The 7 Highest Paid Political Leaders in the World (2013) You must be joking!

The rankings below is by Yahoo, Ryan Ong of MoneySmart – Thu, Mar 21, 2013

7th Place: Francois Hollande, President of France

Approximate salary: SGD $291,680 per annum
Needs to manage: Approx. 65 million people, 675,000+ square kilometers, at least 400 kinds of cheese
In Singapore, his pay amounts to: Inability to buy a car with his entire month’s pay cheque. Come on, France.

6th Place: Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

Approximate salary: SGD $387,351 per annum
Needs to manage: Approx. 34.4 million people, almost 10 million square kilometers, hockey violence and American tourists
In Singapore, his pay amounts to: His entire month’s pay cheque should just about make the down payment on a 5 room flat.

5th Place: Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya

Approximate salary: SGD $390,561 per annum
Needs to manage: Approx. 41.6 million people, 580,000+ square kilometers, and convincing the International Criminal Court that he hasn’t committed crimes against humanity. His case is probably next in line, after the producers of Jersey Shore.
In Singapore, his pay amounts to: His entire month’s pay cheque is less than Nparks once paid for 26 bicycles. Also, people need to stop cracking jokes about corruption in Africa. I’m just saying.

4th Place: Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland

Approximate salary: SGD $404,950 per annum
Needs to manage: Around 4.5 million people, 84,000+ square kilometers, and a self-inflicted pay cut. Approx. 65 “Irish invention” jokes per hour.

In Singapore, his pay amounts to: An average golf club membership. If he doesn’t go for too many frills.

3rd Place: Barack Obama, President of the United States of America

Approximate salary: SGD $500,720 per annum
Needs to manage: Around 314 million people, 9.8 million+ square kilometers, Republicans, and the Free World.
In Singapore, his pay amounts to: His entire month’s pay cheque might cover the Cash Over Valuation of a resale flat (in a mature estate).

2nd Place: Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong

Approximate salary: SGD $642,173 per annum
Needs to manage: Just over 7 million people, 1,100+ square kilometers, more triad violence than a mongrel has fleas.
In Singapore, his pay amounts to: Something we’d consider “a good start”, every time we review the cost of living.

1st Place: Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore

Approximate salary: $2.2 million per annum
Needs to manage: Around 5.1 million people, 710 square kilometers, high inflation, immigration issues.
His pay amounts to: About four or five other people on this list…combined.
But hey, we’ve got a safe, clean country. And if you’d like to spy on other people’s salaries some more,...

Know any other highly paid leader we missed? Comment and let us know!

Yahoo and Ryan Ong,  are you joking? Every one of our cabinet minister is earning more than the second highest political leader in the world. Even our ministers of state are earning more than him. Close my eyes I would say at least 30 political leaders in Singapore, unless our ministers and ministers of state are not political leaders, are earning more than Donald Tsang, the second highest in the whole world. And if I am not mistaken, even our parlimentary secretaries and mayors could also be earning more than him and Obama.

You want to know more? Ask the MPs how much they are earning.

And you may want to include the bonuses, if you are talking about per annum. Used to be up to 24 months plus 13th month and another month for leadership.

Being pro active or reactive?

Preventing racial enclaves forming has been a corner stone of our social harmony policy to avoid racial clashes like those happened in our past. This policy has been in force in the allocation of HDB flats to the citizens for years. Given an estimate ratio of 75/15/8/2 among the races, the distribution of ethnic groups in the housing estates is more or less in accordance with this formula.

Boon Wan has said that he is now studying the distribution of foreigners in HDB estates as the percentage in some blocks is as high as 9% or even 18%. Foo Mee Har had raised this as a concern early in the year and suggested a 10% cap to prevent tension among foreigners and locals. Boon Wan is still studying and will come out with the magic number in due course. Did they know that this will happen when HDB relax the policy on subletting to foreigners? Would they have thought about it earlier and come out with some numbers by being proactive?

The presence of huge numbers of foreigners and their peculiar customs could be uncomfortable and irritating. So too would our lifestyle be to them. The worse aspect is the security of the family members, the oldies, the young and the womenfolk in the presence of strange foreigners. We have just read a case of a foreigner that was driven into desperation to commit daylight robbery in Geylang. When they are comfortable, things may be peaceful. But things can get ugly when some of them got into drugs or gambling debt and would do anything to save themselves.

The other bigger problem is the enclaves of foreigners in private estates and condominiums. Is it acceptable to have foreigners forming a majority in private developments or even taking over the whole estate? Anyone thinking about this? Any proactive bugger starting to scratch his head? Or would they wait for something painful to happen before they put on their thinking cap?

