much easier for the opposition parties.

This is how I see it. Please feel free to disagree.

Kopi level – Green. Thanks.

The GE is imminent

Many are guessing when the next GE will be held. Given that this govt is only entering its fourth year in office, many are expecting the GE to be in 2015 earliest. There has been no precedence for the PAP to hold another GE anytime so early.
 
There have been signs that the govt is finalizing all the administrative matters for the next GE. The electoral roll has been compiled and finalized. A lot of goodies have been rolled out and a few more to complete the giveaways. The PAP MPs and ministers have been busy doing their walkabouts. Some bad policies have been moderated and some nice and humbling comments have appeared in the main media. Two things are waiting to happen before the game is set, the redrawing of precincts and the rolling out of new candidates.
 
For the latter, it has started. In today’s media, two PAP potential candidates have been named, a Chan Hui Yuh and a Kahar Hassan. It is likely that more new faces will be put up in the coming weeks. When this is done, announcing the new precincts is only a matter of days. Just watch the media closely.
 
The dreaded social media could be easily reined in with the new regulations in place and their voice muted if needed be. Now the big question, could the GE be called any time sooner, this year?
 
Do not be surprise as this would catch the oppositions with their pants down.
 
So, what do you think?

NKF has 8 years reserves!

Leong Sze Hian was quite disturbed by NKF’s 8 years reserves and still wanting to start raising more funds. According to Leong Sze Hian, in year 2013 NKF still had a surplus of $6.6m, not negative or drawing down from its reserves. Actually hor, the reserves should have another $6.6m added. Is this bad? The reserves as at June 2013 stood at a handsome $260m. The $6.6m will mean a growth of 2.5%.
 
Maybe Leong Sze Hian should look at it from a different perspective. As far as reserves are concerned, the more the better. Maybe NKF would want to target a 10 year reserves, or even a 20 year reserves. Maybe NKF could be thinking of turning its reserves into another SWF to generate more returns and be self sustaining like GIC and Temasek. When NKF’s reserves can be self sufficient then it would not have to raise funds in the future right? Won’t that be nice?
 
Another way to look at it, the reserves would need growth to look good. The right number would be a 10% growth, a little less than the SWFs. Growth is good for sure. Everyone wants growth, so it is normal for NKF to want to grow its reserves. And there could be more people needing dialysis from NKF in the future. And it is always good to be ready for that rainy day. These types of logics cannot be faulted right?
 
I think, to cover front side and back side, and every possible scenario, NKF should target to have a reserve of 30 years. Then everyone can sleep well at night just like our CPF, so much money after retirement. Die already still go a lot of money to spend. Jiat buay liao.
 
What do you think?

The Singapore Spinning Wheel

For those who have kept white mice as pets they must be familiar with the sight of white mice peddling furiously on a spinning wheel in the glass enclosure. When the mice are tired, they could hop off the wheel to take a break. It is a kind of exercise for the mice in a small enclosure. In some experiments, the white mice were entrapped and will run themselves to death.
 
Singapore is like a large invisible spinning wheel to many of its residents. Other than the super rich, the rest of the inhabitants would have to mount the wheel and keep running. Anyone who stops would fall off and may be squashed. The thing about this spinning wheel is that it must keep running on the steam of the residents and falling off is like falling into self destruction.
 
For the majority of the Sinkies, they would have to run on the wheel non stop for life, no retirement. There is no other option. And they are prepared from very young to be fit and strong, not lazy and weak. Everyone is born to run this race, and the govt demands more children to be put on the wheel to keep it spinning ever faster and faster.
The people that are exempted from this race are the rich and super rich locals, citizens or PRs. They are the privileged class that is spared this ordeal.
 
The not so well off foreigners are also brought in to run on the wheel to keep it spinning. The only difference, these foreigners could jump off the wheel and run back to their home countries, cashed out to live a life of plenty. They know what they are doing, they are willing to run on the wheel. And they know that when they have had enough, they sort of jump ship and say good bye to the wheel and those running on it.
 
The Sinkies have no choice but to run and run until they drop dead. They cannot afford not to run. And they have been told that it is also their responsibility to give birth to more babies to run on the wheel like them. No one is questioning the goodness of running on this wheel and the ever faster and faster speed needed. No one can slow it down. It is expected to run faster, not slower, a happy and desirable thing, a no choice thing, for the Sinkies. They are born to run on the unstoppable spinning wheel.

Kopi level- Green. Thank you.

Tan Kin Lian angry with LTA spending $68m on bus management system

I was very angry when I read the news that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a tender of $68 million for an intelligent bus management system. Link. The benefit to consumers is described in this sentence, “ With more accurate bus arrival information, commuters can better plan their journeys and travel options.”
 
Actually I have the same feeling when I read that but did not want to blog about it. Well, since Kin Lian is talking about it, might as well put in my 2c worth. One thing, $68m is just a bigger peanut. In this obscenely rich city, everything is about a few hundred millions or in billions. So what is $68m? Just add a few cents hike to the fare and it would be paid by the commuters. What is so big deal?
 
Incidentally I checked my MRT fare yesterday and found that it has gone up by 3c for my daily trip. I am going to check on this to confirm that there is an increase and to find out when it happened and why it was not announced. I need to confirm this evening with the machine. Anyone notice the increase as well? Please check and see if it is true.
 
The bus management system is not going to cost only $68m. You would need people to manage and maintain the system and add to the overheads of running the buses. There will be installation cost as well, or is it already included? Then the promotion and educating the public cost as well. How much more would it cost and how much goodness would it give or benefit the operators and the commuters? Or is it just another thermometer to read the temperature?
 
What would be the total cost for this great management system and is it really necessary? Many countries could run an efficient bus system without having to pay for such a multi million dollar management system so that the academics and analysts got more data to analyse. I remember about mapping the topo of the island to know where the next flood is going to be. Dunno if they paid for it.
 
But, what the hell, it is only $68m. All small change lah.

Bangkok, the clock is ticking

Bangkok is living under the tickings of a time bomb. The impasse between the govt of Yingluck and the protestors led by Suthep is heading for a grand explosion. The pressure is mounting with the anti govt using every ruse they could find to frame charges against PM Yingluck. And National Anti Corruption Agency and the Judiciary are anything but neutral govt institutions bent on removing Yingluck.
 
Yingluck has been accused by Suthep that she is only a puppet of her brother Taksin. Who else are also puppets in Thai politics? Ahbisit has wisely stayed away and not be pulled by a string attached to his back. And so has the Army. Is Suthep also a puppet of some forces or political master? Is the National Anti Corruption Agency or the Judiciary also puppets acting and kicking when the strings are pulled? Who is this powerful puppeteer that has the power to pull the strings behind Suthep, NACA and the Judiciary? Or are these three elements really independent political powers acting on their own to remove Yingluck and her families from Thailand, and to confiscate their family businesses and fortunes for the good of Thailand? Is this not robbery?
 
Who could dictate and exercise such sweeping objectives, to remove families and clanships, businesses and fortunes of a group of Thai citizens from the country above the laws? Whoever that be, the clock is ticking too. And the pro govt Red Shirts are not going to let their chosen govt be removed from office. A street battle for the right to rule Thailand is being prepared by both sides and it looks like bloodshed, very serious blood letting, is going to happen on the streets of Bangkok, very soon.
 
