Not in Our Name

This is the title of an artile by Asim Siddiqui in the Today paper. He challenges the Muslim intellectuals to take on the extremists who have hijacked Islam for their terrorist acts. He is against the Muslim extremists for using the western foreign policy of aggression against the Muslims as an excuse to wage a war of terrorism against the West. I fully agree with him that acts of terrorism, or as the West legitimised it by calling them acts of war, are unacceptable, immoral, and a primitive way of settling conflicts and disagreements. The Muslims should find a better way to tackle the West so that they will be treated better and as an equal to other human beings with a right to determine their way of life. But short of having the biggest gun and the biggest bomb, a language that the West understand, there is really nothing else they can do unless the West voluntarily gives up war as another way of bullying the rest of the world. But I find it hyprocritical in Asim's defence of England as a target of Muslim terrorism. He said that compared to the US, the UK has very few troops in Iraq. And the level of British troops in Iraq will get lesser and eventually no British troops will be there. So Britain should not be attacked. This kind of logic is the logic of the bully, where might is right. The British can go to Iraq and burn down the place. That is acceptable. And once they vacated Iraq, all must be forgotten. The British soldiers are no longer there. So leave Britain alone. What rubbish! If this kind of logic is what the world should live by, all the criminals should be spared. They have left the scene of their crimes. The British and the West must realised that if they start a fire, they must be prepared to be burnt. There is no escape.

Political Party Manifesto 3

The paternalistic policies of the PAP is from hole to hole, from cradle to grave. It is their policy, though not officially put, to manage the life of the people from the day they pop out from the hole till the day they drop into a hole. That is what the CPF is all about. What is the stand of the other political party on this? Do they also agree on this policy, that should they come to power, they will also manage the people's life in the same way? Or would they plan it differently? Under the present scheme, it requires a lot of savings from the people to provide for a flat, hospitalisation and retirement, excluding other uses that the CPF money can be released. On a broad brush basis, everyone would need $600k(for a 4/5 rm flat paying instalment over 25 years) plus $30k for Medisave and another $120k for retirement. These works out to $750k or $25k a year over 30 years, or approx $2k savings a month. Anyone with less than this amount will have nothing to take out at 55 if this withdrawal age is maintained. The first time they will get their monthly stipends will be 62 or 65 or 70 or whatever. It would be good for the other political parties to get feedback from the people, get in touch with the people and ask the people what they really want from them. This genuine connect with the people is essential as we enter another phase of our development when the people got sick of being treated like handicaps and never ever grown up children. The forever young policy will soon be a pain in the arse and it is a matter of time when people will insist that it be thrown out.

Different kinds of equality

In communist country, all men are technically equal. So all gets about the same pay. And this is bad as the talented or more hardworking type will not want to work as they will be working like a fool and earn the same as those who refused to work. In our case, everyone is equal in paying GST. All pays 7%. The rich may pay more by their higher consumption. And they are happy as it is a matter of choice and lifestyle. The poor, who are unable to make ends meet, also have to pay the same rate. Just too bad. Everyone is equal and treated equally.

Please return my money

This is about as far as what was suggested. Singaporeans should go down on their knees to beg the govt to return them their CPF savings. Have mercy, many have not seen anything more than $10k in their life and now that they have some money in their CPF, please return to them. Let them touch the thick wad of notes or feel the 5 digit number in their POSB passbook for once in their life time for they may not see tomorrow. How long must the govt continue to father the never to grow up children? Or will the govt only let go when they are about to die?

The New Undeclared War

The war that is starting in England is a new kind of war. It is undeclared war, fought in undefined territory by undefined enemy using undefined methodology and weapons. It is sporadic and erratic. And this war makes the soldiers obsolete. It is a war being fought by the police against an enemy hidden among its people. It is a war where the targets are the people and not the soldiers. It is a war when the police find themselves fighting and not patrolling the streets to guard against petty crimes. The world should brace up to this new warfare, the newborn child of the Iraqi war.

Good news, property prices up

There must be a lot of cheering and happiness going around for all the property owners, including HDB flat owners. Then there are cries from analysts and property trading firms that the red light is on. It is alarming that the price is running to the pre crisis level of 1996. They are calling for the govt to take appropriate measures to curb the exuberance. When the crisis hit in the late 1990s, harsh measures were taken to curb property speculations. So far nothing much was done except some cautionary words. Maybe we need the bubble to burst before something harsh will be introduced. In the meantime all the rich property owners are laughing to the bank. Their money and assets growing in leaps and bounds. For those who are genuinely looking for a home, sorry mate, your money value has just gone down by 7.9% if you are looking at the private property market and 2.9% in HDB resale market. Yes, your money is getting smaller. Not forgetting that practically everything is going up. Are the people really benefitting from all these price hikes and property boom? Some obviously are. The en bloc owners will be very happy too. Who is the last to laugh?

Political Party Manifesto 2

What should be the priorities of political parties? The current ruling party's main priority is economic development and growing the pie. There are progress in many areas. Many people are getting very rich. But many people may not feel that way. Many are expected to continue to work and work and never ever think of retirement. There should be a relook at the priorities of govt. The people and their lives, their well beings must be the first priorities. Not the obsession with accumulation of money. The top 20 percent are quite happy with what they are. But the 80%, the sloggers, horses and the cows, whose lives have become one of non stop working and with no security in old age. Everyone will get poorer by the day. Forget about the money in the CPF. Those money will never be enough. Forget about falling sick and getting hospitalised. That will be the end of whatever savings one have. What happened to the long term planning of the people's life? The planning from cradle to grave does not seem to be right. Compare to the older days, just 20 or 30 years ago, many did retired and managed to survive quite well. Why is it that people are now expecting to have more than $120k in their savings and still not enough? Still living in fear? Would any political party be able to come out with another super plan from cradle to grave that is not so precarious? What has gone wrong? Why is it that the people must be made to put aside more and more money and still not enough?