Japanese Imperialism: The mask and gloves are down

The Abe Administration is not going to hide anything from their intention to revive Japanese Imperialism. They have taken so many actions to defy and provoke China and the Koreas with the backing of the Americans. The condescending attitude to the Americans, hands in glove with the Japanese, cannot be hidden anymore. The Japanese knew very well that the Americans would have to go along with them if they want the Japanese to be a part of their pivot to Asia to counter the rise of China. The Americans are now the willing master to let the Japanese rearm and to become another big military power like its past. It is a marriage of the American mafia and the Yakuza.
 
Abe has repeatedly been provoking the Chinese and the Koreans over the territorial disputes and claiming that those islands were Japanese. He has led a movement to rewrite Japanese history to erase its invasion of Asian countries and the barbaric records or killings and lootings of these countries. The comfort women that Japan forced onto Asian women were to be rewritten as Asian women volunteering to be prostitutes to Japanese soldiers. The Nankin Massacre would be whitewashed as fake or nothing of that sort.
 
The visits to the war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine have been revived and will become a routine ceremony to honour war criminals, Japanese military aggression and invasion of its neighbouring countries.
 
Japan will be allowed to play a bigger military role in the region including fighting on the side of American allies. Abe’s latest move was to set up a military base in the southern most island near Taiwan and the disputed islands of Diaoyu/Senkaku.
 
The Japanese pacific constitution will be amended for Japan to resume its Imperial past and be a military power.
 
The conniving Americans are in this with the Japanese up to their necks. The USA has unleashed the most aggressive war dog of Asia to take on China and is not holding it back. The Japanese have been given the green light to take on China and the Koreans. Hopefully that would be all, and not the rekindling dream of the Japanese Empire over Asia.
 
With the aggressive and ambitious Japanese on the loose, and with the Americans behind them, war in Asia is only a matter of when. Japanese Imperialism and remilitarization is on the go. China cannot afford to be soft while the Japanese keep on advancing in every front to challenge its influence and to hold on to the loots of war time Japanese Imperialism. The two Koreans too would be in the cross hairs of Japan’s military expansionism.
 
The message of the 150 lawmakers visiting Yasukuni is simply that they are proud of what they had done during the Second World War, no shame and would do it again. Asia is waiting to be on fire.
 
The message from Obama is that the Americans would support and protect its allies, in this case Japanese expansionism. On the other hand he would want China to betray its allies and restrain them, in this case North Korea.

Kopi Level - Yellow

The AEC or Asean musical chair

When the Asean Economic Community comes into effect it will turn the employment scene in Asean into a game of musical chairs. So far we have been assured by ministers in Parliament that there will be no free flow of professionals to work in any Asean country. If that is the case then the musical chair game may not work. If it is in the same nature as that of CECA with India, then this game will be played ten times more vigorously.
 
All the PMEs and workers would want to find a job in Sin City. With the relative high pay and excellent currency exchange rates, it is a sure win situation for every Asean country workers to get a job here. So when the music is played, all will be rushing for the Singapore chairs. When the music stops, every Singapore chair will probably have ten players sitting on it. The rest of the chairs would likely to be vacant waiting for takers.
 
And who will be left standing? The Sinkies of course, and it is unlikely for them to take up the empty chairs in the other Asean countries. The music can be repeated over and over again and the end result will be the same, Sinkies will be left standing and with many chairs from the Asean countries not taken.
 
Don’t ask me why it will end up this way, but this is how the game of musical chairs will be played. Sinkies’ idea of putting a piece of tissue paper to chope their chairs would be greatly disappointed. The foreigners would not play the same rule. They would throw away the tissue papers.

Kopi Level - Yellow

The richest man/woman in history

It is not Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. It is not the Sultan of Brunei or any of the oil sheilks in the Middle East either. It is not some kings or monarchs of an empire. It is not King Soloman either. I know what you are thinking. No, dead wrong.
 
Adam and Eve, they owned the whole mother earth and everything on it. They owned the mountains and oceans, and all the living things and resources in them. They need not fear of running out of fish or food. No fear of running out of minerals, commodities or energy sources. They lived a life of plentiful.
 
We are considered the richest people in the world. Every one in two Sinkie is a millionaire. We have everything money can buy. We think we are rich. Everyone think we are rich. Are we? Why are we told to cut down on the use of water, don’t bath for too long? Don’t waste petrol or drive cars, take public transport, cycle will be better. We are told not to waste food as food and resources are depleting. We may run out of fish in the ocean and food crops not enough. Why?
 
They are all kinds of organizations and kind souls telling everyone to save mother earth as we all over consuming and exploiting the resources, fossil fuel will run out, we burnt a big hole in the sky. We need to stop polluting the environment, we need to grow green. Why? Are we rich, very rich? Oops, sorry, the message not to waste or over consume is meant for the losers. You think the rich cares? You really think they are saving mother earth and are conscious of their destructive habits?
 
We have plenty when we were 200,000, 2m, 3m. No one told us not to waste food and resources. No one told us to cut down on usage of water or what we eat. No one was worried that the ocean was running out of fish and the land out of food crop.
 
Now we are rich, damn rich, and we are 5.4m going to 6.9m and not going to stop there. When we hit 6.9m, what have we got to forego, how many cups of water will be the ration, how many bowl of rice day, meat on alternate days, no cars except for the very rich. Everyone cycles around, and everyone a multi millionaire.
 
So? Are we richer than Adam and Eve? They don’t have motor vehicles, no TV, no smart phones, no aircon, no modern convenience. But they have the whole world to themselves.
 
I don’t think anyone wants to be Adam and Eve and owns the whole world. And I doubt anyone wants to be a multi millionaire when he has to ration what he eats and drinks and how many cups of water to bath in a day. Where is the right balance, 3m, 5m, 6.9m or 10m or more? Do you want to be rich but have less and with less ration to live on? Do you need Earth Days, Light’s off day? Do you need greenpeace, green movments, ….?
 
We have 7b people sharing everything on earth when only Adam and Eve used to share them. And for the 7b, actually only a few are sharing the earth while the rest are only having as much as the land below his feet of the air around him.
How rich are you? How many people you want to share your little piece of rock?
 
PS. This article is to gives an idea on how far we have come as a civilization and how we have diluted the share of our resources from 2 person, hypothetically or theologically, to nearly 7 billion people worldwide, and distributed disproportionally. And in our little island, how we are sharing everything with 5.4m when we were less than 3m. And of course the sharing is very unequal and that makes it more painful for those who are getting less than enough to get by.

Kopi Level - Green

Your CPF savings absolutely safe even after you die

Many of you have dutifully made a nomination for your CPF savings upon your death and feeling very comfortable and secure about it, believing that your nominated beneficiary will enjoy a windfall as a result. This is what the CPF Board says when it happens,
 
‘If a valid nomination had been made, the beneficiaries will receive the deceased’s CPF monies and assets, which include the following:
 
a) CPF savings in the Ordinary, Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts, if any.
b) Discounted SingTel (ST) shares, if any.’
 
So, feeling very good and assured that your money will go to the person you willed to receive them. Yes, your beneficiary will receive the money left in your CPF. But he/she will not be able to on a shopping spree and say what a nice chap you are. Only the CPF will be smiling. He/she can only smile at the CPF statement saying your money has been moved into his/her account from your account. There is a debit and a credit. No cash transfer!
 
Get the picture? They don’t get a cash cheque. They will get a paper transfer, and depending on their age, their MSS, they might not be able to touch the money, don’t ever think of spending it. Your CPF savings will remain in the CPF, from one account to another account, and remain there, absolutely safe, untouchable. This is what is going to your last few dollars in your CPF savings after you saved for a life time. No one is going to spend it.
 