The death of the Thai people seems to be the least of concern of the leaders on both sides. It is all an issue of political power and supremacy. The losers in this battle will lose real bad and there will be no way to make a comeback once violence breaks out till a victor is announced. Thailand is going to pay a very heavy political price in blood.

MH370 – A tragic comedy or shall I call it a circus?

More than a month has passed since MH370 gone missing. There are still many ships and aircraft in the Antarctic scouring the freezing waters for signs of debris or the black boxes. They may even take in a whale as MH370 if it makes the sound similar to the black boxes. It is so tragic and so comical. I must say that given the disinformation or misinformation, they just have to go through the motion. The wise ones, or those who knew where the aircraft is, would be quietly smiling and stay away from the circus.
 
How many of you really believe that MH370 was flown there to be sunk into the icy water of the Antarctic? I for one would not believe in this myth. Even if they found the black boxes, I doubt they will, I would not believe the MH370 is buried there. There is no logical reason for the aircraft to be there except for a devious plot, a deliberate act of planting information to deceive everyone that it is there.
 
That aircraft cannot plunge into the ocean without leaving any traces of debris or dead bodies floating as living proof that it was there.
 
When would the truth surface? Are the passengers still alive somewhere? When would the wicked ones be unmasked and brought to justice?

Kopi level - Yellow

Roy Ngerng, I disagree that Sinkies are selfish

Roy Ngerng wrote a piece in TRE titled, ‘Time to agree we have been played out’, and has this as his leading paragraphs:
 
‘As our country grows richer, we become more selfish as people. But this doesn’t have to be the case. In other developed societies, as they grew richer, they learnt to care more and looked out for one another.
 
If I were to tell you the reason why we’ve become more selfish, would you believe me?’
 
No Roy, I don’t believe you. In fact I totally disagree with you that Sinkies are selfish. Not at all, and I can prove it to you. But I agree with all that you said in your subsequent paragraphs. So, let me quote some of the facts to prove how generous Sinkies are or made to be.
 
1. We share our little island with people from the 3rd World to the level of 50% or more of our population. It could be very much more if we fished out the number of these foreigners that are now called new citizens.
 
2. We spent hundreds of millions or billions over the years to offer scholarships and living allowances to thousands of 3rd World hungry students to study in our world best universities at the expense of our own children. Some parents have to sell their homes in order to get their children educated overseas so that we can be very generous and selfless to the foreign students.
 
3. We gave many good jobs, at least half a million jobs, to foreigners, to displace our highly educated and experience citizens. We let them have the good jobs while our PMETs drive them around as taxi drivers. How more selfless do you expect Sinkies to be?
 
4. We gave opportunities to train their doctors, their bankers, their IT specialists and many more, so that they can gain all the experience required to put into their CVs, and to be promoted to top management and CEOs in our country. We don’t mind depriving our own talents from such opportunities to be trained, to gain the experience so that they can take on more senior positions.
 
5. We gave employment agency licences, student recruitment licences, housing agent licences, insurance agent licences to the foreigners freely and happily. We do not mind if they eased out our own citizens in these industries.
 
6. While we have serious shortage of land and good homes for our citizens, we do not mind selling all the good homes to foreigners to live in this paradise we have built so that they can enjoy their wealth in peace and comfort.
 
7. When they rioted and burnt our police cars, we blamed it on our citizens for making them angry, for pushing them and yelling at them. We blamed it on our police officers for not being forceful enough to keep them under control. It is our fault.
 
8. We help them to integrate into our community not just be words but by spending millions on them to make them feel at home. We even help them to celebrate their festivals and turn our country to be more like theirs. How can we be called selfish?
 
9. We allowed foreigners to set up companies here and employed mainly foreigners with only a handful of Sinkies. And they enjoyed all the perks of being in this fine city but acting like parasites, sucking all the good things and shitting and peeing everywhere. We don’t mind. We are not selfish.
 
There are many other things we did selflessly to be generous to the foreigners to the disadvantage of our own citizens. Many of our citizens were even forbidden to buy public flats but the foreigners, turning new citizens, have a choice of flats served on a silver platter to them. And we will voluntarily serve two years of national service for a pittance, pledging to fight and die to protect the foreigners and their properties.
 
How can we be accused of being selfish? How can we be accused of being xenophobic?
 
Tiok boh? No matter how I look at it, I still think we are very generous, very selfless, to the point of idiocy. True or not?
 
PS. I think Sinkies are quietly saying to themselves, ‘Let’s move out and let the foreigners take over our paradise island.’ Let’s be generous and let them have our country.

Kopi level - Still Yellow for so many days.

The STB promotion video says it all

A promotional video commissioned by STB, created in the Philippines by the Philippine network ABS-CBN and must have been approved by the STB for circulation, says it all. It is all about reversed integration. We are getting to think and see things the Pinoy way. We have confidence in what they do, pay them to do it, agree and happy with the production. And we fly it to the whole world proudly as a class act. Must be right?
 
Now this great video production is withdrawn. Hopefully it didn’t cost very much since it was produced in the Philippines and can be written off. This could be a small start to the dilution of our thinking, mindset and values by the foreigners. Our core strength is the Singaporean spirit and our way of life. If we are not going to be more Singaporean but more of the 3rd World then we will be drifting into trouble in the future. And it is going to be. When foreigners are a minority, they would subject themselves to our way of life, like in Hongkong, even the British colonial masters had to learn to speak Cantonese. In our case, with foreigners in such great numbers, we would likely be made to be more like them, to speak, think and behave like them.
 
The change in the way Mandarin is spoken is a sign of more to come. Many words are now pronounced differently, in the Beijing style, sounding so alien an uncomfortable. I believe this would also affect Tamil or many will eventually start to speak Hindi, and the children brought up by the Pinoys, Indonesian, Myanmese maids would be speaking their tongues, and assimilate some of their cultural traits. Good for diversities but not sure how it would affect our social values and the things that made Singaporeans so successful in the past.
 
Shall we encourage more integration and reverse assimilation?

Finally, China standing up to the American bully

Chuck Hagel, US Defence Secretary, went to China to tell the Chinese that they have no rights to unilaterally designate their ADIZ but must consult the Americans. He also warned the Chinese that the US will protect the Japanese and the Philippines in any dispute with China.
 
China’s Defence Minister Chang Wanquan replied in no uncertain terms that Japan and the Philippines are the provocateurs and China would not yield an inch on its national core interests. China would not be the first to start a war but is prepared to take the Americans as well if the two forced China into a war and the USA wants to join the fight. Chang said, ‘We will make no compromise, no concession, no trading, not even a tiny…violation is allowed. The Chinese military can assemble as soon as summoned, fight any battle and win.’
 
The Americans have been bullying the Chinese for more than 60 years, always threatening and warning China of an American attack if China would not heed the American threats. It would be a matter of time before China adopts the same stance against the Americans. China is warning the Americans to rein in the Japanese and not be permissive and supportive of Tokyo’s aggressive provocations.
 
The rhetoric of China is getting to sound very similar to the Americans. China is telling the Americans that not only Americans can warn and threaten China anymore. China can warn the Americans and would one day thump table with the Americans when it is as strong as the Americans. Both can play the game. 

