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WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN [till the next boo-boo]

[Updated August 1, 2018]
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MALAYSIA TO EMPOWER YOUTHS WITH VOTING RIGHT

Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq.

Malaysia's youth are likely to get more power after backing 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad to topple a regime that ruled the South-east Asian nation for six decades, reported Bloomberg July 22 (click here).

Malaysia is "very serious" about reducing the voting age to 18 before the next elections due by 2023, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, 25, told Bloomberg in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. The two-month-old cabinet plans to ask the Attorney-General's office to look into what laws need to be amended, he said.

Lowering the voting age to 18 from 21 would add an additional 3.7 million voters, Saddiq said, increasing the number of registered voters by about 25 per cent from the election in May. Voters aged 21-39 make up around 40 per cent of the Malaysian electorate, twice the number of voters over 60, according to Election Commission data.

"That means the youth voter block becomes bigger and stronger, and therefore, they cannot be sidelined in the Malaysian political scene anymore," said Saddiq, a member of Mahathir's political party and Malaysia's youngest-ever cabinet minister. "The youth care about two primary issues," Saddiq said. "One is about bread and butter issues, which is cost of living, affordable housing, good employment opportunities, and quality of life," he said. The second is getting their voice heard in the nation-building process, he said.

"Power should be returned back to the people," he said. "That means opening up more democratic spaces, which means more young people can join and speak up."

Meanwhile in $heep City, $ingapore... Tin Pei Ling is a $ingaporean People's Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament in the MacPherson Constituency. She was elected into office in 2011 when she was 27.

$ingapore's youthful PAP MP Tin Pei Ling.

Tin's selection as a candidate for Parliament in 2011 resulted in a large online backlash, especially among young $ingaporeans. Throughout the campaign, Tin garnered negative attention due to her perceived immaturity to become an MP, and allusions were also raised as to how her husband's position had opened doors for her into politics. A widely circulated Facebook photo of Tin posing with a Kate Spade-branded gift from her husband, also led to widespread accusations online of ignorance, materialism and privilege. When asked if there was a policy she would change, she replied that there were no policy that she felt strongly against. When asked what her "greatest regret" was, she said it was not having brought her (still living) parents to Universal Studios $ingapore.

Her husband is Ng How Yue, 47, formerly a Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, General Lee Hsien Loong. He currently holds the position of permanent secretary in both the Law and Health ministry as well as chairman of the Energy Market Authority. A Permanent Secretary's salary is about S$1.7 million a year. More here.


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Updated: November 29, 2017

THE LAST WORD on 'NOTHING ON THE RADIO'

"Most $ingaporeans, two out of three, are proud of home-grown music, but only 8 per cent listen to it daily. These were the results of the National Arts Council's (NAC) first national music consumption survey, announced on Tuesday (Nov 28)."

- As reported by the nation-builder press, 'Most $ingaporeans proud of $ingapore music, says NAC music survey', November 28, 2017 (click here).

The report appeared in the daily newspaper $ingaporeans affectionately refer to as "$hit Times".

How can two-thirds of $inkies be proud of "home-grown music" when allegedly only 8 per cent listen to it "daily"? Are the 8 per cent the ones who are compelled to sing the national anthem every morning?

On July 18, 2017, it was reported in marketing-interactive.com that Mediacock (the national radio network) would close the radio station Lush 99.5FM, with effect from 1 September 2017.

In a statement to Marketing, a Mediacock spokesperson explained that Lush's shift to not only cover the local music scene, but also encapsulate the local arts scene since 2012 did not improve the station's listenership. Lush's closure also signals the drop of one platform for the local arts and music scene, Marketing reported. Lush was a government indie music station with local music content.

Nobody fivesaguck for $ingapore music. Not even the government's radio stations.

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GOING, GOING... GONE

The $ingapore Mass Rapid Transit organisation has dismissed eight staff for the Bishan tunnel flooding incident, it said on November 27, 2017 as reported by the nation-building press (click here). Thirteen employees were found to be responsible after it completed its internal investigation and disciplinary inquiry into the staff who were tasked with pump maintenance at the Bishan-Braddell tunnel, $MRT said in a media statement. The corporation also said, "As they are no longer with the company, $MRT reserves its right to pursue legal action against them as may be appropriate."

It is unknown why the government-managed transport union, NTWU (National Transport Workers blah blah blah), are offering support to the sacked workers who have been identified as having "falsified pump maintenance records"? that is, they are in the wrong. "We will assist them to find alternative employment and where necessary, provide financial assistance," the union said in a statement.

Workers should, instead, follow the example of $ingapore Airlines' maintenance crew and the HDB's maintenance teams for lift servicing (despite an unspecified number of lift failures, every constituency in $ingapore was awarded an excellent appraisal by the $ingapore government's Ministry of National Development. From the limited facts given, we calculated there were 2,400 lift failures for every 1,000 lifts in government estates last year).

Take the recent case of $IA jet $Q368 that turned back from its flight to Milan landed at $ingapore's Changi Airport and burst into flames on June 27, 2016 (click here). In December 2014, the manufacturer of the jet's engine had sent a service bulletin requiring removal of certain fuel-oil-heat-exchangers from the engines, inspect for cracks in the fuel tubes and do needed repairs and improvements at the next engine scheduled maintenance which was not specified. $IA's maintenance team had prior to the December 2014 notice already serviced the jet in March 2014 and was waiting for an unspecified date to do the parts removal and further inspection when the accident occurred on June 27, 2016. It is important to note the $IA maintenance crew followed the rules. They were notified December 2014 that the jet engine required maintenance but waited for the next scheduled maintenance (unspecified date) to do the works. The accident occurred on June 27, 2016, two years after $IA were informed by the engine manufacturer of the need to do further inspections but before the next unspecified maintenance.

If you work to rule, no one can blame you of any mishaps along the way. Remember, work to rule.

RELATED NEWS: "$MRT offers errant staff amnesty if they own up" (click here)

Second rule of being a $ingaporean - NEVER VOLUNTEER. And the first rule? DON'T ASK FOR TROUBLE.

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Updated: November 8, 2017

DRINKING TOILET WASTE, RECYCLED OVER AND OVER AGAIN

Toilet waste will be used "again and again, in an endless cycle".

Construction work began on Monday (November 20, 2017) in $ingapore on a 100 km underground "superhighway" to transport toilet waste to water reclamation plants to be completed in 2025. The cost of this project is S$6.5 billion. The sloping tunnels of the super underground network will convey toilet waste from homes and industrial waste from factories by gravity to various water reclamation plants. The toilet waste is then treated and purified into NEWater, the Orwellian term for recycled toilet waste. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli (who earns a multi-million-dollar salary) said $ingapore's NEWater supply will be boosted by up to 55 per cent.

Why recycle toilet waste to this extent? $ingapore, the minister said, has experienced unpredictable weather patterns and can expect dry seasons to worsen with climate change. Currently, $ingapore ranks 13th in the world for heaviest rainfall (click here). There is no shortage of rain. But this construction of the deep tunnel sewerage system (DTSS) is to ensure $ingapore's "water security", that is, not to be dependent on the weather.

"It is therefore critical to augment our water sources by reclaiming water so that we can use it again and again, in an endless cycle," he added.

Visitors to $ingapore and the entire nation will be subjected to drinking recycled sewerage "in an endless cycle". See picture above.

And what of the existing water reclamation areas? The total size of the land freed up is equivalent to about 214 football fields. The government says they will be used for "higher value development".

The full article is here.

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THE LAST WORD on 'PERFORMANCE'

"In a year with a spate of lift breakdowns, all 16 ($ingapore) town councils received top marks for lift performance in an official report card for town councils."

- in the report "Town councils score top marks for lift performance", November 21, 2017 in the nation-builder press, The $tates Times (click here).

A green rating indicates "best" performance. All town councils were graded green for excellent. For lifts "to get a green rating, each estate must have fewer than two breakdowns per month for every 10 lifts".

From the above, how many lift breakdowns in a year for an estate with 1,000 lifts, if out of every 10 lifts, two break down every month? What is the total number of lift breakdowns in one year?

Minister for National Development, Lawrence Wong.

It's 2,400 lift breakdowns every year.

There are about 61,000 passenger lifts in $ingapore, including those in private condominiums, malls, office buildings and public housing estates. Source.

The total number of lifts servicing HDB estates, as far as we know, has not been made public.

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$INGAPORE'S SEX TRADE: LICENSED BROTHELS, 'SUGAR BABIES' AND LAWS YOU CAN RUN RINGS AROUND

The article largely quoted Vanessa Ho, director of $ingapore sex worker advocacy group Project X. In an attempt to regulate the sex trade, $ingapore allows licensed brothels to operate in designated areas. The licensing process, controlled by the police, is murky and the number of establishments is not made public. Ho describes the practice as part of the police's "ring fencing" tactic for keeping prostitution in check. "Trying to eradicate vice is always a futile effort," she says. "It is more important to allow zones for such activities." She estimates the number of licensed brothels at between 80 and 90.

Despite the existence of licensed brothels in $ingapore, many women still end up working illegally, including in an unknown number of unlicensed brothels. Some have even been found operating in public housing estates. There is clearly a demand for prostitutes in $ingapore, Ho says, and women keep coming to the city from nearby countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and China. Project X says there are many informal sex workers who work only occasionally, making it difficult to estimate the number. Two years ago, police arrested more than 5,000 unlicensed sex workers - mostly foreign women visiting on tourist visas.

$ingapore, "clean and green"?

Kok Xing Hui wrote this for the South China Morning Post, November 20, 2017 (click here). She appears to be from $ingapore.


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Updated: November 8, 2017

$INGAPOREAN PR 'FAT LEONARD' PROBE WIDENS TO ENSNARE MORE THAN 60 U.S. ADMIRALS


$ingaporean PR, Fat Leonard (right), with an unidentified US Naval chief.

The Washington Post reported November 6, 2017, "The 'Fat Leonard' corruption investigation has expanded to include more than 60 admirals and hundreds of other US navy officers under scrutiny for their contacts with a defence contractor in Asia who systematically bribed sailors with sex, alcohol and other temptations, according to the navy.

Most of the admirals are suspected of attending extravagant feasts at Asia's best restaurants paid for by Leonard Glenn Francis, a $ingapore-based maritime tycoon who made an illicit fortune supplying navy vessels in ports from Vladivostok, Russia, to Brisbane, Australia. Francis also was renowned for hosting boozy after-dinner parties, which often featured imported prostitutes and sometimes lasted for days, according to federal court records."

Fat Leonard was lauded as a successful businessman in $ingapore. Leonard has stayed in $ingapore for 30 years and is a permanent resident (PR). $ingapore is renowned as a money-laundering center for dirty money. Many reports of Leonard's arrest refer to his 70,000 sq ft bungalow in $ingapore. His home along Nassim Road was featured in the nation-builder press, the $tates Times. Fat Leonard was finally arrested on September 16, 2013 and has remained in US custody since.

Read the full account of Fat Leonard's modus operandi here.

OTHER AWESOME EVENTS FROM $INGAPORE

A WAY OF LIFE


The nation-builder press, September 18, 2009.

The news that rocked the racing world. The 2009 debut F1 race in $heep City was rigged. So what else is new? People get cheated all the time. Unlike their Hongkong counterparts, most of the 10,000 $ingaporeans who invested $500 million in minibonds never got a cent back, despite $ingapore's central bank's findings that the banks did not comply to its guidelines on selling such financial products. YAWN!!! Move along, nothing to see.

INDONESIANS KEEP US$8.9 BILLION IN $INGAPORE, TAX AMNESTY LAW REVEALS

From Bloomberg's Sept 17, 2016 report: Indonesians have declared 117.3 trillion rupiah (US$8.9 billion) of assets held in $ingapore under the government's tax amnesty, though only a small proportion of that figure has been brought back home, Indonesia's Finance Ministry said on Friday. Of the total $ingapore assets declared to the Indonesian government as of Sept 15, only 14.1 trillion rupiah, or about 12 per cent, has been repatriated, the ministry said.

$ingapore has a reputation as a tax haven and a centre for money-laundering. As recent as August 2016, $ingapore was accused of being soft on money-laundering. A former prime minister in neighbouring Malaysia made the claim. Read "Mahathir hits out at $ingapore over 1MDB inaction" (click here).

And don't forget the 1MDB scandal that hit Malaysia also had a $ingapore connection. Read $ingapore's MA$ on 1MDB scandal: 'naming and shaming' a better deterrent than big fines (click here).

$INGAPORE IS A FOOTBALL MATCH-FIXING HAVEN

Dan Tan Seet Eng is a $ingaporean businessman. He has faced charges of match fixing in Italy since 2011 and Hungary since 2013 as part of the Calcio scommesse scandal. Despite Interpol considering him the "boss" of the "world's largest and most aggressive match-fixing syndicate", he was not arrested in $ingapore until late 2013 since it lacks an extradition treaty with the European Union. Dan Tan Seet Eng was freed by $ingapore courts on November 25, 2015 after two years held in detention (click here). Less than a week after $ingapore's highest court declared that the alleged match-fixing kingpin's detention without trial was unlawful and set him free, Dan Tan was rearrested on December 1, 2015 (click here).

After the report on December 1, 2015, nothing has been heard of Dan Tan for the past two years. Is he still in detention?

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$MRT'S MAINTENANCE TEAM BLAMED FOR TRACK FLOODING AT BISHAN STATION

$ingapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan has reiterated in Parliament that the tunnel flooding incident that shut down a segment of the North-South train Line for about 20 hours last month was preventable and due to poor maintenance and neglect by some $MRT staff, reported Toady, a nation-builder press. Delivering a Ministerial Statement on Tuesday (Nov 7, 2017), he noted that $MRT has completed its internal investigation and based on the findings, it appears that the Bishan flood protection system has not been maintained for many months. Apparently, maintenance records were falsified. On October 7, a heavy downpour had led to Bishan MRT station being flooded, and train services on the North-South Line being shut down for over 20 hours.

The blame on "a heavy downpour" has already been disputed by the Meteorological Service $ingapore (M$$). "While the rain over some parts of the island on Saturday was heavy, it was of relatively short duration and the rainfall recorded was not unusually high if compared to the long-term highest rainfall records for October," said a spokesperson for the M$$ (click here).

Workers in $ingapore should not falsify records. They should never break any laws. Instead, they should follow the rules.

Take the recent case of $IA jet $Q368 that turned back from its flight to Milan landed at $ingapore's Changi Airport and burst into flames on June 27, 2016.



Passenger photo of engine and wing on fire (Photo: Douglas Yew)

In December 2014, the manufacturer of the jet's engine had sent a service bulletin requiring removal of certain fuel-oil-heat-exchangers from the engines, inspect for cracks in the fuel tubes and do needed repairs and improvements at the next engine scheduled maintenance which was not specified. $IA's maintenance team had prior to the December 2014 notice already serviced the jet in March 2014 and was waiting for an unspecified date to do the parts removal and further inspection when the accident occurred on June 27, 2016.

(After the June 27, 2016 accident and investigation, the engine manufacturer has accelerated maintenance works to ensure affected engines are removed from service and modified by August 2017, click here).

On March 14, 2017, $ingapore's Air Accident Investigation Bureau released its final report that concluded that the probable cause of the jet engine fire was indeed a jet engine fuel leak that occurred during the flight (click here).

It is important to note the $IA maintenance crew followed the rules. They were notified December 2014 that the jet engine required maintenance but waited for the next scheduled maintenance (unspecified date) to do the works. The accident occurred on June 27, 2016, two years after $IA were informed by the engine manufacturer of the need to do further inspections but before the next unspecified maintenance.

If you work to rule, no one can blame you of any mishaps along the way. Remember, work to rule.

As far as we can tell, this official investigation was never reported in the $ingapore nation-builder media. Evacuation protocol and procedures were also highlighted in the report. Read the full report here.

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Updated: November 1, 2017

$INGAPORE'S MRT REMOVES FREE MORNING RIDES

From next year, there will be no more free rides on the train system for early birds who wake up at the crack of dawn to train to work before 7.45 am. The Public Transport Council (PTC) made the announcement on Monday (October 30, 2017) to the dismay of tens of thousands of commuters. The free rides were implemented only four years ago in 2013 to relieve the train system from overload during the morning rush hour. With its removal, it remains to be seen whether commuters will still be tempted to go to work earlier than normal or will we see hordes of commuters jammed like sardines at major MRT stations? The new fare structure offers the early bird commuter only 50 cents as a discount. At the last report in 2016, the multi-million dollar salaried minister of state for Transport, Josephine Teo, said "about 65,000 commuters use the Free Pre-Peak Travel scheme daily".

To give you an idea of the crowd, the LTA reported in 2016 that "(a)bout 14,500 commuters, or nearly 10 train loads, have since shifted out of the 8 am to 9 am peak period over the entire MRT network" (click here).

The new head of the PTC is Richard 'Dick' Magnus.

NOTE: "Magnus" means "great" in Latin. Richard denotes two words "ric" as in leader and "hard" as in well hard.

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Updated: September 20, 2017


A domestic maid earns a similar salary to a full-time $ingapore soldier with a private's rank.

THE LAST WORD on 'WHEN DUTY CALLS'

"NSF conscripts in $ingapore are paid as low as S$560 a month."

- National Service in $ingapore, wikipedia (click here). $560 is the pay for a soldier with the lowest rank of private. This salary was given only from December 2015. Previously, soldiers were paid $240 from 1990 to 2009 (for 19 years). The salary was increased to $350 from 2009 to 2012 (for two years). And raised again in April 2012 to $480. At the time of the raise, a domestic maid in $ingapore earned $450 a month.

NSF stands for National Servicemen Full-time. After the full two-year compulsory conscription, they face an additional 19 years as reservist soldiers.

The last time a $ingapore minister talked about NS men's pay was the then Minister of State for Finance, Josephine Teo, in 2015. Mrs Teo said service for the country cannot be measured in dollars and cents. At the time in February 2015, an NS man's pay was just $480 a month.

In 2014, it became mandatory to pay a full-time security guard S$800. In 2016, it was raised to $1,100 a month. Security guards in $ingapore manage the guard posts at many private condominiums and shopping malls.

A soldier with the rank of private in $Ingapore earns S$560 a month. Go figure.

Soldiers who want to be heroes... Watch the video (click here).

'INCIDENT' AGAIN, NOT ACCIDENT

The $ingapore-made vehicle, the Bionix.

A 21-year-old Singaporean sergeant has died in an armoured vehicle crash during an exercise along Queensland's central coast in Australia, reported ABC News, Sept 16, 2017 (click here). $ingapore's Ministry for Defence confirmed Third Sergeant Gavin Chan Hiang Cheng was involved in a "vehicular incident" at the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area about 6:15 pm on Friday. Third Sergeant Chan was travelling in an armoured $ingapore-made Bionix Infantry Fighting Vehicle as part of the exercise when the incident happened, $ingapore's Defence Ministry said. Queensland Ambulance officers were called at 10:30 pm to take the soldier from the Rockhampton Airport to hospital. He died of his injuries a short time later.

As far as we can tell from published reports, the exact details of the "incident", that is, what exactly was the incident and how Sgt Chan was killed, has not been disclosed. The Bionix vehicle was made in $ingapore by $ingapore Technologies, a government company. The total number of $ingapore citizen soldiers who have died in "incidents" since the start of compulsory conscription, 50 years ago, is unknown. $ingapore's armed forces have never faced combat before. All the "incidents" have happened during training or self-inflicted through suicides.

A sergeant is paid S$320 more than a private but less than a security guard.

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Updated: September 6, 2017

THE LAST WORD on 'J.B. JEYARETNAM'



"He (JB Jeyaretnam) has never crawled, nor begged for mercy... Jeyaretnam will leave the political scene with his head held high..."

- Former president of $ingapore, CV Devan Nair as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on April 5, 1999. Mr Nair was president of $ingapore from 1981 to 1985 when he resigned.

JB Jeyaretnam was an opposition leader in $ingapore. He won a by-election in 1981 when he beat the ruling PAP candidate at the Anson constituency. Jeyaretnam was a former district court judge and was also the registrar of the supreme court in $ingapore. He joined the opposition in the early '70s.

JBJ, as he was affectionately known, was even praised by current prime minister General Lee Hsien Loong in October 2002 when the general cited Jeyaretnam as an example of a Singaporean who stayed and fought for his beliefs despite frequent run-ins with the government and the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) (click here). The general said of JBJ, "If you are Singaporean, you should stay on and fight and argue your case and persuade more people to believe you and one day change the policy, not opt out and leave because no policy is set in stone forever."

Ironically, on June 25, 2017, General Lee's brother, General Lee Hsien Yang, and his wife left $ingapore for Hongkong citing fear of "the use of state organs against them" (click here). Of the couple's three sons, Li Shengwu has also left $ingapore. The Attorney-General's Chambers had applied to the High Court for permission to start committal proceedings against him for contempt of court (click here).

JB Jeyaretnam died nine years ago on September 30, 2008 in $ingapore. He was 82. Read more about his life (click here).

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Updated: August 30, 2017

THE LAST WORD on 'JUST DESSERTS'



"It's been hard work but... very rewarding."

- $ingapore president from 2011 to 2017, Tony Tan, August 27, 2017. He was president of $ingapore for six years and earned $9.24 million. His pay was $1.54 million each year (click here).

During his election campaign, his son Patrick's national service record was questioned. Patrick gave a statement of how he entered national service in 1988 and was deferred from military duties till 2000, a total of 13 years. His statement can be read here.

The next president will be elected on September 23, 2017. The hot favourite is a woman, former PAP MP and Speaker of the House, Halimah Yacob, affectionately called "Aunty Rojak" as she is of a mixed race heritage. Her father is an Indian.

The term rojak means "mixture" or "eclectic mix" in colloquial Malay.

$INGAPORE'S TERRORIST SCARES, AUGUST 2017

In June 2017, the $ingapore media ran stories alerting $ingaporeans that the country was under the "highest terror threat" ever (click here). The reports were based on $ingapore's Home Affairs ministry's report that the country was a "key target" of terrorists like ISIS. The report also suggested that homegrown "lone actors" were a growing concern. By July, the government had identified nine Indonesian women terrorists, working as maids here, and had them deported (click here).

On August 23 and 26, the $ingapore government finally arrested two for making bomb threats that could terrorise fellow $ingaporeans. A 17-year-old who said he was armed with a bomb at Boon Lay bus interchange on August 23 was arrested (click here). He was heard by bystanders screaming "I am a terrorist" and "I want to die." When approached by transport officers at the interchange, the teen said, "Don't touch me! I am a terrorist. I am going to detonate the bomb!"

The second arrested was a former national serviceman. "On 26 August 2017 at about 7.32 pm, the police received a call from a security (officer) of $ingapore Indoor Stadium stating that he had detained a man who claimed that he had a bomb with him. At the time of the incident, an event was on-going at the $ingapore Indoor Stadium," police said (click here). The man was a 60-year-old NS reservist who was attending a Wakin Chau Mandopop concert at the indoor stadium with his wife and friends. Both men are in police custody.

Be careful what you wish for.

Picture by Jenzen Chow shared on the net.

$INGAPORE TAXI IN FLAMES AT TUNNEL

A taxi belonging to Transcab caught fire August 29, 2017 at the KPE tunnel and "exploded" (click here). It was a Renault model car but not a CNG model. The KPE tunnel is part of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway.

Visitors to $ingapore may not know that a total of 1,504 cars on $ingapore roads went up in flames from 2010 to May 22, 2017. By 2016, the total number of cars that caught fire rose to 236 in that year. This is 0.04 per cent of the total car population in $ingapore.

$INGAPORE CARS ON FIRE, CATCHING ON

Cars on $ingapore roads are catching fire. The authorities have been tracking the numbers at least since 2010, seven years ago. These two published reports from the mainstream media reveal the numbers after some calculations.

From a report on May 31, 2017, "Based on figures supplied by the $ingapore Civil Defence Force, there were 1,365 fires involving non-taxis between 2010 and May 22 this year. Of these, only three - or 0.2 per cent - involved CNG (compressed natural gas) models. In contrast, there were 139 fires involving taxis in the same timeframe, of which 12 - or 8.6 per cent - involved CNG cabs." (from the nation-builder $tates Times) (click here)

Translated - a total of 1,504 cars on the road went up in flames from 2010 to May 22, 2017.

From a report on September 8, 2014, "The latest statistics from the $ingapore Civil Defence Force reveal there were 218 car fires last year, up from 202 in 2012 and 188 in 2011. In the first half of this year, 114 vehicles caught fire, 20 per cent more than in this period last year." (from the nation-builder $tates Times) (click here)

Translated - The number of cars catching fire has been going up. By 2016, the total number of cars that caught fire rose to 236 (click here). This is 0.04 per cent of the total car population in $ingapore (click here).

$ingapore has a unique system of controlling car use. All cars are only allowed on the road for a maximum period of 10 years. To qualify to buy a car, you must auction for a certificate (COE) to entitle you to buy that car. The amount is not small, to quote wikipedia (click here) "When demand is high, the cost of a COE can exceed the value of the car itself." You'd think the majority of car owners here won't look after their expensive cars?

Also government inspection of cars is mandatory. The Land Transport Authority says (click here) "For a private car, the first inspection is required when the car reaches three years. Subsequently, it is to be inspected once every two years until the 10th year. Cars above 10 years must be inspected once a year." $ingapore's firemen (aka Civil Defence) also advises car owners to "Service your vehicle regularly. Ensure that the vehicle's electrical, engine and fuel systems are checked for any defect during each servicing session. Conduct visual checks for any signs of oil leakage from your vehicle." (click here) As though mandatory annual inspections are not enough.

Most $ingaporeans do not keep their cars beyond 10 years opting to buy a new car instead. No other country in the world issues a 10-year licence for cars. You drive them till they become bone shakers in some cases.

So why are cars in $ingapore that are not even 10 years old, with relatively low mileage, catching fire despite regular inspections?

NOTE: The US has annual statistics for car fires. On average in 2013, 0.06 per cent of cars caught fire in the US or 150,000 out of a total of 253 million vehicles (includes trucks) (click here). The average age of a car in the US is 11.4 years and the mileage/road use is much higher due to the size of the country (click here). According to the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the average American driver logs 13,476 miles each year (click here). In $ingapore, the average road use is 18,000km or 11,184 miles each year (click here).

Wikipedia has a page on Vehicle fire (click here). It says, "In the UK, accidental car fires are declining but deliberate car fires (arson) are increasing."

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Updated: March 30, 2017

THE 30% WATER RATE HIKE 'ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY', SAYS GENERAL LEE

Think out-of-the-box, General. Harvest rainfall efficiently.

The nation-builder press reported March 25, 2017 that $ingaore Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong said the 30 per cent increase in the price of water is "absolutely necessary", as it is a "scarce" resource and "not cheap to produce". The general explained that water was costly to produce. National water agency PUB is investing in various infrastructure like NEWater and desalination plants, pipelines and sewage treatment plants. As the economy grows, the country will need more water, said General Lee, adding that climate change will also cause the supply of water to be less predictable.

General Lee did not mention that $ingapore is located right at the equator where rainfall is the highest. Average rainfall for countries at the equator is 2,000+ mm per year. $ingapore's average rainfall in 2008 was measured at 2,497 mm. It was ranked at No. 13 of countries with the highest rainfall. Malaysia, from where we import water, is ranked at No. 5.

See the full ranking of 169 countries by rainfall here.

As for the high cost of "producing water" from toilet waste and sea water, it's because $ingapore refused to pay more for water from Malaysia. In 2000, the Malaysian government requested a relook at the price of water sold to $ingapore, citing that the 3 sen price was too low. As the discussions continued, the Malaysians wanted to be paid 60 sen for 1,000 gallons.

Now that $ingapore has opted to produce its own water, the new water rate will mean the cost of water will rise to S$6.90 to buy 1,000 gallons. Yet $ingapore refused to pay Malaysia 60 sen for 1,000 gallons back in 2003 when the negotiations broke down. At the current exchange rate, 60 Malaysian sen is worth only S$0.19 cents. $ingapore can always go back to buying water from Malaysia if they decide to renegotiate the water treaty that expires in 2061.

You can read the full $ingapore-Malaysia water dispute here. It was written in 2003 by The New $traits Times of Malaysia (click here).

Since rainfall is abundant at the equator, this advantage should not be squandered. $ingapore has an estimated 1,500ha of land (3,706 acres) currently reserved for golf courses. It will not take much to reassign those next to water catchment areas into brand new "water catchment areas". In 2014, it was reported that Singapore has 14 private golf courses and three public golf courses, taking up 1,500ha of land, or about 2 per cent of the Republic's total land area (click here).

Does $ingapore really need 17 golf courses? Think out-of-the-box, General. Why pay more?

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Updated: March 8, 2017

THE LAST WORD on 'THINKING OUT-OF-THE-BOX'

He's Heng Swee Keat.

"Imported water and local catchment water currently meet more than half of our water demand, but both sources depend heavily on weather conditions."

- Mr Heng Swee Keat, the multi-million-dollar-salaried finance minister of $ingapore said in parliament on Feb 20, 2017. He was explaining the need to raise the price of water by 30 per cent. Weather conditions, he said.

$ingapore is situated in the tropics, right at the Equator where annual rainfall is the highest of any other region in the world. See this World Bank map (click here).

Average rainfall for countries at the equator is 2,000+ mm per year. $ingapore's average rainfall in 2008 was measured at 2,497 mm. It is ranked at No. 13 of countries with the highest rainfall. Malaysia, from where we import water, is ranked at No. 5.

See the full ranking of 169 countries by rainfall here.

It is because rainfall is abundant in countries close to the Equator that the price of water is relatively cheap.

When $ingapore signed a water treaty with Malaysia in 1961, the price was set at 3 (Malaysian) sen per 1,000 gallons.

Sometime in 2000, the Malaysian government requested a relook at the price of water sold to $ingapore, citing that the 3 sen price was too low. As the discussions continued, the Malaysians wanted to be paid 60 sen for 1,000 gallons.

So it came as a shock to $ingaporeans when multi-million dollar minister Heng announced Feb 20 that the water rate would be raised by 30 per cent by 2018. He said households will then face a price of S$1.52 (excluding tax) for a cubic meter of water or 220 gallons (UK standard). 1,000 gallons is equivalent to 4.55 cubic metres.

At the S$1.52 rate (excluding tax), it will cost S$6.90 to buy 1,000 gallons.

Yet $ingapore refused to pay Malaysia 60 sen for 1,000 gallons back in 2003 when the negotiations broke down. At the current exchange rate, 60 Malaysian sen is worth only S$0.19 cents.

Just imagine S$0.19 cents for 1,000 gallons instead of S$6.90. Think out-of-the-box.

The water contract with Malaysia signed in 1961, expires in 2061. There are 44 more years to go.

You can read the full $ingapore-Malaysia water dispute here. It was written in 2003 by The New $traits Times of Malaysia (click here).

Read: Oil-rich Saudi Arabia may raise gasoline prices by 30 per cent from July 2017 (click here)

EXTRA

$INGAPORE WATER COMPANY POSTED S$166 MILLION PROFIT IN 2016

$ingapore's water agency, Public Utilities Board (PUB), posted a S$166 million profit in their financial report in 2016, reported States Times Review, Feb 24, 2017 (click here). The PUB has been hugely profitable since inception and even posted a total of S$1 billion profit in merely eight years since 2008.

You may view the PUB annual report here.

FAKE NEWS ALERT: $INGAPORE MINISTER MALIKI OSMAN SAYS PROFITS ARE ACTUALLY STATE GRANTS

The $ingapore government finally responded to the above States Times report on Feb 27, 2017. National water agency PUB made a profit of more than $160 million last year only because it received about $200 million in grants (click here). Without the government grants, PUB would have been operating at a deficit, said Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman yesterday. The inference is that the States Times Review's report is "fake news".

Since the States Times Review also mentioned that the PUB made S$1 billion in profit over eight years, that's a lot of government grants to dish out. Which other government linked corporations have been receiving such goodies?

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Updated: February 22, 2017

WHAT'S ON $INGAPORE'S HORIZON?

Making the news as $ingapore enters 2017.

Water rate to go up by 30% to meet 6.9 million* population (*through foreign talent program) (click here)

Electricity tariffs to rise by 5.7% for Q1 2017: $P $ervices* (*$ing Power) (click here)

City Gas prices to rise by 4.5 per cent from Feb 1 in $ingapore (click here)

15 PAP Town Councils to raise monthly conservancy fees by as much as S$9 more a month (click here)

Carpark charges for 22 popular areas in $ingapore will be raised 40%, on top of 20% raise in December 2016 (click here)

$ingapore's income inequality among the worst in the world (click here)

$ingapore sets world record with lowest birth rate again (fertility rate at 1.2) (click here)

Minister Lim Swee Say: We can only produce 25% of job growth these days (click here)

$B$ Transit, a govt-linked corporation, profit up 88% to $31.4 million (click here)

Bloomberg: $ingapore banks in trouble (click here)

$ingapore medical tourism numbers fall in 2016 as costs rise (click here)

$ingapore is aiming for a 6.9 million population by 2030 mainly through the import of foreigners as the citizen fertility rate is too low. The PAP government already knew that the fertility rate had fallen below replacement level by 1975 (click here). $ingaporeans are not producing babies due to the high cost of living. The high cost of living was highlighted by the Singapore Democratic Party in 1996 as a potential problem if not curbed (click here). That was 21 years ago.

Both problems remain.


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Updated: Oct 27, 2016

Here's an article about angry Cambodians against $ingapore.

CAMBODIA'S VILLAGERS LOSE GROUND - LITERALLY - TO $INGAPORE'S EXPANSION

A dredging boat dredges sand in the middle of Mekong River near Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in March 2012. Picture by Heng Sinith, posted atcsmonitor.com.

$ingapore is a long way from this remote Cambodian fishing village - nearly a thousand miles across the sea. But as the bustling city-state grows, Koh Sralav and hamlets like it die. All because of sand, reported the Christian Science Monitor, October 21, 2016 (click here).

$ingapore is expanding; its land reclamation projects make it the largest sand importer in the world. Politically connected Cambodian firms have rushed to meet the demand. Local fishermen, and one of South-east Asia’s largest mangrove forests, are paying the price.

Sand dredgers have deepened the shallow estuaries around this village by several meters. That has created strong currents which have eaten away at the riverbanks, destroying long stretches of mangrove. The crabs and fish that once lived among the mangrove roots, the mainstay of most family economies around here, are disappearing. Villagers say their protests eventually pushed the dredgers out. But that victory came too late… the river's ecology had changed. Fishermen could no longer find crabs.

$ingapore alone imported 517 million tons of sand in the two decades up to 2012. Between 2010 and 2015 it bought 56 million tons from Cambodia, its largest supplier since Malaysia and Indonesia banned sand exports on environmental grounds. The booming city-state has plans to add land area the equivalent of Manhattan by 2030, which could be bad news for the fishermen of Koh Kong province.

In February, the Sydney Morning Herald gave an overview of $ingapore's hunger for sand. "Malaysia banned sand exports to $ingapore as early as 1997, Indonesia imposed a similar ban after several of its Riau islands had vanished and Vietnam suspended dredging in 2009. The principal source of $ingapore's sand in recent years has been Myanmar, the Philippines and Cambodia." The report added "Dozens of Malaysian officials were charged in 2010 with accepting bribes and sexual favours in exchange for allowing sand to be smuggled into $ingapore." The report here.

According to the UN Environment Programme, $ingapore is by far the largest importer of sand worldwide and, per person, the world's biggest user. $ingapore's policy stipulates that care for the environment is a core value and environmentalists agree the state has advanced policies for environmental sustainability. But the $ingapore government contracts private companies to import the sand.

The Sydney Morning Herald ended its article with this quote from Spanish environmentalist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson:

"Just like $ingapore is unhappy at Indonesian forest fires, we need to tell them that Cambodia is also not happy with seeing how $ingapore is directly responsible for the destruction of one of our most precious assets."

It has not been possible to find out which private companies in $ingapore imports sand for the government or who run these companies. None have been named in $ingapore's nation-builder press.

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Updated: October 25, 2016

$INGAPORE MEDIA HAS YET TO REPORT ON $INGAPORE AIRLINES OCT 9 'TAIL STRIKE' FLIGHT

At press time, the $ingapore nation-builder press has not reported on the October 9, 2016 "tail strike" incident involving an $IA jet in Melbourne Airport. Details below.

What is a tail strike? In aviation, a tail strike is an event in which the rear of an aircraft strikes the runway during takeoff.

Here's what happened on Sunday October 9, 2016 at Melbourne Airport in Australia.

The air safety watchdog has launched an investigation into a "tail strike" at Melbourne airport on Sunday where a $ingapore Airlines captain flew on to $ingapore despite being warned by air traffic controllers of smoke or dust coming from the rear of the aircraft on take-off. The event has raised debate in the aviation sector about the wisdom of the $IA pilot of the Boeing 777-300, with 282 passengers and crew on board, deciding to not return to the airport to check for possible damage, reported The Australian, October 11, 2016.

A Qantas spokeswoman told The Australian: "In the event of a confirmed tail strike, our policy is to turn the aircraft around."

A $ingapore Airlines spokesman yesterday confirmed that an engineers' inspection of Flight 238 on its arrival in $ingapore had revealed a tail strike, but said it did not risk the integrity of the plane. The $IA spokesman added, "Safety of our customers is our No. 1 priority." *

The full report here.

Full technical details about the incident (click here).

$IA's safety record is well-regarded. They have only experienced one major accident.

* RUSHING TO FLY: The crash of $ingapore Airlines Flight 006 (click here)


UPDATED: JULY 1, 2017

UPDATE ON $Q368 THAT BURST INTO FLAMES IN JUNE 2016 AT $INGAPORE CHANGI AIRPORT

On the morning of June 27, 2016, an $IA jet $Q368 that turned back from its flight to Milan landed at $ingapore's Changi Airport and burst into flames. None of the 222 passengers and 19 crew members were hurt. "I just escaped death!" wrote passenger Lee Bee Yee, according to the Washington Post. "I thank God I am alive! I going home to hug my kids." Lee Bee Yee had posted a video of the fiery plane and photos from inside the cabin.

The explanation to what happened to $Q368 can be found at Aviation-safety.net. Investigations found that the right engine's oil system was contaminated with fuel due to a crack in the engine’s main fuel oil heat exchanger (MFOHE). The full explanation is here.

The investigator's report was published Feb 27, 2017. As far as we can tell, it was never reported in $ingapore's mainstream press.

Read the reports below:



TIME.COM - A Passenger Jet Caught Fire in $ingapore And Lit Up Social Media (click here)

DAILY MAIL UK - Fire engulfs $ingapore Airlines plane wing after emergency landing (click here)

DNA INDIA - $ingapore Airlines jet catches fire during emergency landing (click here)

WASHINGTON POST - 'I just escaped death!': $ingapore Airlines jet catches fire after emergency landing (click here)

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Updated: October 4, 2016

TOO MANY LAWYERS IN $INGAPORE, REPORTS TOADY* PRESS

The nation-builder press, September 10, 2016.

