Only in M’sia

Hindus own Sharia compliant airline

Indian media reports say the airline’s founders, Ravi Alagendrran and his wife Karthiyani Govindan, are Hindus, though this could not be independently confirmed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35173710

Good Straits food: Gd O’ Times

Someone took me and my mum out for lunch recently. We were told we were going to eat Straits food and I silently went “Oh no”. My mum and I have very high standards when it comes to Nonya food and while there are dishes from various “reputable” eateries and caterers that we like: in general we find the commercially available food rubbish.

But Gd O’ Times (in Changi Village) turned out to be the exception.

With the exception of the “chiap chye” which was pedestrian, the rest of the meal good was as good as a good home-cooked meal. The mor hiang was great and the ayam buah keluak gravy wasn’t the usual dish-water in other commercial places. The fried promfet with chilly sauce was very good.

The place has an interesting menu of options for four persons.

Use the hols to drive there for a try. Warning, not for cheapos.

Tel: +65 65422382

Address: #01-2017, 5 Changi Village Road,

Advertisement

Freedom of speech, association: What activists don’t tell us

The ang-moh tua-kee activists and other human rights warriors*, LGBTs are very quiet about one key aspect of the relationship between freedom of expression and the freedom of association.

[T]wo decades ago, a unanimous court ruled in Hurley v Irish-American GLIB Association that organisers of the annual St Patrick’s Day parade in Boston did not have to let a gay, lesbian and bisexual Irish group march under a banner. The right to freedom of speech meant that people putting together the parade could not be forced to give voice to a group whose expressive message they disagreed with. This decision permitted parade organisers in other American cities, including New York City, to exclude gays and lesbians year after year.

Economist blog

This is what I posted recently on the wall of the conservative Facebook group of which I’m a member. Some subversives were annoying many members (self included) and the former claimed that they had the right to talk cock, sing song by posting stuff that even TOC or TRE would not touch:

No angst about kicking out the bums. The US Sumpreme Court seen as the gold standard when it comes to defending, defining free speech and freedom of association. And it has ruled that no group can be “forced to give voice to a group whose expressive message they disagreed with.”. If we disagree with the BS, we can kick the people who insist on their right to spam us, out.

Related post: “Provocation” is not freedom of speech”

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*And note their cont’d silence since Dan Tan’s latest detention. Amos Yee is entitled to human rights but not alleged bookie isit?

 

 

 

 

Swiss value-add and productivity

Switzerland produces 3% of the world’s watches but that 3% is worth [US]$24.3bn (£16.3bn) a year – almost as much money as the rest of the world makes with the other 97%.

(BBC Online report)

Got anything remotely close here?

But S’pore leading buyer of these watches.

Revenues from Swiss watch sales to big markets such as Hong Kong, the US, China, Singapore, Germany, France and the UK have almost doubled since 2000.

Rating our public servants

A family of kids in the US traumatised by a police raid (the police came in with revolvers drawn thinking that there was a captive in the house: seems the police got a hoax call) developed an app, called Five-O, intended to help improve police behaviour and community relations. It lets citizens rate their experiences with officers, record both parties’ race and sex and the purpose of the interaction, and find aggregate scores for county forces.

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21684687-high-school-students-want-citizens-rate-their-interactions-officers-how-three

Hmm maybe our human right kay pohs (think Maruah, Aware, Community Action Network*, Dr Chee) should bring this in? But given that an app of this nature to rate the police, SingHealth staff and other public sector workers will likely show that the public satisfaction with public services is pretty high (think 70% who voted for the PAP), bringing this in wouldn’t suit their agenda of oppression, bad service and intimidation?

Err what about the PAP bringing it in? Or the Institute of Policy studies? Or even Home Team?

Could even give the PAP 75% in next GE.

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*CAN: Shelley Thio, Lynn Lee, Joshua Chiang, Jolovan Wham, Jennifer Teo, Woon Tien Wei, Rachel Zeng, Roy Ngerng and Martyn See. This was formed to support Amos the Fantastic but whennhe dissed them for letting him rot in remand, they moved on.

(Related post: https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/fool-them-once-shame-on-amos-fool-them-twice-shame-on-them/)

Why PAP (and PMs) sue and sue

The decision of the High Court ordering blogger and wannabe politican Roy Ngerng to pay damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong following a civil defamation suit brought in 2014, brought an outcry from the overseas kay pohs like ICJ and their local groupies (people like Cat Lim, TOC and the cybernuts and rats of TRE like grandfather Dosh*, Oxygen etc).

While neo-colonial and CIA-front organisations, and good-hearted ang moh kay pohs can be forgiven for not knowing our history, their local groupies cannot. They should know better why the PAP sues. And that it has nothing to do with freedom of expression. It’s all about credibility and winning votes. (But maybe they do know their history and are being intellectually dishonest.)

But for the purpose of this rant, I’ll asume they are ignorant.

Cat Lim’s rubbishy comments shows her ignorance of S’porean history is one reason New Citizens must be taught our history.

Actually this goes for most S’poreans too (Pioneer Gen excluded).

Why PAP sues and sues? It is because it doesn’t want history to repeat itself. At the very least, the failure of a govt minister to sue one Harry Lee in 1959 is a PAP Hard Truth* as to why the PAP won power in 1959.

The PAP administration’s version as articulated by that fount of knowledge, the National Library Board, a govt agency:

During the 30 May 1959 election campaign at Hong Lim Green, the PAP dealt its knockout blow to the SPA (the coalition of the Labour Front and Liberal Socialist Party) by disclosing that the SPA had received large sums of money from foreigners. The scandal which led to the resignation of Chew Swee Kee, who was then the Minister of Education, gave the perception that the SPA was corrupt and had sold Singapore to the foreigners. The SPA was trounced in the election. In the 1963 general election, the party was wiped out. It was dissolved when Singapore became independent.

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1149_2010-06-14.html

Actually the article is wrong about the 30 May date: really sloppy work by a govt agency.

In early 1959, Chew was accused of corruption by the PAP. The claim was that Chew accepted around S$50,000 from “an American source” in New York as a “political gift” in September 1958. Chew resigned from his posts on 3 March, 1959, just before a legislative assembly debate on the matter. He had earlier promised to defend himself. But he sat down (ie resigned as a minister and assembly member) and kept quiet. Not content, one LKY repeated the accustation and went on to make further accusations that again were met by silence by Chew and the govt. The named American bank (today known as Citibank) and US consular officials here denied the initial allegation. LKY accused them of lying and they kept quiet.

The unanswered accusations are credited for causing the Singapore People’s Alliance’s downfall. My primary source is Comber.

Update at 10.00am: A reader who knows his history pointed out that the money was established not to have come from the CIA but from the KMT. I should have reported that.

You should do better than regurgitating the false allegations against Chew Swee Kee. They were exposed as untrue by the Lim Yew Hock government which faced them publicly by appointing the late Justice Buttrose to head a Commission of Inquiry into affair. Kenneth Byrne who spread the rumour was grilled by Mr. Winslow (later the Solicitor-General and High Court Judge ) who led the inquiry for the government’ resorted to lying about being informed by a source in the Income Tax department. He related this to both Dr. Toh Chin Chye and LKY who then raised it in the Legislative Assembly. The money, $500,000/-, was from the Kuomintang, and deposited with Chew Swee Kee, who declared it in his income tax returns. The whistle blower, suspected to be a PAP snitch who rose to high position later, was never brought to justice under the Official Secrets Act. Dr. Toh himself breathed a sigh of relief in his later statement to the editors of the book on the early leaders at the close call. Read the Report of the Buttrose Commision which should be available in the National Library. By the way, JBJ represented the Controller of Income Tax in the Inquiry.

The question remainns why the deposit? Never explained.

———————————————————————————–

Singapore Correspondent. Political Dispatches from Singapore (1958-1962)

(http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/mai/new-book-singapore-correspondent/)

by Leon Comber*

Publisher:  Marshall Cavendish International Asia

“Singapore Correspondent” covers five years of Singapore’s colourful political past – a period of living turbulently and sometimes dangerously. It is a collection of eye-witness dispatches, sent from Singapore to London, spanning a time when Singapore was emerging from British colonial rule and moving forward to self-government and independence. Many of the early struggles of the People’s Action Party (PAP) are described as the focus is on the political struggle taking place in which the PAP played a major part. Many important events which have long been forgotten are brought to life. These dispatches prove that political history need not be dull, and indeed can sometimes be entertaining and lively.

* MAI Adjunct Research Fellow

 

He was Han Suyin’s second husband and was the head of the Malayan Special Branch (one of it’s succesors is our very own ISD). He was asked to resign after she published in 1956 And the Rain My Drink, whose description of the Chinese communist guerillas against the British was very anti-British. He, in a 2008 interview, said: “The novel portrayed the British security forces in a rather slanted fashion, I thought. She was a rather pro-Left intellectual and a doctor. I understood the reasons why the communists might have felt the way they did, but I didn’t agree with them taking up arms.”

  ———————————————

Imagine if PM hadn’t sued Roy Ngerng: Roy and the other oppo politicans (think Mad Dog Chee, s/o JBJ, M Ravi, Goh Meng Seng and New Citizen Han Hui Hui) would have been able to say that Roy’s accusation that PM had stolen our CPF money was unchallenged by the PM.

As it is, before the GE, Roy admitted that he was wrong to accuse PM of stealing our CPF monies.And despite the admission by Roy, Dosh and friends are still alleging their CPF monies were stolen.

Related article:

The Chew Swee Kee affair revisited: querying the American involvement in Singapore

Abstract:

In the run-up to the 1959 general election in Singapore, People’s Action Party politicians alleged at election rallies that the incumbent Singapore People’s Alliance government had received monetary gifts from ‘Americans’. Allegations that the government was in the pay of a Western power and the subsequent revelation that Education Minister Chew Swee Kee had misappropriated the funds, critically eroded the integrity of the Singapore People’s Alliance. The incessant emphasis on betrayal and corruption did much to advance the political fortunes of the main opposition party, the People’s Action Party, which eventually carried the election. While the political consequences of the Chew Swee Kee affair have received much attention from historians, the veracity of the charge that the USA had funded the Singapore People’s Alliance remains unexplored. Utilizing American archival documents, this article examines the extent to which the United States government was involved in the Chew Swee Kee affair.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ip/sear/2002/00000010/00000002/art00004

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*He prefers, on his own admission, to spew anti-PAP BS on the internet, than play with his only grandaugter. How more looney can a person get? This?

**Or at least one of the reasons why the PAP won.

 

Why liddat? TOC keeps on dissing Harry

I think the u/m is the only piece of Killer Cheng that I’ve come across that I agree with.

I was about to bitch to Terry Xu that he really had a problem with LKY (Hate him isit?) what with him using recently released docs to cast aspration on Harry’s tears, yet again. Fortunately Calvin Cheng saved me the trouble (see below). The only thing I’d add is that maybe Harry cried because he realised that he could only boss around the people of S’pore, not the people of M’sia.  Btw,I have heard from a very reliable source that in his Raffles College days he was always making fun of the Malays from the Malay states. He considered them, it’s alleged, poor-cousin, country bumpkins.

As to the significance of the Albatross papers, here’s a non-partisan objective view. https://www.facebook.com/1DevadasKrishnadas/posts/482884078539647

Part of which reads

We should not see history from our current lenses but locate its meaning in the context of the time, place and personalities. [This applies esp to TOC’s favourite historian PJ Thum.]

The papers from the Albatross file … do not change the narrative that Singapore and Malaya, which had endeavoured to stay one as they had been under the Empire and to an extent long before, were being thrust into separate directions for political, historical and economic reasons.

These powerful explanatory ingredients were being cooked in the work of the hot wok of a Cold War and strive for self-determination, with the meal further seasoned with the stinging sauces of both the Communist insurgency and Indonesian Confrontation.

We do better to remember that our leaders, as indeed those on the Malaysian side, were men coping with the complexity and challenges of their time in the best way they could with a view to doing the least harm.

