Random Discourse – Politicians and UFOs

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I find this hilarious article while flipping through my dad’s Shin Min a few days ago. I quote:

” 本報上月底曾報道，美國權威組織驚爆，3艘載有外星生物的巨型太空船，正從冥王星行駛軌道外向地球駛來，預計明年12月抵達地球。

國民團結黨秘書長吳明盛看了這則報道後，在網絡發表文章，稱自己曾見過像是飛碟的不明飛行物體 (UFO)。”

(Translation summary – Goh Meng Seng, secretary general of the NSP published an article on the web claiming he has also seen a saucer like UFO after it was reported on the Shin Min Daily that SETI reported 3 UFOs near the orbit of Pluto and is heading towards Earth. They are estimated to arrive in Dec 2012.)

I sincerely hope Shin Min Daily News [新明日報] was just blowing its own trumpet when it claims that Goh Meng Seng has made his UFO claim after seeing that article. The fact is, the article in question was not found in any other major newspapers in Singapore, other than making a brief appearance on the online version of the Straits Times. As far as I know, it was not reported on TV either. In other words, the article is false. It is about as true as the news of Facebook closing down in March 15 (or April 1st). Just how people can get suckered by that after Goldman Sachs Sux invest US$500 Million into it and valued it at US$50 Billion is beyond me.

The first point I want to make is this, whenever I come across such outrageous or shocking news, the very first thing I will do is to simply ‘google’ for it. Had the news been real, it would be all over CNN, MSNBC, BBC and the likes. Yet, I turned up completely nothing on the main stream media. The second thing to do is look it up at snopes.com. While snopes.com may not be the final authority in the topic, at least it would digest the article and explain what is true and what is not.

So what is the point I want to make here? The point I want to make is that Goh Meng Seng is not some nobody Ah Beng but the secretary-general of the National Solidarity Party [NSP]. He claimed that he does not really know whether the news about the three gigantic spaceship is real or not, but as I have mentioned earlier the news is easily verifiable. If he had indeed made this claim after reading just the Shin Min article without having even check how true this article is, I would consider him a fool. I would count myself fortunate that he had made it clear he would be contesting only in Tampines GRC, and not anywhere else. Had he made it known he’ll be contesting in my constituency, I would be forced to do something that is against my principles – i.e. to cast a bad ballot in the coming elections.

Frankly, just how can I trust someone who never verify the facts before making a statement? While it maybe statistically true that out of the billions of stars in the universe, there could be other life bearing planets and thus space-faring alien races, I am not particularly enthusiastic about meeting any of them. In fact, I would consider fleeing to Tora Bora to live in a cave just like a Osama Osalah Bin Laden if an alien arrival is imminent. The aliens can hunt me down and kill me like a rat in the caves, but I will not be slaughtered like cattle while gathering around with everyone else to welcome the ‘visitors’.

It makes me wonder what was Goh Meng Seng’s objective in making his UFO claims? Was he trying to reach a “certain segment of the electorate” using these outrageous claims? According to the Shin Min Daily’s article, Goh Meng Seng allegedly claims he is not worried to be considered a loony for making his ‘UFO sighting’ public. In spite of that, this reinforced my personal opinion that some of our local opposition politicians have some kind of mental (if not moral) problems. It reminds me of Dr Chee Soon Juan barking screaming madly at Goh Chok Tong and Steve Stiff Chia taking photo of his maid.

Perhaps, the rabid opposition supporters would dismiss this as yet another attempt by the local main stream media to discredit the opposition. After all, the local main stream media has always been considered a lapdog and propaganda machine of the Tali-PAP government gahmen. Fortunately for them, they can all flock to the biased sites like Temasek Review Terbalik Revue and The Online Citizen.

The SPH’s yang to the TOC / TR’s yin. Both sides have to exist to maintain the balance.

Random Discourse – 2010 Recap

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My pick for the top 10 news for the year 2010 (not in order of importance or significance)m and my opinion…

~ * ~

1. Mas Selamat ‘returns’ to Singapore
Malaysia finally ‘returned’ Mas Selamat on September 24 this year. I wondered whether they only did so after they had ‘phiak-phiak-ed him raw and shoot inside’ a few times.

Mas Selamat probably revealed very little useful intelligence to both Singapore and Malaysia, but what really amazed (and even amused) us about his ‘return’ is the revelation that his brother and niece harbored him and somewhat assisted in his escape to Malaysia. It is most shocking that the ISD didn’t keep tab on his family members and if I am not wrong, they even talked about the difficulty to keep tab on them. Meanwhile, they have the manpower to mount a manhunt in the jungle that lasted several days.

