NTUC helping out in lowering the cost of living

At least the Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation can look forward to some financial relief in July till June next year. They could get their kopi or teh fixes every Wednesday for 50 cents per cup in NTUC foodcourts and Kopitiams. And for Union Members, this privilege comes earlier, in May. According to the media report, 1.7m people are going to benefit from this. If one person is to pay $1 less, that would be $1.7m less to pay every Wednesday.
 
The NTUC has responded to the fears and concerns of workers’ anxieties about the cost of living. With this discounted kopi and teh, including Kopi O, Kopi C, teh O and teh C, all at 50 cents a cup and one can drink as many cuppas as one like on every Wednesday, the whole day.
 
Think of the savings from drinking kopi or teh for the whole day, it would come to quite a substantial sum. If one just takes a cup of kopi or the each for 3 meals, it would cost only $1.50 a day. And given the price of Kopi/teh at $1.60, that is more than $3 savings a day. OK, for those millionaires and billionaires, please do not take advantage of this privilege just because there is no mean testing, go for your designer drinks at $5 or $20 a cup in the branded coffee joints. This is for workers in the Pioneer and Merdeka Generations. I will still stick to my 3 in 1 at 20 cents a pack. Hopefully they will look into the 3 in 1s and reduce the price to 10 cents per pack. Then it will be some savings for me to count on.
 
Would be nice if every Monday or Friday ‘chap chye png’ would be $1 for two veg and a meat meal. Keeping my fingers crossed that this would be next in the list to lower the cost of living for the oldie workers.
 
Thank you NTUC, you are most kind. Oops, must thank Mary Liew and Ng Chee Meng for this initiative. Every cent counts. It is heartwarming that millionaires could be caring and still think of helping the poor to save a few cents per cuppa.

Andrew Yang for President - Yang2020.com

Andrew Yang for President, not the Singapore President but the President of the USA, POTUS! Wow, is that true, fake news, or wild imagination?

Andrew Yang is the new American sensation for the yang, oops, young Americans. He is in the race out of nowhere, just like where Donald Trump hit the presidential trial, an outsider. No one serious enough would think Trump would be the POTUS then, and likewise no one would think Andrew Yang is gonna be the next POTUS. But don't be too sure.

Andrew Yang and his YangGang brand are starting to stir interest in who is this Andrew Yang. The Americans are waking up to the sound and images of an unlikely Asian candidate wanna be the President of America. Andrew Yang came from a Taiwanese immigrant family, his father an engineering professor who used to work for Ford Motors and GM and with a string of patents in his name. His brother is also a professor and his mother a medical doctor, I think. Andrew Yang was an attorney but gave up to become an entrepreneur.

His campaign cry is about Math, about numbers, using numbers to speak to his supporters. He is also the main candidate that is making full use of the internet and social media to run his campaign and is gaining ground day by day. The young Americans can identify with him. But his most powerful weapon is UBI. UBI is Universal Basic Income for every adult American 18 and above to protect them from the invasion of AI and automation that would make many Americans jobless. Many have already fell victims to unemployment cause by AI and automation and robotics.

Humanity First is his campaign logo. Here is a small 2 minute clips on who is this Andrew Yang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRLRj6uEISU . Another clip about a rally in Boston, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiX-cs31FSs, a very stimulating 29 minutes rally worth listening on a Sunday morning.

He is fighting his campaign with new media plus the old traditional way of making town hall speeches. We used to call them political rallies, but with so many American influence, town hall meeting is now the new catchphrase.

When jobs run out for generals

First they were first choice for ministers. Then there were offered jobs as top civil servants and CEOs. The latest offer is COO, a level or two below a CEO. What would happen when there is no more minister, top civil servant or CEO jobs for the busloads of generals retiring from the services for one reason or another? Would they become taxi drivers or more appropriately security guard chiefs, more related to their training and experience and still can wear decorated uniforms with medals hanging everywhere?