The road behind them was torn up by war, insurgency and economic recession and the wider road ahead for former colonies still unmade let alone chartered.

They did their best and as they say, the rest is history.

They should be measured by the future they birthed that is the present we enjoy.

It implictly too disagrees with TOC’s attempts to diss Harry.

As to “Kill the bahies Cheng” other point about S’pore in 1965, I’ve made the same point to Terry and the cybernuts of TRELand. I’ve also made the point that we didn’t go backwards like Rangoon. (But that it was because we had LKY, Dr Goh, and not ex-SAF generals running S’pore: post)

—————–

I do not know why The Online Citizen and its editors seem so intent on revising history and putting Mr. Lee Kuan Yew down.
During LKY’s funeral, they and others kept insisting that Singapore was already rich in 1965 and thus LKY couldn’t have brought Singapore from Third World to First. They posted pictures of high-rise buildings from the Collyer Quay area as proof.
That’s just silly. Yes the colonial heart of Singapore was relatively developed, but it was an enclave for the British. Much of Singapore was still swampland, and parts still were up till the late 70’s.
Now because the ‘Albatross’ files showed that extensive negotiations took place during Separation, TOC seems to be claiming that as a result, we couldn’t have been ejected.
Again, this is naive. Even in a divorce, when one party is unwilling, that party tries to negotiate for the best deal before the divorce. We were asked to leave – but our leaders had to negotiate for the best terms possible, including the Water Agreements that still provide us water cheaply till this day 50 years on.
Finally, they seem to claim that just because others said LKY seemed pleased at the Separation, and that there is some evidence that he may actually have supported some reasons for Separation, his tears on TV must have been fake.
Human beings are complex people. During times of grief, there can be relief. And even during times of relief, there can be worry and regret. After years of fighting with the Ultras, I am sure LKY must also have been relieved at finally separating. But being a Malayan at heart, he must also have been upset. Any human being who has gone through separation must know that it’s always a mixed-bag of emotions.
I have always maintained that Singapore needs good opposition and critics to progress. What’s keeping us from progressing is the quality of the critical voices at the moment.

Lest we forget

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/03/lee-kuan-yews-singapore

And he was right about the importance of being bi-lingual

Good for out brains: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35170392

Hospitals make sick more sick

hospital systems have developed to serve the people who work there, not the clients. Err this could describe the PAP administration.

Seriously better try to avoid getting admitted unless absolutely nec. Patients once in there are more vulnerable to disease and accidents.

Krumholz learned that only about a third of patient readmissions were related to the original cause of hospitalisation. Patients’ reasons for returning to hospital were diverse and linked to their immune systems, balance, cognitive functioning, strength, metabolism and respiratory systems. It was as though they were mentally and physically below par, off-kilter, out of whack.

Could it be, Krumholz wondered, that the very experience of going to hospital had made patients more vulnerable to disease and accidents?

In a series of opinion pieces in top medical journals, he has developed the concept of “post-hospital syndrome” (PHS), which he defines as “an acquired, transient period of generalised risk”.

“My premise is it’s the cumulative effect of a lot of insults to the body, of all the stress coming from all different directions,” he says.

“What do we do to them? We sleep-deprive them, we malnourish them, we stress them, we disturb their circadian [sleep] rhythms, we put them at bed rest and de-condition them, we confuse them with lots of different people and new routines – we don’t give them any control.”

A recent, yet-to-be-published study lends support to Krumholz’s theory.

Dr Paul Kuo, chairman of surgery at Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois, supervised research in which records from about 58,000 patients who had gone in for a hernia operation in California were carefully analysed. The research team identified a sub-group of 1,332 patients who had been in hospital in the 90 days leading up to the operation.

They found that in the 30 days following the hernia operation, this subgroup was roughly twice as likely to visit the emergency department, and five times as likely to have to be admitted to the hospital as an in-patient. It seemed their previous stay in hospital had “de-tuned” them, making them more vulnerable to complications arising from the hernia operation, even though it is a very straightforward, same-day procedure.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35131678

This yr Christmas came early/ Super Troll

I got a compliment earlier this vyear that made me so, so happy:

Super Troll? Taz me isit?

Here’s a good definition of a super troll from a TRE nut in a post when TRE republished my piece on the people who made M Ravi sick:

But time and again TRE is posting articles by Cynical Investor which are nothing more than personal sick attacks on opposition figures, other bloggers and laced with snide comments targeting TRE readers and TRE itself.

To use an analogy, what is happening is like the head of a household (TRE) inviting an outsider and rascal (CI) into the family home and he repeatedly abuses his welcome by ridiculing and mocking the and picking quarrels with the members of the household.

This outsider is nothing more than a disruptive force and sooner or later the members of the family will get sick and tired and will blame the head of the household and may even leave the house due to the disruptive antics of this unwelcomed outsider.

Sometimes as head, one has to make hard decisions and not stick absolutely to principles.

Made my day. Seriously, his comments show that the PAP has won the war on what are the “right” ideas. The PAP is intolerant of criticism, of alternative views and here’s an anti-PAP paper warrior (nut division) agreeing a “family” must be united and throw out disruptors. The only difference between him and one Harry Lee  is on what are the “right views”.

The full piece

Infantile PAP IBs:

November 1, 2015 at 6:36 pm  (Quote)

Infantile PAP IBs:
Cynical Investor, go get a life instead of coming to TRE to bark for attention*.

Call yourself a blogger but you are behaving like an infantile bragger.

Wonder why TRE keeps on posting his nonsense childish articles which are used to attack and mock opposition figures, TRE readers and even TRE itself.

How much did this pest pay to get each article published in TRE when not a single other forum will entertain his rubbish and post a single article from him?

TRE tolong lah, spare TRE readers the agony and stop giving him the attention and space he craves for.

Mod: TRE is a platform for healthy, critical discourse and each is entitled to his/her own opinion. Learned readers can agree or disagree based on the arguments presented. Thank you.

It is noble and noteworthy of TRE to give an avenue for “healthy critical discourse and each is entitled to his/ her own opinion.

But time and again TRE is posting articles by Cynical Investor which are nothing more than personal sick attacks on opposition figures, other bloggers and laced with snide comments targeting TRE readers and TRE itself.

To use an analogy, what is happening is like the head of a household (TRE) inviting an outsider and rascal (CI) into the family home and he repeatedly abuses his welcome by ridiculing and mocking the and picking quarrels with the members of the household.

This outsider is nothing more than a disruptive force** and sooner or later the members of the family will get sick and tired and will blame the head of the household and may even leave the house due to the disruptive antics of this unwelcomed outsider.

Sometimes as head, one has to make hard decisions and not stick absolutely to principles.

Just my personal opinion.

Thank you.

Rating: +52 (from 52 votes)

The greatest troll

William Coltman was the most highly decorated non-commissioned officer of the War.

A conscientious objector, his Christian beliefs prevented him from taking up arms, but he served as a stretcher bearer and won his awards without firing a shot.

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 * He was earlier upset over this piece where I pointed out the ang moh tua kees like Kirsten Han, Lynn Lee had moved on from Amos’ case. They ignored the dismissal of his appeal. If they were really interested in issues like freedom of speech, they shouldn’t. As I blogged here, the hudge’s views are problematic.

**OK for Mother Mary’s Amos the Fantastic to disrupt Christians and LKY groupies, and the good citizens of S’pore but not OK for me to disrupt TRE’s cybernuts isit?

Gift for Dr Paul and the SDP

He and the Young Turk professionals should read this and learn how to fix the PAP administration’s bureaucracies at little risk to themselves.

Extract from FT describing the book

The Simple Sabotage Field Manual — produced in the second world war by the US Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency — was designed to illustrate how, at little risk to themselves, saboteurs in occupied territories could damage organisations.

The Wedge and Dangerous Pre­cedent are echoed in the OSS: “Advocate caution: Be ‘reasonable’ and urge your fellow conferees to be ‘reasonable’ and avoid haste which might result in em­barrassments or difficulties later on.”

… the OSS urges its saboteurs to “insist on doing everything through ‘channels’. Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions . . . Be worried about the propriety of any decision. Raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group, or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.”

… the OSS urged readers to summon up the pedantic spirits. “Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to reopen the question of the advisability of that decision,” the spooks advised, adding that irrelevant questions should be brought up frequently. “When possible, refer all matters to committees for ‘further study and consideration’. Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.”

…

At this time of year, recall that OSS urges saboteurs to “make speeches. Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your points by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.”

Whatever, it’s a lot better than this BS from Tan Wah Piow.

Merry Christmas all.

Somewhat related post

 

New line of biz for Sun Ho?

Baba Ramdev is arguably India’s most famous yoga guru, well known for his TV exercise shows. But now he’s using his brand to sell everything from shampoo to cereal, and detergent to instant noodles.

Patanjali, the company he founded, claims to have had sales of more than $300m (£200m) in the past year, and is one of India’s fastest-growing consumer goods firms.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35097567

She could sell cosmetics, sexy underwear and bust enhancers.

She could also write books ans give talks to gals on “Have it all, while others go to jail.”

Tiger shareholders related to scholar Eng & ministers?

Remember scholar Eng and that blind gal with a guide dog?

Some Tiger shareholders feel that they are entitled as these spoled brats isit? They think they like PAP ministers isit?

The Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) said in the open letter dated Dec 18 that some Tigerair minority shareholders felt SIA’s offer was “not reasonable”.

The reason for this, Mr Gerald, president of SIAS, was that shareholders who bought Tigerair shares during its initial public offering in 2010 at S$1.50 a share and subscribed to all three rights issues since then would have paid an average of S$0.67 a share. The takeover price is 0,41

Maybank Kim Eng Securities, the independent financial adviser appointed by Tigerair’s independent directors, advised shareholders to accept SIA’s offer, saying the deal is “fair and reasonable”

But because they’hh lose money, these shareholders think that the offer is “unreasonable”.

WTF.

 

Why so many MRT breakdowns

Senior lecturer at SIM University, Professor Walter Theseira, said: “… We’re doing a lot of backdated maintenance or fixing of problems after they become really apparent.”

The above was hidden in a long CNA article entitled

Singapore’s train system: What needs to be done to ensure a smoother ride?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-s-train-system/2364656.html

SgDaily also spotted this and highlighed it on Facebook. Great minds think alike LOL.

But there is Karma. Dividends from SMRT to state have been recycled back and more. The free lunch was enjoyed by the private investors who got the benefit of dividends (i’m assuming they sold their sgares in time).

Related posts: Learning from the Arabs and this. But I was wrong about assuming that general could make trains run on time. Forgot he paper general and scholar, like the CEO of NOL.

 

Never a gd idea to try to play both sides

In the u/m story, the journalist implies that the authorities were wrong to investigate Citic for short-selling. Truth is that it’s never a good idea to Run with the hares, and hunt with the hounds”. Got to choose. Most probably senior mgt was clueless about what the sales team selling to ang mohs.

Citic Short-Selling Offer to Hedge Funds Led Police to Its DoorAn initial police investigation of Citic Securities focused on whether the firm was giving foreigners a way to short stocks on the so-called A-shares market in China at the same time that it was engaged in government-sponsored plans to prop up the market, Bloomberg News reports, citing a person familiar with the events.

• BLOOMBERG NEWS

(NYT Dealbook)

Why Amos is so happy

But first, trumpets pls for me. Going by Amos’ latest outbreak of verbal diarrhoea and vomit*, he’s still in S’pore (He’s mocking the SPF for not being able to catch him): something I said when the conventional wisdom said he was overseas. FYI, it was Home Team sources that told me he had not gone overseas.

Now as to why he is happy to the point of orgasm: he has juz had a great Christmas present. Google, hegemon of search engines, released its annual lists of the most-searched terms on a country-by country basis recently.