Is there freedom of expression?

The ST reported that Hri Kumar continued his attack on WP’s silence on controversial issues this morning. WP was invited to a seminar, dunno who was the organiser, with a topic, ‘Is it true to say…there is freedom of expression in Singapore’. Two days before the seminar the WP declined to send a representative. In Hri Kumar’s view, WP had missed a good opportunity to talk about such a hot and troubling issue in this city state. And as usual, WP chose to remain silence.

The attitude or strategy of the WP is something only they understood and outsiders can at most speculate on what they were up to. Coming back to freedom of expression, whether there is or there isn’t, nothing will come out from a seminar except allowing some blowing of hot air.

To some quarters, there is definitely freedom of expression here. If in doubt, ask the politicians, or ask the main media. They will swear with the lives of their grandfathers that there is definitely freedom of expression. Just because the WP chooses to be silent and many people choose to be reticent do not mean there is no freedom of expression. It is their fault for not speaking out. How true. For those who want to be double safe, just say the right thing and you can express anything you like. Why is Alex in court? This is nothing to do with freedom of expression. He was allowed to express his view freely. That was how they heard him. Otherwise they would not know what he said.

I remember an old Russian joke of an American leader visiting Moscow in the days of the Cold War. The Americans could not help to take a jab at the Russians by challenging them about freedom of expression whenever they met. The American said to his Russian host, ‘In America, we can even say fuck President Johnson in public’. The Russians nodded and said they too could do that. And he climbed on top of a table to mean business and shouted, ‘Fuck President Johnson’. See, freedom of expression.

Anyone wants to argue there is no freedom of expression here?

US needs balanced Asia policy

US needs balanced Asia policy
Updated: 2013-12-06 07:19
By Colin Speakman ( China Daily)
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The Cairo Conference held 70 years ago between leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom and China, resulted in a declaration broadcast through radio on Dec 1, 1943, that all the territories Japan had taken from China such as northeastern China and Taiwan, including the Diaoyu Islands, should be returned to China.

Japan finally signed the Instrument of Surrender on Sept 2, 1945, and by doing so accepted the terms of the Potsdam Proclamation of July 26, 1945. That proclamation stipulated, in clause 8, that the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and that Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to four specified islands, which did not include the Diaoyu Islands.

History tells us that the next steps were not so straightforward, especially in relations between China and the US. There followed a testing period in international relations, including an unhelpful 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, which failed to recognize China's territorial interests as both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan were absent.

Equally unfortunate was the decision in 1972 to include the Diaoyu Islands in the scope of the reversion of Okinawa prefecture to Japanese rule, after the latter was placed under US trusteeship in 1945. This resulted in the current situation, in which the disputed islands are seen by the US as being within the range of the application of the Japan-US Security Treaty, while saying that administration does not imply sovereignty.

It was the Chinese people who suffered at the hands of the Japanese during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that started in 1937. As someone who has lived in Nanjing and visited the moving Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum, it is not hard to understand the pain and suffering of the Chinese people when Japanese troops killed about 300,000 Chinese nationals, including women and children, in Nanjing, then China's capital, in two weeks in December 1937. It is equally hard to understand why Japanese leaders, in the face of overwhelming evidence, often deny the scale of the Nanjing massacre, claim that Korean sex slaves worked willingly and continue to worship at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors World War II criminals. This is in stark contrast to Germany apologizing for its World War II crimes.

Yet China remains focused on peaceful resolution of disputes - and the Diaoyu Islands have been a disputed territory for more than 30 years - and has been willing to put the islands' issue on the back-burner for later generations to address, as Deng Xiaoping suggested, "when there is more wisdom" and perhaps when global interconnections make unnecessary friction clearly undesirable.


It was Japan that re-ignited the issue in September 2012 when it announced the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands. The action is nothing but part of Japan's greater aggressiveness toward China.

China has realized that passively accepting Japan's aggressive actions would lead others to believe that no issue of territorial integrity is involved in the Diaoyu Islands dispute. So China has rightly responded to the provocation. Japan has had an ADIZ for many years, so China has the right to establish one over the territory it claims. When such events occur, it is not helpful for the US to appear to take sides.

US Vice-President Joe Biden is paying a visit to Japan, China and the Republic of Korea this week and, as an experienced hand in foreign policy, he should know that a balanced approach to international relations in the region is needed.