The incompetence and failure of Wong Kan Seng Kenna Sai is so glaring and instead of committing hara-kiri at the Padang resigning from his post to atone for his failures, he is made co-ordinating minister for National Security.

Is it a wonder why I (and even my old mother) don’t feel safe anymore?

2. Ming Yi’s Jail Term and Release
It is mind-bogging why his jail term was cut from 10 months to 6, considering the fact that his actions (along with those of TT Durai) has caused a drop in confidence in charity organisations among the general public. That means it will be harder for charities to raise fund and indirectly that means it will be harder to help those in need.

It is my considered opinion that laws and punishment for such ‘white collar crimes’ to be reviewed as there is an obvious disparity in punishment compared to some other crimes. I recalled there was once I was at the subordinate courts to ensure a friend don’t jump bail, and one of the person charged for stealing 6 packs of rice and was sentence to several years in jail. That’s not mentioning that a maid who had sex with an under-aged boy was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Frankly, whatever lingering sympathy I had for Ming Yi is gone after reading about an allegedly extravagant ceremony held in honor of his restoration as abbot. Though the temple has come clean on the amount spent, the question on whether it was necessary lingers.

This has no doubt further outraged many people who already felt that the sentence was too light and it reinforced my impression that Ming Yi is not repentant. In fact, one outraged individual commented that he will be ‘sending a pink G-string’ before the year is out, probably with regard to Ming Yi’s questionable relationship with accomplice Raymond Yeung.

Unfortunately, I no longer remember where I read that so I can’t share this hilarious comment with everyone.

3. City Harvest Probe
The investigations initiated by the Commissioner of Charities (COC) are apparently still ongoing, since there has been no further news on this matter since May. I wouldn’t comment much more on the matter itself directly until the investigations are over. In fact, even if some people are charged when the investigations are over, there’s not really much to talk about until a court of law has passed judgement.

While there is nothing much revealed by the authorities, what is interesting are some of the facts uncovered by the main stream media – such as the extravagant lifestyle that ex-pastor Ho Yeow Sun enjoyed in Los Angeles, the businesses run by ex-pastor (now businessman) Kong Hee, and the apartment(s?) the couple owned in District 6. It almost appeared that pastoring a church is in itself a ‘good business venture’, though I would be happy to see ex-pastors Kong and Ho ‘give until they hurt’.

What is even more interesting, however, is the reaction from what some considered its strongest ‘rival’ – New Creation Church – which immediately initiated internal audits of its own and released reports in an all too apparent attempt to stave off attention and criticism to itself.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations are, a ‘religious corporation’ is the worst of organised religion and the next worse thing to religious politics.

4. Pastor Rony Tan called up by ISD
The pastor of Light House Evangelism was called up by the ISD after he made some rude comments about Taoists and Buddhists.

First of all, it is common knowledge that Christian teachings held all other religions to be false. Most religions are exclusive. Even though different religious might agree that there are similarities in what their deity or founder teaches, few religions (if not none of them) would say: “If you do not believe in what I teach, check the opinion of *this other deity*”

I would have objected if someone deliberately go into a church and make a fuss about what is being preached in there. But posting the video online on a public site like Youtube is unacceptable. In fact, even when it is said within the congregation, there is no certainty that all attendees are Christians and that certain non-believers wouldn’t be offended. It does the Christian Gospel no good to preach a message that in any way denigrate the beliefs of another person.

My personal opinion is that while we as Christians may rejoice the turning of one man to God, we should not condemn those who has not. Often it is the actions and words of Christians that drives another person away from the Grace of God.

The messenger is the message. Let us be the salt and light as Jesus has commanded.

(There was a follow up attempt during the Chinese New Year period on the pastor’s alleged ‘homophobic’ remarks. I am tired of the activism of certain individuals pertaining to the matter of homosexuality. It annoys me that they had apparently spent their Chinese New Year holidays – a Chinese holiday dedicated to the reunion of the family and family celebration – to purposely look for videos of the pastor’s sermons to make a fuss. There is a difference between finding a remark offensive in a video and deliberately looking for videos containing offensive remarks.)

5. Orchard Road ‘Flood’
Before June 16th and July 17th this year, Orchard Road has not been flooded since 1984. If I recalled correctly, an article published in 1990 on one of the local papers even boasts that Orchard Road will never flood again.

What was really infuriating and disappointing wasn’t the fact that one of our major tourist attraction was flooded, but the fact that there was little accountability from those in charge. An excuse for the flood was found for the first incident in June 16th, but that was soon proven wrong when Orchard Road again flooded on July 17th. As if to rub salt on an open wound, SIngaporeans are told that ‘no engineering will solve the issue’.