SINGAPORE

1. PSI Singapore – air quality following haze
2. Lee Kuan Yew – death of Singapore’s first prime minister
3. SEA Games – Singapore hosted this regional athletics event
4. WhatsApp Web
5. iPhone 6s
6. Amos Yee – prosecuted blogger
7. MERS – the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
8. QZ8501 – crashed AirAsia flight
9. Lee Wei Ling – Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter
10. Lee Hsien Loong – Lee Kuan Yew’s son and Prime Minister of Singapore

Amos is way ahead of two members of S’pore’s most prominent family.

Let him have his moment in the sun. He’ll soon be in a RTC, a place worse than detention barracks.  The police know where he is, my sources tell me. They juz want to make him suffer a little. He may be free but Mother Mary’s not there to wash his backside every time he has an attack of  diarrhoea. Nor cook or clean for him.

Seriously, contrast this list with those of our neighbours and HK or Taiwan (below), and you’ll see that we don’t know how to relax by watching entertaining shows. Bit maybe  following Amos and grumbling about the haze and watching or reading about LKY’s departure is our idea of entertainment?

HONG KONG

1. iPhone 6s
2. How-Old.net – a Microsoft tool to guess your age from a photo
3. Helen To Yu-ung – a travel writer and TV host being criticised for being too materialistic
4. Wu Zetian – star of Chinese TV drama The Empress of China
5. Our Times – a Taiwanese movie
6. HKTV – television network run by Ricky Wong Wai-Kay, whose application for a free-to-air license was rejected
7. The Greed of Man – Popular drama series from 1992, re-aired this year
8. Captain of Destiny – sci-fi TV drama criticized for poor special effects
9. Rashomon – Cantopop by Hong Kong singers Kay Tse and Juno Mak
10. Minions – the movie

INDONESIA

1. Batu Akik – the rising price of semi-precious gemstones which has sparked a modern-day goldrush
2. GO-JEK – new startup that provides on-demand scooters
3. Kue Cubit – a fashionable cake
4. Angeline – missing child who was found murdered
5. Olga Syahputra – cross-dressing TV comedian
6. Dubsmash – an app to create selfie videos with sounds overdubbed
7. Fast Furious 7 – the movie
8. Tragedi Mina – fatal stampede during the Hajj
9. Goyang Dumang – a dance by singer Cita Citata
10. Piala Presiden – the President’s Cup soccer tournament

MALAYSIA

1. HRMIS 2 – version two of Malaysia’s Human Resource Management Information System
2. BR1M 2015 – cash handout from the government for those in need
3. How-Old.net
4. Maharaja Lawak Mega – a contest between comedians
5. Fast Furious 7
6. Hati Perempuan – TV drama
7. 1 USD to MYR – following the slide of the ringgit
8. Whatsapp Web – the chat app on a desktop
9. GST – Malaysia introduced a sales and service tax
10. Bersih 4.0 – protest movement

VIETNAM

1. Vợ Người Ta – a song about a young man crying over his ex-girlfriend’s wedding
2. Âm Thầm Bên Em – a love song about a gangster who tries to change his ways to regain the love of his girlfriend
3. Không Phải Dạng Vừa Đâu – a song by popular singer Son Tung MTP about expressing his feelings
4. How-Old.net
5. Fast Furious 7
6. Khuôn Mặt Đáng Thương – a song about a young man expressing sorrow over his ex-girlfriend’s love life
7. Em Của Quá Khứ – ballad about a man waiting for the return of his high school sweetheart
8. Cười Xuyên Việt – television show searching for new comedians
9. Cô Dâu 8 Tuổi – an Indian TV series about a girl forced to get married at the age of eight
10. Chàng Trai Năm Ấy – a romantic comedy based on the autobiography of late singer Wanbi Tuan Anh

PHILIPPINES

1. AIDub – nickname for massively successful skit on afternoon television about lovers who have not met
2. Pope Francis
3. Maine Mendoza – female star of Eat Bulaga! TV show
4. FIBA Asia 2015
5. Dubsmash – lip-syncing app
6. Alden Richards – male star of Eat Bulaga!
7. Fifty Shades of Grey
8. APEC Summit
9. Paris attacks
10. COMELEC – electoral committee of the Philippines

THAILAND

1. เชือกวิเศษ – Magic Rope, a music video by Labanoon
2. รักนะเป็ดโง่ – Ugly Duckling, a popular TV series
3. เพื่อนเฮี้ยนโรงเรียนหลอน – Thirteen Terrors, drama about the adventures of high school students
4. ทิ้งไว้กลางทาง – Leave Me Along The Way, a music video by Potato
5. สุดแค้นแสนรัก – Extreme Love, a soap opera
6. สงครามนางงาม – Beauty Queens’ War, reality TV show
7. เพลงขัดใจ – Offend, a music video from COLOURPiTCH
8. ข้าบดินทร์ – Kha Badin – prime time soap opera
9. แอบรักออนไลน์ – Secret Love Online – TV soap
10. ตัดพ้อ – Complain, music video

TAIWAN

1. 颱風 – typhoon
2. 我的少女時代 – movie from China
3. 威力彩 – lottery
4. 世界12強棒球錦標賽 – World Baseball Championship
5. 寬宏售票 – a ticketing platform
6. 武媚娘傳奇 – movie telling the tale of a classic Chinese legend
7. How-Old.net
8. 玩命關頭7 – Fast and Furious 7
9. 江蕙 – Jody Chiang, Taiwanese pop singer, who announced her retirement this year
10. iPhone 6s

——————————————–

*Uncensored text

Do not believe what the mainstream media is portraying.

The truth is that the police have been scouring singapore and trying to look for me all this time, (my family members have messaged me and said that the police has contacted them trying to capture me), but aren’t able to (due to living in places without cctvs, disguises, vpns, putting my handphones in refrigerators, you know all those good evading stuff), and they’ve used the mainstream media to spread rumors that I’m overseas, and claim that they’ve postponed the investigation to 22nd December, just so they can buy more time to try to do so.

And of course the reason why they haven’t issued a warrant of arrest and gotten the media to announce it, is because they genuinely do not want singaporeans to know that a 17-year-old boy has outsmarted and evaded them for this long, because once again, it looks really fucking embarrassing for the police.

But really, escaping the singapore police, believe me is really fucking easy. Unlike what the government and the mainstream media tries to portray by wildly boasting about the few robberies they actually managed to contain with news articles, big medals and trophies that cover police stations, the singaporean policemen are genuinely incompetent and really fucking suck.

From what I learnt in my time in prison, most of my prison mates have either taken or sold drugs (for a pretty large profit of $600/day I heard) but have never been caught for it, and apparently there’s a huge underground drug industry in singapore where coke and amphetamine are hidden in tic-tac cases and traded in places like jurong east, orchard and the burger king in ang mo kio; many people have committed awol (escaping national service) by using the ID of their siblings who have already finished national service, and theft is very easy to commit in singapore (there are many cases when the act is even caught on CCTVs inside the MRT Station, yet the police still aren’t able to find the thief; I should know, it happened to me and my LG phone).

So yeah, after about 5 days staying in the exact same place, I’m pretty much certain the police can’t find me, and I’m able to continue my work. More blog posts and videos to come; many of them will probably contain hate speech and be considered a crime, but really it doesn’t matter, the police can’t be find me anyways, so I’ll murder and rape as much as I want (I won’t actually do those 2 things, wounding religious feelings though, that’s cool).

And no even though I signed up, I will not, and never intended (even way before uploading the lee kuan yew video) to go to national service; you gotta be fucking retarded to think I’m willing to waste those 2 years of my life.

Well munchkins, the dance continues, a shame that one of the greatest geniuses born in singapore is deemed a criminal by the government, just like socrates, but really, that shouldn’t be surprising now shouldn’t it? Either way, your munchkin leader is here to stay, and I will see you guys very soon. Fuck the police, fuck religion, fuck pap, and welcome Amos Fucking Yee; have fun, MOTHERF**KERS!!

Source: Amos Yee’s Facebook

NoNoNo, Chesapeake

Wonder if Temasek got out of Chespeake when the going was good in 2913?

Even in November of  last yr its shares had hit $24 and, amazingly, the company’s credit rating rose to the cusp of investment grade.

But now the company’s shares have fallen below $4. FT reports: A liquidity crisis has forced it to pursue a debt exchange. Bondholders can swap their existing notes for a discounted set of notes that mature further in the future.

The new notes are of a higher priority in the capital structure, which will induce some creditors to take the discount. Morningstar estimates that the transaction will create a $1.7bn cushion that will keep Chesapeake afloat.

HoHoHo, the rubbish in Temasek’s stocking

The size of Temasek’s portfolio has doubled since it lost $40 billion during the globalfinancial crisis of 2008/2009 due to losses on Western banks such as Bank of America (BAC.N).

But returns lagged Temasek’s own internal metric of making gains above the cost of capital in five out of the last eight financial years, its annual reports show.

A concentration of investments in a few large-cap stocks mostly in Singapore and Chinalimits its ability to outperform.

Ten companies, including Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), Singapore’s biggest lender DBS Group (DBSM.SI) and China Construction Bank (0939.HK), account for half of its assets.

To boost returns, Temasek could sell some underperforming assets, such as Jakarta’s No. 6 lender Bank Danamon (BDMN.JK) and the rail business of Singapore train and taxi operator SMRT (SMRT.SI), a senior Southeast Asian banker said. [Real BS, this banker. Any sale of both would be at fire prices, unlike NOL where its position on on transpacific route made it a stratrgic prize for shipping cos dominant on the European route. ]

Danamon, which is 68 percent owned by Temasek, is trading below its book value and its return on equity is the second-weakest among Indonesia’s top 10 lenders over the last financial year, according Thomson Reuters data.

SMRT is under pressure after suffering a series of operational breakdowns.

Bertrand Jabouley, credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s, said that even though the timing of the NOL disposal seemed suboptimal given the ongoing crisis in the sector, Temasek may want to use the proceeds for more profitable investments.

“They may have much more profitable investment opportunities in their pipeline to put the disposal proceeds to work,” he said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-temasek-strategy-idUKKBN0U003N20151217

 

SDP should be “optimistic, sunshine, smiley”

Douglas Carswell is the sole MP of the UKIP, a party that wants the UK out of the EU. It should have more MPs were it not for the first-past-the-post system. It appeals to the losers in UK society.

He says that as a party of anti-politics it was natural for UKIP to appeal to people who feel disaffected.

But he said appealing by “playing back the tape of disaffection to them and play on that anger… you can do that and you can come second and you can carry on coming second and you can be an ‘also ran'”,

Sounds like the SDP and all other Oppo parties (WP got lucky in Aljunied because of the Women from Hell MPs and BG Yeo)

He also told BBC Essex the party had been “phenomenally successful” to be polling about “13%” during Mr Farage’s tenure at the top of the party.

But he called for UKIP to become a party that is not seen as “unpleasant” and “socially illiberal”.

Instead, Mr Carswell said that the party would “break out from the 13%” if it was an “optimistic, sunshine, smiley, socially liberal, unapologetically free market party”.

Well in the case of the SDP it can’t be an unapologetically free market party (got PAP for that), and it’s socially liberal (too liberal for many voters) but the party of Danny the Bear can be optimistic, sunshine, smiley.

Chin-up Dr Paul, and the Young Guard. You are the future of S’pore and the SDP. Yup, I’m assuming the Old Guard will retire, giving way to the Young Turks. They’ll remember that they were once the Young Turks. They fought the good fight.

Btw, the SWP is one party that Amos cannot call “retards”. The SDP believe in the abolition of the law that he so hates. But I’m sure the SDP doesn’t want his endorsement.

Health care: Model for S’pore

The country is Cuba which like S’pore is a one-party state (albeit only de-facto here) but which is really poor but has a free-health-care service and

To serve its population of 11 million, the country has 90,000 of them. That’s eight for every 1,000 citizens – more than double the rate in the US and in the UK (the US has 2.5 doctors per 1,000, the UK 2.7 per 1,000 according to the World Bank).

