What the junior minister of Truth really meant

In the current environment where things happen very fast, it is critical for Singapore to continue to have a national broadcaster that people can turn to as a credible and reliable source of news.

Chee Hong Tat, Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information, said this during a visit to Mediacorp on Saturday (Jan 28)…

CNA

What he really meant is that the PAP administration needs running dogs like MediaCorp and SPH with people like Debra Soon and Sumiko Tan inside to give S’poreans the news that the PAP wants S’poreans to hear, see or read; not the news that the a free media forces* on its audience.

—————————————

Index of Press Freedom

Our Asian peer group all above us: Taiwan (51st), Hong Kong (69th), South Korea (70th) and Japan (72nd)

Our Asean nieighbours above us: Thailand (136th), Indonesia (130th), Philippines (138th), Burma (143rd) and Malaysia (146th).

The same are in the last three positions: Turkmenistan (178th), North Korea (179th) and Eritrea (180th).

———————————-

To be fair S’pore at 154th on the Index is a long way from N Korea. It’s even ahead of Brunei at 155th.  Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia somewhere lower.

Maybe the propaganda ministry’s and MDA’s ministers and bureaucrats, MediaCorp and SPH and their journalists and editors should work harder to get us down to the level of China (176th)?

Thank god, Yaacob the Info minister is a Malay, not an ambitious, hardworking, ruthless Cina like Chee Hong Tat. If he were minister he’d install a KPI that we must match at the very least China’s ranking .

—————————————————————-

*Think the lies the NYT, Washington Post and CNN feed the Americans who only have Fox and WSJ *for “fair and balanced” reporting. They are even turning to the BBC which in the UK is dissed by many conservatives as a bunch of leftists for a more nuanced view on Trump the Triumphant.

Yup I am sceptical about the “free media”. What one of the best editors in the UK wrote about his time editing the Sunday Times:

Murdoch has too much power and influence: that he controls every aspect of his newspapers on three continents, dictating an editorial before breakfast, writing headlines over lunch, and deciding which politician to discredit over dinner. He has been known to do all three. But he does not generally work like that: his control is far more subtle.

For a start he picks as his editors people like me, who are mostly on the same wavelength as he is: we started from a set of common assumptions about politics and society, even if we did not see eye to eye on every issue and have very different styles. Then he largely left me to get on with my work.

…

Editorial freedom, however, has its limits: Even when I did not hear from him and I knew his attention was elsewhere, he was still uppermost in my mind. When we did talk he would always let me know what he liked and what he did not, where he stood on an issue of the time and what he thought of a politician in the news. Such is the force of his personality that you feel obliged to take such views carefully into account. And why not? He is, after all, the owner.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/1996/12/rupert-murdoch-199612

**Both owned by Murdoch.

 

 

Advertisement

Crooked Hilary wouldn’t have done this

A ban on administration officials from ever lobbying the US on behalf of a foreign government, and a separate five-year ban on other lobbying.

True in US: True here too?

“If businesses saw more value in investing in US workers, they could have done so” was part of the headline of an article on the US on why manufacturing jobs were history in the US.

Given our low worker productivity record especially in the SME sector, it’s clear that SME owners see no value in investing in S’porean workers. Why should they, given that they have access to FTs willing to work for less than S’poreans?

So the 70% of voters that voted for the PAP are either state bureaucrats, or work in sectors not affected by FTs? Can’t be. Must be some truth that some PAP voters are as daft as anti_PAP cybernuts.

Why I like a free, irreverent press

Only UK tabloids (think TNP on steroids and smoking weed) can come up with this kind of stuff

The Daily Mirror thinks it was “like watching Julie Andrews hang out with Hugh Hefner.” The Sun’s cartoonist offers a different comparison with Beauty and the Beast in the Disney version. “Lady and the Trump” is the headline in the Daily Star.

And

Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts thinks that the late Cilla Black would have been encouraged: “the blind date was a success.”

And

The Sun can’t resist offering a formal pat on the back: “Mission accomplished, Theresa.”

The Sun reports that Jeremy Corbyn continued to have what used to be styled “a little local difficulty” with his party. “Whenever you think Labour’s chaos cannot get worse, it does.”

BBC

Origin of 100 Plus name

Found out this NY that the 100 Plus drink was given that name because 1983 the year it was introduced was the 100th anniversary of F&N, the maker.

Double standards of US MSM

It’s not fake news whrn US MSM misreports news (Bit like our ST and other constructive, nation-building media).

No wonder one of Trump’s most senior advisers calls the NYT, the Washington Post and other uS MSM publications, the “opposition party”, not the Democrats: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38766620

The latest example

Then, for a brief moment, it looked as if the White House was declaring a trade war, when reports surfaced on Twitter that Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, had said that a 20% tariff on Mexican imports would raise the necessary funds.

Those reports, it turned out, were not quite right. Mr Spicer in fact suggested that a deal was nearing on corporate tax reform. He implied that it would include the so-called “border-adjustment” Republicans in the House of Representatives have long sought. That change could pay for the wall, he said. (He later told a reporter he was only discussing “possible” policy moves).

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/01/taxes-and-tariffs

Reunion dinner sucks?

When I read this in FT: “Number of travellers venturing outside mainland set to exceed last year’s record of 5.7m” about the number of Chinese going abroad for holidays, I couldn’t help but remember something a PAP Minister said in the 90s I think. It could have been in the late 80s.

The minister was Wong Kan Seng (I think) and he was castigating those S’porean Chinese for opting out of rehunion dinners, preferring to fly off for hols in Oz, New Zealand or elsewhere where there was life during CNY.

Well the real Chinese are doing it too. Maybe they learnt it from us? Juz like they learnt from us how to Make China Great Again? At least thaz what the PAPpies tell us.

Update at 6.15am

Chu Xi is supposedly an important day for the Chinese. It is very unfortunate that most Chinese not born in a family that does not understand or follow Chinese culture and tradition have forgotten the significance of this day. Worse still, some even abandon and divorce themselves from their heritage.

There are three important things to do on Chu Xi:

• give thanks to the ancestors (祭袓)

• get together for a family reunion dinner (团年饭 / 年夜饭)

• guard the age (守岁)

https://www.facebook.com/notes/chinese-custom-festivities-by-sin-fong-chan/chu-xi-%E9%99%A4%E5%A4%95-lunar-new-years-eve/1394243867266605

How to do this if on holiday?

Don’t get distracted by what the ministers say, focus on what they don’t

Achtung Terry, and other citizen journalists. Useful ideas from a brave Russian journalist:

But in order to hold Putin – or Trump – accountable, you don’t need access to the Kremlin or the White House. Quite the opposite – having such access is a liability, because it’s a privilege you can be threatened with losing, or you can succumb to access bias. Investigations into corruption and mismanagement don’t require close relationships with state officials – quite the opposite. And even though Russian independent reporters can’t unseat Putin (nothing can, that’s not how elections work in Russia) defining public policy is one advantage their American colleagues have. So my message for covering President Trump’s administration is this: don’t get distracted by what they say, focus on what they don’t.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/23/reported-putin-journalists-trump-media

Don’t get distracted by what they say, focus on what they don’t.

When there were really floods

Jerome Lim (Mr Nostalgia) reposted something from 2011 that he put up on Facebook

And we thought that occasional pool in Orchard Road was bad … a map of the 1978 floods ..

(Remember in 201– 2011 there were several “once in every 50 years” floods within several months)

Well ministers were paid a lot less in the 70s. We got higher expectations of millionaire ministers today. Cannot isit?

Seriously, it was really good to be reminded of how bad things still were 19 years after the PAP came into power.

Bang yr balls anti-PAP cybernuts

That means u: TJS (comparing S’pore to PeenoyLand), Philip Ang, Goh Meng Seng and Oxygen and other TRE ranters. S’pore’s not on this list

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2017/jan/23/10-most-unaffordable-cities-housing-in-pictures

Vote PAP?

After all, unlike HK (most unaffordable place and where Goh Meng Seng lives, saying its a lot cheaper than S’pore*) we got a decent, if expensive, public housing here.

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*He got paid-up property there isit? Paid for by CIA for fixing the Oppo, election after election isit?