Gen Fan Changlong, vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission was quoted in the ST to have said this in full view of the press 'that he took personal offence at his remarks in Japan last weekend and at a meeting of Asean defence ministers in Hawaii last week. "I can tell you frankly, your remarks made at the Asean defence ministers meeting and to the Japanese politicians were tough and with a clear attitude," said Gen Fan. "The Chinese people, including myself, are dissatisfied with such remarks."'

Today the Americans still have an edge over China but nothing more than that. China is not able to attack the Americans in conventional warfare but could more than adequately defend itself against an American conventional attack. The first salvo when war is declared, China would take out all the American and Japanese bases in Japan and South Korea and secure the China seas. No American ships or aircraft carriers would be allowed to be within striking distance of mainland China.
 
The next phase would be nuclear warfare which both sides would not dare to play with. There will be no winners in a full scale nuclear war between the two superpowers.

The authentic versus the fake

It seems that the Tourist Board is having second thoughts about the fakes and imitation tourist attractions that are sprouting up in the islands. With so much money pumped into the fakes, and with minimal returns, not mentioning that the bigger they are the bigger will the white elephant stand out, trying to justify their existence, to cover cost, is going to be a mammoth task. And for the poor guys that are tasked to promote such fakes and with targets that could not be met, it is a daunting and stressful proposition.
How much more would have to be coughed out upfront to build the fake gardens in the Marina Bay and how much would be needed to keep the glass, concrete and steel structures in good conditions and the plants in them comfortable? How many visitors are needed to be herded to these fake contraptions to just break even? And why would visitors from the temperate countries flew all the way here to see temperate plants? With travelling cost spiraling down, the hot land people would have no problem flying to the temperate countries to see the real things.
 
Has anyone wondered why the African states did not build such fakes? Did anyone ask why tourists are flocking to Africa to see the authentic and barren African grassland and savannah or the Amazon jungles? Oops, shouldn’t say these to give people the idea of creating an African wild park or an Amazon jungle, or they have already done that? And all it needs is a cut in the power or energy supply and all the plants in the greenhouses would turn to dust and the structures into wasteland.
 
How long would these fake attractions last compare to the Botanic Garden that has been in existence for more than a hundred years, and needing pittance for its upkeep? Millions of people have spent their times, several generations, in the natural environment of the garden. It is an eco system that is self sustaining, with minimal upkeep in trimmings, grass cuttings and trash clearing. The Botanic Garden, a genuine tropical garden, will continue to exist for the next few hundred years as a tropical self sustaining ecosystem. How long would the fake gardens survive without pumping more and more money for its upkeep?
 
The Botanic Garden is like the mature states of Europe, attaining a certain balance and equilibrium, not much haste or farce, but existing quietly and peacefully as part of the natural habitat. The fakes will need more and more effort to get the buzz going, a lot of effort to keep its artificial vibrancy that is unnatural and unbalanced, just like the haste and fast pace of development in this city. Just pull the plug and all will come to a stand still.
 
What is needed is to strike a natural balance, not too much haste and pace, a natural swing and momentum of its own. The high pace of social and economic activities and the chase for vibrancy are unsustainable. It will need more and more effort to keep the wheel spinning, all for the sake of spinning the wheel.
 
Yes, the authentic and natural attractions of the islands are what the tourists would want to see, would fly half way across the world to see. They don’t come for the fakes. And the authentic way of life does not need expensive upkeeping to stay attractive. Think the vastness of wild Africa and the likes of Nepal and Tibet, the seas of Maldives. There is no need to spend a couple of billions to built funny structures to attract tourists. Think the Bugis Street of the past and the present Little India and Geylang. These are the real stuff and cost free.
 
How long can we keep pumping steroids to keep things going at this frantic rate?

Kopi level - Green

American doctrine of Permanent Warfare PART 3

American Militant Doctrine of Permanent Warfare.         (   PART     THREE    )


White Americans are basically wicked. The Americans have been adopting this evil doctrine even since the first day of its independence from its imperial forbears   --   England. Why do the White Americans adpt this doctrine? From early days since when White Men first set foot on America they always have that religious belief that their God has destined that America with its very rich resources is reserved for White Men and not for the" savage native Americans ". With that belief white men went all out to exterminate the native American Indians. As the extension of that belief America feels that its God has destined America to be the number one supreme power to rule the world.America couldn't have been more wrong . This indulgence in its mission to rule the whole world will eventually bring America to its knees and destruction.

After the Second World War America struggled with Russia to dominate the whole world. The Americans used the bogey of fighting communism as the mission of fighting for freedom and democracy though we know this is humbug as the Americans have been very callous in killing and exterminating natives wherever it sets its foot on conquest.On the opposite side the just as evil Russians used the bogey of fighting capitalists and bourgeoise as its main thrust to dominate and control other countries. It must be put on record that just like the Americans, the Russians were originally Christians and like the early white Americans they went on the opposite path to conquer lands in Asia and exterminate all the natives who opposed their dominance. In its march to conquer the East, the Russians also illegally took and occupied not less than three million five hundred thousand square miles of Chinese land.

Why does America pick on China and the Chinese people as the number one enemy? China's only sin is that it is seen by the politicians of  America,the CIA and the Pentagon as the only country capable of challenging America for supremacy in politics, economy, finance , science, technology , military and many other fields. During the last one hundred fifty years from the 1840s to 1940s when China was weak , she was trampled at will by England, France, Russia, Germany, America and Japan. China's vast lands were free for these marauding Western Powers and Japan to grab with impunity. China was at the mercy of these incredible savage and wanton aggressors and invaders. The First World War  ( 1914 - 1918 ) and The Second World War  ( 1937  to  1945 ) saw China severely and fatally ravaged and destroyed almost completely both physically, economically and financially. China was in total ruins. However due to the good leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Peoples Liberation Army and the hardwork and resilience of the Chinese people , China recovered and from the 1970s China seems to rise like the phoenix from the burning ashes. The quick and unbelievable rise of China psychologically  awe and frighten the  the Western powers and Japan and especially the Americans who look at China's rapid development with askew eyes and fear. You got to know history to understand why the western powers and  Japan  fear a rising China which  is both  rich and powerful.  It is all due to guilty conscience of the grivous acts of wanton aggression and invasion they committed against a weak China during the last one hundred fifty years or so and thus there is always a psychological fear of reprisal by China.

American doctrine of permanent warfare is basically an ardent attempt to rule and hold hegemony over all countries in this earthly world. It is a very wicked and satanic doctrine. To back up its aggression , America the coward but cunning in nature not only uses its military might but also recruit other miniom countries as its allies to be sent to fight proxy wars in the front lines of conflict. America and its allies are no different from the mafia gangsters and in this circumstance America is but only a maffia leader or a EL CAPONE in the Chicago underworld gangland.

As an evil country, America has done more harm to this world than the harm done by many other aggressors put together. American leaders and government are totally ruthless. Killings and genocide do not matter to them so long as it fulfills its objective of aggression, conquest and hegemonic control over all others. America's genocidal policy has been there since the days of British colonialism . The white American invaders have no qualms in killing, slaughter and mass extermination of the native American Idians. Over the centuries white American invaders have killed more than eighty-five million native American Indians or almost ninety-eight percent of the original native population.