S’pore has 2.1 per 1,000 in 2o14 acording MoH data.

Seriously given the Big Brother mentality here by both the pigs and the sheep aristocrats and the peasants, surely we can have this here

Compulsory health checks

“My nurse knows where they live,” Dr Quevas Hill jokes. “They can run, but they can’t hide!”

The data from this check-up allows the family doctor to put her patients into categories according their “risk”. If they’re healthy, the annual check-up is enough. But if they’re showing signs of ill-health, if they drink too much, smoke or have a continuing health condition, they’re seen much more regularly.

It’s an integrated, whole-person approach to healthcare, perhaps too intrusive for some, but widely accepted within Cuba.

The aim is to stop people getting ill in the first place.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35073966

If you’re wondering if the SGH tragedy could happen there, rest assured it won’t. If it happens the head of the unit responsible will be executed by firing squad. Our Harry would juz have humiliated the head and sacked him. But Jnr ….

 

Amos has a point on why 70% vote PAP

This incident just indicates another reason why those 70% voted for pap, it could be very clear to them that pap is absolutely horrible; but what can they do, when there’s no distinctly better alternative to replace them? There’s no point changing from one dictator to another.

This is the last para of another piece of verbal diarrhoea. He castigates Goh Meng Seng’s PPP for supporting the law that got him into trouble (“PPP politicans are retarded”).

His uncensored analysis of the BS that is Goh Meng Seng’s PPP in making a police report against Calvin Cheng, which he then expands into an attack on the Oppo parties, culminating in the above.

Why the fuck, did members from ppp file a police report against calvin cheng?!

This is the fucked up law completely violates our constitutional rights, that landed me 55 days jail and might give me an extra 18 months, and yet an opposition party is not condemning the law, but instead using it, to try to convict another person, are they fucking retarded?!

One person’s views in no way represents the views of other people or a country, it is a logical fallacy that has been plaguing of society, due to false claims like how the quality of a parent is solely indicative of the quality of a child, and the presence of a ‘party whip’ in parliament. And now ppp is saying that calvin cheng’s comments could mislead terrorists to think that it represents the view of singapore, and thus make us susceptible to terrorist attacks. Instead of explaining how calvin cheng’s comment is not representative of the country’s and that making that association doesn’t make a lick of fucking sense, they are instead acknowledging it’s presence to try to convict another person, and thus perpetuating this disgusting mentality that causes these terrorist attacks, and widespread stupidity in our society.

Words do not cause violence, people do. If calvin cheng’s comments really does attract terrorists to attack our country, those terrorists should be held responsible, not fucking calvin cheng. But these ppp fucks actually believe that he should be held responsible and convicted!

These are the opposition members that are going to provide us more ‘freedom of speech’ and make us more ‘democratic’? People might say this just reeks of a publicity stunt, but I don’t think it’s that, I think it just reeks of immense stupidity.

calvin cheng will obviously not get convicted because he’s a pap dog, but if he does, I will speak against it! Especially since I was the one who suffered from that law he would be convicted for, And this isn’t just an act to try to make me seem compassionate and thus gain support from more people believe me. Unlike biased opposition cunts, I don’t just speak up for my side, but both sides if any injustice is inflicted on them.

From this act, we can now tell that these opposition fuckers from PPP are absolutely horrible! Not only are they morally deprived, they’re even worst than pap because you don’t even have the ability to suck up to the singaporean population. No wonder the opposition lost the elections, fucking disgusting pieces of shit like sec-gen cunt augustine and goh meng seng are contesting.

I hope this moral depravity is only exclusive to members from ppp (probably not, those nsp fucks..), with fuckers like these in the opposition side no wonder educated people would be skeptical and vote for pap.

This incident just indicates another reason why those 70% voted for pap, it could be very clear to them that pap is absolutely horrible; but what can they do, when there’s no distinctly better alternative to replace them? There’s no point changing from one dictator to another.

 

Amos Yee

HoHoHo, StanChart’s rights issue is juz first-aid

Temasek is willing to give Standard Chartered (STAN.L) time to work on its turnaround before deciding on the fate of its underperforming $4 billion (3 billion pounds) stake in the UK bank as part of a portfolio reshuffle, people familiar with the matter said.

…

“Temasek is giving them time. They’ve had a lot of engagement with the board, and Bill has sort of managed expectations in terms of turning this ship around,” said one of the people familiar with Temasek’s thinking.

Temasek declined to comment.

It was not clear how long Temasek will wait to see the results of the restructuring.

By subscribing this month to its allotted portion of Standard Chartered’s $5 billion share sale, the Singapore investor has buttressed that position for now. But Temasek may become increasingly uncomfortable with the investment if shares in the bank do not recover.

Its paper loss on the Standard Chartered investment was $1.2 billion, excluding dividends, just on the 12 percent stake it bought in 2006, according to calculations by Reuters. Temasek raised its stake to 18 percent in December 2007. Since then Standard Chartered’s shares have lost about two-thirds of their value.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-temasek-strategy-idUKKBN0U003N20151217

StanChart completed its rights issue late last week. What the local MSM doesn’t tell us

StanChart .. has suffered because of poor peer-market conditions since it priced its shares. But investors, even though they took up almost all of their rights, are also giving a vote of diminished confidence. After StanChart old shares were shorn of the right to buy new shares on Nov. 23, the stock fell to 15 percent below its theoretical settling price. And the 9.8 percent further fall since then is worse than the decline in the Euro Stoxx Banks index.

That’s perhaps not surprising. StanChart, under new boss Bill Winters, is years from earning a return above its cost of equity. Since the new money will mostly go to bolstering the balance sheet rather than promoting productive lending, the return on the new money may be even lower. That might explain why, while Lonmin seemingly faces graver challenges, it’s StanChart to whom the market has blown a bigger raspberry.

 

 

S’pore’s an inefficent innovatar

But so’s HK: phew. M’sia and Vietnam are efficient innovators.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/09/global-innovation-rankings

SIA: Cleared of EU fixing charge

Europe’s second-highest court has backed a challenge by 11 airlines against an €800m (£583m) European Commission freight cartel fine.

The General Court of the European Union said there were “internal inconsistencies” in the Commission’s 2010 decision.

Of the firms, Air France was fined the largest amount – €182.9m – while KLM was fined €127.2m.

The two carriers merged to form Air France-KLM in 2004.

Other carriers involved were Air Canada, Martinair, British Airways, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, Qantas, SAS and Singapore Airlines.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35111824

Meng Seng plays with fire; links FTs to SGH tragedy

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Yesterday I read that  Goh Meng Seng’s People’s Power Party filed a report against Calvin Cheng.

I couldn’t help laughing because Goh Meng Seng and his People’s Power Party could be guilty of a “seditious tendency” under section 3(1)(e) of the Sedition Act because of a comment they made against FTs saying that they were responsible for the deaths in SGH.

———————————————————————–

3.— (1) A seditious tendency is a tendency —

(a) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government;

(b) to excite the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore to attempt to procure in Singapore, the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of any matter as by law established;

(c) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Singapore;

(d) to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore;

(e) to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore.

————————————————————————–

Does Goh Meng Seng and his People’s Power Party have any evidence for this very serious and probably seditious comment linking FTs to the SGH tragedy. In a statement* he issued as Sec-Gen of PPP, after quoting from the Internal Review Report that there were serious lapses in the hospital’s staff whereby they have not adhered to established protocols as basic as hand hygiene which subsequently caused contamination to other medical equipment., went on

— Our hospitals have employed a substantial number of foreign healthcare providers over the decade.

—  It is apparent that MOH has allowed hospitals to employ cheap foreign substitutes from Third World countries instead of making the effort to look into the shortage of Singapore nurses seriously. Training and certification of nursing in these foreign countries may fall short of our expectations and this might have compromised the safety and standards of our healthcare system. This may well be the reason why SGH nurses have breached even the most basic requirement of hand hygiene.

(Emphasis mine)

Remember Ello Ello’s jailing for sedition?

The Sedition Act was used to bring a criminal charge against him, to the surprise of some, including self. In previous cases involving this law, it was about offending members of other races or religions. It was a point the defence made in arguing for a lower sentence, that his remarks did not exacerbate racial or religious tensions.

The judge said in response, “The local-foreigner divide has remained a challenging fault line in our society in recent times. Unlike the limited effect and reach of distinct racial or religious issues, this divide affects all and sundry, and cannot be regarded as any less delicate or sensitive in the current context,”.

So the Sedition Act can cover remarks that also pit “classes” – that is foreigner versus locals – against each other, and which had a potential for the eruption of violence.

The Act is not just about race and religion, but also about locals versus FTs is something that Goh Meng Seng, Gilbert Goh and their cybernut followers should think about before they start their mindless rants.

They could be targets of sedition charges when they rant and rave about FTs. But I’m sure Ravi (if he ever gets back his licence to talk cock, sing song in court) will argue that  Goh Meng Seng, Gilbert Goh and the cybernuts have the constitutional right to threaten FTs, instead of relying on the defences according by s3(2):

Notwithstanding subsection (1), any act, speech, words, publication or other thing shall not be deemed to be seditious by reason only that it has a tendency —

(a) to show that the Government has been misled or mistaken in any of its measures;

(b) to point out errors or defects in the Government or the Constitution as by law established or in legislation or in the administration of justice with a view to the remedying of such errors or defects;

(c) to persuade the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore to attempt to procure by lawful means the alteration of any matter in Singapore; or

(d) to point out, with a view to their removal, any matters producing or having a tendency to produce feelings of ill-will and enmity between different races or classes of the population of Singapore,

if such act, speech, words, publication or other thing has not otherwise in fact a seditious tendency.

But Meng Seng couldn’t care less about going to prison. He has seen the publicity that Roy, New Citizen Hui Hui and the other hooligans, and Amos Yee can generate by breaking the law.

Ipdate on 21 Dec at 11.5am)And guess what? Amos calls Goh Meng Seng and gang “retards” for being in favour of the law that got Amos into trouble.

————————————

*Text of part of rant: The Internal Review Committe has stated that there were serious lapses in the hospital’s staff whereby they have not adhered to established protocols as basic as hand hygiene which subsequently caused contamination to other medical equipment. We suspect that this is a symptom of a bigger fundamental problem of MOH’s Human Resource policy.

Our hospitals have employed a substantial number of foreign healthcare providers over the decade. This is due to various reasons which include increasing demand of hospital care due to explosive population growth in the past decade. We also learn that many locally trained nurses have left the industry due to unfavorable shift work schedule.

Nursing is a professional job but apparently the salary scale for nurses in Singapore is only half of the salary scale paid by Hong Kong hospitals. It is apparent that MOH has allowed hospitals to employ cheap foreign substitutes from Third World countries instead of making the effort to look into the shortage of Singapore nurses seriously. Training and certification of nursing in these foreign countries may fall short of our expectations and this might have compromised the safety and standards of our healthcare system. This may well be the reason why SGH nurses have breached even the most basic requirement of hand hygiene.

 

Amos flees Mummy/ Peceptive tots on Boy Wonder

(Update on 17 December 4.30am: My sources tell me that he’s hiding in S’pore, not gone overseas. As to his reissue of the LKY video, It’ll be interesting if Mad Dog Chee comes to his defence. The anh moh tua kees like Kirsten Han, Lynn Lee etc etc, have moved on.)

If anyone is interested Amos posted on 14 December that he had failed to attend a police interview.

He then suffered an outbreak of verbal diarrhoea (as bad as any Roy Ngerng has had) and  claims to have run away from home. The latest by the MSM is that

The police said officers will interview teenage blogger Amos Yee “upon his return to Singapore”, in connection with investigations into religiously offensive remarks made online.

Yee, 17, was to have shown up at Jurong Police Division on Dec 14 to assist with investigations, but he failed to do so.

A TRE reader had earlier posted this on Amos

— His NS will last five yrs including detention barracks.

