Annus Mirabilis?

Or are Singaporeans mere gullible 'ikan bilis' to the power that is?

Someone asked why am I so anti-PAP? Is it the hubris of PAP that gets my goat?

No, it is not only the arrogance. It is more than that. It includes but not limited to the following:

• Disrespect for Singaporeans: How on earth can a PAP leader justify the obscene salary paid to his 'Kar Kiahs/Kakies' by saying that my mother, wife, daughter and even grand daughter will end up as maids in other countries if ministers are not paid by the millions!
  Surprisingly, they have realised their grave mistake and Junior is now in damage control with Gerard Ee's help. Whatever the outcome and how much mintsters will be paid, the damage is done!
  Gerard has just cleared the hurdle and has passed his Report to the PM. Now let's see if PM is happy with Gerard's work? Or is it going to be another time wasting "Much Ado About Nothing" Wayang of "Dad, should I cut our pay and pensions?"
  
  
• Faking Democracy, Meritocracy & Transparency:
  When the Election Department is under the control of the Prime Minister;
  When grassroot leaders are defined and selected by Peoples' Association and PA is chaired and boarded by PAP's top brasses;
  When the savings in our CPF can only be withdrawn on the whims and fancies of blokes we don't really know;
  When Temasek and GIC is so 'transparent' that it's like Peoples' Money being moved around like chips in gambling dens in Marina Bay Sands and Resort Sentosa,
  
  it is time to wake up to the fact that a joke can only go so far . . .

• Very Difficult to Pardon Comments:
  When "I stand corrected" silenced all and sundry after bad and wrong examples were made of Muslim/Malay's inability to integrate, unmarried Malay teenage pregnancy [Link], and most painful of all, Muslim family not sharing rice with other races.
  When someone said that the National Pledge is nothing but an "aspiration", we aspire to know, "Then why the fook are the school kids wasting their time every school going morning reciting it?"
  
  
• Expose, Expose & Expose:
  Dr Lim Hock Siew's detention [Link] & [Link]; Teo So Lung's book, "Beyond The Blue Gate"; Vincent Cheng's tortured non-torture; Alan Shadrake's "Once A Jolly Hangman" [Link] and his stay at Prison Singapore and Chia Thye Poh being honoured recently [Link] show that we are slowly arriving.
  
  
  
• Their Creme de la Creme MPs:
  'Kate Spade' leg stompin' "I don't know what to say" comes to mind. 'Janil Puthutcheary who never did a day of National Service but ‘I’ve spent the last 10 years saving kids’ lives.’ [Link] is another. But the one I love most is 'he' who refused to appear for PAP in the last election and caused a "oops... who to replace him?" at Tampines GRC! What's his name?

I'm sad that a caring and decent politician like Chiam See Tong and his wife Lena were not voted in in the last election. I'm thrilled that Low Thia Khiang and his party retained Hougang and succeeded in Aljunied GRC. The photo-finish win of Tony Tan as President of Singapore shows Singaporeans may not be that gullible after all.

With the loss of Aljunied; the admission that Minsters' Pay sucks big time that led to a review; the wayang apology that doesn't mean squat (what with the ever increasing population that continues to find it difficult to breathe in trains and every where else; the crazy unaffordable pigeon hole called HDB flat; the distressful increase in taxi/bus fares and the comical but possibly dangerous SMRT Fiasco; the once-in-50-years-flood that happend many times in 2011, I must say 2011 is the Annus Mirabilis for PAP! Or is it Annus Horribilis? Whatever turns you on ;)

Will it get better in the year of the dragon?

We'll see.

Meanwhile, I'll pick up my guitar and learn how to sing the Ballad of Chia Thye Poh. See the [Link] here and learn how to sing here. [Link]

And when I thought I was getting serious, I got to see this! [Link]. If anyone thinks Malays do not know how to share their rice with others or accept advice from others on unmarried teenage pregnancies, they've got to watch "Gemuk Girls"! Apart from other virtues they possess, they have talent!

Let's respect races and religion (or non-religion) other than our own!

We, the citizens of Singapore,

pledge ourselves as one united people,

regardless of race, language or religion,

to build a democratic society

based on justice and equality

so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and

progress for our nation.

Malay version

Kami, warganegara Singapura,

sebagai rakyat yang bersatu padu,

tidak kira apa bangsa, bahasa, atau ugama,

berikrar untuk membina suatu masyarakat yang demokratik,

berdasarkan kepada keadilan dan persamaan

untuk mencapai kebahagiaan,

kemakmuran dan kemajuan bagi negara kami.