TerrexGate: Lest we forget

So our APCs have been released just ahead of Chinese New Year.

But let’s not let our PM and his cabinet of illionaires (Bet u they looking with envy at Trump’s cabinet of billionaires with envy: and wondering how to become that rich?. Remember it was a PAPpy MP who said he couldn’t respect people not well paid?) off the hook.

They were on auto pilot when it came to using Taiwan as a training area. I wrote this in December:

If this true, why are we still training in Taiwan?

In China on 01/12/2016 at 4:31 am

Singapore … has gradually reduced the number of Starlight personnel sent to Taiwan for training in recent years to as few as 3,000, but there are still at least three military bases in Taiwan for use by the project.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2050097/singapores-refusal-halt-military-ties-taiwan-prompted

At one time, in any given year 20,000 S’poreans were training in Taiwan.

——————————————

Starlight Project dates back to early 1974, when LKY signed a secret deal with his Taiwanese counterpart Chiang Ching-kuo during a visit to Taiwan.

Based on that confidential agreement, Singapore has sent nearly 20,000 troops to Taiwan for training on a yearly basis. Joint military exercises went on even after Singapore shifted its formal diplomatic relations from Taiwan to mainland China in 1990.

SCMP

———————————————

The SCMP also says that according to Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Dong,
Beijing had years ago tried to convince Singapore to replace its military training bases in Taiwan with alternatives on Hainan.

“The mainland side promised to provide the Singaporean military with a closer and larger place in Hainan [than that used in Taiwan] for military exercises, but Singapore rejected the offer,” Wong said.

Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Dong says S’pore rejected the offer because of strong opposition from the US. The US was (and is) concerned because US military secrets could be leaked because S’pore uses American weapon systems.

If only 3,000 are sent to Taiwan a tear, why continue especially as we are now training in Oz in a big way. We are expansing the facilities there.

Auto-pilot at work isit, while millionaire minsters looking at their daily bank statements and monthly CPF statements?

The difference between “alternative news” and “fake news”

The “We love Hilary. Trump sucks” equates the term “alternative news” (used by Trump’s right hand woman when talking about the size of the inauguration crowd) with “fake news”. They have a point on the issue of the size of the crowds going by the photos.

But isn’t this a good example of the proper use of the term “alternative news”?

Mr Spicer said it was “unquestionable” that Mr Trump’s inauguration “was the most watched” ever.

Although Ronald Reagan’s was top in terms of television figures, attracting 41.8 million viewers, Mr Spicer pointed out that the 30.6 million who tuned in to see Mr Trump take the oath of office did not include the millions who watched the ceremony online.

(Extract from a BBC report)

The usual suspects are dissing this argument but really I can’t follow what they are trying to say. All I know is that they are not calling this “fake news” and this I suspect makes them madder.

The Trumpeters are telling a lot of lies but the “We love Hilary” MSM (because they are so emotional that Trump Triumphant cocked a snook at them and won) are letting the Trumpeters get away with murder.

From NYT Dealbook on another reason ehy MSM is so upset:

DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION

Trump Shows How to Smother a Scandal: With a Bigger Story

By BRENDAN NYHAN

As one would-be controversy rapidly succeeds another, it’s clear that there’s only so much the news media and the public can focus on at once.

PAP’s Talk Cock King

Seems the PAP has a Talk Cock King where once it only had Queen Jos: the Talk Cock Queen

The world as we know it is at an inflection point, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Friday (Jan 13) – and as such, the ability to change and adapt is especially relevant today as fundamental rules will change; and with it, the fate of nations.

Err why say this when Ownself not willing to be flexible Ownself?

Think of the many Hard Truths that have become obsolete if not outright dangerous. Examples: Forced savings of 36%, minimal welfare sprnding to prevent “welfarism”, reserves must keep growing, Mindef’s 25% share of the Budget is sacrosanct and not subject to outside scrutiny.

Then there was this whopper late last year just after US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made it clear that the US was out to “contain” China.

“It is neither possible nor strategically necessary to contain China’s rise … China is now an integral leader of global systems of trade, finance and security. It is clear that China needs the world as much as the world needs China, and I think this interdependence will grow, not diminish,” he said at the forum in Simi Valley, California, attended by US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, foreign defence ministers and members of the US Congress.

CNA — early December

Just before the speech to the Americans, it seems he was removed from the party’s CEC, its highest decision-making body. Reports say he was not even on the ballot. Parliamentary speaker Halimah Yacob was elected in his place.

Maybe he’s on the way out? Tot he was one of PM’s inner team alongside Teo, Tharman and Shan.

S’pore angle in major UK corruption case?

Rolls-Royce admitted last week a series of bribery and corruption offences around the world (some going back decades) as part of a £671m settlement with the UK, US and Brazilian authorities. In SE Asia, Garuda, AirAsia and Thai executives at the time have been implicated. In Indonesis, the govt has announced an investigation against previous management.

So it is interesting to read in today’s FT that

Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau said that it was “working closely with the relevant authorities” in connection with the investigation into Rolls-Royce.

Does this mean SIA executives are being investigated?

Get in the case Terry’s Online Channel.

KS parents should download this app

The BBC reports that a Lebanese-born enterpreneur has developed in Lebanon

Play My Way, an educational way to stop children spending too much time on their smartphones and tablets.

At parent-specified intervals, Play My Way interrupts any running app with an educational question and will only return to the app once the question is answered.

Of clearly global appeal, last month the app was the third most downloaded app, not in Lebanon, but in the UK.

http://www.playmyway.com/

Makes you think of Amos?

And of The Indians (Or is it Idiots?) — S’pore?

And the cybernuts? Be they PAPpyists (Kishore, Jason Chua and Eunice Chia-Lim) and anti-PAPyists (TRELands ranters like Oxygen, and Philip Ang, Tan Jee Say, Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui).

Another* key ingredient in the post-truth culture, says Prof Grayling, has been the rise of social media.

It’s not the soundbite any more, but the “i-bite”, he says, where strong opinion can shout down evidence.

“The whole post-truth phenomenon is about, ‘My opinion is worth more than the facts.’ It’s about how I feel about things.

“It’s terribly narcissistic. It’s been empowered by the fact that you can publish your opinion. You used to need a pot of paint and a balaclava to publish your opinion, if you couldn’t get a publisher.

“But all you need now is an iPhone. Everyone can publish their opinion – and if you disagree with me, it’s an attack on me and not my ideas.

“The fact that you can muscle your way on to the front row and be noticed becomes a kind of celebrity.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-38557838

Do read the essay, even if it’s a bit long.

—————————————–

*”The world changed after 2008,” says Prof Grayling – politics since the financial crash has been shaped by a “toxic” growth in income inequality.

As well as the gap between rich and poor, he says a deep sense of grievance has grown among middle-income families, who have faced a long stagnation in earnings.

With a groundswell of economic resentment, he says, it is not difficult to “inflame” emotions over issues such as immigration and to cast doubt on mainstream politicians.

 

Trump closes down China

Came across this on Facebook posted by FB pal who didn’t attribute it

Trump’s latest Tweet:

“One week after I take office, China will completely shut down. Factories will stop production, shops will close, stock markets will not trade, and government will grind to a halt.

The wealthy will flee overseas with their families, citizens desperately trade the RMB for foreign currency, doors all across the country will be plastered with red notices. Supermarket food stock will be depleted and food prices will rise.

The people who stay will have nothing to do except day-long drinking and gambling. There will be sound of gunfire on the streets for days!”

China foreign ministry replied on Weibo: “That’s Chinese New Year, you dumb ass.”

A rounding-up error?

Come on NYT. I didn’t hear u complaining about how the Clintons made money and peedled influence. And anyway, really rich people don’t know how much they are worth.

Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Nominee, Failed to Disclose $100 Million in Assets By ALAN RAPPEPORT Mr. Mnuchin, who is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, also did not list his role as a director of an investment fund in the Cayman Islands on a questionnaire.

 

Downside of a balanced life style

When PAP ministers (and even PM himself) talk about a balanced life style and working shorter hours, it’s time to relook the ideas. I mean “PAPpies are always wrong”?