By appearing too readily to support the aggressor in Sino-Japanese issues, the US is exhibiting a lack of understanding of Chinese people's feelings. Also, this does not help the relationship between the two most important powers of the 21st century. The Diaoyu Islands dispute must be resolved directly between China and Japan. The US and China fought together to defeat a Japan bent on territorial acquisition and that lesson of history must not be forgotten.

The author is an economist and director of China Programs at CAPA International Education, an UK-US based organization that cooperates with Capital Normal University and Shanghai International Studies University.

(China Daily 12/06/2013 page9

Nelson Mandela – Man of the Century

Tributes and words of praise and honour poured into South Africa for Nelson Mandela. He was a lawyer turned freedom fighter, fighting simply for equality, to be treated like a man, for his people in his own country. The discrimination, victimisation and oppression of his people by the white colonial masters were inhuman, demeaning and painful. Many black South Africans who fought alongside Mandela were beaten up, shot and killed or jailed.

Mandela was lucky. They caught him and sentenced him to 27 years in jail, for a crime to demand to be treated as a man, for the simple dignity as a fellow human being. The white colonialists would have none of his nonsense. The whole white world kept quiet for a very long time while the black Africans continued to suffer the indignity as lesser men and children of a lesser God in their own country.

Today, all the white men are crying crocodile tears. Many of their forefathers have been on the same side of the apartheid leaders not just in South Africa but in the whole of Africa and in North and South America and other continents. Many of the natives, hundreds of millions, were brutally murdered, tortured, oppressed, and if they were lucky, survived as slaves for hundreds of years.

It is so sad that a man had to go through so much pain and suffering and humiliation and the lost of freedom in the best part of his life, and on his release, to be praised for not wanting to exact revenge on the criminals that put him behind bars for 27 years, for colonising his homeland and murdering millions of his people, and for treating his people as lesser people with lesser rights.

If Mandela and his people would have fought like the Red Indians and be massacred in the millions, he would not be around to be revered and acknowledged as a great freedom fighter. He had to survive the ordeal, to live through it in ignonimity, to earn this dubious honour as a great man. To the white supremacists, a colour man is only great when he can be kicked around, sentenced to life imprisonment, and on release at their mercy, willing not to pursue the matter further, not to redress the wrongs and injustice of the past committed against him and his people. He had to let the past be the past and pretended that nothing had happened.

Would the white hypocrites say all the good things about Mandela as a truly great man if he would to continue his fight for his people and country and to rid his country of white men? The crimes against humanity can only be committed by the white men. The coloured people must not attempt to seek revenge or justice and to put the wrong doers and criminals behind bars for crimes against them. Only then can the coloured people be respected, honoured and praised as good men, men deserving to be called great men.

RIP Mandela. Let’s hope he and his fellow victims of injustice would be the last to face such adversities and helplessness in the hands of evil men. The price for this honour is too high to pay.

Dr Rhawn Joseph ( US ) re-discovers some of the treasures in Asia stolen by the Japanese during the war.

FW: Dr Rhawn Joseph(US) discovered the treasures in Asia stolen by Japanese during war

to

Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2013
:

Why have we forgotten about the Japanese WW2 atrocities? 
The Japs went on a “Steal All, Kill All, Burn All” policy throughout East Asia.
They stole every treasure in Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria which they annexed
even before the war.
They took away all the treasures in China including Peking, Tianjin, Nanjing
and Shanghai.
The gold, diamond, ruby, etc, which they stole amounted to hundreds of billions
of dollars which was astronomical in those days.  A lot of them are still buried in
the sea around Tokyo.

Emperor Hirohito was the chief war criminal who got away scotch free because of a secret deal with the USA.
His relative Prince Asaka who directed the entire Nanjing Massacre was also not charged at all.

This is a must watch video !

Dr Rhawn Joseph(US) re-discovers some of the treasures in Asia
stolen by the Japanese during the war
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le7SCVNA7Z8
Uploaded on May 24, 2007