Chinese version

我们是新加坡公民，

誓愿不分种族、言语、宗教，

团结一致，

建设公正平等的民主社会，

并为实现国家之幸福、繁荣与进步，

共同努力。

我們是新加坡公民，

誓願不分種族、言語、宗教，

團結一致，

建設公正平等的民主社會，

並為實現國家之幸福、繁榮與進步，

共同努力。

Wǒmen shì Xīnjiāpō gōngmín,

shìyuàn bù fēn zhǒngzú, yányǔ, zōngjiào,

tuánjié yīzhì,

jiànshè gōngzhèng píngděng de mínzhǔ shèhuì,

bìng wèi shíxiàn guójiā zhī xìngfú, fánróng yǔ jìnbù,

gòngtóng nǔlì.

Tamil version

சிங்கப்பூர் குடிமக்களாகிய நாம் இனம்,மொழி,மதம்

ஆகிய வேற்றுமைகளை மறந்து ஒன்றுபட்டு,நம் நாடு

மகிழ்ச்சி,வளம்,முன்னேற்றம் ஆகியவற்றை அடையும்

வண்ணம் சமத்துவத்தையும்,நீதியையும்

அடிப்படையாக கொண்ட ஜனாயக

சமுதாயத்தை உருவாக்குவதற்கு

உறுதி மேற்கொள்வோம்!

For more than 4 decades, I've been doing my utmost to do and live it! But it is just an aspiration for some.

Happy New Year!

feedmetothefish

Singaporeans' Sense of Humour and Forgiving Trait!

This picture comes from from AsiaOne [Link].

In terms of photoshop funny, it is cute. But it is hard to come to terms that she really sat on a sedan chair carried by half-naked men during SMRTs dinner and dance event. Apart from the sense of disgust from commuters, I wonder if Cleopatra would be flattered by such excesses?

On the subject of humour, to really ROFL (roll on floor laughing?) you must visit mrbrown here [Link]. His clarification on on the SMRT Breakdown cracked me up! Still does! His command of English is awesome and his white shirt is so MIW!

To every life, a little rain must fall. Seng Han Thong [Link] is paying the price now for a TV appearance that he wished would disappear. Honestly, I do not know if Seng Han Thong is a racist. I mean, who knows?

Remember Lee Kuan Yew went about, “Well, we make them say the national pledge and sing the national anthem but suppose we have a famine, will your Malay neighbour give you the last few grains of rice or will she share it with her family or fellow Muslim or vice versa?”[Link]

Can you recall LKY saying, "To persuade Malay parents to look after their daughters more carefully and not to have teenage pregnancy which leads to failed marriages, subsequent marriages also fail and delinquents . . . ? [Link] Are there no teenage unmarried pregnancies among other races like the Chinese (the race I belong to)? Admittedly, he's trying to show that cross race advice from MPs (and mintsters) of other races may not be easily accepted. But why target the Malays? I would have expected a 'Leeder' of Chinese descent to use Chinese race as a example. That would have been more sensitive and less racist!

What about LKY's posture on 'I stand corrected' for saying the 'Hard Truth' that my Malay/Muslim friends cannot integrate? Hello, I know a Malay/Muslim prayed at my Chinese friend's house and never in my 60-year-old life did any of my Malay/Muslim friends reject an offer to eat on the same table with me. Even when I'm having Char Siew Wanton Mee, my Malay friends just tell me, "Don't you try to be fooking funny and offer me the 'char siew' just to prove LKY is wrong!" Maybe there is a difference between real friends and patronising 'friends' of obscenely rich and powerful ministers.

Question: Compared to the current slaying of SHT especially by PAP MPs including Halimah, why wasn't much noise made about Dear Leeder's objectionable comments on race and religion previously?

Why is SHT is getting more flame than LKY for the same kind of 'not so nice' comments. Is this a case of never bite the hand that feeds you? Even the hand has insulted your race and religion? There is a Chinese saying in Hokkien, "Kuah tio sen, tio pai. Kuah tio ter, tio tai". Roughly translated, it means, "See God, kneel down and pray. See pig, take out knife and slaughter" (Pig here can mean any animal good for its meat for food - lamb [mutton] and cow [beef]).

Yes, respect those that can mess you up (even if they suck big time!) but walk all over those that you know cannot harm you ;)

So do we forgive some and not others?

Can we forgive what's done to Chia Thye Poh?

Life does scale to a balance . . . sometimes. In this year end festive season, it is good to know that Chia Thye Poh is awarded for something other than being the longest held (32 years) political detainee. Not from Singapore but Malaysia! It's a shame to miss this Video [Link] and report [Link].