— He has no supporters left after he insulted them. Thinking about it, even Mad Dog Chee is running to support him. Must be pills the RI doctors are prescribing.

— Amos is no artist.

Nathan:

December 13, 2015 at 1:06 pm  (Quote)

What’s there for the police to investigate? Just use whatever section of the law to detain him indefinitely without trial. Hold him till he comes of age to do National Service. From there, the military can take over the prosecution of Amos. Most probably, Amos will be moving in and out of detention barracks for 5-7 years instead of the 2 years doing his National Service. This will keep him out of circulation until he returns to civilian life. Then the vicious cycle of social prosecution will repeat itself.

Eventually, Amos will end up an old jail-bird, rotting in
jail most of his life – unless he chooses to emigrate to another country
ASAP.

Amos has alienated most of his sympathisers because of his motor-mouth. Insulting, despising and mocking opposition leaders and showing disrespect and disdain for our pioneer anti-Lee Kuan Yuan fighters who have suffered years of unjustified imprisonment.

Amos, even as an artist has been a huge disappointment. Sorry, Amos my opinion of you has changed. You thought that by putting down the opposition leaders the government will look at you in a different light. Punk, you are still light years away from being an artist. A manipulator perhaps to one up all and sundry in whatever you choose to do or said.

And this from the post below

Amos is a strange one. Talented and unique. However he is taking the kindness of so many of his sympathisers for weakness. All the opposition who spoke out for him, his admirers and fans here and overseas. He sneered at them in return just because he feels like it. At the moment he has all the ‘fame’and attention he wants. Things are going swimming well for him. The next time he falls into the shithole again, there won’t be any sensible people crying for him in Hong Lim Park. Freedom lovers friends from Hong Kong will pay scan attention to his plight. I have learned, have you?

On Calvin Cheng, he makes a good comment that the PAP approved clown that is not taken seriously by the PAPpies and anti-PAP “intellectuals”

He also makes some good points on the making of police reports.

Nathan:

December 14, 2015 at 1:47 am  (Quote)

I do not care, if I want somebody hard enough I will reveal my identity,my name, my everything and go to a police station and make a report against that person for whatever grievances I had against that person.

Do you want Calvin Cheng hard enough to lodge a police report against him? I think you do, but what are you afraid of? that I don’t know. Believe me, I had done exactly I am telling you people here to do. If you guys want to be insulted then I go ahead. The police are not interest in small fry like you and me no matter how right you are. If there is a case to be make against the person in the report, they will go ahead. They will do the job. They will have all your personal records. Whether that will be used against you in future by them or any third party that’s the risk you will have to take if you want Calvin Cheng hard enough. There lies the difference between doing and just talking.

As for Calvin Cheng, I have watched him in the Inconvenient Question online. I observed the host, the invited speakers and the audience do not seem to take what he said seriously. They even laughed and poked fun at him. I got a hunch but I do not where it comes from that Calvin Cheng is let loose by the Establishment to be as controversial and outspoken as he likes to counter the daring of the anti government social websites. Some of the PAP candidates have say things and behave similarly to Calvin Cheng although not that extreme. The electorate seemed impressed and the PAP did win handsomely. So, it’s worth your while to go after this clown if the government is behind him? Calvin Cheng is not even worth a mention by anyone.

 

S’porean-born poet on FT’s best books list

. . .

Steep Tea, by Jee Leong Koh, Carcanet, RRP£9.99

The Singapore-born poet’s first UK publication is disciplined yet adventurous in form, casual in tone and deeply personal in subject matter. Koh’s verse addresses the split inheritance of his postcolonial upbringing, as well as the tension between an émigré’s longing for home and rejection of nostalgia.

FT

PAP must have done shumething right since 1990

The PAP administration gets whacked regularly for a focus on GDP growth. Well by this alternative measure, it hasn’t done too badly by us has it?

Good move by Yaacob’s sis

She was the deputy editor of ST and earlier this yr joined the SCMP in HK. Great timing. Alibaba will pay HK$2.06bn (US$266m; £175m) for SCMP.

Alibaba Buying South China Morning Post, Aiming to Influence Media The Chinese Internet giant said the deal was fueled by a desire to improve China’s image and offer an alternative to the biased lens of Western news outlets.

• NYT » | WHEN THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST WADED INTO CONTROVERSY | READ IN CHINESE

(NYT Dealbook)

Given her role* in ST as a cheerleader, class-monitor and enforcer for the PAP administration in ST, she’ll fit in very well under the new regime in HK. Her husband, Cherian George, a vocal social activist here (calling for a free press here is his obsession) but now lecturing on media (because of his obsession) in a HK uni, must be a happy man.

His wife can put her well-honed skills to good use in the service of Alibaba  to improve China’s image and offer an alternative to the biased lens of Western news outlets.

The couple must be oprning the champers.

——-

*She was a major-general in the Imperial Stormtroop Paper division and a padawan Sith Lord.

Ravi pleads guilty, blames hypomanic episode

But tribunal is not moved and cuts him no slack. Case referred to panel of three High Court judges who can really terkan him (or as the cybernuts, Ravi’s groupies, and ang moh tua kees say, “Fix him”: fine or censure him.

Last week’s M Ravi’s attempt to escape more severe punishment in a disciplinary case failed. He had appeared before a Law Society tribunal on four charges and pleaded guilty to the four charges of misconduct.

One charge was hooliganish behaviour at the Law Society premises, a video clip of which was posted online. Another charge was making nasty, vicious statements against the Law Society president and his family members in a Facebook post. The last two other charges were about false allegations made by Ravi about two lawyers in February.

Psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow, his doctor, testified that Mr Ravi suffered from bipolar disorder and a hypomanic episode from mid-January to late February.

His lawyer, Mr EugeneThuraisingam said that he had shown remorse, apologised in April to the people affected and was prepared to pay $10,000 as a penalty to the Society or one of its pro bono schemes. He was also taking steps to prevent a relapse. (Is he taking his medicine? In his autobiography, he boasted that he refused to take his pills preferring meditation Now I meditate a lot but there’s a limit to what meditation can do.)

Dr Tommy Tan, a psychiatrist called by the Law Society, said Mr Ravi’s mental condition did not serve to excuse but to mitigate the acts complained of against him.

M. Ravi will be dealt with by a court of three High Court judges. The tribunal recommended the move, saying that it had no power to fine or censure Ravi as he was being dealt with as a non-practising lawyer. It said that in the case of a non-practising lawyer, its task is limited to finding if the charges are sufficiently serious to have it referred to the three judges.

Ravi was charged as a non-practising lawyer as he was suspended in February because his fitness to practise was impaired by his bipolar disorder.

ST reported:

The tribunal, in its report released yesterday, said a prima facie case had been established against Mr Ravi since he had “pleaded guilty to the four charges and his mental condition as per the evidence of Dr (Tommy) Tan (a psychiatrist) does not exculpate him for his various acts of misconduct but are mitigating factors only”.

Eugene Thuraisingam argued that the case did not justify being referred to the Court of Three Judges as the offences were due to Mr Ravi’s mental condition. [Go bananas is licence to play havouc and get away with it isit? Hmm, lessons for Amos?]

But lawyers … for the Law Society countered that the case was sufficiently serious to be referred to the Court of Three Judges, pointing to the scurrilous statements he had made.

The tribunal held that it had no power to order any sanction or to accept Mr Ravi’s offer to pay $10,000, and that its role was to report to the Chief Justice if the case was serious enough for disciplinary action.

These ang mohs should sit down and shut up. Even his doctor and M Ravi himself said he was ill.

Finally, his claim of getting his practicing cert back should make this bunch of Canadian lawyers*** sit down and shut up. A Canadian NGO has asked LawSoc “to discontinue disciplinary action against internationally known human rights lawyer M. Ravi and to take all steps necessary to ensure the reissuance of his practising certificate”.

TOC summarises their arguments http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/08/the-case-of-m-ravi-lrwc-issues-call-for-law-society-to-remain-impartial-from-government/

The arrogance of the Ang Mohs is astounding. As the LawSoc pointed out the Canadians want due process to be ignored. They think we still under ang moh rule isit?

***A bunch of M’sian lawyers also made a similar call.

Related post

— Why Ravi went bananas: blame Roy, Hui Hui and other young hooligans

China’s newest, most exclusive club

Being called by the police to assist investigations:

NYR Dealbook

CHAIRMAN OF FOSUN GROUP SAID TO BE MISSING The billionaire chairman at one of China’s biggest private conglomerates is reportedly missing as the authorities are intensifying their scrutiny of the finance sector, Michael Forsythe reports in DealBook.

The group’s listed arm, Fosun International, trades in Hong Kong and itsshares were suspended on Friday with no explanation or announcements from the company.

The billionaire, Guo Guangchang, often described as “China’s Warren Buffett,” may have been taken away by police, either under arrest or in custody for questioning, the financial magazine Caixin reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Guo was allowed to make phone calls, but his personal freedom was restricted, The South China Morning Post reports, citing people familiar with the matter who also said the company was expected to make a statement after 6 a.m. Eastern time.

Fosun has been on a spending spree in the finance and insurance sectors in recent years and in September raised $1.5 billion to finance further acquisitions. It also owns the Club Med chain of resorts and a stake in Cirque du Soleil and bought Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York.

Mr. Guo’s disappearance is the latest in a series of mysterious episodes surrounding an anticorruption investigation into the financial industry, which came after a summer of volatility in Chinese markets.

A reporter confessed on national television to spreading rumors in an article about the stock market. Top executives at brokerage firms and several officials at the China’s securities regulator have been detained.

Last month, Yim Fung, the chairman of Guotai Junan International, the Hong Kong unit of one of China’s biggest brokerage firms, disappeared. On Sunday, Citic Securities, the biggest brokerage firm in China, said it was unable to get in touch with two top executives overseeing investment banking, Chen Jun and Yan Jianlin.

Several top executives at Citic Securities have been detained since August. The authorities are investigating company officers, including the president Cheng Boming, on suspicion of insider trading.

Li Yifei, the China chairwoman for the Man Group, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, returned to work after meeting with the authorities. Xu Xiang, a hedge fund manager, was apprehended by the police after a car chase. The government said he was suspected of insider trading.

The “right” info

About 100 grassroots leaders and community partners across Sembawang GRC Took part in a Crisis Response Exercise on Saturday (Dec 12).

This is part of the Government’s efforts to test and train the readiness of the community during an emergency.

They debated and role-played various scenarios, such as how accurate information can be disseminated online in times of uncertainty.

Each constituency has an operation centre where key personnel will convene in an emergency. There will be five cells – the secretariat, operations, resources, logistics and media.

(CNA)

Somehow I think “accuracy” is not the right word. It’s the “right” info.

Amos the Fantastic: Update

He informs ST that he’s the boy being investigated

StraitsTimes! You have no proof! Just because somebody is 17 years old and makes anti-religious remarks doesn’t mean it’s automatically me and linked to my anti-Islam comments.

But yeah you’re right, it was me. I’m sorry I couldn’t resist.

The long-winded, meandering post that got him investigated (soap applied by me)

So the hot news is calvin cheng, ex-nmp, pap fanatic, part of singapore’s dismal media ‘literacy’ council, thinks an effective way to stop ISIS is to kill the extremists’ children.

Now this is shocking blah blah blah but if you think in terms of the ‘values’ that we grew up with and in the realm of the pap ‘logic’, it kind of makes sense.

We are raised under the impression that a child is somehow caged beside their parents all throughout their youth, and that the parents are solely responsible for how the child turns up. The government wishes to portray this as ostensibly fact because this is an archaic, close-minded chinese ‘value’ that the dumb chinese majority in singapore moronically hold dearly, and upholding that helps pap suck up to the chinese, and thus increase their vote count.

The by-product of that is additional artillery for the government to attack someone they don’t like. A notable example is when they exploited talentless celebrities (who are now reduced to doing crappy mediacorp commercials until ah boys to men 4 comes out) to say that why Amos Yee (me) is so rude, is solely because of his parents. And the sheer enthusiasm seen in razortv in how they publicised it, they are after all sph government dogs.

