The plains of Jiangsu

Our trip to Rugao, a third or fourth tier city in China took us out from Shanghai to tour the plains of Jiangsu. This piece of land is incredibly flat and fertile and gave us a totally different impression of China, the big crowded cities, over built, bad air and dull over cast sky. The plains of Jiangsu is open land, agriculture land, and land for the people, for homes and industries, ie plentiful of land and space.

The pics in this post started from Rugao by coach all the way to Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, about 120km distance. Enjoy the scenery and open space and the architecture and homes of rural China and take note of the old tiny houses that were once there, some still there in the forefront of the bigger new homes, landed homes that are now the new China. The first pic is the city of Rugao to give a comparison of the landscape and infrastructure.

Highrise estates already starting to take shape in the rural backyard of China

Windmills along the Yangtze River

Closer look of the windmills and green energy

Still low rise homes as we approached Shanghai

Crossing Yangtze River

Outskirt of Shanghai, still flat land but more buildups

Outer city of Shanghai

Looking at Shanghai along the way to Pudong Airport.

Benjamin Lim - Do you still remember him?

Terry Xu of TOC tried to assist the parents of Benjamin to raise fund using GIVE.asia fund raising platform to sue the govt for the lost of their 14 year old son. After raising more than $2,000, the campaign came to an abrupt stop with GIVE.asia saying it is against their mission in this campaign. Some netizens are furious at the way the campaign was disrupted.
 
There is an article by a Ghui posted in the TRE on this subject and here is a comment from the same post.
 
Painful Justice:
October 20, 2017 at 4:42 pm (Quote)
Benjamin was just a very young 14 year old boy and did not deserve the heavy handling meted out to him even if he had misconducted himself as alleged. Oops, my apologies, this is what everyone thought or else he would not have taken his life. But the court found that everyone who had contact with Benjamin were very professional and very caring and thus free from blame. Benjamin's case was a totally unnecessary tragedy and no parents could have found closure losing a son under such circumstances. As parents, we empathize with the Lim family and fully understand what they are going through. We support the steps they are taking to seek redress.
 
I can feel the pain in the parents for losing a child at this tender age for something that did not deserve this kind of ending. You can bet how many tears have flowed in the family and how difficult it is to come to terms with losing a loved one. How can there be a closure to this case?
 
Would anyone who have directly or indirectly caused the premature death of Benjamin be man enough, be courageous enough, be honourable enough to kneel in front of the parents and beg for forgiveness? I think if such a thing happens, maybe healing will start. For the parents to want to pursue this matter, it is a sign that the grief is not going away and there is a deep sense of injustice in how they see how the case was closed.
 
It is very painful. It must be, and worst when no one owns up or found responsible for the lost of their beloved son, Benjamin.
 
Can this case be over because legally it is over, settled in the court of law? The court has already made its ruling that no one is found culpable to Benjamin's death?
 
Hope Benjamin would always be in the minds of those wielding power and authority to think very carefully, act very carefully, that such a painful tragedy would never ever happen to another child and another family. No amount of words and apologies can reduce the pain and sufferings of the parents and family members for losing a child in such circumstances. It was totally unnecessary and unacceptable and intolerable and inexcusable.
 
The law may say it is over. The conscience would not allow it, except for those with no conscience. Anyone think there is any injustice in this case?

US to be more focused and engaged in the region

This is the wish of Hsien Loong as the PM of Singapore. Singapore needs the Americans to be here, to balance China’s influence and the neighbouring countries. This sounds good as a geopolitical strategy. There is a Chinese saying, 引狼入室, translated as inviting the wolf into the house.
 
The USA used to be seen as a benign and gracious power particularly to its allies for several decades. But the history of US conspiracies and meddling with the domestic politics of countries, regime change, inciting and provoking wars, did not speak well for this once great power. It is now the cause of all the wars and troubles in the whole world. Every trouble spot has the American finger prints on it. It has rapidly assumed the image of the Evil Empire.
 
Now, how is this new image of the Americans going to fit in with Singapore and Singapore’s security? Is Singapore inviting the wolf into the house, inviting the Evil Empire to remain engaged in the region to create more trouble for the region, instigating one country against another? Please note, this country thrives on selling weapons and needs wars to sell weapons and to keep the Empire going.
 
While you are reading this, the Americans are at the verge of starting World War 3 in the Korean Peninsular and Iran. If the Russians and Chinese have not put their foot down to stop this menace, World War 3 would have started, by the Evil Empire of course. And there is the new hot spot, waiting for another invasion by the Americans, Venezuela. South China Sea is the reserved spot for the Evil Empire should other regions stabilized. Inviting the USA to the region, to stir shit in the South China Sea?
 