In Sweden, Happiness in a Shorter Workday Can’t Overcome the Cost

By LIZ ALDERMAN

A six-hour experimental workday in one of Sweden’s largest cities made employees happier and healthier, but the test is unlikely to be expanded.

NYT Dealbook

Davos elite and PAP ministers are related?

They talk the same way because they share the same world view?

This u/m from NYT’s Dealbook shows what the Davos elite thinks of the 99%: the plight of the plebs (poor and the middle class) is no fault of the elite, it’s their own fault.

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Who defines meritocracy? Those who made it.

—————————————-         ————————————————

And the remedy? Emulate the Davos elite.

The Davao elite talk of more “entrepreneurialism … and education focused on the modern ways of technology” but not wealth distribution or paying workers more.

At least they don’t talk of welfarism, or sneer openly at the elderly poor for wanting slightly better food like a PAP minister once did.

Seriously, doesn’t this emphasis on “entrepreneurialism … and education focused on the modern ways of technology” sound like PM or a PAP minister talking (think the recent comments by an education minister). And isn’t the silence on wealth distribution and higher wages equally true here?

So it’s very appropriate that the sneerer-in-chief is attending Davos.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and Trade and Industry Sim Ann will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from Tuesday (Jan 17) to Friday.

CNA

Dealbook’s take on the WEF

By Amie Tsang

People are angry at the economic elite.

So the economic elite have gathered in the Swiss Alps to discuss this.

And what do they suggest? People who have not benefited from globalization need to try harder to emulate those who have succeeded.

“People have to take more ownership of upgrading themselves on a continuous basis,” Abidali Neemuchwala, the chief executive of the information technology and consulting company Wipro, said at one event.

Little discussed ideas: bolstering the power of workers to bargain for better wages and redistributing wealth from the top to the bottom.

“That agenda is anathema to a lot of Davos men and women,” said Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate economist and author of numerous books on globalization and economic inequality.

If that remains the case, the global populism insurrection may continue apace.

Fake news about Chinese port investments here isit?

Recently the anti-PAP cybernuts have been gleefully predicting the economic demise of S’pore what with a recent spate of reports on Chinese initiatives

— China and M’sia to build a major port in Malacca;

—  China was looking to build the Kra Canal; and

— the first freight train to make the journey to the UK.

They are saying part China wants to take business away from our port ha, ha ha.

One Eugene Tavano has been particularly vocal on TRE especially on the freight train service, not realising are already regular train services* to Germany (and Spain I think), which have not affected S’pore’s port. But then cybernuts are like that: blur factually. Think Tan Jee Say (who compares our economy unfavourably with that of PeenoyLand instead of with HK, Taiwan or  South Korea), and Philip Ang and Roy Ngerng (on our reserves etc).

Eugene Tavano (What a Peenoy sounding name: FT here?) is also been very vocal on the M’sian port.

So maybe they know that the u/m is “fake” news? But when another cybernut posted links on Facebook about the M’sian port and Kra canal projects, gleefully predicting gloom for S’pore. I posted the u/m link on Chinese investment here and asked if was fake news? No response.

Most likely then the nuts don’t seem to realise that there’s a 2016 Chinese agreeement to invest in three new megaberths here which will ensure S’pore maintains its global ranking.

Hong Kong-based COSCO Pacific and PSA Singapore have signed a new investment agreement in Shanghai, China today to co-invest in three new mega berths at the Phases 3 and 4 expansion of the Pasir Panjang Terminal which was opened last year.

The investment will be implemented through a joint venture Cosco-PSA Terminal (CPT) and allow for the arrival of mega container ships at the new container berths in anticipation of trade growth and growth in size of boxships plying the international waters.

The new mega berths are slated to begin operations from 2017. According to PSA, they will be fully integrated with PSA’s infrastructure and supported by the automated and intelligent port technologies.

“The co-investment agreement is strategically important to both partners and will help them up their competitive game. It is also a clear demonstration of China COSCO Shipping’s confidence in Singapore as a well-connected transhipment hub. I believe the project will also contribute positively to China’s Maritime Silk Road initiative and “One Belt, One Road” vision,” said Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Josephine Teo.

COSCO Pacific is a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping, which was formed following the merger of China‬’s two largest shipping companies, COSCO Group and China Shipping Group. The merger created the 4th largest container shipping line in the world.

Cosco Pacific and PSA formed Cosco-PSA Terminal Pte Ltd (CPT) in 2003 to manage and operate two berths at Pasir Panjang Terminal.

http://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/187056/cosco-pacific-psa-to-invest-in-mega-berths-in-singapore/

*Update at 2.00pm: The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, doesn’t have any goods on this particular train but does use rail to carry toys, electrical goods, homeware and clothing from China to European rail hubs such as Bratislava in Slovakia and Krasnaje in Belarus.

BBC report

 

PAP should introduce this tax here

“If you do not have a job in Belarus you have to pay the government a fine,” reported the BBC, late last year.

Belarus is another de-facto one party state but a really poor one.

Seriously, given that the cybernuts like Philip Ang and Tan Jee Say have so much free time to talk rubbish about the PAP administration, time to implement a policy that if you do not have a job in S’pore you have to pay the government a fine. Retirees and rentiers like me exempted, of course.

Congrats TOC, but pls be careful

TOC cocked a snook at the PAP administration and won a famous victory, courtesy of the Court of Appeal. Well done.

But this will only make the Dark Side strike back and they have a dagger furnished by FTs (?) in TOC.

Yang also revealed that he and his wife Ai Takagi (and co-director of TRS) were slapped with over 200 copyright infringement claims by Singapore Press Holdings. He said unlike other large companies such as Yahoo! Inc which also faced similar copyright infringement claims in the past by SPH, this impacted their lives directly in a major way.

This was published by TISG (The Idiots — S’pore, or is it The Indians — S’pore?) in late December. Ironically one of those who seemingly do cut and paste from SPH is none other than The Idiots — S’pore.

Well I don’t really care about The Idiots — S’pore getting sued and being taken to the cleaners by SPH, even if it’s now sounding like the WP’s Hammer Online even though (or perhaps?) a tua kee there boasts of the following:

Among his current editorial clients are NTUC Media, Petir (PAP magazine), North-East CDC and South-West CDC.

(More.)

But I do care about Terry’s Online Channel (or TOC) being getting sued and being taken to the cleaners by SPH. Its fought the good fight and keeps on fighting.

TOC writers really should take care in their articles. Often the pieces look like they’ve been lifted off ST with very minor alternations. Even the story angles are the same as ST’s.

___

Comment from TOC reader (one Adtian Tan) on a piece on water supply from Johor:

TOC, somethink to think about. What value does this article add to the news MSM published a day or two ago? Could apply to a lot of recent stuff from TOC on news that MSM covered a day or two earlier. It’s the different angle we want. If can’t find it, then don’t waste yr resources and our time.

____

There is room to use ST reported facts in a creative way. Richard Wan (ex-TRE editor who retired after GE 2015) was good at it. He used ST reported facts but gave different perspectives.

Terry himself is pretty good at this when he does it. But sadly his in-house writers (cheap FTs isit?) are unable to do this to save their lives.

Maybe Richard Wan should come of retirement and write for TOC?

Whatever, come on TOC etc, the constructive, nation-building media is full of useful, precious nuggets that can be mined and used to undermine the PAP’s hegemony. All that’s needed is intelligent cutting and pasting. But that requires thinking.

Another day, I’ll make constructive, nation-building suggestions that I hope TOC considers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to trust SPH reporting?

Here’s an example of how our constructive, nation-building media by omitting a fact misleads readers (intentionally or not).

It reports the Sultan of Johor attacking Tun M for attacking the Forest City where 700,ooo apartments are being developed with the hope to sell to PRC Chinese.

“If investors wish to pump money into Johor Baru, do we say ‘no, no, if you are from China, you cannot come’.

 “Is there such logic? Anyone in their right mind knows that Chinese investors are among the richest and most influential now.

“So why should there be a pro­blem? I welcome all investors,” Sultan Ibrahim said.

Read Also: Mahathir takes aim at China investments in key party speech

“Dr Mahathir thinks it is easy to play up race because these investors happen to be from China.

“This is utterly disgusting,” he added.