However, due to that, pap leaders create the unnecessary burden for themselves to make sure their children is as ‘reputed’ as them (prime minister lee kuan yew to prime minister lee hsien loong, one dictator to another, sadly lee hsien loong can’t continue the streak of nepotism because his sons don’t want to be manipulative cunts or is albino and adopting isn’t very ‘chinese’). Since lee kuan yew wanted to portray himself as perfect as possible (HAH!), he had to present his son to be as perfect as possible (HAHAHAHAHA!!!), and since all humans are fallible, especially when they’re teenagers, and unlike all of us, lee hsien loong didn’t have the luxury of being able to publicly fail (which is a very good learning tool), the clash between the heightened existential teen angst of having expectations from being a politician’s during hsien loong’s youth, and the no-nonsense harsh disciplinary parenting of harry, must have been tremendous, and most likely materialised into an abusive relationship during lee hsien loong’s youth (we do not know what actually happened in the istana during the 60s, but I speculate it involved lots of psychiatrists and scars on hsien loong’s face).

Therefore, with the societal conditions that most singaporeans themselves put upon, how a child turns out is directly dependent on the parent, if the parent is a killer the child would undoubtedly turn out to be one, therefore we should kill all the ISIS extremists’ children!

This quote by calvin cheng seems appalling to us because we still give the children of killers, a chance in society and don’t kill them, but pertaining to the societal conditions put forth by the stupid chinese and our government, that wouldn’t be consistent now wouldn’t it? Keep in mind, we are already giving murderers, kidnappers and drug traffickers (you do know that marijuana unlike other drugs is actually very beneficial right?) the death penalty. So if the singapore society continues to deteriorate, like calvin cheng, in about a 100 years, the government might also deem it fit to kill extremists’ children as well; it does aid in solving our overpopulation issue.

So in that sense, what calvin said is actually quite ahead of his time, only he’s speaking in more dystopian (or maybe utopian to him) terms. But I’m guessing thoughts like these probably plague many PAP ministers’ minds, just that they’re, smart (manipulative) enough to not say it publicly, until both our society and our world deteriorates (hopefully not), to the point that countries collectively agree that genocide is an effective form of capital punishment in reducing crime, in which case we’ll be one of the forerunners.

Oh yes and fuck [redacted: insert offended religion], and [redacted: insert deity of offended religion] doesn’t exist, but say you see a prick from ISIS who wants to kill or has even killed before, don’t think that’s a scenario where it’s alright to kill him. No crime (even mass genocide) is worth a punishment of torture or the death penalty, just maybe lock him up and assign him a proficient psychologist, and let him out whenever the psychologist deems fit. Then he’ll be able to go out and contribute to society without killing anymore (I hope), unfortunately that method requires skill, something the PAP government obviously doesn’t have (except during the elections).

This little quote by Calvin Cheng is an extreme microcosm to what our society would possibly be like if it continues to deteriorate, and hopefully singaporeans do not need something as tangible as an extreme quote by a pap fanatic, to see the big picture and highlight the long-term effect of what our pap cunt government is doing. calvin cheng sucks, and so does pap. Have fun!

But amos not as quai lan as he wants us to think he is. He registered for NS recently.

KL airport that cock meh?

Two cock-ups by KL airport

The South China Morning Post reports that Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Malaysia has just come across three ancient 747s that have been sitting on its tarmac for over a year. It says it has no idea who left them there.

…

What is most surprising about this story, other than the chutzpah of the 747s’ owner, is that KLIA can’t trace the operators. All aircraft are supposed to be logged with a national authority, so one wouldn’t think it could be that hard. The Post says that the airport has contacted a “so-called owner” without response. Malaysians now know where to head next time they have an old banger to dispose of.

Economist blog

The latest is that

An air cargo company in Malaysia says it owns three Boeing 747 jets which officials said were left unclaimed at Kuala Lumpur airport.

Swift Air Cargo says it has been trying to retrieve them, but Malaysia Airports disputes its paperwork.

Only in M’sia. After all this is country where the PM refuses to disclose who deposited US$700m, and where he can still remain PM.

SGH Tragedy: Calling abc

Does the report confirm qwhat you wrote here? And any further tots?

Moral of the story is to have good medical insurance that can cover at least B1 or A-class in govt hospitals. Such “private class” patients are issued their own personal drug vials including multi-use ones — no such thing as sharing of multi-use vials.

The main reason is that C & B2 class are loss-making [CI note: Can explain how the losses come about?], requiring large injections of cash from MOH to cover. Much of the practices in C & B2 wards in govt hospitals e.g. standardised care plans, clinical pathways (equivalent to SOPs & IAs in army) are designed to save money & avoid so-called unnecessary tests / investigations / procedures.

Do you know that even “poor” community hospitals (e.g. Ren Ci, St Luke’s) issue personal multi-use drug vials to their patients — no sharing?!? How come?? Becoz these are considered as private hospitals & they are required by MOH to practice cost-recovery at a minimum, in order to obtain the minimal subsidies from ministry. Hence such hospitals simply issue personal drug vials as (1) to avoid cross-infections which will be hell to recover from as a “poor” community hospital with no ministry backing, and (2) vast majority of such drug vials are priced / cost in the cents or at most $1 or $2 — still easily recovered from individual patients.

SGH tragedy: “Penny wise, Safety foolish” allegation

We jail relatively more people than China

Wage growth: three “myths” are true

Dollars & Sense a usually financial literate site, published the following PAP administration propoganda on wage growth http://dollarsandsense.sg/debunking-3-myths-about-singapores-wage-growth/?fb_action_ids=429056360617791&fb_action_types=og.comments. Has the site become part of Fabrications About the PAP? Money that good meh? Seriously, a little knowledge (especially of stats) is a dangerous thing.

Myth 1: Wage Growth Has Been Lower Than Inflation

Myth 2: The Lowest Income Families Are Worst Off Because Of Inflation

Myth 3: The Rich Benefitted The Most Compared To The Rest Of Us

Well the myths are not Hard Truths but facts. And the rebuttals rubbish. They are not based on economics.

My friend Chris K*(a retired financial enginner and rocket scientist, once based in London) writes:

Myths 1 and 2 completely failed to account for what is commonly known as hedonic price adjustments. Hedonic adjustments are marginal variations to the inflation rate in advanced, matured economies but are significantly higher for developing nations or those who have transit from developing to developed status like Singapore. Hedonic price adjustments are the increase in prices due to qualitiative and esthetic changes in a product or service. An example is the difference in prices between a hawker centre and a food court. The increase in prices when one transit to the other is NOT included in the inflation rate.

Once you understand the effect of hedonic price adjustments, you can then understand why the increase in the CPF Minimum Sum to account for cost of living runs significantly higher than the inflation rate.

Same with Myth 3 which also failed to account for the role of investable income in relation to total income. The top percentile has a much higher proportion of investable income because of the cap in CPF contributions. In an era of elevated real estate prices, those who can invest in a 2nd or 3rd property are those in the top percentile and they earned outsize returns om their investable income. This is why the labour policies of the present government favours the top percentile because the rate of return on investment exceeds wage growth for the rest of the income distribution.

————————————–

*Chris K describes himself thus: Chris is a retired executive director in the financial industry who had mostly worked in London and Tokyo. 

 

 

 

Commie is a sex pervert

This is a follow-up to this* in which I reported that a communist from S’pore who wanted to overthrow the PAP administration was on trial in the UK for sex offences against his daughter and other women.

The BBC reported last Saturday:

The background to the case of a Maoist cult leader who sexually assaulted women under his control is explored in detail in Saturday’s press following his conviction at a London court.

Aravindan Balakrishnan was found guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court of raping two of his followers and a string of indecent assaults – as well as keeping his daughter captive for more than 30 years.

The Sun says the 75-year-old, who will be sentenced in January,faces spending the rest of his life in jail.

The Daily Telegraph is among several papers to highlight the south London coroner’s decision to reopen the file on the 1997 death of one of the followers of so-called Comrade Bala. An open verdict was recorded at the inquest into the death of Sian Davies, who had a child with Balakrishnan, and died after falling from a window at the cult’s base in Brixton.

Starting in the 1970s, Balakrishnan was said to have brainwashed women into believing he had god-like powers. The Times says it was “difficult to envisage” him as a charismatic cult leader. The unlikely Svengali ruled with fear, says its headline.

The Independent carries comments from his “deeply traumatised” daughter. Although years of beatings and mind control has left her unable to cope with every day society, she has forgiven her father, it notes.

The Daily Mirror highlights the daughter’s assertion that she “felt like a caged bird”. In a leading article, the Mirror says it was distressing Balakrishnan was able to get away with his “vile crimes” for so long.

Questions were being asked, says the Guardian, over why the cult had not been noticed by local authorities. Some of the properties Balakrishnan used were council houses and one of the members used a wheelchair and was visited regularly by carers from Lambeth social services, it reports.

——

*When TRE reproduced the piece, a “Tan Wah Piow” wrote in to TRE complaining that I had defamed him and threatened to sue. He alleged that I was the author of an untrue defamatory remark — he is “close” to the sex pervert — when I was only quoting. But then he’s that kind of guy: can’t get his facts straight. Either that or he can’t read. Ot doesn’t do proper research.

TOC does a gd deed/ Who was GG trying to fix?

When I first saw this https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentSG/videos/647927852015527/?theater, my FB avatar went WTF! on Facebook. A beefy, young man with three children, on welfare, KPKBing and then trying to fix a welfare officer. And he and his wife could afford video recording eqpt to boot? Makes one agree with one Harry about those who sponge off tax-payers.

Well TOC explained that things were not as they seemed. Example: guy was really seriously ill despite being tua chiak  http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/12/man-receiving-msfs-assistance-did-not-intend-to-cause-trouble-with-video/?utm_content=buffere33a2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It was a video that should not have gone on-line. It seems that one Gilbert Goh (yup one of the usual suspects) who put in on-line with the consent of the welfare couple. They told tOC they regretted filming and making the video public. Not surprising given the nasty comments they attracted from me and nany others. Juz wondering who GG was trying to fix? Social activists and ordinary S’poreans who want the PAP administration to spend more on welfare.

But here’s a further twist to the plot. A social activist and wannabe politican (whom I respect) ctiticised TOC for interviewing the couple with questions along the lines of “Why have three kids if you also need welfare”. He called “insensitive” to Ravi’s plight.

My FB avater defended TOC’s piece

— I for one wanted to know why if so poor have two kids and want a third. His explanation that he had two when he had a job, and that the third was conceived before he became unable to work means that if I see comments about “why poor but still want kids”, I’ll be able to kick ass.

— I’ve not spoken to our mutual friend in TOC but I think that TOC (rightly perceived in my view) that the video was an own goal. That many S’poreans (self included) had questions about the guy himself rather than his plight. It also undermined the growing view that more should be spent on welfare. The video is the kind of stuff that a troll (again including self) would use to counter Dr Chee. And while from yr perspective of the importance of human dignity it was insensitive, the interview showed me (al least) that the guy and wife were not irresponsible bums and scroungers. They had problems, thru no fault of their own, and needed a helping hand. They would be in the words of the Victorians and the majority of PAP voters “the deserving poor”..

I understand that my avatar was right about TOC’s motive.

Three cheers for TOC for giving us the details to show us that the couple are otdinary S’poreans who need a helping hand.  And a “Dislike” to Gilbert Goh and my activist friend. He didn’t see the big picture issue that TOC saw.

Btw, I’ll blog on a group of S’poreans who really think the PAP administration owes them a living. In fact, they feel more entitled than our ministers. No wonder the PAP gets a 70% majority.

Socially irresponsible fund?

In the US, Freedom Capital will invest in industries such as fossil fuels and armaments, to counterbalance the rising influence of socially responsible funds.