To support its conquest of America the white invaders resorted to force free slave labour. They rounded up and captured by force thousands of the negroes in the north and west of Africa. The way they treated the negro slaves was very chilling and extraordinary ruthless. The captured African negro slaves were branded,chained, force-marched,beaten,encaged and stripped of humanity. Over the centuries, millions of Africans were captured and forced into slavery. Millions of African slaves were packed into ships like cargoes where they suffered extremely from dysentery,small pox and many other diseases. The negro slaves were all packed below deck which was dark, filthy, bloody with vomits and faeces. Countless numbers of slaves were flogged and clubbed to death. Women were also beaten and raped. Those who were physically ill or suffered diseases were cruelly thrown overboard into the depth of the Atlantic Ocean.  Millions of slaves were sold like cattle .

In this present world American genocidal policy takes new form. Mass murder is carried out more efficiently. Countries are ravaged and destroyed by long range bombers or drones and the murderers have no sense of shame or emotion for they do not see or come into contact with the victims. Making the world safe for democracy is a convenient illusion. US simply does not tolerate any country or democracy which does not toe its line or its evil policy. US aggressive militant policy is driven by its unchallenged raw power. Mass murder does not matter to the Evil Empire. There will be no aoplogies for its generations of crimes. In the Korean and Vietnam wars they had turned North Korea and Vietnam into rubbles.

If the Evil Empire's satanic doctrine and policy is not stopped there is a possibility of nuclear war erupting. The mad US policy makers in the White House, Congress,Senate, The Pentagon and CIA must bear full responsibility for nuclear war  with its unparallelled killing machine poswer,

Humanity has never been so threatened to extinction as now by the never ending US aggression . After the Second World War US ravaging wars of aggression against other countries continues with disturbing regularity. First it was the Korean  War. It was followed by the Vietnam War. Before long US launched aggressive wars in Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Kosovo. In the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s its wars of aggression followed with repeated regularity in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya . Syria and Iran are now seriously threatened and US with the help of its lackey Israel may attack and bomb the two countries any time they feel convenient to do so.  In Europe US feels it is time to take advantage over Russia which it thinks is comparatively weak. It first created choas and distability in Ukrane with the aim of detaching Ukrane from Russia's orbit. However, it backfired when faced against a very strong and determined Russian president, Putin. In this Ukrane affair, the shitty America lost face and respect but the unfortunate Ukranians have to contend with the permanent lost to Russia of  Crimea  which is a rich and very strategic province of Ukrane. In East and South-East Asia, the Evil  Empire  is stoking fire with the motive of goading Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines of going to war with China.  China must take  a leaf from Putin and quickly build up its armour and military to be on par or even superior to that of the Evil Empire in order to be safe and secure from US attack either direct or indirect or through proxies.

American conducted proxy wars have so far killed millions worldwide. All wars provoked and started by US either direct or indirect through US supported wars have no rules. To the American warmongers, might is alwsays right and so the laws of wars are always ignored. This can be seen in Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq  . Both countries succumed to a very well planned criminal attack of persistent high powered bombing by super bombers and drones. In both countries essentials to life facilities were destroyed. Thousands were gratuitously slaughtered. This was followed by twelve years of genocidal sanctions and thus in this way US  and its satanic evil president Bush killed many millions more.

Other countries targetted for attack will be attacked sooner or later. There is no place to hide. US supreme crimes of aggression are the most heinous and cruel , never seen in history. American crimes are too grim to ignofre. The world must no more sleep but wake up to this insidious American crimes against humanity . Its high time all other countries of the world must quickly act in unison and solidarity to oppose and put a stop to this AMERICAN  MONSTER and bury its doctrine of hate , aggression ,perpectual and permanent warfare. Its time to send all the American rulers, policy makers, congress men, senators , the CIA and the Pentagon to hell.

Southernglory1

Tuesday, 8th April,2014.

Chok Tong - More good years

 “I never felt that I’m an elderly person. When I go down to my constituency, I’m often helping many people who are younger than me. I still move around regularly in my constituency.” Chok Tong
 
I must agree that Chok Tong is looking younger and healthier by the days. Shall I say thanks to more bird nest soup and spring chicken ginseng broth? I must say that there are many more good years ahead of him with his good health. Maybe we can look forward to see Chok Tong in the thick of Singapore politics for many more years to come. And for those who are thinking that Marine Parade would miss his clout and Chuan Jin would have to face Nicole alone, maybe not. Maybe Chok Tong would still be there to lend his tall shoulder to Chuan Jin and his team and cast a towering shadow over little Nicole.
 
Would we be seeing a rematch and a showdown at Marine Parade with the same PAP team against a reinforced and stronger NSP team led by Nicole?

ESM Goh calling for review of social policies

I was quite excited when this piece of news popped up on the evening news. After all Chok Tong was once the mover and shaker of our little island and instrumental in all the major policies. When LKY opened the door to Chinese nationals to the island, he responded with his forward policy to India with the signing of the landmark and earth shaking CECA. Both policies have benefitted Singapore greatly, I think, though some may disagree, in terms of population growth and its accessory rewards of a vibrant economy and property prices, bringing great prosperity to the citizens and to those renting homes and of course the train and bus companies.
 
The influx of PRC Chinese and India Indians have greatly affected the social fabric of our society and, despite the great economic benefits, there are increasing social ills and concerns simmering among the population. So, I thought Chok Tong, with his experience and wisdom as the Emeritus Senior Minister, would be sharing them with the younger ministers to rebalance the social compact.
 
We have grown over the years from frowning at Singaporean quitters to glorifying foreign quitters to our shores. Both have serious consequences if left alone to flourish unguided by govt measures. I must say the glorification of foreign quitters have been so successful, more successful than the Stop At Two policy, that it will grow on its own steam to steam roll over the last remaining few pathetic and talentless Sinkies left on our shore. If this trend continues, we would need to build a museum to house the memories of the pioneering generation or to legislate a reservation to protect their welfare and existence.
 
For a start Chok Tong is calling for the forming of a committee to take social policies more seriously and to look into the interests of all the stakeholders, probably this would include all the new stakeholders as well. Forming committees to understand problems is a good new beginning. We just had a great committee looking into the problems of rioting in Little India. And the Tourism Board is also setting up a fund for the tourist industry to understand what the tourists really want to see in Singapore. Such committees are really useful as without them many policies, money and effort would be wasted without knowing what are the right things to do. Cannot imagine how so many policies and activities were formulated and executed in the past without the benefits of the valuable inputs of committees. Would it not be better to form more of such committees ahead of policy formulations and, like in the case of tourist attractions, not to build gigantic and unauthentic attractions that the tourists did not want to see? Millions and billions of dollars could be saved, time and manpower too.
 
Setting up committees and conducting research and surveys are a good start to all good policies and tourist attractions.

Kopi level - Green

From independence to servitude

The war cry of Malaysia is ‘Malaysia Boleh’. This is how Malaysia wants its people to feel, to psyche themselves up to build a prosperous nation. In 1965, we became independent. We were cast adrift like a flotsam in the ocean. We either swim or sink. We did not shout Singapore Boleh. We just do it. We did not sink, we turnaround an entrepot trading country into a prosperous city with manufacturing and financial services as the main driving sectors of our economy.
 
