been busy this while, but i will be back, like mas selemat. i was up to seditious activities to bring down the State. ISD officers spying everywhere, i was just joking. and farewell to Thriller, Billie Jeans and Beat It Michael Jackson. i still remembered doing the fake moonwalk during the kindergarden concert. Posted in random Tagged: back, michael jackson Temasek Holdings scores with Barclays! I’m very sure everyone associates Barclays with the English Premiership. It proved to be a lucrative partnership for the Premiership and a fantastic advertising campaign for Barclays. However, such sweet gains did not extend to generous and kind-looking Ho Ching of Temasek Holdings. Reuters reports: LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) – Singapore state investor Temasek sold its stake in British bank Barclays Plc (BARC.L) several months ago at a big loss, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. After spending over 1 billion pounds on the shares in the last two years, unlisted Temasek [TEM.UL] may have lost over 800 million pounds ($1.3 billion) on the investment, according to calculations by Reuters. Temasek sold its near 2 percent stake in Britain’s second biggest bank in December and January, one of the sources said. The sources declined to be named due to the confidential nature of the investment. Temasek and Barclays declined to comment, and details of the price it sold at were not known. Oops. Let’s predict Finance Minister’s reply on this issue. We are long-investors. However, long-term investors does not mean holding for eternity, but instead biting the bullet and accepting losses whenever necessary so as to allocate limited assets in the most efficient way. Temasek Holdings has seen fit to sell (insert investment here) so as to invest in (insert random country here,preferably high-growth like China to bamboozle everyone) which we believe will yield higher returns. In fact, if you compare it to (insert funds that are low-performing), you will find that Temasek Holdings has outperformed it consistently. It is never possible to always make money, but I am sure Singaporeans will accept the occasional losses once they see the big picture. Now please stop disturbing me over Temasek Holdings and feel free to modify this statement whenever necessary. What to do? It has happened. No regrets. In life, to spend time regretting will get you nowhere, Ho Ching says. I prefer to regret and not lose money, rather than invest and NOT regret the losses later. Yet another Temasek Holdings WIN. Posted in economic issues, economics, Singapore, World Tagged: barclays, barclays bank, finance, ho ching, losses, minister, reuters, temasek holdings, tharman ever heard of “upturn the downturn” song? here’s one. in this downturn, the workers can’t feel sad. when its upturn, we will all be glad. go for help and e2i or call union hotline cut costs save jobs good for Singapore With some help from SPUR and Jobs Credit you can fight adversity for you, from you let us stand in pride and unity we are pro-workers oi oi we are pro business oi oi Upturn the downturn. this is completely hilarious. rhetoric and propaganda at its best. firstly, since when does a workers’ union represent BUSINESSES? secondly, luckytan rightly pointed out here. how the hell does a union be pro-worker and pro-business at the same time? these two are mutually exclusive. NTUC and Mr Lim are indeed weaving some magic and selling snake oil through singing. They really take Singaporeans as fools. and guess what? the screaming and cheering during the performance makes me really nauseous. “this is so creative! do you want to hear moreeeeeee?” government propaganda machine working over time eh? such things seem like a scene directly out of 1984 or Stalin’s USSR. Here’s some suggestions for free Mr Lim. Forget the costs incurred in erm hosting such dinners. What you should do right now is to talk to retrenched workers, and find out how to directly help them and their family, either through food vouchers or groceries vouchers. I think this is much more important than singing upturn the downturn. wayang oh wayang. like one of the commentors on the video, I’ve never seen so many MPs making a fool out of themselves. I guess Singaporeans are the biggest fools of all. They vote MPs who make a fool out of themselves into Parliament. sighs. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: e2i, lies, lim swee say, ntuc, pro business, pro worker, snake oil, song, upturn the downturn, wayang pathetic ASEAN silence and pathetic Singapore’s dismay Burma is fast becoming a complete embarrasment of ASEAN with its latest trumped up charges against the democratically elected and rightful Prime Minister of Burma Ms Aung San Suu Kyi. The other countries around the world are already planning to take action but what about ASEAN and Singapore? European foreign ministers were locked in discussion about new sanctions against Burma this afternoon as the country’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial in Rangoon for allowing an eccentric American to stay in her house. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said today that additional sanctions should be brought against Burma, as foreign ministers gathered in Brussels. But the proposal will provoke debate about the effectiveness of European and US sanctions against a country that is being eagerly courted by China and India. ASEAN has completely remained mute over this issue concerning its perennial troublemaker, and the rest of the member nations just paid lip service and “condemned” one of their own. Pathetic Singapore couldn’t go beyond expressing dismay. Perhaps its worried about its position of the third largest trading partner of Burma? Perhaps also about the possible exodus of dirty Burmese funds slushing around in Singapore’s banks or the cancellation of weapons sales such as landmines and grenade launchers? Foreign Minister George Yeo actually had an exchange over his Facebook status back then when Singapore honoured Burma’s Prime Minister Thein Sein. Here are some of the excerpts. George Yeo at 12:12pm March 17 It is a divided country. I hope the elections next year will set the country on a new path. Despite all our concerns, Singapore and ASEAN have decided that we have to keep engaging the country and help it move forward. I understand your views completely. George Yeo at 11:35am March 21 I am well aware that the situation in Myanmar causes anguish for many of us. You know I spent a lot of time on this in the UN, ASEAN and elsewhere. The western embargo has achieved little because China and India keep their borders open. ASEAN has to as well. Don’t forget Myanmar has long borders with Thailand, China and India. We don’t have a trade embargo, never had in our history, unless there is a UN position. If we stop trading with Myanmar, nothing changes. On arms sales, for obvious reasons I can’t be giving you details on FB. The issue has been debated over the years in Parliament and all MPs, including Opp MPs and NMPs, were free to ask questions. Please accept my answer in good faith. Clearly, Foreign Minister George Yeo reveals Singapore’s stance against such a country that blatantly disregards human rights. It is one of “other countries are doing it so we shouldn’t stop until the entire world stops doing it”. I strongly believe that Singapore wields substantial influence over the Burmese butchers if they wanted to, given our strong economic ties with them and relative importance as a trading nation. USA and EU already has trade restrictions and embargoes against Burma. Isn’t that good enough for Singapore? If Singapore chooses to wait until China and India  stop trading with Burma, then I think Singapore is as good as condoning such barbaric actions and gross injustices to take place. George Yeo advocates the continued engagement of Burma. Ever since Burma joined ASEAN in 1997, what good has engaging Burma accomplished? Has Aung San Suu Kyi been released to take her rightful place as the Prime Minister? Has the reclusive and reticent Burmese government opened up? The answer is painfully clear. Over this issue, Singapore could have made their voice count. ASEAN too. Both of them have failed the tests miserably once again, and I am ashamed of my government’s stance against Burma. As for ASEAN, this is yet another mortal blow to its credibility as a peacemaker, if there was any in the first place. Posted in political issues, politics, Singapore, World Tagged: 2009, asean, aung san suu kyi, burma, eu, european union, foreign minister, foreign policy, george yeo, jail, john yettaw, myanmar, Singapore, trade embargo, trade restrictions, trade sanctions, usa long term = 3 months. Sharp Lucky Tan has spotted this news on Bloomberg. May 15 (Bloomberg) — Temasek Holdings Pte sold its 3.8 percent stake in Bank of America Corp. at a loss that may total $4.6 billion, as the Singapore state-owned fund shifts bets from Wall Street to emerging markets. Hey Minister Mentor God Lee, where’s the long term you were talking about again? Looks like we made a big loss, we didn’t borrow the money to invest, BUT WE STILL LOST MONEY. Why didn’t we hold those investments for 10, 15, 20 years? Not enough money to invest in China? We can always move back the CPF withdrawal age! After all, our old people can work till they die but that doesn’t matter right? “When we invest, we are investing for 10, 15, 20 years. You may look as if you are making a big loss today, but you have not borrowed money to invest. You will ride the storm, the company recovers, your shares go up.” – MM Lee Feb 2009 The older I get, the more I get confused. 