* Toady is a morning newspaper given away free mostly at bus and train stations in $heep City. Its motto really feels like "we set your thinking".

On September 10, 2016, the morning daily, Toady, ran a headline titled "As supply of lawyers lurches from shortage to glut, spotlight falls on policies". About 22 paragraphs down the story, it finally reported this fact:

"It was reported in March (2016?) that there are currently about 1,600 criminal and family lawyers here - this makes up less than half of the 4,800 or so practising lawyers in total."

The total number of lawyers in $ingapore is about 4,800. Toady did not reveal its source. This total, the paper concludes, is a "lawyer glut". Toady also said the Ministry of Law forms Committees on the Supply of Lawyers frequently to address this issue of "lawyer glut".

Read the Toady report here.

To get a perspective on "lawyer glut" here are some other facts.

Hong Kong, similar in size and population to $ingapore, has "over 10,000 practising solicitors and barristers. As of July 2016, 870 local solicitor firms and 76 foreign law firms had set up presence in Hong Kong, including more than half of the Global 100 law firms with a presence in Hong Kong." Source (click here)

According to the latest available figures, Hong Kong's exports of legal services amounted to US$307 million in 2014, up 13.4 per cent from the year-earlier period.

Israel, the country that inspired "The Merchant Of Venice", has 73,000 lawyers. "In 1996 the Israel Bar had only approximately 17,000 advocates registered as members. As of August 2015, the Israel Bar has 73,726 advocates registered as members" Source (click here)

On the eve of Israel Independence Day 2016 in May, Israel's population stood at a record 8,522,000 (8.5 million).

Lawyer glut in $ingapore? Think for yourself.

$INGAPOREAN ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN $1.5 BILLION MALDIVES MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME

The good journalists at Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit have exposed on Sept 6, 2016 massive corruption at the top of the Maldives government. A new documentary, Stealing Paradise, provides an unprecedented insight into how international corruption is carried out. The story is told through data obtained from three of former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb's smartphones and dozens of confidential documents. It also features secretly recorded confessions of three men who embezzled millions and delivered the stolen cash on the orders of the president and his deputy.

According to the documentary, former Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb worked with three of president Abdulla Yameen's closest aides to set up a lucrative "tourism investment plan" in a country well known for its luxury tourist resorts. In the report, $ingaporean businessman Tan Kuan Yew allegedly acted as the "middleman" for the operation.

Tan Kuan Yew. Pic from Aljazeera.com website.

AlJazeera Report "How do you launder $1.5 billion?" (click here)

EX-FRENCH MINISTER FACES $INGAPORE MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGES

The Standard in Hongkong reported Sept 5, 2016 that Jerome Cahuzac, a former French Budget Minister, is going on trial for hiding part of his wealth in tax havens including in $ingapore. The report here.

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THE LAST WORD on 'TURNING 100-YEARS-OLD'

"New data from (Japan) reveal Japan has broken its own record for most centenarians by population for the 46th straight year. With 32,000 new 100-year-olds, there are now more than 65,000 people in Japan who've lived 100 years or more. Though it trails first-place US by roughly 10,000 centenarians, Japan's population is only a third of America's. In other words, no country on Earth has a larger percentage of people who have reached their 100th birthday."

- Report in the UK Independent, Sept 19, 2016 (click here)

In Japan, citizens have to pay a monthly sum of ¥16,260 (S$217.25) for the National Pension. At the age of 65, the National Pension will give them an annual amount of ¥780,100 or ¥65,000 per month (about S$869) till the day they pass away.

In $ingapore, all citizens are forced by law to keep a minimum sum with the government. In the past, the full amount of this forced savings could be withdrawn when one reached the age of 55. As of 2016, the amount of forced savings is $161,000 (US$118,143/¥12,033,701). This amount cannot be withdrawn even when citizens reach the age of 55. All citizens are forced by law to buy an annuity plan. After age 65, a citizen will be given a monthly allowance, calculated to last for 20 years (till 85), drawn from his minimum sum till the money is exhausted.

The $ingapore government changed the rules regarding pension withdrawals due to concerns over the longer life expectancies of its citizens. $ingapore has 1,100 citizens who are 100 and older as of 2015 (click here). Japan has 65,000 centenarians but $ingapore has a larger percentage of people who have reached their 100th birthday. $ingapore's citizen population is falling due to low birth rates.

For more info on Japan's pension scheme (click here).

INDONESIANS KEEP US$8.9 BILLION IN $INGAPORE, TAX AMNESTY LAW REVEALS

From Bloomberg's Sept 17, 2016 report:

Indonesians have declared 117.3 trillion rupiah (US$8.9 billion) of assets held in $ingapore under the government's tax amnesty, though only a small proportion of that figure has been brought back home, Indonesia's Finance Ministry said on Friday. Of the total $ingapore assets declared to the Indonesian government as of Sept 15, only 14.1 trillion rupiah, or about 12 per cent, has been repatriated, the ministry said.

Indonesia is banking on securing 165 trillion rupiah of tax revenue from the amnesty, which would help offset traditionally poor tax collection rates while keeping the budget deficit under a mandated 3 per cent threshold. Assets held in $ingapore account for about 75 per cent of the total declared so far under the amnesty, the Indonesian Finance Ministry said.

$ingapore has a reputation as a tax haven and a centre for money-laundering. As recent as August 2016, $ingapore was accused of being soft on money-laundering. A former prime minister in neighbouring Malaysia made the claim. Read "Mahathir hits out at $ingapore over 1MDB inaction" (click here)

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WRITER OF MALAYSIAN DESCENT VYING FOR BOOKER PRIZE


Clockwise from top left: Madeleine Thien, Paul Beatty, Ottessa Moshfegh, Graeme Macrae Burnet, Deborah Levy and David Szalay.

One of the writers shortlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize is Vancouver-born Madeleine Thien with her book Do Not Say We Have Nothing, about musicians studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s, and about the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. Between 2010 and 2015, Thien - the daughter of Malaysian immigrants - has been part of the international faculty at City University of Hong Kong. The Chinese Canadian writer, who was supportive of the Hong Kong student protest (2014-2015), was among 25 internationally renowned authors who signed a petition letter to City University's management in 2015 protesting at the decision to close the creative writing programme.

Apart from Thien, the others vying for the 2016 Booker Prize: Paul Beatty's The Sellout, Deborah Levy's Hot Milk, and Graeme Macrae Burnet's His Bloody Project will compete for the £50,000 prize, alongside Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen and David Szalay's All That Man Is. The winner of the Man Booker Prize will be announced on October 25. Last year, the Man Booker Prize was won by Marlon James for A Brief History of Seven Killings. - The Telegraph (click here)

Madeleine Thien isn't the only writer of Malaysian descent making waves in the literary world. Penang-born Tan Twan Eng's second novel, The Garden Of Evening Mists, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2012 and won the Man Asian Literary Prize, and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. His first novel, 2007's The Gift of Rain, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. It is set in Penang before and during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in World War II.

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2016 BOOKER PRIZE NOMINEE MADELEINE THIEN WRITES ABOUT CHINA
from Spread The Word No. 873 (August 5, 2016)

Vancouver-born author Madeleine Thien is among 13 writers - and one of two Canadians - nominated for the Booker Prize, it was announced Wednesday, July 27. Her 2016 book Do Not Say We Have Nothing is among 13 nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction. Do Not Say We Have Nothing is about musicians studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s and the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations.

Of her heritage, Thien revealed that, "My mother's from Hong Kong and my father from Malaysia and my grandparents from China so yes, English is my mother tongue but it wasn't from my parents. And it becomes this very over-fraught language, and a language that is very freeing because in a way, when you're a child and you're the only one for whom this is the mother tongue, it's almost like you speak in your ownership in a different way, because you are the one who translates for the family, you're the one who, in a way, has this instinct for the language."

Thien has written and published four books prior to her Booker nomination. Her debut, Simple Recipes, a collection of short stories earned her the praise of Nobel Prize laureate Alice Munro, who wrote, "This is surely the debut of a splendid writer. I am astonished by the clarity and ease of the writing, and a kind of emotional purity." Thien is no stranger to controversy. From 2010 to 2015, she was part of the International Faculty in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at City University of Hong Kong. She wrote about the Program's abrupt closure, and Hong Kong's crackdown on freedom of speech, in a controversial essay for the The Guardian.

From The Guardian essay, Thien wrote: "Recently, one of my students wrote to me: 'Freedom of speech is dying in Hong Kong.' In its abrupt closure of a small programme, City University has chosen to make the act of writing a political battle. For five years, we occupied a small and unique place: a learning environment in which there were no hard and fast dicta, but in which we cultivated the awareness that language is thinking. Language can diminish and language can enlarge. For our young people, to read and to be read matters.

"In the words of one of our students, poet and Hong Kong citizen, Nicholas Wong:

"I had/have constraints; my transcultural mobility is nearly zero. I wait. I wait for those people to come to my city. They come, and go. When I expect they will come again, they don't anymore. I feel that the home where I came from is wiped out on a map... One of the very few things I did right in the past five years will soon be history, but I will speak about it, and from it"."

You can read Thien's 2015 essay "Why Hong Kong is clamping down on creative writing" here.

You can read about $ingapore's new laws in this recent article, "New law defines contempt of court, spells out penalties" here. At the link page, you will notice that there are NO COMMENTS by any $ingaporean.

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MALAYSIAN WRITER WINS MAN ASIAN PRIZE
from Spread The Word No. 721 (March 22, 2013)

Novelist Tan Twan Eng has won the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize with his book, The Garden of Evening Mists, when the result was announced in Hong Kong on March 14, 2013. He is the first Malaysian to win the award. Tan, born in 1972, beat out four other authors, including Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, for the $30,000 prize in what was described as a "far-ranging and intricately layered novel".

His novel, which was shortlisted for last year's Booker prize, was hailed by the chair of judges Maya Jaggi for its "stylistic poise and probing intelligence". The shadow of the second world war looms over the novel in which Tan recounts the story of a lawyer who seeks solace in a mountain-top garden after surviving a Japanese war camp and becoming involved in the prosecution of Japanese war criminals.

"The layering of historical periods is intricate, the descriptions of highland Malaysia are richly evocative, and the characterisation is both dark and compelling," Jaggi told the Guardian. "Guarding its mysteries until the very end, this is a novel of subtle power and redemptive grace." Tan joins a roll call of Man Asian prize winners that includes the Chinese writers Bi Feiyu, Su Tong and Jiang Rong, who won the inaugural award in 2007. Tan beat contenders from Pakistan (Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Between Clay and Dust); Japan (Hiromi Kawakami, The Briefcase); India (Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis); and Turkey (Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk, The Silent House).
Click here for more.

News of Tan's win was also carried by the Wall Street Journal, BBC and Reuters. Click here to order the book from Amazon.com.

$ingapore newspaper writers regularly win awards given by their company. They are called "nation-builders". This year the $ingapore press was ranked 149 out of 179 countries for press freedom. "$Heep, $Heep....HOORAY!"

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DENGUE FEVER HAS BEEN AROUND IN $INGAPORE SINCE 2004

Just how bad are mosquito borne diseases in $ingapore? On Feb 18, 2016, the government's propaganda channel reported this: "More than 30,000 dengue cases expected in $ingapore this year" (click here). Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to 14 days after infection. This may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash. Deaths are also not uncommon.

Prior to 2004, there was an average of 4,000 to 5,000 cases every year (click here). But in 2005, the total number of cases shot up to 14,000 plus with 25 deaths (click here). Subsequent years also saw the numbers at epidemic levels with outbreaks in 2007 and 2008. In 2013, the total number of dengue cases exceeded 22,000 (click here). The following year, there were 18,000 plus cases. Early in 2016, the $ingapore government warned that 30,000 dengue cases were expected. Mosquitos continue to be a source of concern since 2004, with dengue fever easily reaching epidemic proportions almost every year. With the arrival in $ingapore of the Zika virus in August 2016, it's not hard to imagine the Zika virus reaching epidemic proportions here.

A study of dengue outbreaks in $ingapore can be read here.

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How far would you go? (Image found on the net)

1964 - 2014, 50 YEARS A 'MAID' CONTINUED

On November 12, 2015, it was reported that Indonesian maids will get a pay jump from $500 to $550 in 2016. $ingapore's nation builder press reported that "The previous increase was in September last year, when the minimum pay for Indonesian maids rose from $450 to $500. The Indonesian Embassy announced the latest increase in a letter in October to $ingapore maid agents. One of the reasons cited was to protect the income of Indonesian women who go abroad to work. There are about 125,000 Indonesian maids here, making up around half the foreign domestic worker population." Full report here.

Do take note that $ingapore's "Ah Boys" must serve two years as conscripts in the army. The last salary revision took place in April 2012 when the monthly pay was raised from $420 to $480 a month. That's right, $ingapore's citizen soldiers with the rank of private earn less than a foreign maid.

And with Indonesian maids set to earn $550 a month as a minimum salary, the "Ah Boys" now earn even less.

The government pays top civil servants and politicians multi-million dollar salaries to match with the top earners in the private sector. This is to ensure only the best serve in government.

Why are citizen soldiers paid salaries less then foreign maids?

Malu-Lah $ingapura

What are the monthly salary range for Indonesian, Filipino and Myanmar maids?

The above chart from the nation-builder press, November 12, 2015. Modified to include the salary of "Ah Boys" who are privates. "Ah Boys" salary chart here.

"Ah Boys" is a local slang for $ingapore's citizen soldiers.

A PRIVILEGE TO EARN $480 A MONTH, SAYS PAP MAN


If Dr Lim Wee Kiak's family has a maid, how much do you think he pays her?

"What you realise from this (National $ervice) survey is that majority are not asking them (Permanent Residents) to serve exactly the same two years system. In fact, serving the two years is a privilege. I am quite glad that many $ingaporeans realised that, and that should be a privilege that belongs to $ingaporeans."

Dr Lim is a PAP MP for Nee Soon GRC. He made the above remark in October 2013 referring to the results of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) survey on National $ervice (N$).

Actually, it's a privilege to be a maid in $ingapore.

SOCIAL WELFARE WORKER ASSAULTED IN $INGAPORE


The 46-year-old general is paid a multi-million-dollar salary as a cabinet minister.

November 17, 2015: The Ministry of $ocial and Family Development (M$F) has made a police report after one of their female officers at a $ocial $ervice Office ($$O) was assaulted, the ministry said on Nov 17. In a press release, the ministry said that on Nov 6, a man visited their office in Toa Payoh to apply for financial assistance. The officer was then assaulted when she was interviewing him to understand his financial situation better, reported the nation-builder press (click here). The poor man was arrested.

What's interesting in the above case is that the Minister of $ocial and Family Development wrote about the matter on November 17 on his Facebook page. General Tan Chuan-Jin, the multi-million-dollar salaried minister, said, "My officers strive to do their best when they serve the public. Despite the occasional physical and verbal abuse our officers are subjected to, they remain committed and passionate about their cause."

He added, "I will not tolerate any behaviour by anyone that causes harm to my officers. We will do our utmost to protect them in the course of their duties. I hope that my officers will have your support too as they do their best to serve."

It is unclear if the man who committed the assault has ever served in $ingapore's army as an "Ah boy" earning his $200 or $300 a month salary (The current N$ salary of $480 a month was only implemented in April 2012). And whether he has completed his reservist training.

In $ingapore, there are posters on buses urging $ingaporeans not to assault their "bus captains" (i.e. drivers). We wonder why.

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THE MINIMUM SUM

The pension fund is a hot button issue in $heep City, $ingapore. While the United Kingdom decided to stop the practice of forcing the purchase of annuities and gave back its citizens their pensions in April 2015, the PAP government of $ingapore continues to withhold citizen's pensions in what it calls "the minimum sum" that every citizen must hand over to the government to manage. Read more here.

The Malaysian government also declared in April 2015 that it would not follow $ingapore and withhold its citizen's pension. On April 23, 2015, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak announced that the age for full withdrawal by members of the Employees Provident Fund (a pension fund) will be retained at 55. Earlier, the government was considering changing the full withdrawal age from 55 years to 60 years. The prime minister said: "It is clear that the vast majority of EPF members, while understanding the importance of retirement savings at the age of 60, want the right to use their retirement fund at the age of 55. I want to assure the rakyat [citizens] that EPF members will retain their right to withdraw at the age of 55."

The British and Malaysians are trusted to handle their retirement funds. Not so adult $ingaporeans.

Surprisingly, it was a founder member of $ingapore's PAP who first cautioned the government on withholding its citizens pensions. Below is what Dr Toh Chin Chye argued in parliament:

THE GHOST OF 1984

Dr Toh Chin Chye (left) and Minister Howe Yoon Chong.

Mr Speaker,

I think fundamental principles are being breached. The fundamental principle is this. The CPF is really a fixed deposit or a loan to Government, which can be redeemed at a fixed date when the contributor is 55 years old. If I were to put this sum of money in a commercial bank and, on the due date I go to the bank to withdraw the money, the manager says, "I am sorry, Dr Toh, you will have to come next year", there will be a run on the bank! It is as simple as this, that the CPF has lost its credibility, the management of it. This is fundamental. You were taken by surprise by Medisave. Then they say, '6% of your Special Account will be kept for Medisave and you cannot withdraw that, even if you were to die'.

Now I ask the Minister for Health, and I asked him last time, whether his word is binding on future Ministers. Neither will the Minister for Labour's word be binding on future Ministers for Labour. Can any Government or any Minister guarantee that in future years a law will not be passed that will say, 'All Special Accounts in the CPF cannot be withdrawn until you die?' Your Special Account now is up to 10%; 6% Medisave, 4% for what? So unless you use the CPF to buy property, your money is in real danger of being kept under lock and key by others, not under your own lock and key. This is the nub of the problem - the credibility of the management, gradual encroachment into the purpose of the CPF which was instituted really to provide for retirement.

- Dr Toh Chin Chye, 1984 Parliamentary debate on Health minister Howe Yoon Chong's report. The report suggested the raising of the retirement age from 55 to 60, then 65 eventually, and pushing back the age when people could withdraw their savings from the Central Provident Fund (CPF). Howe passed away in August 2007. He was 84.

Dr Toh was Deputy Prime Minister (1965-1968) and served as cabinet minister till 1981. He also served as the Chairman of the People's Action Party (PAP) from 1954 to 1981. After he left the Cabinet in 1981, he continued to serve as a Member of Parliament (MP) until he retired from politics in 1988.

Dr Toh died Feb 3, 2012 at age 90.

FORGIVE THEM FATHER

Picture: Yahoo.com

Campaigning for elections due on Friday, Sept 11, 2015 Prime Minister, General Lee Hsien Loong (left) raised the perennial problem at a rally: "What do we worry about? Just look around you, at the grey haze." Next to him is 74-year-old Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (affectionately known as 'Woody Goh'). Goh's title is only "honorary" without authority. See the banner directly below on how the "haze" was created.

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How far would you go? (Image found on the net)

1964 - 2014, 50 YEARS A 'MAID'

All male citizens of $ingapore must serve two years as conscripts in the army. Wages are well-below what professional soldiers earn in $ingapore. For more than 10 years, the salary was just $240 a month up till June 2002 for the bulk of the soldiers. The last salary revision took place April 2012 when the monthly pay was raised from $420 to $480 a month.

$ingapore's citizen soldiers with the rank of private earn less than a foreign maid. Maids earn $500 or more a month.*

The government pays top civil servants and politicians multi-million dollar salaries to match with the top earners in the private sector. This is to ensure only the best serve in government.
Why are citizen soldiers paid salaries less then foreign maids?

Malu-Lah $ingapura

*What are the monthly salary range for Indonesian and Filipino maids?
For Indonesian maids, their monthly salary basically ranges from S$420 to S$500 depending on their working experience and capabilities. For Filipino maids, their monthly salary is approximately S$500 depending on their working experience and capabilities. Source here.

A PRIVILEGE TO EARN $480 A MONTH, SAYS PAP MAN


If Dr Lim Wee Kiak's family has a maid, how much do you think he pays her?

"What you realise from this (National $ervice) survey is that majority are not asking them (Permanent Residents) to serve exactly the same two years system. In fact, serving the two years is a privilege. I am quite glad that many $ingaporeans realised that, and that should be a privilege that belongs to $ingaporeans."

Dr Lim is a PAP MP for Nee Soon GRC. He made the above remark in October 2013 referring to the results of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) survey on National $ervice (N$).

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Click here to Tie A Yellow Ribbon For Amos Yee.

Free 16-year-old prisoner of conscience Amos Yee: The $ingapore authorities must immediately and unconditionally release teenager Amos Yee, who is facing a minimum of 18 months of reformative training after criticising the late $ingapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew online. - Amnesty International (click here)

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AMOS YEE FREE AFTER FOUR WEEKS SENTENCE




Amos Yee leaving the courts on July 6, 2015. He was arrested on March 29. All it took was a few months and Yee emerged a transformed boy. Click on the respective images for a better view.

$ingapore teenager Amos Yee, who was found guilty of wounding religious feelings, will walk free after being sentenced to jail time already served. Yee, 16, posted a video critical of the late PM Lee Kuan Yew days after his death in March, comparing him to Jesus Christ and disparaging both. He also posted an obscene cartoon of Lee and former UK PM Margaret Thatcher. Yee was arrested on March 29 after at least 30 people filed police reports.

The BBC reported that Yee's lawyer said the teenager, who had pleaded not guilty, would appeal against both conviction and sentence. On July 6, 2015, $ingapore court sentenced Yee to four weeks of imprisonment from June 2, which means he can be released immediately having already spent 50 days in remand. Yee looked visibly tired and subdued as he walked out of court.

"We enquired from Yee as to his physical well-being earlier July 6 as he had visibly lost weight. He said he was feeling better. He had a meal today but was feeling slightly giddy," attorney Alfred Dodwell said in a statement. Yee was taken on the evening of July 5 to Changi General Hospital after officials determined his loss of appetite had affected his blood pressure and blood sugar levels, his lawyer said.

Found guilty in May, Yee was detained for 53 days at Changi Prison before being transferred in June to the Institute of Mental Health where he underwent court-ordered psychiatric examinations.

Earlier in July, Yee's mother, Mary Toh, who attended court hearings in a "#FreeAmosYee" T-shirt, wrote a letter - widely shared on Facebook - to her son, apologizing for telling him he was "in the safest country". - BBC, CNN

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THE LAST WORD ON 'A $INGAPORE POLITICAL PRISONER'

"One time, quite inexplicably, the toilet bowl suddenly broke down, and we couldn't flush the toilet. I went to the intercom and reported the matter and the police responded with an 'ok, ok alright'. After 2 hours, they never came.

My cellmates and I still took a shit after lunch though. Because you know... we needed to. So I went to the intercom again. This time they told us to pour water into the toilet bowl to try to flush down the shit. However, that method wasn't as effective as we had hoped for. So my cellmates and I waited eagerly for the policemen to come, as the pervasive smell of shit, permeated the cell.

It took the police more than 14 hours, before they repaired it."

- $ingaporean boy Amos Yee, 16, on his stay in prison. Yee was arrested March 29, 2015 and has been bailed out and been in and out of custody since. Currently, Yee remains incarcerated. His next appearance in a $ingapore court is on July 6. Follow Amos Yee here. He was only 16 for five months before he was arrested. Yee turns 17 on October 31.

This is the video that got Yee in trouble (click here).

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$INGAPORE MOM OF DETAINED BLOGGER AMOS YEE: 'SORRY, SON'

June 30, 2015: The mother of detained teen blogger Amos Yee has written a heartfelt apology letter to her son, as he faces years in "reformative training" after being jailed for a Youtube video where he criticized $ingapore's founding politician.

"Sorry for not teaching you well... Mummy is wrong," wrote Mary Toh in a widely-shared Facebook post yesterday. "Sorry for telling you that you are in the safest country. You are feeling so insecure and scared now."

"Sorry for urging you to be a law-abiding citizen. The laws are doing you more harm than good now," the note continued. "Sorry for encouraging you to be creative and expressive. You are regarded as crazy and rebellious instead." The CNN report here.

Hell has no fury as a woman scorned...

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PENSION WITHDRAWAL STAYS AT 55, SAYS PM NAJIB

On April 23, 2015, Malaysian prime minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that the age for full withdrawal by members of the Employees Provident Fund (a pension fund) will be retained at 55. The EPF is a compulsory savings scheme for the nation's workers and earlier, the government was considering changing the full withdrawal age from 55 years to 60 years. The prime minister said: "It is clear that the vast majority of EPF members, while understanding the importance of retirement savings at the age of 60, want the right to use their retirement fund at the age of 55. I want to assure the rakyat [citizens] that EPF members will retain their right to withdraw at the age of 55."

Najib also said: "The EPF will ensure that any new enhancement will only apply to new contributions if members decide to work beyond the age of 55. This strikes a fair balance between the rakyat's expectations to their hard-earned money at the age of 55 while protecting them if they retire at the age of 60."

The Malaysian PM added: "In just two days of the consultation process, more than 50,000 Malaysians have taken part and given their views." And the majority wanted the existing EPF ruling to be retained. - The Star (click here)

'EPF withdrawal should be retained at age 55: PM Najib' Read More at NST (click here)

On April 6, 2015, a new law in the United Kingdom allowed people over 55 to withdraw their pensions or retirement savings. See below.

In $ingapore, workers' savings in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) are "locked up". They must at least have the Minimum Sum before being able to take out any savings. (The Minimum Sum is currently $155,000 and set to rise.) $ingapore citizens' minimum sum will be released in monthly payouts once they reach the age of 65. If it reads confusing, it's because it is.

The above story was not reported in $ingapore's $tate's Times.

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HALF A MILLION PENSIONERS IN U.K. TO GET THEIR MONEY BACK

A new law kicked in at midnight April 5, 2015 in the United Kingdom that allowed:

People aged over 55 are free to decide what to do with their retirement savings
No longer be forced to buy an annuity for a guaranteed income for life

But experts have warned savers they face big tax bills if they cash in their pension. The first 25 per cent of people's pension is tax free but the rest is taxed at a marginal rate.

People in the UK aged 55 and over will be given new powers to decide what to do with their retirement savings and will no longer be forced to buy an annuity - which pays a monthly income for life. Instead people will simply be allowed to cash their savings and spend it how they please in what has been dubbed 'pensions freedom day'.

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer (the equivalent of a finance minister), said the changes amounted to a 'permanent revolution' and were the 'biggest changes to pensions in 100 years'. "What it means is that people who have worked hard and saved hard can have access to their pensions savings. Many people will have assumed they have to buy an annuity," he said. "That's not the case anymore."

Mr Osborne urged people to make use of the government's guidance scheme and take their time before making a decision on what to do with their pension pot amid warnings that thousands of savers will be hit with huge tax bills. Overall, some 540,000 people will be able to take control of their savings.

The first 25 per cent of people's pensions is tax free and the rest is taxed at whatever rate people currently pay - meaning higher earners face losing 40 per cent of their cash to the Government. - Daily Mail (click here)


Click on the respective graphic for more.

IN THE U.K., IT'S PENSIONS FREEDOM DAY APRIL 6, 2015

This week, over-55s in the UK with a collective £140 billion of pension savings will get unprecedented new freedoms to access their money and spend it as they wish. Instead of being forced to buy annuities, which can offer poor value, they will be able to put the money towards other types of investment, such as buy-to-let homes.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne urges savers to "go and explore this new world" of control over their money on what has been labelled "pensions freedom day" on Monday (April 6, 2015).

"Many people will have assumed they have to buy an annuity," Mr Osborne says. "That's not the case anymore." But he adds: "Take your time. You don't have to make this decision today or tomorrow." - The Telegraph (click here)

Changes to the UK's pension system were first announced in March 2014 as part of the new UK Budget (click here). The Chancellor then said that it was to reward responsible pensioners. He said the requirements that people had to take out annuities were old fashioned and put in place many decades ago. "They may be right for many people, but they are also not right for many others. Returns from annuities have been much lower over the past 15 years or so and in the end people who have saved through their lives and earned that money should be trusted with good advice about what they do with that money."

The timing of the effective date of the reforms coincided with the UK elections.

(Note: As far as we can tell, this pension reform has never been reported in $ingapore media.)

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AUSTRALIA STEPS IN TO PROTECT IDENTITIES OF CORPORATIONS SUSPECTED OF AVOIDING TAXES

April 8, 2015: Treasurer Joe Hockey personally approved a decision to shield companies sending billions of dollars offshore as part of apparent tax-dodging strategies from being named. Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan said in a letter to the Senate committee into corporate tax avoidance that Mr Hockey endorsed his decision not to release the names of ten resources companies that transferred a combined $31.4 billion to $ingapore in the financial year 2011 - 2012.

This follows a move by the Coalition government to backtrack on impending obligations for the Australian Tax Office to disclose the tax contribution of 700 of the country's largest privately-owned companies - those with revenues of more than $100 million.

On Saturday, Fairfax Media revealed that a single resources company transferred more than $11 billion to $ingapore where the corporate tax rate is as lows as 2.5 per cent. Corporate tax in Australia is levied at 30 per cent.

A string of mining companies have established so-called "marketing hubs" in $ingapore as part of suspected efforts to minimise tax where they extract resources. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, Australia's biggest miners, are both operating mining hubs in $ingapore.

The names of the companies channelling money to $ingapore were redacted by the Australian Tax Office in a document released under Freedom of Information and Senate committee chairman Sam Dastyari wrote to Mr Jordan on Tuesday requesting he reveal the names to the inquiry.

But Mr Jordan claimed "public interest immunity" in refusing his request, saying identifying companies could undermine confidence in the tax system. - The Sydney Morning Herald

The full report here.

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TO BE NUMBER ONE

The 2014 McKinsey Global Report of countries with the highest debt-to-GDP ratio.

Almost there.
Click here for the full graphic. For the McKinsey report, click here.

$ingapore's public debt consists largely of $ingapore Government Securities (SGS) issued to assist the Central Provident Fund (CPF), which administers $ingapore's defined contribution pension fund; special issues of SGS are held by the CPF, and are non-tradable; the government has not borrowed to finance deficit expenditures since the 1980s; $ingapore has no external public debt. - The World Factbook by the CIA.

In a nutshell, the $ingapore government has NO FOREIGN DEBT of significance. Its government debt is money owed to CPF. The McKinsey report noted:

"For (government) debt held primarily by internal creditors, any government debt restructuring can force heavy losses on domestic banks, pension funds, and other local investors, which can have harsh effects on retirees and the broader population."

Instead McKinsey recommends: "...taxes on wealth or large-scale asset sales could be considered as means to pay off debt."

On March 3, 2015, $ingapore non-elected member of parliament, Chia Yong Yong (whose view was praised by General Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister) offered a new way of viewing $ingapore's pension - that the CPF does not belong entirely to $ingaporeans ie. "the government should have a say in how it is spent"?

Also corporations that operate in $ingapore and $ingaporeans themselves are holding large amounts of debt. It has been growing. $ingapore's household debt is among the highest in the world. Much of it in the form of housing loans.

In 2012, $ingapore's estimated debt to GDP ratio was 108.4 per cent and in 2013 the ratio was 105.5 per cent. In the latest report which measures debt from 2007 to 2014, the ratio has risen above 300 per cent with $ingapore ranked as the third country with the largest debt ratio.

Is the rise to the top inexorable? Debt has now become a way of life. None remember usury. (click here)

NOTE: A low debt-to-GDP ratio indicates an economy that produces and sells goods and services sufficient to pay back debts without incurring further debt.


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ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER ASIAN

In the previous emailer, we featured $ingaporean Dr Alex Chang, now in custody for smuggling endangered fish into Australia. This week, climate "expert" Willie Soon Wei-Hock, from Malaysia, made the pages of The New York Times.

WILLIE EXPOSED

For years, politicians wanting to block legislation on climate change have often bolstered their arguments by pointing to the work of Soon Wei-Hock, known as Willie, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who claims that variations in the sun's energy can largely explain recent global warming; and that greenhouse gases pose little risk to humanity.

He has often appeared on conservative news programs, testified before Congress and in state capitals, and starred at conferences of people who deny the risks of global warming. But newly released documents show the extent to which Dr Soon's work has been tied to funding he received from corporate interests.

He has accepted more than US$1.2 million from the fossil-fuel industry over the last decade while failing to disclose that conflict of interest in most of his scientific papers. At least 11 papers he has published since 2008 omitted such a disclosure, and in at least eight of those cases, he appears to have violated ethical guidelines of the journals that published his work.

The documents were obtained by Greenpeace, the environmental group, under the Freedom of Information Act. Greenpeace and an allied group, the Climate Investigations Center, shared them with several news organizations in February 2015.

The newly disclosed documents, plus additional documents compiled by Greenpeace over the last four years, show that at least $409,000 of Dr Soon's funding in the past decade came from Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of the Southern Company, based in Atlanta. Southern has huge investments in coal-burning power plants. Dr Soon also received at least $230,000 from the Charles G Koch Charitable Foundation. (Mr Koch's fortune derives partly from oil refining.) However, other companies and industry groups that once supported Dr Soon, including Exxon Mobil and the American Petroleum Institute, appear to have eliminated their grants to him in recent years.

Many experts in the field say that Dr Soon uses out-of-date data, publishes spurious correlations between solar output and climate indicators, and does not take account of the evidence implicating emissions from human behavior in climate change.

"I am aware of the situation with Willie Soon, and I'm very concerned about it," W John Kress, interim under secretary for science at the Smithsonian in Washington, said on February 20, 2015. "We are checking into this ourselves." - nytimes.com (click here)

WILLIE'S ASIAN VALUES

Willie Soon was born in Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia in 1966. He attended Khoon Aik Primary School in Kangar; then Sekolah Menengah Syed Sirajudin Secondary School in Jejawi, Perlis and Sekolah Menengah Dato Sheikh Ahmad Secondary School in Arau, Perlis. To further his education he emigrated to the United States in 1980 and attended the University of Southern California, receiving a B Sc in 1985, followed by as M Sc in 1987 and then a Ph D [with distinction] in 1991.

The wikipedia on Willie Soon (click here).

More residents of $ingapore

World-class match-fixer Dan Tan Seet Eng (click here)

Leonard Glen Francis, a Malaysian who resides permanently in $ingapore, whom the press dubbed "Fat Leonard", swindled the US Navy of tens of millions of dollars, for over a decade, ran his company out of $ingapore (click here)

Read this recent report on "Fat Leonard" who is involved in "the biggest corruption case in the Navy's history" here.

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SPIDERMAN SAYS: WHOFIVESAGUCK?


The message at the top of a 22-storey building.

The PAP is the People's Action Party that has ruled $ingapore for 50 years. On May 7, 2014 the above message was painted at the top of Blk 85 in the $ingapore government housing estate of Toa Payoh. Police who investigated say access to the restricted rooftop was secured and there were no signs of a break-in. Whodunnit? Who else can scale 22 storeys?

The very next day, May 8, the PAP government announced they had raised the minimum sum $ingaporeans have to keep in their pension to $155,000 up from $148,000. This sum will continue to be raised till it reaches the equivalent of $120,000 in 2003 dollars. This sum cannot be withdrawn. $ingaporeans when they reach the ages of 62 to 65 will be given a monthly stipend till the amount is finished. Should you die at 66, your pension savings will pass to your next of kin or whoever you have named.

In other words, you are not allowed to manage your own retirement savings. That's why some are unhappy.

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Malaysians protest freely in Melbourne, Australia.

$INGAPORE is the only country that has reacted so strongly against Malaysians protesting on their soil against the results of GE13 [May 2013]. Protests were also held in Moscow (click here), London, Aberdeen, Dublin, Japan, Shanghai, Perth, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane (click here), and Taipei. $ingapore is a TOTALITARIAN STATE. Everything is CONTROLLED. If you intend to visit or work here, be aware of its rules ("OBEY") and you'll be all right.



'ARRESTED MALAYSIANS IN $INGAPORE DENIED LEGAL ACCESS'


PKR's memorandum to the $ingapore High Commission (from left): Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, Bersih chairman Datuk S Ambiga, Batu Pahat MP Idris Jauzi and Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng. Picture by Rahim Sabri, Malaysiakini.

May 23, 2013: Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching claimed that there were more than 30 Malaysians arrested in $ingapore for participating in the Blackout rallies and they had been denied legal representation by the republic's police force. The DAP parliamentarian revealed that although the media has earlier reported that there had been nine Malaysians arrested for joining the protest rally on May 8 at Merlion Park, the exact number of arrests were higher.
"I cannot ascertain the exact number as I only know about those who contacted me. If there were other people who were arrested but did not inform me, I would not know," she said when contacted today.
There were some 100 participants in the rally to protest against fraud and irregularities in the 13th Malaysian general election. According to earlier media reports, another 21 Malaysians were arrested for participating in another protest rally at the same venue on May 11.


Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching of DAP.

Those who contacted Teo also claimed that they were denied access to lawyers during the interrogations by the police. Teo pointed out that it was clearly against Article 9(3) of the republic's
constitution which stipulates that anyone arrested "shall be allowed to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice".
Some of those arrested on May 11 had been handcuffed when they were bought back to the police station, said Teo, which was another violation of Section 76 of the $ingapore Criminal Procedure Code which states that "the person arrested must not be restrained more than is necessary to prevent his escape".

"I also found out from those who have contacted me that they are not allowed to leave $ingapore until the investigation is completed. This has caused difficulties for some of them because among them are a few who travel daily from Johor Baru to $ingapore for work. They have had no choice but to stay in hotels for the time being."

Out of the 21 Malaysians arrested on 11 May 2011, one employment pass and two visit passes were revoked while the other 18 received conditional warnings from the $ingapore government. The work passes of the remaining 18 will be reviewed after investigations have concluded.

Teo added that one woman - whose employment pass was revoked - was told by the $ingapore authorities that she had participated in both rallies May 8 and May 11, although she claimed that she had only attended the May 11 rally.
'Grossly unfair to revoke employment pass'
"As such, it is grossly unfair for the $ingapore government to revoke her employment pass. As she was denied her right to legal representation during the police interrogation, I fear that she may have been misunderstood. I therefore urge the $ingapore police to review her case if she had indeed participated in both gatherings and if she did not, her employment pass should be reinstated immediately," said Teo.

According to Teo, the revocation of employment pass could cost her a whopping S$100,000 as the scholarship holder has an agreement to serve her sponsor for six years upon completion of her studies or else she would have to compensate the sponsor.

"We all hope that this matter can be resolved amicably. I strongly urge the $ingapore government to show leniency and to give them a second chance as mercy and forgiveness will always be seemed as a virtue," she added.