His Royal Highness said that Ma­lay­sian companies, with Chinese and Malay collaboration, would also benefit from the setting up of these mainland Chinese companies here.

– See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/johor-sultan-throws-mahathir-challenge#xtor=CS3-17

What the report omitted is that the sultan has a personal interest in the project. He’s an investor with a Chinese developer.

If we cannot rely on an SPH publication to give us the facts on a “foreign” story, can we trust it to give us the facts when the story is local? After all its publications are supposed to be constructive, and nation-building.

Ong Ye Kung: A study in failure

If his appointment as minister, and rise and rise since 2012,  is the PAP’s idea of meritocracy, give me nepotism any day (See last para of article in link).

He was Executive Secretary of NTWU (Nation Transport Workers’ Union) and a non-executive director of SMRT when SMRT’s S’porean and FT drivers had problems with salaries or working conditions. Even Zorro Lim (his ex boss) seemed to criticise him.

Here’s something I wrote after he resigned from NTUC in 2012. Slightly edited.

Meritocracy’s feet of clay: Ong Ye Kung

Our nation-building constructive media are ignoring the white elephant in the space where of the circles of TLCs/GLCs, PAP, NTUC and the civil service meet: sometimes also known as S’pore Inc.

Once upon a time, Ong Ye Kung, was S’pore Inc’s poster boy of meritocracy.

Just in April 2011, before the May GE, our nation-building constructive media praised him as an example of meritocracy at work. Son of a Barisan Socialist MP (and no friend of one LKY), he was a scholar* who rose to a senior civil service post**, then became a senior NTUC leader, and then a PAP MP candidate. It was whispered that he was Zorro Lim’s anointed successor as NTUC chief; and was tipped by ST as a future candidate for ministerial office. He did became the NTUC’s Deputy Secretary-General in June 2011.

But by then his slave worker drawn chariot had gotten stuck in the mud . He was a member of George Yeo’s losing Aljunied GRC team. Worse was to follow in 2012: the wheels came off his chariot of gold and ivory and he was thrown-off, and cast into the darkness and mud and became a person that the constructive, nation-building media knew not.

Earlier this year, SMRT’s S’porean drivers made known publicly their unhappiness over pay proposals that had his endorsement as Executive Secretary of NTWU (Nation Transport Workers’ Union). As he was also a non-executive director of SMRT, if he were an investment banker, a US judge would have rebuked and censured him for his multiple, conflicting roles.

Then he resigned, effective last month, from NTUC to “join the private sector”.

In perhaps a farewell, good-riddance gesture, FT PRC workers went on strike (illegally) and we learnt:

— they lived in sub-standard accommodation (SMRT admitted this);

— unlike most SBS FT PRC drivers, most of SMRT’s PRC drivers were not union members; and

— Ministry of Manpower reprimanded SMRT for its HR practices.

All this reflects badly on Ong: NTUC’s Deputy Secretary-General, Executive-Secretary of NTWU and SMRT non-executive director. And on the system that allowed him to rise to the top. After all his ex-boss said the following reported on Friday, which given Ong’s multiple roles in SMRT, can reasonably be interpreted as criticism of Ong:

In his first comments on the illegal strike, which saw 171 workers protesting over salary increases and living conditions, the Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) said the labour dispute “shouldn’t have happened” and “could have been avoided”. [So where was Ong: looking at his monthly CPF statements and being happy?]

NTUC is thus reaching out to SMRT’s management to persuade them “to adopt a more enlightened approach to embrace the union as a partner”, he added. [Hello, NTUC’s Deputy Secretary-General was on SMRT’s board, so what waz he doing?]

Mr Lim, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Labour Movement Workplan Seminar, cited the example of SMRT’s rival SBS Transit where nine in 10 of its China bus drivers are union members. Only one in 10 of SMRT’s China bus drivers are union members, according to union sources. [So, why didn’t Ong advise SMRT to help unionise these FTs, and if he did, why didn’t NTUC push harder ehen SMRT refused?]

SBS Transit’s management “recognised the constructive role of the union”, while union leaders “played the role of looking after the interests of the drivers”, said Mr Lim.

“And as a result … they work very closely as one team, it’s a win-win outcome. In terms of how workers are being treated and respected, how management are responsive, how they work together, I think it’s a kind of model that we ought to see more and more in Singapore.” (Today)

Apparently, Ong is supposed to join his father-in-law’s property development business: but with this revelations, it should come as no surprise if his in-law’s family has reservations about him: he might mismanage and upset the workers. Property development companies are fragile because of their leverage: they can’t afford executives who can’t execute***.

---

————————————————————————————–

And here’s another post (Links to TRE outdated):

TRE says it all about Ong Ye Kung, NTUC & SMRT

In Humour on 10/04/2013 at 6:54 am

TRE posted these articles in the following order on its front page.

NTUC claims credit for unionising SMRT PRC bus drivers

In a recent hour-long phone interview with 2 journalists from Yahoo! Singapore, former SMRT bus driver…

185 SMRT PRC bus drivers had petitioned MOM in 2010

 

Ong Ye Kung as a director of SMRT should have known about the plight of the bus drivers. But as union leader of the bus driver, he did nothing. And NTUC is now claiming credit for unionisg PRC drivers? Why now only after a strike? But let’s be fair, maybe NTUC leaders are like the many readers of TRE who “hate” all things PRC. See all the negative stories TRE carries from the Western media about China which pander to these readers.

---

—————————————————————————————————

And if anyone is wondering about the origins and meaning of the term “feet of clay”:

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. (Daniel 2:31-33)

…

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. (Daniel 2:41-43)

————————————————————————————-

*From 1993 to 1999, he was in the then Ministry of Communications, where he helped develop the Land Transport White Paper and was part of the team which established Singapore’s Land Transport Authority. Taz right, he was there at the beginning of the great SMRT cock-up.

**He was the Principal Private Secretary to one Lee Hsien Loong, then became the CEO of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency.

***He joined Keppel. And as a shareholder, I’m very glad he took a big salary but did nothing. He’s the fourth kind of guy described below.

General Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, a chief of the German Army between the two world wars, is reoted to have said “I divide my officers into four classes as follows: The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities.

Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.”

 

Difference between Star Wars & Star Trek

One’s about capitalist values, the other’s about commie values.

In an interview with Maureen Dowd, Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and an early Trump Trumpeter

explained why he likes the “capitalist show” Star Wars more than the “communist one,” Star Trek.

TPP sucked but only cybernuts celebrate its demise

Why it sucked

Economists, int’l media and our local media say

The TPP, which brings together 12 Asia-Pacific countries accounting for roughly 40 per cent of global GDP as signatories, is often hailed as a seminal trade framework that will enable exporters to benefit from the removal of duties on more types of goods than previous trade agreements provided for.

BT

Well this letter made it to the Economist’s “best letters from our readers in 2016. Our letters editor picks submissions that sum up the year”. It tells us what conventional wisdom omits

Why they’re right
A lot of what you said in your leader on trade and globalisation made sense, but those who oppose trade deals are not “wrong” (“Why they’re wrong”, October 1st). Free-trade deals have changed remarkably since the repeal of the Corn Laws in the 1840s. Accords such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement are more about protecting the interests of large multinational corporations than they are about reducing costs for consumers and promoting competition.

These deals expand intellectual property rights, increase patent protections and enable foreign companies to sue governments for alleged losses of potential profits in supranational courts through “investor-state dispute settlements”. This is what the protesters are most opposed to: noxious provisions that boost the economic power of large corporations at the expense of democratic governments, smaller businesses and individual citizens.

TOBY SANGER
Economist
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Ottawa

And there was this too:

Globalisation is inevitable, but the current configuration favouring neoliberal politics and economics is not. It is entirely possible to integrate domestic economies in ways that do not favour capital over labour or inequality over equality. More social democracy would address that.

The case for free trade has rested on a confusion between two notions of efficiency: Kaldor-Hicks and Pareto. Free-trade agreements are Kaldor-Hicks efficient because they produce overall net gains to welfare, but they are not Pareto efficient in that they do not make some better off without making some worse off. Economists and politicians have been too quick to point to the former type of efficiency but ignore or downplay the latter, thus producing a backlash.