3 months = 5,10,15,20 years? Posted in economics, Singapore Tagged: bank of america, BOA, ho ching, joke, lee kuan yew, loss, minister mentor, temasek holdings HOME team and SAF, go reflect on yourselves WANTED terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari had holed up in several places in Singapore for as many as four days after he slipped out of the Whitely Road detention centre on Feb 27 last year, according to a Bernama report. Despite a massive island-wide manhunt in Singapore, he managed to get to Woodlands on the fourth day and swam across the Tebrau Strait towards Stulang Laut under the cover of darkness with buoy lights as a guide. I’m sorry but heads have to roll for this. Not only were the ISD inept, the rest of the HOME team and the SAF were equally inept in letting him run around this huge island for 4 days before letting him swim across. SAF occupies the biggest proportion of the annual budget which always increases. It takes in slaves under the guise of national defence, pay them miserly wages and sends them to hunt Mas Selamat. Wonder why they failed? HOME team occupies quite a significant proportion of the budget too. Yet they failed to stop Mas Selamat when he was in Singapore, and failed to stop him from swimming across. I think a full fledged commission of inquiry needs to be set up, and SAF’s and HOME team’s ineptitude needs to be addressed. So much for the huge manpower utlilised by the SAF and the HOME team. maybe now is not the long coastline is the one that is affecting everything? maybe its the huge land area, that’s why Mas Selamat can run around in Singapore for 4 days? Posted in political issues, Singapore Tagged: 4 days, escape, home, ineptitude, joke, malaysia, mas selamat, SAF, Singapore, wong kan seng Upskill, reskill, Multi-skill, Mr Lim Swee Say replies Just before Labour Day, Mr Lim gave an interview in which he pointed out several points of interest to me. I took the liberty to email my friendly Labour Chief, and amazingly, he replied pretty quickly, as quick as you can say “Mas Selamat”.. I must say this spells “DEDICATION”. Here is the full email exchange. (screenshots at the end) Dear Mr Lim, I watched your interview with Channelnewsasia and read the corresponding newspaper report. I am indeed very impressed with your dedication to the average Singaporean worker and the labour movement. After all, people generally do not wake up to reports dangling above their heads but their ceilings instead. That aside, I am very sure you just wanted to mean that you are very very dedicated to your job, and that we should never doubt your dedication. I, along with many Singaporean citizens, am extremely thankful for such dedication shown by my Labour Chief, something definitely unparalled in any other countries. However, there is a point I wanted to clarify. It is regarding what you said about the second thing you worry about, which is stated below. The second thing I worry (about) is whether every job lost translates to another unemployed worker. Can I kindly enquire how does any job lost NOT translate to another unemployed worker? This is something far beyond what my intelligence can comprehend, hence I humbly seek your expert opinion. Secondly, I would also like to enquire how much jobs has Jobs Credit saved? Are there any estimates, and on what basis are these estimates based on? If we will not know how much jobs has Jobs Credit saved(which is quite likely), then how do we gauge the effectiveness of such a scheme, and thereby justify the use of taxpayers’ money on such a scheme? I look forward to your reply soonest. Here’s wishing you a Happy Labour Day, and a bright political future ahead, which I am sure you definitely will enjoy, given your sheer dedication to Singaporeans like me. James Tan P.S: This email will be published on my blog singaporecitizen.wordpress.com and all replies/non-replies will be recorded and published fully. Thank you. I am honestly impressed. really. He replied at 12.07am. Such a hardworking Labour Chief. Let’s cut him some slack, shall we? Thank you for your email. The second thing I worry (about) is whether every job lost translates to another unemployed worker – if a retrenched worker is not able to find another job, he will end up being an unemployed person. But if we can help him to re-skill and up-skill and find a new job quickly, then he becomes a re-employed person rather than an unemployed person. This is why the tripartite partners in Singapore are working hard on. For example, so far this year, NTUC e2i (employment and employability institute) has helped 8000 job seekers to learn new skills, with 4000 of them securing new jobs. How much jobs has Jobs Credit saved? NTUC worked directly with unionised companies to cut costs and save jobs on a one-on-one basis. We see at first hand how companies defer retrenchment or cut back on the size of retrenchment because of Jobs credit and SPUR. We also see jobs credit helping companies to stay away from “retrenchment zone”, and/or using it to build new capability, or generate more revenue by giving discounts to their customers. All these help to save jobs, directly and indirectly. For example, one factory save 20% of jobs when it decides to reduce the size of retrenchment from 30% to 10%. Others are doing likelwise, though to a different extent. Happy Labour Day to you too. You can email Mr Lim the friendly and helpful Labour Chief at SSLim@pmo.gov.sg swee lah! That aside, anyone noticed he didn’t quote me any hard figures about just exactly how much jobs Jobs Credit saved? Perhaps its really not possible that we find out how much jobs the scheme saved. If that’s really the case, then how do we gauge the effectiveness of the scheme? The number of take-ups? Posted in economics, political issues, Singapore Tagged: employment, job, job losses, jobs credit, labour chief, lim swee say, minister without portfolio, ntuc, unemployment Hi Mr Wong Kan Seng, stop lying. If you look at the video below, Mr Wong clearly states that Singapore knew that he was arrested on the 1st of April and he even reported that to the Prime Minister. Now take a look at his speech during the ISD Promotion Ceremony on 16 April 2009. 14 It has been and continues to be a testing time for the Department. I understand that at one time or another, officers from all the various commands have been deployed to work on the case which for some, involved taking on an entirely new type of assignment for the first time in their career. I have been regularly updated on the Department’s efforts to track Mas Selamat Kastari down. I have no doubt of your determination. I have confidence that with patience – which has always been a virtue of the Department – we will recapture him. The keen sense of fellowship and camaraderie among ISD officers, of being one family through thick and thin, that I have seen particularly during this trying episode, will see you through this, and make all of you even stronger. 15 Most importantly, I am happy to see that ISD officers have not allowed the setback to dishearten or distract you from your mission of countering the multi-faceted security threats we face. Even as you continue to hunt for Mas Selamat Kastari, you have been equally unrelenting in monitoring and tackling other security threats, at times, I know, stretching yourselves beyond the limits. Clearly Mr Wong is lying on either one of the occasion. There is no way it can be true for both occasions. Mr Wong, really, quit lying and thinking that Singaporeans are fools. or polish the lying skills. Oh and quit praising yourself about your “lead” that led to his capture. Don’t make us look stupid please. And one gets the clearest sense of responsibility from Mr Wong when he actually mentioned that ISD learnt a painful lesson from the Mas Selamat episode. ISD learnt. Not “I and the ISD” learnt together. Maybe we can help him learn by reliving him of his duties? Guys, remember. No complacency. Later Mas Selamat disappears again and we get blamed again. Posted in Singapore Tagged: capture, liar, lying, mas selamat, mas selemat, minister of home affairs, msk, recapture, wong kan seng Hi Mr Wong Kan Seng, do you mind clarifying? If you look at the video below, Mr Wong clearly states that Singapore knew that he was arrested on the 1st of April and he even reported that to the Prime Minister. Now take a look at his speech during the ISD Promotion Ceremony on 16 April 2009. 14 It has been and continues to be a testing time for the Department. I understand that at one time or another, officers from all the various commands have been deployed to work on the case which for some, involved taking on an entirely new type of assignment for the first time in their career. I have been regularly updated on the Department’s efforts to track Mas Selamat Kastari down. I have no doubt of your determination. I have confidence that with patience – which has always been a virtue of the Department – we will recapture him. The keen sense of fellowship and camaraderie among ISD officers, of being one family through thick and thin, that I have seen particularly during this trying episode, will see you through this, and make all of you even stronger. 15 Most importantly, I am happy to see that ISD officers have not allowed the setback to dishearten or distract you from your mission of countering the multi-faceted security threats we face. Even as you continue to hunt for Mas Selamat Kastari, you have been equally unrelenting in monitoring and tackling other security threats, at times, I know, stretching yourselves beyond the limits. Clearly Mr Wong is wrong on either one of the occasion. There is no way it can be true for both occasions. Mr Wong, really, please clarify and don’t think that Singaporeans are fools.  Oh and quit praising yourself about your “lead” that led to his capture. Don’t make us look stupid please. And one gets the clearest sense of responsibility from Mr Wong when he actually mentioned that ISD learnt a painful lesson from the Mas Selamat episode. ISD learnt. Not “I and the ISD” learnt together. Maybe we can help him learn by reliving him of his duties? Guys, remember. No complacency. Later Mas Selamat disappears again and we get blamed again. Posted in Singapore Tagged: capture, mas selamat, mas selemat, minister of home affairs, msk, recapture, wong kan seng Wong Kan Seng: see I told you I am right. Back then, when interviewed about the progress on Mas Selemat Kastari’s escape, Minister Of Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng had this to say: He’s either here, or not here. Guess what? After everyone’s repeated sneers at him online and offline, Wong Kan Seng is actually right! Hip hip hurray!Well done! 200 months performance bonus for you,Mr Wong. keep up the good work! Mas Selemat Kastari has been caught by the much lower paid and often criticised as corrupt Malaysian forces. SINGAPORE: Mas Selamat Kastari, Singapore’s Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader who escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre on February 27 last year, has been arrested. The terrorist, who once plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport, was arrested in Malaysia in a joint intelligence operation involving the internal security agencies of the two countries. It is understood that Mas Selamat was actually arrested over a month ago but had been under interrogation in Malaysia. Sia la! catch Mas Selemat already then never inform Wong Kan Seng so that he can collect his performance bonus in time and boast about it! That’s way too much of Malaysian authorities. They are being extremely complacent, and think they will not lose slippery-like-an-eel Mas Selemat. They