Ong Keng Yong asked to show "leniency".

In Kuala Lumpur today, PKR handed a memorandum to $ingapore High Commissioner to Malaysia Ong Keng Yong, appealing to the republic to rescind its action to revoke the working passes of Malaysians who had been involved in the protest. PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar led a four member delegation in handing over the memorandum to Ong's aides. The others were Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Batu Pahat MP Idris Jauzi and Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng.

[NOTE: Ong Keng Yong from 1998 to 2002 worked directly for then $ingapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong. He became High Commissioner to Malaysia in July 2011. His younger brother Ong Keng Sen was appointed $ingapore Arts Festival director on May 2, 2013. The younger Ong is a state-sponsored artist. The new Arts Festival company will be state-funded with $6 million annually. Civil servants take up the top posts in this "new company".]

"A total of 21 Malaysians were arrested in the Black 505 protest, and the authorities are now studying or have decided to revoke the working passes of some of those individuals. We recognise the need for Malaysians to adhere the republic's laws, but our plea to the $ingapore authorities is to adopt justice, and whether such actions are deemed proper," the memorandum states.
The four signed the memorandum, in which they said they felt the action against the 21 Malaysians "is harsh" as they were only expressing their democratic rights, which is a universal struggle.
The memorandum was handed to the high commissioner's secretaries, Harris Rusdi Chai and Ramanathan Manivasagan, in Kuala Lumpur. - Abdul Rahim Sabri, Malaysiakini

In $ingapore, Justice is blind.

Here is a sample of comments by $ingaporeans at the TOADY website (click here)

Cookie Tan · Works at Smoothie King $ingapore
To apply fairness, they should be detain under penal code section 66 for causing political social unrest by staging illegal gathering. Can? Keep them in prison a few years with annual reviews!

Terence Teo · Top Commenter · University of Leicester
Sadly to say, warnings have been issued but was ignored by protestors. So its only right for our authorities to take stern actions. This is what makes our country sound and safe.

Albert Lin · Top Commenter · $ingapore
as much as I think certain laws should be relaxed, the fact is these people protested knowing fully well the consequences. They aren't being unfairly treated, nor is there a witch-hunt. True protestors would stand up for their cause regardless of the outcome, and more often than not, true protestors would welcome prosecution as it would bring more light to their cause. These are just cowards who are not willing to put the fight to their fight.

Leonie R Tan · $ingapore
They asked for it.

Ryan Cai
Serve them rite, dare to protest despite warnings now prepare to face the music, hope $ingapore authorities will hold firm on our stand... if u tink u wan to make a living here, tink twice before u act...

Lee Greg · Boys Town High School
Simple common sense. You don't dictate what the host can and cannot do. Enjoy the courtesy and hospitaility accorded to you and you will be fine. But the protesters bluntantly ignore the warnings. Now, they also take their plague to a political party. What do you think were their intention? Is it to show displeasure over the M'ysian. GE or to give our authority/government headache?


Malaysian protestors in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.

LATEST: Warning on foreigners who break laws in $heep City

May 29, 2013: Foreigners who break the law in $ingapore should be prepared to face the consequences, said the Ministry of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Ministry. This includes having their visas or work passes revoked. More here.

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THE PINKY PROMISE

General Lee, Supreme ruler of $ingapore.

On August 18, 2013 at the stroke of General Lee's pen: "Medisave rates have to go up... We will increase these contribution rates over time..." Whether you want his "good things" or not, his government will make you pay for it. Medishield is now COMPULSORY.

'IT'S NOT THE PEOPLE WHO VOTE THAT COUNT...'

Josef Stalin said: "It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes."

The source for the above quote is Boris Bazhanov's Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary, first published in 1980 and only available in Russian (click here). The pertinent passage, which appears near the end of chapter five, reads as follows (loosely translated): "You know, comrades," says Stalin, "that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how."

Meanwhile in $ingapore... another investigation has opened. The nation-builder press, September 1, 2013.

This is what was reported: "The Elections Department (ELD) has lodged a police report after they were alerted to a recent discovery of empty election ballot boxes. In a statement on Saturday (August 31, 2013), it stressed however that there were no implications on the secrecy of the vote and electoral process."

"Huh? If an honest mistake was committed, why report to the police? Just call up the cleaning contractor, lah."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, Sept 1, 2013.

$INGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT $Q285 LANDS IN AUCKLAND WITH PART OF WING MISSING

The pilot of the $IA 777 jumbo jet carrying hundreds of passengers was not even aware that part of the wing was missing when he landed at Auckland Airport in New Zealand on August 14, 2013. The $IA jet had only one set of fully functioning wing slats after a 20cm panel fell off while it was in the air. Airport emergency crews were not alerted because it wasn't until the Boeing 777-300 was on the tarmac that ground staff noticed a section was missing. One astonished airport worker said: "A bite out of a wing had gone." The plane had just flown nine hours and 40 minutes non-stop from $ingapore with 269 passengers.

The Civil Aviation Authority of $ingapore said "We have ascertained that the missing panel on the outboard wing slat did not affect the airworthiness of the aircraft." A $ingapore Airlines spokesman chipped in that it was only a minor issue and passengers were never in danger.

An Airways Corporation of New Zealand spokeswoman said if the $IA crew had detected a problem during the flight, air-traffic controllers would have prepared for an emergency landing. More here.

The above news surfaced on Sept 1, 2013 in New Zealand. As far as we can tell, there were no reports in $ingapore's nation-builder press.

This is not the first time an $IA jet has dropped parts during flight. In October 2010, a $ingapore Airlines flight $Q22 to New York landed with one of the plane's wheels missing.

The nation-builder press, October 7, 2010.

A wheel had fallen off when the plane took off from $ingapore's Changi Airport. According to a press report, airport workers later found it in a drain near Changi Airport's Terminal 3. All 81 passengers on board the all-business class flight disembarked at Newark Airport. If investigations were carried out, the report was never made public.

$Q286 after a tailstrike incident at Auckland International Airport, March 13, 2003.

$IA's safety record include
- $Q006, a 744 crashing at Taipei International Airport in 2000 with 83 deaths and
- its SilkAir subsidiary MI185, a 733 that crashed into the Musi River in 1997 with 104 dead.
- Two non-fatal incidents involved $Q286, a 744 tail strike in Auckland International in 2003 and
$Q327, a 777 that skidded off the runway after landing at Munich Airport in 2011.

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FOOTBALL MATCH-FIXING HAVEN

Quite a mouthful but on Nov 27, 2013, the UK Telegraph carried yet another tale of soccer/football match-fixing that this time involved the British game. The opening paragraphs quickly identified "the Asian link".

Members of an alleged betting syndicate have been arrested on suspicion of fixing English football games in the biggest match-rigging scandal for decades, The Telegraph can disclose. Officers from the National Crime Agency held six men in the past two days, including at least three footballers and Delroy Facey, a player-turned-agent who has played in the Premier League. The arrests have been made in the wake of an investigation by The Telegraph that found match fixers from Asia were targeting games across Britain. One internationally known fixer arrived in this country last week and was arrested on Tuesday evening (Nov 26, 2013).

Here's the paragraph which identifies the infamous Asian country that is a world-class match-fixing haven. This is the recorded conversation between the paper and the fixer:

During a series of undercover meetings in Manchester this month, which were covertly recorded, one of the fixers claimed he could rig games and that potential gamblers would make hundreds of thousands of pounds by using the inside information on Asian-based betting websites.

The fixer, from $ingapore, also alleged that he controlled teams in other European countries and could buy foreign referees to secure results.

He also identified one of the ring-leaders of $ingapore's match-fixing syndicate.

He claimed to be connected to Wilson Raj Perumal, who has been convicted of rigging football matches abroad. "Wilson Raj Perumal... he's the king... he's my boss. Everybody in the world know him," the fixer said. Raj Perumal, is also originally from $ingapore, but has lived in London. He is understood to be responsible for fixing numerous football matches over the past 30 years, and is helping the Hungarian police to investigate corruption.

The full report here.

And let's not forget $ingaporean Dan Tan Seet Eng. He was arrested Sept 18, 2013 in $ingapore for allegedly fixing international football matches. There has been ABSOLUTELY NO NEWS as to whether our man Dan will be charged with any crime. An Oct 3, 2013 report (click here) says he is to be held in custody under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, which allows for them to be held by the police without trial. No trial means no one will ever know how our man Dan built $ingapore into a world-class, match-fixing capital of the world.

In the UK, they charge suspected criminals and put them on trial. The nation-builder press, November 30, 2013.

How did $ingapore become a center for high-value cheating?

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DAN TAN SEET ENG, WHERE ARE YOU?

The Independent, March 29, 2013.

All the national football (soccer to Europeans) league games in Europe have started. Millions of sports fans have tuned in to watch their heroes play and, of course, take bets to see who wins. Soccer gambling is big business. By some accounts, it runs into billions of dollars. But what's happened to $ingaporean businessman Dan Tan Seet Eng?

Dan has been accused by Germany, Italy, Hungary and even Interpol of fixing more than 600 European league games since 2008. Dan's name has cropped up in multiple investigations. In a probe revealed by Europol early in 2013, hundreds of players and officials are under suspicion, 14 people have been sentenced and more than 100 prosecutions are expected. But the head of Interpol complains that, while the integrity of the world's most popular sport is under threat, the alleged ringleaders are living freely.

The last anyone heard about Dan was this report on May 31, 2013: $ingapore match-fixing suspect not charged. The AFP report can be read here. $ingapore's notoriously efficient police force are still investigating.

In an earlier AFP report on Feb 7, 2013, the $ingapore police had said they needed hard evidence to crack down on match-fixing cartels. See this report.

Meanwhile, soccer season is here and billions of dollars are betted each week on the outcome of the matches. The irony is that "clean and green" $ingapore has earned a reputation as "the home of the world's biggest match-fixing syndicate".

Click on the graphic for a better view.

Read The Independent UK report.

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JUST ONE BAD APPLE?

This is "Fat Leonard's" home, described by $ingapore's nation-builder press as a private theme park with a mini train set complementing the Christmas decorations at his bungalow in Nassim Road. Leonard Glenn Francis was arrested in San Diego, USA, Sept 16, 2013 and is accused of bribing navy officers with concert tickets, luxury hotel stays and prostitutes to get US Navy vessels to go to selected Asian ports where he could overbill for maintenance and re-supply costs by millions of dollars. Apparently, this has been going on for 25 years. Leonard has stayed in $ingapore for 30 years. $ingapore is renowned as a money-laundering center for dirty money. Many reports of Leonard's arrest refer to his 70,000 sq ft bungalow in $ingapore. One bad apple found in $ingapore's "Garden City". How many more? Picture from The $tate Times.

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'AT THE STROKE OF A PEN THEY CAN TAKE IT OVER'

And they did. In 2003, the PAP government prevented $ingaporeans, when they retire at 55 or later, from withdrawing all their pension money "at the stroke of a pen".

Lee Kuan Yew's "stroke of a pen" remark was about his unease at the ongoing cooperation between $ingapore and the neighboring Johore state of Malaysia. Reuters reported August 6, 2013 that $ingapore Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong, Lee's eldest son, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have both promoted the Iskandar economic zone, which many believe can complement $ingapore. But the elder Lee warned:

"This is an economic field of co-operation in which, you must remember, we are putting investments on Malaysian soil," Lee said. "And at the stroke of a pen they can take it over."

But $ingaporeans are more aware of the CPF "stroke of a pen" takeover. It started gradually in 2003 with $80,000. But on July 1, 2013 the minimum amount $ingaporeans must save with the government had reached S$148,000 which excludes the $38,500 you also have to "force save" for medical care.

CPF Minimum Sum a work in progress(click here).

By 2015, almost $200,000 must be forced save with the government. It cannot be withdrawn for use in retirement. Monthly payments will only start at the age of 65 and be given till the total is exhausted. If a citizen dies at age 64, too bad.

Prior to 2003, retirees could withdraw all their retirement funds except the amount for medical care (ie $38,500). This changed "at the stroke of a pen".

NOTE: As far as we know, $ingapore's CPF has the highest mandatory contribution rate (forced savings) and provides the lowest return. In most countries, citizens are allowed to withdraw all their pension money upon reaching the age of 55.

Also "at the stroke of a pen"

Families in $ingapore were "encouraged" to "stop at two".

It became illegal for workers to strike (without complicated procedures).

Car buyers had to fork out ridiculous sums to buy a permit before they could buy a car.

Newspapers were consolidated into a duopoly.

And on August 18, 2013 at the stroke of a pen: "Medisave rates have to go up. It has to be. We will increase these contribution rates over time..." said General Lee Hsien Loong. And medishield is now COMPULSORY.

The satisfaction the man gets when he strokes his pen...

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EUTHANASIA (pronounced YEW-thuh-ney-zhuh)?

"I hope the end will come quickly." Lee Kuan Yew, poster boy for euthanasia?, Foxnews, August 6, 2013.

Euthanasia is also called assisted suicide in the United States. Learn more here.

On August 6, 2013, the mainstream press reported a new book by $ingapore's dictator Lee Kuan Yew. In the book, One Man's View Of The World, Lee said "...if I have to be fed by a tube, and it is unlikely that I would ever be able to recover and walk about, my doctors are to remove the tube and allow me to make a quick exit." The news was reported by the international media as Lee wanting a "quick death". "There is an end to everything and I want mine to come as quickly and painlessly as possible, not with me incapacitated, half in coma in bed and with a tube going into my nostrils and down to my stomach," Lee wrote.

Read the "quick death" report here at The New Straits Times of Malaysia. The world press picked up the AFP report which was carried by newswires around the world. See the Gulf Times report here.

The $ingapore mainstream press finally reported on Lee's dying wish on August 11 (click here).


SOME STRUGGLE TO STAY ALIVE

insing.com, Dec 2012.

In December last year (2012), a $ingapore Armed Forces navy man suffered an on board accident where he lost both legs and an arm. Jason Chee Weng Fai was a Weapons Systems Supervisor and was checking on one of the berthing ropes that was being tightened and, in the process, was caught between the motorised winch and the rope when the accident happened.

Jason Chee, picture posted at mitsueki.wordpress.

As far as we can tell, details of the investigation conducted by the $AF have never been published. But there are reports and pictures of 29-year-old Jason coping and using sports to stay alive.

500 TARGET ACHIEVABLE?

Will $ingapore reach 500 suicides a year?

In July 2013, the world press picked up the story that $ingapore's suicides had reached an all-time high of 467 suicides in 2012. Less than 40 more suicides will help push the tiny island, with a population of 3.2 million citizens, achieve this 500 target.

Herald Sun, July 12, 2013.

To get an idea of suicides, compare the figures for $ingapore and Greece.

$ingapore has a total population of 3.2 million citizens (by birth + new immigrant citizens).
Greece has a total population of 10.8 million citizens.

$ingapore is regarded as an economic success.
Greece is the poor man of Europe with rising unemployment and debt crippling the economy.

$ingapore's suicide rate in 2012 was 467 suicides.
Greece's suicide rate in 2011 was 477 suicides.*

$ingapore is not far from a world record for suicides.

*Before the financial crisis began, Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe at 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to Eurostat. In May, 2013, Greece hit a 50-year high for suicides. (Click here)

Also read this August 2012 report: Suicides in Greece rise by a third as financial crisis takes its toll. (Click here)

Some recent cases in $heep City

On July 16, 2013 a 51-year-old First Warrant Officer (1WO) was found hanging from a rope in the Lentor training area by two men who were maintaining $AF training equipment. More here.

On July 22, 2013 an eight-year-old boy was found dead at the foot of a Housing and Development Board block in Tampines in a case the police have classified as unnatural death. The boy, the second of three children in a family of five, lived on the 14th floor. More here.

WELCOME TO TOMBSTONE CITY

$ingapore's iconic casino, the Marina Bay Sands, was opened in 2010. See $ingapore's suicide rates from 1992 to 2012 in charts. (click here)

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THE ODDFELLOW


He cries. The nation-builder press, April 17, 2011. Lim Boon Heng retires from politics, gives up his multi-million-dollar cabinet minister job.


He smiles. The nation-builder press, July 22, 2013. The only certainty is that Mr Lim will once again earn a multi-million-dollar salary. That lucky old son(*#@*&%#).

You can read Lim Boon Heng's life story here. He has no relevant business experience, has never run a corporation, no financial expertise and holds no masters in business administration. His choice as the new chairman of Temasek Holdings is bizarre and not a little odd. Loyalty has no expiration date.

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THE LAST WORD ON "THE END OF THE WORLD" IN $INGAPORE

"This haze is really extreme. I never imagined I would experience this. It's like a movie, an end-of-the world feeling. You have nowhere to go and you feel like you're suffocating but you can't do anything.

"You can smell it more now. Parang yun siga sa umaga (It's like a bonfire in the morning). But here it's all over the country. Amoy siga ang buong $ingapore (All of $ingapore smells like a bonfire)."

- a Filipino, a software consultant who asked not to be named to protect her employment. She has stayed in $heep City for five years and commented June 23, 2013 about the haze in $ingapore to The Philippine Daily Enquirer. Two of her friends have already left $heep City.

THE LAST WORD 2: OUR FAVE QUOTE FROM VIVIAN


The nation-builder press, "we set your thinking", June 26, 2013.

"This [haze] was a man-made disaster and men had to fix it. We could not wait for the rain or wind to rescue us." (click here)

- $ingapore's multi-million dollar salaried minister for environment and water, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, on June 21, 2013. By the afternoon of June 22, the winds had changed direction blowing the haze away. On June 25 and 26, there were thunderstorms that struck the island's western and central regions further cleaning the air. $ingapore's weather bureau reports to Vivian's ministry. Good for nothing.

The goondu never checked with the weather department?


RUN FOR COVER

The BBC ran a story on $ingapore residents' reaction to the recent world class haze. (click here)

A lot of my expat friends are also planning to leave. I am actually planning to leave for Hong Kong tomorrow. I have been living out here for two years now. - Ms Aarti Thapar, Keppel Bay, $ingapore

I've never seen anything like this before. It is 400 plus on the Pollutant Standard Index. It goes up and down but generally it's very bad. A lot of expats with families are sending their wives and kids abroad. Personally, I haven't decided yet. But I may send my two-year old daughter to Thailand if it stays like this. - Jeffrey Cronkshaw, $ingapore

I have no plans to leave at the moment. I'm a head-hunter and I've only been here for a month. - Alex Kerr, Somerset, $ingapore

I'm originally from India and have been living here for the past two years. This is my first time experiencing the smog in $ingapore and it is worrying for me and my family. - Nikhil Nanivdekar, Jurong, $ingapore

The haze as a regional problem for South-east Asia started in 1997 when large-scale air pollution affected the region. The blame fell on the shoulders of Indonesian farmers. As wikipedia states: "The 1997 South-east Asian haze was caused mainly by slash and burn techniques adopted by farmers in Indonesia." (click here)

2013 is the first time that the haze has been blamed on big business. All previous reports in $ingapore's nation-builder press blamed Indonesian farmers.


THIS WEEK IN A PIG'S EYE


The nation-builder press, "we set your thinking", June 19, 2013.

INDONESIA THEN NAMES COMPANIES BEHIND HAZE, JUNE 21, 2013


$ingapore's Vivian (left), fave campfire song, "We sang Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya*."

June 21, 2013: Indonesia's environment minister, Balthasar Kambuaya, said eight domestic firms were suspected of being responsible for the blazes on Sumatra island that blanketed neighboring $ingapore in record levels of hazardous smog. The parent companies of the Indonesian firms included Malaysia-listed Sime Darby and $ingapore's Wilmar Group. A senior presidential aide on Friday June 21, 2013 also blamed units of Jakarta-based PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART) and Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL) for the fires. - Reuters (click here)

This is what $ingapore corporation Wilmar said when told of the above: "We have discovered a few smallholders with land near our plantations who have been burning to clear their land. We have reported these to the local authorities," said a Wilmar spokeswoman. Wilmar said they have a "zero burning" policy.

We believe you.

Related: $ingapore mulls legal action over smog from Indonesia fires: June 22, 2013
"The authorities in $ingapore are exploring whether to charge two $ingapore-based companies in connection with severe smog triggered by forest fires in Indonesia. The companies own land on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. $ingapore's foreign minister said he had asked the attorney-general to consider the legal options. However, he said it was mainly up to Indonesia to take action against the companies." - BBC (click here)

*The song was originally associated with human and spiritual unity, closeness and compassion, and it still is, but more recently it is also cited or alluded to in satirical or cynical ways which suggest false moralizing, hypocrisy, or naively optimistic views of the world and human nature.


NOW $INGAPORE WANTS "CREDIBLE EVIDENCE", JUNE 25, 2013

The nation-builder press, June 25, 2013.

The $ingapore government now wants proof that the plantations are really guilty of illegal land clearing. $ingapore's foreign affairs secretary Chee Wee Kiong also added "the primary responsibility for legal and enforcement action lay with Indonesia".

The nation-builder report also revealed that $ingapore's current foreign affairs minister, K Shanmugam, was a former board member of two suspected firms Sinar Mas and Golden Agri-Resources. He joined them in the late '90s and stepped down from both boards in 2001. Read it here.

The first incidence of a regional haze problem was in 1997. At the time, the blame for the haze was put on the shoulders of local Indonesian farmers.

If for the past 20 years, $ingaporeans believed that Indonesian farmers were behind the haze, then $ingapore must show proof that Indonesian or any other corporations are the real culprits. Why accuse Indonesian corporations now, without evidence?

Related: $ingapore leaders want firms causing haze to be named: June 19, 2013 (click here)



NO B.S. SEE WHICH COMPANY IS THE WORLD'S DIRTIEST?

Here's a look at Newsweek's environmental ranking of the biggest companies in developed and emerging world markets. The Newsweek Green Rankings (click here) cut through the green chatter and compare the actual environmental footprints, management (policies, programs, initiatives, controversies), and reporting practices of big companies. Newsweek teamed up with two leading research organizations to create the most comprehensive rankings available.

Newsweek's annual green ranking of the 500 largest companies in the world as of Oct 22, 2012. The cleanest is at No. 1. Full list is here.

Sime Darby is ranked at 495 and holding the bottom place is Wilmar, a $ingapore food beverage and tobacco corporation. Wilmar operates oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia. More about Wilmar here.

Former PAP member of parliament, Leong Horn Kee, has been on Wilmar's board of directors since 2000. (click here)

TEMASEK & CARGILL'S CTP HOLDINGS EXPAND PALM-OIL PLANTATIONS IN INDONESIA

March 22, 2013 U.S. food giant Cargill Inc. plans to expand its oil-palm plantations in Indonesia to boost output, helping meet rising global demand, company officials said March 22, 2013. "We are aggressively looking for new areas in Sulawesi, Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra that are environmentally safe to expand our oil-palm footprint," Anthony Yeow, president-director of Cargill Tropical Palm Holdings Ltd (aka CTP Holdings) oil-palm plantations in Sumatra told Dow Jones Newswires.

Environmentalists warn that rampant expansion of plantations, which already cover large areas of rural Indonesia and Malaysia, will accelerate deforestation, increase emissions of greenhouse gases and threatened endangered animal species.

Cargill argues that expansion is necessary to feed world's growing population and rising industrial demand, but feels it can be achieved without endangering the environment.

Palm oil prices have been more than twice the cost of production for several years now, spurring a boom in output not seen in any other farm commodity in Asia for decades. Indonesia's annual palm oil output is now around 26 million tons, up from around 5.8 million tons in 1998.

While global demand for edible oils is rising by around 3 per cent annually, palm-oil consumption growth is as high as 7 per cent, and there is a large scope to expand production in waste and degraded lands, said John Hartmann, COO of Cargill Tropical Palm Holdings Ltd. - Wall Street Journal (click here)

TEMASEK & CARGILL'S CTP HOLDINGS CONFIRM 'NO BURN' POLICY ON ITS OIL PALM PLANTATIONS
(click here)

CARGILL'S LEGACY OF DESTRUCTION (a 2009 report)
Download the pdf file here.

Cargill purchases palm oil from many... 'worst-of-the-worst" rainforest destroyers - including Wilmar, Sinar Mas, and Duta Palma - all of whom violate Indonesian law by burning rainforests. (click here)

Cargill Tropical Palm Holdings (CTP Holdings) is the palm oil division of Cargill. It is jointly owned by Temasek Holdings and Cargill.

BLAME GAME BEGINS AGAIN, SHIFTS TO MALAYSIA, JUNE 26, 2013

The nation-builder press, June 26, 2013.

In typical nation-builder fashion, here is an excerpt of the orchestrated report:

Three firms accused of starting fires that led to the haze crisis are units of some of Malaysia's largest public companies, while another is linked to a fund that helps Malaysian Muslims save for pilgrimages. Indonesia last week pinpointed eight firms as being responsible for setting fires to clear land. Two of the slash-and-burn suspects are units of Sime Darby Plantation, which is part of Sime Darby...

Another company being investigated is a subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), a giant company with plantation, resource-based manufacturing and property interests... A fourth, PT Multi Gambut Industri, is a subsidiary of Malaysia's Lembaga Tabung Haji, the pilgrimage fund board that runs a scheme helping Malaysian Muslims save for their pilgrimage to Mecca.

CIMB regional economist $ong $eng Wun chimed in: "Sime Darby and KLK are very large Malaysian companies with a long history. Sime Darby is seen as a government-linked company, while KLK is a family-controlled Chinese business." - The nation-builder press.

Note the smaller report on Wilmar, the $ingapore giant, bottom right in the graphic above. Newsweek hails Wilmar as the dirtiest company on the planet.

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MFA SEEKS ANSWERS FROM JAKARTA TO CONFLICTING VIEWS ON WHETHER $INGAPORE FIRMS CAUSED HAZE

The nation-builder press, June 25, 2013.

Published on Jun 25, 2013
10:01 AM By Leonard Lim

THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) yesterday conveyed a diplomatic note to Indonesia's ambassador here on the haze issue, raising questions and concerns about the alleged involvement of $ingapore-linked companies in the Sumatra fires.

The note to Mr Andri Hadi sought clarification on statements by Indonesian ministers and officials on $ingapore-linked companies said to have a part in illegal land-clearing practices, and asked Indonesia to share evidence of involvement by any $ingapore firms. Itwas signed by MFA Permanent Secretary Chee Wee Kiong, and follows similar comments made by Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam at the weekend.

In a press statement, MFA noted that Mr Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the head of Indonesia's presidential working unit for development supervision and control, had reportedly said many hot spots were on land owned by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Limited.

Both companies have offices in $ingapore. However, Indonesia's Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan was quoted as saying that there was "no strong evidence" against these companies.

Mr Kuntoro's remarks, MFA added, also contradicted comments by Indonesia's Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya to his $ingapore counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan at a meeting last Friday. He had informed Dr Balakrishnan that "no $ingapore companies were involved in illegal land clearing practices".

MFA also said that if there was credible evidence that $ingapore-owned companies or companies operating here were involved, the Government intended to take further steps against them. However, Mr Chee told the ambassador that the primary responsibility for legal and enforcement action lay with Indonesia, where the firms were allegedly conducting these illegal activities.

He also said it was important to focus on dealing with the haze rather than engaging in "megaphone diplomacy" that was "neither helpful nor constructive".

He took exception to comments from Indonesia's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik who said that $ingapore was not a good neighbour, and that $ingapore had benefited from gas supply and tourist arrivals from Indonesia.

Mr Hadi said he would convey Mr Chee's points to his government. He added that it was important for both sides to keep the lines of communication open, and that dialogue and cooperation was the way forward.

Separately, Mr Shanmugam, responding to a media question on whether he knew if Sinar Mas or Golden Agri-Resources contributed to burning activities based on his past experience with them, said he could not speak for them as he left the boards of both firms over a decade ago.

Golden Agri and APP are the palm oil and paper and pulp arms of Sinar Mas, and all three are allegedly involved in slash-and- burn farming in Riau, though they have denied the charges.

Mr Shanmugam said: "I left the board more than 11 years ago. I can't speak for them. We will await the evidence and will act based on evidence, as advised by the Attorney-General's Chambers. My involvement with Sinar Mas started with a request from $GX and is a matter of public record."

A lawyer known for his expertise in securities laws, Mr Shanmugam's links with the firms started in 1996 when he was asked by the then Stock Exchange of $ingapore to become a director of an insolvent firm, Amcol.

He handled its affairs together with a judicial manager, and arranged for the firm to be bought via a reverse takeover. The white knight was Sinar Mas, and Amcol was renamed Asia Food & Properties (AFP).

He continued as an independent director of AFP at the request of Sinar Mas, and was also appointed an independent director of Golden Agri - an AFP subsidiary - in 1999. He stepped down from both boards in 2001, and has never held any shares in the firms.

Note: The above article was posted here.

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$INGAPORE'S PSI* ON JUNE 19, 2013: 172
*pollutants standard index

BIG BUSINESS AND THE HAZE


Welcome to smog-city $ingapore, The nation-builder press, June 18, 2013.

This week's haze that blew over the Straits of Malacca affected both Malaysia and $ingapore. It is coming from fires in Sumatra. $ingapore's nation-builder press would have you believe the blame lies wholly here.

"Indonesian officials say the smog is from huge tracts of peat lands around the coastal city of Dumai - located on the coast of the Strait of Malacca that faces $ingapore - that have caught fire due to the early hot season. Farmers are also burning plantations to clear land for the next planting season."

So if it wasn't for hot weather and if farmers restraint themselves from burning to clear the land, there would be no haze?

It all started 15 years ago. The 1997 South-east Asian haze occurred during the second half of 1997, its after-effects causing widespread atmospheric visibility and health problems within South-east Asia. Air travel and business activities were disrupted.

Ever since 1997, the haze has become an annual event with no solution in sight. No one has asked why there has been no haze prior to 1997. For background read this.

Here is Rainforest Action Network's (RAN) report from early 2012 that focused on Tripa, on the northern tip of Sumatra. The report blamed big corporations for deforestation and endangering wildlife habitats. We offer some extracts:

What me worry? Deforestation never killed a human.

(from Page 8)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME: Vested Interests Allow Indonesia's Environmental Toll To Rise
Indonesia, listed alongside Nigeria and North Korea, now has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. The country has lost, on average, 3.7 million acres of rainforest a year over the past 20 years. (Editor: You think the average low-income Indonesian farmer can create this havoc?)

Indonesia's forests and their industrial exploitation has been a source of "unlimited corruption," according to Chandra Hamzah, deputy chairman of Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission. Such institutional corruption helps explain why the Indonesian government's promises to slow deforestation have been unrealistic, inconsistent and ineffective, and why agribusiness companies seem to have free reign in forests like Tripa.

Certain palm oil producers have attempted to deflect local and international concern over the environment as an unreasonable goal imposed by foreign interests that will cause great economic harm. But the truth is that the loudest public outcry around the fate of Tripa's forests has been from local communities and Indonesian organizations, and no one is calling for the end of the palm oil industry. Also, it is worth mentioning that many of the companies destroying Indonesia's rich natural resources are foreign-owned...

Truth and Consequences: Palm Oil Plantations Push Unique Orangutan Population to Brink of Extinction (click here)

(from Page 9)
INTERNATIONAL MARKET LINKS AND COMMITMENTS: Regarding The Destruction of Tripa

As forest clearing and peatland drainage continues at PT Kallista Alam and the other palm oil plantations, a lack of agribusiness transparency prevents a full understanding of Tripa's internationally distributed palm oil chain. Astra Agro Lestari produced and exported palm oil from Tripa until 2010, when it sold its Tripa plantation to another agribusiness based in Jakarta, the Triputra Group.

Trade data held by Rainforest Action Network shows that Cargill shipped at least 4,000 tons of crude palm oil produced by Astra Agro Lestari from the island of Sumatra in 2009. It is highly likely that at least some of this 4,000 tons was from Tripa, making a direct link between the destruction Tripa and the US consumer,impossible to ignore. Cargill Inc., one of the largest traders and importers of palm oil and its derivatives into the United States, operates its own palm oil plantations in Sumatra and Borneo and trades palm oil produced by at least 15 Indonesian palm oil producers. Cargill's relationships with Astra Agro Lestari, or other plantation companies with operations in Tripa, highlights the lack of safeguards on the quarter of the world's palm oil the company trades.

Trade data also shows that Astra Agro Lestari also sells millions of dollars of palm oil a year to industry giants Wilmar, Unilever and Sinar Mas, demonstrating that customers around the world have purchased Tripa's palm oil and are helping to drive the destruction associated with it. All of these companies have made specific commitments to avoid deforestation in their palm oil supply chains. However, through their links to Tripa, they continue to violate these commitments.

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Earlier reports all cited big business as the culprits for land clearing by burning.

Forest Fires and Smoke Haze in Southeast Asia, a Murdoch University case study put the blame on "large Indonesian forest plantation and palm oil estates". It said "the vast majority of the fires were lit by those logging and plantation estate workers routinely contracted by the cartels". Read here.

A 2012 report also arrowed big business for the haze. "...evidence suggests that oil palm interests took advantage of conducive climate conditions to clear land through burning", the NTS Alert report said. And "(I)n recent decades, however, the potential economic and financial benefits from timber and the production of commodities such as palm oil have seen larger logging companies and plantation owners in Indonesia come to account for a major part of such deforestation." Read the report here.

Both the above reports shy from naming names. Not so the reports by RAN. They have identified several and argue that these corporations which practice "zero-burning policies" avoid being caught by buying palm oil from smaller companies that do the "slash and burn".

CARGILL AND TEMASEK HOLDINGS INVEST IN PALM PLANTATIONS IN INDONESIA AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Nov 1, 2005: Cargill and Temasek Holdings have acquired CDC Group plc's palm plantation interests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. These include a plantation in Kalimantan (Indonesia) and a majority shareholding in four other plantations in the region. One of these plantations is located in Sumatra (Indonesia), with the other three in Higaturu, Milne Bay and Poliamba (Papua New Guinea).

The new venture is registered in $ingapore as CTP Holdings Pte Ltd (CTP). Cargill is the majority shareholder of CTP and will assume managerial and operational responsibilities. Cargill's existing palm plantation in Sumatra will now become part of CTP.

"Palm oil demand is increasing globally and this acquisition represents a significant development for Cargill in the plantation business", says Paul Conway, head of Cargill's business in Asia and chairman of CTP Holdings... Demand for palm oil has almost doubled in the past decade. Global consumption now stands at about 30 million tonnes, making palm the world's largest vegetable oil crop after soya.

Comments Tan Suan Swee, Managing Director, Investments, Temasek Holdings: "We are pleased to have this opportunity to participate in the growing global palm oil market. We will tap into the significant experience of Cargill, our partner in this venture in the global oils business, as well as its reputation for responsible plantation management."

Source (click here).

NOTE: Kulim buys PNG oil palm estates for US$175m, Feb 26, 2010 (click here). $ingapore's CTP Holdings sells its PNG estates to Kulim. "We believe there is more value in focusing on Indonesia."

CARGILL'S REPUTATION

RAN Sets Record Straight on Cargill and Tripa Forest Controversy: April 24, 2012 (click here) "Cargill claims that it 'does not import Indonesian palm oil to the United States.' This is pure obfuscation. By Cargill's own estimate, nearly 90 per cent of the world's palm oil is sourced from Indonesia and Malaysia, and the company traffics a whopping 25 per cent of the world's palm oil. Cargill's claim that it does not ship any Indonesian palm oil into the US is misleading and insincere, as a percentage of Indonesia's palm oil is refined in Malaysia before being shipped to the US.

Tragedy in Tripa: Cargill Can Make a Difference, April 10, 2012 (click here) Last week hundreds of fires blazed through the Tripa peat forest of Indonesia, threatening the survival of one of the largest remaining populations of wild Sumatran orangutans in the world. These fires rapidly got out of control after they were intentionally started by profit-hungry palm oil companies in order to clear rainforest for palm oil plantation expansion.

Cargill exits palm oil in Papua New Guinea with US$175 million leaving a trail of trade union rights abuse, Nov 24, 2010 (click here) traces Cargill's abuse of power from 2005 to 2010.

Greenwashing the palm oil industry, February 3, 2010 (click here) identifies Wilmar International and Cargill as two of the corporate offenders. Wilmar International is a $ingapore-based investment holding company. It is one of the largest palm oil plantation companies in Indonesia/Malaysia.

The chairman of Wilmar is $ingaporean Kuok Khoon Hong, the nephew of Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok. In 2012, Wilmar was named the world's least environmentally friendly company by U.S. news magazine Newsweek. (click here)

Download a pdf file "Cargill's Problems With Palm Oil: A Burning Threat In Borneo" (click here). Learn more about the Rainforest Action Network, a U.S. NGO (click here).

FOR THE FIRST TIME, $INGAPORE'S PAP CALLS ON INDONESIA TO NAME COMPANIES BUT...
IT'S ONLY A BLAME GAME

Previous reports from 1997 to 2012 by $ingapore's nation-builder press have carefully avoided mentioning palm oil corporations.

The Hongkong Standard, June 18, 2013

On June 18, 2013, the BBC reported:

"The slash-and-burn technique being used is the cheapest land-clearing method and it is not only used by local farmers, but also employees of palm oil investors including $ingaporean and Malaysian companies," Hadi Daryanto, an official at Indonesia's Forestry Ministry, said. "We hope the governments of Malaysia and $ingapore will tell their investors to adopt proper measures so we can solve this problem together." (click here and also here)

A June 18, 2013 AFP report added:

Regional environmentalists said the problem must be tackled by both $ingapore and Indonesia.

"Singapore is saying that Indonesia needs to enforce the law," said Bustar Maitar, head of Indonesia Forest Campaign at campaign group Greenpeace International. "But in actual fact, some palm oil plantations in Indonesia are listed in $ingapore and have headquarters in $ingapore. A lot of Malaysian plantations are also based here in Indonesia," Maitar said.

"In my perspective, it is not only Indonesia. $ingapore should also ask its companies who invest in Indonesia to not use fire, doing the same thing to enforce the law and increase environmental awareness." - AFP (click here)

COME ON VIVIAN

This is what Vivian said on his Facebook: "commercial interests in Indonesia have been allowed to override environmental concerns" for too long. "We need the Indonesians to enforce their own laws," he wrote (click here). Vivian is Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan who earns a multi-million dollar salary paid by $ingaporeans. He has also failed to halt the spread of dengue fever in $ingapore.

AN ANECDOTE

"My son and I took a bus trip through southern Malaysia a week ago. As far as we could see along the route from Johor to Mersing, everything had been cleared for palm plantations, the hillsides crudely terraced by bulldozers for planting oil palms, and the rivers an opaque brown from the silt runoff. You don't need to be a scientist to perceive environmental degradation on this scale.

