Professionalism Vis-A-Vis Deception.

Time has indeed accelerated.  It is approaching 40 days since the disappearance of Flight MH370.  For the loved-ones, relatives, friends and colleagues of the 239 passengers on board, the wait for information is getting exhausting, mentally-draining and emotionally-crippling.  I can only think of 2 words to describe the continued search of the missing plane - professionalism and deception.

1) Professionalism - There was a refreshing change when the search switched to the southern Indian Ocean near Perth.  Unassuming retired Australian defence chief Angus Houston who spearheaded the search this time was a stark contrast to the Malaysian incompetents fronted by their acting Transport Minister.  At his news conferences, he came across as an engaging and communicative person who knows what he is talking.  He answered reporters' questions crisply and pointedly at times providing every one listening an education of the difficulty of ocean search, sea currents, etc.  An honest man who takes his duties seriously and competently.  I wish him the best of luck.  Australia can indeed feel proud to have such a patriot and an honest citizen.

2) Deception - The label should be shamefully affixed to the Malaysian authorities with their cheerleader acting Transport Minister.  At the onset of the tragedy, in fact in the first few days of the search the Malaysian authorities had taken the whole world (including Singapore who provided a submarine search) for a ride by deluding them to confine their search in the South China Sea when actually the Malaysian authorities knew the radar had detected a 'turn back" of the plane towards the Straits of Malacca.  That is why China had to release satellite photos of so-called debris near the Vietnamese coast to test Malaysian's true intention and deception.  To date there are no updates on Police investigations on the 2 pilots, 2 Iranians who travelled on forged passports, etc. One cannot help but speculate probably they are playing the waiting game sitting on their hands doing nothing.

3) Consequences - The Visit Malaysia 2014 Year is now just a dead slogan.  Travel agents estimated 30,000 visitors from China will probably boycott or forgo their trips this year.  How will history judge Malaysia on this tragedy?  The answer is obvious if you consider the incompetence and deception of their leaders.  The truth is in the plane's "black box".

Search For Flight 370 Plane - A Case Of Dereliction Of Duty & Incompetence.

After about 2 weeks there is still no sign of the plane.  I can only express my sympathy and pray for the families of the 239 passengers who are at present undergoing unimaginable suffering, agony, pain and angst.

Here are my thoughts:-

1) Dereliction of Duty - This charge should be laid squarely on the shoulders of the Malaysian authorities.
When Malaysian Air Force detected the u-turn of an unidentified air plane on its radar, why was there no Air Force plane scrambled to check on the plane and if necessary to take the plane down.  If such preventive action had been taken in the first place, the saga of the last 2 weeks would not have emerged.  So far the Authorities have not given the world specifics of what action they are embarking such as the number of Malaysian planes, ships, personnel and equipment deployed in the search; the specific areas they are combing, etc.  One wonders whether "they are dirtying their hands working on the ground" or "they are sitting on their hands" for the cows to come home!  Only God knows!

2) Incompetence -  The Police did not zoom its investigation on the 2 Pilots until after 1 week when the Senior Pilot's self-built simulator was dismantled and carted away for investigation - later they found out that vital items in the simulator were deleted.  There was no word on the 2 forged passports used by the 2 Iranian passengers.  All these suspects and suspicious behaviour should be addressed by the authorities to clear any doubts and hanky-panky businesses.

3) What the Authorities want to portray/project - The acting Transport Minister who is concurrently the Defence Minister is always immaculately dressed for the News Conferences.  So also are their Police and Armed Forces Chiefs with their impressive breast-decorated metals on their uniforms.  All for show and no substance!  On Fridays the Minister will appear in his Friday-prayer garb.  How sickening!  He looked into the reporters' eyes and vomitted out his lies and deception!  How sick can one be!