When we became independent, we were more or less in the same state of social and economic development as our neighbours. Some were better off than us. In a way we were the most risky state because of our physical limitations. Our people were not up to it to turn the country into an industrial and manufacturing state. We were ill prepared for that role. We were ill prepared for all aspects of building a nation. Our talent pool was very small. Our leaders and top civil servants were mostly lowly educated. Many were non graduates, many with only a school certificate or less. The trained and skilled workforce was non existence. We had to start from scratch.
 
The govt knew our limitations and weaknesses. They asked for outside assistance to train our people to build our nation. We brought in advisors from around the world to teach us how to industrialise. We levelled the hills and forest, we built housing and industrial estates. We built schools to educate our people. There were no foreign talents running here to help us. We relied on our very own people, the govt then had faith in our people to build a prosperous nation together.
 
It was all about self reliance, about independence, about training and nurturing our people to build our nation. We did not cry Singapore Boleh. We did it. From 3rd World to 1st World, with our own people.
 
Today, we have a very well educated, trained and skilled workforce. More than 50% of our new workforce is tertiary educated. We have been producing scholars and scholars, thousands of them over the years. Today, our scholars had a sudden awakening. Other than them, the countries are made of daft Sinkies. We need to import foreign talents to replace them or we will sink. As long as they are foreign talents, fakes also can, we will bring them in without questions. Fakes are better than daft Sinkies. We need the help of all the fakes to bring us back to the 3rd world. We have transformed ourselves from a ‘can do’ nation of hardworking and ‘never say die’ people to one when everything is ‘tak boleh’ without the help of foreigners. We are now a hopeless nation without foreign talents.
 
Everywhere, every industry, every level, we are now dependent on foreigners to run this country. Our people, the best workers in the world, the best educated in the region, are now being bullied and discriminated by the foreigners with dubious qualifications, and at their mercy for jobs.
 
At the rate it is going, if the Sinkies did not sink, the country will. How could a country be so desperate and dependent on 3rd World fake talents? How could a country, once proud of its highly rated and educated citizens, be rejecting its citizens in favour of unknown and questionable foreigners?
 
What are our scholars thinking? Are they smoking pots or popping ecstasy pills?

There is a sinking feelings, but some Sinkies do not think so.

Kopi level - Green

Japan crying wolf

For the whole of last week the western media were aggressively painting a picture of a timid and frighten little Japanese boy hiding behind Uncle Sam in fear of being attacked by the Chinaman. They made it so real with the Japanese politicians acting very panicky that China was going to overrun Japan in the like of the Russians taking over Crimea. And for no reason China is being propped up as the big bad wolf again to the delight of the western thinking audience.
 
In reality Japan has a military force that could challenge China for supremacy in East Asia. It has never stopped bullying and harassing China since its defeat in WW2. Its military is strong enough to overrun the two Koreas once again. Its problem with China and South Korea is caused by its seizure of their territories during the days of Japanese Imperialism.
 
Not only had the Japanese been scrambling fighter jets to intercept Chinese aircraft, it has regularly been arresting Chinese fishing boats in the disputed islands with China and Korea. Is that the act of a timid and frighten nation needing protection from the Americans? Japan is behaving like the Yakuza against its neighbours.
 
Recently it was emboldened enough to threaten to take military actions against China. It arrogantly announced the building up of its military forces and openly sided with the Philippines and India to fight China in case of war.
 
The most dangerous act of the cunning and lying Japanese is its latest announcement to shoot down North Korean missiles. This is an act of hostility, an act of war. Any attempt to do so would force the North Koreans to declare war on Japan. Now, would a frighten little short ass nation be so trigger happy to shoot down another country’s missile that is not aim at Japan? Only the Japanese and the Americans would commit such a hostile act against another country.
 
The western media and the Americans are totally blinded to their ally’s hostile acts and intention and instead playing it up against its neighbours, painting the neighbours as the aggressors instead. Reading the western media will give the readers a strongly skewed and biased view of China and the Koreans and giving the impressions that Japan is such an innocent and peace loving nation and being bullied by its neighbours. The truth is that Japan has always been the aggressor and the bully. But this is not what the western media and the Americans would want the world to know for their own vested interest. Their goal of dominating the world and Asia with Japan as an ally would dictate their views and actions against countries in the region, particularly China and the Koreans.
 
The world must stop listening to the lies of the Japanese and the western media and the Evil Empire. One is acting like a victim and the other drumming up to support the lie.

Kopi level - Green

Sermon of a dead fish

For those who have been to the market, a dead fish can be just as good looking as the one swimming in the ocean, with its scales and colour intact. The fishmonger will tell you it is fresh and will poke at it to show you how good it is. No matter how fresh and alive it appears, it is a dead fish. Its head is dead and the rotting process has started. It has no life and no feeling. It is only a matter of time before the smell and rot spread across the whole body. But this will take some time.

The fishmonger will offer the fish to you at the best price he could get from you, for a fresh but dead fish. You would have to cook and consume it while it is still fresh or it would lose its value fast. The process of rotting is silent and unseen. It is the work of the billions of bacteria and micro organisms in and outside the body of the fish. When the brain is dead, it no longer controls the defensive mechanism to protect the body from the attacks of these foreign organisms. And the organisms will have their meal of the whole body, and as they eat away, it will manifest itself first with the stench and then the rot. At its final stage, the maggots would wriggle out of the rotting flesh to make a point that it is all over.

A ‘bo cheng hu’ country is like a dead fish that is brain dead. A country without a head, or ‘bo cheng hu’ will run on its own for a while, but keeps drifting and spiralling down towards self destruction. In such a state, there will be things like autonomy or deregulation, where every sector, institution, ministry or department will be running on their own, serving their little narrow interests without a clear and defined common goal. And they could tear the whole country apart and still looking very good individually, like a gleaming dead fish. It is like a soulless nation, just a country existing without a purpose, without knowing that it has a people to look after.

Kopi level - Yellow

Aspiration of the new Sinkies

Our parents aspired to live in landed properties, or at least a private flat. If that is too much, a bigger HUDC or executive flats also can. And of course, the prized possession of a car to take the family out to ‘chiat hong’ or joy ride. That was the simple aspirations of what a better life was then. And they did not need to be a graduate, they did not need two incomes to be able to live that kind of lifestyle.

Many of these babyboomers have retired or semi retired. Many are very lucky to have a landed or private property, or a bigger HDB flats to fall back on, to downgrade and live on the spare cash as retirement fund. Many have gone the full circle of HDB flats, private properties and car ownership and back to a smaller HDB flat and no car but taking public transport. And some are happy with this formula.

What is the new aspiration of our well educated young? Many are graduates of the universities or polytechnics. And many are two income families. It seems that their aspiration is for a small HDB flat and no cars. Their only wish as far as transportation is concerned is for the public transport providers to provide a reliable service. Many have given up the idea of car ownership and ownership of private properties. A few of the more successful young people would still be able to do that. But the majority of the middle income families, with two incomes, will not be able to do so.

And not to forget, many of the babyboomer generation belonged to the socalled sandwiched class, supporting their parents and bringing up families, and still could afford larger homes and cars. The new young families are luckier with lesser of them having to support their parents who could look after themselves by downgrading and cashing out.