Is this good news or bad news? Should the money of a deceased be cashed out, a cheque sent to the beneficiary to enjoy the last few dollars the loving spouse or parents willed to them? Why should it remain in the CPF, albeit in the beneficiary’s account?
 
How can you let this happen? How can you accept the govt doing this to your life savings even after you pass away?
 
What does this mean? What is happening? Your CPF not your money? CPF, please clarify and confirm on this and please inform the people when this change was made, and by who?

PS. I hope I am wrong on this.TRE or any aggregator, please do not post this in your site until more details are available. It is confirmed that the Medisave portion is not returned according to Alex Tan.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – When the show is over

More than one and a half months of frantic and fruitless search for MH370 in the Antarctics have proven nothing. Not a trace on MH370 or a piece of debris. The families of the victims are starting to question the purpose of this search, was is a joke, or was it a planned or misguided search into a wrong area, a red herring from the start?
 
Have all the victims and the govts been misled into a foolish exploration of the Antarctic Ocean when they should be looking somewhere else for MH370? The conspiracy theory is gaining more credibility, that this elaborate scam or espionage was conducted to serve someone’s agenda, and in the course of its execution and the need to hide its trails, everyone is made a fool of?
 
If all the information given from day one was to disinform, to misinform, to fool everyone to look into the Antarctic, a cruel act of deceit and treachery, should the people involved in the disinformation and misinformation be prosecuted for such a wicked crime devoid of compassionate and human kindness when there are hundreds grieving and waiting for the loved ones to return?
 
Should an enquiry be conducted on how the information was disseminated that were untrue or sheer fabrications with flimsy level of credibility but pushed through as the truth, as real evidence to mislead everyone on a wild goose chase? Anyone has any doubts about the information provided and wanting to know the source and the whys while the passengers and the aircraft are still no where to be seen?

Sampan sinking? NO?

The answer is no, or not yet. Our Sampan is still looking good and still good to load in more and more passengers. It is like Noah loading the animals for a journey instructed by God. Fill them up! The captain is very confident that this Sampan would not sink even if it is loaded with 6.9m, and more when the need comes. Maybe by then another hull will be added to turn it into a catamaran, safe, stable and sound.
 
The South Koreans did not have an unsinkable catamaran. And they did not have a good captain too. And the tragedy is still unfolding with a target of at least 300 innocent school children on the death list. Obviously the captain was confident that his ferry would not sink. It was is good condition and plying daily through the Korean sea to Jeju from the mainland. It was a routine trip. All system go. Even if a trainee or assistant was at the helm, nothing drastic could go wrong. And the passengers of teachers and students have great faith in the captain, his crew and the ferry to provide a safe journey to their paradise island.
 
There was a bang. The ferry either hit something or something exploded. Nevermind, the captain was in charge. He told everyone to remain calm and stay where they were. Do not panic, do not rush as it would be dangerous doing so. The captain could not see anything serious like the sinking of the ferry on his radar. He probably thought it was a minor problem. There was time.
 
There was plenty of time to evacuate the passengers. The ferry was sinking slowly. Yes, the captain had all the time in the world to mount an evacuation, to get the passengers to put on their life vests like the drill before the journey. The captain had all the time to lower the lifeboats. There were 46 of them.
 
No one could see the danger ahead. The teachers and students remained calm and stayed where they were told. Some were in the lower levels and in their cabins. And the ferry continued to sink. No one panic. No one could think of the worst, not even the captain. And the ferry continued to sink, and even with half the ferry on its side, it was all calm. The passengers remained in their cabins, having full faith in the good judgement of the captain. And the ferry continued to sink. And the captain still did not call for a full evacuation. And the ferry continued to sink, with nearly all its obedient sheeples inside their cabins, all waiting for instruction from the captain to evacuate. 

They did not know, I think, that the ferry was sinking. The captain did not tell them so. Some were still in the dining hall having their breakfast. And the ferry sank.
 
Where was the danger? Where was the early warning or signs of a big mishap on the way? No? Everything is under control, trust the captain and his crew. The ship was not going to sink and bring its passengers under.
 
The rest is a very sad story. The moral of the story? How much shall you trust your captain? How much can you trust that the Sampan will not sink? How much must you trust yourself, your own judgement, that when things are bad, it is bad. Get out when you can to save yourself. Let the captain sink with the ferry. But the captain was too smart for that. He left the sinking ferry in time to save his own skin.

PS. The final reply by the crew of Sewol when told by the maritime traffic control. 'Make passengers wear life jackets and get ready in case you need to abandon ship' is 
'It's difficult for the passengers to move now.' Think 2030!

Medical fees, getting what you pay for?

‘…according to a study by the University College London (UCL), which was commissioned by the British General Medical Council (GMC) – the equivalent of the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) in Singapore.
 
It found that half of all foreign doctors in UK do not have the necessary skills to work there. However, they were allowed to practise there because the competency exam is too easy.’ TRE Editorial.
 
The above shows the quality of the UK medical profession and it also says that they are willing to compromise on the quality of the foreign doctors to make up the numbers. Half are substandard! By this act it puts the British public at risk when they seek medical treatment from these substandard doctors. And it is callous and irresponsible for the British Medical Council to admit such doctors to practice on their patients. They just did not know how substandard is substandard and how many patients are put to unnecessary risks or actually mistreated by these doctors.
 
In the case of the Singapore Medical Council, can we believe that it will do the due diligence, and unlike its British counterpart, only admits those that are on par with our own doctors? It has to be or else we would be exposing our own people to the same level of risk and mistreatment by substandard doctors like in UK. Anyone who is privy to the high academic and professional standard demanded of our locally produced doctors will know that we are having our best of the best as doctors. On this count alone it is fair to say that the foreign doctors are unlikely to meet the same standard as our very own, or at least many would not be. If they are of that kind of quality, they would be in UK or US. Is this a fair conclusion?
 
If the foreign doctors admitted here are as good as our own, then we can sleep in peace. I just got this hunch that it is not the case. And those who were rejected by UK would be here trying their luck. This is a layman’s perception and need not be right. Our Medical Council will definitely enforce the highest standard and criteria to admit any foreign doctor to practice here. It would be grossly unfair to our citizens when so many of our straight A students were rejected from medical schools only for the Medical Council to bring in substandard doctors from outside. We can’t be so stupid right?
 
And it is not only a matter of stupidity. No responsible Medical Council would allow substandard doctors to treat our people. On this count I believe we are in good hands. The second problem of a substandard doctor is the money we pay them. We are paying damn good money, first world medical fees. How can we pay so much for substandard doctors that are not worth a cent? In medical practices, a substandard doctor is a bad doctor and can kill instead of heal. Yes, not worth a cent. Think of the nightmare a healthy patient walked out from a substandard doctor with more problems, wrongly diagnosed, wrong medicine prescription etc etc and ended in more serious condition?
One thing the govt or the Medical Council must guarantee to the public is that any doctor certified fit to practice must be good, and in our case as good as our own doctors. If the gap is too wide, then the patients should not be made to pay the same medical fees. You pay for what you get and not anything they shaft it to you.
 
Are sinkies getting what they pay for? Should there be a fee difference for being treated by different quality doctors? Are Sinkies being shortchanged?

Kopi Level - Green

Piling on the accolades for Sinkies

The Sinkies are earning more medals or titles for themselves. An event like the Pinoy Independence Day has heaped on several more titles or tags onto them. Other than the infamous daft and xenophobic titles, the new tags for the Sinkies are disgraceful, bigots and embarrassment.

This will bring the tally to 5. I may have missed out on a few more. While the Sinkies are earning new titles, at the same time many old titles were lost or forgotten. No longer were tags like hardworking, disciplined, well trained, knowledgeable, honest, etc etc be associated with the Sinkies. Oh, now I remember another new medal, lazy, to make it 6. This is a strange tag pinned on a very vigorous people, yes, vigorous, is no longer a virtue of Sinkies. Sinkies are simply lazy, and choosy for jobs.
 