"And this week in $ingapore, the air is unbreathable from the haze of the burnoff of indigenous vegetation for new palm plantations in Sumatra. Nothing strange about that: it happens every year. The odd thing is that $ingapore's sovereign wealth funds are heavily invested in palm oil. One might have hoped for some proactive control of the burnoff on their part to allow citizens to breathe." - Anonymous, 2010.

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November 14, 2012

THE ORIGINAL CHAN SEK KEONG CLASSIC

Those unauthorised persons who only wait or loiter inside a polling station on polling day do not commit any offence under the Act. (In his letter to then Law Minister Jayakumar, 1997)
- Chan Sek Keong,

the then Attorney-General replying to the opposition's complaint that Mr Goh Chok Tong, and other PAP ministers being inside the polling station on Polling Day.



Section 82(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act reads:

"No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote. No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day."

- Leongsam, as appeared on sammyboy.com, November 13, 2012. Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong retired from public service on November 6, 2012. The above was ruled by Chan in 1997 when Chan was Attorney-General. It is a ruling fondly remembered by $ingaporeans.


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October 31, 2012

THE LAST WORD ON "UNITED BANK OF $INGAPORE"


GIC hero Ng Kok Song, The nation-builder press January 21, 2008. In 2012, he's no hero but a squanderer.

The $ingapore government, using public funds, pumped 11 billion Swiss francs in UBS in December 2007 when the bank's shares were being publicly traded at around 50 Swiss francs apiece (current price is just 13.80 Swiss francs as at Oct 31, 2012).

In January 2008, Government of $ingapore Investment Corporation's chief investment officer Ng Kok Song thought it was a good buy and was gleeful in his interview with the nation-builder press.

But by September 24, 2008 he said: "We were surprised by the onset and magnitude of the market turmoil starting in July last year. What seemed like a contained problem of delinquencies in US sub-prime mortgages quickly spread to other segments of the credit markets." Doesn't he read widely?

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September 14, 2012

Purple haze all around
Don't know if I'm comin' up or down
Am I happy or in misery?
Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me


What is that girl up to again? The nation-builder press, August 28, 2012.

It all started 15 years ago. The 1997 South-east Asian haze occurred during the second half of 1997, its after-effects causing widespread atmospheric visibility and health problems within South-east Asia. Air travel and business activities were disrupted. The 1997 fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra on air quality was evident by July and peaked in September/ October before weakening by November, when the delayed monsoonal rain extinguished the fires and improved air quality within the region.

Ever since 1997, the haze has become a recurring problem with no solution in sight. No one has asked why there has been no haze prior to 1997. For background read this.

WHERE THE HAZE COMES FROM


The hot spots are found in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The nation-builder press' map, September 5, 2012.

TAKING OWNERSHIP OF THE HAZE

Below is an article in the Jakarta Globe from August 1, 2011.

A lack of law enforcement is the main factor in Indonesia's failure to stop slash-and-burn clearing of forests, which causes haze, analysts said on Sunday. "If you're talking about forest fires in this country, then the main issue is law enforcement," said Sudarsono, a forestry expert from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB).

"People and companies continue to burn forests because it's a cheap [method of clearing]. Meanwhile, we don't hear anything about regulations being enforced," he said. "So as long as they're never enforced, people will keep on burning the forests."

Sanya Gautami, an analyst at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Riau, said satellite imagery had detected at least five hot spots in Sumatra. Since the 1990s, Indonesia has been criticized internationally for the large amount of smoke it generates in the forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Sudarsono said more measures such as heavy fines were urgently needed to discourage slash-and-burn clearing, which is responsible for much of the haze... He cited forest fires believed to have been set to make room for palm oil plantations in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, where no actions were ever taken against the companies by the authorities. "You can see from the satellite images where these hot spots are," Sudarsono said. "It's all good to have data for hot spots, but the real question is what happens next?"

CARGILL AND TEMASEK HOLDINGS INVEST IN PALM PLANTATIONS IN INDONESIA AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA



Nov 1, 2005: Cargill and Temasek Holdings have acquired CDC Group plc's palm plantation interests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. These include a plantation in Kalimantan (Indonesia) and a majority shareholding in four other plantations in the region. One of these plantations is located in Sumatra (Indonesia), with the other three in Higaturu, Milne Bay and Poliamba (Papua New Guinea).

The new venture is registered in $ingapore as CTP Holdings Pte Ltd (CTP). Cargill is the majority shareholder of CTP and will assume managerial and operational responsibilities. Cargill's existing palm plantation in Sumatra will now become part of CTP.

"Palm oil demand is increasing globally and this acquisition represents a significant development for Cargill in the plantation business", says Paul Conway, head of Cargill's business in Asia and chairman of CTP Holdings... Demand for palm oil has almost doubled in the past decade. Global consumption now stands at about 30 million tonnes, making palm the world's largest vegetable oil crop after soya.

Comments Tan Suan Swee, Managing Director, Investments, Temasek Holdings: "We are pleased to have this opportunity to participate in the growing global palm oil market. We will tap into the significant experience of Cargill, our partner in this venture in the global oils business, as well as its reputation for responsible plantation management."

Source (click here).

NOTE: Kulim buys PNG oil palm estates for US$175m, Feb 26, 2010 (click here). CTP Holdings sells its PNG estates to Kulim. "We believe there is more value in focusing on Indonesia."

GARGILL'S REPUTATION FOR PLANTATION MANAGEMENT

Tragedy in Tripa: Cargill Can Make a Difference, April 10, 2012 (click here) Last week hundreds of fires blazed through the Tripa peat forest of Indonesia, threatening the survival of one of the largest remaining populations of wild Sumatran orangutans in the world. These fires rapidly got out of control after they were intentionally started by profit-hungry palm oil companies in order to clear rainforest for palm oil plantation expansion.

Cargill exits palm oil in Papua New Guinea with US$175 million leaving a trail of trade union rights abuse, Nov 24, 2010 (click here) traces Cargill's abuse of power from 2005 to 2010.

Greenwashing the palm oil industry, February 3, 2010 (click here) identifies Wilmar International and Cargill as two of the corporate offenders. Wilmar International is a $ingapore-based investment holding company. It is one of the largest palm oil plantation companies in Indonesia/Malaysia.

Download a pdf file "Cargill's Problems With Palm Oil: A Burning Threat In Borneo" (click here)

Learn more about the Rainforest Action Network, a U.S. NGO (click here).

AN ANECDOTE

"My son and I took a bus trip through southern Malaysia a week ago. As far as we could see along the route from Johor to Mersing, everything had been cleared for palm plantations, the hillsides crudely terraced by bulldozers for planting oil palms, and the rivers an opaque brown from the silt runoff. You don't need to be a scientist to perceive environmental degradation on this scale.

"And this week in $ingapore, the air is unbreathable from the haze of the burnoff of indigenous vegetation for new palm plantations in Sumatra. Nothing strange about that: it happens every year. The odd thing is that $ingapore's sovereign wealth funds are heavily invested in palm oil. One might have hoped for some proactive control of the burnoff on their part to allow citizens to breathe." - Anonymous, 2010.

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August 1, 2012

THE MAN WHO WAS NOT NAMED



A police investigation officer (I.O.) who handled a case in which two expatriates charged with assault jumped bail has been charged with neglect of duty. This was disclosed in Parliament July 10, 2012 by Second Minister for Home Affairs $. Iswaran, who, however, did not disclose the identity of the officer. At presstime, his identity is still unknown.

The trio of expats beat up two $ingaporean taxi drivers and two taxi passengers, and also hijacked and crashed a taxi. One of the foreigners pleaded guilty. The incident happened in April 2010 at Suntec City in $ingapore. One Singaporean had a gash on his head and a broken nose. Mr Liew Kai Meng has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and sees a psychiatrist once a month. Mr Liew had rushed to the aid of the taxi driver.


Aiyoh, ai-ai-ai-ai-ai, aiyoh... next time just walk away Mr Liew.

When asked, the home affairs minister also declined to spell out what the officer had neglected to do, saying the officer's case is before the police disciplinary board.

The case involved three expatriates: Australian business development manager Nathan Robert Miller and two options brokers, New Zealander Robert Stephen Dahlberg and Briton Robert James Springall. They were charged in court with assault ONLY in July 2011 following a brawl at Suntec City in April 2010, more than one year after the incident. Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three weeks' jail in February. But the two brokers fled $ingapore while out on bail.

Dahlberg fled in July last year and Springall in December. In March 2012, the $ingapore government finally announced it would look into the matter after 23 months of indecisiveness.

The $ingapore police force are affectionately called "poodles" by citizens and foreigners alike.

All the morning birds that sing above
Still bring back memories
Of a girl who stood beside me
When the rights I did were wrong
But she went back down the river
Just when I thought I could be strong
When I thought I could be strong, so I sing

I.O. I.I.I.I.I.I.O. I.O. I.O. I.I.I.I.I.I.O. I.O.

with thanks to the brothers Gibb.

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January 4, 2012

AN INDECENT PROPOSAL

The recommendations by the $ingapore "minister pay review committee" headed by the ruler of the road, the DETERMINATOR of Distance, Far King Gerard Ee*, are as follows:


- A pay cut of 28% for the Prime Minister (pic), bringing it to $2.2 million (US$1.7 MILLION), down from $3.07 million salary in 2010.

NOTE: General Lee Hsien Loong even with the pay cut remains the HIGHEST PAID POLITICIAN IN THE WORLD. Second to him is Hong Kong's Donald Tsang (US$513,245)


- A pay cut of 31% for a minister at entry grade, which means the salary of a minister at entry level will be $1.1 million (US$855,000), down from the current actual salary which stood at $1.58 million in 2010. Pic shows transport minister Lui Tuck Yew.

NOTE: $ingapore ministers even with the pay cuts remain the HIGHEST PAID POLITICIANS IN THE WORLD. Their salaries top Hong Kong's Donald Tsang, the second highest paid top politician.

- The $ingapore President's (pic) annual salary will be cut by 51% to $1.54 million (US$1.2 MILLION), down from $3.01 million.

NOTE: The $ingapore president even with pay cut remains the HIGHEST PAID PRESIDENT IN THE WORLD. His salary tops that of Hong Kong's Donald Tsang.

Here's a list compiled in September 2011 of the highest paid politicians in the world:

1. General Lee Hsien Loong of $ingapore
2. Donald Tsang of Hong Kong US$513,245
3. Raila Odinga of Kenya US$427,886
4. Barack Obama of USA US$400,000
5. Nicolas Sarkozy of France US$345,423

Read the rest here.

The $ingapore PM's salary of US$2.75 million per year (before the cut) is more than 80 times that of the average $ingaporean family.

The unasked question is: How were they allowed to be overpaid?

The Economist's list of richest politicians is here.

The Top 30 highest paid politicians in the WORLD are all from $ingapore. [click here]

* Far King Gerard Ee heads the Public Transport Council which is responsible for confirming public fare hikes. From 2000 to 2011, the PTC under Far King Ee has allowed a fare increase almost EVERY YEAR.

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December 21, 2011

$INGAPORE MAVERICK OR MONOPOLIST?



A netizen has come to the defence of these pictures of $ingapore's $MRT CEO Saw Phiak Hwa carried by eight semi-naked men on a sedan, that they illustrate the values of a maverick, someone who thinks differently. Hence, her leadership at $MRT has earned for the company's main shareholder, government-owned Temasek Holdings, hundreds of millions in profit. Really? $MRT is a monopoly transport train-line. It earns its profits very simply - BY RAISING FARES. The pictures circulated in October 2011. They were taken at the $MRT's end of the year celebrations at the Compass Ballroom at Resorts World Sentosa. In the middle of December 2011, $ingapore's rapid transit system broke down repeatedly. No worries for Ms Saw, who earns in excess of $1.8 MILLION, as she allegedly drives a sports car. A Ferrari.



Every year on August 9, members of $ingapore's ruling PAP party attend a national celebration dressed in white shirts and trousers. To reflect what values? Pragmatism.

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These pictures of $ingapore's $MRT CEO Saw Phiak Hwa circulated in October 2011. They were taken at the $MRT's end of the year celebrations at the Compass Ballroom at Resorts World Sentosa.

Click on the panels for a better view.

Pictures here and here.

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HOW TO FIGHT A COCKY CEO


Buy this strap-on toy and knock off your opponent's man-thing.

December 19, 2011: Despite mounting calls for her resignation by many angry commuters, the CEO of $ingapore's mass rapid transit ($MRT) Ms $aw Phiak Hwa said she has no plans to step down despite her earlier promise to "consider" during a press conference held on December 16.

The $MRT chief earns an annual salary of $1.85 million. She was praised for "tripling" $MRT's profits from $56.8 million to $161.1 million since she joined $SMRT in 2002 from a retail company. With the high profits, $MRT is able to pay out high dividends to its shareholders including $ingapore government-owned Temasek Holdings who lost billions in the 2008 financial crisis.


See-saw over resignation.

$aw's money-generating performance in the monopolistic $MRT may be admirable to shareholders, but the commuters are certainly not amused by the fare hikes and frequent train disruptions. Just last week alone, there were already three major train disruptions ('$MRT train services disrupted for the third time in a week' - click here).

More than a hundred thousand commuters were affected last week with commuters having to wait in long lines for hours for buses or taxis. Understandably, many angry commuters are demanding that the $MRT chief resigns.

Off the Net, some 80 people gathered at the $peaker's Corner on Saturday, Dec 17 to demand her resignation. Online, the momentum is fast building with thousands also calling for her resignation. An online petition has also started with more than a thousand currently asking her to quit:

http://www.petitionvoice.com/i-want-saw-phaik-hwa-to-petition.html

The petition is asking her to be responsible and resign. It is also urging those affected commuters to band together and consider taking legal action against $MRT to demand for compensation. - TR Emeritus

Read more here: $ingapore train breakdowns douse Christmas cheer.

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THE LAST WORD ON "I HAVE SEEN THE PROPAGANDA AND IT IS TRUE" PART 2

"My own political awakening came in 1987 when a group of young men and women were arrested and detained without trial. I had great difficulty believing the official story presented to me that these people were out to overthrow the $ingapore govt by force and they were part of a Marxist Conspiracy.

"For many $ingaporeans, it was hard to believe how a small group of unarmed men and women can take on and defeat the $ingapore Police Force and the $AF which was armed with billions worth of equipment. It didn't matter whether there was proof or no proof. It didn't matter whether ordinary citizens believed what they were told. It didn't matter what international human rights organisations or foreign govt concerned about human rights said. They were locked up and abused and there was nothing anyone could do to help them.

"The event ignited the fear in many people of the authoritarian govt that will go after people for doing what they believe is right for the country to preserve its own dominant power."

- Lucky Tan, The Demise Of Fear, May 18, 2011, at his $ingapore Mind blogspot. Lucky Tan is an anonymous internet commentator. Nobody knows who he is. His favourite book is Lee Kuan Yew: The Man And His Ideas. Tan now believes, "The demise of fear ushers in a period of hope and change for $ingapore."

Lucky Tan did not mention Singapore Malays locked away in 2001 with little or no evidence under the Internal Security Act and labelled as terrorists. "...it was hard to believe how a small group of unarmed men and women can take on and defeat the $ingapore Police Force and the $AF which was armed with billions worth of equipment. It didn't matter whether there was proof or no proof. It didn't matter whether ordinary citizens believed what they were told."

The last time we checked, $ingapore's secret police the ISD have never left. The Malays are still sitting in their cell.

Click on the banner to see how the $ingapore government deals with alleged terrorists.

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WHAT A DIFFERENCE 11 DAYS MAKE IN $INGAPORE

Woman sentenced to probation for performing sexual acts on underage girl

May 9, 2011: A young woman who committed an obscene act on two occasions with a girl aged about 12 was placed on 24 months' split probation on Monday. The 21-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, had admitted to the two charges committed in November 2008 and February 2009.

The accused, then 20 and an arts student, became acquainted with the victim through the latter's classmate in November 2007. The pair met at the victim's birthday party in late 2007 and entered into into a homosexual relationship about two months later.

The accused would fetch the victim from school when her mother was unable to do so; hug and kiss each other on the bus when there was no one around. Sometime in November 2008, they went to a staircase landing of a carpark where the accused committed the obscene act.

The report http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_666625.html
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1127675/1/.html

Man jailed 12 years for performing sexual acts on underage girl

May 20, 2011: Afraid that her aunt might marry the wrong man, the 16-year-old confessed to her a secret she had been hiding for over a year - that she had been having sex with the man her aunt was considering marrying. The girl then made a police report.

In the High Court yesterday, the man, now 51, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for statutory rape and for having oral sex with the girl. Both cannot be named to protect the girl's identity.

The judge said in his judgement that his main consideration in sentencing was to tell would-be offenders that children are "out of bounds". Deputy Public Prosecutor Edmund Lam said the girl was in a vulnerable position as she had come from a broken home and the man had "corrupted her by showing pornography" to sexually groom her.

The man's lawyer, Mr Sashi Nathan, said in mitigation that the man was remorseful and had not used any force on the girl.
More http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110520-0000241/Man-jailed-12-years-for-statutory-rape

$INGAPOREANS USED TO EATING AND DRINKING FROM NATION'S TOILETS

The nation-builder press, May 22, 2011. Grow up, get used to it.

May 22, 2011: About 150 angry Woodlands Drive residents in $ingapore took their town council to task on Saturday for its lack of transparency and failure to keep its water tanks safe. They had showed up at a dialogue session at the void deck of Block 686B in Woodlands Drive 75 - the block where an Indonesian maid was allegedly murdered and thrown into a water tank last week.

All wanted to know one thing: Why didn't the town council tell them to stop consuming the water immediately?

The police received a call at about 10 am last Monday about a body found in the tank. Water supply to the block was cut off an hour later, after which residents were handed notices that said maintenance work was being done. But many said they still consumed the water from the affected tank, the residual amount left in the pipes, till as late as 5 pm that day.

'The town council should have told us more. I was still using the water to bathe and rinse my mouth,' said resident Edwin Hong, 40, at the dialogue attended by representatives from the town council, the Public Utilities Board and Sembawang GRC MP Vikram Nair.

The report here http://www.straitstimes.com/print/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_671341.html

The above incident happened in the constituency of Sembawang GRC. The Sembawang Town Council is run by EM Services Pte Ltd (http://www.emservices.com.sg)

EM Service is run by Ex-PAP MP Ang Mong Seng who is its chief operating officer.

NOTE: $ingapore is the only country where the nation's water supply is dependent on newwater made from toilet waste. This is pumped into the water supply and run to homes and factories. Effectively, every resident in $heep City drinks recycled toilet waste. Food and beverages manufactured in $ingapore use recycled toilet waste.

GENERAL LEE'S SKY-HIGH SALARY

It was only in 2002 that Hong Kong's Tung Chee Wah was the highest-paid politician in Asia. Not anymore. $ingapore's prime minister (left) is the highest paid in the world at around US$2.3 million. Normally when a person is paid so much more, you would expect to be able to tell the difference. You'd expect Hong Kong's performance would lag far behind $ingapore's? It's not. And they only have to pay Chief Executive Donald Tsang of Hong Kong US$530,000.

$ingapore's ruling PAP party has promised pay cuts for ministers backdated to May 21, 2011. Generous? How much to cut?

PM General Lee Hsien Loong earns US$2.3 million (S$3.04 million, 2009 figures). Hong Kong's Donald Tsang, the second highest paid politician outside of $ingapore, earns US$530,000 (S$716,000).

His salary is 434% higher than Donald Tsang's. PM Lee earns US$1,770,000 more than Donald Tsang.

To make PM Lee's salary the same or near that of the second highest paid politician outside $ingapore, would require a pay cut of 77%.

Mr Donald Tsang's salary is slightly less than a quarter of General Lee Hsien Loong's.

A PROMISE TO BE KEPT


The nation-builder press, November 2, 2010.

The prime minister of $ingapore, General Lee Hsien Loong, wants to see a nuclear power plant in $ingapore "in his lifetime". What the Lees want, they generally get.

General Lee was delivering the 2010 $ingapore Energy Lecture for the first time at the $untec Ballroom where he referred to nuclear energy as an "important part of the solution to mankind's energy problems".

The general was aware of $ingapore's small size, which stretches about 40km from east to west. He said: "It's very difficult to put it (a nuclear power plant) very far from population because nobody in $ingapore is far from population. Yet we cannot afford to dismiss the option of nuclear energy altogether."

When he called for questions from the floor, General Lee was asked if it would happen during his time in office. He replied: "I would say possibly during my lifetime."

As prime minister, the general has already seen two giant-sized gambling dens open, watched as $ingapore's government investment companies burn BILLIONS on bad investments and stood helpless as the birth rate fell to its lowest in $ingapore. All these in his lifetime.

Yet General Lee and his cabinet ministers and top civil servants are the highest paid in the world with multi-million-dollar salaries. They have the most generous employer in the world. The $heeple of $ingapore.

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While the prophet of Temasek correctly predicted the loss of the Aljunied seats in the 2011 general erections, Lee perhaps has a "long term" view of G$IC's OneSteel investment, currently making paper losses.

LEE KUAN YEW'S G$IC LOSES MONEY AGAIN

May 18, 2011: The Government of $ingapore Investment Corporation (G$IC) has become a substantial investor in OneSteel after some aggressive buying since January 2011, clearly chasing value, given the group's shares have fallen more than 25 per cent this year.

Although the OneSteel holding is a fraction of G$IC's US$100 billion-plus global portfolio, it is more than 4 per cent of the US$3 billion ($2.8 billion) the fund has ploughed into Australasia.

Apparently the $ingaporean group has been one of OneSteel's larger investors for some time, and must have faith in the stock's chances of recovery. Its shares hit their lowest in two years this month and closed at $1.90 yesterday.

G$IC's buying between January and May totalled 19.6 million shares, at an average price of $2.38 - slightly better than the market average over that time of $2.53.

If Insider generously applies that same $2.38 average purchase price to the whole G$IC stake of 67.2 million shares, the investment is about $32 million underwater. More likely, the $ingaporean stake cost a bit more than that, given that the average price over the past three years is closer to $3.55 a share.

That would mean, without accounting for dividends, a paper loss closer to $60 million.

Hopefully the responsible investment manager was listening last week when G$IC's chairman, the just-departed as Minister Mentor and near-nonagenarian Lee Kuan Yew, celebrated the fund's 30th anniversary with a speech that noted: ''Compared with the popular high-return asset class of equities, which returned 10.2 per cent per annum in nominal US dollar terms since 1981, the G$IC portfolio made comparable returns with less risk.''

Read more here.

UNDER REPORTED


The nation-builder press, May 11, 2011. This appears to be the only English report of the incident. The other government-controlled paper, Toady, did not mention the above.

Here's an excerpt of the above report:

"The police yesterday dispersed a crowd that had caused a commotion in Potong Pasir during the signing of an ongoing petition against the narrow electoral defeat of Mrs Lina Chiam in the single-seat constituency.

"There was dispute among residents over the petition signing, said police spokesman Humphrey Sew. 'Police then warned the parties concerned that what they are doing may constitute an illegal public assembly, and advised them to discontinue and disperse immediately,' he said.

"He added that police are investigating the incident. It was not clear what was the cause of the dispute. But in their statement, the police said they received a call at about 8.40 pm yesterday from a resident complaining about the commotion at the void deck of Block 108, Potong Pasir Avenue 1.

The Potong Pasir constituency has been held by the very mild opposition candidate Mr Chiam See Tong since 1984. But on May 7, 2011, Mrs Chiam (Mr Chiam decided to contest somewhere else and LOST) was beaten by the ruling party candidate by 114 votes. In the 2006 General Elections, the PAP promised extensive upgrading for Potong Pasir estate if Sitoh Yi Pin got elected as MP for the seat of Potong Pasir. Despite that, Mr Chiam won for the 6th consecutive term by a larger margin compared to the 2001 General Election.

This is how Mr Chiam and his $ingapore People's Party reacted to the loss.

Said SPP's Mr Benjamin Pwee, who contested in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC: "The party is aware but not involved in the petition. The party calls on its supporters to calm down and act in a responsible manner. Mr Chiam has publicly said he does not believe the petition will work."

Mr Chiam added: "If any political party wants to grow, it needs to build credibility and trust in the eyes of the people and not resort to violence and hooliganism."

Well done, the "outer limits of dissent" have been fixed. It remains "wrong" for Singaporeans to question, disagree, gather or protest, even peacefully, against the ruling PAP party.

Hurry, hurry join the tens of thousands of Singaporeans who have already left the island, collected their CPF pension money and surrendered their citizenship for a better life far away.

SO FEW OVERSEAS $INGAPORE VOTERS?


The nation-builder press, May 12, 2011. Well done, the nation-builders have revealed fully and truthfully the number of votes from overseas $ingaporeans.

In the 2011 general erections report above, there were 3,453 registered overseas voters out of which, 2,683 turned up to cast their votes.

The PAP ruling party would like you to believe there are only 3,453 and maybe slightly more $ingaporeans working, living overseas. Their numbers are SO SMALL, their votes would not count.

SURRENDER YOUR CITIZENSHIP, COLLECT YOUR CPF, BE HAPPIER.

NOTE: "The constituency of overseas $ingaporeans is growing as more $ingaporeans go abroad to work and study. It is estimated that more than 150,000 $ingaporeans are working or studying overseas today." - Parliament reports, August 25, 2008.

"As of June last year (2008), there are more than 180,000 $ingaporeans living abroad." - ChannelNewsAsia, June 17, 2009. More at http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/world/2009/singapore.htm

The above number has NEVER again been revealed since the 2008 parliament report.

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'SO LET IT BE WRITTEN...'


'And God said Let there be light, and there was light.' The nation-builder press, May 1, 2011.

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew does not consider it a major setback if the People's Action Party (PAP) loses the Aljunied GRC in the erection. He said it would not be 'the end of the world' and the PAP would fight to get it back. MM Lee was speaking to reporters on a wide-range of issues about this election, including cost of living and the younger generation, at the Radin Mas branch.

He also said the PAP will not lose in this erection, as the only hot-seat is Aljunied.

Asked if He would consider the loss of Aljunied GRC a big setback for the PAP, Mr Lee said: "No, I don't."

TIME FOR CHANGE?


SDP website, May 4, 2011.

"Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for $ingapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"
- Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong, May 3, 2006 general erections.

On the morning of May 8, 2011 the opposition Workers' Party won the Aljunied GRC. Their team comprised Low Thia Khiang, Sylvia Lim, former top scholar Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap and Pritam Singh.

All members of parliament earn a salary of $225,000 a year. Kewl.

The only "change" you'll hear is the loose change jangling in their pockets.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"If $ingaporeans were to throw out the (ruling) PAP government, which other parties could come in and govern at this point in time?... The WP is not ready to do that now."
- Sylvia Lim, March 24, 2011. Ms Lim is now a member of parliament.

"You want opposition? You can have them."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror of Opinion, May 8, 2011.


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2011 ERECTION SPECIAL

THE STORY OF A PLACE CALLED MOUSELAND

Don't vote for the no-difference party

This is the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.

They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats.

Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of cats, you just look at the history of Canada for the last 90 years and maybe you'll see that they weren't any stupider than we are.

Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws - that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds - so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort.

All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.

Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland needs is more vision." They said: "The trouble with Mouseland is those round mouseholes we got. If you put us in we'll establish square mouseholes." And they did. And the square mouseholes were twice as big as the round mouseholes, and now the cat could get both his paws in. And life was tougher than ever.

And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again. Then they went back to the white cats. Then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats. And they called that coalition. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat.

You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!"

So they put him in jail.

But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea. - Tommy Douglas (1904 -1986) was one of Canada's best known New Democrats.





A PLACE CALLED $HEEPCITY

$ocialism that works - the $ingapore way. In $heep City, there is the national trade union (TNUC) which represents all unionised workers in $heep City. Leaders of TNUC also stand as politicians for the ruling PAP (People's Action Party). Some become ministers and earn multi-million-dollar salaries. They have their own union house, a multi-million-dollar skyscraper. Labour policies are always in the workers' interests. Hence low salaries and no minimum wage to ensure jobs are forthcoming from foreign corporations. It is almost impossible to start a trade union independent of TNUC.

Capitalism that works - the $ingapore way. Here is how $ingapore practices capitalism. Take its telephony business, there are three major players.

$ingTel is the largest company by market capitalisation and is majority owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the $ingapore government.

$tarHub Limited is the second largest mobile operator. Its top four direct shareholders are Asia Mobile Holdings (ST Telemedia, Qtel), NTT Communications Corp and Aranda Investments (a member of the $ingapore government's Temasek Holdings). Asia Mobile and Aranda are both owned by the $ingapore government.

M1 is $ingapore's third mobile operator. Founding shareholders, Keppel Telecoms (19.89%) and $PH Multimedia (13.84%), together with Telekom Malaysia (through its subsidiary, SunShare Investments Ltd, 29.51%) now jointly own 63.24% of M1. The rest are owned by institutional and public investors. Keppel Telecoms is a $ingapore government company.

Motto: One for all and all for one.

Democracy that works - the $ingapore way. In the upcoming general erections for $ingapore, a slew of fresh faces has joined opposition parties. Here is a sampling.

THIS YEAR'S MODEL

Opposition candidates like Benjamin Pwee (above) with links to the PAP, the civil service or recipients of government scholarships are in the main opposition parties. The nation-builder press, April 9, 2011.

Benjamin Pwee (Singapore People's Party) a former government scholar and senior civil servant with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs. He was First Secretary in charge of political and economic affairs at the Singapore Embassy in Beijing, and handled many senior leaders' trips to China, including President Ong Teng Cheong, then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and then Foreign Minister Wong Kan Seng. Benjamin is the son of long-time PAP grassroots leader Mr Robert Pwee. He is also a former chairman in the People's Action Party's (PAP) youth wing in the Thomson area. Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng was the guest of honour at his wedding.

Jimmy Lee (SPP), was a former government scholar and senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA). He held the positions of Project Manager, Business Analyst and Assistant Chief Information Officer.

Gerald Giam (Workers Party) previously served as a Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the Youth Functional Committee at a community center. He recently completed two terms as a member of the Films Appeal Committee at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.

Yaw Shin Leong (WP) A WP candidate in the 2006 erection, he voted for the PAP. He was in The Think Centre with James Gomez.

Frieda Chan Sio Phing (WP) Father, grandfather were ex-grassroots leaders with PAP and Residents' Committee. Was assistant organising secretary of the NUS Democratic Socialist Club.

Tony Tan (National Solidarity Party) He attained the $AF merit scholarship. During his service for the $AF, he was named the Top Student for the Basic Army Intelligence Course, Company Tactics Course and Combat Engineer Advanced Officer Course. He was also a Distinguished Graduate of the $ingapore Command and Staff College (1999).

Hazel Poa (NSP) wife of Tony Tan. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics, as a PSC scholar. Upon completing her studies, she returned to serve in the Civil Service. She was later appointed to the Administrative Service, and was first posted to the Public Service Division of the Prime Minister's Office, where she was involved in personnel policies within the Civil Service, then to the Ministry of Finance (Revenue) as the Asst. Director of indirect taxation.

The nation-builder press, Dec 20, 2003

Steve Chia (NSP) has served as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP). He was also a past president of the NUS student's union. His wife reported him in 2003 to police when she found nude photos of their Indonesian maid in his computer. Steve showed the press nude photos of himself and claimed an interest in nude photography. He has been endorsed by both Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong. In the 2001 $ingapore general erection, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong praised Steve Chia that "this was a man who could pass off as a PAP man." Lee Kuan Yew said in September 2003 he found "Steve Chia friendly and agreeable".

On Nov 4, 2001 General Lee Hsien Loong called Steve Chia a former Young PAP member. But on Nov 6, the nation-builder press reported Mr Chia denying he ever was a PAP member. He said he had attended a two-hour golf clinic followed by lunch organised by the PAP's youth wing. The PAP issued a statement to say General Lee had apologised for the error.

Raymond Lim (NSP) Used to be a Young PAP member, spent six years volunteering at PAP Meet-The-People Sessions.

Dr Ang Yong Guan (Singapore Democratic Party) served as a psychiatrist with the $ingapore Armed Forces between 1986 and 2003 and retired from the $AF (with the rank of Colonel) as Head of Psychological Medicine (now Psychological Care Centre), Military Medicine Institute, HQMC. Dr Ang was PAP minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's course commander in the $AF. He is an active member in government-funded community groups

Dr James Gomez (SDP) was a member of the PAP and The Roundtable which was a group that included PAP ministers Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Raymond Lim. Gomez wrote a book "Self-censorship - $ingapore's Shame" blaming $ingaporeans for censoring themselves. He then started Think Center in 1999. Gomez currently works at Monash University in Australia.

Sadasivam Veriyah (SDP) joined the PAP in the early '80s because he believed in their stated aim to uplift the people. Mr Sadasivam served in several capacities in grassroots organisations of Ayer Rajah Constituency under former PAP MP, Dr. Tan Cheng Bock.

Tan Jee Say (SDP) was with the PAP government's Administrative Service for 11 years, including 6 years in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and 5 years as the Principal Private Secretary to then Deputy Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong.

HOW DISTANT ARE THESE NEW OPPOSITION CANDIDATES FROM THE GOVERNMENT?

WHAT DOES THE OPPOSITION STAND FOR?

The nation-builder press, March 24, 2011.

From the above report, the Workers' Party said the following:

"If $ingaporeans were to throw out the (ruling) PAP government, which other parties could come in and govern at this point in time?... The WP is not ready to do that now."

"Are opposition parties at a stage when they can form shadow cabinets to take over from the government now?" The WP's Sylvia Lim did not think so.

"You (first must) have the experience of running town councils, experience in policy debates and so on. Only then can we build the critical mass necessary to be an insurance... in case the ruling party should falter."

'Nuff said.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"The people who can make a difference have all been disqualified. $ingaporeans cannot vote for Dr Chee Soon Juan, his sister Chee Siok Chin, Francis Seow, Gopalan Nair or Tang Liang Hong among others. Que Sera, Sera, Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours, to see. Que Sera, Sera. What will be, will be."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, May 4, 2011.

THE LAST WORD ON "TALK BIG"

"But in the next five years, if you give us a strong mandate, we will find ways to make healthcare affordable and more convenient for more $ingaporeans. You have heard Minister Khaw Boon Wan on the new CPF rules that allow you to use CPF or Medisave account for outpatient care. This will help many older $ingaporeans. We will also reorganise care for elderly, so that your many illnesses can be looked after by one doctor, bringing down the cost of your healthcare, but (to) do this, we need a strong mandate from you."

- Dr Balaji Sadasivan, who was a member of the People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency at a rally in the 2006 general erections. Dr Balaji is dead. He died September 27, 2010 from cancer in his bowel.

'Talk big' to talk loudly, arrogantly, or pretentiously.

FUTURE TENSE

Introduced together were PAP candidates Foo Mee Har (left) and Steve Tan. The nation-builder press, March 24, 2011.

PAP candidate Steve Tan pulled out from the erections at the last minute due to personal reasons. However, according to an April 29, 2011 report, Tan had offered to step down after "allegations" against him by former female colleagues at the national trade union surfaced. He is the executive secretary of the TNUC youth wing. Meanwhile, PAP candidate Foo Mee Har has also been criticised online. According to a March 31, 2011 report, an application for a bankruptcy order against a Mr Bernard Chan, who netizens claim is Ms Foo's husband, has spread to various forums. StanChart banker Ms Foo also faces other online allegations.

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AND WHEN YOU SPEND MONEY LIKE THIS...


The nation-builder press, January 22, 2008.

During the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2010, a number of GIC and Temasek Holdings investments attracted controversy. GIC is the Government of $ingapore Investment Corporation, a $ingapore government company that manages $ingaporeans' reserves. Temasek is the other government company that invests $ingaporeans' funds.

In 2006, at the height of the U.S. real estate bubble, GIC made a US$200 million investment in the equity of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, the largest apartment complex in Manhattan (as well as US$575 million in secondary loans). The management of the complex, Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, defaulted on their loan in 2010, effectively wiping out the investment.

GIC chairman Lee Kuan Yew and Temasek's head Ho Ching.

In late 2007, during the first phase of the crisis, GIC invested $11 billion Swiss francs for a 7.9 per cent stake in the Swiss bank UBS. The loans were converted into equity in 2010, with an estimated 70 per cent loss of value, though partially offset by a 9 per cent fixed coupon.

In 2008, GIC invested US$6.88bn for a 9 per cent stake in Citigroup. In 2009, it pared its stake to less than 5 per cent, realizing a $1.6 billion profit, with another $1.6 billion paper profit on its remaining holding.

In May 2009, Temasek Holdings revealed it had sold its entire stake in Bank of America sometime in March. Foreign media reports say that Temasek might have lost close to US$4.6 BILLION in the investment. The company received Bank of America stock after Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch. Temasek paid US$5.9 BILLION on its Merrill investment in December 2007.

In June 2009, reports came to light that Temasek sold its stake at Barclays late in December 2008-January 2009 with losses between £600 million and £800 million.

The nation-builder press, March 5, 2009.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"they (the opposition) say they want to spend on this, and spend on that, and have a needs-based welfare system and a nationalised bus service and all that. And then they wave their hands and say, we have enough money to pay. Then you must ask yourself, how are you going to pay for this? When you spend money like that, then you have to worry about government's raising the GST".

- Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong, April 12, 2011 during government-controlled television forum. General Lee is the son of Lee Kuan Yew. Madam Ho Ching is his wife.

"They (PAP government) say they want to invest billions in foreign banks and billions in a Thai corporation and billions in Indonesia's Indosat and billions everywhere. Then you must ask yourself, why are they using $ingaporeans' reserves on such risky gambles and not for your welfare? If you spend money like that, and make losses, then you have to worry about how the government will find the money to make ends meet. 'We' can tough it out?"

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, April 12, 2011.

NOTE: Never-say-die Lee Kuan Yew thinks it will take 30 years, by 2038, to make money on $ingapore's "long-term investments". We will all be dead by then.

WHY CREATIVE PEOPLE ARE ECCENTRIC aka WHY $INGAPOREANS ARE $HEEP

"Albert Einstein picked up cigarette butts off the street to get tobacco for his pipe; Howard Hughes spent entire days on a chair in the middle of the supposedly germ-free zone of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite; the composer Robert Schumann believed that his musical compositions were dictated to him by Beethoven and other deceased luminaries from their tombs; and Charles Dickens is said to have fended off imaginary urchins with his umbrella as he walked the streets of London. More recently, we have seen Michael Jackson's preoccupation with rhinoplasty, Salvador Dalí's affection for dangerous pets and the Icelandic singer Björk dressed for the Oscars as a swan.