How many generals are being promoted every year and how many are being retired at the same time? Our SAF general making machine is very productive and producing generals non stop and in great numbers. But not only minister's jobs are limited, top civil servants and CEOs of GLCs are also limited, and so are COOs. There must come a time when there will be an oversupply, just like too many graduates looking for too little jobs and out of no choice they have to end up as taxi drivers or part timers.

When would a general be reemployed after leaving the service as a dept manager or a VP, sounds so much better, still sounds like a president if not of the vice upfront.

And as they said, all govt policies are double edged swords and will cut both ways, only when. The high pay for ministers, for top civil servants, for top GLCs, would eventually kill the system when they cannot find the money to pay for so many of them, or not enough to go round.  The CPF, ever increasing property prices, specifically HDB flats, high medical cost, high influx of foreigners, would eventually take their tolls on this little island economy of paying millionaires and making millionaire employees.

You cannot keep kicking the can down the road. The end is nearer than you think.

Would Heng Swee Kiat be the next PM?

This is a funny question indeed. Some may think it is mischievous. He has

just been appointed as the next DPM, the only DPM with the two incumbent DPMs

being sidelined to become senior ministers to make way for him. It is only natural

and only time is in his way to be the next PM. Everything said so far about him

is good, he has the support of Hsien Loong and his peers. The two DPMs

also have good words to say about him. His appointment as the next PM is

double or triple confirmed.

Can anyone be so certain of what tomorrow brings, what would happen

tomorrow? Man proposes, man designs, but they always say God disposes what

man proposed. There is something called destiny, fate, what is yours would

be yours, what is not yours would not be yours. If Swee Kiat is destined to

be the PM, he will be.

Until the day comes, no one can be 100% sure of this event. Should events

take an unfortunate turn and Swee Kiat’s position is challenged, who would

be the next obvious choice? Chan Chun Sing would be next in line if

according to an earlier plan. People were surprised that he was not named

the 2nd  DPM. Is there anything to read into this? And there is Chee Hian

and Tharman still hanging around. Further down the ladder there is Ye Kung

and Shanmugam.

Do not rule out the dark horses. If there is a leadership crisis at this

moment, the game is open to all, and dark horses would likely to emerge to

challenge Swee Kiat for the PM post. He is still feeling around and not

really in it yet.

Until the fat lady sings….whatever will be will be. Anwar’s position is

even nearer but still an uncertainty. He was so near yet so far. It is not

that easy to be a PM unless one has the good fortune to be one.
'A Blackbox survey commissioned by Yahoo Singapore confirmed the results of our poll. In that survey, 69 per cent of 897 respondents said they would support Tharman as a candidate to become prime minister.

Netizens responding to Tharman’s latest post echoed these sentiments as they asserted that they are ready for a non-Chinese PM. Some hoped for a “miracle” that Tharman would assume the top post as others opined that they do not like Heng as much as they like Tharman:'  Copied from theindependent.sg

In another poll from the same article said 92% was in favour of Tharman as the PM, only 8% was in favour of Swee Kiat. Maybe should rule these polls as fake news, unreliable and causing confusion.

Teymoor Nabili, a talent wasted, used in wrong areas

Keyu Jin earned her PhD from Harvard and is currently a professor of macro economics in London School of Economics. She has been giving lectures on China and understanding China, economics, social and political and anything relevant to China from a native Chinese perspective. Her views are refreshing not that Americans or the West would not see China that way, she has a very good grasp of economic issues and speaks very eloquently like an American without the Chinese accent. Google the youtube to have a different perspective of China instead of the dull and mundane silly views from the West and pseudo academics.

Two equally articulate Chinese presenters on contemporary issues concerning China and its relations with the West are the hosts of The Point programme in Tian Wei and Liu Xin. These two ladies are equally brilliant in their understanding of the issues of the day. In particular Liu Xin, she has a very professional and no nonsense approach to the issues under discussion and would brush off any silly bananas or westerners that parrot unthinkingly on stereotype western agenda, myths and smears on China.