should’ve immediately handed them over to capable Singapore. It is believed that the fugitive will soon be brought back to Singapore. You can be sure there will not be any kind of breaks for Mas Selemat Kastari. no more toilet breaks, food breaks or prayer breaks. What if he disappears to heaven this time? I humbly suggest that Mas Selemat  teach our commandos and special forces his escape tactics and contribute to the training of our commandos. If he can escape Singapore’s biggest manhunt, that tells you clearly that Mas Selemat > our forces. Our forces have much to learn from this incredible limping escape artist. oh and maybe we can hire those capable Malaysians under our Foreign Talent scheme. We can up their salaries by 40% and they will still be cheaper than our locals! As they say: fresh and cheap! And trust ST to boast about our Government’s capability, as always. Singapore Government Owns look at the headlines. “Singapore’s role in arrest” and “Mas Selemat rearrest a lesson in patience and persistence”. Wow. Talk as if Singapore was the one who arrested him and Malaysian authorities were the screwed up ones who let him go. They should change the second headline to : Mas Selemat’s rearrest a lesson in incompetence and lack of humility. Now let’s all wait for the inevitable wayang as ministers outdo each other to snatch credit. Lee Hsien Loong will not AWOL like that time he did when Mas Selemat disappeared. trust prophetic me on this one. Malaysia got ya! Malaysia boleh! Posted in political issues, politics, Singapore, social issues, social issues, World Tagged: arrested, capture, lee hsien loong, lee kuan yew, malaysia, mas selamat, mas selamat kastari, mas selemat, minster of home affairs, msk, rearrest, Singapore, wong kan seng Japanese translator hosting top North Korean Legislator Think that happened in Japan? Nope. SINGAPORE, May 6 (Xinhua) — Kim Yong Nam, the top legislator of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), kicked off a three-day working visit to Singapore on Wednesday. According to Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kim will be calling on Singapore’s President S R Nathan and be hosted to dinner by the President. This is the second working visit to Singapore by Kim in his capacity as the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly. Kim last visited Singapore in August 2007. well well, for those who don’t know and are under the delusions that S R Nathan was heroic, or at least worked for Singapore, during the Japanese Occupation, you are dead wrong. S R Nathan was a Japanese translator and worked for the Japanese civilian police during the Japanese Occupation. How much he contributed indirectly to any deaths/torture/injuries suffered by the civilians during the Japanese Occupation remains unknown. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, Nathan worked for the Japanese civilian police as a translator. So think again. Whose picture are you looking at every morning? A heroic Singaporean, or at least a non-traitor, or a war traitor? Oh and guess who was his colleague at that time? oh wells. and you thought Singapore only honoured war heroes like Lim Bo Seng. Having taken Chinese and Japanese lessons since 1942, Lee Kuan Yew was able to collaborate as a transcriber of Allied wire reports for the Japanese, as well as being the English-language editor on the Japanese Hodobu (報道部 — an information or propaganda department) from 1943 to 1944. Anyway, have a happy and fruitful visit, Kim. I am sure you will be able to share much information about repression and suppression with your Singaporean counterparts. Posted in political issues, politics, Singapore, World Tagged: dinner, japan, japanese occupation, kim, lee kuan yew, nathan, north korea, s r nathan, Singapore, visit you know H1N1 is real when the SPC Petrol Station tells you got discount of 2 dollars for masks when buying petrol. win. Posted in Singapore er what’s the point of this article? why not talk about Prophet Thio? I’m sorry but why does Straits Times see the need to publicise this? Top students from madrasahs TWO OF Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s top graduates this year came from the madrasahs.Haseenah Mohamed Yusoff and Hazwani Rahim completed their primary and secondary education at the madrasahs before entering the polytechnic and eventually topping their respective courses in civil and environmental engineering and horticulture and landscape management. Why the sudden urge to highlight, er, top ex-Madrasahs students in ,er, a single polytechnic? Are they trying to correct what they perceive as a common acknowledgement of poor results from students from Madrasahs? Please lah, nation building also no need like this one. report more substantial news. such as the incredible one below (courtesy of wayangparty.com). (luckytan also has an article here) “Last February, a USSPN Washington Regional Coordinator was present during a report given by an international lawyer from Singapore, Thio Su Mien (Su), who is gifted in prophetic intercession and healing. She shared about some of the things going on in the area of Indonesia before the tsunami. She explained how the SARS virus hit Singapore a year prior to the earthquake/tsunami. The Lord alerted the intercessors and told them that if they did not get on their faces and repent on behalf of their nation’s involvement in abortion as the contraceptive of choice, that the land would suffer from His hand of judgment. Because they saw how devastating the SARS virus had been, the intercessors immediately took action to seek His mercy and forgiveness. Singapore was not touched by the earthquake disaster. The Malaysian intercessors joined them in diligent prayer and also opened healing rooms in Kuala Lampur. The area on the Northern Coast of Malaysia was hit hard. There are amazing stories of God’s grace and mercy in saving souls and lives there.” I herey issue a clarion call to the government to award Order of Temasek First Class for the selfless services from this truly incredible woman who saved all our lives due to her “gift in prophetic intercession and healing”. She alone must’ve saved millions of lives. Everyone owes our lives to her. Let’s be grateful and urge the Government to bestow her the title formally of Feminist Mentor. It’s bordering on ridicule about how extremists can twist and turn every single event to their advantage. Rained today and you forgot to bring your umbrella and got drenched? That’s because you refused to share your umbrella with others the other day, so this is the punishment. Fell on the floor while sleeping? That’s because you sinned by looking and lusting after that pretty married lady on the bus. Hit by bird shit while walking? That’s because you littered the day before. Singapore not being hit by tsunami? You would have thought it was because of geography and the huge land mass of Indonesia that shielded us from the effects. Nope, you are dead wrong. Throw away your geography textbooks. It’s because of Feminist Mentor and Gifted Prophet Thio Su Mien who averted our crisis by erm, taking action to seek “His forgiveness”. I urge MOE to review its Geography syllabus and consider changing some of the content inside to reflect the “‘truth”. Poor Indonesians. I wonder what huge sin they must’ve done to not have someone like Thio to intercede on their behalf and save them. Oh wait, its the PAP’s education system that has produced talents like Thio! It’s all linked! Wow. Such fantastic feel-good news, and Straits Times refused to report. sighs.And I thought speculation and baseless accusations were right up their street. Anyway, know the reason why Singapore hasn’t been affected by the Swine Flu yet? That’s because Thio managed to persuade those women to take over AWARE and correct its misguided directions, and thus saved Singapore from the wrath of her God. If ever one day Swine Flu hit Singapore, that’s because one thousand over females kicked her Chosen Team out so here is the punishment. And if Swine Flu never hits Singapore, that’s because she interceded on our behalf and her God remembered the “gracious” stepping down of Josie Lau and co. and forgave us all. Remember this. You heard it from here first. I’m also a prophet. oh and i spotted something funny from her law firm’s website. Dr Thio has a distinguished professional history, having been the Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Singapore, a senior partner in a large firm in Singapore, and holding Judgeships in the administrative tribunals of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for various terms. Very much a grand dame of the corporate legal scene (her looks, as you can see, belie her experience), she counts many of the country’s judges and high-ranking officials among her classmates and her ex-students. hahahahahaha. talk about shameless. My Looks Belie My Experience leh! Posted in political issues, Singapore, social issues Tagged: AWARE, feminist mentor, gifted, h1n1, josie lau, madrasahs, ngee ann polytechnic, prophetic intercession, sars, swine flu, thio su mien Pastor Hong, hongkan liao lah! After being lampooned by nearly everyone except his few favourite people in his Church, he finally came out today to express. regret. “I regret that this matter has caused concern and unhappiness,” said Mr Hong in a statement to the media. he's sorry leh! too late, hong kan liao I see. Now look carefully at his statement to the press. “My actions on the pulpit have aroused some tension in this saga,” he said, “I now stand corrected. I undertake to be more sensitive to similar situations in the future.” Look. He now stands corrected and humbled and sad that his actions has caused “some” tension. Nowhere in the media release has the word “sorry” appeared. It seems more likely to me that he is apologising not because he did something wrong, but because his bosses above him have criticised him for abusing the pulpit and using it to support self-styled and self-proclaimed Feminist Mentor God Thio Su Mien and the now ex-EXCO committee. As stated by the head of National Council of Churches Singapore, “We are concerned that religion has been dragged into the unfortunate situation,” it said. “We do not condone churches getting involved in this matter; neither do we condone pulpits being used for this purpose.” Finally, they got it damn right. Religion HAS ZERO ROLE to play in secular Singapore. Look. I don’t give a damn whatever religion you practise or believe, but any religion that attempts to convert “misguided” me or tries to “save” me when I didn’t god-damned ask for it is asking for my wrath. I think its time the government reviews how the Churches in Singapore recruit their members and perhaps set out clear guidelines on what constitutes aggressive courting or conversion.Maybe can make it criminal offence under harassment. And no, lying really isn’t cool and I definitely believe not condoned by the Bible.So my advice to the now-ex EXCO, go read your Bible again. and read the really IMPORTANT Commandments. To be honest, the entire AWARE saga seems like a comedy. Let’s see why. mysterious people stage a successful coup denies link to religion and churches and anti-homosexuality U-turns to say that AWARE lost its direction, out to correct them fires all subcommittees, changing locks, firing staff members, installing CCTV losing support from everyone self-styled Feminist Mentor pops up, acknowledges that its a behind-the scenes plot and hoping that the Christian women will support them in their fight. criticises school sexuality programs and pisses off MOE loses even more support after MOE denied complaints (oops never mess with a Ministry) Entire EXCO thrown out after EGM and wasting tens of thousands Lawyers and bus drivers smiling to the bank, along with Suntec City Management and retailers Seems like some low-grade comedy movie to me with poor execution throughout. They won the battle but they didn’t know how to keep the city, before getting themselves thrown out, and not before mismanaging everything. Now, I hope Minister Mentor God Lee Kuan Yew sues Feminist Mentor Thio for abusing and disgracing the name “Mentor”. What a disgrace. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew certainly knows how to orchestrate coups AND hold on to power. That’s why he’s powerful and really smart. Feminist Mentor has much to learn. Till then, Feminist Juvenile will do. Now the ex EXCO should go back to their church and think about their actions. Repent more please about the lying. Oh and keep quiet. I got enough of your rubbish, lies and anti-homosexuality thoughts already, so keep them to yourselves. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: AWARE, aware saga, church of our savior, COOS, derek hong, feminist mentor, hong, josie lau, lee kuan yew, lying, minister mentor, NCCS, pastor, pastor hong, thio su mien NDP 09 no cheap show? get your priorities right. Apparently, NDP’s organisers have to go all out to assure people that we are not stinging or cutting back on our NDP’s budget. SINGAPORE may be going through its deepest recession, but its birthday bash will be no ‘cheap show’. To reporters during a media briefing at the floating platform at Marina Bay, Brigadier-General Tan Chuan-Jin, chairman of this year’s organising committee said said costs would be managed, but that ‘the bells and whistles will still be there’. I’m sorry but there seems to be some misplaced priorities here. I cannot seem to find the budget for NDP 09, or other years for that matter(any heads up for this?) but I will try to hazard a guess and put the bill at around $10million? Either way, why is the Government spending so much money on showcase events to ahem, instill national pride? Will my national pride and loyalty be increased because I just watched a multi-million dollar show on TV or in real life? Will my love for Singapore be increased because I participated in a NDP? I don’t think so. So why are we spending so much money on such lavish celebrations in such trying times? In fact, the government should exercise empathy and cut lavish celebrations to the minimum to reflect the prevailing sombre mood around the country. Every dollar less spent is a dollar saved and a dollar channelled to more worthy causes such as charitable events or to help people in dire straits. I am also staunchly against the use of “SAF volunteers” for any form of NDP event. Firstly, its an insult to the word “volunteer”. Do SAF parade personnel have any opt-out option from NDP? No. The lack of existence of such an option proves clearly that the NDP is not made up of volunteers but instead co-erced personnel. This is further proof that NS liability can be cut even more, since participation in NDPs(wrapping goodie bags, crowd control, parade personnel etc) is definitely unrelated to the  defence of Singapore, something that NSFs are supposed to do originally. Just because they are paid low wages does not mean that SAF have every right to use them for the glorification of the nation and the SAF, for that is a contravention of the original aims of NS and pure exploitation of cheap labour. ‘Every voice matters and we are going out in a big way to get everyone to play their part to make the celebrations meaningful,’ said Brig-Gen Tan. Really BG Tan? Every voice matters? Here’s one: Cut the celebrations budget by 50%, and donate the excess to charities or funds for the needy. That will make the celebrations inclusive and really meaningful for people who need such help, instead of some useless pomp and fireworks that will be forgotten quickly by others who do not, in the least, feel inspired by your celebrations and love Singapore more. And yes, spending at least 6 million on Singapore Day OVERSEAS is sheer wastage too. Singaporeans who want to return will return not because you spent 6 million on catering Singaporean food for them overseas, and Singaporeans who do not want to return will not return, regardless of whether you spent 6 dollars, 6 million dollars or 60 million dollars entertaining them. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: 6 million, Budget, cheap, cut, london, national day parade, NDP 09, SAF, Singapore, singapore armed forces, singapore day, wastage How Li Jiawei’s pregnancy is related to Singapore? The answer is no. Its not the least related. Frankly speaking, I am really perplexed by the Government’s SPH’s decision to publicise Li Jiawei’s wedding and upcoming pregnancy. Now as the national daily propaganda broadsheet, I would fully expect ST to come up with more nation building and inspiring articles to inspire us amidst dark times, aka articles like this, rather than degenerating into tabloids. Obviously, low standards know no lows. SINGAPORE has jumped six places in a global ranking of cities with the highest quality of living, overtaking places such as Paris in France and Honolulu and San Francisco in the United States. I will not continue to add on the rest as its full of praise for the government and I am too lazy to praise the government because they sure can do it better themselves than me.On a sidenote, Mercer should have conducted the survey with people like this here, and here, and ask them how’s their quality of living in the highest quality of living city in Asia. Now back to Li Jiawei. What’s with the fascination with her? er okay, so she won our second team silver medal. er okay, she won alot of SE Asian Games medals. er okay, Commonwealth Games medals. but hey, do you, in the least, feel proud? I’m sorry but I don’t. I am sure this issue has been argued until the cows come home, but the fact remains that Li Jia Wei is deeply rooted to her home country(no, not Singapore) and has future plans to reside in China. To woo her, Singapore even had the shame to offer her a pension? I’m sorry that’s something utterly unacceptable, especially when taxpayers’ money is used. We’ve given her opportunities she would never have gotten in China, and what she has achieved is in exchange for what we have given her. And yes nationality does matter. Ask people from USA if they will feel proud of Michael Phelps if he came from Canada at the age of 14. Ask Jamaicans if they feel proud of Usain Bolt if he came from Uganda instead at the age of 14. The fact is: birthright does matter in things that instil national pride in people such as the Olympic Games. and those bullshit about our immigrants forefathers coming to Singapore, and hence we should be accepting towards all immigrants. yea yea, our forefathers came to play sports didn’t they? So I’m sorry, I feel no honour. In fact, I feel shame. Shame for my country that seeks to achieve an Olympic medal at any cost. I would rather Singapore lose than having a medal won by someone who has deep set roots in China despite being here for so long. and of course, I guess the ST has to have a poster child for immigrants and new citizens, and whose better to promote the “inclusiveness” than Li Jia Wei? Perhaps that’s why the extensive coverage over her rubbish. I hope she didn’t drag that long dress through the floor like how she dragged our flag last year. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: drag, flag, immigrants, li jia wei, li jiawei, marriage, pregnancy, pregnant, Singapore, ST, Straits Times AWARE? aware what? ok so the entire blogosphere is awash with rumours, accusations and catfights whatsoever about AWARE. pro-gays, anti-gay pro-christian anti-christian. yea. yea. so many debatable issues. legitimate  issues no doubt. but guess what? Singapore’s facing its worst economic crisis ever since its independence and yet these people have the will and the power to go carry out coups and catfights. these people needs to get their priorities right. forget about protecting your kids from gays and lesbians. forget about militant Christian fundamentalists. forget about everything and anything IF Singapore’s economy continues free-falling. get your priorities right, seriously. i think the Temasek Holdings losses completely overshadow this AWARE issue, yet people don’t even comment that much( comparatively with AWARE’s issue). Singaporeans really get their priorities all wrong. no wonder they say religion is the biggest reason for war. stop your catfighting. and move on to really more serious issues. oh and lying about your agenda and backtracking later is so totally not cool, and definitely not within the Bible. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: AWARE, move on taxpayers paying for MINDEF’s officers’ private transport I’m sure most people will agree that MID-plate vehicles are considered as public resources, given that they are entirely funded by taxpayers’ money. Going by the same line of reasoning, why are MINDEF’s officers driving these public vehicles home? MID-plate AUDI driven home MINDEF's vehicle pass faint picture, but can see the MID 78 on the condo label Not bad eh? Not only do we pay these officers their salaries, we also provide them with public vehicles to drive home! Of course, MINDEF will argue that these are top officials and that the private sector does it with company cars etc. But hey, private sector not funded by public money right? Of course, I wanted to give MINDEF a chance to explain their policy and rationale behind the policy(shouldn’t be too difficult right?), so I chose to email the MINDEF’s Feedback Channel. I reproduce the entire email here.