4) What the Authorities are certain - The News Conference must end in half an hour time though the there are tons of questions yet to be answered.  Their local press can be hook-winked and conned afterall their questions are mostly "stupid", "commonsense" or "irrelevant" compared to the probing ones from the foreign press.

5) What Can We Learn From This Tragedy - A country needs capable and competent Leaders.  Otherwise, its citizens and the country will suffer immeasurably.  It is equally important that a Crisis Management Team should always be on stand-by to tackle any emergency!!

Status Quo Is Not Tenable.

I have always believed that the status quo - not doing something to relief people's cost of living especially health-care costs in Singapore's political life - is not an option.  More of the same - patchworks and tweaks in policies here and there - is not a viable answer since the momentous conclusion of our last GE 2011. So the Pioneer Generation Package just announced in the 2014 Budget is indeed ground-breaking vis-a-vis the Government's anathema of "welfare-mindset".  Singaporeans have for many years being complaining to the Government of the truism "you can die but can't afford to get sick".  As is the norm the present generation can only build only on the foundation of what the previous generation had already assiduously worked and set up.  The Package is only a small recognition of their contribution and sacrifice of the past 50 years.

What is next?  Is this the beginning of the Government's show of "benevolence" - a Confucian value.  I certainly hope so.  It can certainly welcome, encourage and nurture more competitive and different viewpoints from the people.  The mainstream media has largely been pro-government and all citizens know it.  There should be a free media now that the internet is ubiquitous.  May I suggest as a show of its magnanimity the Government can consider to grant amnesty to all political exiles who are presently overseas and welcome back those who have migrated overseas and now wish to come back home.  This will be a meaningful-all-is-forgiven gesture as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary of Nationhood in 2015.

Wishing You A Blessed And Prosperous Chinese New Year!

My Family and I wish everybody "A Blessed And Prosperous Chinese New Year!"  May our living God be your Guard and Guide for the Year and Forever!  May we keep in our hearts the words of Psalm 40:4:

Blessed is the man

who makes the Lord his trust,

who does not look to the proud,

to those who turn aside to false gods.

 

"GONG XI, GONG XI.  HE JIA HUANLE"

My "Haiku/Senryu" Moments 6

 

 

 

A New Year New Clothes

Horoscopes and fengshui

A lot of hogwash.

 

No Love, no mercy

A heart very hard and steely

Pray no retribution.

 

Public relations

Exercise in full rations

Will hearts give decision.

 

Nothing is static

Circumstances rustic

Old habits like weeds.

 

Monopoly in news

Views, propaganda mews

Internet overrules.

 

Statusquo deadwood

Variations disguise

As good and to look.

 

Man may plan and plot

With evil intention and more

God will justly roar.

 

 

 

Immanuel - God With Us.

1. The Light shines in the darkness
2. Salvation for all.
3. The Holy for the crudeness
4. Love divine and more.
5. The imperishable for the perishable
6. Eternal for the ephemeral.
7. Miracle unimaginable
8. God with us!
9. 
   
10. My family and I wish everybody a BLESSED CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Last Time For Everything.

Have you ever comtemplate that this will be the last time you will be engaging in whatever activity that you enjoy doing - be it enjoying reading a book, watching your favourite television show, playing with your children or grandchildren, chatting with a close friend, etc.?  A famous philosopher says " All things human are short-lived and perishable."  Buddhists believe in the impermanence of things.

Thus, it is healthy and prudent to keep in mind that all things valueable and precious will one day be lost to us.  Things can be taken away or our own death will deprive us of such things.  For some such talk may sound morbid and unpleasant to the Asian psyche.  However by comptemplating the impermanene of things and recognising that this may be the last time we are doing the thing we are more appreciative and cognizant of the blessedness of the moment.  We will not be sleep-walking through our life.  We will cherish more every moment of our life for such moments may never be repeated again!

May God bless and keep you and your family always!    

My "Haiku/Senryu" Moments 5.