Something is Kaldor-Hicks efficient not only if it actually maximises net wealth but also when losers are compensated for their losses. Somewhere along the line economists and politicians forgot this part of the equation.

PROFESSOR DAVID SCHULTZ
Editor
Journal of Public Affairs Education
St Paul, Minnesota

But why it matters to us

But for its faults, the anti-PAP cybernuts like the TRE ranters, Tan Jee Say, Goh Meng Seng, Philip Ang if they really care about their fellow S’poreans (which incidentally I don’t think they do. They are S’pore haters.) are wrong to cheer the defeat of an initiative where PM invested so much time, and effort.

As BT says

The setback for the TPP comes at a crucial time for Singapore, which is in the middle of drawing up a blueprint for its future economy – one in which internationalisation figures prominently, in order for its economy to grow externally.

And growing Singapore’s external pie has become increasingly crucial, given that its economy can expect a “new normal” of only 2-3 per cent annual growth, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in September.

…

Although it is expected to boost Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) by only 2 per cent by 2025, the increased trade activity is expected to strengthen the city state’s role as a regional entrepot hub.

Forget the BS about “a blueprint for its future economy” (such a plan comes around once every decade) but we benefit from globalisation especially in trade and finance, both of which are slowing down.

---

Martin Wolf of the FT on the global trade slowdown

“Between 1960 and 2015, world trade increased at an average rate of 6.6 per cent, in real terms, while output grew at an average rate of 3.5 per cent. Between 2008 and 2015, however, average annual growth of world trade was 3.4 per cent in real terms, while world output grew at 2.4 per cent. Not only has the growth of trade slowed, but the gap between trade growth and that of output also fell sharply.”

——————————————

And as PM said, S’pore would find it very difficult to get as advantageous terms, in bi-lateral deals. We are too small.

So even if PM is gross over-paid compared to Ah Beng, Mat, Gregoh or Ah Neh, let’s not diss him for trying to secure the TPP and failing. Juz KPKB that he should take a 90% pay cut but won’t for failing a KPI that is really impt for S’pore.

 

 

Ang moh helps Amos, S’pore Dissident wants money

Here I reported that a anti-PAP nut based in the US refused to help Amos unless he was paid to do so. A real S’porean. Harry would be proud of him even though he’s a anti-PAP and a nut. (Btw, the two terms are not synonymous. Think Chris K, and Drs Wee Paul and Ang. Though often they are. Think Philip Ang,Tan Jee Say, Roy Ngerng and the TRELand cybernuts.)

But a good-hearted ang moh, a Maryland-based lawyer Sandra Grossman

is representing Yee free of charge, she said the case is ‘worthwhile’ because of the issues involved. “This is a case that will force us to look at our own national interest in free speech,” she said.

Amos has to pay her travelling expenses (He’s detained in the mid-West, Maryland’s on the East Coast) estimated at US$10,000, and el cheapo is asking for donations.

Whatever happened to the millions he claimed to have made from dissing LKY, the Catholic Church and Islam? Lied about his millions isit? How we know he not lying about his poverty?

Oh and Amos will be asking for even more money. Asylum appications can takeyears to process and usually applicants are freed from detention so that yhey can’t scrounge off the state while their application is processed.

Btw, shows how dumb he is, applying to the US for asylum. In Europe, he’d likely be provided with free board and lodging while his application is processed.

Chinese need good quality sperm

The new white gold for countries that feed this Chinese deficency?

Researchers set out to evaluate semen quality among young Chinese men over the past 15 years, and the results are fairly staggering: In 2001, the rate of qualified donors to a clinic in Hunan Province stood at 55.8%; in 2015, that was slashed by more than two-thirds to 17.8%, per the study, which looked at 30,636 sperm-donor applicants and was published in October in Fertility and Sterility.

 The analysis showed that semen parameters worsened: sperm concentration, total sperm count, sperm progressive motility, and normal morphology all showed declines. In terms of sperm morphology—that is, its size and shape—the percentage that were normal went from 31.8% to 10.8%.

The Financial Times reports the researchers did not identify a reason for the drop, but they did speculate: “increased environmental pollution, including pollution of water, air and food” could be one cause, they say.

The FT says the problem doesn’t appear to be restricted to Hunan based on local media reports or the experts it spoke with. The Times of London reported earlier this month that the decrease in quality coincides with a rise in demand, leading a number of what it reports are China’s 17 sperm banks to up the compensation offered (some are advertising a new iPhone) or loosening donor stipulations regarding donor height or education level.

URL

Maybe taz why PAP wants FTs. Going by our birth rates, our Chinese men also seem to have similar problems.

Trump is the Greatest

“Oh to be a sketchwriter in America” – declares Quentin Letts in the Mail. “Mr Trump is a politician, Jim, but not as we know it,” he writes. “He doesn’t do wriggling and lawyerly evasions. He doesn’t do dainty detours or (ridiculous thought) charm. He just comes out and smashes his critics on the nose.”

BBC

Mad Dog is Trump’s restrainer

No, not our Dr Chee but “Mad Dog” Mattis or James Mattis, the retired general nominated to be secretary of defence

When Democrats and Republicans look to “Mad Dog” Mattis to restraint Trump, you know there’s a problem.

“Mad Dog” Mike is the nickname of Mattis. A soldier’s soldier, and a well-regarded military intellectual and strategist, he was fired by Obama for adopting “aggressive” tactics against Iran when he was commander of Central Command which is responsible for the Middle East theatre.

Mental illness is no excuse for dangerous driving

Taz what I tot when I read in today’s ST

A man was charged in court on Thursday (Jan 12) with driving a car in a dangerous manner along the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) at about 1.40am on Jan 5.

Brandon Ng Hai Chong, 30, allegedly drove against the flow of traffic.

His lawyer, Mr Luke Lee, told District Judge Carol Ling that his client has a medical condition and has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

He said Ng had also been diagnosed with depression and is regularly seeing a psychiatrist.

…

The lawyer added that prior to this current case, his client had been sent to jail and had also been put on probation.

However, he did not mention the nature of Ng’s earlier convictions.

And guy still allowed to drive? He could be another Lim Chai Heng?

It was not an excuse to drive a Mercedes Benz against the flow of traffic, killing and injuring others in “lesser”* cars. Someone by the name of Adrian Tan said on Facebook that using a Mercedes in this way was like firing an assault rifle into a crowded room.

The son of Lim Chai Heng said his father was depressed, and apologised.

Let’s recap the facts.

A 53-year-old businessman, Lim Chai Heng was initially charged by the police on Dec 20 for an offence of Rash Act Causing Death (The charge was a holding charge so that he could be detained while the police decided whether to charge him with a more serious offence, say murder). He drove a Mercededs Benz against the flow of traffic.

On Jan 3 the charge was amended. He is now accused of committing culpable homicide when he drove his Mercedes Benz against the flow of traffic along AYE and hit Mr Liong Kuo Hua’s car at 8.02am on Dec 19, 2016. The maximum penalty for culpable homicide is 10 years’ jail and a fine.

He is remanded for psychiatric evaluation at Complex Medical Centre in Changi Prison until Jan 24.

As his son was sitting beside him , I hope the police investigate the son in an ice-cold interrogation room: why he allow his dad to do what he did? Want to win “Most filial son” award isit?

---

What the Mercedes Benz driver did:

Lim, who was driving a silver Mercedes car at high speed against traffic flow during morning rush hour, had crashed into several other vehicles, killing media personality Liong Kuo Hwa, 37, and leaving three others – excluding Lim himself – seriously injured.

The trail of destruction saw four cars, one motorcycle and one private bus wrecked, and the wall of the expressway before the Tuas West Road exit severely damaged.

Today

————————————–

No defence for physical abuse

Well the son should by now realise that in another case,

Despite the accused’s claims that her obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) led her to starve her Filipino maid, a judge on Thursday (Dec 22) ruled that Chong Sui Foon’s preoccupation with cleanliness would not have led her to restrict the quantity of food given to the victim.

District Judge Low Wee Ping was delivering his findings on whether Chong’s mental condition was linked to her committing the offence, and which would have a bearing on her sentencing to be meted out in February.