"It isn't just average Joes who perceive highly creative individuals as eccentric. These individuals often see themselves as different and unable to fit in. The latest findings in brain imaging, creativity research and molecular biology suggest that these perceptions are not just based on a few anecdotal accounts of "weird" scientists and artists. In fact, creativity and eccentricity often go hand in hand, and researchers now believe that both traits may be a result of how the brain filters incoming information. Even in the business world, there is a growing appreciation of the link between creative thinking and unconventional behavior, with increased acceptance of the latter. - By Shelley Carson, Scientific American, April 14, 2011

Full essa here.

NOTE: For 40 past years, $ingapore's PAP government has NOT tolerated differences preferring uniformity. The only exception is that they demand multi-million dollar salaries and benefits for themselves and peanuts for the rest.

The PAP's brand of politics is similar. They will only tolerate "opposition" parties that share their policies. See here What is the SDP trying to pull down?
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4729-what-is-the-sdp-trying-to-pull-down-

Malaysian RPK has been in the news again. His TV3 interview last week about Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor's involvement in the murder case of Altantuya Shaariibuu has the mainstream media scrambling to explain it. But it's all lost in translation. As RPK or Raja Petra said: "You must be smoking something. Let me know what it is so that I can get some."

WHAT RAJA PETRA THINKS OF $INGAPORE'S $TATE'S TIMES

Dear Raja Petra,

We spoke briefly over the phone. I am writing a story on your comments made during the TV3 interview aired on Wednesday night (April 13, 2011), and also your latest article on Malaysia Today.

I would like to get a few fresh comments from you if possible.

My questions are as follows:

1. When was the TV3 interview, and who requested it? Yourself or TV3? If you had requested it, what was the purpose of the interview? Where was it conducted? Was it edited? Was it accurate?

2. Why did you make that statement in the interview, that you do not believe that Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder. Do you believe now that Najib and/or Rosmah were maligned? Or do you still believe they may have been involved somehow with Altantuya's death?

3. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has tweeted that the TV3 interview is due to the Sarawak elections. Rafizi Ramli said that the meeting at Tengku Razaleigh's place did not mention Najib, Rosmah or Altantuya. Din Merican has denied being involved in the whole thing and said he did not know you were going to sign a statutory declaration. Critics will say that the timing is close to the Sarawak election. And the interview was also aired just a few days after Anwar told reporters to ask Najib about Altantuya's murder. It could look as if your interview is aimed at neutralising this, and helping Najib's position especially in the Sarawak polls. What are your comments?

4. In your latest article on Malaysia Today, you said that the interview was to create a storm so that the police would investigate your SD. Does this mean that you do have doubts over Najib/Rosmah's innocence in the Altantuya murder?

Thank you so much for your time. I would be grateful for a reply today if that is possible.

Regards,
Hazlin Hassan
Malaysia Correspondent
The $traits Times ($ingapore)

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Dear Hazlim,

What silly questions. How long have you been a reporter anyway? And have you already seen my entire more-than-one-hour interview? And do you know when the interview was done? Do you really think that this interview and the Anwar Ibrahim porn video are going to have a bearing on the Sarawak elections? If you do, then you had better ask to be transferred to the food and wine desk because you still have a long way to go to understanding politics.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

NOTE: It would be nice if Malaysian police would get off their butt and finally investigate the allegations. No?

It was only in 2002 that Hong Kong's Tung Chee Wah was the highest-paid politician in Asia. Not anymore. $ingapore's prime minister (left) is the highest paid in the world at around US$2.2 million. Normally when a person is paid so much more, you would expect to be able to tell the difference. You'd expect Hong Kong's performance would lag far behind $ingapore's? It's not. And they only have to pay Chief Executive Donald Tsang of Hong Kong US$530,000.

EXPENSIVE WINE AND CHEAP PLONK TASTE THE SAME TO MOST DRINKERS

In a blind taste test, volunteers were unable to distinguish between expensive and cheap wine. A survey of hundreds of drinkers found that on average people could tell good wine from plonk no more often than if they had simply guessed.

In the blind taste test, 578 people commented on a variety of red and white wines ranging from a £3.49 bottle of Claret to a £29.99 bottle of champagne. The researchers categorised inexpensive wines as costing £5 and less, while expensive bottles were £10 and more.

The study found that people correctly distinguished between cheap and expensive white wines only 53 per cent of the time, and only 47 per cent of the time for red wines. The overall result suggests a 50:50 chance of identifying a wine as expensive or cheap based on taste alone - the same odds as flipping a coin.

Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at Hertfordshire University, conducted the survey at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. "People just could not tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine," he said. "When you know the answer, you fool yourself into thinking you would be able to tell the difference, but most people simply can't."

Wiseman said: "The real surprise is that the more expensive wines were double or three times the price of the cheaper ones. Normally when a product is that much more expensive, you would expect to be able to tell the difference."  - Guardian UK

Click here for more.

NOTE: Hong Kongers cheated by the Lehman Brothers mini-bond scam managed, with the help of their government, to get back 95 per cent of their money. $ingaporeans scammed the same way got much, much less.

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BRITISH AUTHOR APPEALS $INGAPORE JAIL SENTENCE

April 12, 2011: Author and freelance journalist Alan Shadrake, 76, was sentenced to six weeks in jail and fined S$20,000 dollars (£9,700) in November last year for "scandalising the judiciary" in his book Once a Jolly Hangman: $ingapore Justice in the Dock.

On Monday, he launched an appeal against his sentence, and described the charges against him as "bloody nonsense". Mr Shadrake's book, which was published in July last year, focused on capital punishment within the city-state and is understood to have made a number of allegations about the impartial application of the death penalty. It also included interviews with $ingapore's former executioner, Darshan Singh. He was arrested soon after its publication.

The case is one of many criminal defamation cases brought by the $ingaporean judiciary against political opponents and journalists in recent years. $ingapore claims that such lawsuits are necessary to preserve the good reputation of the city-state against false or misleading accusations. Human rights organisations claim that the authorities are deliberately trying to silence those who wish to criticise the government.

Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director, said: "$ingapore is answering criticism by jailing its critics. Alan Shadrake's sentence was a major step backwards for freedom of expression in $ingapore.

"By penalising Alan Shadrake, $ingapore has drawn even greater global attention to its lack of respect for freedom of expression." A second edition of the book is planned to be released in Australia next month. - Leah Hyslop.
Click here for more.

WHEN IT'S TIME TO GO



The nation-builder press, April 12, 2011. A senior moment for Minister Lim Boon Heng, 63, at a PAP press conference (April 11). As well as introduce seven new candidates for the 2011 General Erections, Lim said he would retire. Lim will not run for the erections. The former labour chief did fight for $ingapore workers to have minimum wage, right? Can't remember? But we remember he did back his party to have two GIANT gambling dens in $heep City which provided work for 35,000 mostly foreign workers. In the end, when the PAP brags about the two casinos, it's about the $130 million it collects from gambling taxes paid for by $ingaporeans who gamble. Yet Minister Lim wants to know how an opposition party's proposal for more health care, smaller classroom sizes, a national transport system etc can be paid for? 'Working memory', not working?

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have pinpointed a reason older adults have a harder time multitasking than younger adults: they have more difficulty switching between tasks at the level of brain networks. Juggling multiple tasks requires short-term, or "working," memory, the capacity to hold and manipulate information in the mind for a period of time. Working memory is the basis of all mental operations, from learning a friend's telephone number, and then entering it into a smart phone, to following the train of a conversation, to conducting complex tasks such as reasoning, comprehension and learning.

The finding, reported in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (week of April 11, 2011), complements findings by the Gazzaley lab focused not on interruptions, or multitasking, but on distractions. This research showed that the brain's capacity to ignore distractions, or irrelevant information, diminishes with age and that this, too, impacts working memory.

Researchers know that multitasking negatively impacts working memory in both young and older adults. However, anecdotal accounts of "senior moments", such as forgetting what one wanted to retrieve from the refrigerator after leaving the couch, combined with scientific studies conducted at UCSF and elsewhere indicate that the impact is greater in older people. - www.physorg.com

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OUR 'GOD' WORKS IN A TWISTED WAY



"Hark back many elections ago when a (opposition) candidate stood for election [cannot remember when & who]. His childish demeanor of stealing a bicycle for a joy ride at the age of 8-years-old was brought up during elections and slammed."
- Temujin, March 30, 2011 at the Temasek Review site.

$ingapore's general erections are always a joy to behold, how the ruling PAP party would pull all the tricks (nothing illegal) in the book to smear and slime their opponents as unsuitable to hold power. These days, all candidates are clean as a whistle with regard to criminal records but that's another story to tell. When they step into parliament they are paid a cool salary of $225,000* a year ($18,000+ a month), the highest paid MPs in the world. What's a bicycle thief compared with that salary?

* Note: This is the 2008 figure. (click here)

FOUR SCIENTIFIC REASONS WHY MASTURBATION IS ALL RIGHT

$ingapore's General Erections is said to come at the end of April 2011. This is when the ruling PAP show all $ingaporeans just who's THE BOSS. So with a nod to the coming erections, here's an article that explains why some masturbate. Even a domineering, elephant-sized party like the PAP.

When the trunk calls.

Newsweek in October 2010, made a defence for masturbation as proper behaviour. "Evidence from elephants to rodents to humans shows that masturbating is-counterintuitively-an excellent way to make healthy babies, and lots of them. No one who believes in the 'family' part of family values" can accept that masturbation is just "toying" with your organs.

The science is straightforward. Whenever a behavior is common in the animal kingdom, biologists suspect it has an adaptive function. That is, the behavior enabled individual animals to survive better and leave more offspring than animals that did not engage in the behavior. As a result, genes for the behavior spread throughout that population until it became essentially ubiquitous.

In their Oct 7 article headlined: The Scientific Case For Masturbation, four points were raised.

1. Masturbation might remove old, worn-out, broken sperm from the reproductive tract. That would increase the fraction of healthy, speedy sperm, improving a male's chance of becoming a father.
(The PAP regularly remove deadwood to offer new candidates)

2. Masturbation might be a form of advertising. According to this idea, males that engage in autoeroticism signal to possible mates as well as competitors how much they have to offer.
(The PAP want $ingaporeans to know they're the best)

3. Masturbation might be a sort of victory lap. Some animals masturbate after they mate. Since other members of a group know this, then masturbation signifies that the male engaging in this behavior was the chosen partner of other females. Females who are still shopping for a mate might be inspired by that information to copy their choice, as in, "if he was good enough for her..." Result: more mating, more babies.
(The PAP want $ingaporeans to know they're the bestest)

4. Masturbation can serve a hygiene function. According to this idea, males engage in autoeroticism because it cleans the reproductive tract and reduces the chance of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease from a female that he mated with and who had other recent partners.
(The PAP regularly remove deadwood to offer new candidates)

PAP candidate, Ting Pei Ling, 27, "If we work hard, we will be able to survive and do well!", March 2011.

And what about females? There have been far fewer observations of females masturbating in the wild, though bonobos are well known for this form of eroticism (and every other, it seems). One popular theory for why females might indulge, however, is incorrect-namely, the idea that orgasm (during or right after mating) might propel sperm to the egg. To the contrary, scientists reported in a 2002 paper, "vaginal and uterine contractions... have been misinterpreted as powering rapid sperm transport to facilitate fertilization, but such fast transport would lead to the tubal deposition of noncapacitated, incompetent spermatozoa," which would not lead to conception.

Instead, primatologists conclude, in the case of females the purpose is simply to "produce enjoyable sensations".

Full article here.

NOTE: The other reason why $ingapore's General Erections is like masturbation is that it is a contest of one. All real opposition have been removed and disqualified from participating.


THE LAST WORD ON "LIVING A GOOD LIFE" Pt 2

"A glimmer of light has emerged from the People Action Party's (PAP) much flogged "4G" batch of candidates": Ms Foo Mee Har, the Head of Premier Banking in Standard Chartered.

Ms Foo's CV shows an impressive array of local and overseas experience at the top rungs of the corporate ladder. She headed the China branch of Standard Chartered's Consumer Banking in China, and can boast a stint as President and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Thailand...

How can we be sure that the new candidates are really in this for public service? This is an especially pertinent question given that the PAP has consistently maintained that it is difficult to attract talent without sky-high pay. Does this apply to the people they've recruited?

Ms Foo, at least, has nothing to prove on that account.

Oh my god, she's a woman!

The media buzz the PAP has created around Ms Foo is also revealing. She's being touted as the first female PAP candidate to be introduced.

That this warrants a headline is alarming...

TOC highlighted as far back as March 2008 that the lack of a full female Minister in Cabinet is a travesty for a developed country like Singapore.

If the PAP knows what's good for it, Ms Foo will have a substantial role to play in the party's future."

- "Foo Mee Har's strength highlights PAP's weakness", The Online $hitizen, March 24, 2011. This "independent" $ingapore website threw its support for new PAP candidate Foo Mee Har when her candidacy was announced. Since March 24, dirt has been dug up on Ms Foo. For a contrary view to TOC's go to the sites below.

For Want of A Better Name, StanChartGate?
click here

Questions on Foo Mee Har continue to go unanswered!!!!
click here

HENG AH! (Very fortunate)

Wikipedia: "Ho Geok Choo Madeleine (born 15 April 1956) is a $ingaporean Member of Parliament who has represented West Coast GRC since 2001. West Coast GRC was not contested in the 2001 and 2006 general elections, so Ho's party, the PAP, was awarded a walkover on both occasions."

In April 2011, it was announced that MP Ho Geok Choo was retiring from politics. Madam Ho has never been elected before. On both occasions it was a walkover. MP Ho is age 54. Madam Ho served for 10 years as MP.

Wikipedia: "Persons who have reached the age of 50 years and retired as MPs and who have served in this capacity for not less than nine years may be granted a pension for the rest of their lives."

You have served your party well.

The $ingapore Government pension is reserved for certain civil servants. Only a few public services and political appointees are covered by this scheme. Other $ingaporeans have the dreaded "Central Provident Fund". Each year, more and more money is withheld from citizens CPF and kept on their behalf by the government to be disbursed bit by bit when a citizen reaches 62. The only failsafe way to GET ALL YOUR MONEY OUT is to surrender your citizenship and migrate.

HONG KONG BANKS AGREE TO REPAY LEHMAN INVESTORS' LOSSES

March 28, 2011: Hong Kong banks will repay investors who lost money after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers. Sixteen banks have agreed to buy back financial instruments they sold to investors for up to 96.5 per cent of their value.

More than 40,000 customers had invested close to $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in Lehman's financial products. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 facing huge losses linked to the US property market.

The payment of some sort of compensation has been an ongoing saga in Hong Kong. At the heart of the controversy are products called mini bonds. Bonds are financial derivatives that are generally sold to large institutional investors.

Full report here.

$ingapore's DB$ Bank is one of the 16 HK banks that agreed to pay 96.5 per cent of the value of the mini bonds.

Jan 17, 2009: The Monetary Authority of $ingapore yesterday said financial institutions would make full or partial settlement to 58 per cent of complainants. It said in a statement that 25 per cent of complainants would get all their money back and 33 per cent some of their money.

It is presumed the remainder 42 per cent of complainants got NOTHING.

A former insurer, Tan Kin Lian, wrote a letter stating that "The total amount compensated was less than 20 per cent of the investment, but the mainstream media gave the misleading impression that the majority had been compensated."

Tan Kin Lian's Sept 2009 letter in full here.

But by February 2010, $ingapore mini bond investors received some respite.

"Investors were able to recover between 21.5 and 70.8 per cent of their original investment and the variations in payouts depended on different factors such as the series of minibonds investors invested in and how many years were left to run on the minibonds. In total, retail minibonds investors would be able to receive 64.5 per cent of the total amount invested. Also, the MAS said that combining the settlements made before the announcement and the new recovery package, 80 per cent of the retail investors could recover 50 per cent or more of their investments." 
Click here for more.

In $ingapore, DB$ Bank paid less than 96.5 per cent of the value of the mini bonds to $ingaporean investors.


DB$ BANK OF $INGAPORE WINS AGAIN


The nation-builder press, March 19, 2011.

From the above report: "A group of investors who lost $18 million in a complex product sold to them by DB$ have hit out at the bank and vowed to keep up their legal fight to get compensated. The 213 investors... admitted that they had misplaced their trust in DB$..."


BANKSTERS LOSE BIG CASE IN GERMANY

Elsewhere in the world Spiegel Online reported March 23, 2011:

On Tuesday, Germany's Federal Court of Justice, the country's highest court for civil cases, ruled that Deutsche Bank had to compensate Ille, a medium-sized German paper company, for losses it suffered on a complex investment product that the bank sold it in 2005. Ille had sued the bank, claiming it had not been adequately informed about the risks that the financial product entailed.

The presiding judge, Ulrich Wiechers, ruled that Deutsche Bank had abused its obligation to give its customers proper advice. The product, called a "spread ladder swap," was essentially a bet on how interest rates would develop in the future. The judge said that the bank did not explain the risk of the product properly, particularly given the fact that the risk to the customer was unlimited if they lost the "bet."

There was also a conflict of interest, the court ruled, as the bank was effectively betting against its own customer and giving them advice at the same time. Wiechers also said that the bank had deliberately structured the product to the customer's disadvantage, in order to make a profit from the deal.

Full report here.

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH... THE FOREIGN TALENT GET GOING


The nation-builder press, March 18, 2011.

Reports on the Japan calamity all said the same thing. The foreigners were crowding Narita Airport to get on the first plane out of Japan. In some cases, the super rich were chartering private jets to fly out in style and comfort.

Selfish? Nah, they were all being PRAGMATIC. After all they are not your citizens. Imagine your economy dependent on foreign talent. Imagine your ruling party politicians - all super rich.

The nation-builder press, November 2, 2010.

CAN HARDLY WAIT

The prime minister of $ingapore, General Lee Hsien Loong, wants to see a nuclear power plant in $ingapore "in his lifetime". What the Lees want, they generally get.

General Lee was delivering the 2010 $ingapore Energy Lecture for the first time at the $untec Ballroom where he referred to nuclear energy as an "important part of the solution to mankind's energy problems".

The general was aware of $ingapore's small size, which stretches about 40km from east to west. He said: "It's very difficult to put it (a nuclear power plant) very far from population because nobody in $ingapore is far from population. Yet we cannot afford to dismiss the option of nuclear energy altogether."

When he called for questions from the floor, General Lee was asked if it would happen during his time in office. He replied: "I would say possibly during my lifetime."

As prime minister, the general has already seen two giant-sized gambling dens open, watched as $ingapore's government investment companies burn BILLIONS on bad investments and stood helpless as the birth rate fell to its lowest in $ingapore. All these in his lifetime.

Yet General Lee and his cabinet ministers and top civil servants are the highest paid in the world with multi-million-dollar salaries. They have the most generous employer in the world. The $heeple of $ingapore.

$ingapore politicians are the highest-paid in the world. Thanks to their generous employers. A$310? PEANUTS!

WHAT ARE LEE & LEE EATING? MEE SIAM, MAI HUM? FINE DINING, OF COURSE

AT A$310 a person plus wine, it's up there with the world's most expensive dining experiences but chef Tetsuya Wakuda has no shortage of customers at his new $ingapore restaurant. (Editor's note: A Singaporean on welfare gets just $400 a month, an increase of $40 that was added to the 2011 $ingapore Budget.)

To the Sydney chef's amazement, the reservations book at Waku Ghin includes many Australians, especially from Perth, who are travelling especially to eat at the 25-seater.

Diners include the former $ingapore prime minster Lee Kuan Yew and his Prime Minister son Lee Hsien Loong. Some regulars visit three or four times weekly.

They have a radically different dining experience to Wakuda's Sydney restaurant, Tetsuya's. Every savoury dish on the 10-course menu is cooked in front of the diner in one of four small dining rooms. It took seven years to persuade Wakuda to open in $ingapore.

At 743 square metres, the space was far larger than anything he wanted. More than that, Australia's most celebrated chef was happy running just one restaurant, in Sydney.

But the owners of $ingapore's new US$5.7 billion casino complex Marina Bay Sands were never going to take no for an answer. Finally, he relented but on his terms. Waku Ghin seats just 25 diners with two sittings a night. "That's 50 people every day... more than enough,'' said Wakuda.

The extensive use of curved walls and small dining rooms disguises the large floorspace. And for the man who loves kitchen equipment almost as much as the food prepared, much was designed by Wakuda. Before opening, Wakuda visited $ingapore "hundreds of times", but even he is taken aback by the locals' enthusiasm. "Their passion for eating is incredible. It's a national sport. They just love to eat... It's obsessional almost."

In the kitchen "$ingapore is a different challenge [to Sydney]''.

"The produce is amazing. You pay for it, however; it's extremely expensive. Everything has to be imported and and while European is OK, Japanese is expensive and, as I am Japanese, people expect it. They expect Japanese seafood. They ask if it's local and if it is they say 'I don't want that'."

Like their capacity to eat, Singaporeans' capacity to spend knows almost no bounds. The restaurant uses three kilograms of caviar a week.

[click here for more]

The PAP (ruling party) elite are paid multi-million dollar salaries. The Prime Minister of $ingapore is paid in excess of US$2.8 MILLION, six times more than American president Obama. They also get huge bonuses. This year, ministers and top civil servants will be paid a bonus of 8 months of salary. By comparison, a $ingaporean on welfare (public assistance) gets just $400 a month.

How many Singaporeans are on public assistance? A March 2010 report says there are around 3,000 Singaporeans receiving public assistance.

But the Ministerial Committee on Low Wage Workers has estimated that 240,000 full-time workers earn $1,000 or less per month. Or to put it another way, they earn slightly more than if they were on "public assistance" so they might as well be counted as receiving "public assistance". The income gap between rich and poor is among the widest in the world.

$ingapore has the second highest income gap between the rich and the poor, as indicated by the Gini coefficient, among the 38 countries with very high human development, according to the 2009 United Nations Development Report. Click here for more.

Guess they won't be eating at Waku Ghin anytime soon.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH BUT KISHORE MAHBUBANI DID SAY THIS:

"There are no homeless, destitute or starving people in $ingapore. Poverty has been eradicated..."
- Kishore Mahbubani, $ingapore's former UN representatives, Jan 15 2001. He is author of "Can Asians Think?"

THE LAST WORD ON $HEEPISH BEHAVIOUR

The nation-builder press, March 8, 2011.

In $ingapore, the dictator is never wrong. He will only have his "stand corrected" or "clarified". When the dictator first uttered the statement on Muslim integration to a team of seven $tate's Times nation-builders, not a single one questioned it. In fact they wrote it and published a book with that quote.

When the book, Hard Truths, was published in early 2011, public opinion disagreed with the dictator on Muslim integration. Hence the clarification. It is telling that seven nation-builders had $heepish behaviour.

That's why $ingapore newspapers are called The $tate's Times and Toady.

Protesters fled during an assault by Bahrain security forces in Manama on Feb 18, 2011.

SOME HOME TRUTHS: 'IF I HAVE TO SHOOT 200,000 STUDENTS TO SAVE (fill in country) FROM ANOTHER 100 YEARS OF DISORDER, SO BE IT'
*Editor's note: More common in English usage is the phrase "home truths".

Lee Kuan Yew [pic], the mentor minister of $heep City, $ingapore said the above on August 17, 2004 when siding with the Chinese government's decision in 1989 to kill student protesters at Tiananmen Square. In January and February 2011, governments across the Middle East have been practising the Tiananmen option with varying degrees of intensity.

Tunisia's Ben Ali clung to power for 28 days but street protests forced him to flee on January 14. His secret police had killed a few protestors which electrified the uprising. [click here]

Former president Mubarak of Egypt killed 365 citizens to no avail. [click here]

Libya's Gaddafi has already killed more than 300 student demonstrators but has failed to quell the rage. Military units are reported to have defected in order to protect protesters. [click here]

In Bahrain, the royal family ordered their storm troopers to disperse the crowd. They fired on unarmed protestors and 10 citizens are reported dead. [click here]

The Yemen revolt has so far seen five deaths. Thousands of security personnel have been mobilised to disperse student protesters. [click here]

When you shoot your citizens, you use "real terrorism" to frighten them into submission and obedience.

Now, who shall we report these terrorists to?

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"Your $ingapore father or your uncle or your cousin or your brother or your son or your boyfriend? Or will it be the $ingapore police's Gurkha battalion? Disobey. It is the only way."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, Feb 19, 2011.

WHY $INGAPORE NEEDS GURKHAS

The Gurkha Contingent of the $ingapore Police Force was formed on April 9, 1949 from selected ex-British Army Gurkhas. It is an integral part of the Police Force. During the turbulent years before and after independence, the Gurkhas acquitted itself well on a number of times during outbreaks of civil disorder. Gurkhas can be seen patrolling $ingapore streets and have replaced local policemen to guard key installations. - from wikipedia

IF GAY, OK LAH, SAYS LEE

The Star Online, January 25, 2011.

$ingapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew will accept the reality if any of his grandchildren is homosexual, Sin Chew Daily and Nanyang Siang Pau reported. In an interview with The $traits Times, Lee said homosexuality was a genetic issue. Sin Chew Daily, which quoted excerpts from the interview, reported Lee as saying that former US vice-president Dick Cheney was against homosexuality but he still loved his daughter even though she was a lesbian. However, Lee stressed that none of his children was a homosexual. Gay MPs are OK too, Lee said.

All well and good but Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong is on record as saying in 2008 $ingapore is not ready for a non-Chinese prime minister. $ingapore is never ready for anything until Lee and Co say so. Take the gambling dens for instance. Now $ingapore has two casinos.

$INGAPORE GAGS CITIZENS' CRITICISM, SAYS DR M

Dr Mahathir has warned the local Malay community that they risked becoming "like the $ingaporean Malays".

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jan 23 - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said last night that $ingaporeans were not allowed to cast their government in a bad light. The former prime minister was responding to $ingapore Berita Harian readers who were reportedly unhappy with him for claiming that $ingaporean Malays were marginalised.

"They have freedom of speech in $ingapore where you can say what you like, so long as it is approving of the government," Dr Mahathir told reporters. "(You have freedom) as long as you don't say something that the government of $ingapore does not like."

On Friday, Jan 21, Malay rights group Perkasa voiced similar sentiments in their defence of the former PM. "No Malays in $ingapore dare to talk the truth about the treatment they received," Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali told The Malaysian Insider. He had also claimed that the comments by the $ingapore Berita Harian readers did not represent the Malay community in $ingapore in its entirety.

Full report here.

$INGAPORE BLOG TAGGED AS 'POLITICAL ASSOCIATION'

The nation-builder press, January 25, 2011.

The Online Citizen (TOC) finally accepted Jan 24, 2011 the $ingapore governments tagging of the blog as a political association. It submitted the particulars of those responsible for the site, as required by the law on political donations.
[Click here]

It listed the names of four whom it said are responsible for the preparation and accuracy of TOC's donation reports.They are acting chief editor Joshua Chiang, 35, and long-time TOC contributors Leong Sze Hian, 57, Ravi Philemon, 42, and Siew Kum Hong, 35. TOC also did not identify who are its owners. (Editor's note: Who are its owners?)

Leong is past president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, Philemon is a social worker, and Siew Kum Hong is a lawyer and former Nominated MP in the $ingapore government.

Once tagged as a political association, TOC is bound by the Political Donations Act which, among other things, forbids donations from foreign sources. Also, it cannot accept more than $5,000 a year in total from anonymous donors, and must report to the registrar every year donations of $10,000 and more from a single donor.

Yesterday, TOC said "The PMO has assured us that TOC's new status 'will not impede its freedom of expression'. We are happy to take this statement at face value and will have to rely on you, our readers, to hold the Prime Minister to his word," it added.

The Online Citizen is one of the safest, most polite blogs in $heep City. Its views are moderate and not provocative. They have freedom of speech to "criticize" politely about $ingapore. Truly independent views remain on blogs based outside $ingapore. See below.

SOME HOME TRUTHS: IF YOU'VE BUILT A HOUSE OF CARDS, EXPECT IT TO FALL
*Editor's note: The phrase "hard truths" is uncommon in English usage. More common is "home truths".

The nation-builder press, January 23, 2011.

Will you die for $ingapore?

This was the challenge Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew threw to $ingaporeans on Friday [January 21, 2011] at the launch of Hard Truths, a new book about his beliefs. Mr Lee said $ingapore is still a nation in the making, an aspiration and not a reality. Citing China as an example of a bona fide nation, MM Lee said that China can be 'ravaged, demolished', but the people would invariably come together again to rebuild it. If the same thing happened to $ingapore, it may simply fall apart. 'Do not believe we have got there,' he said. 'Will we make it? Am I certain we'll get there? No, I cannot say that.

"Something can go wrong somewhere, and we'll fall apart." Like a house of cards.

SOME HOME TRUTHS: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

Not a day goes by over the past week without the nation-builder press fawning on $ingapore dictator Lee Kuan Yew's laments. His worries about this. His worries about that. The one that caught our attention was his admission that $ingapore needed foreigners to make up for the shortage of babies.

Back in 2008, the nation-builder press finally opened up on the topic of why there is a shortage of babies. You can read that August 24, 2008 report here.

Here's the nub of the problem from that report:

Madam Margaret Chua was a young mother then. She had her fallopian tubes tied in 1976 after giving birth to her second child at the then Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH), now known as the KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

She was 23 at the time and came from a family of 10 children. She, too, wanted a big family of her own. But the (PAP government's) disincentives made her change her mind and she decided to get ligated - that is, have her tubes tied to prevent further pregnancies.

'The pressure was high. The ($ingapore) Government clearly didn't want us to have more than two,' said Madam Chua, who is now 55. 'Now, more than 30 years later, I wish I had more.'

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house."

If you've built a house of cards, it will fall.

A Filipino is a Filipino. An Indonesian is an Indonesian. A Thai is a Thai. A Malaysian is a Malaysian. But a $ingaporean is a migrant. Compare what you have built after 40-odd years with others who have built their houses to last."

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, Jan 24, 2011.

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THERE IS NO LAST WORD ON "$INGAPORE FLOODS"



On the morning of Wednesday, September 8, 2010, a short heavy burst of rain caused the Central Business District of $ingapore to be flooded. Above are pictures taken of flood waters at $ingapore's $henton Way. We do not recall flooding at $henton Way previously.

Other areas where flooding has recently occurred include $ingapore's prime shopping street, Orchard Road, and $ingapore's prime residential area, Bukit Timah.

The $ingapore government has claimed that flooding is a once in 50 years affair. Clearly, they are WRONG.

Click here for more pics of the Sept 8 flood.

THE LAST WORD ON "CONGENITAL PRAGMATIST"

"The PAP makes promises they deliver. The Opposition cannot deliver."

"If you have a flood, just carefully think who is more likely to get the drainage put right and have the flood alleviated as quickly as possible: A PAP candidate with links to the ministers and Prime Minister, or a non-PAP candidate who has become an MP, like in Potong Pasir or Hougang, and who has to manage on his own?"

"That's a fact of life."

- The Prophet of Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew, Minister Mentor as reported in Toady, April 29, 2006. On July 22, 2010, Lee was reported in the local nation-builder press to have said "no amount of engineering can prevent flooding".



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Food fit for $heep. Nothing to complain about.

Y.O.G. VOLUNTEERS GET JUST DESSERTS...

A $ingapore government company, $ingapore Food Industries, was awarded $5.5 MILLION of the $400 MILLION Y.O.G. budget to provide catering for the Youth Olympic Games in $heep City. This is what they served some 7,000 $ingapore volunteers. When contacted, a spokesman confirmed that the meal in the picture was part of a meal provided to the Y.O.G. workforce. A bottled drink and some fruit were also provided said a news report.

The government company offered a higher standard of food for the 5,000 Y.O.G. participants. $ingaporeans got what they deserved.

...THEN POISONED

Rumours were flying on the net August 18 that 30 $ingaporean students who were volunteers at the Youth Olympics had food poisoning. One poster reported that the doctor at the location was also down with food poisoning. Late in the evening of August 18, Yahoo! News broke the story.

26 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) volunteers were reported to have suffered from food poisoning after consuming their meals in the morning of August 15. A source told Yahoo! SEA that the volunteers, who were on duty at the triathlon competition at East Coast Park, had diarrhea. Over 20,000 people are volunteering in various roles for the YOG, which runs till August 26.

It is unclear if the poisoned volunteers have to pay for medical bills. Yahoo! News uses the services of students from Republic Polytechnic to cover the games.


CANVAS ROOF COLLAPSES AT Y.O.G. BASKETBALL COURT


$ingapore workmanship sucks. Ask any HDB dweller who had to pay to replace defective windows installed by the government. WTF!

Heavy rains on August 17, left a puddle of water on the canvas roof of the brand new multi-million dollar *scape Youth Space along Orchard Road. The roof was unable to carry the weight and collapsed. The scheduled Olympic basketball games were cancelled. *scape's Senior Marketing Manager, Kenneth Tan, said he was aware of this incident but "couldn't comment on it", when contacted by Yahoo! SEA. Have you got a pair?


MORE THAN A LITTLE BIT OF NORTH KOREA... EH?

How does dictator Kim Jong-Il of North Korea gather 100,000 volunteers to perform at this Arirang Games August 2, 2010 in Pyongyang? One clue to the world's largest mass participation of gymnastics and dance is that the bulk of volunteers are school children. Follow the link below to see how $ingapore schools pressed into service student volunteers to participate in the Youth Olympic Games.

As far as we know, foreign schools in $heep City were not "encouraged" to participate.

Won't get fooled again: http://bigozine2.com/feature/?p=450


FREE Y.O.G. CONCERT DRAWS FEW FANS


pic from yawningbread

It was a Sunday evening, August 15, and the $ingapore government was pumping money for a free concert to celebrate the Youth Olympics. According to reports, the venue in front of The Sail building had a capacity for 3,000. The headline act was US band The Click Five from Boston. Less than 300 turned up. Support acts were $ingapore band The UnXpected and singer-songwriter Inch Chua. Their popularity is inch-deep [sic].

Altogether now: "WHO FIVESAGUCK?"

The $ingapore government says it will spend close to $400 MILLION on the Y.O.G.


ANOTHER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM $HEEP CITY



This video, A Girl's Hope, was made by Think Family, a part of the $ingapore government's National Family Council. It has been seen on television and cable TV since the middle of July. The reference to YOG, Youth Olympic Games, near the end refers to $ingapore hosting the games from August 14 to 26. The National Family Council and YOG are under the Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

We invite readers to give their opinion on what message the video delivers (click here for the video). Every reader who posts a comment here will get a link to some great unreleased music. Enjoy.

VENICE OF THE EAST



A brief but heavy downpour last Wednesday (Aug 11, 2010), flooded parts of $ingapore again. At Rowell Road in central $ingapore, 29-year-old Mr Ang Rong Hsin took time off from his busy schedule to test drive his kayak.

Floods, which were thought to be a thing of the past, have made a comeback since last December. The nation-builder press no longer highlight such stories on their front pages. Complaining about floods has brought a swift response to "stop griping" from million-dollar senior minister Goh Chok Tong.


NOT A SCRATCH ON $INGAPORE'S LOW CRIME RATE


The above report ended with a lawyer suggesting the victim could have appealed to the AG. If you read the post at the link below, the victim did appeal three times to the AG. This report appeared in MyPaper and not in the mainstream press.

When a $ingaporean complained to police earlier this year that his car was vandalised, the efficient men in blue responded. But after viewing the car-owner's video recording of two of the three incidents, the police issued a warning to the possible culprit and let him off. Case closed as there was deemed to be "no case".

It remains uncertain if indeed the act was "vandalism" or "mischief"? If charged for vandalism, the punishment is mandatory caning. Apparently, it is "vandalism" only if government property is damaged. $ingapore has a very low crime rate. $ingaporeans deserved this too.

Read UGLY YEAR LONG DISPUTE here http://www.mycarforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2654053&st=0

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THE NEW BigO PLAIN-SPEAKING, STRAIGHT-TALKING, NO B.S. CONTEST NUMBER 1

It's a simple world. But there are people who just like being complicated.

Take the simple query of why $ingapore's recorded public debt is $255.464 billion? The information released by America's Central Intelligence Agency [click here] made some people wonder why $ingapore is ranked 6th in the world for public debt.

The nation-builder press, June 17, 2010. (Click on the graphic for a better view.)

What you think the professor is saying.

Every reader who posts a comment here will get a link to some great unreleased music. Enjoy.

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DB$ TO GIVE HONG KONG INVESTORS THEIR MONEY BACK PLUS INTEREST; $'POREANS GET 30% ONLY


Remember this day? When your life savings vanished? The nation-builder press, October 16, 2008.

A Reuters report July 14, 2010 said DB$ Hong Kong, a unit of $ingapore's DB$, will pay out a combined HK$651 million (US$84 million) to 2,160 Hong Kong buyers of Lehman Brothers mini-bonds. These Hong Kong investors are getting a full refund plus interest.

Customers classified by the bank as having a low- to medium-risk profile would have their money returned plus interest that would have been payable had it been placed in a fixed-term deposit, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said in a statement.

This contrasts with 10,000 $ingaporeans, some of whom reportedly poured their life savings into these same Lehman mini-bonds sold by DB$ Bank and others in $ingapore. DBS and other banks settled with about 5,000 $heep of $ingapore in the middle of 2009.

According to infopedia.nl.sg: "as of 31 May 2009, DB$ Bank, ABN Amro, Maybank and Hong Leong Finance received 5,551 complaints. Of the 5,352 cases decided on, 67 per cent or 3,607 cases received settlement offers, 85 per cent of which were accepted by the investors. The compensation offered totalled S$104.6 million or 32 per cent of the amount invested in the cases decided. The six brokerages, which received 952 complaints, offered compensation in 33 per cent of the 889 cases decided. The offers, 70 per cent of which were accepted, totalled S$2.74 million or just 5.6 per cent of the amount invested in the cases decided."
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1654_2010-03-19.html

In other words, while the Hong Kong investors got their money back plus interest, some $ingapore investors got about 30 cents to a dollar. Others about 5 cents.

WTF?

DBS Hong Kong to pay $84 mln in Lehman settlement; 2,160 low-risk customers to get money back plus interest
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE66D07H20100714



EYES WIDE SHUT


The nation-builder press, November 10, 2008.

"The MA$ (Monetary Authority of $ingapore) has told the banks if there's any mis-selling, you've got to put things right. But many went in with their eyes open. They are not old, they are not uneducated. Now they say, 'Please include me too'. Well, that's hard life and you've got to go according to what is fair."
- The prophet of Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew, Nov 10, 2008. Also known as MM Lee.

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WELL DONE


NYT May 19, 2010

"If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."

- $ingapore's Lee Kuan Yew, the prophet of Temasek, endorsing the Tiananmen massacre, $traits Times, August 17, 2004.


THUGSIN



A popular uprising in Bangkok or a multi-million-dollar Thaksin spin?