But when I asked the PMEs, many said they are not choosy at all. They would do any job even with a huge pay cut. And come to the worse they would become taxi drivers, picking up ladies of the nights and drunkards and smelly and unruly passengers as part and parcel of their job. For this they can’t be choosy I am sure.
 
As for the tag of laziness, I think this only applies after their formal education as many of them are straight A students, so cannot be lazy right? Or unless they bought their papers from the street vendors. I have not walked the streets, can anyone tell me if Sin City has started to indulge in this lucrative trade as well?
 
Other than these two tags, I think the rest must be true. So welcome to this global city of daft, xenophobic, disgraceful, and embarrassing bigots, and very lazy Sinkies.

Pinoy Independence Day – An opportunity for the Little India COI

With 200,000 Pinoys living here and all very patriotic and wanting to celebrate their Independence Day, a public place is only a natural choice as the turnout would be big, like our National Day Celebration. And this one would not only be celebrated by the Pinoys but also by their friends here, the Sinkies and most of all the India Indians and Bangladeshis. Many Pinays have boyfriends here who are foreign workers. Now, with 200,000 Pinoys and 500,000 Indians/Bangladeshis, actually more, the crowd at Ngee Ann would flow into the streets. It may be a better idea to close down Orchard Road on that day to accommodate the crowd. I am sure there will be a joyous celebration for all the participants.
 
Just a little word of caution, with so many bad vibes spreading in the net, there could be a little staring incidents happening, or some loudmouths may spew some unacceptable vulgarities, or some guys, from anywhere, could be ogling at the Pinays and annoyed the boyfriends. What I am saying is that when there is such a huge crowd of foreigners first time celebrating in a public space, just be prepared for some rowdy incidents and be prepared to nip them in the bud before they escalated into a riot like Little India.
 
Here the COI of Little India riot could come in handy. There were differences in opinions as to how the Police handled that situation and actually caused the riots to escalate. There were many suggestions by the COI that if the Police were to react in certain ways, more forceful, more authoritative, more assertive, firing warning shots, charging at the crowd to arrest the leaders, there would be no riots in Little India.
 
This Pinoy Independence Day actually presents an unique opportunity for a possible mob incident to happen. While Little India riot cannot be repeated, in this case the COI could test the Police to put their recommendations on how to deal with a mob into action. Get the Police fully prepared as to what the COI thinks would be an effective way to handle a mob and to kill a riot before it flares up. It is rare that such an opportunity can be present to make a rerun of a real event. Not that there will be a mob rioting. But the Police can be prepared to deal with the situation in the best way possible, the COI way.
 
This will be an exercise to test and prove the effectiveness of a strong and assertive Police in the handling of a riot, if the opportunity presents itself. It will also settle once and for all the two opposing doctrines of the Police and the COI on the best and most effective way to handle a mob.
 
What do you think?

Kopi Level -Green

The formula is just not right

The cost of bringing up a child in the neighbouring countries is so much cheaper than in Sin City. We are talking about anything from $500k to a million from cradle to adulthood. How much would it take to bring up a Chinaman, and India Indian, a Viet or a Pinoy? A fraction. How much would a university education cost in these countries compare to an education in school? Incomparable.
 
When a graduate from these countries landed a job here, he is going to earn real Singapore dollars. And for every 10 years spent working here, he would have earned enough to last him 30 years when he returns home. I think I have to exclude China from the formula as their city living makes working here no longer meaningful.
 
In the case of a Sinkie, he would need to work at least 10 to 15 years to cover the cost of his upbringing. And he would be left with another 15 years or so to work before he is relegated to the underemployed PME brigade. By then he would be in his 50s and no longer employable except being self employed if he is lucky.
 
The big problem is that he is going to live another 20 or 30 years and have to cope with the high cost of living and medical expenses during his last remaining economically unproductive years. What does this mean? It says that during a Sinkie’s last 15 years of economically active years he must earn enough to support himself for 15 + 20/30 years, or simply he must earn 2 or 3 times his needs in this short span of time.
 
In the case of a FT who came to work here, his income will allow him to live for 3 times the duration, or to enjoy a full retirement. In the case of a Sinkie he needs to earn 3 times his income before he loses his jobs if he is to enjoy his retirement.
 
The formula really works against the Sinkies. Exceptionally high cost of growing up, but relatively low income, inadequate to see him through his retirement. In the FT case, low cost of growing up but needing only to work one third of his life in Sin City and will have enough to enjoy the remaining two third of his life in retirement.
 
Did they say the cards are stacked against the Sinkies? Everything he earns is just enough from hand to mouth except for the top earners. And where got enough to set aside to last his remaining life in the supposedly retirement phase? Most Sinkies will never earn enough or save enough for retirement unlike the foreigners.

Pinoy Independence Day, a demand for more space

With 200,000 Pinoys working in this city, their demand for more space for social and leisure activities is only natural and expected just like the increase in population from 3.3m to 5.4m and the coming 6.9m. No one can fault the Pinoys for wanting more space to live and enjoy their stay here. We can’t squeeze them into dog’s kennels right? As a good host, we need to be more gracious and generous and share our space and amenities with them.
 
We have already done this. We are giving a lot of space to the various foreign communities living here, all 2m of them, Race Course Rd/Little India for the Indians and Bangladeshis, Chinatown and Geylang for the PRCs, Golden Miles for the Thais, Peninsula for the Myanmese, Joo Chia for the Vietnamese, and Lucky Plaza/Botanic Gardens for the Pinoys.
 
We must also have foresight, to be able to project their needs into the future. The more they grew, the more space they will need. And this will apply to the other nationalities. By the time our population hits 6.9m, the foreigners would definitely need more space to live comfortably. We cannot be so selfish to deprive them from having more space. The current demand for a place to celebrate the Pinoy Independence Day is only to be expected.
 
And why not, our Sinkie population will shrink further, so we don’t need so much space for ourselves in the future. Let’s be mentality prepared to cede more space to make our guests feel they are welcomed, and it will reflect very well on us.
 
The need for more space is only a small step forward. There will be more social and otherliving needs, like a TV channel for their native programmes, newspapers, and maybe more signages on the streets in their languages. They may need to be represented in Parliament in some ways so that their interests will be protected. We can either have NMPs or MPs specially tasked to protect them.
 
Oh, I think they are already being encouraged to integrate with us and joining RC activities and may even become RC members. With such a huge presence, they cannot be ignored. Their interests cannot be ignored. As their presence is proportionally increased, more resources would have to be diverted to meet their needs. And as our presence is proportionally decreased, lesser resources are needed for our citizens. There will be a new balance and a new status quo developing natural and everyone will be happy, to each according to his needs. In politics they termed this as proportional representation. Caveat, in most countries, proportional representation formula applies only to citizens of a country. In our case, we are no longer a country or just a country in the making, and foreigners are already regarded as locals, so citizenship is no longer a criteria to demand for more space and representation.
 
What do you think be you a gracious Sinkie or xenophobic Sinkie?

Tales of a vigorous people and less vigorous people

In the days of the four Asian Tigers referring to the economic success of South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore, their successes were attributed to having a more vigorous people, a population that was disciplined and with very hardworking ethic genes. It was this gene pool that made the difference between their success and the struggling economies of their neighbouring countries made up of less vigorous people.

Of the four tigers, three are still roaring away. One has outdone the rest by becoming the most vibrant and most expensive city in the world. The only odd thing is that the vigorous people are no longer vigorous anymore. And they have to import less vigorous people from neighbouring countries to sustain their economic growth. It is quite a strange biological phenomenon that the genes of a vigorous people can deteriorated to such a poor state in a generation. Could it be due to bastardisation with less vigorous people? I don’t think so. Bastardisation could bring out the best of the two sets of genes. Of course the recessive genes could become the dominant genes.