The really contrarian fund?

China will not be happy with S’pore

The United States has said it will deploy a US P-8 Poseidon spy plane to Singapore for the first time.

It is the latest in a series of US military actions seen as a response to China’s increasingly assertive claims over territory in the South China Sea.

The Boeing plane will be based in Singapore for a week.

American P-8s already operate from Japan and the Philippines, and surveillance flights have also taken off from nearby Malaysia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35036220

HoHoHo: Scholar screws up?

Re the purchase of NOL at a hefty premium to undisturbed share price and close to book value by French family

the timing could prove smart. This looks a lot like the trough in the cycle: shipping rates, industry sentiment, and valuations have all crashed. That’s exactly when families like the Saades, which can take a longer-term perspective than public companies, should be pouncing. Though they are a family of shippers rather than truckers, they are still in it for the long haul.

http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/12/08/container-shipping-deal-stacks-up-in-multiple-ways/

Btw, one of those who forgot to sell my two lots of NOL at $5. But still above my cost.

S/o of JBJ ng kum guan he not aristocracy despite dad sending him posh ang moh private school http://sonofadud.com/2015/12/07/nol-another-case-of-value-destruction-by-our-natural-aristocracy/

 

Why high property prices are good for S’poreans

 

 

 

 

They force S’poreans to be pretty financial literate. Look at our ranking.

Ministers’ salary benchmark is flawed

So what value the link?

Below is the Letter from Lex of two Saturday’s ago. It’s another nail in coffin of the argument that our ministers and senior civil servants deserve their multi-million salaries which are benchmarked against the private sector. The pay structure at the top of the private sector is flawed, badly flawed.

Letter from Lex: Let’s spin the wheel!
Readers,
It may indeed be better to be lucky than good; don’t assume you can tell the two apart. There is a good-sized pile of academic research devoted to determining what part of corporate success (measured by return on capital, margins, or what you will) is down to the skill of the boss. Social scientists and statisticians stagger towards consensus along a twisting path. Most of the studies do, however, seem to converge on a couple of points: (a) management skill is a wickedly slippery thing to measure and explain, yet (b) skill seems to make a small but significant difference to performance on the margin, although (c) luck plays much bigger role most of the time. Raising these points often elicits one of two responses. The first: “You damn pinko academics/journalists hate capitalism and will say anything to undermine it.” Alternately: “Anyone who has actually worked in a big company knows that a CEO is a dart-throwing chimp whose characteristic skills are climbing the greasy pole and looking good in a suit.”

Both responses may contain elements of truth. In any case, this week gave the Lex column various reasons to reflect on luck, skill and the grey abyss in between:

Emphasis mine.

Three cheers for the PAP

(Or “Why our GLCs work”)

Talking of the UK (where remember LKY and Goh Keng Swee and Toh Chin Chye- the trinity- studied. I’d describe Lim Kim San, from Raffles College, now NUS, as their archangel who did the work they ordered):

There were significant efficiency improvements in nationalising the postal system and the telegraph network, but the nationalisations of the 20th century were much less successful. This was in part due to the rise of trade unions and the move towards a fully democratic political system. While nationalised companies were left to be minded by technocratic-minded officials in the 19th century, politicians with their eyes on elections started fiddling with them in the 20th. Whenever politicians needed tax cuts to win elections they tended to hack back investment in state-owned firms. They also had a free hand to bloat their payrolls in order to help governments achieve full employment in the economy overall, protected by a system of tariffs and monopolies designed to shield them from competition. And trade unions started to demand excessive pay rises and oppose efficiency improvements, knowing that the state, as owner, would always pay the bill to avoid a fuss at election time.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/12/economist-explains-1

Democracy? What democracy? Unions fighting for workers? What are they? Three cheers for elitism.

But this also rings true: parastatals like national airlines tend to be a handy way for government officials to dish out jobs to cronies. Neither the beneficiaries nor the benefactors of this illicit set-up want to ground the gravy plane.

(From anotther Economist blooger)

Harry’s house:

In a statement* posted on PM Lee’s Facebook on Friday, “Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang would like to honour the wish of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew that the house at 38 Oxley Road be demolished after Dr Lee Wei Ling ceases to live in it.”

In mid 2014 I had lunch with a retired ex-ST journalist. He told me about a book about the house where one Harry Lee was living in. The plan was for the book to be published early this year, but events intervened and I doubt the book will ever be published.

He said that Ah Loong persuaded his father to accept that the house will not be demolished after LKY’s death. It would remain a Lee family property and not be opened to the public. It would be left to a future generation of Lee’s what to do with the house.

The ex-reporter was half right going by the news reports. (This sentence was crossed out on 28 Feb 2020 at 6.00 to reflect what we now know. It reflected the penultimate version of the final will which did not have the infamous “demolition” clause.)

But as I doubt the book would see the light of day (I don’t think the publisher SPH would want to stir up feelings that the house must be preserved), I tot I’d share some interesting facts that I learnt at the lunch about the house, since the house is now back in the news.

It was built by a Jewish family of merchants who lived in it. But by the 1930s, they had moved on out of S’pore and the house was rented out. The Japanese seized the property and used it. Then the British took it over, renting it out until the owner came forward. No-one did until thee 1960s. Harry rented it from the state.

In the 1960s, he and Mrs Lee traced the owners (then living in London) and offered to buy the house foe about S$30,000 then. In 1065, they became the owners.

—————————————-

A terrace house in the Siglap area cost about that then. But LKY’s house was rent-control premises, and the previous owner would have gotten the rent that had accrued over the years. The money was sitting in a bank account awaiting a claim by the owners.

——————————————–

Finally, the house has no proper foundations. This means that any development along nearby Orchard Road would have shook the house regularly. LKY could only grin and bear: and he was the Leader.

Btw, wonder what has happened to this campaign? Any news?

A campaign to gather signatures for an online petition aimed at preserving the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s house as a national monument has so far garnered more than 1,450 supporters on change.org.

Benedict Yuen started the petition a few days ago because he felt the property at 38 Oxley Road had historical significance and should not be torn down.

(CNA earlier this yr)

I tot at the time and still do: “Wah so fast disrespect LKY? He wanted the house demolished because he did not want it turned into a monument.” I’ll blog on this topic one of these days.

—————————

*This is the full statement that appeared on Facebook:

My siblings, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, and I have issued the following joint statement:

“To honour the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Mr Lee Hsien Yang have each agreed to donate half the value of 38 Oxley Road to the charities named in the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s obituary notice.

Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang would like to honour the wish of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew that the house at 38 Oxley Road be demolished after Dr Lee Wei Ling ceases to live in it.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong has recused himself from all government decisions involving 38 Oxley Road and, in his personal capacity, would also like to see this wish honoured.

Speaking as the children of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang hope the government will allow the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s wish for the demolition of the house to be honoured and that all Singaporeans will support their cause.”

No this isn’t the house

Ho ho ho, Santa’s dead

“Dear Father Christmas, born 12 December 1788”, said to have died on 3 December in Nordkapp, Norway’s northernmost point.

The funeral was to be held on 28 December at the “North Pole Chapel”.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35009259

 

“Selfies could cost you your life”

In Russia, in response to the number of deaths there, the Interior Ministry launched a campaign warning that “self-photography could cost you your life”.

“A selfie with a weapon kills,” the brochure read. The accompanying poster campaign listed dangerous places to take a selfie.

BBC Online

Corporate tax rates: S’pore not lowest

And UK if not that far from us.

S’poreans. Africans share this

Calling older peope Uncle, Auntie as a mark of respect

Across the African continent it is considered disrespectful for children to address an elder by their first name, whether it is a relative or a stranger. Names are always prefixed by a title such as Uncle, Auntie, Brother or Sister.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34935815

HoHoHo Do Temasek, GIC know their private equity bills?

We obviously don’t know how much the private equity firms charge Temasek and GIC or if they offer us value for money (like our millionaire ministers like RI boys Yaacob and Hng Kiang). For this thank the sheep 7o%: but do PM, Tharman, the president, and our SWFs know? The Auditor-General should not be wasting his time on helping to”fix” the Worthless Party (Tin Pei Lin type social wotkers, pretending to be Oppo politicans because of MPs get paid a lot more than social workers).

NYT Dealbook reports that even big US investors have problems calculating the costs (and benefits) of investing in PE funds.

CALPERS REVEALS PRIVATE EQUITY FEES AND PROFITS …, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System disclosed for the first time that it had paid $3.4 billion since 1990 to big private equity firms, including Carlyle, Blackstone and Apollo – an announcement that “could help to pave the way to more transparency in the private equity industry,” Alexandra Stevenson writes in DealBook. Calpers also said private equity firms’ investments generated $24.2 billion in profits over the same period, according to its new data-collecting program, called Private Equity Accounting and Reporting.

Pension funds across the country have expressed concerns about high private equity fees, which typically include a management fee of 1 to 2 percent of assets and about 20 percent of profits. But many firms also charge fees related to transactions, monitoring investments and legal work. What Calpers didn’t disclose was the breakdown of these fees, said J. J Jelincic, a member of the Calpers board. “We certainly know more than we did before,” Mr. Jelincic said. “But it’s not the complete story yet.”

Calpers has been working to streamline its external investments, announcing plans to liquidate $4 billion in hedge fund investments and to get rid of half of its external money managers. But Calpers said it wouldcontinue to invest in private equity, which had “the highest net returns” in its portfolio, according to Ted Eliopoulos, the chief executive of Calpers. The pension fund’s private equity investments have yielded a return of 11.1 percent since 1990, compared with a 9.4 percent annualized total return across the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index over the same period, Ms. Stevenson writes.

 

Media Literacy Council doesn’t think words matter?

Words don’t have have consequences, they seem to say.

Followig the shootings at a Colorado abortion clinic, Planned Parenthood (the operator of the clinic) executive vice president Dawn Laguens said, “One of the lessons of this awful tragedy is that words matter, and hateful rhetoric fuels violence. It’s not enough to denounce the tragedy without also denouncing the poisonous rhetoric that fuelled it.”

She was referring to the rhetoric of the opponents of Planned Paewnthood which includes all the Republican presidential contenders. The candidates have been condemning Planned Parenthood’s activities, some using the language that we associate with Calvin Cheng but without the claim of talking difficult philosophical issues to justify their comments.  Someone of Facebook comparing Trump’s comments with Calvin’s comments on killing ISIS. “But this one not pretending to advise public on media literacy and etiquette.”

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, more bltnt ande more partisan,called the Colorado shootings “an act of terrorism”, “Those running for president and those of us in leadership roles in our country’s major political parties have an obligation to denounce these attacks and clearly say that violence and intimidation in the pursuit of ideology are not acceptable in America.”

That “words matter, and hateful rhetoric fuels violence” is something that Calvin Cheng, a member of the Media Literacy Council, and his protector the chairman of the Media Literacy Council, Professor Tan Cheng Han) seem to have forgotten. Despite them being tasked by the PAP administration to advise S’poreans on media literacy and etiquette.

Worse they also ignore what the High Court judge in the Amos Tee case said This is not freedom of speech, this is a licence to hate, to humiliate others and to totally disregard their feelings or beliefs by using words to inflict unseen wounds”. It seems like … throwing stones at his neighbour’s flat to force the neighbour to notice him, (and) come out to quarrel.”

But let’s look on the bright side. My Facebook Avater commented:

And as Calvin Cheng and the chair of the Media literacy Council show even calling for the killing babies can be justified as not amounting to “hate speech”. //The internet has (by accident, not design) has fostered a culture in which anybody can pretend to be who they like, or give no details at all: “Nobody knows you’re a dog” as a New Yorker cartoon put it. // Calvin Cheng and Prof Tan have dropped all pretence of trying to show that they are intelligent men worthy of respect. ))))

Someone commenting on FB about this post of mine that the books of Maugham, Foster and Wilde (all greater writers) may be removed from the shelves of NLB because they are gat, said.