http://RapeofNanking.info "Hirohito, Japan & Asia's Stolen Treasures: Why the World Forgot The Rape of Nanking, Japanese Atrocities,
& The Golden Lily." As detailed in a shocking new movie, being directed and produced by acclaimed documentary film-maker, Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D., Japan's Emperor Hirohito made a secret deal with U.S. General Douglas MacArthur and the U.S. government to protect the Japanese royal family and thousands of Japanese war criminals, in return for a significant share of the over 100 billion dollars in gold, jewels, and other commodities that the Japanese had stolen from the China, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and all of Asia. The US government promised Hirohito that neither he nor any member of the royal family would stand trial or even be questioned, and that most of the major war criminals would be allowed
to return to power in post-war Japan, some after only a few years in prison. As part of the deal, Japan was also allowed to keep tens of billions of dollars worth of stolen loot. Thus, while the China, Korea, and the other Asian countries watched in envy, their stolen treasures went to rebuilding Japan and accounts for Japan's post-war "economic miracle." The title of Dr. Joseph's new film is: "Hirohito & Asia's Stolen Treasures Why the World Forgot The Rape of Nanjing & Japanese Atrocities." He is also the Director of "The Rape of Nanking." During the Pacific War and World War II, it was well known that Japanese soldiers tortured, beheaded, bayonetted, raped, set on fire, and murdered millions of women, children, and old men including Chinese, British, Dutch, Australian, and American POWs. As the war drew to a close, the US congress, political leaders, newspapers, and people from around the
world demanded that Hirohito and the entire royal family be tried as war criminals. However, after the the Phillipines was liberated from Japan, the US made an amazing discovery. Under the direction of Hirohito's brother, prince Chibubu, the Japanese buried billions of dollars in gold in tunnels and caves excavated by Japanese engineers. Hirohito and the royal family had systmatically looted every Asian country they had attacked. Asian treasure had been hidden in the Phillipines, in banks, or sat in sunken ships at the bottom of Tokyo Bay. Billions more had been used to fund the Japanese war machine, or had been secretly deposited in dozens of major banks headquartered in neutral countries. However, there is a saying: "To the victor goes the spoils." The U.S. as victor felt entitled to share in the spoils of war. However, to make the deal stick, the world's Number 1 war criminal, Emperor Hirohito was absolved off all responsibility.The U.S. began conspiring with mass murderers, war criminals, and the gangsters and to cover up their crimes. It was imperative that Hirohito and all responsible members of the royal family, never be charged, never be questioned, and that all go free. Even General Ishii who commanded the infamous unit 731 received immunity. Ishii made a private deal with MacArthur. General Ishii had conducted horrible medical experiments on innocent people, injecting Koreans, Chinese, Russians, Americans, and others with horrible diseases and then dissecting people alive, without anesthesia. According to Colonel Sanders, "MacArthur agreed to immunity for all in return for all the [unit 731] information." Ishii later became a millionaire and director of Japan's Green Cross.
Hirohito would also go free and would never be questioned. However, during the trial Tojo insisted that he followed the orders of the Emperor. When Tojo was asked. "Did you ever make any suggestion or take any action against the Emperor's wil..." Tojo replied: "No, I didn't. None of us would dare act against the Emperor's will." Other prosecutor's immediately began demanding that Hirohito be indicted immediately and placed on trial. Keenan and MacArthur immediately sent their agent, Ryukushi Tanaka, to speak with Tojo. Tojo stubbornly refused to change his testimony. " Hirohito realizing the jeopardy he was in, ordered Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Koichi Kido to meet with Tojo. On January 4, Kido and Tojo met. As later revealed by Tanaka: "Kido talked to Tojo and told him of Keenan's intentions. Kido tried very hard to persuade him and Tojo understood and reluctantly agreed." When Tojo appeared again in court, Tojo retracted and changed his testimony, took all the blame, and absolved Hirohito of all responsibility.Thus, General MacArthur, and the United States government conspired with war criminals, mass murderers, and gangsters to cover up the crimes of Hirohito and the royal family, in
return for a significant proportion of the 100 billion dollars in gold, silver, and other assets which had been looted from all over Asia by Japan, and allowed Hirohito and the royal family to get away with mass murder.

New battle ground, from hawker centre to rojak fair

The make shift rojak fair or pasar malam that rotates among the various HDB estates for years, and becoming a part of the local culture, has turned into the latest battle ground. And it happens right in the heart of Aljunied Hougang Punggol East Town Council, AHPETC. Is this just a sheer coincidence?
 
The organizer of the rojak fair, Events Business Management, EBM, has been told by NEA to stop operating as it does not have a licence to operate a trade fair. And this rojak fair which the locals have got used to as a common temporary fixture in housing estates has now been elevated to the status of a trade fair.
 
The stall holders have started to fold up their businesses as a result and sent packing. EBM GM Dennis Chew argued that the event is not a ‘trade fair’. They have been organizing this kind of events for 10 years. Sylvia Lim of AHPETC said this was just a year end festive event. The Kovan Merchants’ Association ‘remains puzzled about the turn of events’. ‘Chairman Ng Cher Po said they have never issued a letter of consensus to event organizers in the past three years, despite the fact that numerous fairs have been held in Kovan City.
 
What is this battle all about? What do you think?