The only logical conclusion is that the neighbouring countries suddenly have turned vigorous. Their genes could be genetically modified, I supposed, to become more vigorous than the genes of the Sinkie pool. But if true this is also going to be another biological wonders. Gene pools do not make dramatic changes over a generation. They would evolve gradually with time. Also, the people of the neighbouring countries are still deemed to be less vigorous around the whole world except in Singapore. When competing with the Sinkie gene pool they are now regarded as better.

My conclusion is that it must be both, the degenerating of the Sinkie gene pool and the relative improvement in the neighbouring gene pool relative to the Sinkie gene pool that make the Sinkies less vigorous than them. And I think it would not be difficult to compile some empirical data to prove that this theory is true, that there is a strong case of a vigorous gene pool that turned bad in one generation.

The Sinkies are no longer a vigorous people, or at least they are less vigorous than the people of their neighbouring countries.

Kopi Level - Green

PME taxi drivers

Our highly qualified PME taxi drivers are going to be touted as another great career choice in this most expensive city in the world.  And it could be real if the taxi fares are raised to the levels of western developed countries. Then being a taxi driving ‘boss of your own’ would make some sense, when taxi drivers could be among the high income earners.

In reality our unemployed or underemployed PMEs are exactly like the so called foreign talents here. These FTs are the unemployed and underemployed PMEs of their home countries. There were not enough good jobs for them and there are so lucky to have this global city to offer them employment and paying them so well relative to their top earners at home. Many of the junior or middle executives working here could be earning more than their ministers or top civil servants. No need to imagine those that are in senior management, all thanks to the high exchange rates and the high salaries being offered here.

There is a glimmer of hope that our PMEs could discard their taxi driving and becoming FTs in the neighbouring countries when the Asean Economic Community Agreement is signed. Then our PMEs can flood the streets of KL, Jakarta and Manila for FT jobs in these cities. Be nice to the Pinoys if you want them to be nice to you when you seek jobs in Manila ok.

Actually our PMEs could do the same in the big cities of India with the CECA in place. We have heard that our professionals are in high demands overseas and being rejected or not in demand in this global city would not be a problem as there are plenty of good opportunities elsewhere. With the AEC, they could be earning big money in these foreign cities. Just don’t convert the currencies to Sing dollar and everything will be fine. They could be earning millions and millions in rupiahs, rupees and pesos. If they are not happy with these currencies, there are the dongs, the kyats, the ringgits or Thai bahts that may give better value.

There is hope for all the unemployed and underemployed PMEs in all the Asean countries to play the game of musical chairs. Only fear is that when the music stops, all the Sinkie PMEs will be standing.

The NMP dream team

If only this is possible, having a dream team NMP from the social media. In reality this is unlikely as the bloggers in social media are just too loud, talk too much and will be a pain in the neck if they ever get into parliament. Why would they want these loudmouth bloggers to give them some headache when they don’t need to?  Still then, if they really want committed and sincere citizens that have the affairs of the state at heart and are thinking and talking about them daily, without being paid, where else can they find them other than the social media?

Let me imagine what the NMP dream team would be like if the bloggers have a choice. Leong Sze Hian, Roy Ngerng, Alex Au, Vincent Wijeysingha, Chris K, Oxygen, Christine Lim, Cynical Investor to name just a few. Kenneth J, Tan Kin Lian and Gilbert Goh too would make it to the team but they would likely contest the next GE and enter by the main door. And there is a FT in Christopher Balding to consider too. We are so in love with FTs and including one will be just so nice.

With such a team in parliament, PAP would definitely be at their best, no more on leave, busy, no time to attend parliament, and cannot afford to doze off either. It may even devote a handpicked team to take on the NMP dream team, but not necessarily their first team. The first team would be too lethal, a cold steely stare would be enough to deal a deadly blow to the NMP dream team. Let’s just speculate a few names for the PAP task force against the NMP dream team. Lee Bee Wah, Irene Ng, Hri Kumar, Vikram Nair, Lim Wee Kiat, Janil, all great PAP debaters. And for good measures PAP might want the team to be helmed by a minister to give it the ballast. Iswaran would be more than enough to take on this task, and watch out for his southpaw. Fatimah Lateef did not and took a full body blow recently.

It would be a wonder to watch the two teams fight it out in parliament and I am sure the TV ratings would shoot through the roof when parliament is in session. It would beat all the Channel 5 or Channel 8 dramas hands down. Unfortunately this can only happen in dreamland. There would not be any NMP dream team or PAP task force to do mortal combat in parliament.

Kopi Level - Green

Independence Day – A political interpretation

The objections to the Pinoys celebrating their Independence Day in a public area like Orchard Road have drawn out sympathetic responses from some Sinkies. Even the ST did not miss the negativity of the outcry and came out with an editorial calling for a curb on anti foreign rantings. Many Sinkies are still adamant that such a celebration should not be held in the streets of our city but in private or within the compound of an embassy.

An Independence Day is a political statement of a nation of people breaking free from the oppression of colonialism or an external power. Every country is proud of their Independence Day, and the Pinoys are no exception. Should we allow or support such a celebration in Orchard Road? We have many very open minded Sinkies who would not mind and may even ask what is the fuzz all about. And they would look at it unkindly to Sinkies who tried to make a big issue out of it and calling them narrow minded and old fashion backward patriots, out of touch with the reality of a new globalise world.

Are there any merits to those who objected to such a public celebration by a tribe of foreigners in the heart of our global city? Put it in another way, how would we view it if the Malaysians would to celebrate their Independence Day at the Padang and with speakers standing at the steps of City Hall shouting, ‘Merdeka, Merdeka!’ How would the Sinkies feel if the PRC Chinese or the India Indians would to do the same?

Or how would the Malaysians or our neighbouring countries feel if Sinkies would to celebrate our National Day in the heart of their cities and shouting ‘Merdeka, Merdeka?’ Politically speaking there is some sensitivity involved and some subtlety in the meaning of celebrating an Independence Day in a foreign country. Are they implying that they are now independence from us, the City that hosts them, that they could do anything they want here as free and independent residents?  Of course they don’t mean it.

What is the political message? Today we allowed the Pinoys to celebrate their Independence Day openly, would we also allow the other tribes to celebrate their Independence Day here as well? Are we being too uptight? Or should we be the generous host, the global citizens, opened minded, sophisticated anything goes as long as it is fun, and let everyone have a good time, to celebrate their Independence Day in our streets?

What do you think?

PS. Yesterday my pageview hit a new record of more than 12,200 in a single day. But somehow it did not translate to more kopi.

Be proud to be in the Internet Brigade (IB)

The temperature in cyberspace has been rising recently with the presence of more IB participants and activities. And this is likely to go on and increase in tempo as we approach the GE. What is unusual is that the IBs are pretty shy people, all hiding behind anonymity when they crashed through the blogs to attack their victims.

There are many reasons for the critics of govt policies to remain anonymous. Everyone knows the reasons and they are forgiven for wanting to remain in the dark. What about the IB? While the critics are likely to be of the same genre as those characters in the Water Margin classic, and fearing persecution, there is no such fear among the IBs. In fact they should be very proud to be associated with the ruling party, the govt, and doing the right thing, working for the good of the people. They should be like PAP members, wearing the PAP badge prominently on their chests, stand up and be recognised. Walk with heads held high in pride, not in shame.

Why is there a need to be anonymous, acting like cloak and dagger stuff? Are they not proud of what they are doing? Or are they doing something slimy, cannot see the light, something that they are ashamed of, too embarrassing and demeaning if found out by their parents or spouses or children, for being members of the IBs?