Things have changed. The world has changed. Lee Kuan Yew had died and his policies and world view of the Americans and their usefulness in the region must die with him. The Americans’ interest in the region is the American Empire, the perpetuating of the Evil Empire’s hegemony in the region and the world.
 
It is only luck that Singapore’s interest in some areas coincides with the interest of the Evil Empire. When the interests divert, Singapore too would be subject to regime change and interference by the Evil Empire. For the time being, Singapore is still safe but not for long. The Evil Empire only pokes its fingers in countries that are not loyal to the Empire. That does not mean it does not poke its fingers in the affairs of its colonies. 

South Korea and Japan and the Philippines are clear cases of being under the control of the Empire. The latter has recently broke free from the American grip. Lately Qatar also came under the attack of the Empire for getting a bit closer to China. And Tillerson is in India stoking the flame between China and India and poking at the Indians to be another American proxy against China. The Indians love this attention.
 
Singapore is stuck with the Evil Empire and would not be able to steer a more neutral policy for its own interest. The deeper the Evil Empire stays here, the more it would be entrenched and the more difficult it would be to extricate it from the region. It would not go away.
 
There is no need to beg the Evil Empire to stay. Tell them to go away and they will beg to stay, and by force if needed be, to stay in the region to protect the Empire. Why does Singapore think it is necessary to go begging the Evil Empire to stay? Do a little bit of thinking. Does Singapore really believe that the Evil Empire will go away, will beat a quick retreat from the region on its own if Singapore does not beg it to stay? Silly isn’t it? See what is happening in the Philippines? When Duterte wants to evict them, the Americans went down on their knees begging to stay. They refused to go away.
 
Now who is planting this silly idea that the Evil Empire is going away and Singapore must constantly remind the Empire that they should be here, that they are welcomed and needed? Becare of 引狼入室!

PS. Watch this video and listen to Prof Martin Jacques' advice to the Philippines and how relevant it is to Singapore.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc56bWY7oRg

What is so competitive about the media industry?

I am not so sure what Warren Fernandez meant by saying that SPH would hire more foreign correspondents when 130 staff was retrenched as part of 240 eventually. Was he talking about hiring foreigners to raise the quality of the paper to compete with other media in Singapore, to boost readership and sales?
 
What kind of environment is SPH operating in this little island? What kind of news would be attractive to the readers? Who forms the majority of the readership? Would better quality news, like foreign news, or more EPL news be needed to raise sales and readership?
 
Is not that SPH operating in a monopolistic environment when the competitors are also part of SPH? How many foreign media are circulating in Singapore and what kind of readership, what volume of readership to they command? Is the foreign readership significant enough to hire foreign correspondents to win them over to improve sales of local papers?
 
By the way, with the tight control over the local media, what kind of news would appear in the papers or be allowed to be printed to attract more readers? Does it really make any difference if the reporters/journalists are foreigners? I am presuming here that foreign correspondents that SPH is planning to recruit are foreigners. I may be wrong here. And by the way again, what is the percentage of foreigner reporters/journalists in SPH and what is the percentage of locals, oops, I mean Singaporean reporters/journalists?
 
Should not the SPH be catering to the bulk of the readership whom I believe are Singaporeans and some PRs? I may be a bit behind time here knowing that more than half the population are foreigners now and it would be wise to write things that these foreigners would want to read even though some have become citizens and PRs. How about a few more newspapers for China Chinese, India Indians, Pinoys and what have you? Would these foreigners be interested in reading papers specially written by their kind and writing news about their homeland?
 
This is something SPH must be seriously thinking about. More than half of the population is foreigners. No wonder readership is falling with local news written by local reporters. Half the population of foreigners is a big market.
 
I read in theindependent talking about SPH going regional, to write about regional news, maybe competing in producing regional papers. Not sure if this is true. If SPH cannot even compete and be successful with a monopolistic environment in home ground, can it be a success competing in open seas, unknown territories full of sharks? This kind of one trick pony thinking is very similar to sending our sacked and jobless PMETs that could not get jobs in our very own country against foreigners and expect them to get jobs in the region when every country is protecting their jobs for their own citizens.
 
Stupidity has no cure.
 
PS. In a monopolistic environment, what competition is SPH facing? Got competition meh?

Trump likes Loong

Photo credit to the statestimesreview and the Straits Times. I copied from the former site.

From the facial expression of Trump in the above pic, it is evident that Trump really liked Hsien Loong. Look at his face carefully, it is like he is saying, 'I like this chap. He knows what I want. He is so sweet.'

Prime Minister Loong invited to the White House

Donald Trump twitted about his meeting with Hsien Loong by calling him Prime Minister Loong. For other Prime Minister or ministers to be misunderstood is quite understandable. Didn’t Trump know that his famous father is Prime Minister Yew? Oops, I mean Prime Minister Lee. And the son cannot be Prime Minister Loong but Prime Minister Lee. Is Trump another hillbilly?
 