Yep. No words of comfort for the poor shop owners who suffered loss in terms of material and business, and not even an attempt to pacify us with the usual ‘give the government gahmen time to evaluate the situation and to come up with a solution’ excuse. We are simply told nothing can be done about it. Are we expected to just shut the fxxk up after that?

It is high time that the Tali-PAP remember that the people are their bosses and they are not our overlords. If there is no humility in this gahmen nor any desire to serve the people, then it is high time (at least to me) that this gahmen be taught a lesson at the ballot box.

Never say no to your bosses!

6. The passing of Dr Goh Keng Swee
One of the founding fathers of our nation passed away after a long battle with his illness. In fact, since Lao Lee said that Goh single-handedly negotiated for the separation from Malaysia in spite of his wishes to remain in the Federation, I would have considered Dr Goh (and not Lao Lee) to be the Father of our young nation!

Much has been revealed about Dr Goh after his death. One of the things that touched me most was his dedication, sincerity and humility. Dr Goh was the son of a rich Malacca family, yet he would climb flights of stairs during the election campaign into slumps to shake the hands of his voters. It was even reported that he went to China as an advisor for absolutely no renumeration, a far cry from the money-faced mini$ter$ we have today.

You will be missed and long remembered, O Father of Singapore.

7. The passing of Mdm Kwa Geok Choo
Her contribution to the survival of our nation by having the Water agreement written into Malaysia’s Constitution will not be forgotten as well. But it is not just for this that I will remember her.

Though I have never met Mdm Kwa, I have read the many accounts of the lady who is the wife of Lao Lee. None of it is negative. These accounts include those of an older man who recall the story of Mdm Kwa joining a queue at a post office, and my friend’s experience as a guard during his NS in the Istana.

All of these accounts present an image of a humble person. Mdm Kwa’s refusal to flaunt her position as the wife of a Prime Minister has earn my respect regardless of my disdain for some of the old man’s recent remarks and comments.

Rest in peace, Mdm Kwa. You are a role model for the consorts of all future Prime Ministers. You have set a standard that remained unsurpassed to this day.

8. Resurgent Secret Societies
While the murder at Downtown East maybe shocking to some, it is not new though it has been a long time since I read about teenage gang fights. The last one I recalled was when I was still a secondary school kid – where someone was stabbed to death in Liang Court. That was a good 2 decades ago, at least.

It is my considered opinion that we should put all of these delinquents to death if possible. The next alternative would be to lock them away for as long as possible and throw away the key. The reason is simply personal, because I get phone calls from my nagging mother these days for just being out late. It has given her the impression that law and order has deteriorated very badly. Frankly, I am almost forty years old and I certainly don’t appreciate a ‘curfew’ and nagged like a young teenager.

So, kill these bastards all and let God sort them out. I wouldn’t even care about the means employed.

9. Wikileaks
I have always considered the invasion of Iraq to be unjust. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. While the video released by Wikileaks showing the murder of civilians and a reporter demonstrated the callous disregard of lives by certain elements in the American military, it is questionable whether the release of the video was any good at all. I don’t recall any of those personnel were punished, but it definitely outraged the Muslims all around the world and will definitely endanger the lives of US military personnel still engaged in the Afghan conflict.

Beyond that, the diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks is nothing interesting. It would have been more interesting had it been just celebrity gossip or ‘secrets’. While these cables may have caused embarrassment to some countries (even Singapore), it reveals nothing more than what some of us already known. In fact, had the same things been said in the coffee shop, it would be nothing more than gossip. It is my considered opinion that the revelation of this cables has done absolutely nothing to contribute to greater transparency in the operation of gahmens. Above all, it would have worsen relationships between certain countries and might even have stalled and set back certain diplomatic initiatives.

As a result of my negative view of Wikileaks, I mused in a Plurk that China’s Great Firewall (GFW) technology is better employed not to wall around users, but to wall around undesirable content instead. One person vehemently opposes this. His opinion was that no one should decide for anyone what information should reach the general public and it is up to readers to form an opinion. He may have a point since I don’t really care whether some people want to taste poison to decide for themselves whether it would be lethal or not. Then again, I suspect I would be denounced even for just saying this since who am I to even decide it is ‘poison’ in the first place?

Either way, Wikileaks is great for advertising certain products. For e.g.

Wikileaks… Leaks can be terrible and disastrous. Buy only this brand of condom / sanitation pad / diapers! No leaks! No leaks at all!!

