Nothing to say just STFU lah..

This guy is another total Cannot-Make-It in my book. Only know how to echo other ministers...

July 31, 2008
Pushing up wages to offset inflation risky move, warns NTUC chief
By Lee Siew Hua

PUSHING wages up to fully offset inflation is a risky move, as workers will end up paying ever-higher prices.

Labour chief Lim Swee Say highlighted this vicious circle on Thursday in a message for National Day, calling on workers to moderate wage expectations.

'Instead of pushing wages up to fully offset inflation, we must continue to link built-in wage increase to productivity gain and help our people through various non-wage measures', he said.

This will prevent a 'price-wage spiral'.

His message came as the second-quarter jobs figures released by the Ministry of Manpower on Thursday showed job creation moderated to 70,600 from April to June and the unemployment rate creeping up to 2.3 per cent.

KNN warn simi lanjiao? So why dont u something about the inflation then?!

Let's see, now unemployment is rising liao.. so wat is the gahment doing about it? Bite some more bullets? Let see you bite the bullet instead... knn...

And he doesn't give any specific what those non-wage measures are... how convenient.
.

After LKY's recent self-pawn acts (court room & IBA flip flops), it is time for some damage control. And who better to carry out this public relations task than the very experienced GCT.

July 26, 2008
Our goal: Strong govt, responsible opposition
SM Goh says politics here must evolve but not in a way leading to division or chaos
By Jeremy Au Yong

SINGAPORE'S political system must change to keep pace with an evolving society, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Saturday night.

While conceding that the 'status quo cannot last forever', he noted that certain things must not change.

'Whatever the refinements we may make to our political system down the road, some core principles must remain the same,' he said.

'One, any changes must be fair to all parties and give them an equal chance to contest and win; two, they must not lead to democratic chaos and politics of division; and three, they must not put Singapore's unity and harmony, growth and prosperity and long-term interests at risk.'

He was speaking at the National Day dinner in the opposition-held Hougang ward, returning there for the first time since the 2006 General Election.

'Ideally, our political system should facilitate the emergence of a strong, effective government after every election and a responsible, constructive opposition,' he added.

'But...there is no guarantee because it depends on whether good, honest and competent people come forward to stand for elections and the wisdom of the electorate when they cast their ballot.'

IMO Sg politics will only evolve after a certain octogenarian leaves the scene.

Goh makes a lot of general remarks. But they sound hollow to me. His 'goal' is whose goal? PAP's? He also talks about the "wisdom of the electorate", which really is just another way of saying what this man said about mad voters hehehe..

.

Stuck at lower needs?

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory on human motivation, people move up to higher needs once their lower needs are met. Lower needs refer to satisfying basic human and survival instincts like shelter, safety, hunger, and sex. Higher needs are esteem, self-actualisation, respect for and by others and so on.

According to this establishment figure, staying at the top requires people who are still hungry...

July 24, 2008
Key to staying No. 1 - young people who are hungry

IT IS a uniquely-worded warning against complacency, and former Economic Development Board (EDB) chief Philip Yeo reiterated it yesterday: Don't sit down and fan yourselves.

At the Pioneers Series dialogue, a quote that he had used previously was read out to him, much to the amusement of the audience.

'When you become No.1 you say you have arrived,' the former top civil servant had once said.

'Once you arrive, everybody laughs, everybody sits down and fans themselves.

'When people are fanning themselves, congratulating themselves, praising themselves - 'Oh, we have arrived', 'How good we are' - that's when you get the 'arrive and fall' of nations.'

Mr Yeo elaborated on that comment yesterday, a pun on the phrase 'rise and fall of nations'.

'We are here today, but we may not be here tomorrow. When I travel around, I always take a look at what's happening in India, in Vietnam...

'We did it, they can do it. We're No.1 today, yes. We've been No.1 for 10 years in a row, yes. But don't forget they are now close, the gap is narrowing.'

This is very standard and dated establishment talk. The goal to be No. 1. But i think people these days have moved on & are instead thinking deeper about what it means to be No. 1. Does being at the top benefit them and meet their needs? Are theirs lower or higher needs?

What about the price to pay for being No. 1? What if the benefits of being No.1 are not fairly distributed and only benefits a small elite group?

As to how Singapore can keep up, Mr Yeo turned to the word 'hunger', a term he used many times throughout the session.

He said: 'Our people must realise that being No.1 is very temporal.

'We better keep on honing that...Make sure that our young people are hungry. If our young people are not hungry enough, bring in hungrier ones from overseas. Make them feel hungry, increase the hungriness index.'