ST

---

ST also reported

In March, Chong and her husband, Lim Choon Hong, both 48, were found guilty of starving Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, causing her weight to drop from 49kg to 29kg within 15 months.

Lim, a freelance trader, faces one charge under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which requires employers to be responsible for the maintenance of their foreign employees, including providing them with adequate food. Chong faces one count of abetting her husband in committing the offence.

---

Glancing at ST reports of court cases, one gets the impression that a specialist can be conjured up to come up with some sort of mental illness for any person on trial. The exception was Amos Yee but then he didn’t have the money for a lawyer didn’t he? The lawyers representing him were doing pro bono work. So he couldn’t afford to pay for a mental health specialist to say that he had a mental illness.

Or maybe Amos is a cheap-skate. He claimed to have made millions from his videos.

————————————–

*One Ivan Gan posted: “I think Mercedes is safer. At least kill other driver, I am safe inside. Good killing machine. Just pay few K fine and free again.”

“We Mercedes driver has right to drive in any direction we prefer. Other driver must give way to us Merc driver. “Other driver just go back suck thumb inside your piece of junk. Haha.”

After he got whacked on Facebook, he too used the depression excuse

Ivan Goh should join Lim in Woodbridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chewing gum maker goes to the dogs

When pet food becomes a sweet maker’s largest business, will the recipes for sweets and chocs be tweaked to suit dogs eather than humans? Mars Bets on Pets

M&M’s and chocolate bars may be what you think of when you hear the name Mars, but the company’s business will become furrier in nature after it agreed to pay $7.7 billion for VCA, a company that owns animal hospitals and dog day care franchises that operate under the name Camp Bow Wow.

VCA will still operate as a separate business unit under Mars Petcare, which already used VCA’s lab services in its veterinary businesses. Talks about a deal began after Mars approached the company in November.

Petcare, chocolate and Wrigley now contribute 90 percent of sales for Mars, and Petcare will become the largest business for the company, with VCA adding about $2 billion in revenue.

NYT Dealbook

When PAP boasts about FDI, remember this

It’s the time of the year when the PAP administration will do via the EDB its regular Trump-like claim that it met the FDI target for the previous year, and talk about jobs and value-add to the economy.

So remember this extract from the Economist, the PAP’s real bible or sacred text*

But these days FDI does not always result in a new factory, research facility or office building, with new jobs to match it. Often it amounts to a transfer of intangible assets for the purpose of lowering corporate tax.

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21707836-foreign-direct-investment-mostly-welcome-large-short-term-flows-spell-trouble

*Singkies real dumb. No need pay millions for ministers. Juz subscribe to the Economist.

When the Progressives lie, it’s not a lie

See how the NYT Dealbook reports and analyses the news when a standard bearer of the hard left misrepresents the truth about Trump’s appointees. If it had been Trump who got his facts wrong, I’m sure the headline would be screaming that Trump is lying.

LKY has a point about muzzling the media

Trump Appointees’ Taxes

“Not only is Donald Trump giving a gang of billionaires control of our government, he’s offering them a special tax break just for signing up.”

So said Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, when criticizing how the tax code allows government appointees to defer paying taxes on stock sales.

Not true, says Andrew Ross Sorkin. The crucial point is that the taxes are deferred — not eliminated.

If there is a benefit, it allows executives to diversify out of their own stock. But if they want to cash out and buy a house, for example, they will pay the full tax bill. Some, like Steven T. Mnuchin, the nominee for Treasury secretary, may actually lose money on some of the assets they have to sell because their holdings are in illiquid assets, like private equity funds, that have to be offloaded at a discount.

Of all the potential conflicts of interest that Mr. Trump and his cabinet picks may present, the tax treatment they receive in this instance is not one of them, Mr. Sorkin writes.

Protest S’pore style?

Here the only place one can protest without a permit is at Hong Lim Green (Still must register). Otherwise a police permit is needed which evidence shows is only granted to PAPpy running dogs like NTUC.

So maybe we can learn from the Sudanese

Instead of taking to the streets or marching towards a ministry or the presidential palace to express their concerns, as they have done in the past, Sudanese protesters are doing something much simpler – staying at home.

Some students have not gone to their school or university; workers have not turned up at the office; even some government employees have not shown up for work. This tactic of “civil disobedience” has been tried before – in November the protesters held a three day “stay-at-home” strike.

Activists tweeted photos of empty streets and offices, particularly on the first couple of days. By day three, most people were back at work.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38364197

So maybe the next time Gilbert Goh wants S’poreans to protest about immigration or Roy Ngerng (Remember him?) wants to relaunch his “Return My CPF” campaign (to regain his celebrity status), or any anti-PAP activist has a beef with the PAP administration, they should ask S’poreans to stop going to the shopping malls on a designated Sunday.

If the malls are empty on the designated Sunday, the PAP will know the issue has traction.

And as the LGBTs will not have foreign funding for Pink Dot 2017 unless the foreign sponsors are approved by the govt, maybe the organisers should tell the potential attendees to stay home for the day: 28,000 S’poreans staying away from malls on a Sunday will be noticed.

But I can imagine Tan Kin Lian calling S’poreans to stay away from malls on a Sunday to support some crackpot cause of his, only to find out that S’poreans decided to give him the finger by crowding the malls. Remember, not only did he lose his deposit in PE 2011, he helped the PAP’s preferred candidate win by a short nose.

With an enemy like him, the PAP doesn’t need friends. Maybe the Gods want the PAP to rule S’pore for forever and a day? Juz see how lucky the PAP is in its enemies: JBJ, Tan Jee Say, Goh Meng Seng, s/o JBJ, Mad Dog Chee, Yaw (or is it Rao?) etc etc.

Investment advice for 2017

If u attend investment seminars in S’pore, u’ll see a lot of oldies dozing off but waking up to write down stock market tips. That they are still fishing for tips at their age show that tips don’t work. But then these are ah peks are like the anti-PAP cybernuts.

From NYT Dealbbok:

LAW OF AVERAGES

It’s Time to Ignore Advice About Which Stocks to Buy in 2017

By DAMON DARLIN

The temptation for financial experts to offer stock tips is almost irresistible, but history shows why taking them is a bad idea.

But

COMMON SENSE

2016’s Winning Investors Talk About 2017, and Donald Trump

By JAMES B. STEWART

Investors who made the correct — and often bold — calls of last year see opportunities in the uncharted waters of the year ahead

Sun Ho and friends are laughing: Prosperity Gospel is Trump’s gospel

To pray, speak or read scriptural verses at his inaugaration on January 20th Trump

has chosen six individuals, all of whom carry a certain edginess. Among them is his personal spiritual adviser Paula White, a Florida televangelist of the Pentecostal kind who urges followers to make generous contributions to the church and expect material bounty in return. Then there is Wayne T. Jackson, an African-American pastor from Detroit with a similar penchant for the prosperity gospel. He helped Mr Trump attract at least a few black votes by conducting a sympathetic interview with the candidate, and firmly believes the incoming president’s wealth is a sign of divine blessing.

Economist

Two out of six preach the Gosprl of Prosperity. Pretty decent ratio.

Kong, Sun Ho and their groupies will be laughing laugh over mean-hearted S’poreans who revile them because they got the money and splash it on things they want.

Meritocratic hubris/ Who defines “meritocracy”

Michael J Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. He recently wrote something perceptive:

The relentless emphasis on seeking a fair meritocracy, in which social positions reflect effort and talent, has a morally corrosive effect on the way we interpret our success (or lack thereof). The belief that the system rewards talent and hard work encourages the winners to regard their success as their own doing, a measure of their virtue – and to look down upon the less fortunate.

Those who lose out may complain that the system is rigged or be demoralised by the belief that they alone are responsible for their failure. When combined, these sentiments yield a volatile brew of anger and resentment, which Trump, though a billionaire, understands and exploits. Where Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton speak constantly of opportunity, Trump offers blunt talk of winners and losers. Democrats such as Obama and Clinton have difficulty understanding the hubris a meritocracy can generate and the harsh judgment it renders on those without a college degree. This is why one of the deepest divides in American politics today is between those with and without post-secondary education.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/01/themes-of-2016-progressive-parties-address-peoples-anger-in-2017

He’s right but even he doesn’t get it (Heh, he’s from Harvard): merit is defined by those who “made it”. Is that “fair”?