When this group of young people’s time comes for them to retire, not many would have the comfort of downgrading from their HDB flats, to cash out and live on that. Hopefully their CPF is still around and adequate to do that. You cannot be sure about this as the babyboomer generation also believed that their CPF savings would be enough for retirement. Many will not have the luxury of experiencing the HDB flat, private property and back to HDB cycle. Many will live a life without knowing what it means to owning a car. All they could afford would be very high tech bicycles.

Is this an aspiration worthy of a Swiss standard of living? Is this something to work a life time for? Let me try to figure out what kind of aspirations the maids and foreign workers would have? Some told me they will go home, buy a land to build their own house, maybe buy a car and set up a small business, all achievable if they work for maybe 6 to 10 years here. No need to spend a small fortune on a tertiary education as well.

But Sinkies must congratulate themselves for a better quality of life in the world’s most expensive city and stress free life for themselves and their children. Did I just say stress free?

Kopi level - Yellow

Meritocrazy in a decadent city state

They say a fish rots from the head. When that happens, the fish does not think anymore and soon the rot will spread through the entire fish. And because of a rotted brain, the stench of rot would not even be noticed. There is no sensory organ to detect the smell of a rotting fish.

The dearth of talents and skilled professionals in this prosperous city state does not stop at the banking and finance industry or the IT industry. It is pervasive and starting right from the top to the semi skilled worker’s level. The absence of intellect affects all levels of the citizenry that the city state is now a glittering shell of its former self. Every level of its people would have to be replaced as there is nothing good left in them, or have already been replaced.

Reading an article this morning in the ST on the hollowing of the academia is just too depressing. This is the seat of the intellect of the nation, the hotbed for the gestation of ideas and ideals by the best academic brains. The rot is just as pervasive but to some, is a good thing. Let me quote a few numbers. 18 out of 25 faculty members in the NUS Political Science department are foreigners, or only 7 are Singaporeans. At the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 38 are locals (not sure how many are Singaporeans, but you can guess that it will be very small when they have to resort to use the term locals instead of Singaporeans) out of 82 faculty staff. In the Rajaratnam  School of International Studies, 12 are locals out of 29 faculty staff. At NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, 21 of the 48 faculty are Singaporeans. Here they feel comfortable enough to say 21 are Singaporeans.

This sad state of affair is not missed by some of the Singaporean thinkers and academics. Some have raised their grievances to the ministers. Seah Kian Peng found this worrying and brought the matter up in parliament and ‘highlighted the fact that that fewer than half of the faculty in political science, communication and public policy – which he described as “some of the most important and context sensitive fields of endeavour in any country” – are Singaporeans.’ NMP Eugene Tan of SMU had raised the same issue six times in Parliament since 2002. Obviously nothing has been done or no action was taken, and the problem continues to grow. Is it a problem, or is it something desirable, planned by the establishment and so no action needed?

According to reporter Andrea Ong, the seed of this transformation or hollowing out in the academia seemed to have started in 1996 when, ‘then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong challenged the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to build “the Boston of the East” and be dubbed the “Harvard and MIT of Asia”. The two universities could achieve this by drawing in “the best and brightest” from Asia and around the world, he said.’

Though Chok Tong did not ask the universities to bring lock, stock and barrel from Harvard and MIT, ie buying and bringing all the academic staff here, and replacing all the dull Sinkie students with the best and brightest in the world, the people who executed this ‘dream team’ apparently went ahead to replace the Sinkie academics and students with foreigners. Buying an international football team to compete in the world cup is an isolated fetish craze that would go away with maturity and with minimum negative impact on the country, maybe a few billion dollar lesser, but to replace the seat of learning and the academia with foreign faculty staff and students are simply shallow. But till today, with the problem growing and no concrete steps taken to reverse the trend, it seems that the lunatics have won and are having a field day to transform our universities into the Harvard and MIT and Sin City becoming the Boston of the East.

Those who are still left with a little grey matter are shaking their heads at this silliness but no one is going to do anything about it. We will have our own Harvard and MIT soon, and the faculty staff will be from the real Harvard and MIT, and the students would not be children of daft Sinkies but the brightest and the best from the whole world. We are succeeding, surely and steadily.

Where would the Sinkies go? How would the Sinkies fit in?

Kopi level - Yellow

Can Singapore retain its unique selling points?

What are the unique Singapore selling points that made it so successful and attractive as a city state? This is Hsien Loong’s reply to Malcolm Rifkind in Chatham House.

"It's a first world system in a very complicated and non-first-world part of the world. Things work, the country is stable, the society is cohesive, people are well-educated, the government is incorrupt and efficient, and we deliver on what we promise and we try to head in a consistent direction over a long period of time.

"So if you come to Singapore, and you want to do business, you can count on what we promise you, and what you see is what you get and that's not bad."

We all know that. But what contributed to the stable society and made everything works? The govt is incorrupt and efficient because of a very disciplined and well educated workforce. No rioting or burning police cars.  Would the Singapore workforce still be the same disciplined and well educated workforce as before when the 3^rd World foreigners are brought in to replace them? Would they keep everything working, support an incorrupt and efficient govt?

What do you think when the original Singaporeans are replaced and we have a new Singaporean population from the 3^rd World?

Kopi level - Yellow

Are we having a very dangerous govt?

 In an article on unemployment posted in TRE by a Dr Tommy Wong, titled ‘Hidden unemployment in Singapore’, it attracted this comment from a blogger.
 
• Pink Panty Loong - "Wussy Doormat LEEderSHIT!":
April 4, 2014 at 9:54 am (Quote)
Yes, just send the 175,000 EP holders back home and our older PMETs with good experiences should not have any problem getting employed! So if you tell me there isn’t a ethnic cleansing of Singaporeans by the PAP government for new foreigner-turn-citizen voters, than WHAT IS IT?! That is why I keep repeating and I’m going to repeat tirelessly that we have a very DANGEROUS government here! Please vote them out in the coming GE to save Singapore and ourselves!
 
Pink Panty Loong is talking about ethnic cleansing of Singaporeans and pointing the finger at the PAP govt….that we have a very DANGEROUS govt here. How many of you see the unemployment problem in the same light or disagree with Pink Panty Loong?

Is your life getting better?

Sure, definitely better. Swiss standard of living is nothing when one is earning millions every year. Swiss standard of living is nothing when one is living in a house worth tens of millions and owning a few more to rent out. Swiss standard of living is nothing when buying a Ferrari or Lamborghini costing more than a million is small change.
 
For those who cannot afford to send their children to university, cannot afford to have more children, cannot afford to pay medical bills, downgrading to smaller HDB flats, can only afford to buy smaller HDB flats, cannot afford a car, are your life getting better?
 
Talking Point on 2 Apr telecasted live on the topic of the middle class and whether their lives are getting better. My impression after listening to the panel and callers is that Sinkies do not deserve to be called Sinkies. They should be called daft Sinkies. The Hongkies, Taiwanese and PRC Chinese did not call Sinkies stupid for nothing. It is a well deserving title.
 
Now why do I say that? The views from the forum is all about adapting to your means and downgrading. I can accept that when one is an idiot, one should not aspire to anything more than 3 meals and a pair of shorts. But when one is talking about the middle class, the 50 to 60 percent sandwiched between the lower income and the rich, what kind of life or aspiration should they be expecting other than downgrading?
 