So his solution to complacency is to find/import people who are hungry? Wah lao this really make me laugh hahaha! I cannot believe his thinking is so simplistic and narrow. Sure you can always import "hungry" foreigners from less developed countries. But what happens after you have fed their hunger? Wont that be the same? And why discriminate against old people?? Old people cannot be hungry meh?

So you treat people like production units? Use and chuck? This really says a lot of his mentality and perspective on people development (more like lack of) sia.. very old economy leh ~ hehehe

Undeniably SG as a society has reached a level of affluence. We have become quite well fed for sure. But so too have many others before us. Have these other affluent societies become less hungry? Japan, South Korea, many western nations. How come they can continue to innovate, grow, and surpass despite being well fed? Obviously the "hunger" we are talking about is not those of lower needs but higher ones.

When it comes to higher needs, I say the SG society is suffering from malnutrition. As a result people are moving to more open societies to feed their higher needs. Any coincidence these societies tend to be more open ones that have a healthy respect for human rights, freedom, tolerance for dissent, and healthy political competition?



Hmm... i think Yeo Yo man don't understand any of it leh... Is he still stuck at lower needs? For example Sg's ministers are the best paid in the world, so they cannot possibly be hungry right? And they are old too! So by Yeo's logic shouldn't these ministers be replaced by others who are young and more hungry? LOL


P.S. Anyway Yo yo likes to threaten and sue bloggers one, i wonder what needs of his will that fulfill? Hahahaha!
.

No $$$ no talk!

Toilet break hero is now worth $1 million!

July 21, 2008
Two S'porean businessmen offer $1m bounty for Mas Selamat's capture

A $1 MILLION cash bounty has been offered for information that will lead to Jemaah Islamiah (JI) fugitive Mas Selamat Kastari's arrest.

Two businessmen have approached the Home Affairs Ministry to put up the reward, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament on Monday.

The businessmen have asked to remain anonymous because they do not want their families or business interests in the region to be a target.

Mr Wong reiterated that while Police do not offer cash rewards, they will not object if private firms or individuals wish to do so.

This is not the first time a bounty for Mas Selamat has been offered.

The United States has offered rewards in the millions for the capture of top terrorists with links to Al-Qaeda. These include JI bombmaker Noordin Top.

Yaloh better stay anonymous, wait Mas's buddies overseas buay song how? I wonder why the two businessman so generous? Maybe like that they will get into gahment's good books and win gahment tenders? hehehe...

In a separate statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it has agreed to the request of the two private individuals to manage the $1 million reward.

'As a policy, the Home Team security agencies, including the Singapore Police Force and Central Narcotics Bureau, do not itself offer cash rewards or bounties for information on fugitives and unsolved crimes, or for assistance by the public', the ministry explained.

The policy, however, does not preclude private corporations or individuals from doing so if they are acting on their own volition to assist in the procurement of information pertinent to the police.

Is this policy inflexible? Are you so capable and confident of your abilities that you dun need any help or pay for assistance? If ministers are expected to be paid millions in order to stay corruption-free and contribute to public service, then i dun see why ordinary Sgians have to volunteer assistance FOC.

.

9 years & 18 strokes for a victimless crime

The story of Cpl Dave Teo is a very sad one. It is clear he needs help.

July 7, 2008
NSman Dave Teo's behavioural problems stem from disturbed upbringing

National Serviceman Dave Teo Ming was often caned by his mother when he was a young schoolboy and his father was in and out of jail for various offences.

His mother would beat him sometimes for no discernible reason or whenever she lost money on gambling.

And the beatings were no "normal beating'.

'The cane anyhow whack, whack until I got bruises,' he said in a psychiatric report submitted by the Institute of Mental Health, which was tendered in the High Court on Monday, when he was sentenced to nine years and two months, with 18 strokes of the cane for unlawful possession of a rifle, bullets and a knife.

The report presented a picture of his disturbed upbringing, scarred by constant beatings, rejection by his own mother who left him in the care of his paternal grandparents when he was in Primary one or two, after she walked out on him with his younger sister.

Teo's grandparents and aunt confirmed the beatings and remembered how traumatised Teo was as a child. They reported that his mother would even throw chairs at him.

After she left the family, the grandparents became the main caregivers to Teo and his brother who was two years younger.

Although he was not beaten as much, his paternal uncle, who lived with him, would punch and slap him if he misbehaved during his teens.

When he was 14, his younger brother was killed in a road accident.

This caused Teo 'to spiral downwards with disciplinary problems', said the IMH report. 'He was filled with anger and 'hated everybody''.

He became depressed and isolated himself from the family.

The behavioural problems and brushes with law continued, and he had to drop out of school at Secondary 3.

Possessive boyfriend

Teo started dating Ms Crystal Liew when he was 16. She was then 14. The relationship graduated to a sexual one when she turned 16.