The meritocratic elites define the attributes and qualifications that allows one into the magical citcle: in S’pore, the British or French civil service, Harvard or other leading universities, or investment banks. And it always means: People like us.

Lucy Kellaway, the FT’s court jester on management, once described what Charles Trevelyan, the permanent secretary to the UK Treasury 1840-59, had in mind when he proposed that meritocracy should be introduced into the civil service.

“He wanted young people to be chosen who had merit – the very best,” says Greenaway. “But he believed that the best were to be found in the gentry, in the professional classes. As the 19th Century went on, the education system mirrored the social system. The universities in Oxford and Cambridge and public schools became the preserve of the gentry and the professional classes – clergy and lawyers and so on.”

Education locked in what used to be patronage, replacing it in a way that was acceptable to the conservatives who had been fearing that these exams would undermine the social fabric of the country.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23376561

My posts on meritocracy the PAP way

Meritocracy? No leh Cosiness

Meritocracy’s feet of clay: Ong Ye Kung

Dirty Indian secret

Up there with the Nigerians in scamming

“Everyone was scamming around me. I thought, ‘I will also become a great scammer.’”

— Jayesh Dubey, who tried to blow the whistle on a scheme targeting Americans run from a call center in a Mumbai suburb. India is now seen as a major center for fraud, helped by a demographic bulge of computer-savvy, young, English-speaking job seekers, a call-center culture, and super-efficient technology.

NYT Dealbook

Siestas are good for your health

But they cannot be any longer or shorter than 60 minutes. The BBC reports:

The Express leads with research suggesting that an hour’s snooze after lunch is good for your health. American scientists believe it can prevent your brain from ageing and help you perform better in memory tests.

They examined 3,000 adults over the age of 65 and found that those who slept in the afternoon were better able to solve simple maths problems and memorise words – and those who didn’t, performed badly.

But the paper warns that the nap has to be for 60 minutes. A longer or shorter siesta won’t have the same effect.

ST & CNA only correcting “fake news” or misreporting?

The anti-PAP internet brigade are KPKBing about censorship of or self-censorship by our MSM, ever since a well-funded pro-PAP click-bait site reported that ST and CNA had changed their initial reports on what the Minister for Pets said, taking out the comment: “You are not going to get angels in power all the time”.

The assumption of the PAPpy site, cybernuts and the saner anti-PAPies is that the Minister for Pets had really said,  “You are not going to get angels in power all the time”.

Err maybe the CNA and ST reporters were practising what “The Idiots” — S’pore (TISG as it prefers to be known as) and Jafri Basron** are really good at: faking the news? And got caught out juz like “The Indians — S’pore”** and Basron?

---

TISG and Fake News

OTC not the first elected president

Wrong building

Accusing DBS of breaking the law

Fixing the NEA and the WP

But to be fair, things have improved since a PAPpy joined the team.

Btw, it claims to be loudhailer for the PAPpies.

—————————————————

Or maybe their reporters are FTs who have difficulty understanding English? Fake degrees isit?

So, mabe ST and CNA were merely correcting their reports to reflect what was really said?

Or intended to be said?

Keep an open mind. The truth is out there.

---

*He’s a groupie of one JBJ following him from WP to RP. With someone like him as an enemy, the PAP doesn’t need friends like mothership or Jason Chua and gang.

**TISG’s other name. I’m not being racist: a former editor, an ethnic Indian, called it “a bunch of Indians” when he was editor.

 

Huh? PAP admits it’s practicising dishonest politics?

Wah lan!

I tot the above when I read

To tackle social and political issues, return to ‘honest politics’: DPM Tharman

CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/to-tackle-social-and-political-issues-return-to-honest-politics/3420624.html

A reasonable reading of what the headline implies is that Tharman is saying that the PAP has to return to “honest politics” to “tackle social and political issues”, which in turn implies that the PAP is practising dishonest politics?

Bet u there will another “edit” like in the case of “You are not going to get angels in power all the time”.

MediaCorp, why liddat? Why so sotong?

Memo to PAP

Repression aside, political power flows from providing and maintaining economic prosperity, not following Harry’s Hard Truths

The

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which has held power since independence in 1966, is facing its first real challenge at the ballot box. The BDP’s share of the vote dipped below 50% for the first time in the 2014 general election, amid frustration with unemployment and with water and power shortages.

(The Economist)

The economy took a turn for the worse before 2014.

A progressive manifesto I can buy into

Readers will know that I have mostly contempt for the ideas that the UK’s Guardian is rabid about: stuff our ang oh tua kees mouth without understanding the assumptions and implications.

But here are some progressive ideas published in the Guardian that I can buy into happily as a conservative rentier with liberal tendencies:

We have just ended a year of political shock. Thanks to Brexit and Trump, the comfy consensus around an ever-more global, tech-powered world delivering bounty to all has been blown up. And the old political left-right spectrum has been replaced by a new spectrum. Some would sneeringly call it that of tribal v global, xenophobic v embracing, backward v forward. But there is a more generous, more productive, framing: protect v connect.

From that standpoint, the mistake made by the political/capitalist status quo these past years has been that in rushing towards an ever-more connected world, we failed to protect. We let millions of people come to fear the loss of their jobs, their dreams, and the cultural norms with which they were familiar. And in the process, aided by an out-of-control social media landscape, we have become disgusted by each other.

We urgently need new ways to find common ground and recreate a vision for the future worth pursuing. The jolt has been dramatic enough that it has sparked numerous ideas to help achieve this. At a minimum, it’s going to take:

⇾ An assault on fake news. The knowledge era needs knowledge, not clickbait. Look for new, self-correcting systems that tap into crowd wisdom, not mob-powered rumour-mongering.

⇾ A vision for the future of meaningful work for humans in a world filled by increasingly intelligent agents.

⇾ Education reforms that prepare our kids to thrive in that future.

⇾ New economic ideas, such as universal basic income.

⇾ A new articulation of globalist thinking. It should not be driven by faceless global elites, but by individuals connecting with each other across the planet and discovering just how much we can learn from each other.

Once we can start listening to each other again, there is a real discussion to be had on how we avoid sleepwalking into a future that humanity can’t handle. We want to be amazed and delighted. But not to lose our souls in the process. Let’s get that conversation rebooted!

Chris Anderson is a former technology publisher and the owner of TED (technology, entertainment, design), the global conference and media initiative.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jan/02/2017-big-ideas-part-two-northern-labour-party-fighting-cancer

 

At 8.38 pm January 8, PM’s pay would pass Ah Beng’s yearly salary

(Amended at 1 00 pm to reflect Chris K revised assumptions. Original title was: Tom morning, PM’s pay would pass Ah Beng’s yearly salary)
Earlier this morning I reported that

 I read that really tua kee bosses in the UK will have earned more by midday on Wednesday than typical workers earn in the entire year, the High Pay Centre think tank said.

I asked Chris K or Uncle Leong to compute something similar for PM and Ah Beng. (OK I wasn’t being PC, I should have said “Ah Beng, Mat, Ar Neh or Grego” even though us ethic Chinese are 70% of the population.)

Chris K replied:

Assuming Ah Loong earned $3.2m a year and Ah Beng’s monthly salary is $3,800 a month, then by 5 am first Friday of the month, Ah Loong would have passed Ah Beng’s annual salary.

Ah Loong was reported last year to make $2.2m and Singstats reported monthly median income is $3,949. So Ah Loong pass Ah Beng on Sunday 8th January at 2038 hours.

Thanks Chris. Lunch on me when we meet.

PM’s v Ah Beng’s pay: Calling Uncle Leong or Chris K

It would be good if Chris K or Uncle Leong (his form has returned after a long period of really sub-standard stuff that almost had me classify him as a cybernut alongside Tan Jee Say) could calculate something similar (see below) based on PM’s pay and the median pay of S’poreans.

And also calculate something similar for Nathan for flipping pratas for being chief jaga.

(And yes I’m being really lazy asking others to do what I should be doing. In my defence, trying to peddle, promote some software. Really doing work is hard.)