(screenshots attached) Dear MINDEF officer, I would like to bring to your attention an example of what I believe is a flagrant abuse of State’s resources. One of your top SAF’s officials has been driving to his condominium home using a MID-plate car. I believe he is of a General-rank although I did not manage to see his rank clearly as he drove past me as he parked his car in the condominium carpark. I believe the identity of the occupant can be easily found out if I divulged the condominium’s address or revealed the exact car plate number. As a taxpayer of Singapore, I would like to have full clarifications on MINDEF’s policy on the private usage of such public vehicles. 1) Are MID-plate cars considered as public resources, as they are fully paid for via MINDEF’s budget, which is supported by all the taxpayers of Singapore? 2) Are MID-plate cars assigned to each top-ranking officials or they can have different cars on different days based on availability? I believe that is not the case, as I have been seeing the same person drive the same car on different days. 3) Are MID-plate cars allowed for personal use, i.e driving from office to home and vice-versa?I do not believe that travelling from home to office and back again can be considered as “work-related”. I have absolutely no qualms if these officials were driving these cars when they are on official duty but why are they driving the cars home, and parking them in their own condominium’s carpark even on Sundays? Surely Sunday is not considered a working day, and neither is a condominium remotely linked to work? 4) Who pays for the fuel and maintenance of such cars? Do these officials claim such the costs of such fuels as travelling expenses? 5) Under what circumstances are the officials allowed to drive the cars home, and what is the justification for such circumstances? 6) Who grants the permission for any usage of MID-plate cars, or do the officials just do as they please? I hope you can understand my need for anonymity as MINDEF does have the policy of punishing whistle-blowers. Rest assured that this is a valid case, and I am sure you will be able to verify the case/official if you have the address. I also have the pictorial evidence should you require it. I will be protecting the anonymity of the mentioned official for now because I would like to hear from MINDEF first. If MINDEF chooses to ignore this email and refuses to answer the above-mentioned questions, I believe major blog-sites will be happy to carry this story and I will also go public with the address of the mentioned officer, along with the picture of the MINDEF’s car. Do feel free to contact me via this email if you need any clarifications, or any assistance in carrying out any investigation and I look forward to hearing from MINDEF soon. screenshot of email sent After reminding them a couple of times that they have the obligation to use humans to reply, other than auto-responders, Ms Vani from MINDEF Feedback Unit had this to say. Dear Sir / Mdm MINDEF Feedback Unit Thank you for writing in to MINDEF Feedback Unit. Kindly provide us your full particulars. Best Regards Vani Vani's reply Clearly, they were more interested in finding out the identity of this blogger, rather than answering my question. I’ve absolutely no idea how my identity has anything to do with the questions or aid in the answering of the questions in any way. I sent off an extremely terse reply to MINDEF, which they have yet to answer. Dear Vani, This is very disappointing. Firstly, I have yet to hear from MINDEF despite a 6 day gap. I have to remind your people that there is an issue at hand before MINDEF even bothers to reply again. Perhaps MINDEF thinks that this is not a serious issue enough to address? Secondly, I’ve explained clearly why I do not wish to reveal my identity. I do not believe the revelation of my identity has anything to do with the issue at hand. All I asked for are clear and precise questions, all of which do not involve my identity. If MINDEF still attempts to pursue my identity rather than answer the questions, it is rather obvious MINDEF seeks to silence me, rather than answer me. If that is the case, I will go public immediately and leave the public to judge the issue at hand. By then, I am afraid I will not be able to protect the identity of your official. Good luck in trying to defend the policy in public then. I honestly do not believe in any form of justification in providing public transport for the officials’ private business. Surely going home is not considered an official matter? Now do you wonder why MINDEF’s budget increases year on year? This is where they spend their money on. Vehicles for their officers’ private use. It isn’t bad to be a public servant in Singapore. 8 months bonuses. “Market-pgged” salaries that only go up their boom years and frozen wages during bad times. Zero retrenchment thus job security. Free Audis to drive to work and back home. What next? Funding their children’s education? MINDEF seems to have forgotten where their obligations lay to. It’s not to the officers but to the taxpayers. That naturally means that every single cent has to be properly accounted for, and wastage minimised, and I do not believe giving Audis for officers to drive home is in that category. Posted in political issues, Singapore Tagged: audi, driving home, generals, MID, mindef, officers, private use, public money, taxpayers, vehicles Surprise! Singapore works with countries serious about knowledge transfer According to the ever-venerable and forever right Minister Mentor God Lee who is busy schmoozing with his counterparts helping Singapore create new industrial parks in Vietnam, Singapore will assess a country’s ability to absorb the transfer of ideas and knowledge before deciding whether to collaborate with the country on joint projects. Surprise! Let’s read more. He said if a country is not serious about knowledge transfer, Singapore will be reluctant to work with it as it will be a fruitless effort. No wonder we work so closely with Burma(yea I like the old name) and even name an orchid after their top official. It’s because Burma is really very very very very serious about knowledge transfer. and money laundering. and bomb disposal. and human rights abuses. and jailing dissidents and sentencing them to 70 year sentences. and drug trafficking. That’s why we also work with countries like North Korea.They are also very serious about knowledge transfer like us. What knowledge? Lesser mortals like us will never understand.Forget human rights abuses and mass starvation. We are just very serious about knowledge transfer, okay? Daily pay-your-respects picture below. Pay your respects today, or Singapore will collapse tomorrow. Posted in economics, Singapore Tagged: industrial park, knowledge transfer, lee kuan yew, minster mentor, MM Lee, vietnam new dog for Obama. US’s President Obama finally got himself a dog. Here are some pictures to brighten up your day. First Dog cute doggie But Barack Obama seemed really slow in getting a dog. Our Government has long gotten themselves dogs. In fact, much of our Government have dogs of their own. Such as the PAP’s favourite kennel Singapore Press Holdings, and the huge number of dogs that reside in there… Posted in random Tagged: bo, dog, dogs, obama, pap, singapore press holdings, SPH senile old man. When one needs proof that time and tide wait for no man, one has only to look at the only founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. At a ripe old age of 86, when one should be enjoying life, our old man is sprouting rubbish and antagonizing our neighbours while making a fool of himself, and Singapore to boot. One example of foresight that he cited: How Singapore, seeing that China was rising, had gone out of its way to be helpful, such as with the Suzhou industrial park. The experience has given us “an entree into all the cities of China” When I read that, I couldn’t help but laugh. Suzhou Industrial Park and success does not go together, unless you are from China. Everyone who really knows the truth must know that Singapore got their asses kicked in Suzhou, and we had to suffer in silence, while proclaiming that it was a success so as not to lose face. Think of it as an ultimate joke. Why the hell would the Chinese people, 1 billion strong, have anything to learn from a nation that is only like 44 years old? Only Singapore has the sheer audacity and the sheer lack of modesty to proclaim that we are smart enough to teach China how to govern a country. Apparently, due to this lack of modesty and the lack of intelligence, we have a bunch of clowns who went into Suzhou to “teach” the Chinese “helpfully”(as mentioned by LKY), only to have the Chinese completely replicate our Suzhou Industrial Park and offer it to foreigners at massive discounts and perks. When I was younger, I was eating at a Chinese restaurant in Singapore. The table next to me had a bunch of Chinese people, alongside a Singaporean host. One Chinese woman was loudly saying(translation mine), “Your Lee Kuan Yew thinks he is very smart, know everything. See how he gets himself taught a lesson in Suzhou.” The entire table broke out in laughter, and the Singaporean host was quietly nodding his head, face red with embarrassment. Needless to say, my blood boiled. Having foreigners insulting you in your own country is nothing short of shameful. I’m very sure many of the foreign talents/students we welcomed to our shores have plenty of not-so-nice things to say about Singapore. Just visit Chinese forums. I’ve seen cases of Singaporean PRs who hold Chinese passports and enjoyed the heavily subsidised education in Singapore for 12 years, only to turn their back on Singapore during NS and explicitly mention that he shouldn’t need to serve Singapore. and there was nothing the Singapore government could do, other than confiscate his PR. wow. so “painful”. Welcome to Hotel Singapore, once again. but sorry, I digressed. Of course. PAP supporters and people who are skeptic of anonymous bloggers like me will proclaim that hindsight is 6/6 i.e perfect, and that anonymous bloggers are unconstructive. Sure. but unconstructive is much better than seemingly constructive people who lose a whole bunch of money and proclaiming that it was a success. and I am not paid to offer constructive opinions, neither am I head-hunted to think of policies. So why should I work for free? lame. And the senile old man never fails to bash our neighbours and blow out their candles to make Singapore’s brighter. Another concern: Singaporeans must never fool ourselves “that we are a part of the First World in