In the 70s and 80s, everyone was talking about upgrading, getting bigger flats and private properties if possible, and going for that super convenience called a car. And the people aspiring and attaining such level of comfort were not even the middle class but the workers, the taxi drivers, the supervisors, the technicians, the young graduates. Life was getting better for everyone, including those below the middle class.
 
Today, it is very normal for a young family to have at least a graduate, or both are graduates. They spent millions and a life time studying to get to that position. Is it too much, unreasonable, for them to aspire to live in a bigger HDB flat or condominium? Forget about private landed properties, these are way beyond their means today but not within the means of their lowly educated parents. Is it too much for them to aspire to own a small Japanese car to make living that much more convenient and pleasant, eating out once a week or a month?
 
What transpired in the forum is that daft Sinkies should be happy with public transport, if not even go on bicycles. Forget about small cars, cars are not necessary. When have daft Sinkies been fed with this kind of stupid ideas? And a small HDB flat should do, live within your means. Is that what daft Sinkies are contented after spending a third of their precious life pursuing tertiary education and spending a fortune on that to live in stupid small HDB flats and go around taking public transport? Is this what the future holds for the Sinkie middle class?
 
But the daft Sinkies that were airing their views found this acceptable, the type of life they feel reasonable and happy to be. Who said Sinkies are unhappy? Most of the views expressed by the daft Sinkies was that they were happy not owning a car. They did not want to know why the roads are so heavy with traffic and the prices of cars and COEs so high. They are very happy if public transport is satisfactory and they can live without a car.
 
This message of no need for a car has been successfully stuffed and buried in the daft Sinkie mind. They are all talking about downgrading and living within their means. I can accept that if they could not even make it to tertiary education and should not be asking for too much. Why would a minister find it difficult if she could not be earning a couple of millions a year to live a ‘decent’ lifestyle?
 
I must say the daft Sinkies are easily contented with life and are a very happy lot, living, adjusting and adapting with the quality of life without cars, without a decent job, smaller HDB flats and eating out lesser.
 
Is this what Sinkies are living for? No more ambition for a better life, no more aspiration that things can be better? Oh, the new aspiration, to own and ride a bicycle, and perhaps become his own boss, driving a taxi and with a few degrees to hang inside the taxi..

Kopi Level - Yellow

China must act against the Pinoys

The wreckage of a rusty WW2 ship sunk and rotting in the Chinese island is being used by the Pinoys and the USA to spike the Chinese and challenging their claims to the island. The wreck ship has been there since 1999 and is home to 9 Pinoy marines. They lived on provisions supplied regularly by the Pinoy fishing boats that played a game of hike and seek with the Chinese Coast Guards. The latest event happened a few days back with some reporters in the fishing boats to report on the event. And the Americans expectedly came out in support of the Pinoy ruse.
 
China may be thinking that it is a matter of time before the scrap metal of the wreck would be inhospitable and the Pinoys would have to swim back to Manila. This has taken 14 years and it is still there and causing so much embarrassment to the incompetent Chinese. It is time that they take action and remove the wreckage and the Pinoy soldiers in them from the island.
 
If China believes that the island belongs to China, it must assert its right of ownership and declared the Pinoys as trespassers, arrest them and put them in jail in Hainan. They should then send a bill to Manila to pay for the cost of the operation and to take their soldiers back. Failing to do so is not only a sign of weakness but an indirect admission that the island is disputed and China is not the owner yet.
 
There is no need to worry about the Americans and the Pinoys as they are expected to act and behave accordingly. And China can show the middle finger to them as well as the western media as all three are in cahoot to show China in a bad light. It is better to deal with the matter in a clinical manner, remove the rusty piece of shit and the illegal occupiers immediately to tell the Americans and Pinoys and the rest of the trouble makers that China would no longer tolerate their nonsense. China must be firm and resolute in maintaining and protecting its territorial sovereignity. There is no room for dilly dallying and to encourage the Pinoys to dance around like clowns in Chinese territories. 

Inaction on the part of China is bad.

Why no lunch break will not be lifted

With the news on FBI investigating HFT in all the major papers, more reports and comments are coming out on the unfair advantages HFT is giving to the computer traders. In a Bloomberg report, a columnist by the name of Lewis said,’ U.S. stock market is rigged by high-frequency traders who make tens of billions of dollars jumping in front of investors. Everyone who owns equities is victimized by the practices.’ Now would this ring a bell and wake people up a bit? Why is this not illegal, not a crime?
 
Aaron Smith of Pecora Capital added,’ We don’t want to be in the high-frequency space because then you’re in a technological foot race against the next guy, When they have a bigger, faster, stronger computer, you’re out of business. We’re not interested.’ This is how effective or destructive HFT is. And it is legal at the moment. The exchanges made it legal knowing that it is unfair trading. Can you believe it? When the big funds will also be driven out of business trading against HFT, what chance do the small traders have?
 
Now why would I say ‘no lunch break’ will not be lifted? In the same Bloomberg report a Javier Paz said this, ‘FX has ongoing liquidity throughout the day, no interruption in trading and fewer gaps in prices, which all allow for algorithmic trading to flourish.’ 

Now you know the real reason why remisiers are not going to have their lunch break back. It was never about increasing trading time to increase business and commission. It is all about computer trading, and no lunch break means no interruption and means fewer gaps in prices and means good for HFT and computer trading.
 
Now, are you wiser or still blur like sotong and be let around by people pulling your ears? The truth is out. Who is the deceiver?

Hsien Loong – If something is wrong….

‘PM Lee's answer to Sir Malcolm Rifkind's question of whether Singapore's incorrupt system was reversible:
 
"I think it is reversible but I think these values and this system is fairly well entrenched. The expectations from the public are there, so if something is not quite right you can be sure that somebody will sound the alarm. And in this day and age, there is no possibility of these things - something wrong being kept secret for very long. Within the system there are mechanisms to make sure that if something is suspicious, it is investigated, and if something indeed is wrong, then consequences will have to follow.’
 
How many of you agree with what Hsien Loong said above? His version is that the daft Sinkies will whistleblow, will kpkb when something is not right. He also assumed that when the alarm is sound, the govt will be notified and will put it right.
 
In reality there are a few normal scenarios. One, the people can kpkb but the deaf frogs will not listen. Two, the right people will not kpkb as they cannot see anything wrong. So there is no need to sound the alarm.
 
‘And in this day and age, there is no possibility of these things - something wrong being kept secret for very long.’ Now now, how many things have gone wrong and have been kept secret for very long and will be kept secret for as long as the party is in power? 

No? No such things? Do you agree?

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – Not a shred of evidence

More than 3 weeks have passed and a massive search exercise involving many nations is in full swing in the southern Indian Ocean. Everyone has been told that the aircraft ended or crashed there. Everyone is convinced that that is the truth. No one seems to be questioning whether this could be a disinformation or a diversion.
 
Where is the evidence to say that MH370 crashed there? Can anyone bring out a piece of solid evidence to say that the aircraft crashed into the southern Indian Ocean? Solid evidence is solid evidence, not guess work, not extrapolation, not theories, not beliefs. The extrapolation by Immarsat using Doppler Theory is, ahem, just extrapolation and could be furthest from the truth.
 