I read that really tua kee bosses in the UK will have earned more by midday on Wednesday than typical workers earn in the entire year, the High Pay Centre think tank said. BBC goes on to say

Branding it “Fat Cat Wednesday”, it says that is the time executives will pass the average UK salary of £28,200.

High Pay Centre director Stefan Stern said it was an important reminder of the unfair pay gap in the UK.

‘…

The think-tank has made the calculation for the the past three years, but this year it is comparing the top bosses’ median salary of about £4m a year with the median UK employees’ salary of £28,200.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38498003

 

Here’s more from the

Daily Mirror front page headline is “The fattest of cats”.

The paper says that, by lunchtime on Wednesday, the bosses of Britain’s biggest corporations will have already earned as much as the average person will be paid all year.

In its opinion column, the paper says “inflated rewards for the overpaid elite aren’t even linked to ability or performance while most of the country grafts hard for a relative pittance”.

BBC also

Even Before Trump takes office, US preparing to curb Chinese ambitions

Fom NYT Dealbook Chinese Access to U.S. Semiconductor Industry May Be Curbed By THE WALL STREET JOURNAL The Obama administration is completing a study that could lead to restrictions on Chinese investment in the semiconductor sector in the United States. It will include recommendations aimed at bolstering the protection of the industry, including a tougher stance by the Committee on Foreign Investment, according to people familiar with the study. Surge in Chinese Corporate Investment Into the U.S. Unlikely to Be Matched By THE FINANCIAL TIMES Analysts at the research group Rhodium said the new uncertainty surrounding the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump and his appointment of China hawks to oversee trade policy meant Chinese companies were unlikely to repeat the surge in investment last year.

PAP really loves FTs over locals, really they do

Actually to be fair to the PAPpies, Asian countries generally think FT tua kees. I kid you not.

Here’s why.

S’pore slipped five places to 15th in the latest world-talent ranking by Swiss business school IMD it was reported in November

This despit first in “science in schools”, second in “university education” and “educational assessment – PISA” and third in “educational system” and “student mobility inbound”.

S’pore doesn;t grow its own timber

It fell in the overall ranking because it fell behind in investing in and developing homegrown talent, said the report. It emerged only 38th in the sub-ranking for this.

Arturo Bris, the director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre, was reported by BT as saying: “There’s no doubt that many Asian economies, Singapore arguably chief among them, remain among the very best attractors of talent from abroad.

“There’s no doubt, too, that they’re able to improve their overall competitiveness as a result of the knowledge and experience this foreign talent brings – but this isn’t enough to compensate for the lack of development of local talent, particularly with regard to the paucity of public-sector investment in education.”

In an e-mail to The Business Times, he identified inadequate investment and development of its own talents as one of Singapore’s biggest weaknesses. He noted that Singapore’s spending on education declined from 3.08 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) last year to 2.99 per cent this year, which is lower than 55 of the economies in the IMD ranking.

Singapore also did badly in pupil-teacher ratio, ranking 41st for primary education and 35th for secondary education.

Well one Ngiam Tong Dow (Rememember him?) was very local that S’pore had to “grow its own timber” (his words) to move on up the development ladder. Too bad for S’pore the PAP administration isn’t listening.

But now that an ang moh is saying the sae thing, maybe the PAP adinistration will listen.

Healthcare: Gd lateral thinking in UK

Our A&E departments don’t have the problems faced by A&E departments in the UK, but here’s an interesting suggestion from the UK in this area: have GPs and support staff on duty to deal with patients who do not need emergency treatment. And charge and charge those who use this facility. Still would be cheaper than getting doctor to make house call at midnight.

BBC reports

The Times reports on a survey of doctors that suggests most believe GP surgeries should be placed in A&E departments to deal with patients who do not need emergency treatment.

The study of more than 500 doctors by the Press Association found most believed such a move was necessary to relieve the pressure on A&E.

Why a universal basic income may not be the silver bullet

Or the stake in the heart of populism* or fascism that liberal elites think will appease the mob.

The liberal chattering classes are peddling the idea of a citizen’s wage or universal basic income (an interesting economic idea to deal with the coming displacement of humans by robots in many jobs and professions**) as a means of fighting back against what they consider as the rise of fascism or populism. They conflate the two either out of stupidity or out of duplicity (Out trumping Trump).

A universal basic income

means everybody gets a basic wage, whether they are working or not. President Obama*** is evidently attracted to the idea. So is Labour’s John McDonnell***.

The BBC’s Mark Madell raises several interesting points on why this approach may fail:

This may go against the spirit of the age. The voters’ anger with their economic circumstance is frequently tangled up with the complaint that the elite are mollycoddling the undeserving, whether domestic scroungers or immigrant workers.

A plan to dramatically increase welfare provisions to all-and-sundry, from feckless billionaires to the work-shy underclass, might not prove politically popular.

Nor is there any real sign that life on “basic” would be any more satisfying, ennobling or less divisive than life on the dole. It seems there are no easy or obvious solutions to either the revolt of the Rust Belt or the coming rise of the robots.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38317786

Michael J Sandel who teaches political philosophy at Harvard University puts it this way

To win back support, progressive parties must see that the grievances are about social esteem, not just wages and jobs.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/01/themes-of-2016-progressive-parties-address-peoples-anger-in-2017

What the liberals seem to be offering is using an interesting and possibly useful economic tool as a form of bribery. The modern version of “bread and circuses” to appease the mob concerned about FTs and robots stealing their jobs?****

It may be a new year, and a new era, but some things never change. The masses are sneered at, but feared. To be bribed (in the West) or repressed (N Korea) or both (in China and S’pore).

————————–

*Douglas Murray, an associate editor at The Spectator magazine, says the word is so debased in reality it only conveys one impression.

“When I see the term ‘populism’ used, I know the author is referring to a movement the author he or she doesn’t like. That is what it does. It signals to the listener that the thing they are deprecating is to be deprecated.”

BBC report http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38443035

Actually the same can be said of the use of the term fascism.

**From 600 highly paid professionals to 2 in this example

***Precisely why one should be sceptical of this seemingly attractive idea. With friends like these, the idea doesn’t need rnemies.

****Maybe Hitler had the right solution. Start a World War so that the nasses could die for a worthy cause.

 

Don’t trample on a worm, it may be a cobra in disguise

Taz the moral of what happened in South Korea

President Park impeached: It all started because a tua kee abused a sua kee over a puppy

In 2014, the businesswoman asked him to take care of her daughter’s puppy. Mr Ko brought the dog to his house, then left it there as he went out to play a round of golf.

When he returned, he found Ms Choi in his home, furious with him for abandoning the puppy. The two had a “huge fight”, he said.

From then on their relationship went downhill. “She treated me like a slave, swearing at me many times,” he said in his candid account.

Angry and hurt, Mr Ko decided to exact revenge by going to the press about Ms Choi and Ms Park’s relationship.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38259068

Activists must-read for New Year

There are two ways to get people with strong views to consider alternative arguments (that doesn’t involve shouting or violence). Make sure to watch the video.

Find out more (Vox)

1) If the argument you find convincing doesn’t resonate with someone else, find out what does

Try moral reframing i.e. try to put the argument within the moral or ideological framework of the person you want to pesruade.

2) Listen. Your ideological opponents want to feel like they’ve been heard.

[T]he canvassers ask the voters to recall a time when they were discriminated against. And then toward the end of the conversation, the canvassers nudge the voters into thinking about how that experience can relate to the plight of transgender people. The idea is that people learn lessons more durably when they come to the conclusions on their own.

Not easy techniques. Requires hard work.

It’s easier for the likes of Mad Dog Chee, New Citizen Han Hui Hui, Tan Jee Say, Roy Ngerng, s/o JBJ, M Ravi, Goh Meng Seng and other anti-PAP cybernuts  to bang their brainless heads against the wall or blame the 70% for being stupid.

But the likes of Chris K, Terry Xu, Martyn See, Richard Wan, and Drs Paul and Ang should try these methods.

Will this be allowed here?

TECH FIX

Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal.

By BRIAN X. CHEN

Signal, an encrypted chat service, is a must in an era when companies collect ever more information about users and government surveillance may expand.

Asean loves Rolex and Gucci