Some Singaporeans tried to explain this stupidity or ignorance to Trump by adding in their two cents worth of stupidity. They told Trump that Hsien Loong’s last name is Lee. What? What is that? When was Hsien Loong’s last name Lee? Are they telling Trump that Hsien Loong’s name is Hsien Loong Lee?
 
For goodness sake, Lee is the first name of Hsien Loong and the first name is the family name. The western convention of first name and last name do not have the same meaning as a Chinese name. The Chinese write their family name first. Their second and last names are their individual name. The last name of a Chinese is not his family name, stupid. Of course this may be true if he is a banana and wrote his name as Banana Tan or Papaya Lee.
 
There is no need to change the convention of how a Chinese name is written to fit into the western convention. Any westerner that has met up with a Chinese would know the difference, or at the most make the mistake once. It is not that hard to understand this little cultural difference. No need super intelligence to know this.
 
By the way, President Donald, did you get it? It is Prime Minister Lee. Don’t you remember his father used to visit the US and even addressed the two Houses? And his name, Lee… Kuan Yew. Please don’t tell Hsien Loong that you have met Prime Minister Yew, his father. It is not very nice. George Bush Jr could do better than that. Trump could not be pretending that he is another George Bush right?

CPF - Do you want your money back? Act now

CPF – An unending scheme that was meant to end at 55
 
A great saving scheme for retirement has now been turned into a nightmare for many hapless Singaporeans. They entered this compulsory scheme with the promise of getting their life savings back at 55. Without their permission and consent, many outrageous legislations have been introduced to hold back their money till eternity without having a say or a chance to say no or to opt out from it by the most honorable govt run by the most righteous and honorable men and women elected by the people to look after their interests and to protect their interests.
 
In the case of the CPF, many do not see their interests being protected but eroded by the very people they elected to protect them. Many want their life savings back but their voices were drown in the wilderness. Their elected representatives refused to hear them or to represent them. Instead their elected representatives participated in the horrendous schemes to hold back the money from them at 55. Now this scheme, instead of terminating at the age of 55, would only end when they die. Oops, not really the case. In some circumstances the scheme or the money would continue to be locked up in the CPF, transferred into the accounts of their beneficiaries and could go on and on, never ending.
 
What kind of monstrous scheme has this life saving scheme for retirement turned into? You ask me. Do you want it to be this way, without your consent, to becoming a money eating monster that eats away your life savings? Compulsory purchase of life insurance scheme, compulsory purchase of medical insurance scheme, and aka datang, or brooding, compulsory schemes for the seniors.
 
Take the case of the money that is to be pledged against the CPF you withdrawn, your own money, to purchase properties. Not only that you have to pay interest for borrowing your money, you would have to cough up more money to return to the CPF even if you are 100 or 200 years old or more if you have not met the minimum sum stipulated. Should not such pledges be terminated once a person reached the age to withdraw his CPF savings? There is no provision to end the pledging scheme. By right one’s obligation to contribute to the CPF should end at 55 and everything squares of as that is the age when one should be withdrawing his savings from the CPF. But now, when you sell your property, you must pay back to the CPF the money you borrowed from your own savings, plus interests, with no time frame in sight, with the conditions set for the minimum sum. Why like that?
 
What kind of fucking nonsense is this? Return our money. We want our money back.
Lim Tean and Philip Ang are risking themselves to fight for you, on your behalf to take back your money. The hope for success is very small, because the people you elected to protect your money would not be protecting you and your money but fighting against this. But don’t give up hope. This is your only chance to take back your money. 

We must all do our part. This is what Philip Ang and Lim Tean expects from you, a small contribution to the huge legal fees that would be needed to fight this case legally. The details are a work in progress. Everything must start with a small step, a first step. Philip Ang wrote this, posted in TRE,
 
‘CPF members (non members are also welcomed) who wish to right this sorry state of affairs should contribute and no freeloading, please. Even if 20% of members contribute $10 each, this will be more than sufficient.
 
Our present priority is to create more awareness and raise sufficient funds before initiating action.
 
Lim Tean and I have set up a crowdfunding account @ https://www.facebook.com/tean.lim.75. (POSB Savings 198-91842-3) Please keep a record of your transaction as your particulars will be required before the launch of the class-action suit. Unused portion will also be returned, pari passu.’

This is the time to act to do something good for yourself. You need to act to protect your own money. Whatever the amount you can contribute, just send it to them in the above account provided.
 
This is the first time that Singaporeans are standing up for their own right, fighting for the right to their money, their life savings. Every drop counts. Do something to help yourself. Do it now.
 
PS. I have sent in my contribution by the time you read this.