• 1) A  Public Company
• Used as a Public Relations
• Body for a Dynasty.
• 2)Ubiquitous face
• On newspapers & TVs
• No one is interested!
• 3) Talking heads on TVs
• Vomitting their expert comments
• Confusing everyone.
• 4) The most powerful man
• In the world cannot govern
• Intransigent fools!
• 5)Trust betrayed trust lost
• Trying to repair the damage
• Possible, anyone?
• 6) Human capital
• Country's rich resources
• Politicians must know!
• 7) Americans ask for
• It: a sitting duck President
• Dysfunctional Leg.
• 8) The Leader knows it
• It pierces his heart centre
• "Hatred" it is!

Our God Of Comfort.

Our God is a God of Comfort.  He says "I will never leave or forsake you and I will be with you to the end of times."  I have listed below few verses from the Bible which I hope you will find comfort and useful at the crucial time of your needs.  I hope with the comfort that you receive you will help to comfort those who are in need.

1) Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand .... Isaiah 41:10.

2) I will redeem you with an outstretched arm .....Exodus 6:6.

3) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers,they shall not overwhelm you;  when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.......Isaiah 43:2

4) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty .....Psalm 91:1

And last but not least he warns us of false teachers and prophets:

5) But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will  be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.  Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping .......2 Peter 2:1-3.

A New Social Compact.

There is much "hurrah" for the PM's National Day Rally Speech.  The mainstream media went into a frenzy by bombarding the people with the new intiatives that the Government were embarking in the areas of education, affordable public housing, health care, caring for our seniors, etc.  The measures were described as epoch-making and were launched to achieve a fairer and just society - a new compact with the citizens.

Wait! What had taken the Govenment so long to really feel the angst and unhappiness on the ground.  The drop in the majority votes in the 2011 GE and the subsequent loss of 2 By-elections in Hougang and Ponggol East would have raised all the red flags.  Not convinced the Government in typical kiasu Singaporean style embarked on a 1 year "Our Singapore Conversation" exercise to seek Singaporeans' view on what they really want and their grievances.  The conversation involved 50,000 participants conducted over 660 sessions (I wonder how much money was spent on this exercise).

Everyone knows a new social compact has to evolve for the status-quo is not tenable.  In more matured Democracies the buck would have stopped at the PM's desk and a new incumbent would have emerged.  I see the current iniative taken by the Government as preparation for the GE in 2016.  The jury is still out whether the Government will regain much needed support.  Let's wait and see.  The new compact has to be managed carefully and wisely if the Ruling Party does not want to see more losses in SMC and GRC wards in 2016. 

On "By-Election" And "Good Politics".

Many Singaporeans may not be aware or conscious of it.  On 5th July 2013 Singapore's Court of Appeal had ruled "that Article 49 of the Constitution of Singapore does not give the Prime Minister an unfettered discretion in the calling of an election to fill a casual vacancy of an elected MP.  He must do so within a reasonable time.  If the vacancy is left unfilled for an unnecessarily prolonged period that would give rise to a seious risk of disenfranchising the residents of that constituency.  There is thus a need to balance the rights of the voters in a Parliamentary system of government and the discretion vested in the Prime Minister to decide when to call for a by-election to fill a vacancy."  It is worth noting that since 31.10.1981 there were 3 such vacancies that were left vacant for an unprecedented time of as much as 2 years.  The landmark ruling resulted from a court filing by a Hougang resident on how Article 49 is to be interpreted when  a  Workers' Party MP vacated the seat on his resignation from the Party.  It is also worth noting that the Hougang By-Election was called within 3 months of its vacancy while the Ponggol East By-Election was called within 1 month.

The Ruling Party now propagandizes the concept of  3Cs of "Good Politics" - clean, constructive and continuous.  Such concept cannot hold water when we have:

1) Behind-the-queue estates upgrading for Opposition Wards.  Let us not forget that citizens in such ward also fullfill their citizenship duties like doing Naitonal Service, paying their taxes, etc. It would appear a Permanent Resident residing in a PAP ward which has up-grading will be more equal than a citizen residing in an Opposition ward.