South-east Asia, a Second and Third World group of countries”. I think anyone sensible and nice enough will agree that if another person is weaker, we do not blatantly insult him and call him weak, and proclaim that we are better. We put out our hands to help him. Unfortunately, either he’s not sensible or he’s lost his marbles. Probably both. Now you wonder why we need a bigger military budget and a ever bigger SAF? It’s to extinguish the flames caused by senile people like him. Like one of the mysterious Brotherhood scholars wrote here, we should just call a spade a spade. and admit failure. instead of trying to call a spade an excavator so as to cover up the obvious. It will only serve to make us look even more stupid. On a side note, I think earning Singapore’s money is pretty easy. Just hoodwink the senile old man. like what Citibank did when they appointed him as special advisor. and what China did, by playing diplomatic niceties, only to have him sink our funds into Suzhou, and checkmating him. and Singapore’s money. Posted in economic issues, economics, political issues, Singapore, World Tagged: failure, lee kuan yew, minister mentor, Singapore, sip, success, suzhou industrial park one hundred dollar fine for…………..SMRT. oh my god. SMRT has been fined a princely sum of one hundred dollars. SGD100.00. i tried to make it look slightly higher but i failed. sorry. if this isn’t a joke, I don’t know what is. SMRT was fined $100 for one instance in which one of its services was found to be overcrowded. wow. that’s such a tremendous dent in the pockets of SMRT which made profits of 42 million dollars in just Quarter 1 of 2009 alone. a helpful netizen did some math and found out here that it only accounted for 0.00024% of the said profits. That was only one instance SMRT was convicted of over-crowding from June 1 to Nov 30 2008. See people, you guys enjoy the world’s best train system. Only one instance over a period of 5 months for over-crowding. Assuming that SMRT was consistently late everyday in the year, that would only account for a mighty 0.0876% of Q1 2009 profits. No wonder SMRT cannot be bothered to clean up its act and implement a train schedule that is more packed with trains. After all, paying the fine is infinitely so much cheaper than paying for an increased train schedule. SBS Transit had it worse. It was fined a mighty $4500.00 for some cases of overcrowding and long waiting times. wow. That was such a big dent in the pocket for SBS Transit too. Probably the monthly wage of just 3 drivers. Do you now wonder why they cannot be bothered to increase bus frequencies also? I’ve also noticed that on some bus services, frequency for peak hours is lower than frequency for non-peak hours. Amazing. I forgot to mention that the fines came out of the profits raked from consumers. In short, consumers paid for the fines, while continuing to suffer from low frequencies, over-crowded trains and long waiting times for both buses and MRTs. Well done, Public Transport Council. That fine was really productive. Oh sorry, I forgot. That was symbolic lah.The fines would have struck fear into the consumer-oriented SMRT and SBS Transit, hence they will 100% clean up their act to prevent themselves from being fined again in the future. this is not a wayang. this is not a wayang. this is not a wayang. this is not a wayang. this is not a wayang. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: 100, fine, public transport council, sbs, sbs transit, smrt Association of Bloggers I’m sure everyone remembers the above-mentioned fiasco, for lack of a better word. what’s happened to it now? dead? The last post was in February 4th. till now, no updates after 2 months. still fighting for another day? This episode should teach those who attempt to control and unify the uncontrollable a good lesson.forget the posturing or the fake representations and fighting for better opportunities bullshit. it was clearly an attempt to dominate the blogosphere. and there can only be losers. Have a good time reviving those sweet and short memories. while it lasted. http://associationofbloggers.wordpress.com/ http://eastcoastlife.blogspot.com/2009/01/association-of-bloggers-singapore.html Posted in Personal Tagged: AB, association of bloggers, eastcoastlife, losers MM Lee steps down, hails son as capable successor Revered Minister Mentor God Lee, only founder and creator of Singapore, has stepped down with immediate effect on April 1, citing the low pay of Minister Mentor as the major push factor. He has also relegated all chief executive powers to the Prime Minister. I’m the founder of Singapore, yet I am only paid just about 2-3million a year. Put things in perspective. Any move I make involves billions, yet the government only deem fit to pay me less than 1% of the money I manage. Plus with the current recession, the proposed pay increment has been postponed till god knows when. How terrible. That’s why I will be quitting and joining Lehman Brothers to become senior mentor advisor and rake in the big bucks. This will teach Singaporeans to be more grateful and know that without paying top money for talent, they will have incapable and inexperienced politicians in charge and lose money by the billions. When pointed out the Lehman Brothers is now defunct and bankrupt, MM God Lee remained unfazed. Dead investments can come up again. Dead companies can come up again too. Even dead people can get up again. When I die and my coffin is lowered and I sense something is wrong, I will get up again. PM Lee Hsien Loong who, coincidentally, is the son of MM God Lee will now take over the full responsibility of running the Government and being really in charge. When questioned on why he finally let go of the reins, MM God Lee has this to say. Oh, Loong has a certain cut of a mind, a certain intuition. I’m sure with the laws in place, he will be fully capable of fighting against all possible opposition. Also, I will always be around to guide him so he can just give me a call whenever he needs it. PM Lee Hsien Loong thanked his father, MM God Lee, for the infinite contributions to Singapore and for giving him the chance to prove his worth finally.He also wished his father all the best in his future endeavors and added that the role of Minister Mentor God will always be open for him, should his father ever fail with Lehman Brothers. All government officials will be well taken care of after retirement to recognise their outstanding contributions to the nation. This includes guaranteed jobs for them if they ever fail to make it in the private sector, which according to our surveys, often happens. Bonuses of upwards 800 months are also present to reward high achievers and people who can make a real difference. We are also in the process of reviewing the benchmarks for ministerial pay to bring them to higher levels than private sector.One of the ideas mooted is to take the highest pay for all the professions in Singapore and add them up. We think it is only fair that regulators are paid higher than profit-makers, and also to prevent any form of corruption. MM Lee’s move was met with shocked responses from Singaporeans. Mr Tan Ah Tee, a public servant, said, “Minister Mentor’s move was unprecedented and completely unexpected. We fully expected him to work till the day he meets his creator, given his strong dedication for Singapore. I think it is a worrying trend, and that the government should consider increasing salaries to retain top talent.” Mrs Lim, another public servant, agreed with Mr Tan and further added that a statue should be built right in front of Parliament House to commemorate Minister Mentor God Lee’s contributions to Singapore and to remind all politicians of the many sacrifices the only Founding Father of Singapore gave, and that money should never be a motivating factor for politicians. PM Lee Hsien Loong is also poised to increase the size of his Cabinet, and specifically his office, citing the huge decrease in experience with the sudden departure of Minister Mentor Lee. I think we need to promote more Ministers to the Prime Minister Office, and to recognise them for their outstanding contributions and to tap on their vast experience. One of the people that will be promoted will be Mr Wong Kan Seng. In my opinion, he performed admirably when Mas Selamat disappeared last year, especially when it was not even his fault. That’s exceptional leadership for you. When reminded that Mas Selemat remained at large, PM Lee had this to say. What to do? It has happened. Let’s move on. He is either in Singapore or not, so we’ll get him one day. Mr Wong has already said sorry for a mistake that was never his. In Singapore, we must never conduct witch-hunts or this will lead to the demise of our nation and the girls will become maids in other countries, and the men will become male prostitutes. Happy April’s Fool Day. oh and by the way, the Prime Minister’s Office has really increased with the new Ministers sworn in. Posted in political issues, Singapore Tagged: april's fool, lee hsien loong, lee kuan yew, lehman brothers, mas selamat, mas selemat, minister mentor, ministerial salaries, MM Lee, prime minister, salaries, wong kan seng like father, like daughter. Whenever I read about Dr Lee Wei Ling,Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter, the first thing that invariably comes to my mind is: a walking human specimen of hypocrisy. How so? She writes often of how a careful saver and non-materialistic she is, how life should be, how people should behave, their beliefs in life, blah blah blah. I think being the daughter of Lee Kuan Yew does give you the liberty and the means to engage in high-handed morals and ethics. let me give you some excerpts.