We clearly have a rightwing segment in society but in light of twits such as Calvin Cheng, do we have a far right loony fringe? This may not matter since the fringe is well, the fringe but one should be reminded that people like Calvin Cheng makes a beef about being part of the establishment.

Now, then ask yourself; who is more dangerous to the nation? The 30% who desire pluralism or the right wing loonies who among other things would rather Singapore violate stuff like the Geneva Convention.

I commented in reply  V.V Good points abouy people like CC claiming to be part of the establishment. And that 30% not so dangerous. Going by the way chair of MLC defends CC, we can only wonder if the real establishment shares the views of CC.

As I always tell my dogs that if they misbehave in public, they reflect badly on me. But then Calvin is no ‘dog”, he’s more of a TRE cyber-rat.

 

 

Too bad for us HoHoHo doesn’t do footie

Sheikh Mansour bought Sitty for US$360m in 2008. Now a Chinese consortium led by China Media Capital is to buy a 13% stake in Manchester City* for US$400m. That puts City’s value at US$3bn.

The Chinese are paying a rich price for the 13 percent stake in City Football Group – the holding company behind Manchester City. Including the group’s net debt, the 2 billion pounds price-tag values the enterprise at 6.1 times last year’s revenue, a Breakingviews calculation shows.

That’s an eye-watering 20 percent premium on quoted English Premier League rival Manchester United, which trades on 5.1 times trailing revenue. When Wang Jianlin, boss of Chinese property conglomerate Dalian Wanda, bought a 20 percent stake of Spain’s Atletico de Madrid in January, the implied enterprise value was 4.5 times last year’s sales.

http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/12/01/manchester-city-deal-is-good-business-for-china/

—

*And sister clubs in Melbourne and NY.

“Hate speech”: MLC chair ignores judge’s comments

(Ot “Provocation” is not freedom of speech”)

I was very disgusted by Dr Tan’s defence of Calvin Cheng a member of the Media Literacy Council of which Dr Tan chairs. His mealy-mouthy defence is here.  Calvin Cheng is white horse isit?

Here’s something my Facebook avatar  posted on Siow Kum Hong’s wall when Siow took the high moral ground that CC should not be given the AY treatment and which happens to explain my difference of opinion with prof Tan: If it waz gd enough for Mummy’s Boy Fantastic, it’s gd enough for Calvin Cheng. No double standards pls. Justice S’pore style must be done. Here’s what the high court judge said in Amos Yee’s case that applies to “Kill IS babies” MLC member Calvin Cheng: Justice Tay said: “This is not freedom of speech, this is a licence to hate, to humiliate others and to totally disregard their feelings or beliefs by using words to inflict unseen wounds”. It seems like … throwing stones at his neighbour’s flat to force the neighbour to notice him, (and) come out to quarrel.”

There’s another relevant bit even if “Kill IS babies” Cheng doesn’t use vulgar words: “Yee used coarse, hard-hitting words to arouse emotions … vulgar insults to deliberately provoke readers and draw them out,” he said, adding that the 16-year-old should “wean himself off his preference for crude, rude language (and engage in) real debate”, which can “flourish in an environment of goodwill, reasoning and civil language”.

And I’ll add to the above this for Professor Tan’s further education even if he’s a legal academic:

The fact that it was Yee’s “dominant intention” to critique Mr Lee is irrelevant, said the prosecution, led by Second Solicitor-General Kwek Mean Luck. As long as Yee had a “deliberate intention”, it is enough to prove the charge, Mr Kwek said.

Prof Tan pls note. Whatever Calvin’s intention, they are irrelevant.

Yee’s “deliberate intention” was evident, said the prosecution, as Yee himself had admitted that he was “fully aware that his remarks were bound to promote ill-will amongst the Christian population”, said Mr Kwek.

Prof Tan pls note. “Killer” Cheng has made it clear that he wants to provoke controversy i.e. trouble and ill-will.

Justice Tay noted that Yee had an “unhappy experience” in the Catholic Church. In one of his police statements, Yee said that he was “kicked out of the altar boys” for uttering a profanity at an altar boys meeting. There was therefore a background when he made the offending comments. “They were not innocent words uttered without real thought”, Justice Tay said.

Well, based on his track record of comments, it can be reasonably argued that Calvin Cheng really wants to kill babies of ISIS fighters if he is given the opportunity.

Background

Amos (Mummyy’s Boy Fantastic) had an appeal against his conviction and jail sentence dismissed by the High Court on Oct 8. was found guilty of two charges in May, after a two-day trial. He was convicted of one count of making offensive or wounding remarks against Christianity and one count of circulating obscene imagery.

Other interesting snippets_ from CNA about the appeal hearing:

— The defence argued that Yee was exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech and provoke “critical discussion”. Said Mr Dodwell: “Yes, Amos has been rude but were his actions a crime?”

— Justice Tay Yong Kwang said: “Yee used offending words against the central figure of the Christian religion.”

“Yee’s attitude of complete disregard for others … is not commonly seen. He did not respect anyone.” He had “openly defied” court orders and made sure his “bravado” was made known. Judge got this about right.

— Another of Yee’s lawyers, Mr Chong Jiahao, said that it “cannot be proven as fact” that Yee intended the comments to wound the religious feelings of Christians. “His purpose was to talk about the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew”, Mr Chong said, adding that there was no “cogent evidence” otherwise produced in court.

— On the obscene imagery charge, Justice Tay said that the image Yee circulated “must be obscene by the standards of any right-thinking society”.

Yee’s third lawyer, Mr Ervin Tan argued that the image “does not depict any genitalia” and that the district judge had used the “wrong vantage point” in determining the image to be able to deprave and corrupt young minds.

The District Judge had put herself “in the shoes of right-thinking parents and teachers of our community” and concluded that they would not approve of their children or students viewing the image, said Mr Tan, adding his view that this test is wrong and has “no foundation in law”.

“A picture does not become obscene only when genitalia is explicitly shown”, Justice Tay said. “Depravity and corruption relate essentially to the mind”, said Justice Tay.

He then challenged Mr Tan: “Would a young man bring this picture to show to his girlfriend’s family and say ‘hey, look that this funny picture’? No. Why would he not do it? Something in you says, it’s not right.”

HoHoFo: StanChart gets E grade in UK test

Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered were the weakest of Britain’s seven largest lenders in a Bank of England stress test.

For the second year, the central bank has subjected the UK’s biggest lenders to tests to measure whether they would survive a financial shock.

This time, it was assumed that oil had fallen to $38 a barrel and that the global economy had slumped.

No bank was ordered to come up with a new capital plan.

Out of the seven banks tested, RBS and Standard Chartered were found not to have enough capital strength, but both took steps to raise capital …

Standard Chartered’s chief executive Bill Winters said: “The results of the test demonstrate our resilience to a marked slowdown across the key markets in which we operate.

“The test was conducted on our balance sheet as at the end of 2014. Since then we have made further significant progress in strengthening our capital position.

“We are operating at capital levels above current minimum regulatory requirements and have a number of additional levers at our disposal to further manage capital.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34972092

HoHoHo, next yr’s test will be harder still.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34972092

The UK’s banking sector is heavily (relatively) exposed to China much more so than other countries by a country mile. The exposure is concentrated between HSBC and Standard Chartered. Loan exposure to China represents around 30% of their loan books.

By compaeison our local banks’ exposure is “peanuts”.

Btw, Aberdeen Asset Mgt is a top 10 shareholder in both banks.

Big Brother rewards you

Dubai has a new plan to encourage residents to keep fit and healthy by rewarding them with cinema tickets and free gym membership, it’s reported.

Sounds good but then

Residents will have an online account where their reward points will accumulate, with fitness apps and other technology being used to measure participation and rewards. “If someone uses the gym three times a week, the data from the gym that is registered in this programme will let us know how healthy the user has been and how many points he should receive,” says Dr al-Yousuf.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-34965670

Taz chilling.

I expect Home Team, ISD and MDA will be sending people to study how this system can be brought into use here without the rewards (“S’pore not as rich leh” PM will say), only the data gathering.

As intolerant as M’sian Talibanites? Uniquely S’porean solution

S’pore’s Moral Minority is getting as ridiculous as their M’sia counterparts. Here it’s the X’ian Ultras (“Christ was ctucified: why not LGBTs?” is my understanding of what they want) and some Muslim allies doing the intolerance, not the Muslim Talibanites, UMNO opportunists and Malay Ultras.

At least here, bigotry and intolerance cannot identified with any one religion or race or any combination thereof: thaz Harry’s multi-culturalism and multi-racism at work. Ok, OK, Harry had a side-kick named Thamby who penned “We the citizens of S’pore”.

(If time challenged, skip to the end for the serious bit, beginning with “Seriously …” about the implications of the Moral Minority calling for Adam Lambert’s removal from a really boring show).

Praise the Lord God that the much maligned (by me not least) ang moh tua kees are organising a fight-back against the growing intolerance of the X’ian Ultras. But let’s be fair. If the LGBTs and theit ang moh tua kee champions had been willing to do the buggery etc in the dark of the night, the X’ian Ultras and allies would have been cluelessly quiet. But no, the buggers insisted and their allies insisted on their right to sodomise etc in the light, not the dark: which thinking about it is rheir moral right.

A growing controversy over a Singapore concert starring openly gay US singer Adam Lambert has highlighted a widening cultural divide in the strait-laced city-state.

Lambert will be the headline act of a lavish New Year’s Eve show organised and televised live nationally by state-owned broadcaster MediaCorp.

Over the course of the week, thousands of Singaporeans have flocked online to sign two duelling petitions.

One, started on Wednesday, calls on MediaCorp and the government to drop Lambert, on account of his support for gay rights and reputation for risque performances, which it called “contrary to mainstream Singaporean values”.

Comments on the petition called Lambert’s performances “disgusting”, “disturbing” and “lewd”. “Please give more wholesome role models to our youths,” said one petitioner Elaine Lui.

A counter petition was started on Thursday night and quickly gathered steam, calling on organisers to keep Lambert as a demonstration that Singapore “shuns discrimination and promotes diverse inclusive points of view”.

“In no way whatsoever does his sexual orientation have any relation to his role as an entertainer and singer. Asking for him to be banned on TV is ludicrous and is akin to asking retailers to stop selling iPhones because [Apple has a] gay CEO,” said commenter Ivan Lin.

As of Friday evening, both petitions were neck-to-neck with thousands of signatures each …

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34941179

Uniquely S’porean solution

MediaCorp has not dropped him – but has promised that the show will conform to strict broadcast regulations and be made “suitable for family audiences”.

I.e. Boring as usual.

 

Seriously, what I found disturbing is that the loonies want Lambert to be removed not because his act was lewd, promoting a LGBT life-style etc but because he was gay.  As BBC reported. Lambert previously performed in Singapore in 2013 to few complaints. 

The logic of their view would mean that the National Library has to take out of circulation books penned by Somerset Maugham, EM Foster and Oscar Wilde. They were dood writers, who just happened to be gay.

Waz really annoying is that these bigots are silent about the other big issue of their US masters godfathers; abortion. They know that if they kick up a fuss about abortion here, there’ll be serious consequences for them personally. Govt is pro-choice and when the Act was passed in the 70s, the churches were told in no uncertain terms to sit down and shut up. Something they have done ever since: even that polo-playing pastor who comes across as wanting to use his mallet to smash LGBTs’ like the Cossacks using sabres to cut off serfs heads. Btw, the Mongols played an early form of polo using the skulls of their opponents as balls.

But on the gay issue, the local moral minority  are really brave because govt is trying to have its cale and eat it on the gat and relared issues. Not that I blame govt.

The debate over Lambert this time stems from a cultural divide in Singapore that has widened recently.

A modern and open city-state with a thriving gay scene and liberal minority, much of its society also remains deeply conservative. A religious right, supported by some Christians and Muslims, has grown in tandem with a burgeoning gay rights movement.