2) Adviser to the grassroot organisations is a losing PAP candidate and not the winning Opposition candidate. 

3) A compliant mainstream media which churns the Ruling Party's propaganda.  Worse, there are editorial staff with an unhealthy agenda of painting all opposing and competing views in a bad light.  Any Opposition Parties' slip-ups, mistakes, goofs are pounced on with evil delight!

Haze - The Face of Evil And Corruption.

The above photo taken from the window of my apartment is self-explanatory.  It is the worst haze conundrum that has occurred in Singapore's history.  When the photo was taken, the PSI reading was 400.  It looked like a war zone outside - white smoke shrouded the buildings, few pedestrians and cars on the roads - a ghostly neighbourhood.

I characterize the haze as the face of evil and corruption.  Evil - because the insidious deadly smoke choking people's throats and eyes.  This happens because the powers in Indonesia refuse to do their job.  The Indonesian Government seemed oblivious to the crisis and taking a nonchalant and "bochap" attitude.  It is just as incredible that the Government has even allowed its own people to suffer such inhuman health risks and hazards.  It is even more unbelievable that its own people are prepared to subject themselves to such hardship without a word of protest.  Indonesia is well known for organising demonstrations/protests against injustice, price hikes, corruption, etc.  But hardly a word was heard from the populace regarding this tragedy.  If politics and businesses are good bedfellows then the third party, the people's interests are thrown into the gutter. 

Corruption - The local and central Government refuses to enforce the laws governing such fires.  Are there vested and cronies' interests which overide the people's welfare and health protection.   While the country burned and the people's health suffered, the politicians turned their blind eyes.  It is a heartless and cruel thing to abandon the people.

Worse, the neighbouring countries were subjected to such hazards also.  Our concerns and insecurities were brushed aside as childish.  It looks like these people will only answer to God alone!!!   

My "Haiku/Senryu" Moments 4

The bright morning sun

Bursting through the clouds

Heralding God's salvation!

Defense of the obvious

Freedom of speech and of thoughts

No one can deny!

Hawkers and hawkers'

Centres cleaning in cross-fire

That's politics!

Goal of the economy 

Greatest good for the greatest

People in long-term!

Laws of the land

The institutions nurtured

Must never be abused!

A world of one's own

Who can really understand

A life's destiny!

Scenes From The Heartland.

Heart-warming/disdaining scenes in our heartland.  Here are a few of them.

i) Outside the Post Office - An elderly lady momentarily stopped the wheel-chair she was wheeling.  Inside the wheel-chair was an elderly man (presumably her husband) and she whisphered something  sounding reassuring and pleasant into his ears.  The man was just having a nice nap.  Such show of elderly love and care!

ii) At the Hawker Centre -  A young man (probably the man's son) guided the old man to his seat.  He assured his father saying he was going to get him a bowl of "kwa-teow"  soup for him.  It was obvious the old man was a stroke victim as the right portion of his body was limping.  Such filial piety shown by the son was just touching!

iii) At the escalators of shopping malls/MRT trains & inside MRT trains - You often witness teenagers and young adults facing each other and started hugging and showering kisses.  I thought such intimate actions should be confined to one's private rooms. Perhaps here Paul's warning in Ephesians 4:19: "Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more." needs to be highlighted.

 iv) In the Mainstream Media - If you  have been observant you would have noticed that lately a particular politician's photo has been given prominence accompanying every speech that he made. These photos were cleverly digitised/touched up to make the poltician looked good.  This is what I called "media spin".  I thought it should not be "business as usual" for the Ruling Party after its majority votes were reduced in last GE and having lost 2 By-Elections. Singapore needs a "new vision" to take it to the next level of its development.  "Dead Wood" in Government will get us nowhere!