"[a popular uprising] is what some would have you believe, but it's actually more complicated than that. The former PM of Thailand, Thaksin Shiniwatra, was forced out of power for his corrupt use of power to boost his financial interests. (Editor: Thaksin made a cool US$1.8 billion tax free when he sold Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings, a $ingapore government company)

"One week before the protests began, (coincidence?), a sizeable chunk of money that he got by manipulating the financial system was reclaimed by the Thai supreme court.

"Thaksin knows that if he can destabilize the country, he can ride in on a white horse, take back his money, and take control. Expect Thailand to become a Myanmar or North Korea at that point, as he has publicly said that he isn't interested in democracy.

"This protest is not for democracy at all, as the protesters have regularly tried to kill anyone who opposes them. They are merely a manipulated force, created to destabilize the country.

"This is a simplified summary, there are two other factors at work here, (but not on the same side), the military, and another that I can't mention while I'm here in Thailand."

- FallacyOFfallacies, May 19, 2010 twittered this as the Red Shirts watch armored carriers move over their barricades.

"Your Thaksin analysis seems spot on to me, though. Well put. On the other hand I don't think he'll win here. It feels odd to me to be on the side of the government for once. To their credit it's not yet the bloodbath it could easily be."
- morvus_thenu, May 19, 2010

EYEWITNESS [10 pm, May 19, 2010]

"Today I didn't work and my wife's company sent them home at noon. We felt it could turn ugly and went to buy food and water to store right after lunch.

"Around 3pm, red-shirt leaders surrendered and uncontrolled groups of rioters started to run amok across the city. They set fire to many buildings. Around 5pm, they tried to bomb the bank just down my place.

"Now everyone is home. The city has never been so quiet. I'm taking news from my friends. All seem ok. One of them is reporter and lost his camera while running away from protesters throwing grenades at the soldiers. He saw soldiers with limbs ripped apart... regrets losing amazing pics of the events, but is mostly happy for being still alive."
- Vovicon

From observation, it appears citizen news on the net had a better grasp of the issues than any of the mainstream press.

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MYSTERY DEAD HORSE FOUND IN $INGAPORE HOUSING ESTATE 'CLEARED UP'

On May 1, this item, with the headline, Carcass of a horse found in Bukit Merah, was posted at a local news site: "The carcass of a horse has been found in an [housing board] estate. Police said they received a call about the discovery on Thursday evening. It was found at the rubbish collection centre near Block 11, Jalan Bukit Merah. The carcass has since been cleared. The authorities are looking into the matter."

Meanwhile, according to the Chinese press, there were five to six garbage bags containing the body parts of a horse. A pair of horse's legs poked out of a black garbage bag that was stuck in the rubbish compactor.

After one week of silence, it was finally reported that the horse was from the $ingapore Polo Club. It was supposed to have been incinerated but was instead dumped by a lorry driver of the disposal service because his lorry did not have a "dump bucket" and the carcass could not be unloaded into the incinerator. The horse was put down by a vet.

For whatever reason only the ever dependable Chinese press and an afternoon English-language tabloid ran the story. By coincidence, the multi-million dollar minister for housing in $heep City is surnamed "Mah" which in Chinese means "horse".

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LATEST: BOMB SCARE AT MARINA BAY SANDS

The local newspaper reported "A man was brought to court on Tuesday (May 11, 2010) for allegedly making a bomb hoax call that 10 bombs would explode at the newly-opened Marina Bay Sands. No plea was taken from Fang Xing Chi, 30, a salesman." The Marina Bay Sands in $ingapore is one of two brand new casinos in $heep City.

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ENVIRONMENT AT RISK AS CAMBODIA EXPORTS MILLIONS OF TONNES OF SAND TO $INGAPORE, NEW GLOBAL WITNESS REPORT REVEALS

Press Release (May 10, 2010)
http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/963/en/_environment_at_risk_as_cambodia_exports_millions_

$ingapore's rapid expansion is driving an ecologically and socially devastating sand-dredging industry in Cambodia, according to a new report released today by Global Witness. This booming trade is being monopolised by two prominent Cambodian Senators with close ties to Prime Minster Hun Sen - despite a supposed government ban on sand exports.

The Global Witness report Shifting Sand: how $ingapore's demand for Cambodian sand threatens ecosystems and undermines good governance reveals that:

*Cambodian Senators Mong Reththy and Ly Yong Phat have been awarded sand extraction licences behind closed doors, gaining control of an industry worth millions of dollars - but there is no evidence of any revenues reaching Cambodia's state coffers. Both have been implicated in dubious land deals and forced evictions, and have recently been criticised for sponsoring units of Cambodia's armed forces. This points to the increasing stranglehold of Cambodia's kleptocratic elite on its natural resources, replicating a pattern of corruption, cronyism, and rights abuses previously found in the forestry sector and extractive industries.

*Cambodia's sand-dredging industry poses a huge risk to its coastal environment, threatening endangered species, fish stocks and local livelihoods. There is no evidence that basic environmental safeguards have been applied, with boats reportedly turning up and dredging sand, often in protected areas, with no local consultation. All this makes a mockery of the government's supposed May 2009 ban on sand-dredging.

*This trade is driven by $ingapore. The city state was the world's largest importer of sand in 2008. It has used sand imports to increase its landmass by 22% since the 1960s. This project has wreaked havoc on the region's coastlines, with Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia having all now announced bans on sand dredging for export due to environmental concerns.

"This situation highlights the continued failure of Cambodia's international donors to use their leverage to hold the small elite surrounding the Prime Minister to account," said George Boden, campaigner at Global Witness. "Cambodia's natural resource wealth should be lifting its population out of poverty. Instead, international aid has propped up basic services in Cambodia for over 15 years, providing the equivalent of 50% of the government budget. Meanwhile, money from natural resources disappears into private bank accounts, and nearly 70% of the population subsists on less than $2 a day."

Global Witness' investigation tracked boats being loaded with sand in Cambodia to their destinations in $ingapore. It also uncovered contracts linking Singaporean companies to Cambodia's sand industry. In June this year, Singapore will host the World Cities Summit, which promotes 'sustainable and liveable cities'.

"$ingapore says that the import of sand is a purely commercial activity but it also presents itself as a regional leader on environmental issues," said Boden. "The country's failure to mitigate the social and ecological cost of sand dredging represents hypocrisy on a grand scale. If $ingapore wants its environmental stance to be taken seriously, monitoring where the sand is sourced and what is being done to obtain it would be an obvious place to start."

$ingaporeans familiar with their government await their swift response. So far ONLY a press release denying any wrongdoing has been offered. Previously, $ingapore also denied being a centre for dirty money. Check out $ingapore's great friendship with the Burma generals. Click on the banner below.

More reports

$ingapore sand demand damaging Cambodia environment
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7710537/Singapore-sand-demand-damaging-Cambodia-environment.html

Sand exports to $ingapore harm Cambodia: watchdog
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ja_W0zUQ_3tndYyAMGhWw7U1HFjw

$ingapore sand demand seen damaging Cambodia environment
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE64A25Q20100511

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Another Jones in $ingapore concert ****up.

IF YOU'RE GOING TO $INGAPORE, BE SURE TO WEAR... RIOT GEAR

Right in the middle of Local Boy In The Photograph, Stereophonics' vocalist Kelly Jones gets a flip-flop or sandal thrown in his face. No surprise. The band had kept the crowd waiting in hot and humid conditions for an hour before taking to the stage. $ingaporeans are not known to be civil. Tom Jones found out when he abandoned his show. The threat of a big lawsuit awaits the Welsh singer.

According to foreign press reports, Kelly Jones stopped the song, picked up the flip-flop, threw it aside and then abruptly thanked the audience before storming offstage. The rest of the band followed suit. The show, held at the Fort Canning Park on April 30, stopped for about 10 minutes during which time the security folks found the culprit. Stereophonics gamely returned, played two more songs and that was it.

There was only ONE report of this incident in $ingapore's Toady newspaper. The report did not identify the sandal thrower. It also did not report if the culprit was turned over to the police. In $ingapore, anyone who starts a fight is liable to strict $ingapore punishment. The brand new Tourism phrase is Your $ingapore. Up Yours. NME report here: http://www.nme.com/news/stereophonics/50924

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BLACKOUT IN YOUR $INGAPORE

This May 4, 2010 report from $ingapore's mediacorpse: "The recently opened Marina Bay Sands integrated resort experienced an embarrassing hiccup May 4. While the Chief Justice of New South Wales was speaking at a legal conference at the Marina Bay Sands, stage lights went out and the sound system went dead. It was a blackout which did not amuse the audience. Mr James Jacob Spigelman bravely continued his speech in the dark, assuring his audience: 'I have got a loud voice'. MediaCorpse learnt several members left while those who stayed were moved to a smaller conference hall.

Tuesday's fiasco is not the first to plague the integrated resort. A number of delegates who had checked into the hotel last week complained of air conditioners not working, luggage delivered to rooms two hours after check-in, and toilets that did not flush. They were here for the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) 20th Annual Conference. The organisation booked 400 rooms.

Some delegates were even trapped in lifts for up to 20 minutes. Indian lawyer Sumeet Kachwaha, who sits on the IPBA Council, said the facilities at Marina Bay Sands had created 'a very bad impression of $ingapore'." This is Your $ingapore. Up Yours.

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DEAD BODY FOUND NEAR MARINA BAY SANDS' BRIDGE

On the morning Marina Bay Sands, the newest casino in $ingapore opened, a dead body was found floating at the Helix Bridge at Marina Bay Sands the night before (April 26, 2010). It was identified as a young Chinese foreign worker. The super-expensive "Double Helix" pedestrian bridge connects Marina Centre to the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort (the casino).

All are welcome to gamble at $ingapore's latest casino. Every year, 300 to 400 people commit suicide in $heep City.

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We want people's action not wishin' and Ho Pin.

THE LAST WORD ON "WISHIN' AND HO PIN"

"No, we don't interfere. The way we look at it... whoever that can provide the best service to my residents, we welcome them. But they have to look at the market forces... If your things are very expensive, my residents won't support you... So we have been telling all the shops in Bukit Panjang, or in fact we have been doing that everywhere you know, the shops must be there to serve the residents.

"They are business and they need to make a profit, fair enough. But if they make it very expensive, then the residents won't support the shops and they will have to close shop. It's common sense you know, this is market forces."

- PAP MP for Bukit Panjang constituency Dr Teo Ho Pin (second week April 2010) remains confident that the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith will be fair. That "market forces" will determine everything.

There is only one wet market in Bukit Panjang ie. no choice. Previously the government sold the lease to a corporation Heeton Holdings. That corporation has now sold it forward to a supermarket chain. The supermarket, Sheng Siong, has just raised rents by 30 per cent. Some stallholders have called it a day. Sheng Siong has bought a total of five wet markets.

Markets in $heep City are being corporatized. The small entrepreneur will soon be an oddity. Dr Teo's "market forces" will see to that.

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GIC chairman Lee Kuan Yew.

ANOTHER $INGAPORE GIC INVESTMENT AT RISK

New York: One of the biggest, most high-profile deals of the commercial real-estate boom is in danger of imminent default, say people familiar with the matter, signaling the beginning of what is expected to be a wave of commercial-property failures, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The sprawling Manhattan apartment complex known as Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town - acquired for US$5.4 billion in 2006 by a venture of Tishman Speyer Properties and a unit of BlackRock Inc. - is running out of cash. As of the end of September, it had $33.7 million left of the $400 million in interest reserves set up to service its debt, according to the people familiar with the matter. At its current burn rate of about $16 million per month, the reserve could be depleted before the end of the year, the people said. Others have said the venture could avoid default until February.


The chart shows $ingapore GIC's at-risk stake of US$575 MILLION.

Full article here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125547827547583747.html#printMode

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A WAY OF LIFE


The nation-builder press, September 18, 2009.

The news that rocked the racing world. Last year's debut F1 race in $heep City was rigged. So what else is new? People get cheated all the time. Unlike their Hongkong counterparts, most of the 10,000 $ingaporeans who invested $500 million in minibonds never got a cent back, despite $ingapore's central bank's findings that the banks did not comply to its guidelines on selling such financial products. YAWN!!! Move along, nothing to see.

HOW MANY LAWYERS ARE THERE IN $INGAPORE?

Not unlike the state controlled papers of the old Soviet Union under Stalin whose statistics can change as required; the figure on the number of lawyers in $ingapore quoted by its similarly controlled newspapers appear to fluctuate by the day!

$ingapore's Straits Times online edition of Sept 12, 2009 has this story "Help lawyers adjust". The first line of the story has these words "Law Minister K Shanmugam on Saturday night threw down the gauntlet to the Law Society: Help it's 3,500 member lawyers adjust to the liberalization of the legal industry".

Further down the page there is this "These challenges will stretch the society's leadership role as the self regulatory body for the 3,500 practicing lawyers here, he noted at a speech at the Society's annual dinner and dance".

The next day, Sept 13, 2009, not only in the same newspaper but also written by the same reporter has this story "Help lawyers adjust. Law Society can be "thought leader" in dealing with the industry's liberalization!" It's first line says "Law Minister K Shanmugam on Saturday night threw down the gauntlet to the Law Society: Help it's 3,600 member lawyers adjust to the liberalization of the legal industry!"

Are we to assume that even though the number of lawyers has stagnated over several years at about 3,500 or less... suddenly over a day, the number of lawyers appears to have jumped from 3,500 to 3,600? - Gopalan Nair

Editor's note: For comparison of a similar sized island-economy, Hong Kong, as of December 31, 2008, has 6,205 solicitors, "with a current practicing certificate", almost DOUBLE the number in $heep City. More info can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Society_of_Hong_Kong

Compare with the entry for $ingapore's Law Society:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Society_of_Singapore
A better place to look is here http://www.lawsociety.org.sg/about/genStatistic.aspx

The number of lawyers in $ingapore as at the end of 2008 is 3,490 according to the $ingapore Law Society website. Four years ago, the total was 3,522 lawyers. It is unclear where the nation-builder press got its figure of 3,600?

A more important question is "why are the number of lawyers in $ingapore declining compared to Hong Kong?" What is wrong with $ingapore?

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DIARRHEA EPIDEMIC IN $INGAPORE

Sept. 10: $ingapore has seen a 50 percent increase in diarrhea cases at local polyclinics in the past week. The country's 18 polyclinics, which are government-owned, treated 2,990 patients for acute diarrhea last week, or about 50 percent more than the weekly average of 2,072 cases.

When polyclinics see more than 2,668 cases a week, it is considered an epidemic. The last time such an outbreak happened was two years ago. Doctors who have seen many more cases than usual in the last two weeks, said it appears to be highly contagious. - Xinhua

$ingapore's water supply is supplemented with New Water. This New Water is piped into $ingapore homes via gestation at the reservoirs as well as for industrial use. New Water is made completely from toilet waste.

JUDGE FINES SINGAPORE OPPOSITION POLITICIAN $10,000 FOR SPEAKING IN PUBLIC

Just a reminder to all that public protest is against the law in $ingapore. $ingapore is a totalitarian state.

District Judge Thian Yee Sze convicted Dr Chee Soon Juan on two counts of speaking without a permit on Friday (Sept 4, 2009). She imposed a fine of $10,000 or 10 weeks imprisonment in default. The execution of the sentence was stayed pending appeal.

Dr Chee is charged with eight counts of speaking in public under the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act. He is already convicted of four, including the present two.

Judges Eddy Tham and Jasvender Kaur had previous found Dr Chee guilty of one count each. The SDP secretary-general served a five-week jail term in 2006 for Mr Tham's conviction. The sentence for Judge Kaur's decision in 2008 is still awaiting appeal.

The charges are over Dr Chee and his party colleagues selling The New Democrat during elections in 2006. He had asked for all the eight cases to be consolidated and tried at one go. The AG's Chambers and courts refuse to do this.

The SDP leader has repeatedly argued that the charge of him not having a permit is a red herring. The Ministry for Home Affairs and police have stated that no permit will be issued for outdoor political events.

Dr Chee pointed out that such a policy to issue a blanket ban on public speaking and assembly clearly violated the Constitution and are therefore legally invaild.

Citing legal authorities in common law jurisdictions, he drew Judge Thian's attention to the decision of the House of Lords in the UK that "a man commits no crime if he infringes an invalid [policy or administrative act] and has the right to challenge the validity of the [policy] before any court in which he is being tried."

Judge Thian refused to listen and proceeded to convict Dr Chee.

A transcript of Dr Chee's closing submissions can be read here:
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/2759-judge-fines-chee-soon-juan-10000-for-speaking-in-public

You be the judge of $ingapore's law against public protest.


REMEMBER WHAT VIVIAN SAID?

"With the SARS episode deeply entrenched in our minds, $ingapore has been more prepared to tackle the H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak this time round".

- $ingapore's multi-million dollar Minister for Community and Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan, August 11, 2009. See the result of $ingapore's preparedness in the following report.

HOW 'NEWS' IS REPORTED IN $HEEP CITY

The Sept 5, 2009 front page news was this report "Hospitals on alert for new flu wave". The opening paragraph is reproduced below:

"HOSPITALS are on guard for a possible second wave of Influenza A (H1N1), even as the number of cases dip. Infectious disease experts estimate that the first wave infected about 700,000 people here. This means more than four-fifth of the population still have not been exposed to the virus."

The $ingapore estimate of 700,000 people infected with swine flu is ginormous. To date Mexico reported only 22,763 cases while the USA has 49,214 cases.

$ingapore's "infectious disease experts" had to use the "fatality rate of 0.1 per cent - the ratio of deaths within the population - used by the World Health Organisation" to make a guess of 700,000 people infected because $ingapore stopped reporting the number of cases on July 7 when the total was 1,217 cases.

Why pay more? It would be cheaper to ask a layman to make a wild guess.

The full article is reproduced here:
http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/09/singapore-hospitals-on-alert-for-new.html

STILL THE WORLD'S MOST HANDSOMELY PAID HEALTH MINISTER


$ingapore Minister Khaw Boon Wan earns at least $2.6 MILLION.

Hong Kong - 12 swine flu deaths as at Sept 9 2009. First death in Hong Kong reported July 16.
Japan - 10 swine flu deaths as at Sept 2 2009. First death in Japan reported August 15.

$ingapore - 18 swine flu deaths as at Sept 8 2009. First death in $ingapore reported July 18.

Below is Khaw's boast from almost two months ago. 18 have died since.


$ingapore's boast from almost two months ago: the nation-builder press, July 12, 2009. A leg end in the making.

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POSSIBLY THE WORLD'S MOST HANDSOMELY PAID HEALTH MINISTER


Minister Khaw Boon Wan earns at least $2.6 MILLION.

Hong Kong - 7 swine flu deaths as at Sept 2 2009. First death in Hong Kong reported July 16.
$ingapore - 17 swine flu deaths as at Sept 3 2009. First death in $ingapore reported July 18.

Below is Khaw's boast from almost two months ago. 17 have died since.


$ingapore's boast from almost two months ago: the nation-builder press, July 12, 2009. A leg end in the making.

$ingapore now has more than twice the number of swine flu deaths than a similar sized city-state like Hong Kong. Hong Kong has continued to reveal all figures including the total number of swine flu victims which at Sept 2 has added a further 328 newly confirmed cases which brings the total to 12,135 cases with 7 deaths. Nine remain critically ill in hospitals.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=87255&sid=25220146&con_type=1

By comparison, $ingapore no longer reveals the number of swine flu infections. Its final update was on July 7. There is no way of telling how widespread swine flu has dispersed in $ingapore.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_400818.html

This is how $ingapore's government controlled press reported the latest figures (Sept 2, 2009): "Polyclinic attendances for upper respiratory tract infections fell by nine per cent to 14,296 last week, compared with 15,720 the week before."

$ingapore does not distinguish between common flu and swine flu but have said Sept 2 that 42% of the cases are probably swine flu cases. By resorting to percentages, the full impact is not made clear.

Mr Khaw was appointed Minister for Health on August 12, 2004. He is paid a multi-million dollar salary including an undisclosed "performance bonus".

WHY SO QUIET $INGAPORE?

"People do want to know, there is curiosity, it is a matter of public interest. That is not sufficient reason to disclose information. It is not sufficient that there be curiosity and interest that you want to disclose information."

- Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, $ingapore's multi-million dollar salaried Finance Minister in Parliament, August 18, 2009 on why he cannot reveal why chief executive-to-be Mr Charles Goodyear left after just four months' work at Temasek Holdings, a government Sovereign Wealth Fund that spectacularly lost S$58 BILLION under CEO Ho Ching's watch.

Secrecy is EVERYTHING in $heep City.
Think Burmese druglords, tax haven, the mainstream press ranked 147th worldwide, white horse status for some national service soldiers, the multi-million dollar salaries of government servants, $ingapore's reserves, swine flu numbers and the list goes on.

HOW AMERICA'S FREEDOM HOUSE RATES $HEEP CITY 2008

$ingapore received a downward trend arrow due to the politically motivated handling of defamation cases, which cast doubt on judicial independence.

Overview
As part of a broader legal crackdown on government critics in 2008, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan was ordered to pay roughly US$400,000 in defamation damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Another vocal critic of the government, Gopalan Nair, received a three-month jail sentence for insulting two judges on his blog.
Read the rest here http://www.freedomhouse.org/inc/content/pubs/fiw/inc_country_detail.cfm?year=2009&country=7700&pf

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HONG KONG HOLDS STEADY AS $INGAPORE SWINE FLU DEATHS RISE TO 13

$ingapore's boast from one and a half-month ago: the nation-builder press, July 12, 2009.

August 25, 2009: A $ingapore man with a history of chronic lung disease, heart disease and congestive cardiac failure became Singapore's 13th swine flu victim. The 80-year-old died at National University Hospital (NUH) on Monday.

$ingapore now has three times more deaths than a similar sized city-state like Hong Kong, which has reported only four deaths to date.

$ingapore's health ministry said the number of flu patients had dropped from some 20,435 for the week starting August 2, to 15,486 for the week starting August 9. $ingapore does not distinguish between common flu and swine flu but have said more than 50% of the cases are probably swine flu victims.

$ingapore no longer reveals the number of swine flu infections. Its final update was on July 7. There is no way of telling how widespread swine flu has dispersed in $ingapore.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_400818.html

Hong Kong, by comparison, has continued to reveal all figures including the total number of swine flu victims which at August 25 stands at 9,756 with 4 deaths.

$ingapore's health minister Khaw announced more than one and a half-month's ago on July 12 that the swine flu infection rate would decline in "two weeks". He is paid a multi-million dollar salary including an undisclosed "performance bonus".

RAJA PETRA'S SILENT ROAR
[A Malaysia Day Special]

What better way to celebrate Malaysia's 52nd year of independence on August 31 than to sit down with a copy of Raja Petra Kamarudin's new book, The Silent Roar? Prominent Malaysian blogger Raja Petra has long been a champion of civil rights and social justice. He was part of the Free Anwar Campaign when opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was jailed; and then launched the Malaysia Today site when Anwar was released.

The Silent Roar is not only a compilation of selected articles, commentaries and essays from Malaysia Today on unfolding developments and issues in the country, it also features new and unpublished writings exclusive to this publication. In it, Raja Petra describes the vast changes that transformed the landscape of Malaysian politics leading to the General Election on March 8, 2008, where the opposition denied the ruling government its two-thirds majority in parliament, and its aftermath.

As the blurb aptly puts it, "Raja Petra is someone whom you either love, or love to hate. It is difficult to not have any opinion about him. And whatever that opinion may be, it's likely to be extreme."

A warrant of arrest was issued against blogger Raja Petra on April 23 when he did not turn up in court for his sedition trial. Raja Petra has not been arrested and his whereabouts continue to remain unknown. He is still actively blogging at this website. Visit Malaysia Today (www.malaysia-today.net/2008/) for more updates.

HOW TO BUY THE BOOK

Alternative 1: to bank in money direct into the account

Bank in RM40 to Public Bank Berhad account of Mabel @ Marina Lee, Account Number: 4-4930154-03 and send an e-mail to rpksilentroar@gmail.com with the details of where to post the book plus details of the payment made.

Alternative 2: to buy through PayPal

Register with PayPal and send GBP6 PLUS POSTAGE to ash83_crum@yahoo.com

Postage: UK and ASEAN (GBP2.75 or GBP1.50 for each additional item), US and other countries (GBP7.00 or GBP3.50 for each additional item)

Alternative 3: to buy through eBay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320395818957&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT




WEAR BLACK FOR MALAYSIA'S NATIONAL DAY

Malaysia's 52nd national day falls on August 31 and netizen TakingBackMyCountry1 has put up a video on YouTube asking Malaysians to protest by wearing black to "mourn the death of democracy in our country." The three-minute video clip features shots of the Speaker in the Perak state assembly being manhandled; opposition MP Tian Chua being led away; the Malaysian police firing tear gas into the people and raises questions about those who die while still in police custody. The video also spoofs new Prime Minister Najib Razak's 1Malaysia plan (to get close to the people) and makes the point that the prime minister does not care about the people. It says: "Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime... We love this country not because it is great, but because it is our own."

The video can be viewed at Malaysia Today.
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/26020/84/

Malaysians continued their march towards democracy when the opposition won yet another by-election on August 25 when they retained the Permatang Pasir (Penang) seat. The opposition People's Alliance has won seven of the eight by-elections over the past year.

THE BIG, GAPING WOUND

The nation-builder press, August 21, 2009.

In the above, the Swiss government was reported to have successfully DUMPED all of their shares in UBS and probably did not lose any public funds. The Swiss government had paid billions in public funds to buy shares in UBS when the Swiss bank was in trouble. But when news broke that the bank had made a deal with US tax authorities to reveal the names of American depositors, the Swiss government quickly sold off their stake.

According to the BBC, UBS had been caught between two legal regimes, essentially violating US tax laws if it had not disclosed the names and violating Swiss secrecy laws if it did. Going forward, UBS may no longer be an attractive bank for "wealth management".


GIC hero Ng Kok Song, The nation-builder press January 21, 2008.

The $ingapore government, using public funds, pumped 11 billion Swiss francs in UBS in December 2007 when the bank's shares were being publicly traded at around 50 Swiss francs apiece.

In January 2008, Government of $ingapore Investment Corporation's chief investment officer Ng Kok Song thought it was a good buy and was gleeful in his interview with the nation-builder press.

But by September 24, 2008 he said: "We were surprised by the onset and magnitude of the market turmoil starting in July last year. What seemed like a contained problem of delinquencies in US sub-prime mortgages quickly spread to other segments of the credit markets." Doesn't he read widely?

At today's share price, $ingapore's 9 per cent stake in UBS is probably worth between 3 and 4 BILLION Swiss francs.

U Been Shafted $ingapore.

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HONG KONG HOLDS STEADY, $INGAPORE ADDS 12th DEATH FROM SWINE FLU


$ingapore's boast from one and a half-month ago: the nation-builder press, July 12, 2009.

August 21, 2009: A 41-year-old male foreigner is $ingapore's latest H1N1-related fatality, and the 12th so far. The cause of his death at $heep City's Tan Tock Seng Hospital was certified as pneumonia due to H1N1 flu infection. $ingapore now has three times more deaths when compared to a similar sized city-state like Hong Kong, which has reported only four deaths to date.

$ingapore's health ministry said the number of flu patients had dropped from some 20,435 for the week starting August 2, to 15,486 for the week starting August 9. $ingapore does not distinguish between common flu and swine flu but have said more than 50 % of the cases are probably swine flu victims.

$ingapore no longer reveals the number of swine flu infections. Its final update was on July 7. There is no way of telling how widespread swine flu has dispersed in $ingapore.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_400818.html

Hong Kong, by comparison, has continued to reveal all figures including the total number of swine flu victims which at August 21 stands at 8,535 with 4 deaths and the mortality rate of 0.047%.

$ingapore's health minister Khaw announced one and a half-month's ago on July 12 that the swine flu infection rate would decline in "two weeks". He is paid a multi-million dollar salary including an undisclosed "performance bonus".

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THE LAST WORD ON "CHIP" GOODYEAR

"People do want to know, there is curiosity, it is a matter of public interest. That is not sufficient reason to disclose information. It is not sufficient that there be curiosity and interest that you want to disclose information."

- Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, $ingapore's multi-million dollar salaried Finance Minister in Parliament, August 18, 2009 on why he cannot reveal why chief executive-to-be Mr Charles Goodyear left after just four months' work at Temasek Holdings, a government Sovereign Wealth Fund that spectacularly lost S$58 BILLION under CEO Ho Ching's watch. Goodyear was to be her replacement but quit unexpectedly.

Secrecy is EVERYTHING in $heep City.
Think Burmese druglords, tax haven, the mainstream press ranked 147th worldwide, white horse status for some national service soldiers, the multi-million dollar salaries of government servants, $ingapore's reserves and the list goes on.

NEWS EXTRA:
SWISS GOVT TO SELL UBS STAKE

August 19, 2009: The Swiss government said late Wednesday (August 19, 2009) that it will sell its 9 per cent stake in UBS. Once the government gets the shares [valued at US$5.6 BILLION], it will sell them to institutional investors. The Swiss government also plans to waive its right to receive future coupons on the converted notes in return for roughly 1.8 billion Swiss francs in cash. The payment won't affect UBS's third-quarter results, however it will reduce the bank's regulatory capital by about 1.4 billion Swiss francs, it said.

This move comes after UBS agreed to reveal the names of 4,450 Americans who have Swiss bank accounts. Swiss banking law permits banking secrecy. UBS's move to reveal the names runs counter to the country's laws. According to the BBC, UBS had been caught between two legal regimes, essentially violating US tax laws if it had not disclosed the names and violating Swiss secrecy laws if it did. It is unclear what this will mean to UBS's stakeholders.

$ingapore has an approximately 9 per cent stake in UBS when its sovereign wealth fund, GIC, paid US$10 BILLION in December 2007.


A $INGAPORE TAXI DRIVER'S DIARY

The latest blog getting the buzz in $heep City is taxidiary.blogspot, a lesson for foreign talents thinking of relocating to $heep City, $ingapore. It's also an item on reddit.

First, China-born Dr Cai Ming Jie, writer of the blog, for reasons known only to himself chose to become a $ingapore citizen. He obtained a PhD in molecular biology from Stanford University in 1990. According to a local press report he did "a two-year postdoctoral fellowship after leaving Stanford at the University of Washington, under famed genetist Professor Lee Hartwell, who won a 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology".

In $ingapore, around 1992 he joined the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and worked there for 16 years until he had to leave the IMCB last November. He now drives a taxi and has this statement at the top of his blog:

"Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I have been forced out of my research job at the height of my scientific career, and unable to find another one, for reasons I can only describe as something 'uniquely $ingapore'. As a result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I hope that these stories are interesting to you too."

Read Dr Cai's blog here http://taxidiary.blogspot.com/. It started in April 2009.

Government note: "PRs who misbehave and create problems may have their PR status revoked." See banner below.

HOW MANY $INGAPOREANS ARE THERE IN $INGAPORE 2009?

2000:



The nation-builder press September 1, 2000.

2007:

$ingapore population figures (2006 estimates) as given on the official website:
http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/latestdata.html

The last time the $ingapore government revealed the total number of $ingapore citizens was on September 1, 2000. The total then was 2,973,091.

In 2007, on the government's website, the number of $ingapore citizens is UNKNOWN. What is reported on the website is this: $ingapore Residents = 3,608,500.

AND FINALLY IN 2009 (drum roll please...)

http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/latestdata.html

In 2009, the government's website finally revealed in August the number of $ingapore citizens to be at 3,164,400. An increase of 191,309 citizens from the last revealed figure NINE YEARS AGO in 2000.

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR $INGAPORE CITIZENS?

The nation-builder press, August 14, 2009.

The first time the new citizenship numbers were revealed was in the above report on August 14, 2009. Over the past nine years, the ruling party of $ingapore has been berating its citizens to make more babies and moaning about the number of citizens migrating. Suddenly on August 14, we now have an increase of 191,309 citizens.

$ingapore's total population is 4,839,400 people.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

" 'V' for vital? Nah, 'V' for VACANCY. Surrender your citizenship and migrate."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, August 14, 2009

IF YOU WANT YOUR CPF MONEY,
YOU HAVE TO SURRENDER YOUR $INGAPORE CITIZENSHIP

AND MIGRATE

"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..."

- $ingapore's National Anthem.

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NINE $INGAPOREANS DEAD FROM SWINE FLU


The nation-builder press, August 8, 2009.

It's August 9 today and one more $ingaporean has died from Swine Flu or H1N1. That brings the total to NINE. On August 8, the nation-builder press again repeated $ingapore's million dollar salaried minister Khaw's claim that the worst of the swine flu pandemic in $heep City was over. The country's first Swine Flu death was recorded on July 18. Khaw made his claim that the worst was over on July 12.

Hong Kong, a city-state like $ingapore, continues to reveal the number of Swine Flu victims. $ingapore stopped revealing its numbers on July 9. As of August 9, Hong Kong has ONLY 3 deaths.

Why are $ingapore's ministers paid multi-million dollar salaries anyway?

Read: Worst of H1N1 wave in $'pore could be over
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/447618/1/.html

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TRUTH OR DARE

The nation-builder press, July 12, 2009.

AUGUST 7, 2009: Since the above July 12 report, eight $ingaporeans have died of Swine Flu (aka H1N1). As of August 1, there are only three deaths from Swine Flu in Hong Kong. (click here)

Khaw is Minister of Health in $heep City. The total number of $ingaporeans who have caught Swine Flu is unknown. The government on July 9 stopped updating the total number of Swine Flu victims. Unlike $ingapore, Hong Kong continues to update its numbers. Hong Kong's total number as at August 3 is 4,272.

$ingapore's last update was on July 7 and the number of Swine Flu victims then was 1,217. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_400818.html

$ingapore's buses and newspapers continue to run advertisments warning about Dengue Fever. Whether Dengue Fever is rampant here is also unknown. Minister Khaw is paid a multi-million-dollar salary.

What "world class" health system would keep its numbers unrevealed?


A $ingapore bus carries the government's latest Dengue Fever public service announcement.

Find out more about what makes $ingaporeans tick. Click on the banner.

Click on the banner to read about dictatorsheep in $heep City.






THE LAST WORD ON "$600,000 A YEAR IS PEANUTS"

"Tan Choo Leng is the wife of Goh Chok Tong, who was the second Prime Minister of the Republic of $ingapore from November 26, 1990 to August 12, 2004 and Senior Minister... She has also given her support to many charities, notably being a former patron of NKF of $ingapore (National Kidney Foundation). She became infamous for commenting that the S$600,000 paid out to the then CEO of NKF, T.T Durai yearly was considered "peanuts," compared to the hundreds of millions that the NKF manages.* This remark was subsequently met with extreme negative reactions from $ingaporeans."

- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Choo_Leng
* Her comment was that "for a person who runs a big million-dollar charitable organisation, with a few hundred million in reserves, S$600,000 a year is peanuts."

Since her comment in 2005, Mrs Goh has been proven correct. The value of $ingapore government investments gone sour is in the BILLIONS. No explanation has been given.



Ho Ching CEO of Temasek won't sell your 'family jewels' at least not for a song.

$INGAPORE'S TALENT IS WORLD CLASS

When it was first revealed May 29, 2009 that $ingapore government company Temasek Holdings had racked up losses of up to S$58 BILLION (US$39.91 BILLION) in less than a year, it was clear it was a sum not to be bested by anyone in Asia or the world.

But by July 30, the $ingapore government had backed down on that figure. A new amount was given to the nation-builder press to spread. The new figure was "around S$40 BILLION." (NOTE: It remains unclear whether Madam Ho was using US$ when she mentioned Temasek's losses at $40 BILLION)

In 1999, Time magazine alleged in a cover story, The Family Firm, that Indonesia's dictator General Suharto had embezzled between US$15 billion and US$35 billion. Suharto's alleged ill-gotten gains remains a fraction more than $ingapore's investment losses if you take the latter and smaller figure.

IN A LEAGUE OF OUR OWN

"We don't intend to raid the larder nor sell the family jewels for short-term gains. We will jealously guard our interest and will invest, rationalise, consolidate or divest where it makes sense, where we can achieve clear, sustainable value."

- Temasek Holding's CEO Ho Ching ($ingapore 2004-current) July 30 2009, after losing either S$40 BILLION or US$39.91 BILLION in one year.

LIST OF EMBEZZLING LEADERS

The best way to get a perspective of Temasek's losses is this list compiled in 2004 by Transparency International, with the dates of rule. All sums are estimates of alleged embezzlement (US$).

SUPER LEAGUE
Suharto (Indonesia, 1967-98), $15 billion to $35 billion

BIG GUYS
Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines, 1972-86), $5 billion to $10 billion
Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire, 1965-97), $5 billion
Sani Abacha (Nigeria, 1993-98), $2 billion to $5 billion
Slobodan Milosevic (Yugoslavia, 1989-2000), $1 billion

SMALL FRY
Jean-Claude Duvalier (Haiti, 1971-86), $300 million to $800 million
Alberto Fujimori (Peru, 1990-2000), $600 million
Pavlo Lazarenko (Ukraine, 1996-97), $114 million to $200 million
Arnoldo Aleman (Nicaragua, 1997-2000), $100 million

PEANUTS
Joseph Estrada (Philippines, 1998-2001), $78 million to $80 million
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/world/world-briefing-asia-indonesia-suharto-tops-list-of-embezzling-leaders.html

"No country in the world has lost so profoundly and so swiftly its reserves as $ingapore has. And this is despite paying our ministers and top civil servants multi-million dollar salaries, the HIGHEST in the world. If you are waiting to hear an explanation or a simple apology, FORGET IT. Just wait for the increases in indirect taxes to come after the next general election. Pay And Pay."

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, August 7, 2009.

ONE BIG REASON WHY $INGAPOREANS LEAVE

TEMASEK HOLDINGS HAS LOST $58 BILLION AS OF 2009

The nation-builder press, January 22, 2008.

See latest "Temasek portfolio lost US$39.91 billion", May 29, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124350003544761935.html

MAS BLOWS $9.2 BILLION


$ingapore's central bank (MAS) has now admitted to losing US$6.3 BILLION (S$9.2 BILLION) the Los Angeles Times reported, July 16, 2009. $ingapore has always BRAGGED they pay the highest salaries to get the BEST. But the performance has been found WANTING.

IF YOU WANT YOUR CPF MONEY,
YOU HAVE TO SURRENDER YOUR $INGAPORE CITIZENSHIP

AND MIGRATE

"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..."

- $ingapore's National Anthem.

ALTOGETHER NOW...

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GOING, GOING...

The nation-builder press, October 21, 2008 + October 22, 2008.


The nation-builder press, October 24, 2008 + October 22, 2008. 