By his own admission, Teo was a highly possessive boyfriend.

When she went out with her friends, he would feel extremely jealous and become abusive of her. He would call her up and demanded that she went home immediately.

There were times that he would hurl vulgarities at her and he also admitted that he had hit her several times, according to the IMH report.

In early 2007, Teo was posted for a short stint to Taiwan as part of his national service.

The couple continued to quarrel over the phone and in April last year, they broke up.

That was the final act and Teo snapped.

'He had nightmares about dying or being killed and in his waking hours, thought of suicide,' said the psychiatric report.

His sleep became disturbed, he lost weight over the next few months and he became withdrawn. His concentration became poor and 'his libido also dropped'.

In camp, he became easily irritated, and vented his anger by kicking the cupboard and being rude to his superiors.

He also began to hear voices of people who were not there.

Stalked ex-girlfriend

When he returned to Singapore from Taiwan, he started stalking Ms Liew, hanging out at her condominium and outside her school.

He even went absent without leave from camp to spend his nights at a stairwell at her condo. He was eventually caught and sent to the SAF detention barracks.

After he stopped contacts with Ms Liew, he went further downhill. He no longer cared about his appearance, became reclusive and started drinking to overcome his insomnia.

'He became self-destructive and recalls exercising till the point of exhaustion and then denying himself water,' said the report.

Dave stole a rifle along with 8 bullets and went AWOL. The law says unlawful possession of weapons, the prosecution asked for a deterrent sentence and got it - 9 years jail and 18 strokes of the rotan. This is the "help" he gets, and the judge has this to say...

July 7, 2008
'My heart hurts for you': Judge to NSman

JUSTICE Tay Yong Kwang explained to Awol National Serviceman Dave Teo Min why he would have to impose a deterrent sentence before jailing him for a total of nine years and two months, with 18 strokes of the cane, for having a rifle, eight bullets and a knife.

In a display of compassion, the High Court judge on Monday told the 20-year-old, who had earlier pleaded guilty to the three charges: 'My heart hurts for you that so young a man will have to spend some of the best years of his life in prison and have to undergo so many strokes of the cane, but I trust that you understand that a deterrent sentence is unavoidable in the circumstances.'

Justice Tay said Teo had committed a very grave offence by taking a rifle and ammunition out of camp for his 'own purposes' - 'especially so in this age of increased security concerns everywhere'.

Why is a deterrent sentence unavoidable? Where is the victim here? Is Mas Selemat more dangerous or a confused NSF? How about a "deterrent sentence" too for those responsible for Mas Selemat's escape? After all Mas is still at large and has the potential to cause some really serious damage and harm.

He told the NSman who sparked a 20-hour manhunt on Sept 2, 2007, when he walked out of Mandai Hill camp with an SAR-21 rifle and eight rounds of bullets, and was finally tracked down to a toilet in a shopping mall the following day: 'Dave, you have had a very hard life.'

'I hope that this unfortunate and traumatic wrong turn in your life will make you much more mature and a whole lot wiser and that you will spend the next few years reconstructing your young life.'

Dave has already spent a year in jail. How does throwing him into jail for another 9 years help reconstruct his life? Do we compound an UNFORTUNATE turn in his life with a further "unfortunate" 9 years in jail? Doesn't make sense leh... So unfortunate hor??

'I hope that you will pursue your studies, listen to good advice from counsellors and learn many skills while in prison and that, upon your release, you will have a life full of meaning and purpose to honour the memory of your grandmother and your beloved younger brother.'

'It has been written, 'To everything there is a season.' There was a time when you loved, there came a time when you hated. There was a time when you felt you wanted to kill, now is the time for you to heal.'

'There was a time you were broken down, now is the time to build yourself up. There was a time when you were at war in your being, now is the time to restore peace within.'

'In spite of your difficult childhood and in spite of what you have done, do not ever give up on yourself.'

The judge talks a lot hor? I think he wants to because he knows the sentence is overly harsh and unjust. Are his hands tied? Is he really talking to make himself feel better for compounding Dave Teo's sufferings?

And what is the purpose of a deterrent sentence other than to send out a symbolic message? And is such a message even effective when applied to young men who momentarily lost their head or caught in a moment of passion? Becos the real problem isn't Dave Teo, but it is how the rifle and bullets were so easily taken out of camp. Humans have passion, another troubled upbringing, another confused soul, then what? Another deterrent sentence? 20 yrs then?

The punishment here does not fit the crime or the harm caused. The only victim here is Dave Teo, and maybe SAF's fragile ego and some elites' faces. But this is SG, and for unfortunate people like Dave Teo who falls through the crack, the system punishes them instead of helping them.

.