Season' greeting and Happy Holidays to all!

feedmetothefish

So how many COI's do we need?

SMRT is having a PROBE to be headed by Ong Ye Kung for their mess in their Mass Rapid Transit Fiasco.

LTA is having it's own INVESTIGATION.

PM Lee has ordered a COI.

Pardon me for being lost but how many COMMITTEES OF INQUIRY do we need???

Or how many hands (jobs/jerks) do we need to fix the light bulb?

Being in the little red dot that we reside in and the little MRT system that we have, do we need an ORGY of PROBE, INVESTIGATION and COI? For the sake of everyone, why can't they do it FASTERER, CHEAPERER AND BETTERER? (Ya, English here that is no better than announcements heard in MRT stations, but still can, lah!)

Productivity? My foot!

It seems to me that instead of all hands on deck, most are working with only one hand. The other hand is needed to cover the backside!

Self preservation at its best!

Oops, or is it wayang at its best?

feedmetothefish

Another after thought: Will we be surprised if, one day, one of the SMRT trains ended up lost and then found in Johor Bahru . . . like Mas Selamat Kasturi? Possible?

Why sometimes I feel bad being a born and bred Singaporean of Chinese descent?

When another Singaporean of Chinese descent said, “I notice that the PR mention that, some of the staff, because they are Malays, they are Indians, they can’t converse in English good, well enough, so that also deters them, from but I think we accept broken English.” when sharing his thoughts on the SMRT FIASCO. [Link]

I hope PAP MP Seng Han Thong won't be flamed again for what he said. Fair is fair and I must emphasize that MP Seng only quoted what the PR mentioned. He did not specifically said that Malays and Indians can't speak English well. Only Chinese and Other Races in Singapore speak good English, meh?

So who is this racially biased PR?

Innocent but unnecessary words when wrongly perceived can lead to much anger. Worse, it may generate racial tension.

If the PAP guy is worth his salt, he would have said, “I notice that the PR mention that, some of the staff, they can’t converse in English good, well enough, so that also deters them, from but I think we accept broken English.” excluding the words, "because they are Malays, they are Indians", an issue would not arise.

Why in heavens MP Seng repeated "because they are Malays, they are Indians" is beyond me. Regardless of race, language or religion, wouldn't it be lovely if VIPs in PAP can be more sensitive to the sensitivities of others? I feel like shit when my Malay and Indian friends are deprecated or marginalised with stupid statements like above!

To my fellow citizens of Malay and Indian descent, I hope you are forgiving enough to know and accept that there are insensitive idiots and nincompoops in our mist. I thank you for your kind understanding.

feedmetothefish

"WE HEAR YOU; WE'LL CHANGE, AND IMPROVE YOUR LIVES"

Yes, brothers and sisters, the words above are PAP Party Chairman KHAW BOON WAN'S at 2011 PARTY CONVENTION held on 27 NOVEMBER 2011.

Until the next election in 2016, there's not a hope in heaven that Singaporeans can have the opportunity to change the PAP government. Meanwhile, I'm grateful to KBW and PAP for the following changes (& non-changes):

• The increase of bus fare (after Lui Tuck Yew started taking buses?)
• The increase of taxi fare (has Lui Tuck Yew been taking taxis lately?)
• The still very expensive and unavailable HDB flats that my first-time applicant child still cannot get after several applications. Bo pian (no choice), the child will have to camp with in-law after her wedding in January.
• The casinos in Sentosa and Marina Bay and the social problems generated by such gambling dens.
• The wonderful parks and park connectors (no satire here, I'm sincerely grateful to NParks for the green breathing spaces)
• The older-than-me (I'm 60 going on 17) aunties and uncles cleaning the Hawker Centre tables and other aunties and uncles collecting toilet entrance fees of 10/20 cents from high-tide customers who need to pee/crap.
• Not forgetting those hunch-back old folks competing with foreign talents in collecting paper cartons and aluminium cans to make a living!
• Or the "Poor In Singapore Can't Afford Food?" [Link]

No, Khaw Boon Wan should not be held responsible for the above. However. being the Chairman of PAP and having stated, "WE HEAR YOU; WE'LL CHANGE, AND IMPROVE YOUR LIVES", he's The Man!