In October 2008, reports appeared in the nation-builder press to announce a new law passed to release BILLIONS from $ingapore's reserves to the PAP government. The government says it needs the BILLIONS for "schools, roads and health care". The mass-media passed on the information to the citizen$heep of $ingapore.

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$INGAPORE REMAINS THE ONLY COUNTRY NOT COUNTING SWINE FLU VICTIMS

3 DEAD SO FAR
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/22/content_11755009.htm

Malaria in $ingapore, dengue fever epidemic still uncontrolled?, swine flu numbers now a secret. - The nation-builder press, July 16, 2009.


THE LAST WORD ON MELODRAMA


The Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2009.

"'We hired the best,' Singapore founder Lee Kuan Yew said last month, referring to the incoming head of state-owned investment firm Temasek, Chip Goodyear. Yesterday, Temasek released a statement saying Mr. Goodyear wouldn't be taking the job after all. Given that Temasek manages about $84 billion in taxpayer monies, Singaporeans deserve to know what happened."

- The online Wall Street Journal opinion, July 21, 2009. While all eyes were glued on a melodrama, a new law was passed that gave the $ingapore government further access to $ingaporeans savings.


HONG KONG MINIBOND INVESTORS GET BACK US$813 MILLION (70%)


Thousands of $ingapore investors were not so lucky, their safe investments were not safe. Banks in $ingapore paid back less than 20%. The nation-builder press, October 16, 2008.

July 22 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's securities watchdog said on Wednesday that 16 banks had agreed to pay about HK$6.3 billion (US$813 million) to compensate eligible investors who lost money on structured products or minibonds offered by collapsed U.S. bank Lehman Brothers.

"The agreement that we have reached today will enable the vast majority of investors who hold minibonds to receive a substantial return of their capital," said Securities and Futures Commission Chairman Martin Wheatley.

"The total amount that they'll receive will be equal to or greater than what they could otherwise recover at current market values," he told reporters following an SFC meeting with the banks.

More than 30,000 Hong Kong residents ploughed nearly $2.5 billion into the derivative products which failed as Lehman Brothers collapsed last September.

If the agreement is accepted by investors, "the vast majority of them will be able to get back 70 percent or more of their original investments," Financial Secretary John Tsang said in a statement following the SFC announcement.

Many of the investors blamed the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for allowing local banks to sell the products without making investors aware they were risky products. They took to the streets, staging a number of protests in the past year and prompting a government inquiry.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUST585520090722

Street protests are BANNED in Da $ingapura. You get what you deserve.

CPF LIFE: A NEW GOLDEN FLEECE
   

The front-page news that NEVER was. Is it really secure? Is it?
The nation-builder press, July 21, 2009.

Money meant for your golden years will now be kept by the government and handed back to you in bits. On July 20, the $ingapore government passed a new law that makes it mandatory for every citizen$heep to buy an annuity with their pension (CPF money). The fund, to be administered by the CPF Board, will hold $ingaporeans' money for use in the annuity scheme. The government through its Manpower Minister gave this assurance: 'CPFLife members can rest assured they will receive payouts for as long as they live.'

However, the million-dollar salaried minister could not guarantee the amount to be paid back. The new scheme starts in September. It was not reported how big a chunk the CPF will retain for the annuity scheme.

For a counterpoint:
"The problem of insufficient retirement funds stems from the glaring fact that HDB flats (public housing) are vacuuming up CPF savings (pension funds). For the overwhelming majority of the people who cannot afford private property, the HDB is the only means of housing. With the prices of the flats at current levels, Singaporeans have had no choice but to use their retirement savings to pay for the monthly leases.

Worse, like most other public matters in this country, the cost of building the flats are kept secret. Then when the PAP wants to upgrade the flats and use them as threats during elections, they make the people dip more into their CPF to pay for the refurbishment.

Is it a surprise then that Singaporeans have little to live on when they retire?

This is a recurring nightmare for Singaporeans. The people are forced to bear the brunt of 'solutions' to problems created by the PAP Government..."

Read it here: http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/mediarelease_cpf_annuity.html

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THE LAST WORD ON CROWD CONTROL
  

The nation-builder press, July 9, 2009 & July 7, 2009.

"If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."

- Minister Lee Kuan Yew endorsing the Tiananmen massacre, State's Crimes, August 17, 2004. Minister Lee used to be Prime Minister of $heep City. To protect the innocent, public demonstrations are NOT ALLOWED in $ingapore.

LEX LUTHOR FOR PRESIDENT?
  

The nation-builder press, July 7, 2009.

$ingapore chooses its politicians and leaders in a selection process. On July 7, it was announced who among potential candidates can sit in parliament. One man, Siew Kum Hong, was "disappointed" that he was not "selected". He also says he has no plans to stand for "elections".

One very senior position, that of President of $ingapore, is decided through an "election". So if Mr Siew qualifies, he can try for that position. But before anyone thinks it is a simple matter to contest for President, take a look at this:

To be qualified to be elected President, a person must satisfy the following requirements:

He must have for a period of not less than three years held office

- as Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker, Attorney-General, Chairman of the Public Service Commission Auditor-General, Accountant-General or Permanent Secretary;

- as chairman or chief executive officer of the Central Provident Fund Board, the Housing and Development Board, the Jurong Town Corporation or the Monetary Authority of Singapore;

- as chairman of the board of directors or chief executive officer of a company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act with a paid-up capital of at least $100 million or its equivalent in foreign currency; or

- in any other similar or comparable position of seniority and responsibility in any other organization or department of equivalent size or complexity in the public or private sector which, in the opinion of the Presidential Elections Committee, has given him such experience and ability in administering and managing financial affairs as to enable him to carry out effectively the functions and duties of the office of President.

There's a full list of requirements here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Singapore

It's probable that even the current U.S. president is UNQUALIFIED to be president of $ingapore. When he attempted to be U.S. president these were his qualifications:


Barack Hussein Obama II is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Obama served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. AND THAT'S IT.

BRING IT ON


$heep City's President SR Nathan who has never been elected despite serving a second term as president. His salary exceeds three million dollars. The post is a ceremonial position. Each term is six-years.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"Who wants to be elected when he can be selected?"

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror of Opinion, July 7, 2009.

Here's how $ingapore's "qualified" look after the nation's WEALTH... The president has uttered NOTHING.

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HONG KONG INVESTORS TO GET THEIR MONEY BACK


The nation-builder press, October 16, 2008.

The majority of the 10,000 $ingaporeans who poured their life savings into mini-bonds sold by banks in $ingapore including the government's DBS Bank have no chance of getting their money back in full or even a single cent. Not so in Hong Kong. The government there has put pressure on banks to refund their clients in FULL.

In Hong Kong, the collapse in the value of the minibonds ignited street protests and demands for refunds from banks and brokerages. PROTESTS ARE NOT ALLOWED in $HEEP CITY, $INGAPORE.

See Hong Kong Banks Offer Formal Minibond Settlement
A group of 16 Hong Kong banks that sold so-called minibonds linked to Lehman Brothers have sent a formal proposal to the city's securities regulator [SFC] to settle on a refund to investors, Sing Tao Daily reported.

The banks may suffer losses of as much as HK$1.5 billion (US$193.5 million) in the proposal, the Hong Kong-based, Chinese-language newspaper said... The banks offered to repay investors between 60 percent and 70 percent of the principle of credit-linked notes arranged by a local unit of failed Lehman, Sing Tao said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWnka2Ujrz4g

The report adds "Sun Hung Kai Financial Ltd. and KGI Asia Ltd. have finished buying back notes they sold at prices equal to the principal invested... The two local brokerages are the only minibond vendors who have fully refunded investors...

The securities watchdog, SFC, is unlikely to accept the banks' proposal for partial refunds, according to today's Sing Tao report. The SFC is demanding that banks follow Sun Hung Kai and KGI and repay the full principal, Sing Tao said.

$INGAPORE DECIDES TO BAN SALES OF MINIBONDS FOR UP TO 2 YEARS


The nation-builder press, July 8, 2009.

SINGAPORE -- Singapore's central bank said July 7 it is banning 10 financial firms from selling structured notes for between six months and two years after finding there were "various forms of non-compliance" with its notices and guidelines in the sale and marketing of notes linked to Lehman Brothers. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124700154809107735.html

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"Who fivesaguck? After being burnt, NOBODY IS BUYING ANY MINIBONDS, STRUCTURED NOTES whatever. $ingaporeans would much prefer their MONEY BACK since MAS' actions suggests wrongdoing by the banks."

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror of Opinion, July 7, 2009.

IN 2002, IT WAS: GOH AWAY LAH!


The nation-builder press, August 19, 2002.

"I shook my head when I read some of the responses to a poll by Streats. Streats asked $ingaporeans if they were prepared to lay down their lives for $ingapore if it came to a crunch. One respondent said that he would 'run at the drop of a hat'. Another said that he would not stay, because 'with the global economy, we needn't be in $ingapore to earn money'. A third felt 'no sense of belonging here'.

"These people are fair-weather $ingaporeans...

"I was disturbed too, by two letters published in Streats in July. The writers are also fair-weather $ingaporeans. They said that if life is less stressful elsewhere, for example in Australia, and less costly, why not emigrate? They believed that life would be even tougher for the next generation in $ingapore, as shown by the recent decision to increase bus and MRT fares. In Australia, on the other hand, the cost of living was very low - property was cheap, cars were cheap, and parking in most places was free.

"Fair-weather $ingaporeans will run away whenever the country runs into stormy weather. I call them 'quitters'.

"Fortunately, 'quitters' are in the minority. The majority of $ingaporeans are 'stayers'. 'Stayers' are committed to $ingapore. Rain or shine, they will be with $ingapore."

- PM Goh Chok Tong , August 18, 2002 at the National Day Rally.

IN 2009, IT'S: DON'T GOH LAH!
  

The nation-builder press, June 28, 2009. Goh still doesn't understand why $ingaporeans want to leave????

The above report stated that "More than one in five of the top students from the 1996-1999 A level graduating cohorts are not working in $ingapore today. And of those from the same batches who went on to universities overseas without a scholarship bond, more than one in three are today carving out careers outside the country."

"If more and more of our bright students do not return, this begs the question whether our success in giving them wings to fly far and high will result in our eventual decline as a nation, especially as we are not even reproducing ourselves.

"No nation will be able to sustain its growth and prosperity without sufficient talent, much less a small country like $ingapore without natural resources," said Mr Goh Chok Tong, now a senior minister.

In the above report, Mr Goh did not mention that $ingapore now relies on new foreigners taking up $ingapore citizenship to keep the population growing. By his own definition, these new citizens are "quitters". Where will they go once the cost of living escalates in $heep City?

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"Where are your 'stayers' now? The only 'loyal' $ingaporeans are those paid multi-million dollar salaries."

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, June 28, 2009.

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Boy keeps swinging...

DJ TOH RULES

NOTE: Singapore's reliable opposition leader is Dr Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party.

June 29: District Judge Toh Yung Cheong (pictured above) had issued a warrant of arrest for Dr Chee Soon Juan who is presently in Taiwan for his father-in-law's funeral but rescinded it earlier today. Judge Toh issued the warrant last Wednesday, 24 June 2009, the day the hearing for the trial over the WB-IMF protest in 2006 was to resume.

Dr Chee did not appear in court that day as he had left for Taiwan four days earlier because his father-in-law was dying.

He had applied for an adjournment before he left but Judge Toh rejected the request and ordered that the hearing proceed as scheduled. Dr Chee then asked to see Mr Toh in person but was told that the Judge was on vacation.

He then asked to see the Pre-Trial Conference Judge, Mr Liew Thiam Leng, to make the urgent application. Judge Liew refused. The SDP leader then asked to see the Duty Registrar but was told that this was not possible.

Dr Chee had earlier obtained clearance from the Official Assignee to travel to Taiwan. The OA's office had rejected a similar application in 2006 to see his ailing father-in-law.

Co-defendants Mr Gandhi Ambalam and Ms Chee Siok Chin made another appeal to see Mr Toh on Dr Chee's behalf on Monday, 22 June but the Judge refused to see them.

When the trial resumed on 24 June, another appeal was made. The Judge again rejected this and issued a warrant of arrest for the SDP secretary-general. The rest of the defendants were told to return to court on 26 June.

In the meantime Dr Chee's father-in-law passed away on 25 June.

The judge was informed about this when parties went back to court on the 26th. The defence asked on Dr Chee's behalf that he be allowed to stay on to attend the funeral. Again Judge Toh refused. "The warrant of arrest still stands," he ordered.

Dr Chee explained that his request was not unreasonable and that he would have to stay on in Taiwan to see through familial obligations. He would face the consequences upon his return. He just wanted to make arrangements to ensure that his children would be brought home safely should he be arrested at the airport.

This morning, however, Judge Toh reversed his decision and cancelled the warrant. He told the defendants that the court had not asked for the documentary proof of the death when it should have. Due to this oversight and now that he had been furnished with the proof, the Judge decided to withdraw the warrant of arrest for Dr Chee.

New dates will be picked for the on-going trial.

TAIWAN LEGALIZES PROSTITUTION

June 25: Taiwan began a process of legalising prostitution on Wednesday making the island the latest place in the world to decriminalise the world's oldest profession. In six months, authorities will stop punishing Taiwan sex workers after prostitutes successfully campaigned to be given the same protection as their clients, a government spokesman said.

Taiwan outlawed prostitution 11 years ago, but older sections of the capital Taipei still teem with underground sex workers in bars and night clubs on the upper floors of high-rise buildings. The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a Taipei-based advocacy group, estimates that 600,000 people are involved in sex-related jobs.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Taiwan-legalizes-prostitution/articleshow/4699825.cms

If $ingapore can legalize gambling, prostitution will go hand-in-hand. Coming soon.

HONG KONG DISNEY TO EXPAND

While $ingapore invested S$500 million into F1 racing and billions into two casinos, Hong Kong made a deal with the Mickey Mouse company to open a Disneyland in 2005. On June 30, Walt Disney Co. agreed to hand over HK$3.5 billion (US$452 million) to add rides like "Toy Story Land" and "Grizzly Trail" at its Hong Kong theme park and raise its stake in the project, said its partner, the city's government, Bloomberg reported. This will increase Disney's stake in the joint venture as well as their commitment.

Not all has been hunky dory with the theme park. Government targets for visitors have not been met. Instead of the estimated four to five million visitors a year, the government has reported visitor levels "averaging between 4.5 million and 4.6 million a year, said Helen Chan, a government economist".

The park's performance has drawn the ire of Hong Kong lawmakers like Emily Lau, who called for a stop to more government spending on the project after a 23 percent drop in attendance during the park's second year of operation. In an interview yesterday, Lau said Hong Kong is "throwing away good money investing" in the park.

The expansion will boost the economy as unemployment in the city reaches 5.3 percent, the highest in four years, creating 3,700 construction jobs and an additional 600 long-term positions when the park opens.

Hong Kong had invested US$418 million in the park for its 57 percent stake and spent another $1.8 billion on landfill, roads, sewers and a rail line. Disney invested $320 million for the remaining stake.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=alP3wtOsQMIE

Exactly how many jobs has F1 created for $heep City?

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FORCED SAVINGS HAVE TO GO UP, UP AND AWAAAAAAY!

You'd have to look hard to find the one-inch thick columns hidden inside the papers. - The nation-builder presses, June 2, 2009.

If times are hard, times will get even harder come July 1, 2009. Changes to $ingapore's pension scheme, the CPF (Central Provident Fund), mean more money must be kept with the $ingapore government and cannot be withdrawn at retirement. From July 1, a further $13,500 cannot be withdrawn, despite the current recession when every dollar is needed.

On July 1, the CPF Minimum Sum will be raised from $106,000 to $117,000 [a rise of $11,000]. Also on July 1, 2009, the Medisave Minimum Sum and Medisave Contribution Ceiling will be raised from $29,500 to $32,000 [a rise of $2,500].

So if you turn 55 from July 1 onwards, you will withdraw $13,500 less, regardless of whether you need the money or not.

The money will be kept in what is called a Minimum Sum Fund which will pay $ingaporeans a monthly stipend over 20 years. Too bad if you die before 20 years. You won't see your money.

In 2003, the $ingapore government changed the rules and will stop the practice of allowing $ingaporeans to withdraw 50 per cent of their pension by 2009. A new Minimum Sum Fund was started and this sum will be raised to reach $120,000 (2003 dollars) in 2013.

As announced in 2003, by then PM Goh Chok Tong, from 1 January 2009, the percentage for withdrawal will decrease from 50% to 40%, and thereafter be further reduced every year by 10 percent to zero. Therefore, from 1 January 2013, CPF members must meet the CPF and Medisave Minimum Sums first before they can withdraw any money at age 55.

But for $ingaporeans who don't even have enough in their minimum sum fund, the government will allow them to withdraw $5,000 from their Ordinary Account and Special Account balances. Consider this an "ang pow" [red packet money].

As of March 31, 2009, there were 1.62 million active CPF members. By withdrawing $13,500 less, the PAP government makes an instant saving of about $21.8 billion. That's a lot of money the government wants to keep on your behalf.

This new CPF rule makes the saying "hope you die before you get old" meaningful.

What Goh Chok Tong said on August 28, 2003 in particular para 87 to 95.
http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/9B67714C-BE3D-4048-A418-807C59AEF85F/0/20030828PMO.pdf

For more:
http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/CPF/News/News-Release/N_1June2009.htm
http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/CPF/About-Us/CPF-Stats/CPF_Stats2009q1.htm

TEMASEK HOLDINGS HAS LOST $58 BILLION AS OF 2009

The nation-builder press, January 22, 2008.

See latest "Temasek portfolio lost US$39.91 billion"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124350003544761935.html

THE ORIGINAL REPORT FROM REUTERS - JUNE 3, 2009

June 3 - $ingapore state investor Temasek sold its stake in British bank Barclays Plc several months ago at a big loss, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday [June 3]. After spending over £1 billion on the shares in the last two years, unlisted Temasek $ingapore may have lost over £800 million (US$1.3 billion) on the investment, according to calculations by Reuters.

Temasek sold its near 2 per cent stake in Britain's second biggest bank in December and January, one of the sources said. The sources declined to be named due to the confidential nature of the investment. Temasek and Barclays declined to comment, and details of the price it sold at were not known. - Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSWLA574220090603

IT TOOK ALL OF FIVE MONTHS FOR $INGAPORE MEDIA TO TELL US THAT TEMASEK HAS SOLD BARCLAYS AT A WHOPPING LOSS

The nation-building presses: June 4, 2009.

The newspapers here run ads saying "the truth is out there". How true. If not for foreign press reports, the local media would remain ignorant that a powerful $ingapore government company has lost hundreds of millions of $ingaporeans' money again. What role does the $ingapore press play?

They are "nation-builders".

THE MIGHTY THAR-MAN is a superfriend of the INVINCIBLE IRON 'RICE-BOWL' MAN



THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"Good long-term investments with risks thoroughly assessed?, if you say so Mighty Thar-Man. If you say so."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, May 29, 2009.

IF YOU WANT YOUR CPF MONEY,
YOU HAVE TO SURRENDER YOUR $INGAPORE CITIZENSHIP

AND MIGRATE

"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..."

- $ingapore's National Anthem.

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DUBAI, $HEEP CITY SUFFER BIGGEST HOME PRICE SLUMP

Dubai, once home to the world's biggest construction boom, is now the scene of the world's biggest property slump, according to figures published May 26 by estate agent Knight Frank. House prices in the desert sheikhdom dropped by an extraordinary 40% in the first three months of 2009, outpacing falls anywhere else in the world after an investment bubble burst.

$ingapore, the nation worst hit by the collapse in world trade, saw the second biggest fall, with property prices down 16.2% in the quarter. Still not world class, only managed a No 2. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/may/26/dubai-property-crash

$INGAPORE'S CHANCE TO OWN PLAYBOY

Adult magazine mogul Hugh Hefner is reportedly lining up British billionaire Sir Richard Branson to take over his Playboy empire reports ContactMusic. Hefner's company - founded 56 years ago - is battling the recession and the rise in internet porn, with the firm recently posting losses of US$13 million for the first three months of 2009. Sources suggest the asking price is set at US$300 million. A Playboy spokesperson denies any offers have been made, but admits Hefner would "listen to proposals that could create value for all of our shareholders".

Every $ingaporeans dream is to own Playboy. The magazine remains BANNED IN DA $INGAPURA. Don't wait, bring cheque book along $ingapore.

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The Invincible Iron "rice bowl" Man. The GIC headed by Lee Kuan Yew invested BILLIONS in failed banks including S$10 BILLION for Citigroup.

THE INVINCIBLE IRON "RICE BOWL" MAN & HIS SUPER FRIEND

"For people in government like me, having to deal with these sums of money which we have accumulated through the sweat of our brow over the last 40 years, you have to pay the market rate. And then you've got an incompetent man and you've lost money, by the billions. So get a sense of proportion." [MM Lee in 2007]

"You know, the cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government. You get that alternative and you'll never put $ingapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again... and your asset values will disappear, your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries, foreign workers."  [MM Lee April 5, 2007]

$INGAPORE'S INVESTMENTS 'RATIONAL AND WITHIN RISK LIMITS' - JANUARY 2008

The nation-builder press, January 22, 2008.

"Govt doesn't comment on each deal, but it is assured that investments in subprime-hit banks are rational and within risk limits."

- $ingapore's Minister of Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Jan 22, 2008. A super friend indeed.

TEMASEK TAKES US$4.6 BILLION LOSS ON MERRILL INVESTMENT - MAY 2009

Government company Temasek Holdings last week revealed that it had sold its entire stake in Bank of America sometime in March. Foreign media reports say that Temasek might have lost close to US$4.6 BILLION in the investment. The company received Bank of America stock after Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch. Temasek paid US$5.9 BILLION on its Merrill investment in December 2007.

Read a scathing commentary on Temasek's head Ho Ching, also the wife of General Lee Hsien Loong, $heep City's prime minister: $ingapore's Lesson: Buy High, Sell Low

"If nothing else, the record of Temasek gives the lie to notion spread by $ingapore's ruling clique that they are the best guardians of the people's savings. Paternalism morphed into an arrogance whose full cost to $ingaporeans is for now hidden by the opaque nature of the government's accounts, and the very partial revelations provided by Temasek. $ingaporeans, gather your purse-strings and, together, pull."

http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1880&Itemid=233

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"This was not an investment. It was a GAMBLE. The government wasted $ingaporeans savings."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, May 22, 2009.

BOYS IN THE JUNTA

Meet the junta: [l to r] PM General Lee Hsien Loong, DPM Admiral Teo Chee Hean, Foreign Minister General George Yeo and Culture Minister Admiral Lui Tuck Yew.

On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's parliament.

Only state-sponsored "protests" are allowed in $heep City, $ingapore.

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FROM $HEEP CITY TO SHIP CITY

Sunrise in the Strait between Indonesia and $ingapore, where 735 cargo ships were gathered May 12, 2009 because of a sharp decline in global exports.

May 12: To go out in a small boat along $ingapore's coast now is to feel like a mouse tiptoeing through an endless herd of slumbering elephants.

One of the largest fleets of ships ever gathered idles here just outside one of the world's busiest ports, marooned by the receding tide of global trade. There may be tentative signs of economic recovery in spots around the globe, but few here.

Hundreds of cargo ships - some up to 300,000 tons, with many weighing more than the entire 130-ship Spanish Armada - seem to perch on top of the water rather than in it, their red rudders and bulbous noses, submerged when the vessels are loaded, sticking a dozen feet out of the water.

So many ships have congregated here - 735, according to AIS Live ship tracking service of Lloyd's Register-Fairplay  in Redhill, Britain - that shipping lines are becoming concerned about near misses and collisions in one of the world's most congested waterways, the straits that separate Malaysia and $ingapore from Indonesia. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/business/global/13ship.html?_r=1

CARGOSHIP COLLISION MAY REIGNITE $INGAPORE CONGESTION CLAIMS

May 4: An Iranian general cargoship was close to sinking after an early morning collision with an Indonesian-flagged cargoship in the $ingapore Strait last week [April 24].

http://www.lloydslistdcn.com.au/casualty-reports/cargoship-collision-may-reignite-singapore-congestion-claims

The Maritime & Port Authority of $ingapore maintains that the port's anchorages are not overcrowded and concerns over navigational safety are unwarranted. http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2009/4/pages/07042009/04082009_4d9b3adcaea54a3f80479a3af6c54888.aspx

The matter remains unreported by $ingapore's government-controlled media.

THE ELECTRONIC POLICE STATE 2008

As the 2009 rankings may soon be out, it's timely to recap the current rankings of the 52 states studied by cryptohippie.com. Here are the Top 12 police states in the WORLD.

1. China
2. North Korea
3. Belarus
4. Russia
5. United Kingdom: England & Wales
6. United States of America
7. $ingapore
8. Israel
9. France
10. Germany
11. Malaysia
12. Ireland

Rankings are determined by the following criteria:

According to the site they "are not measuring government censorship of Internet traffic or police abuses, as legitimate as these issues may be. And, we are not including evidence gathering by traditional, honest police work in any of the categories below. (That is, searches pursuant to honestly obtained warrants - issued by an independent judge, and only after the careful examination of evidence.)

"The seventeen factors we included in these rankings are:

Daily Documents
Requirement of state-issued identity documents and registration.

Border Issues
Inspections at borders, searching computers, demanding decryption of data.

Financial Tracking
State's ability to search and record all financial transactions: Checks, credit card use, wires, etc.

Gag Orders
Criminal penalties if you tell someone the state is searching their records.

Anti-Crypto Laws
Outlawing or restricting cryptography.

Constitutional Protection
A lack of constitutional protections for the individual, or the overriding of such protections.

Data Storage Ability
The ability of the state to store the data they gather.

Data Search Ability
The ability to search the data they gather.

ISP Data Retention
States forcing Internet Service Providers to save detailed records of all their customers' Internet usage.

Telephone Data Retention
States forcing telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers' telephone usage.

Cell Phone Records
States forcing cellular telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers' usage.

Medical records
States demanding records from all medical service providers and retaining the same.

Enforcement Ability
The state's ability to use overwhelming force (exemplified by SWAT Teams) to seize anyone they want, whenever they want.

Habeus Corpus
Lack of habeus corpus - the right not to be held in jail without prompt due process. Or, the overriding of such protections.

Police-Intel Barrier
The lack of a barrier between police organizations and intelligence organizations. Or, the overriding of such barriers.

Covert Hacking
State operatives removing - or adding! - digital evidence to/from private computers covertly. Covert hacking can make anyone appear as any kind of criminal desired.

Loose Warrants
Warrants issued without careful examination of police statements and other justifications by a truly independent judge.

Read the full report for 2008 here https://secure.cryptohippie.com/pubs/EPS-2008.pdf

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The Invincible Iron "rice bowl" Man. The GIC headed by Lee Kuan Yew invested BILLIONS in failed banks including S$10 BILLION for Citigroup.

NO IRON RICE BOWL: BUFFETT TOLD, NAME YOUR SUCCESSOR

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, yesterday [May 1] faced shareholder demands to name his successor following five consecutive quarters of declining profit at Berkshire Hathaway. More than 35,000 investors turned out to question the investor known as the "Sage of Omaha" at Berkshire's annual meeting in the Nebraska town yesterday.

After more than 40 years at the helm, Mr Buffett's job will be split between his son Howard, who will become chairman, and an as yet unidentified chief executive and chief investment officer. Mr Buffett, 78, said all the candidates for the position of chief executive already work for Berkshire Hathaway.

Mr Buffett continued to paint a pessimistic picture about the prospects for the US economy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5263886/Buffett-told-name-your-successor.html

PANIC ATTACK

"Health scares are like terrorist ones. Someone somewhere has an interest in it. We depend on others with specialist knowledge to advise and warn us and assume they offer advice on a dispassionate basis, using their expertise to assess danger and communicating it in measured English. Words such as possibly, potentially, could or might should be avoided. They are unspecific qualifiers and open to exaggeration...

"...Meanwhile a real pestilence, MRSA and C difficile, was taking hold in hospitals. It was suppressed by the medical profession because it appeared that they themselves might be to blame. These diseases have played a role in thousands of deaths in British hospitals - the former a reported 1,652 and the latter 8,324 in 2007 alone. Like deaths from alcoholism, we have come to regard hospital-induced infection as an accident of life, a hazard to which we have subconsciously adjusted.

"MRSA and C difficile are not like swine flu, an opportunity for public figures to scare and posture and spend money. They are diseases for which the government is to blame. They claim no headlines and no Cobra priority. Their sufferers must crawl away and die in silence."

- Simon Jenkins, A Panic Stoked In Order To Posture And Spend, in The UK Guardian, April 29, 2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/29/swine-flu-mexico-uk-media1

WHAT KILLED DBS' CEO

The nation-builder press, April 12, 2009.

The $T headline seems misleading.

"But his weakened immune system made him susceptible to infection... His condition rapidly deteriorated over the last 48 hours and he succumbed to the infection."

MRSA Rates [in $ingapore] Higher Than You Think
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?sec=3&id=4596

Think about it. 48 die every year from MRSA in $heep City. And it's NOT front page news. Please don't try to organise a protest. See below.

BOYS IN THE JUNTA

Meet the junta: [l to r] PM General Lee Hsien Loong, DPM Admiral Teo Chee Hean, Foreign Minister General George Yeo and Culture Minister Admiral Lui Tuck Yew.

On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's parliament.

Only state-sponsored "protests" are allowed in $heep City, $ingapore.

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NOTHING FOR FREE IN $INGAPORE

There's no such thing as welfare or free medical help. Because the PAP-led government has built this city on tough love, it is not a "welfare state". But wait... what's this?

"$ingapore Airlines knows that you love their service and beautiful stewardesses. But what about their city? The 'Fabulous $ingapore Stopover Holiday' package beckons passengers to make a stopover in $ingapore with the first night starting at $1 for hotels such as the Allson Hotel, Hotel Royal and Peninsula Excelsior. Hotel upgrades are available starting at only an additional $20. But wait, there's still more...

Deal: When you book an Stopover Holiday you get an assortment of extra deals beyond the super-cheap hotel night, including: free admission at $ingapore attractions such as the Jurong Bird Park, National Orchid Garden (pictured), $ingapore River Bumboat Tour and Singapore Zoo, plus 50% off meals at select hotels and outlets, a Free $ingTel Prepaid Mobile hi!Card, local public transportation, airport transfers and more.

When: Book by May 15, 2009, for travel to be completed by end of September 2009."

Oh, it's NOT FREE, tourists still have to pay $1. Who is footing the bill for tourist welfare?

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Meet the junta: [l to r] PM General Lee Hsien Loong, DPM Admiral Teo Chee Hean, Foreign Minister General George Yeo and Culture Minister Admiral Lui Tuck Yew.

$INGAPORE PASSES LAW, CONFIRMS TOTALITARIAN STATUS

$ingapore passed a law effectively putting a stop to freedom of assembly on Monday, April 13, 2009. Like Myanmar and North Korea, all outdoor activities that are cause-related will need a police permit, no matter how many people are involved ie not even one lone protester is allowed. The law allows police to order a person to leave an area if they determine he is about to break the law. That is a change from the current law requiring a permit for gatherings of five or more people. The bill also allows police to stop people from filming law enforcement. The police never give permits to opposition parties.

Who fivesaguck?

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THE RESULTS OF $INGAPORE'S CLEANLINESS CAMPAIGN 40 YEARS LATER...

The nation-builder press, April 9, 2009.

"An unfortunate few die of what they caught in the hospital, rather than the disease they had been warded for."

Interestingly, $T reported last month that 48 die each year or 1 every week due to hospital infections. The report said that "infectious diseases experts here claim that each of Singapore's three largest hospitals sees 'almost one death, six to nine new clinical infections and up to 60 new individuals colonised per week.' Those are not small numbers."

MRSA Rates Higher Than You Think
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?sec=3&id=4596

REST IN PEACE

The nation-builder press, April 12, 2009.

The $T headline seems misleading.

"But his weakened immune system made him susceptible to infection... His condition rapidly deteriorated over the last 48 hours and he succumbed to the infection."

"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..."

- $ingapore's National Anthem.

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5,000 JOBS AVAILABLE IN $HEEP CITY, $INGAPORE

April 4, 2009: Filipino President Arroyo said some 5,000 new jobs will be available for Filipinos in $ingapore with the expansion of the Resort World at Sentosa Island. Mrs. Arroyo said the country has sent a delegation to $ingapore last month to explore possible job opportunities for migrant Filipino workers in the face of a global economic crisis.

Administrator Jennifer Manalili of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said she went to $ingapore last month with Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to discuss available slots for Filipino workers with Resorts World chief executive Tan Hee Teck.

"They are expanding and there will be openings for workers for hotels, casinos and performers," Manalili said. "Universal Studios will also have a theme park so they told us they want to hire Filipino talents and performers. They noted that Filipinos are good in music and in dance so they might come here to conduct auditions either next month or in June," she added.

Manalili said the government will send a team again in early May to "finalize discussions and requirements for Filipino workers."

Resorts World plans to open four of its six hotels by the first quarter of 2010 and expects to fill up some 10,000 job vacancies.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics4_april4_2009

Macau has an estimated 10,000 sex workers to service tourists who come for gambling.

LEGALIZE PROSTITUTION TO STIMULATE ECONOMY

March 25, 2009: Prostitution has been around forever, and it continues to thrive even in countries with draconian punishment for prostitutes and their clients. Prostitution will never be wiped out, all governmental efforts to get rid of it are doomed to fail. There will always be guys who are too horny, and girls who are desperate for money to make ends meet.

The world's oldest profession is here to stay, and it's time that we accepted this reality. If the sex trade is legalized, taxed and regulated, it will benefit society it many ways.

Working girls not only stimulate their customers, but they also stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, when prostitution is illegal it's the underground economy that benefits. Right now it's only pimps and other scum who profit from the sex industry. But if sex for money is legalized and taxed society would benefit. The legalization of prostitution is the right tonic for our ailing economy.

Fighting prostitution is a very expensive endeavor that we can no longer afford at a time when our economy is in a crisis mode. Instead of wasting the taxpayer's money on police manpower and defense attorneys, revenue should be used to create jobs and in other ways that will stimulate the economy.

If the above reads like the PAP's rationalization for setting up two casinos in $ingapore, it is.

Read Robert Paul Reyes' complete essay here http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/95914

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$750 MILLION RACING MONEY

$ingapore will be hosting the Formula One Grand Prix for five years with an option to extend the deal by another five years. The first one was staged last September. $ingaporeans, the $heeple of $ingapore, will foot the bill - estimated at S$150 MILLION a year. Or S$750 MILLION for five years. The amount is paid to the event organiser, $ingapore GP.

The expected income from tourist arrivals is slim at best. For the past four months, tourist arrivals have fallen. Again, no one is questioning the PAP government on this "quality" investment. With the world economy not expected to be revived over the next few years, the $750 MILLION will be blown away by the end of the first five years from 2008 to 2012.

Remember Suzhou Industrial Park? Remember Optus? Remember Shin Corp? Remember Las Vegas Sands? Remember UBS? Remember CitiGroup? Remember Merrill Lynch? How does the $ingapore government decide on its investments? Nobody knows except the government.


THE IRON RICE BOWL MAN

"If there are other banks of the quality of the two that we bought into [Citigroup, UBS], with the promise and the capabilities and inherent capabilities to recover, we have got the liquidity to meet it, to make such an investment... We will not rule it out.''

- Lee Kuan Yew, 84, as reported in Bloomberg, April 30, 2008. The prophet of Temasek has not said more about buying bank stocks. He is the head of Government Investment Corporation of $ingapore [GIC], which made the risky bank investments. The value of the $ingapore government's investments in banks stocks is estimated to be US$24 BILLION. At current prices, the value of $ingaporeans investments has fallen dramatically.

When the going gets tough, make sure you have an iron rice bowl.

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THE LAST WORD FROM A FINED JOURNALIST

"My first reaction [upon hearing of the ruling] was to roll my eyes and think, 'Here we go again... Whenever we publish anything on $ingapore, we take a risk that we'll be sued.

"People go to jail in $ingapore for this offense - so I was worried about that possibility. If I had received a jail sentence, I would not have gone to $ingapore to serve it, and there's no way the U.S. would have extradited me, but it could have impeded my travel elsewhere."

- The Wall Street Journal's Melanie Kirkpatrick, in an email to The Daily Princetonian, March 2009. Ms Kirkpatrick is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page and a member of its editorial board. She was found in contempt of court by $ingapore High Court Justice Tay Yong Kwang on March 19. Kirkpatrick was also fined 10,000 $ingapore dollars, or roughly US$6,550.

$ingapore High Court Judge Tay Yong Kwang.

She also said she believed the "biggest losers" in these cases were the $ingaporean people, who "have a hard time getting complete information and a range of views other than those the government wants them to hear."

YET ANOTHER TRAIN HITS A SINGAPOREAN

An old woman has died after she was hit by a train at the Clementi MRT station in $ingapore on March 24, 2009 at 7 in the morning. The train tracks are about six feet below the station platform and the $ingapore media reported that "witnesses at the scene said she 'suddenly lost consciousness and fell'." None of the witnesses are ever identified in these reports.

The media in $ingapore also reported the following: "Madam Quak Han Lui, 71, is believed to have fallen on the platform and then onto the tracks just as a train was pulling into the station."

"The train driver braked immediately after hitting her. Her body was found under the third carriage, with her head and right arm severed."

Her death disrupted MRT traffic for 50 minutes. Many Singaporeans have died in a similar fashion in recent years caused by "fainting spells". Train authorities have learnt how to restore service quickly.

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General Lee, the prime minister of $heep City.

PARADIGM SHIFT FOR PARADISE ISLAND?

A Feb 24 DBS report suggests 99,000 jobs will go by the end of 2009. $ingapore's tax haven loophole also looks set to be plugged. With two casinos opening in the next 12 months, will this be enough to reinvigorate $heep City? Take a look at New Zealand for a revolution of the mind. New Zealand legalised prostitution six years ago. THINK OUT OF THE BOX $HEEPLE.

March 17, 2009: When "Sophie", a medical worker from Christchurch, fell behind on her mortgage payments last year, she found that her job was not paying enough. Her only option was a temporary career change: she became a prostitute.

"I needed money fast so I didn't lose my house," she explains.

A soft-spoken 30-something with a shy smile, Sophie does not look like the stereotypical scarlet woman, even in the low-cut dress she wears at work. She does not feel like one either. "I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I'm a vegetarian," she says, adding that she had qualms about her new job.

But the central-city parlour she joined - basically a pub with a sitting area at the front and bedrooms at the back - was not the drug-fuelled dive she had imagined. "All the women here are lovely," she says. "We spend a lot of time sitting and talking. I'll stick it out a bit longer."

Some might question the morality of Sophie's choice, but legally it cannot be faulted. Since the Prostitution Reform Act of 2003, brothels have been allowed to operate more or less freely.