What have they got to do with Teymoor Nabili? For those who are in the know, Teymoor Nabili is an excellent programme host/journalist on contemporary issues particularly big power relations and politics. When he first appeared on Channel News Asia, it was something good that finally happened to CNA, a very high calibre professional that could raise the standard of its programmes and someone that I would not mind listening to. This did not last long, as they said about good things.

No, he is still a presenter in CNA, but the topics he is presenting today are so tame and lame in a way. Climate change, green energy and blockchains in the Perspective programme. I would not spend more than 5 minutes on such stuff.

The big question that I am asking is why would such a gifted and talented TV host not be assigned to deal with political issues that were his forte, issues that he is very comfortable with and would generate a lot of interests among the audience? Is it because he did not give face to silly westerners and brushed them off when they started to utter nonsense, something that is unpalatable and unacceptable to western audience? I have seen and heard him did it several times to the chagrin of the westerners in the panel or in the audience. Never have silly westerners uttering their nonsense and parroting political agenda been told off or brush off so abruptly and publicly by the host of a talk show.

Perhaps his Iranian heritage may have something to do with it. The West, in particular the Americans, cannot tolerate Iranians and would not want to be seen sitting at the same table with an Iranian or an Iranian TV host. Worse, to be belittled or made to look small with their stupid comments by an Iranian is something they cannot live with.

It is a pity that Teymoor is not given more opportunity to host more contemporary political issues than talking about the environment. One thing for sure, Teymoor would never use American catchphrases like other silly presenters would do so to promote American agenda. Lame topics should be left to the academically oriented or our young local TV hosts to gain more experience and exposure before they graduate into serious and hard topics like telling the westerners off when they try to patronise the Asian audience with their myths and political agenda.

Liu Xin and Keyu Jin are in the same class as Teymoor Nabili, telling different stories from an Asian perspective that are rare in the English medium media dominated by the West and the bananas. The world needs more of them to give a more balance view of what is happening and calling a spade a spade. They should be given more space to keep the world informed and see things on a balanced perspective, not the American or western perspective that white is good and must be good, any other colours are bad.

PS. Singapore is very good in employing top professional talents, pays them like top professional talents but used them to clean the tables?  Did anyone say waste of money, waste of talent?

Why Sri Lanka a target?

More than 300 died and more than 500 hospitalised due to the latest IS bombings in Sri Lanka. Imagine the same magnitude and death toll happened in Singapore! The question of why Sri Lanka, a Buddhist majority country with only 7% Muslims. According to expert interviewed by CNA, Rohan Gunaratna said it was because Sri Lanka was a soft target. See, being soft target, even a Buddhist country with a small Muslim minority would not be spared.

Singapore is also a soft target, with a small Muslim minority and with legs opened so wide that 10 elephants can crawl pass easily, with so many wildlife coming in and out like their hometown, do you think Singapore presents an excellent soft target for terrorist attacks? I think not, our secret weapon is Newater. I have written a piece on the unmentionable benefits of drinking Newater but have yet to post it here.

Newater is an antidote for many wildlife disorders. Wildlife that are here must have taken Newater, and that has in a way tempered their wildness. Just imagine if there is no Newater, how wild would the wildlife be. This could be a good reason why Singapore is spared, so far. Must be the Newater.

While we think we may be safe, a soft target is a soft target. And Gunaratna has warned in his interview that all govts must be on high alert especially in SE Asia when Muslims are a majority. And the silly asshole in Australia thought he could bomb mosques and killed Muslims and could get away with it. He has just stirred the hornet's nest. For every white extremist there is a Muslim extremist to match his evil and prejudiced ways. You can hit them, they can hit you.