Cannot be right? They are on the right side, on the govt’s side, and they should be very proud of their deeds and who they are working for. The govt is not the gangster or the devil that it is a shame to be seen with. The govt is on the bright side, the critics are on the dark side.

The critics have all the good reasons to put on a veil. The IBs must have all the good reasons to stand on the rostrum to tell the world who they are, right? No, they are not doing the right thing? They are devious, sinister, vile, despicable, and that is why they fear being recognised and are ashamed of what they are doing? How can?

I would like to address this same question to the IBs and their patrons. Is it so shameful and disgusting to be IBs that it is necessary to hide under the veil of darkness? There are fears of the darkside, not the side of light. Be proud of what you are doing and what you are fighting and defending. No need to be shy, no need to be ashamed, no need to be ‘pai seh’. You may be given a National Day Award for a job well done. Transparency? What is that? Cheng hu is always good and tiok mah.

PS. By hiding behind anonymity, are the IBs admitting that what they are doing is wrong, unacceptable, unethical and dishonourable?

Kopi Level - Yellow

What is happening to this ten tribe country?

We are quickly turning into a country of ten tribes. And we are so proud of it. This will materialize in 2030 or earlier when we invite enough foreigners to boost our population to 6.9m. By then it is not inconceivable that we may have 10 official languages with the new tribes demanding for recognition of their languages and cultures. We may have ten different TV channels to cater for the interests and needs of the ten tribes as well. Good for the economy and the media industry and there will be more celebrities to mingle with and ogle.

As we are preparing to walk down this road of being a global city with people from all over the world calling this fabulous city their home, it is important to change the mindset of the Sinkies to be more open and receptive of foreigners and their way of life. The barrage of attacks in the internet against the Pinoys wanting to celebrate their Independence Day is very unbecoming and cannot be tolerated. How can Sinkies be so anti foreigners?

According to Mathew Mathews, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Studies, the Sinkie attackers thought the Pinoys were taking over their space, their favourite and pride, Orchard Road, by celebrating their Independence Day right in front of Ngee Ann City. But the foreigners are already everywhere! Sociologist Paulin Straughan from NUS was quoted in the media to say, ‘there is no justification for such behavior, and that it is worrying.’

Indeed there is no justification for such xenophobic behavior. Indeed it is worrying. How are we going to achieve 6.9m if the foreigners find that they are not welcomed and refused to come? How are we going to make our ten tribe nation a reality if the people cannot tahan foreigners celebrating their national or independence days here? We should be encouraging them to do so and we can have 10 national days to celebrate the whole year round. Very good for tourism and very good for the economy for sure.

And don’t forget about water festivals and whatever farmer’s festivals to add on to our colourful cultural fabric.  Singapore will really be a fun place for the foreigners and also for the Sinkies, if they are opened minded enough to share their little island with them. We must be magnanimous, think global, think that we are having a world city and not a little village in Southeast Asia. We must aspire to be international citizens, starting by being a ten tribe nation first. Once we get used to be like ten tribes and feeling comfortable with it, the next change will be easier. And we can have all the best talents and richest people living among us. Just watching them and serving them will be a pleasure.

PS. Matilah Singapura will be very happy with this article as I am sharing his views of what this island should become. It would be a pity that the Pinoys cancel their Independence Day celebration in Orchard Road. We should have more national day celebrations by all the tribes that have become our citizens. They can invite our ministers as VIP guests to their functions. We will be really a city of celebrations, a fun city.

Do we need more nationalism or internationalism? Or why want to think small and be nationalists when we can think big and become internationalists? What do you think?

Deadly consequences of reckless immigration

I may be the least qualified to talk about this chilling possibility but I do hope it would prompt the experts to open up and discuss it to educate the masses and the policy makers of the unusually high risk the people are being exposed to a deadly plague or biological epidemic. We are all familiar with the obsession of the Australians in guarding their island continent from an invasion of foreign microbes, organisms, bacteria or viruses that could destroy lives and the ecology of their continent. If there is a world wide epidemic that threatens the existence of the human race, Australia is likely to be the last bastion where some humans and living things could survive.

Japan is another country that is fairly secured from such threats but through their stringent immigration policy. Immigration is not like some simpleminded folks chose to believe in, all about economic growth. There is national security involved, not the political or military kind, but biological and chemical invasion. The world is still threatened by many deadly diseases, SARS, bird flu, MERS, ebola, TB and many others that the medical professionals would know best. And the earth is infested with uncountable microbes, organisms, bacteria, viruses and with many new ones being formed every second through mutation or cross breeding. The water, soil, air and mud on the land are filled with all kinds of organisms specific to a location.

Japan is safe in the sense that it does not freely encourage a free flow of immigrants to its islands. It is quite homogenous and those entering Japan are few and with lower risk of being carriers of deadly diseases. Their jam packed trains are clean and hygienic from this standpoint as the people are mainly Japanese and have lesser risk of introducing new diseases.

Our reckless immigration policy for economic growth brings in millions of foreigners from the far flung nooks and corners of the earth, from little 3^rd and 4^th World villagers. And these people bring along the microbes, bacteria and organisms that are new to our clinically clean citizens with no immunity or defences against them. And the probability of them passing on to the citizens is so high given the ratio of 1 foreigner to 1 citizen or higher, and the close proximity when they are jam packed in the trains, exchanging their breaths daily many times a day.

Our super clean and unprotected children are also highly exposed to these organisms and diseases carried by the foreigners without anyone raising any alarm or care a hoot if they are infected and the diseases spread wildly. The very same school buses that ferried our innocent, hygenic and angelic children to schools every morning are the same buses that fetched the foreign workers all over the islands at night. And they did not disinfect the buses before picking up the children. Get the picture?

But who cares as long as it is not my children that are going to be infected, like NIMBY is ok. The elite would only wake up if they know that their children and themselves are just as vulnerable to such diseases as their children are exposed to other children in schools and they themselves are exposed to the train commuters in the office or food courts or common space and leisure areas.

The whole island is highly exposed to deadly diseases because of our reckless economic policy of allowing millions and millions of people into this little place. And we can be history just as fast as the immigrants come in and leave after their sojourns here. We keep changing them like tissue papers and waiting for that one batch that is unclean to do the damage.

Immigration is not just economics. There is a big health risk involved. Would the health experts like to discuss this subject openly to create awareness? Have they been talking or have their mouths been zipped? This is a deadly chilling tale that is waiting to happen, waiting to be told, waiting to wipe the population of this city to oblivion.

Kopi Level - Green

The South Korean ferry tragedy

This is a tragedy that is uncalled for. The death toll is likely to be higher than MH370, mostly beautiful and lovable little children, the darlings of their parents. Many could have survived if they were told to evacuate than to sit tight and wait to be rescued.

Many in the MOE here, including Heng Swee Kiat and the school principals, must be thanking their lucky stars that this did not hit our school children on their frivolous overseas trips all over the world. Should a mishap like this ever happened, no amount of sorry, regrets and remorse would be enough to bring back the children alive.

Time for MOE to stop this nonsense of sending little children in long trips overseas for the so called rich experience. The children are highly susceptible to accidents. Even the adults too will be victims as not many are prepared or have the presence of mind to deal with such emergencies. The Korean tragedy could be greatly minimised if the adults know what they were doing.

Every trip overseas, every long journey by cars, coaches, by ships or planes can turn into a tragedy. Accidents and the unplanned events will happen. It is best that MOE stops such trips and let the parents plan it themselves if they think it is so highly desired, and they assumed the full responsibility for the safety of their children. School principals and teachers should not be made to shoulder such heavy responsibility for something good to have but really not worth the risk and not worth the experience.