(there are many more, do look out for her weekly “inspirational’ column on Sunday Times) The most important trait a doctor needs is empathy. If we can feel our patient’s pain and suffering, we would certainly do our best by our patients and their welfare would override everything else. Medicine is not just a prestigious, profitable career - it is a calling. Being a doctor will guarantee almost anyone a decent standard of living. How much money we need for a decent standard of living varies from individual to individual. I see. that will sound fine if she practises whatever she teaches. Unfortunately, I don’t think buying a 2.8 million dollar condo in Orchard is considered as “non-materialistic”. It gets worse when people are fooled and write in to “commend” her. I remember seeing some other articles, and quite a few positive comments and admiration for selfless and “different” Lee Wei Ling online. When I read Sunday’s article, ‘Medicine is not just a career, but a calling’,by Dr Lee Wei Ling, I felt compelled to express my respect for Dr Lee’s compassion and her dedication to her patients. There isn’t much purpose in this blog post. Just to highlight the hypocrisy of Lee Wei Ling, so that less people will be taken in. As they say, a leopard never changes its spots. Seems like leopard’s kids also too. Have a good read about Lee Kuan Yew here, and his worry about his un-married daughter. To be honest, I wouldn’t care less about him and his worry, and him pretending he faces the same problems as Singaporeans. Posted in political issues, Singapore Tagged: hotel properties limited, HPL, lee kuan yew, lee wei ling, saga The Singapore’s Government April Fools’ Joke Forget those silly pranks you used to play on this day on your classmates when you were young, carefree and completely politically apathetic. You didn’t care who was the President since he didn’t have any real power, neither did you care who was the Prime Minister because you knew you could never be one, for obvious reasons. However, in 2009, April Fools’ Day has been designated an official Day. How so? Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, sorry I meant Lee Hsien Loong, has “reshuffled his Cabinet” to carry out “leadership renewal”. When “leadership renewal” is mentioned, the first thought in most people’s minds will be the retirement of several old leaders, and new blood being brought up. Unfortunately, for Singapore’s politics, retirement of leaders usually means becoming Senior Minister. Professor S Jayakumar will relinquish his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister. He will be appointed as Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and will continue as Co-ordinating Minister for National Security. When I saw this, I was completely astonished and touched by the increased burden on Prof Jayakumar’s shoulders. Not only does he need to fight for more islands other than Pedra Blanca, he has to take up the burden of being the SM, and be some minister coordinating something somewhere. On behalf of all Singaporeans, I humbly urge the Government to INCREASE HIS PAY THREE FOLD given that he has taken up new portfolios. After all, talent must be retained and we need to pay the best. Otherwise, Jayakumar will “up stakes” and join the private sector, and you would have lost “Pedra Blanca, and your wives, daughters and sisters will become maids on that island”. “You know, the cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government. You get that alternative and you’ll never put Singapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again… and your asset values will disappear, your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people’s countries, foreign workers.” - Lee Kuan Yew, only Minister Mentor God. Only one has retired from government completely.So much for “leadership renewal”. Dr Lee Boon Yang will relinquish his appointment as Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts and retire from the Government. In his place, we have the very stern and serious looking no-joke Lui Tuck Yew taking up this extremely serious business of cleaning up the naughty wild-wild west cyberspace. Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister, would have been proud of Lui Tuck Yew. Bloggers like me will be going for some classes on nation building soon. Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State, will relinquish his appointment in Education and will be appointed as Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts. Mr Teo Chee Hean will be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister. He will be the Acting Prime Minister in the absence of the Prime Minister. He will continue as Minister for Defence. Mr Teo, I am still awaiting SAF’s investigation into Dr Allan Ooi’s death and how Straits Times managed to mis-represent SAF and spread unfounded rumours. Do act on it please.At the same time, I also urge the Government to give Mr Teo a pay rise. Look at how many appointments he is holding, oh gosh. But the real joke comes. You would think that the Government Service might take such an opportunity to trim and snip at deadwoods, people who walk around talking through their teeth and not making any sense. Unfortunately, you are dead wrong. Prime Minister’s Office just got bloated. Not 1 Senior Minister, but TWO. Not 2 Minister-without-Portfolio, but THREE. oh and Two Deputy Prime Ministers, and not forgetting Minister Mentor God. Mr Lee Hsien Loong must be really facing a tough job governing 4.5 million people. In China, where they govern like 1 billion people, they only have 1 President, 1 Vice President and 1 Premier and 4 Vice Premiers. In Singapore, we have 1 President, 1 Prime Minister, 2 Deputy Prime Ministers, 2 Senior Ministers, 3 Ministers-without-Portfolios and last but definitely not least Minister Mentor God. really mind boggling, and to be honest, pretty funny. Since PM Lee Hsien Loong is under so much stress that he needs so many helpers, let me help him for free in thinking about his new Cabinet renewal for 2010. Minister Mentor God will be promoted to Minister Mentor God’s Mentor. Senior Ministers will all move up to become Minister Mentors. Ministers-without-Portfolio sounds terrible. They shall be renamed Minister-who-cannot-make-it-in-private-sector. Deputy Prime Ministers will respectively be named as Anti-Terrorist Minister(reserved for Mr Wong Kan Seng) and War Minister(reserved for Mr Teo Chee Hian). Prime Minister should be renamed as Real Prime Minister, to differentiate himself from the many other Ministers in his own Office. All other Ministers will all be promoted to Real Prime Minister’s Deputies. Given the expansion of the Prime Minister’s Office, as a responsible Singaporean, I urge the Government Service to start on the construction of a new building specially reserved for the entire Prime Minister’s Office. It should preferably be located in the CBD area, and ERP gantries(specially designed for people, instead of cars) put up everywhere so that protestors who are inclined to protest against the expensive deadwoods in Government will be taxed heavily before being caught.The building should be completely WHITE, to signify purity and incorruptibility and everything inside must be WHITE. Even the walls must be white, the lights must be white, the pens must be white, everything must be white. Guards should also wear white. Oh and a pay rise for all Ministers is in order. The annual salary will calculated using the formula 1000^(number of portfolios), starting with the minimum salary of 1 million. So for a Minister with lots of Portfolios like Jayakumar there, he will be earning 1000×1000x1000= 1000million. Totally a bargain I say! Let’s have more portfolios, guys. Meritocracy at work here. Sorry, but what are they doing again? Posted in political issues, Singapore Tagged: cabinet, jayakumar, lee hsien loong, lee kuan yew, lui tuck yew, minister mentor, renewal, reshuffle, singapore government, teo chee hian, wong kan seng disturbing trend i’ve been rather disturbed by the recent developments in cyberspace, in which threats were made to various parties including wayangparty, luckysingaporean (not so lucky? =/), and the invitations to drink coffee with ISD and Singapore police given to PothePanda and possibly the guy that exposed the CDC’s well deserved bonuses of 8 months. much as the cheapo streak in me (OH SHIT DID I JUST REVEAL I AM SINGAPOREAN) yearns about free coffee by the ISD and Singapore Police, I have a feeling the coffee will be pretty bitter with air-cons turned on at full blast and possibly two or more offices tag-teaming and trying to persuade me to join PAP in their cause for the utopian Orwellian state. I think either the police is too free nowadays (where’s Mas Selemat again?), or that we are indeed moving a step closer towards Burma, after naming an orchid after Prime Minister Thein Sein. sighs, doesn’t the government get it? criticism need not be constructive. criticism need not have malice in it. but criticism definitely means that the person giving criticism is concerned enough about the state of affairs to give criticism. sure, they can arrest dissidents here and there, and clamp down on general dissent. but tell me, in which part of history has a government based on dictatorship ruled forever? they can build ever higher walls and barricade themselves in. they can employ ever more policemen(easy in such a bad economic environment) and threaten even more citizens. they can change laws to suit their means and call it liberalisation. they can even ban websites to prevent criticism from reaching the public. But the key question is: How long before such artificial walls collapse from within? I digressed. I will continue to observe the trends and post ever more cautiously.If the recent actions taken were to intimidate the public and bloggers in general, this definitely has alarmed me. congrats to the person who thought of such a brilliant suppression idea. I hereby declare I love the PAP government, fully endorse whatever they do, think that their ministers should be paid even more given their increased workload, and that MM Lee should be given a new title called MM God Lee. Please just don’t invite me to drink kopi. I will pay for it on my own. Thanks. Posted in political issues, Singapore Tagged: bloggers, isd, netizens, police, pothepanda, suppression, wayangparty Hey, Straits Times, where’s the gaming addiction now? Oops, someone got caught with their pants down eh? THE Defence Ministry has come out for the first time to address the issues surrounding the sudden death of Captain (Dr) Allan Ooi in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this month. Its spokesman, Colonel Darius Lim, said Capt Ooi’s superiors were aware of his unhappiness over his work, and had offered him a different appointment. But he never got back to his boss about whether he would take the option. The Republic of Singapore Air Force medical officer, 27, was found dead underneath Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge on March 3. In a note he left behind, he said, among other things(LIKE WOW?), that he was unhappy at work. He lamented that he spent more time doing administrative work such as writing articles for the air force in-house magazine, than treating patients. Capt (Dr) Ooi, a Singapore Armed Forces scholar, had wanted out of the SAF. Col Lim said in a letter to The Straits Times Forum Page that on Oct 3 last year, Capt (Dr) Ooi was offered ‘the option of posting to an appointment which he would be interested in’. He did not elaborate on what the appointment was. Capt (Dr) Ooi was