10. Property Market Cooling Measures
The gahmen has taken action twice this year to cool the property market so I would not go into the actual details.

However, it has been a long time since Singaporeans feedback complained about the skyrocketing property prices, even if they might not have pin the blame on foreigners back then. The matter of a rising COV (Cash Over Value) is an indicator of this problem and the matter was brought up in a ‘coffee shop talk’ organised by the Young NTUC in September last year. Back then, mini$ter Grace Fu said the COV is not a matter of concern because COV has statistically remained flat at zero for long periods. Certainly, the gahmen is almost like the grizzly bear which has just awaken from hibernation, as only now has it finally heard and reacted to the groans of the people.

Mah Bow Tan Mabok Tongue and the Tali-PAP gahmen can say that rising property prices is a great thing as it increase the value of the asset owned by Singaporeans. But as a person who still have about 12 more years of housing loan to pay off, it really doesn’t matter a lot to me whether property prices are going up or not. After all, where am I going to live if I sell it off to cash in the profits? But I am definitely concerned about housing prices because it will be increasingly difficult for our next generation to own one.

Without a home to call their own, what else is there for our citizen army to defend? Are we to defend a place where foreigners live in luxury in a time of peace but flee when trying time approaches? It is curious that the gahmen has taken measures to address the two main gripes of Singaporeans this year – the broken immigration and the housing policies. In fact, it is even giving money to full time NSmen (NSFs) and Operationally Ready NSMen (aka reservists) as an ‘appreciation of their contribution’ to the country.

Some of them maybe pacified by these measures. But to me, it is too little and too late.

~ * ~

The above sums up my choice of the top 10 news for the year 2010.

Samsung Omnia 7 – Dislikes

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After using the Omnia 7 for a month and a half, these are the main things I don’t like about it (in order of most dislike to least dislike)…

  1. No cut and paste.
    So, after I read a page I like, I can’t cut and paste the link and email to my friends or post to Facebook like I did on the Blackberry Storm. I can’t figure out why Microsoft released it without this feature when this was the most laughed about thing about the first generation iPhone! (Rumor is that this will be fixed in the next update in February.)

  2. No Chinese text input.
    Duh! 他奶奶的微软，为什么没有中文输入法?!

  3. Can’t customise the ringtones / alerts / alarm ringer.
    It’s not the default ones are great at all. At least Nokia and Sony Ericsson’s default ringtone are nice. At least give me Windows’ startup.wav, can?

  4. Browser fails acid3 test.
    Doesn’t even get past 12/100 while Blackberry Bold 2 scored 100/100. So… fix that!

  5. Can’t directly manage contacts on phone.
    It is far easier to manage a contact from the mail client it pulled the contacts from.
    Doesn’t anyone writing this program ever have friends on Windows Live Mail having more than one email address? Try linking two Windows Live Mail contacts…

  6. No multi-tasking.
    If I switch to another app and back, it will reload everything. I.hate.waiting, geddit Microsoft?

  7. Fussy about the video format.
    Only plays .FLV and .WMV files, and even so some of them can’t be loaded to the device for unknown reasons.
    And it is rather ‘painful’ converting all those videos I downloaded from the Internet so I can watch them on the MRT.

  8. No file manager.
    Come on, even if you don’t allow me to open them on the phone, at least allow me to use it as a storage medium!

I wished it had Google Map too… but that’s not a dislike, just something I wanted because I liked it better than Bing Maps which came with the phone.

Recommended Read:
Chillycraps: Last Flight of the Harriers

Reform Party “Gala and Movie Night”

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Rachel invited me to this event several weeks ago. It is a film screening organised by the Women’s Wing of the Reform Party.

Since I generally have nothing much to do on weekends I decided to go to the event, which was at the Sinema Old School (at Mount Sophia) on 27 November 2010. Because it’s a long way in, and we have never been there in the past, we met up for coffee at Raffles City first before taking a cab in.

We arrived around 6:10pm and after identifying that we have brought the tickets for the event, we were given a goodie bag which also comes with the party’s first issue of ‘New Dawn’ and a small sticker for identification. Since I don’t know much of the people there, I generally kept to myself while Rachel pointed out to me some of the people well known on local blogosphere, such as an editor of The Online Citizen, and the author of Yawning Bread. Some other well known personalities who are present include the Reform Party’s (RP) Secretary Kenneth Jeyaretnam, along with Leong Tze Hian and British author Alan Shadrake, who is currently charged for ‘criminal defamation’. I joked with Rachel that one of the guy who stood apart all by himself may probably be an ISD agent though it is really unlikely an ISD agent would be so easily spotted.