We have been lucky. The closest mishap was in the Philippines when a typhoon hit and a few of our undergraduates were there, and lucky enough to tell their tales. When the children are older, young adults, with better survival skills and the ability to look after themselves, the risk are lower.

Those primary school children and lower secondary school children are very vulnerable and best to be safe than sorry. When nothing happens, it is damn fun, damn great to talk about, an ego booster for those involved and the schools. So what?

Kopi Level - Green

The Sinkie mindset – No Choice!

FIFA World Cup Subscription: Singaporeans Taken For A Ride
Senior Minister of State (Communications and Information) Lawrence Wong had claimed that the Singapore government has “no say in” the subscription prices for the FIFA World Cup “Because Singapore is a small market and has a high demand for World Cup matches, FIFA will consider the country’s purchasing power and act accordingly“.
 
The above is posted by Roy Ngerng in his blog The Heart Truth. The reason why Sinkies have no choice but to pay exorbitant subscription fees just to watch the World Cup is the same reason why Sinkies have no choice about what to do with their CPF, that the Medishield Life is compulsory, and many other things, is simply that they have been trained to accept No Choice as an answer. And the reasoning given by FIFA to charge Sinkies higher rate is the same kind of reasoning the govt has been telling the Sinkies, it resonates very well in the minds of the leaders. So they happily accepted this as No Choice, and who is paying? Who is paying?
 
Roy Ngerng pointed to many other countries that are similar in population and income level and are paying so much lesser than Sinkies. Why? No Choice or why they got Choice?
 
Sinkies are brought up to think that there is No Choice when the govt said so. And the govt has been so use to No Choice as the only choice and when confronted by FIFA, it makes perfect sense. They used the same logic, sing the same song, and believe the same clever reasoning. You can’t blame Lawrence Wong for it. He could not see anything wrong with it. In fact the logic of FIFA is perfect and absolutely logical and reasonable to our elite who have been using such logical logic on the Sinkies.
 
Sinkies got choice to pay lower COEs or public housing prices or rentals of HDB shops and food courts? If we can live with so many no choices, what is the difference in the FIFA no choice fee?

PS. Because of our purchasing power, or because we got money, it is very affordable.

A sense of contentment and betrayal

Singapore is not a first world city for nothing. We have a well designed and planned city, expensively laid tiles, and a very clean and safe environment for the children and womenfolk to while their time away. Every time I see the mothers and children of foreign origins walking our streets, our parks, our beaches, our shopping malls or eating places, and to see them feeling so comfortable, so at ease and so pleasing, it gives me a sense of pride and contentment. It is a very good feeling.
 
We are sharing our well planned and safe city to people from all over the world when safety, cleanliness and well organized streets are something they could not imagine back home, when going out or having an outing with their families and children could be a life threatening thing, be abused, be harassed, be robbed, or be bombed. Here they have complete peace of mind with a thing to worry about.
 
We are an affluent people and very charitable, and welcome foreigners to share our good fortune. But this feeling turns to anger when news of how the foreigners are abusing our hospitality, our trust and goodwill in allowing them here. It is unacceptable and downright disgusting to think that the foreigners are cheating on our people, getting our citizens sacked from jobs so that they can replace them with their own kind. It is utterly unforgiveable to think that they are using unfair and deceptive means to discriminate against our citizens and disadvantaging our innocent citizens who trust that the system is fair and equitable. It is sickening to see how our honest citizens, brought up in a no nonsense system and society, and being cheated by dishonest foreigners without knowing it and thinking that they are less able than the foreigners, and thus deserved to be replaced by the foreigners.
 
And it is contemptuous that these things are happening to our citizens and continue to happen and nothing is being done, or very little is being done, to stop the exploitation of our citizens by unfair means by foreigners.
 
How could our people be so generous and so hospital to foreigners only to end up like fools and be victims to their devious scheming and cheating ways? At the very least we should expect our kindness to be reciprocated by kindness and some kind of appreciation and gratefulness. Instead the foreigners are treating our citizens with disgust and contempt.
 
Why should the citizens allow this to end up this way? We have been betrayed by the very people we showed kindness to. And some of these people are not only ungrateful but thinking that they have the right to kick our ass. And some of our jokers actually said that it is true, that we should be grateful to the foreigners who are here to help us.
 
The sense of anger and misgiving over foreigners will grow and get worse. The bashing of the Pinoys wanting to hold their National Day celebration is only the tip of a growing discontentment against foreigners. The huge presence of foreigners has eroded their novelty and the natural graciousness of a people that have been very welcoming to foreigners is crumbling. The familiarity and the abuses by foreigners and their rudeness, their competition for everything the citizens needed will no longer be tolerated. It just went over the edge.
 
But many asses still thing that there is nothing wrong with having more foreigners here and wanting more to come. And they are surprise that the Sinkies are reacting negatively and aggressively. Until these asses wake up from their slumber in the comfort of their private space, they will want to continue to shaft the foreigners down the throat of he citizens and even up their asses and would not relent despite the open display of hostility by the citizens that has never happened before.
 
Keep them coming, the elite will say. They will remain the deaf frogs and will continue to ignore the angry signs appearing. The masses are stupid and cannot see how good the influx of foreigners is, and their feelings are inconsequential to the bigger scheme of things.

Kopi Level - Green

Kishore, what have you been drinking?

“MY BIG Idea No. 3 for Singapore is a simple one: strengthen the Singapore spirit.
Why? If our young men ever go to war to defend Singapore, they will not lay down their lives to defend the physical infrastructure of Singapore. They will do so to save the lives of people who are the strangers they meet in MRT trains or buses. Clearly they feel some kind of spiritual bond with these strangers only because they believe that they are fellow Singaporeans. This is what the Singapore spirit is all about.”
Kishore Mahbubani
- ST Apr 12: “Three stories to strengthen the Singapore spirit”

When I read the above quote I was kind of, what, what is that, who said that? I can’t believe that Kishore said this. I find this quite bizarre really for Kishore to say something like this. And my only excuse for him to say this is that he must be having a glass too many of toddy or Macallen single malt the night before.
 
Why would Sinkies die to defend foreigners who are here against their wishes and with many cheating Sinkies of their livelihood with fake qualifications and recruited because they were of the same kind, and making Sinkies outcasts in their homeland? What kind of bonding of Singaporean Spirit is Kishore talking about? Does he believe that Sinkies are really that daft or duds?
 
Kishore, are you ok?
 
Oh, perhaps he was thinking that Sinkies are angels. Angels are a kind of spirit, unthinking, just doing what God told them to do. So if God said, go and defend the foreigners, the angels, Sinkies in spirit, will go defending and dying for the foreigners who took their seats in the MRT or squeezed them into a sardine can.

Seah Chiang Nee :Top performers on the decline?

‘According to former PM Lee Kuan Yew – and quite a few employers – it was good to have brought in foreign workers to offset the decline.
 
“Over time, Singaporeans had become less hard-driving and hard-striving,” Lee said in a 2011 interview.
 
The hard-talking Lee then upset many people when he said that if Singaporeans were falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide”, that was their problem.
 
He described the new immigrants from China and the region as “hungry” – helped by parents who “pushed the children very hard”.
 
(Actually, Singaporean parents are often accused of putting too much pressure on their kids.)
 
Lee had often made known his preference for the entrepreneurial spirit of the Hong Kong people.
 
Predictably, some Singaporeans were angry about the remarks that implied they were becoming lazy and ought to be spurred like slow horses.
One retiree said Lee was partly right: “Many middle class Singaporeans are becoming spoiled and complacent compared with (their counterparts in) some emerging nations.”’
 
The above paragraphs were from Seah Chiang Nee’s article on the decline of top talents among the Sinkie breed. The article was addressing the issue of falling talents in Singapore but the facts are contradictory, and so were the comments. The superficial comments that Sinkies are losing their drive to be world beaters did not make sense when the parents are pushing their children to the limits, hot housing them to be not only tops in academics by enrolling them in the best nurseries and kindergartens, but also in many artistic programmes to make them all rounders, the best of the best in everything. And their academic results have proven that this is the case.
 