to get back to his superiors on the matter in two weeks time. ‘However, he did not do so,’ Col Lim added. Instead, on Oct 15, when the two weeks would have been up, he was declared as having gone AWOL or absent without official leave. It is believed that he left the country on Oct 13, leaving his family and his employer in the dark as to his whereabouts. The note he left behind for family and friends had been circulating widely on the Internet, setting off much chatter in blogs and forums about the SAF’s scholarship regime and its inflexibility. so well Straits Times, where’s the gambling addiction and gaming addictions now? What happened to those examples about how gaming and playing WoW can lead to life’s problems? Why did it take SAF so long to come clean, and they only come clean AFTER the note was leaked online? Does that mean that if the note wasn’t leaked online, the SAF will not come clean? oh never mind that question, everyone knows the answer. Dirty linen should never be aired right? Taxpayers do not need to know the truths about the biggest spender of our budget. I’m still waiting for the admission that you defamed a dead person by baseless speculations and gross untruths. Whoever the reporter was, and the editor too, SHAME ON YOU. Sorry for the wrong language, but fuck you people for trying to lie to the masses and defaming a dead person. How low can you get? despicable. oh and the explanation given smacks clearly of blame shifting to Dr Allan Ooi. It paints a picture of an organisation “being accommodating and kind enough” to give him another position. Please la, the person wanted OUT. O.U.T. and was willing to pay to get OUT. Obviously, either they don’t understand the word “out” or they are not “accomodating and kind enough”? Looks like they rather have a unhappy and unproductive person on their hands(joining a whole bunch of many other unproductive people in a inefficient and unproductive organisation), rather than a happy and productive employee. Somewhere, someone in there must’ve got their HR management completely wrong. I hope these people are happy now. Nevertheless, if an officer wishes to leave the service early, he can submit an application through a proper process. Approval to leave the service will be granted only in strong and extenuating circumstances. Looks like approval to leave the service has now been granted by the SAF in Dr Allan Ooi’s case eh? Is dying fit a “strong and extenuating circumstance” May the guilt of causing someone’s death be forever on your minds. Posted in Singapore, social issues Tagged: allan ooi, darius lim, gaming addiction, SAF, singapore press holdings, Straits Times, suicide having Minister Mentor God as my father and Ho Ching as my wife is a pain in the ass. LHL: I think the way you put it is not the way things work in Singapore. The Minister Mentor is chairman of GIC not because he’s my father. It’s because he’s the best man for the job and he has been chairman since he was prime minister. Ho Ching is CEO of Temasek not because she’s my wife but because the chairman of Temasek and the board decided that they wanted to appoint her as CEO. How dare BBC insinuate that Minister Mentor God Lee Kuan Yew is chairman of GIC because his son Lee Hsien Loong is the Prime Minister? That reporter must be sued and sued and made bankrupt ten times over for even remotely suggesting that there is nepotism in Singapore. I implore Lee Hsien Loong to not let off this son-of-a-bitch for disparaging comments on the Prime Minister-ship and Minister Mentor-ship of Singapore, and sue BBC to bankruptcy. After all, if we can sue Wall Street Journal for attacking the impartiality of our esteemed courts, we will most definitely can sue and win BBC for baseless accusations against the Executive Branch in Singapore. Don’t let him off, PM Lee! Oh by the way, I thought it should be other way round. You are Prime Minister because your father is the Minister Mentor, and ex-Prime Minister and only founding father of Singapore, and your wife controls Temasek Holdings because you are Prime Minister? I totally agree with Mr Lee Hsien Loong here when he says that that’s not how things work in Singapore. In Singapore, we have a system that is extremely transparent, starting from the selection of the Prime Minister to the creation of the post of Minister Mentor right down to Temasek’s long-term fantastic investments in big brand banks around the world! He’s right about saying that’s not how things work. In Singapore, ministers have well-justified salaries because they are out-of-the-world talents and they must be paid astronomical salaries to keep their talents and prevent them from jumping ship to Merril Lynch or Lehman Brothers. sorry, collapsed already, change to Citibank and UBS. And they’re there as long as they’re effective, performing, and if they don’t perform, well, they have to take the consequences. That’s right. Everyone knows that Temasek Holdings suffered less losses from this MSCI index, known as the Mars-Saturn Commodities Index, in which planets are traded. Well done, Temasek Holdings, I hope these hardworking individuals in there all enjoy 8-9months bonuses, like the CDC people here.. Ho Ching was most definitely retiring from her post in Temasek Holdings because they need renewed leadership. It has absolutely nothing to do with accepting any consequences given that they lost less than the MSCI. same for the GIC head Minister Mentor God Lee Kuan Yew, because GIC only lost 20%. That’s not how things work in Singapore. After all, they are the best men for the job. In Singapore, we do not engage in witch-hunts and pin blame on the leaders. We isolate the problem and sack the people at fault. Remember Mas Selamat? What to do? Let’s move on. LHL: (Laughs) Life would have been easier for me if the Minister Mentor were not my father and Ho Ching were not my wife. But they’re there. This is the way Singapore has worked. I think Singaporeans have understood this is how the system works. And they will render judgement when elections come. LKY: That ungrateful son of a bitch. I installed him there, and he wishes I am not his father? pains me to have such a unfilial son, after I made him PM. Lesser Mortal: (laughs). That’s right. Is Lee Hsien Loong hoping that his father dies, and make life easier for him? Is Lee Hsien Loong wishing that her wife can actually make something work and not jinx everything she touches? BBC: Finally Prime Minister, I read that you’re apparently the highest-paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four, five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money? What. The. Fuck. What a redundant question. Of course PM Lee is worth the money. Hell, he is worth like 10 times his pay, we are actually getting a bargain here, and Singaporeans should all be grateful. Imagine if he joins the private sector? Singapore will have lost money by the billions. I strongly urge PM Lee to sue BBC in Singapore courts and bankrupt them for remotely doubting that he is not worth 3 million a year. Throw that journalist into jail and cane him till he repents. Luckily for the journalist, PM Lee is as always, gracious. and honest. LHL: (Laughs) I’m not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent. What is the job worth, what is the quality of person whom you want. You need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you’re pretending and you just say, well, we’re all in it for the love of king and country. We wanted to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money but at the same time, their sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have. He admitted that at least he doesn’t pretend to do it for the love of the country, not like those actors like Obama and Aso and Abdullah Badawi and Wen Jiabao. No wonder they said honesty is the best policy. With such rare politicians like PM Lee and MM Lee of course, let’s give them a pay rise and triple their pay for being honest. I sure can sleep soundly in bed at night, knowing that our ministers are earning more than enough to be corrupt and that they won’t pretend that they are in it for the love of Singapore. Silly me, I actually used to think they loved Singapore. Posted in political issues, politics, Singapore, World Tagged: bbc, bbc interview, GIC, government investment corp, ho ching, lee hsien loong, lee kuan yew, nepotism, obama, prime minister, salary, temasek holdings You’ve been warned:if newspapers Die … Companies will see sales slump, citizens will make important decisions in the dark You might think that’s was an originally created headline. No, it isn’t. It was published on TodayOnline, I kid you not. Let’s see one fantastically reliable and credible quote. The truly vital role newspapers fill, though, is informing readers about the day’s events and details of key issues. Even though it’s easy to find out what’s happening by reading headlines on a phone or watching television, few media other than newspapers reliably provide the “why” that leads to understanding the issues. That’s right. Without the newspapers, we wouldn’t know Minister Mentor God Lee Kuan Yew makes accurate predictions like “golden period” etc. Of course, without the Straits Times, we wouldn’t know our government rocks their socks off right?I mean, hell we have a fantastic government, we are living in utopia. Without ST, I bet you wouldn’t know that. Also, without ST, i also bet you wouldn’t know playing computer games will lead to suicide. I guess that’s what the title meant by “citizens making important decisions in the dark”. Without the ST, parents will allow their kids to play World of Warcraft and other dangerous online games, that will lead to the virtual reality manifesting in real life, and our kids will start dropping like flies, literally. Thanks to the ST, such a catastrophe has been avoided. The list can go on forever, I can’t possibly list down all the good work the ST does. Helping me make important choices in the light is definitely something ST does wonderfully.Because of the constant reminders of how great our government is, I will be casting my vote for PAP monkeys in the next elections. perhaps cross out the PAP candidate and draw a monkey/dog there, and tick at the box. I wonder will this be counted as voting for the PAP? Oh did i remind you not to click and read that article? It devoted 2 pages out of 4 telling us about the pros of  advertising in the newspapers and the great benefits, rather than discussing the objective of newspapers, which I thought is reporting the truth. . Posted in political issues Tagged: dog, lee kuan yew, minister mentor, monkey, nation building, pap, propaganda, ST, Straits Times, today