There is absolutely no evidence to prove that the aircraft ended in the Indian Ocean though a few Prime Minister are trying to tell the world they know it is there.
You tell me what is going on? Every clue and lead led to a big blank. Are the searchers working with their heads? Did they know that the Americans are taking their own sweet time as if they know that it is all a big fake show, that there is nothing there?
 
Not sure whether to laugh or to cry.

Putting on the red lens on climate change

Last night’s SG+ on climate change was all about all the great things Red Dot has done on climate change and saving mother earth. Everything is so positive, green buildings, water conservation, new water, earth hour, cutting down on wasteful consumption, reducing car population, reducing carbon emission, encourage walking or cycling, saving waste papers, plastics etc etc. Everyone in the panel of discussion was patting himself and feeling so good that as a first world country we were setting an excellent example for the less developed countries to follow.

I was just a bit puzzled by some of the things that we are doing like scrapping cars in 10 years or less when they can be used for 20 or 30 years. Is this wasteful or saving resources? What about pulling down structurally sound buildings that could last another 50 to 100 years just to rebuild even higher and higher buildings? Are these acts helping to reduce consumption of energy and resources and material or wasting them?

What about increasing the population from 3m to 5.4m and now proceeding to 6.9m? Is the increasing population going to increase consumption of energy and resources or the other way?

On the whole I think any one of these three items, premature scrapping of good road worthy cars, pulling down of structural sound buildings or population increases could outdo all the things mentioned in para one added together to reduce consumption of resources but conversely has more adverse effects on climate change in bigger ways.

What is the point of saving a glass of water but turning the aircon on the whole night? Think how much airconditioning is needed to cool the funny gardens for plants that would grow wild in their natural habitats? Is the Red Dot really a good example in energy saving or reducing consumption of resources to help in slowing down climate change? How much more energy and resources would need to be consumed for every million people added into the island, the food, energy, utilities, their toys, the leisure and casual consumption for them to live and use?

Can we remove the red lens and look at the self perpetuating myths and fallacies we created to make us look good and feel good? Our greed for more people is so destructive that we didn’t even know or were aware of it. We are so blind to our wrongs and so smug in blowing our own trumpets. We are helping in the worse way to destroy mother earth by destroying our little island first.

Singapore students top the world in PISA

In a test conducted by Programme for International Students Assessment in 2012, Singapore students, and I repeat, Singapore students, beat the rest of the world to come up tops, not only in rote learning but also in creative thinking. Amazing isn’t it? 

After a decade of wearing the no talent tag, when they are deemed to be more stupid and useless than fake talents from the 3rd World, our students are world beaters. And those 3rd World countries where we drew our talents from were not even mentioned or appeared in the top rankings. Among those rated closer to Singapore are South Korea, Japan, Macau, HongKong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and Finland. No wonder we are seeing the rise of Asia.
 
These students that topped the PISA test are likely to be strait A students for their O and A level examinations. And they are likely to be admitted to local universities and will also do very well. They will also be able to find employments quite easily and will be quickly promoted to middle management in the future.
 
But they will not be good enough to be at top management level. They will mostly be replaced by the fake talents from the 3rd World that they beat with hands down. Then they will add to the statistics of the unemployed or underemployed PMEs. And many will end up as their own bosses, driving taxis to pick up the foreign fake talents and hoping for some tips if they are lucky. If they are unlucky they will end up as punching bags to these foreign talents for their amusements.
 
Some of these who refused to accept their fate will try desperately to submit their resumes to the employment agencies operated by foreigners but would be told that they lacked the skill sets and experience needed for their clients. These foreign employment agencies would prefer to recruit their talents or fake talents from the 3rd World to fill up positions in this world class city.
 
One caveat, this is likely to be the picture if conditions remain like what it is now. Things may change in 10 or 20 years when all the free trade agreements are signed and foreigners flooded this city looking for jobs and our world beaters would count themselves lucky if they could even find employment in the first place.
 
Andreas Schleicher, Special Adviser to the OECD Secretary General on Education Policy and Deputy Director for Education and Skills has this to say, ‘It shows that today’s 15 year olds in Singapore are quick learners, highly inquisitive, able to solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar contexts and highly skilled in generating new insights by observing, exploring and interacting with complex situations.’ What he meant is that our students are not blind muggers but really talented and creative. But would those asses listen to him? I bet not. The asses will still be singing praise for foreign talents and recruiting fake talents and bring them in plane loads to replace these local talents in top jobs, middle jobs and eventually all jobs except taxi drivers.
 
Can these bright Singapore students look forward to a great career in the future? What do you think?

Kopi Level - Green

High-Frequency Traders Ripping Off Investors

High-Frequency Traders Ripping Off Investors, Lewis Says
2014-03-31 00:09:27.261 GMT


By Nick Baker and Sam Mamudi
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. stock market is a rigged
game where high-frequency traders with advanced computers make
tens of billions of dollars by jumping in front of investors,
according to author Michael Lewis, who spent the past year
researching the topic for his new book “Flash Boys.”

While speed traders’ strategies, developed over the past
decade with help from exchanges, are legal, “it’s just nuts”
that they’re allowed, Lewis said during an interview televised
today on CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes.” The tactics are too
complicated for individual investors to understand, he said.

“The United States stock market, the most iconic market in
global capitalism, is rigged,” Lewis, whose books “Liar’s
Poker” and “The Big Short” highlighted Wall Street excesses,
said during the interview. The new book comes out tomorrow.
“It’s crazy that it’s legal for some people to get advance news
on prices and what investors are doing,” he said.

Everyone who owns equities is victimized by the practices,
in which the fastest traders figure out which stocks investors
plan to buy, purchase them first and then sell them back at a
higher price, said Lewis, a columnist for Bloomberg View. To
show how lucrative the tactics are, Lewis said a technology firm
spent $300 million to build a line that would shave three
milliseconds off the time it takes to communicate between New
Jersey and Chicago, then leased it out to securities companies
for $10 million each…..
 
His latest target, high-frequency trading, comprises a
diverse set of software-driven strategies that have spread from
U.S. equity markets to most developed countries as computer
power grew and regulators tried to break the grip of centralized
exchanges….

There are no surprises why this rigging of the stock market could go on for so long as the lawmakers were mostly paid by the big boys to shut up and look the other way. But to write about front running by a few milliseconds to make profits is just skimming the surface of this devious criminal activity. It is the privy of market information on who is buying/selling what, the volume, price, the short positions etc etc that is ripping the innocent investors through the act of plugging their computers into the exchanges that is doing more damages than just high speed trading. They are not telling the host of advantages of having super computers attached to stock exchanges to make trading an almost sure win bet.
 
The criminals must be brought to justice, the stock exchanges sued and compensations be paid to the innocent investors who have lost their pants trading in the market. Anyone or govt bodies approving its practice are complicit to the crime.
 
Below is a Wall Street Journal report dated 1 Apr 14.
 
‘The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a wide-ranging investigation into high-speed trading with an eye on whether some firms are acting on fast-moving market information that isn’t available to other traders.
 
The investigation, launched about a year ago, involves a range of trading activities and is still in its early stages, according to a senior FBI official and an agency spokesman. Trading ahead of other investors based on information about orders that other investors can’t see could violate insider-trading laws, the spokesman said….’