During my time, or during yesteryears, in every cohort of O level or A level students, to find one with straight As is so difficult. Today, in the many top schools, throw a stone and you will hit a dozen with straight As. How can this be the case if the Sinkies are slacking, lazy and losing the drive to be better? And the latest PISA test proved that our 15 year olds are also world beaters.
 
Is someone talking cock or has his mind out of sync? But if you were to listen to the 3rd World recruiting agencies, given a licence to recruit foreigners for jobs here, they will tell you that indeed Sinkies are all useless, no talent, no skills, no creativity and poor workers. Unfortunately many of our foolish leaders and employers believe the foreign recruiting agents and went along to replace the ‘daft’ Sinkies with ‘talented and skilled’ employees from 3rd World cities and villages.
 
There is a silver lining though. Though the title of Seah Chiang Nee’s article is about the decline of top performers, this is only in general. Specifically Singapore is very lucky that the top talents in govt are not declining and in fact are living proof of supermen and superwomen. Just take a look at the portfolios they are involved in, many have 20 or 30 hats to wear as advisers and helming many organizations, ministries etc etc. They are the natural know alls, born to know everything, like immortals. I think without this group of super super top performers, Singapore would have gone back to the 3rd World long ago. These are the few top performers that are pulling the country out from the rut, with the help of 3rd World talents.
 
I am sure when Seah Chiang Nee said that top performers are on the decline, he was not referring to our top performers in govt.
 
Now what am I rumbling about and sounding so incoherent? My thoughts are all in a mess, and I am all confused with what I said too. What is the truth? Am I confusing everyone or is everyone confusing everyone? But one thing is true, we have the most talented and well trained and well qualified and ‘with a spur stuck on their hide’ taxi drivers in the world, fetching maids and construction workers all over the islands to amuse themselves and to have a good time.

Kopi level - Yellow

It is time China learns and behaves like the USA

China is no longer a second rate superpower aspiring to be a superpower. It is a superpower like it or not. The only problem is that China still does not learn to behave as superpower unlike Putin and Russia. When one is a superpower, it is all about behaving as one. Failure to do so will be seen as a sign of weakness and will invite unending troubles from little pesky countries.
 
If China is to put a stop to all its territorial problems with its neighbours, it must act like Putin and send a signal to the pests that it means business and don’t fuck around with China. But it would be better to settle this problem the American way.
 
How did the Americans get rid of the native problems once and for all to claim the North American continent as theirs? The solution was simple, wipe out the natives decisively so that there was not an ounce of doubt that they were in charge. The native Americans were finished, no longer a threat, no longer a pest.
 
Americans might have the advantage of a western media that looked the other way to the genocide of the Red Indians. Even if they did make a little noise, it would soon go away, be forgotten. The little bad publicity and PR is worth everything to rid the problems of the natives claiming that the continent were theirs in the first place.
 
China could learn this trick from the Americans and kick some asses. Make sure their claims to the islands in East and South China Sea is uncontestable, beyond any reasonable doubt, by whacking the shit out of the irritating pests once and for all. 
Remember how the Americans seized Hawaii from the islanders and the other Pacific Islands? There is no room for being soft and niceties. Let the western media have a field day cursing and swearing as much and as long as they want. But China will have peace and no more nonsense from its neighbours and none will come scratching or wanting to claim any Chinese territories for good. There is no need to be bothered about western media. What ever China do would be wrong and would be bashed and condemned by them. Let’s face it, the western media and western powers would have nothing good to say about China even if China behaves like an angel.
 
20 or 30 years down the road, or 50 years into the future, there will be no more nonsensical claims from its neighbours, just like there will be no more Red Indians claiming they were the owners of the American continent or the Hawaiians wanting to be independent from the Americans. And to think that Chuck Hagel had the gumption to say this in Japan, ‘You cannot go around and redefine boundaries, violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation – whether it’s in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe…So I want to talk to our Chinese friends about this.’ This joker must be borne only yesterday and does not know the history of the Americans or how Japan seized Diaoyu Islands from China and how the treacherous Americans handed the islands back to the Japanese when they should return them to China.
 
China should tell Hagel straight in the face about the real America, the bully of the world. This is the way of a superpower. Would the Americans want to risk a nuclear war with China? The Americans have all their islands in all the oceans. The Americans can have their ADIZs unilaterally declared without consulting anyone. The Americans can have their Monroe Doctrine to claim the western hemisphere of North and South Americas as their sphere of influence and no European, Asian or South American powers is allowed to challenge their supremacy and domination over the western hemisphere.
 
China just has to do it, and cleans up its act in the East and South China Seas once and for all, if it is to be respected and feared as a superpower. By not doing so, any little pesky country would think it can challenge Chinese supremacy and claim Chinese territories as theirs. China must put a stop to such naïve abrasiveness and, be like the Americans, put an end to the Red Indian civilization, for good.

MH370 – PM Abbott knows

‘“Yes, we have very considerably narrowed down the search area but trying to locate anything 4.5 kilometres beneath the surface of the ocean about a thousand kilometres from land is a massive, massive task and it is likely to continue for a long time to come,” Abbott said.
 
His comments come a day after he said he was “very confident” that signals detected in the search for Flight MH370 are from the aircraft’s black box, whose batteries are waning fast more than a month after the plane vanished….
 
“We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres,” Abbott said Friday on his trip to China,…’ Quoted from The Star online.
 
Of all the Prime Ministers making comments about the MH370, Abbott is the only one who spoke with an unusual confidence. Every time he said something, he gave the impression that he knew something more than what he said. In the above quote, Abbott is as good as saying that he knew the signals detected by the Australians are definitely from the MH370 blackbox and he knew where that blackbox is. And he also knew that the MH370 will not be found there, ie got black but no aircraft wreckage.
 
From the very first day he called PM Najib, and he was accused of jumping the gun, it came across that he had full information of what happened to the MH370. And he was so convincing that Najib even committed himself to declare MH370 sank in the Antarctic and the passengers were as good as gone. Maybe Najib is also in the picture.
Did the confidence of Abbott tell anyone something, that he had privy knowledge from some sources on the MH370? He appears to be someone who wanted to tell the whole story but has been restrained from doing so. For anyone who wants to know more about MH370, it is best to talk to Abbott or to listen to what he said or not said and try to read in between the lines.
 
I think he knows a lot more. Wait for the confirmation that only the black boxes are found but no trace of the aircraft.

Any protection for whistleblower

Below is an extract from a posting in TRE attributed to WSJ online. I quote,
 
‘ (9 Apr) – A top Deutsche Bank AG saleswoman was placed on leave last month after the German bank found what it regarded as inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank, according to a person familiar with the matter, marking a significant new twist in the yearlong global investigation into the currency market.
 
Kai Lew, a director of sales at Deutsche Bank in London tasked with handling central-bank clients, was put on leave because the bank — the biggest currency dealer in the world — concluded that she had communicated improperly with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, this person said. She is one of roughly 30 employees at nine banks who have been fired or suspended as part of a burgeoning global investigation into possible manipulation of currency markets, and the first in sales rather than trading. At the time her suspension was first reported, March 31, the reasons for the move were unclear….’
 
What if this employee is blowing the whistle on her bank? What is the difference between her ‘inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank’ and that of whistleblowing? If she is whistleblowing, should she be protected? Who should be protecting a whistleblower? If whistleblowers are not protected, who would dare to become whistleblower?