Sex workers have the same rights as everyone else. In the eyes of New Zealand's law, the oldest profession is just like any other. This policy stands in marked contrast to Europe. In 1999 Sweden criminalised the purchase of sex services, and several countries are introducing similar laws in an attempt to combat trafficking.

Ask New Zealand sex workers what they think of Swedish-style strictures, and the response is overwhelmingly negative. "Whether you're prosecuting the men or the girls, you're still prosecuting the business," says "Lucy", 23, from Wellington.

Lucy works in Bon Ton, an exclusive establishment in the capital where an hour-long session costs NZ$400 (£140; US$200). She says the reform has given her the opportunity to work for a legitimate business in a safe environment. "I make twice what I was earning in retail. I am appreciated by customers and my boss. I can work whenever I want to - it's by far the most gratifying work I've ever had," she says.

Read the rest of 'Selling sex legally in New Zealand' by Henri Astier http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7927461.stm

If gambling dens can be called "international resorts", step inside "love" $ingapore.

THE TRUCK DRIVER

"I don't think they should flush any more money down the Citibank toilet. I don't think they should flush any more money down any of these toilets. Tell them to 'sink or swim,' "

- David Ziegler, a long-distance trucker finishing breakfast at the Mother Load Diner in the old gold mining town of Idaho Springs, Colo., said the AIG bonuses had convinced him that the U.S. should stop bailouts altogether, March 17, 2009 AP report.

THE IRON RICE BOWL MAN

"If there are other banks of the quality of the two that we bought into [Citigroup, UBS], with the promise and the capabilities and inherent capabilities to recover, we have got the liquidity to meet it, to make such an investment... We will not rule it out.''

- Lee Kuan Yew, 84, as reported in Bloomberg, April 30, 2008. The prophet of Temasek has not said more about buying bank stocks. He is the head of Government Investment Corporation of $ingapore [GIC], which made the risky bank investments.

Who do you think should lead GIC?

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The nation-builder press, March 5, 2009. MM Lee Kuan Yew, the iron rice bowl man, heads GIC. "We" can tough it out? Lee earns in excess of $3 million. Employees of national airline, $ingapore Airlines, have been asked to volunteer to take TWO YEARS OF UNPAID LEAVE. Tough.

THE EARLY BIRD WHO CAUGHT THE TURD

Citigroup is now officially a "ward of the state" although CEO Pandit and his band of pirates are still allowed to collect their paychecks and hang out by the water cooler. Citi's survival depends on the reluctant generosity of the US taxpayer who is now its biggest shareholder. The mega-bank has slumped from US$58 per share to $1 per share in less than 2 years. It's now more expensive to buy a grande latte at Starbucks than it is to buy three shares of Citi... and, at least with the Starbucks, the buyer gets a buzz on. There's no upside to the Citi deal. It's a dead loss.

- Mike Whitney in his essay Dithering On The Edge Of The Abyss, Counterpunch, March 9, 2009.
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney03092009.html

THE RAPE OF $INGAPORE

Uncle Sam - "Pay up or else!"

As we correctly predicted, the U.S. is beginning to call in its markers. If you read the fine print on the U.S. conversion of its Citigroup debt to ordinary shares in the company, you could have predicted it too. Here's the fine print:

The U.S. said it will convert its stake in Citigroup to the extent that Citigroup can persuade private investors, including several big foreign government investment funds, to do so. The U.S. Treasury Department will match the private investors' conversions dollar-for-dollar.

The arms have been twisted successfully, and the U.S. will convert 25 billion dollars of capital into Citigroup ordinary shares.

So whose arm got twisted?

We don't know all of the victims, but $ingapore's GIC was, most likely, the largest. $ingapore will convert its preferred notes, which yielded 7 per cent, to ordinary shares. $ingapore will do this at a price of US$3.25 a share below the conversion price of US$26.35 as agreed when it invested in the preference notes.

This means $ingapore is paying US$3.25 a share for Citigroup, and giving up their 7 per cent yield of US$482 million a year for no yield at all!

Friday, on the NYSE, Citigroup plunged to US$1.50 a share.

Let's do the math. $ingapore is paying US$3.25 a share for shares worth $1.50. $ingapore is paying doubles (2.17 times to be exact) the going price for Citigroup shares. That dilutes $ingapore's initial investment in Citigroup for the original US$6.88 billion to US$3.17 billion - a loss for $ingapore of US$3.71 billion.

Lee Kuan Yew, $ingapore's de facto ruler, has said that Citibank has an excellent franchise, and that $ingapore has invested for the long term - 20 or 30 years - far beyond his life expectancy. - John Harding

Shafted by UBS, lynched by Merrill and gang-raped by CitiGroup is how $ingaporeans feel. More insights into the goings-on in $heep City at the banner below. And buy the book.

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The nation-builder press, March 3, 2009.

On Feb 28, lightning struck the top of $ingapore's icon, The Merlion. The lightning is the symbol of $ingapore's ruling party, the PAP.

The lion head symbolises $ingapore's founding by an Indonesian prince who named his new settlement after a lion he saw when he landed on the island. The body of the fish represents $ingapore's origins as a fishing village.

The lightning strike symbolises an "own goal". On Feb 27, $ingapore's GIC converted its US$6.88 billion preferred shares in Citigroup to common stock and made losses. The billions were $ingaporeans' savings.

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PROGRESSING BACKWARDS

The nation-builder press, December 19, 2008.

It was reported Dec 18, 2008 that the Government is building more two- and three-room flats [apartments] because they are presently in demand. Two-room flats are those with a living room and one bedroom. The sale price for such a new flat starts at $76,000. What this really means is that Singaporeans are getting poorer and unable to afford bigger flats.

A few years ago the Government was saying that it would phase out the smaller flats because Singaporeans were moving into 4- and 5-room flats as they got richer. What happened?

There is only one answer: Singaporeans are getting poorer. The HDB tells us that "there are more people who will need to downgrade to smaller flats, as well as first timer families who would also like to start with smaller flats to be financially prudent."

And in case anyone thinks that this is the cause of the recent global financial crisis, note that the demand for these small flats started in 2004 and picked up 2006. Next year's supply of these crammed units will double this year's.

It seems that as we progress forward in time with the PAP, we progress backward in our fortunes.

In the meantime the PAP, through its media, continues to sell us the snake oil that under its rule Singaporeans are better-off.

It doesn't bother to explain how. That's because it cannot: Our public debt as a percentage of the GDP is close to 100 per cent and income disparity levels are at those of Third World countries than First World ones. Queues for free food are lengthening. The number of homeless are increasing. More and more of our youths are getting disillusioned and alienated. The brain drain problem is going from bad to worse.

And if all this is took place during the "boom years" between 2003 and 2007, just imagine what's in store when we enter the economic maelstrom next year. Can someone please explain how the average Singaporean has benefited?

What's worse is that Singaporeans find themselves with absolutely no voice. We lost it when we traded our political strength for the promise of, in the PAP's words, "more good years." In the interim, the PAP has tightened the noose so much so that Singaporeans now find themselves at the mercy of a handful of people within the ruling party.

Have we been cheated? This is what Dr Chee Soon Juan's book, A Nation Cheated, talks about. It reveals how Singaporeans have been short-changed through the years. Perhaps this is why the book continues to sell well. Kinokuniya Bookstore has placed yet another order for it as more and more Singaporeans want to know more how they have been systematically robbed of their economic and political rights, especially in such depressing times.

But the book doesn't only explain how Singaporeans have been disenfranchised, it provides alternative ideas on how we can overcome this unfortunate situation in which we find ourselves. In other words there is hope yet -- but only if the people discard their mental crutches and claim back what is rightfully theirs.

In this regard another of Dr Chee's books, The Power of Courage, teaches Singaporeans how they can overcome their present predicament through the application of Nonviolent Action. This book is also on sale at Kinokuniya.

So if you haven't already read these books, get a copy of it today. You can also order the books through the Internet by emailing to speakup@yoursdp.org.

A GENTLE REMINDER THAT $INGAPOREANS WILL GET ANOTHER WAGE CUT

"The National Wages Council (NWC) will take the unusual step of meeting again next month to revise the wage guidelines it set earlier this year. The review, announced by the NWC yesterday, is prompted by the worsening global economic crisis." - The nation-builder press, December 17, 2008.

$ingapore's public servants are paid multi-million dollar salaries. In January 2008, they had the gall to raise their salaries when they were clueless of the coming economic storm. No foresight, just plenty of foreskin.

If you are not keeping track of the pay cuts, here's a gentle reminder from the archives.

HOW $INGAPOREANS SERVE THE SERVANTS

The nation-builder press, May 1, 2001.

"A strong supporter of the union movement and a champion of education and training. This was how the TNUC described PM Goh Chok Tong... when conferring on him the Distinguished Comrade of Labour award."
- The nation-builder press, May 1 2001.

Above is how the nation-builder press describes the ruling PAP government. Below is the reality:

Workers sacrificed $7.5 billion in 1999's CPF [pension] cuts:
"After (TNUC) agreed to wage cuts of up to $7.5 billion in 1999, many foreign observers wondered how we were able to pull this off ever so smoothly, as it were."
- Ee Boon Lee, editor of Petir and TNUC News writing in Managing The Crisis (published 2001).

Workers are asked to pay more taxes (about $1.32 billion) with the 5% GST [sales tax] in 2003:
"The (GST) increase is estimated to offset half the total shortfall from the tax cuts of around $2.5 billion..."
- Reuters, May 2 2002.

Workers are sacrificing $9 billion every year since 2003 with the 5% GST
"From next year onwards, $ingaporeans will be sacrificing almost $9 billion a year on the advice of their million-dollar public servants."
- The Mirror of Opinion, May 2 2002.

In 2009, workers can expect to sacrifice in excess of $10 billion every year.
The GST was raised again in July 2007 to 7%. With the coming wage cuts in 2009, workers burden will go up.

WHY YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR PENSION FUNDS RESTORED
Q1: Why is the Government not restoring previous cuts?

A1: It is no longer realistic to restore the CPF contribution rate to 40% because of the new realities of global competition. Cost competitiveness is a key concern today. There are new regional competitors who are able to compete with us for skilled jobs. To stick to the target contribution rate of 40% will price us out of the market and cause more job losses.

We have therefore decided to give up the 40% target rate and set a new long-term target rate of between 30% and 36%. This will give us the flexibility to have a higher rate to save more during good years and to cut the rate in bad years to help businesses save costs and preserve jobs.

At a 30% contribution rate, the large majority of $ingaporeans can still save enough to provide for their retirement needs, healthcare expenses and housing.

[The above is sourced from the government's CPF website]

The above explanation means permanent slavery. Stagnant wages coupled with a rising cost of living. There's nothing left to do but to....

PERFECT POSITION SELECTOR

For most tired citizens of $heep City, it's The Starfish Position:

You both lie on the bed, heads in opposite directions. Scissor your legs so he can penetrate you, then hang on to each other's hands for leverage.

Why you'll love it:

This technique is perfect to achieve a grinding pressure movement that's advocated by the Coital Alignment Technique (CAT). Given that the in-out, in-out motion of thrusting during intercourse does little to keep the pressure constant on the clitoris -- which is what's needed for orgasm -- the CAT technique works on the principle that instead of moving apart, you should push your hips together and maintain pressure on the clitoris as you rock back and fourth. (Purr!) Arch your backs and move away from each other to allow for deeper penetration, and adjust the angle so he's hitting the right spots.

To see the illustrations [no photos] http://choosers.ivillage.com/love/perfect_position/

"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..."

- $ingapore's National Anthem.

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D-I-Y

With the $ingapore government preparing to cut workers pay again through a reduction in CPF contributions [read pension], it's time to plan ahead. Entrepreneurial $ingaporeans with some knowledge of woodwork can start a business selling coffins made simple. Think out of the box. Or you'll be in it.


FREMONT ATTORNEY-ACTIVIST HOME AFTER 4-MONTH DETENTION IN $INGAPORE

FREMONT, Dec 16, 2008: One week doesn't matter much to most people, but it could end up being the difference between prosperity and poverty for Gopalan Nair.

If the Fremont immigration attorney and Singaporean dissident had just waited seven days before posting a blog entry accusing a high court judge of "prostituting herself" in a sedition case against an opposition leader, he would have been back in the United States and out of reach of $ingaporean authorities.

He never would have been arrested, interrogated or strip-searched. He never would have been detained for four months, nor jailed for two more.

He never would have lost his legal clients, maxed out his credit cards, missed a mortgage payment or spent Thanksgiving at the Islander Motel.

In standing up for free speech in his native $ingapore, Nair, 58, unwittingly thrust himself into a one-man economic crisis.

He left for $ingapore on May 26, a successful immigration attorney who had more than a dozen clients, a five-bedroom house, and, in good years, an annual income of more than $100,000.

He returned six months later crippled with debt.

Read the full story here: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_11245691

An appeal for donations

"As you are aware, my forced stay in $ingapore for 6 months by the $ingapore government by their holding my passport and preventing me to travel, has resulted in severe financial burden to me. I have to get my law practice back into swing and get all other small matters taken care of. I am therefore badly in need of financial assistance. Your donations at this time will be greatly appreciated. If you can donate, please send the moneys through Western Union which is available at any post office in $ingapore. Same applies to those in other countries. Any amount will be appreciated. When sending the funds, please email me the reference number to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com. Payable to "Gopalan Nair"."

Visit http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/




PERFECT POSITION SELECTOR

A website has come up with a great way to decide the perfect position to have sex. All you have to do is key in four factors - penis size of your partner, your flexibility, the height of your partner and, finally, how much energy have you got for sex?

iVillage sex expert Tracey Cox [for real?] will deliver a personalized sex position prescription, pronto! Just click on any category at the website to get started.

For most citizens of $heep City, it's The Hook Position. "You lie on your back with him on top of you. Hook your legs up over his shoulders for deeper penetration, giving him complete control.

"Why you'll love it: If he's not terribly well-endowed, it's a good position for maximum penetration. A tip to remember for this and other positions: Crossing your ankles (in this case, behind his neck) helps tighten the vaginal canal. It's also a great way to squeeze him in and make him feel fuller inside you. His scrotum brushes against your butt with each stroke and you can reach forward to cup his testicles... The blood will rush to extremities like your nipples, making them highly sensitive."

To see the illustrations [no photos] http://choosers.ivillage.com/love/perfect_position/

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INDONESIA TRACES WEBSITE FUNDS TO $HEEP CITY

Dec 9, 2008: The Attorney General's Office is investigating the flow of allegedly embezzled money generated from an online system at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to $ingapore, prosecutors said Monday.

Assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendy said prosecutors suspected part of the money had been transferred from local bank Danamon to an account in $ingapore. "We heard the account in $ingapore is a BNI (state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia) account. We've already asked for authorization from that particular bank to access the account, but we've not received approval yet," Marwan said. - Dian Kuswandini, The Jakarta Post

Read the report here: http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/1607-indonesia-traces-website-funds-to-singapore

SHOP IN $HEEP CITY, $INGAPORE?

Advertisement in the nation-builder press, December 10, 2008.
Click on the graphic for a better view.

WHO FIVES A GUCK ABOUT THE GST?

The nation-builder press, April 12, 2002.

This is what Ms Olivia Lum, the CEO of water-treatment company Hyflux [makers of NEWater] said in April 2002:

"I buy my clothes when I travel overseas on business. So the increase in GST wouldn't affect me very much. Yet, I will have a higher income because I don't have to pay so much in taxes. At the end of the day, I think I will gain."

You bet.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"If $ingapore retailers want $ingaporeans to shop in $heep City, organise yourselves to remove the GST sales tax. But first, you have to find your BALLS."

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, Dec 10, 2008.

A TOTALITARIAN STATE ENCOURAGES STUPIDITY

At the end of September, the $ingapore government allowed their power companies to raise electricity rates despite public outcry that it was not the right thing to do. See the statistics below that show the government was already making huge profits from their power plants.

PAP, THE PROFITS-FIRST GOVERNMENT

The nation-builder press, September 30, 2008.

Ten days before PM Gordon Brown demanded petrol price cuts in the UK, the $heeple of $ingapore were told they had to pay more to the government's power companies.

WHY?

These power companies have NEVER made losses before. In previous years, they have been making profits.

2007 Market share of big 4 energy retailers in $ingapore [all are either government-owned or linked]

$ingapore Power's SP Services Ltd - 37.4%
Seraya Energy Pte Ltd - 18.5
Senoko Energy Supply Pte Ltd - 17.9
Tuas Power Supply Pte Ltd - 14.4

a) $ingapore Power:
http://www.singaporepower.com.sg/

2007/2008 - net profit - S$1,086 million [or S$1.086 BILLION]
2006/2007 - net profit - S$1,067 million [or S$1.067 BILLION]

b) $eraya Energy:
http://www.powerseraya.com/images/stories/pdf/PS_Annual_Report_2007-8_wo_Financials.pdf

2007/2008 - net profit - S$218 million
2006/2007 - net profit - S$168 million

c) $enoko Power*:
http://www.senokopower.com.sg/pdf/Senoko%20Power%20Group%20FY2007-08.pdf

2007/2008 - net profit - S$130 million
2006/2007 - net profit - S$131 million

*Temasek Holdings, a government company, recently sold $enoko Power to a private group.

d) Tuas Energy
http://www.tuaspower.com.sg/pdf/financial_report/TP_FRY_2007.pdf

2006/2007 - net profit - S$177 million
2005/2006 - net profit - S$104 million

TWO MONTHS LATER, FLIP-FLOP

The nation-builder press, December 5, 2008.

When the $ingapore government allowed electricity prices to rise this was the reason given by Chief executive of EMA Mr Khoo Chin Hean - the higher electricity rates have been due to the increase in oil prices. The Energy Market Authority said the projected fuel oil price for the next three months is set to jump to $155.14 a barrel, up 38 per cent from $112.35 for the current quarter.

In fact, most experts are predicting the exact OPPOSITE of what the "Authority" said. Oil prices are set to fall lower.

Oil to Plunge Below $25 Next Year, Merrill Lynch Says

Dec 5 2008 report http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,462284,00.html

World Bank: Recession in developed countries, sharp slowdown in developing countries inevitable

According to the GEP, next year oil prices are expected to average about 75 dollars a barrel and food prices worldwide are expected to decline by 23 per cent compared with their average in 2008. Looking forward to the longer term and despite concerns that recent price spikes might signal future supply shortages, the report finds that supply should more than meet demand over the next 20 years.

Dec 10, 2008 report http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/10/content_10480187.htm

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

"Is the PAP [People's Action Party] a people-first government? Or a profits-first government? By squeezing the public with higher and higher costs, how can consumer spending be encouraged?"

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror of Opinion, Dec 5, 2008.

FRUSTRATED?

ADULT $HEEPFINDER SERVICE

Need a sheep fast? Go here: http://www.adultsheepfinder.com/

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Gopalan Nair, now an American, has got his balls back.

AN AMERICAN IN $INGAPORE'S COURT

We had reported before that an American citizen, formerly a citizen of $heep city, had clashed with the $ingapore government. He has since been set free from $ingapore's jails and is back in the USA. He files this report on his blog, Singapore Dissident.

ADVENTURE

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you are aware, my forced stay in $ingapore for 6 months by the $ingapore government by their holding my passport and preventing me to travel, has resulted in severe financial burden to me. I have to get my law practice back into swing and get all other small matters taken care of. I am therefore badly in need of financial assistance. Your donations at this time will be greatly appreciated. If you can donate, please send the moneys through Western Union which is available at any post office in $ingapore. Same applies to those in other countries. Any amount will be appreciated. When sending the funds, please email me the reference number to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com. Payable to "Gopalan Nair". Many thanks

Gopalan Nair

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Can I share some stirring words with you? I had lunch today in Chinese restaurant and the fortune cookie had this

"the only people who never fail are those who never try"

While in Queenstown Prison, $ingapore, for 60 days for writing a blog post in this blog, which the Lee Kuan Yew government calls insulting a judge, I read a novel, which name I forget which had this, of which I am guilty,

"self delusion is a pre-condition for any act of consequence".

Someone who died rounding Cape Horn in the BOC Round the World Single Handed Yacht Race, his name was Harry something, which I forget. He was washed off his deck trying to round the Horn in the Roaring Forties in 70 knot gale. His life line saftey harness snapped. The Chilean Navy tried to search but had to leave because they could not operate at night. The Australian navy came later. Harry was never found. His words,

"life should be one long adventure, or it is nothing"

When I look back at my ordeal in $ingapore, it is true that at the time it was hard. But now when I revisit it in my mind, it was one of the greatest adventures of my life. And to come back to shambles in California and having to pick up from where I started, is another adventure.

You can say this again, my life has been a roller coaster. But you know what, I wouldn't have it any other way. I agree entirely with Harry.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

$INGAPORE COURT FINES WALL STREET JOURNAL

Nov 26: $ingapore's High Court found The Wall Street Journal Asia in contempt of court for commentary it published about the city-state in June and July. The court fined Dow Jones Publishing Co 25,000 $ingapore dollars (US$16,573) -- the highest amount ever levied for such a case in $ingapore.

The ruling related to two editorials and a letter to the editor that the attorney general said were guilty of "scandalizing the court" by impugning the integrity, impartiality and independence of $ingapore's courts.

Another Dow Jones publication, The Far Eastern Economic Review, was in September held to have defamed the elder Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, in relation to an article concerning Mr. Chee.

The full article
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122763765053757073.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Related: $INGAPORE STRIKES AGAIN
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122791989311765753.html

THREE JAILED FOR KANGAROO T-SHIRTS IN COURT

Dec 1: Three Singaporeans were jailed on Nov 27 after being charged with contempt of court for showing up at $ingapore's Supreme Court wearing T-shirts depicting kangaroos in judges robes.

Isrizal Bin Mohamed Isa and Muhammad Shafi'ie Syahmi Bin Sariman were sentenced to seven days' jail, while Tan Liang Joo John received 15 days imprisonment. They were each ordered to pay S$5,000 ($3,305) in costs.

Tan is the Assistant Secretary-General of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, led by Chee Soon Juan.

The three had worn the T-shirts at a court hearing in May to determine the damages that Chee Soon Juan and his sister Chee Siok Chin were to pay after being found guilty of defaming $ingapore Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong and former leader Lee Kuan Yew.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE4B05S320081201

$INGAPORE OPTS OUT OF CLUSTER BOMBS BAN BUT WILL STOP EXPORTS

$ingapore will not sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions on December 3 in Oslo but has indefinitely banned exports of the bombs, which the city-state described as legitimate weapons for self-defence.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/243523,singapore-opts-out-of-cluster-munitions-convention-but-bans-exports.html

That means $ingapore has volunteered not to sell cluster bombs but will reserve the right to make them and use them. Presumably against their "enemies"? Now who would that be?


$INGAPOREANS, CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT YOU'VE BEEN MISSING


Note: Those who are sensitive and easily offended please do not click on the link.

A TOTALITARIAN STATE ENCOURAGES STUPIDITY

ALL-GOOD, NO-BAD NEWS

The nation-builder press, November 28, 2008.

On November 28, 2008, the nation-builder press reported that a $ingaporean hostage in Mumbai was "safe". "The $ingapore authorities first learnt about the hostage situation in the Oberoi Hotel from her family members, who called the MFA at about 6 am Nov 27.

The news report said: "An Indian news channel reported yesterday that the terrorists had held the woman at gun point and told her to relay to $ingapore diplomats this message: Tell the Mumbai authorities to refrain from acting against them - or lose her life."

The following day, on November 29, the nation-builder press reported that the $ingaporean lawyer's body was found on the 19th floor of the hotel.

WHAT TIME IS IT?

The nation-builder press, April 27, 2008.

The prophet of Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew, has said it will take 30 years [2038] before $ingapore will benefit from its huge investments in banks. At current prices, $ingapore's investments have made huge paper losses.

Still not yet 30 years to make an assessment on $ingapore's US$24 BILLION bet to buy stakes in international banks and finance companies. Must $ingaporeans wait 30 years?

Let's all sing the new national song, "What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile, So... pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE."

A media whose aim is nation-building won't question, so the same with a tamed opposition, tamed political blogs and tamed academics. "Four legs good, two legs bad", remember?

FRUSTRATED?

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A TOTALITARIAN STATE ENCOURAGES STUPIDITY

EX-UBS BOSSES FORGO US$27.7 MILLION PAY

Nov 25, 2008: Three former bosses at Swiss bank UBS are to forgo 33m Swiss francs (US$27.7m; £18.1m) in salary and other payments. Ex-chairman Marcel Ospel, former vice president Stephan Haeringer and ex-chief financial officer Marco Suter oversaw huge losses at the bank.

The Swiss government launched a bailout package for UBS last month, which was worth about $60 billion. UBS welcomed the voluntary gesture by the former bosses who left after the scale of the subprime losses emerged.

The three said they "want to make it clear that they are facing up to reality" said UBS, which has had to write-down almost $49bn since the sub-prime crisis started.

Mr Ospel said that after the government bailout he realised he must take "decisive action". "I hope that my action will help to resolve a situation that was inconceivable to me until a short time ago." Mr Haering and Mr Suter said that "as executive board members we helped shape the strategy of UBS over the years".

"From the start there was no question that in this difficult situation we would express solidarity to each other and be loyal to UBS."

Former chief executive Peter Wuffli, who left UBS in July 2007, said he would not take 12m Swiss francs he was to receive.

UBS has already said that it would stop paying a bonus to chairman Peter Kurer from next year. He has already forgone any bonus for 2007 and 2008.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7748877.stm

UBS: More former executives forgo pay, bonuses
Former executives who oversaw massive losses at Swiss banking giant UBS AG will repay a further 22 million Swiss francs (US$18.45 million), Chairman Peter Kurer said Nov 27. The repayments by the unidentified individuals bring to nearly 70 million francs (US$59 million) the amount of money handed back to the bank by former executives over the past year.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iUvHF452XHkMBXOsG0cg9q3vdAGgD94NEBU80

PAY-CUT PM WILL STILL TAKE HOME US$2 MILLION

Nov 25, 2008: $ingapore Prime Minister General Lee Hsien Loong is taking a pay cut due to the weak economy, but will still earn US$2 million (HK$15.6 million) annually. Lee, his Cabinet, and other senior administrators will see their pay chopped by up to 19 per cent next year because of salary components linked to the city-state's economic growth, the nation-builder press website reported. - AFP

NOTE: The president of the United States of America earns US$400,000 a year. The prime minister of $ingapore, pre-cut, earns about US$2.64 million.

The pay cut is not immediate or retroactive but starts next year. If the pay cut is only for 12 months, the general stands to lose ONLY US$467,100 [or S$710,000]. In 2003, the ministers and top civil servants took a 10 per cent pay cut that started in July 2003 and ended in June 2004, exactly 12 months.

CASTRATED?

When $ingaporeans had their CPF contributions slashed in 1999, they never saw it fully restored. The result was S$7.5 billion in earnings a year lost. The income loss was permanent. In 2006 workers aged between 50 and 55 had their wages further cut when the employers CPF contribution [pension] was reduced by 2 per cent.

$INGAPORE'S GIC TO EARN 1 CENT FROM ITS CITI SHARES

Americans will have to shoulder the burden for paying another US$20 BILLION to bail out Citigroup. So shareholders of Citigroup should get nothing. In fact, by accepting the additional US$20 BILLION Nov 24, Citigroup is only allowed to pay its shareholders 1 cent per share for each quarter for the next three years. Thereafter, it will depend on whether the government agrees.

The $ingapore government's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, invested US$6.88 BILLION in Citigroup in January 2008. Their investment is currently valued at less than US$1 BILLION.

Citigroup to halt dividend
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/business/24citibank.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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WELCOME TO $HEEP CITY

(Click here for a better view)

From January 1, 2009, only cigarettes approved by the $ingapore government will be allowed into $heep City.

Such cigarettes will bear the "SDPC" ($ingapore Duty-Paid Cigarettes) marking. Those caught selling, buying, or having in possession cigarettes without the SDPC marking will be PUNISHED.

For every packet of duty-unpaid cigarettes, buyers will be fined $500. Illegal peddlers will be arrested and charged in Court. Offenders will be fined or sent to jail or both.


THE LAST WORD ON LEADERSHIP

"It is a case of 'can't believe until you see it'. Until today, nobody believed the COE can drop to $2... nobody can believe there will be large number of people in affluent $ingapore in dire straits. It is going to come... I'm very sure and I hate to see people suffering because we have leadership perpetually in denial.

"When they see jobless people, they say jobs are plentiful just don't be fussy. When people can't afford electricity, they tell these people they are using too much electricity and install a meter to force them to cut down. When people say flats are too expensive, they reply that people are buying flats that are too big... please choose smaller ones.

"When people say they can't afford medical care, they reply that people would take better care of their health if medical care is more expensive... they say people will neglect their health just to use subsidised health care if it is not expensive enough.

"This type of logic worries me as we enter the worst recession in decades. Just look at government behavior during the minibonds saga. This is a leadership that looks ready to abandon the people in their hour of need - they will deny, they will blame the people for their plight."

- Blogger Lucky Tan, Nov 19, 2008.


TAX BREAKS FOR GAMBLING GIANT IN $HEEP CITY

In another positive note, the government of $ingapore has reiterated its support for getting the Marina Bay Sands casino/resort up and running, and $ingapore has also granted permission for Las Vegas Sands to open the project in phases. So we're likely to see the casino and retail shops open sometime in 2009, with full project completion (including 2 hotel towers and convention facilities) targeted for Q1 of 2010.

Marina Bay Sands is going to be a huge casino (1,000 tables, 1,400 slots), and Adelson & Co. are banking on (pun intended) the complex being an immediate and large contributor to earnings.

The best carrot for getting the casino open is that the projected tax rate on gaming revenues is only 17.3 per cent in $ingapore, versus a whopping 39 per cent in Macau. When Marina Bay is operating at full capacity, the tax benefit alone could add over US$400 million to income per year, per the 8k filing.

Full http://seekingalpha.com/article/106376-las-vegas-sands-sustainable-in-2009

$ingapore is people first? Nah, it's always too big to be allowed to fall.

A TOTALITARIAN STATE ENCOURAGES STUPIDITY

EYES WIDE SHUT

The nation-builder press, November 10, 2008.

"The MAS (Monetary Authority of $ingapore) has told the banks if there's any mis-selling, you've got to put things right. But many went in with their eyes open. They are not old, they are not uneducated. Now they say, 'Please include me too'. Well, that's hard life and you've got to go according to what is fair."

- The prophet of Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew, Nov 10, 2008. Also known as MM Lee.

PINNACLE NOTES 10 WAS SOLD IN ONLY ONE COUNTRY: $INGAPORE

A lamb and his friends. An advertisment for the notes. They are now worthless. (Click here for a better view)

Nov 15, 2008: This is what the advertisement for the notes look like. The one above is for Pinnacle Notes 10. Right at the bottom it lists the reference entities Australia, Hong Kong, $ingapore, $ingTel and Temasek. None of entities have had a credit event but the notes are now worthless.

The underlying securities were not bonds of Australia, Hong Kong and $ingapore etc but a basket of toxic waste CDOs. If this is not mis-selling what is?

Last week I spoke to friend who bought some structured products. He insisted that what he bought was very, very safe and "guaranteed" by "govt" and Temasek and he was "sure" it was not high notes or minibonds. I told him to "better go and check"... it turned out to be Pinnacle Notes Series 10.

The whole process of selling these structured products from the marketing material to the Relationship Manager's [RM] sales pitch was designed to close the sale - no ordinary layman buyer, educated or not, can come close to comprehending the risks.

You think the RM bothered to go through the list of CDOs that was the real source of risks? No, the RM who earned commissions would simply tell the customer that his investment is safe because of the reference entities - $ingapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Temasek, $ingTel - to close the deal. Pinnacle Notes 10 was sold only in one country: $ingapore.

The Hong Kong government has admitted that the whole regulatory framework from the approval of these products, marketing and selling has to be reviewed. In the meantime, they have frozen the sales of these products. They have admitted that they have done something incorrect in the regulation of these products. They are now answerable to the people. The MAS has denied EVERYTHING. They deny that deregulation of these products have led to these problems. They denied all responsibility associated with the debacle.

In fact our leadership has laid the blame solely on the people who lost their lifesavings especially those who are educated and young. These people are now told that they have gone in with their "eyes open" and have no legal recourse... and banks are compensating out of the kindness of their heart because legally it is "case closed". ...all these words from MM Lee.

In $ingapore we (some of us) gave up some of our rights and personal freedom as a result of a social contract in which the PAP will protect the interests of the people without the full implementation of democracy. In this saga, we see this social contract broken (if not shattered), the government took care of itself first, then its other interests with the people coming in last. $ingaporeans who lost their lifesavings are left to fend for themselves.

- Lucky Tan

Read his blog here http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/

EYES WIDE SHUT 2 

At least you know what you're getting when you buy a packet of cigarettes in $ingapore.

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THE LAST WORD ON NO OPPOSITION

"If $ingapore had a revolving door government... your asset values will disappear and your apartments will be worth a fraction of what [they are now]. Jobs will be in peril and your security will be at risk. Our women will become maids in other countries - foreign workers".

- Former prime minister of $ingapore and currently a cabinet minister, the prophet of Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew, April 5, 2007.

All the above in varying degrees have come to pass despite no opposition in $ingapore. 10,000 $ingaporeans saw their savings of $500 MILLION vanish after they bought financial instruments sold by government bank DBS and others, that are now WORTHLESS. Even work as maids, porters, waiters, security guards, hostesses in the now delayed Marina casino project are gone.

HOW MUCH "TRAINING" DO YOU NEED TO MAKE A BED?

The nation-builder press, November 11, 2008.

Without fail, the $ingapore government calls on workers to train and upgrade themselves whenever unemployment looms. They never want to build safety nets like social welfare for workers. But look at the jobs on offer. There are only 200 managerial positions in the new Sentosa casino. The future of the second casino, Sands Marina, is currently unknown. With only low-level work on offer, how much do you think you'll get paid? This is the future? Better to be your own boss and own a hawker stall.

If there are no delays, the Sentosa casino will open in March 2010.

AFTER THE US$1.9 BILLION SHIN CORP FIASCO AND $INGAPORE'S US$24 BILLION BET ON BANKS... THIS WAS THE ASSURANCE

The nation-builder press, January 22, 2008.

Nine months later... who "thoroughly assessed" the risk here?

$INGAPORE'S TEMASEK COMPANY BLOWS A$400 MILLION IN CHILDCARE CENTRE

The nation-builder press, November 11, 2008.

If ever there was a misleading headline, the above in the nation-builder press is it. The biggest loser was Temasek Holdings.

"THE crash of an Australian childcare chain run by a high-spending former milkman has thrown thousands of families into turmoil and left investors like Temasek Holdings in a black hole.

"ABC Learning controlled 20 per cent of the country's childcare industry with 1,075 centres employing 16,000 staff who looked after 120,000 children. It also owns centres in New Zealand. The firm's rapid expansion was underpinned by huge levels of debt but questionable management and higher interest rates thanks to the credit crunch took their toll and the firm went to the wall last week owing banks A$762 million (S$788 million).

"Temasek will be one of the biggest casualties. It took a 12 per cent stake worth about A$400 million last year, buying in when the shares were at A$7.30 only to see the stock plummet to 54 Australian cents before they were suspended."

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Money/Story/STIStory_300845.html

The shares are worth "peanuts". "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile..."

THE MIRROR OF OPINION

The nation-builder press, April 5, 2007.

"It didn't take any opposition to create this. Temasek spent A$401 million to take a 13 per cent stake in ABC Learning in May 2007, paying A$7.30 - a 6c premium to the market price and just short of its 2007 peak of A$7.57. ABC's share price is now at Australian 54 cents. The current economic pain in $ingapore is self-inflicted."

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror of Opinion, Nov 11, 2008.

A TOTALITARIAN STATE ENCOURAGES STUPIDITY

MACAU: NO BAILOUT FOR LAS VEGAS SANDS

Even as the $ingapore government wobbles on the Las Vegas Sands Marina casino, the Macau government have been more decisive on their own casino under development by Las Vegas Sands. The Associated Press reported Nov 11, 2008 that in his annual policy address, Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho said, "the government has no concrete measures to help [Las Vegas Sands] solve its financing difficulties immediately." "Because of its over-leveraged borrowing in the US and around the world, it's normal and expected that it has to suspend some of its projects," he said.

Las Vegas Sands has two sites in Macau on the Cotai strip under development. It will now freeze construction there. The project is said to cost up to US$12 BILLION when completed.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/las-vegas-sands-shares-slide/story.aspx?guid=%7B0DF6A1CD-A71E-42C2-9471-EE98EF0AEA32%7D&dist=msr_9

Las Vegas Sands have "committed" to $ingapore's Marina casino. They know Macau won't offer any bailout.

$INGAPORE TO BAIL OUT LAS VEGAS SANDS?

The nation-builder press, November 11, 2008.

The $ingapore Government may form a venture with CapitaLand to take over one of the country's two integrated resorts if Las Vegas Sands fails to stave off loan defaults, CIMB-GK Research said yesterday.

Las Vegas Sands, the gaming concern that said last week it may default on debt and face bankruptcy, has reiterated its commitment to the US$4 billion (S$6 billion) $ingapore venture. The company has drawn down at least $2 billion from a $5 billion credit facility by several banks for the project. [The three banks that provide the lion's share of the loans are DBS Bank, OCBC and OUB].

'If Las Vegas Sands cannot cough up its share of equity, the $ingapore Government is likely to step in,' Mr Donald Chua, a $ingapore-based analyst at CIMB-GK, wrote in a report. 'A viable option could be a 49:51 joint venture between the Government and CapitaLand, with CapitaLand taking a controlling stake.' - Bloomberg

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Money/Story/STIStory_300927.html

CapitaLand is a $ingapore government company.

$INGAPORE'S FANTASY LAND

The nation-builder press, November 12, 2008.

The $ingapore government on Nov 12, said "it will not bail out the troubled US gaming firm Las Vegas Sands should it fail to fund the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort." But at the end of the message was this:

"While the government would not participate in any bailout of Sands, Mr Iswaran did not rule out the involvement from government-linked companies, which are commercial entities, if it makes business sense to do so."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/389281/1/.html

$ingapore government companies are still funded by $ingaporeans.

PEOPLE FIRST?

The nation-builder press, October 16, 2008.

NO BAILOUT FOR $HEEP

"The Monetary Authority of $ingapore (MAS) has decided against following Hong Kong's lead in requiring banks to buy back Lehman Brothers-linked Minibonds at market price from investors."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 16, 2008.

"Are people just going to accept that their savings have been wiped out?"

- The young, restless and cynical Mirror of Opinion, Nov 14, 2008.

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