Honestly, with the way things are in Singapore, my First-World-Singaporean life may improve if I retire and spend my old age in JB! Then again, satire aside, if Tengku and Lee Kuan Yew had done it differently, JB would have been part of my homeland! Or did someone give credit to Goh Keng Swee for the separation? [Link]

Since 1969, I have served NS and did my Reservist's duties. I married, fooked and stopped at 2 because I was a loyal Singaporean who thought that overcrowding tiny Singapore with more than 2 million was irresponsible.

Fookin' Hell! How was I to know that we would end up with more than 5 millions now!!! For the sake of GDP and Mintsters' obscene salary?

"WE HEAR YOU; WE'LL CHANGE, AND IMPROVE YOUR LIVES".

Until the lives of Singaporeans (I mean all Singaporeans, not just PAP sucker-ups and their affiliates, PAP MPs and PAP Mintsters) improve, Talk is Cheap!

Cheaper than a $8 CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery including A1 class ward, Agiogram etc.)! [Link]

Based on this [Link], I hope I won't be cursed to Hell!

feedmetothefish

Based on Justice and Equality?

Right is right and wrong is wrong. Or is it?

Sistic got fooked, I mean fined, so did some modeling agencies for price fixing.

Is taxi company like ComfortDelgro (part of NTUC?) capable of price fixing? Who knows?

Interrupting his physiotherapy, Lee Kuan Yew said in Parliament [Youtube Link] that our National Pledge is nothing but an aspiration. If that is so, is justice and equality in Singapore just an aspiration?

Different folks . . . different strokes!

Do we do the time for our crime?

Or do we only get punished for who we are not and who we are not affiliated to?

But what is criminal in Singapore? Could it be a 'noisy cowboy' [Link] who blogs with heart?

Read the following and you may have a thought worth pondering.

In the 80's, the so-called Marxists Conspirators including Vincent Cheng and Teo Soh Lung [Link] were detained under ISA.

"SINGAPORE: The Internal Security Department (ISD) has arrested an ex-lecturer whom it said had made plans to pursue "militant jihad" in Afghanistan. Abdul Basheer s/o Abdul Kader, 28, was arrested in February this year, said a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) statement on Friday. He is a "self-radicalised Singaporean", said the statement." [Link] This happened in 2007.

As recent as last year, 20-year-old full-time NSman Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid was detained under ISA for being "self-radicalised" [Link]

Just who the fook (in ISD or anywhere else) decides who deserves to be detained and who does not? Just who deserve the slammer, solitary confinement and torture? [Link]

With the sensitive race/religion hullabaloo on Jason Neo, Christian Eliab Ratnam and Donaldson Tan, I wonder the outcome and fate of the 3 facebookists? For what they did, will they end up like Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid and/or Abdul Basheer s/o Abdul Kader?

Or will they end up with just a slap on the wrist just because it's been claimed that someone said that Islam is a "venomous religion" [Link].

So does Justice and Equality apply to Who We Are and Who We Are Affiliated To . . . or What We Did? (or did not do as in the Marxists' Conspiracy?)

feedmetothefish

And Every Mother's Child Is An Altruist!

Isn't it nice and cozy for Comfort Delgro to fook their customers (taxi passengers) by raising the taxi fares with all kinds of complicated and confusing surcharges? Oh, they are doing it with their hands on their hearts to improve the lot of their taxi drivers! Or are they?

If my memory serves me well, we were told that the increase in GST (was it 2006 or 2007?) to 7% was to help the less fortunate in Singapore. Surprisingly, the mintsters' salary were increased instead! Yes, it's as good as ministers were minting their own money!

It sucks when "holier than thou" leaders (political, taxi company management or whatever) use irreverent justification to achieve their selfish objective. Hey, I'm all for taxi drivers to have a better, more comfortable life! However, I'm also against scheming taxi drivers who "kheng" and hide themselves from passengers during "no surcharge" period. But I don't blame them. The may have learned 2 out of 3 from their NTUC Chief to be "faster and better" but not "cheaper"! Hell, 'productivity' may be a dirty word for some!

If ComfortDelgro cannot dazzle me with their brilliance in justifying the fare increase, they should not baffle me with the bullshit of demand and supply.

The reason why we are what we are in Singapore is due to the fact that the culture of 'kiasu', 'kiasi' and' kia chenghu' has been entrenched for too long. Until we are able to change, the "new normal" will be "same same". All the crap about being sorry for the misgoverment (housing & transportation woes, breathlessness due to overcrowding, etc.) is nothing but . . . crap! And the sucks continue . . .

Meanwhile, hopefully till the 2016 election, Embrace The Sucks!

In order to prevent a heart attack or end up with depression, you have to . . . Embrace The Sucks!

feedmetothefish