In the Sri Lanka case, the intelligence services were warned of an impending attack but this information did not get to the govt leaders. Dunno what were they so busy about that such an important threat did not get to them in time, after 10 days. We can understand how busy our millionaire politicians are, now buried themselves with the threats from fake news. I think they should take the advice of the intelligence services seriously and give top priority to such threats even if fake news is important.

Which do you think is a bigger threat, a clear and present danger, terrorist threat or fake news? Does the govt or police have enough men and resources to attend to such deadly threats when they have to take care of fake news? Would they be spreaded so thin, just like during the Little India riot that they just don't have enough men in blue to take a hold on terrorist problem?

Is there a need to monitor and tighten the influx of potential terrorists coming in when the legs are open so widely? Would it be futile, too many but too few men to handle? Or should we have faith in our Newater that would make the terrorists lose their minds and become more docile and timid or less deadly like daft sinkies?

The Americans should continue to do what they know best

The Americans have been indulging in smear campaign against anything that China is doing. They boycotted the AIIB claiming stupidly, that there is no transparency, low standard of rules and governance etc etc as if all the countries especially the European countries participating in the AIIB are there as sleeping partners and could not do anything. Such claims insult everyone, including those that are forced to believe in the American white lies.
 
Next big hit list is the BRI. Again all the stupid comments about no transparency, unfair practices, etc etc and the added thing called debt traps. The Americans are saying that all the countries participating in the BRI are so stupid that they willingly joined the BRI to get into debt traps. And those countries that borrowed money from IMF and World Bank would not get into debt traps if they managed to get a loan in the first place. 

More than 150 countries have joined the BRI, telling the Americans that they don’t believe in their lies of debt traps and all the shit they threw at the BRI.
 
And of course the infamous attack on Huawei as a security risk but not Apple, Google or Facebook or Twitter that have been doing worse thing than what the Americans accused Huawei of. Anything Americans is safe because the Americans have planted all their spying gadgets and softwares in these systems, and users just have to accept American monitoring and spying on them, cannot question, cannot object. These are givens for those using American systems and gadgets.
 
What the Americans should be doing instead of smearing and badmouthing what China is doing for the rest of the world is to focus on what they do best, ie sanctions, regime change and wars and selling weapons of mass destruction. While China is holding annual forum to engage countries of the world in infrastructure development to boost international trade, the Americans spent all their energy just to stir shit and to condemn these economic initiatives as expanding political influence and creating debt traps.
 
The Americans could do itself a big favour by conducting more forum to be held in the US on how to conduct regime change, which country to be shortlisted for regime change, how to support terrorist organizations, how to impose economic sanctions to cripple and destroy countries and to facilitate the bringing down of govts in order to put in place American lackeys that would run and ruin the countries in favour of the Americans.
 
The Americans can also hold big arms and weapon fairs to sell their weapons for countries to conduct wars, to blow each other up, to bring economies to ruins. Not to forget, to threaten countries with wars by provocations and aggression in sailing warships and warplanes to violate on national territories under the pretext of freedom of navigation. Americans are very good at these things, no one else could be their equal or coming near. All options are on the table, said the evil men in Washington.
 
These are the forte of the Americans and they would do very well to spend more time promoting such things and selling more weapons. No need to waste time and resources attacking and badmouthing China. They don’t work, the rest of the world see more benefits in trade and economic growth, not in wars, and would continue to support the Chinese initiatives to bring peace and better lives for their people. No unnecessary wars, death and destruction.
 
Do what you do best, conduct more wars, more sanctions and more regime change and sell more weapons….and tell more white lies.
 
Oh, I almost forgot, promote more rule of law, the American style or cowboy laws, or outlaws. The BRI is about bringing nations and people together, about cooperation, about a common destiny for human kind, unlike the building of walls and Americans first policy. The Americans should continue to cling to its dwindling hegemony and Evil Empire.
 
PS. Under questioning by Senator Rand Paul, Pompeo, the former CIA director said, ‘We lied, we cheated, we stole.’ That was, is and his CIA.