Singapore is no longer a Spring chicken

After 45 years of independence, Singapore is not a spring chicken anymore but more like a ‘lau kway bu’ or middle age mother hen. It is naïve to think that should there be a change in political leadership the country would go into a tailspin.
 
The civil service would be there intact, so would the ministries, the police and the armed forces. The industries would be there grinding and humming as before. There could be a few exceptions that may want to relocate somewhere, we can say good riddance. But in reality you cannot unplug a business, pack it into a container and wave good bye. Anyway a change of govt is not going to shoot everyone on sight.
 
Our polity has reached a certain level of maturity, or at least the politicians in the opposition parties are also decent and matured professionals. If not then we are not deserving to be called 1st World developed country The politicians are not like corporal Amin or corporal Hitler that would go around shooting at anyone that disagreed when they came to power. There could be some changes in policies, in priorities, in directions, but nothing really drastic would be done to undermine the viability of the country and its economy.
 
The only thing that may see some major changes would be the excesses that the people are obviously unhappy with eg high ministerial pay, high inflation and cost of living, high prices of housing/cars, high population growth and influx of foreigners, high expenses that should benefit the citizens rather than foreigners, like the funding of foreign scholarships, and things of the same nature.
 
A new govt is likely to fine tune govt policies, reemphasise on citizen’s interest and showing more care and concern for the good of the citizenry. And whatever changes, they are going to be done or executed with much thoughts and consultations with the civil servants in the respective ministries.
 
Hey, we are not a 3rd World country with 3rd World mentality and personalities. The new govt, should they be elected, are going to inherit a much more stable system than the old inherited by the PAP govt in 1965. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or to blow up anything. It will be more like massaging and moderating and refining policies to meet the expectations of the people.
 
So, what is the crap about tumultuous changes and the irrational fear of things going bad instead of getting better? It would be system go, everything as normal with incremental changes for the good of the citizens by another team of qualified and experienced individuals, not firebrands or illiterate workers and labourers or the ah peks and ah sohs in the market.
 
The whole island is flooded with highly qualified tertiary educated professionals. There is no need to cry wolf as if the only decent and able people are in the ruling party and the rest of the people are sick, retards and duds. This is a lie the people are made to believe in. The ruling party also has a fair share of the same. The opposition politicians may not be immortals, but they are not demons either.
 
Singaporeans must have confidence in themselves, in fellow citizens to run the country for the good of the citizens and not for the good of foreigners or worse, be run by foreigners.
 
The Spring chicken is not a Spring chicken anymore. The new govt will be inheriting an ongoing system and infrastructure, an economy and all the ministries and the staff running them, and will continue to run them.

Kopi Level - Green. Thanks.

MH370 - The Mangosteen Puzzle

There were 4 tonnes of mangosteens on board the aircraft MH370. This has raised some controversies and conspiracy theories on the part played by the mangosteens in the disappearance of the aircraft. The IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had to come out to kill the rumour surrounding the mnagosteens.
 
The IGP clarified that he only said there were 4 tonnes of mangosteens and under more questioning that Johore did not have mangosteen plantations, he denied saying the mangosteens were from Johore but being packed in Muar. This clear a part of the puzzle.
 
The second part is that this is not mangosteen season. So where did the mangosteens came from? Malaysia or America, or China? According to the IGP, the mangosteens were sent to Muar for packing and then sent to KL to be loaded in MH370. He still did not say where the mangosteens came from. This mystery is still not clarified.
 
If the mangosteens did not come from anywhere, or if the cargoes were not mangosteens but stated as mangosteens, we could have a bigger puzzle at hand. Remember my earlier post on the mangosteens when I referred to them as a Freudian slip? Could the mangosteens hold a clue to the missing aircraft? Did the IGP know something more about the mangosteens than meets the eyes?
 
Got mangosteens or no mangosteens?

We have no natural resources but people

We used to tell the world that we may not have the natural resources like other big countries, but we have a highly trained and skilled workforce. Our strength is in our quality human resources, highly disciplined and highly educated.
 
This kind of statements is turning out to be a joke, obsolete. We have become a nation with no talents. We need foreigners to create jobs for our people. We need foreigners to help our economy to grow. We need foreigners to replace our daft Sinkies. And the 3rd World recruiting agencies said so and no one in the govt would stand up to refute such degrading comments. But it is not only a comment but they are turning it into reality by recruiting more 3rd World questionable talents to replace our real talents, tested and proven.
 
Tommy Koh commented that we should allow foreigners in to supplement our manpower needs, not to displace our own talents. The proclaimed ‘truth’ is that we no longer have any talents. Our strength, of having a highly trained, skilled and discipline workforce is a thing of the past. Anything got to do with our world class education system for this dire affair?
 
We are a dying breed. Without the foreigners to help us we are dead meat. We are like the Eygptians that built the great pyramids, the Romans that built an empire, the British that once ruled the world. What happened to the great educational system and top ranking universities here? Are they producing duds? Or are they producing foreign graduates to go back to their countries on graduation? If our talent pool is no longer our strength, who else or what else can we fall back on? On foreign talents, our saviours?

Gilbert Goh has his work cut out for him

Gilbert and his Transitioning.org blog has been the rallying point for many Singaporeans who have lost their jobs prematurely due directly or indirectly to the influx of so called foreign talents here. Many even accused their employers for deliberately and discriminately replacing them with foreigners. And Gilbert has been taking up their cases with their employers and also raising them with the MOM. So far results are less than satisfactory and with many turning a deaf ear to him and the plight of the victimized and unemployed PMETs. The loser Sinkies have no where and no one to turn to except Gilbert.
 
What Gilbert could do is to turn his blog into a notice board or bouncing board to highlight all the bad cases and to publicise the names of CEOs and their organisations for discrimination against Singaporeans. And for every case highlighted, make sure the MOM is also notified and keep a log on the actions and/or reply from MOM and the CEOs concerned until the case is satisfactorily settled.
 
Gilbert must do this seriously with a column dedicated to this cause. It Is a citizen’s initiative to protect their own interests when the politicians are too busy with their own agenda. Make this blog as the blog for employee grievances, as the place for victimized Singaporeans to pour out their sad stories until the MOM and the CEOs concerned take action or be shamed for not taking any action. This will definitely be a positive act to make sure that something is done for the victims, and the violators would not think they could get away scot free or as if their victims are hapless and have no one to turn to.
 
Make Transitioning.org the place for PMETs to address their pains and problems. Make it known to the whole world what is happening to the daft Sinkies in their home country.
 
Gilbert, you listening?

The American gangster’s double talk

The native Americans used to say that White men spoke with fork tongue. They thought it was words only and was wiped out from the American continent, their native home land. The world is not taking heed at what the Americans are saying and doing. Chuck Hagel was in Beijing last week and told the Chinese ‘no country should resort to intimidation, coercion or aggression to advance its claims.’ And the Americans warned China that it would defend Japan and the Philippines under their defence treaties. So, is this not intimidation, not coercion?

What were the Americans doing in the Middle East and Africa, in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, in Afghanistan, and threatening Iran and North Korea with sanctions and wargames at their doorsteps, and now intimidating the Russians over Syria and Crimea?

What are the Americans doing with their pivot to Asia, amassing military hardwares and soldiers in the region and signing defence treaties everywhere they go? And they are trying to sign a military treaty with the Mongolians wedged between Russia and China.  Russia and China must put a stop to this treaty like the Americans putting a stop to Kruschev wanting to put missiles in Cuba, or they will both be in serious trouble with the American gangsters.

The USA has been using threats, intimidation and coercion against practically every country in the world, allies or enemies, to push its agenda and to protect its interests. And it is telling the world, in this case China, that they should not use threats and intimidation?

What horse shit do the Americans think they are serving? This is a clear case of the devil calling everyone else devil. And Hagel went to Beijing to threaten the Chinese of US military actions!

Kopi level - Red