We ate a little of the buffet and generally stayed in the air-conditioned shop until it was our turn to be seated for the movie – “Match made” by Mirabelle Ang.

The movie is actually a documentary about a 39-year-old Singaporean guy called Ricky who went to Vietnam to get a bride. Some parts were quite funny, especially when the girls are paraded before Ricky, very much like mamasans parade their girls to their customers in night clubs. Ricky will then ‘short list’ one or a few girls from each selection and I had to respect the girl’s courage and determination to look for a better life elsewhere even though I felt it was a little demeaning for those Vietnamese ladies. Many of these girls are almost 2 decades younger and the guy was always checking whether their year of birth, rejecting some when their Chinese zodiacs are not compatible.

From the ‘short listed’ ones, a translator will translate the questions from Ricky and the answers from the girls. The questions generally surround whether they are willing to live with the potential groom’s parents or why they wanted to marry out of Vietnam. In the end only two were selected and they were then taken to a clinic for a checkup the next day, ostensibly for diseases and whether they have been working girls. In my opinion, the main objective is a virginity check. When the matter was brought up, the Singaporean matchmaker (a Taiwanese married to a Vietnamese woman) vehemently denied being sexists and pointing out he is a father of three daughters.

Either way, once the final girl was selected, the movie went on to show the customary ceremony the couple has to go through in Vietnam. After the wedding dinner, Ricky returned to Singapore alone and the team then took us to the home and family of the bride called Nhanh. It also talked about how the girls are introduced to the matchmakers, and how much money her family gets (a measly US$350 – roughly 5,000,000 đồng, if I recalled correctly) from the matchmaker. As the bride cannot immediately join her husband in Singapore, it talked about how long it will take to apply the visas for the bride.

It will be at least 5 months before Nhanh arrives in Singapore, and the movie then ended abruptly. I will not reveal the ending so everyone can go watch it for themselves.

After the movie, there was a short speech by Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, an introduction to some of the members of the Women’s Wing, the Reform Party followed by a impromptu speech given by Hazel Poa – the RP’s first lady candidate for this coming election. I would say by the qualifications of these candidates – all of which are professionals with high academic qualifications, the Tali-PAP can no longer denigrate the opposition parties for failing to field talents. Anyway, I have never given much weight to a person’s qualifications as a party’s candidate as I am in the considered opinion that having good qualifications would simply show a person is well trained in a particular field, not necessarily a definitive measure of a person’s talents or intelligence. The seemingly close association of some of RP’s members with Dana Lam, the current president of AWARE where one male member mentioned that he was part the legal advisors which put Dana Lam and her team into place caused me some unease. A brief thought crossed my mind when I recalled that the author of Yawning Bread, who is known to be openly pro-homosexual, is also at the event. (I will touch on that thought later.)

This was followed by an auction which brought much joy and laughter to those present. I won’t touch too much on the auctions themselves other than to mention that it is very similar to people bidding to have dinner with Warren Buffet. In these case, members of the Reform Party will provide either a free dental service, legal counselling, etc for the highest bidder. All of the proceeds from the auctions will go into the RP’s funds for the coming election campaign.

Rachel and I checked the merchandise briefly once the auction is done but we made our way off soon after.

~ * ~

Now back to the matter of my brief thought. The entire hullabaloo surrounding the so-called AWARE ‘coup’ in 2009 and the subsequent counter-coup left me with a bitter aftertaste. While all consider it as religious fundamentalists attempting to subvert a secular organisation, few would remember the so-called ‘coup’ also revealed undesirable sex education content which were slipped into some of our schools by that organisation.

With that in mind, the thought of AWARE subverting the RP through members of its Women’s Wing which has swelled in numbers briefly crossed my mind after the names Dana Lam and AWARE were mentioned more than once. While I vehemently object to the Tali-PAP’s immigration and housing policies in specific (and somewhat agree with Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam’s views on those matters in the first issue of ‘New Dawn’), I will feel uncomfortable casting my vote for anyone who seems to be closely associated with AWARE.

I asked myself, does the RP have other agendas other than those already made public? Would the RP pick up where Siew Kum Hong has left off? As far as I am concerned, an NMP making a big fuss over Section 377A was bad enough. An elected MP with the backing of voters gnawing on that again will be even more unappealing.

After all, while the current immigration and housing policies are unpleasant and they entail material hardships, they are not quite as unacceptable as any attempts which will threaten to unravel the fabric of our society. The threat that I maybe party to putting candidates into Parliament, whom I suspect might go against my views of a stable society and also my freedom of faith, will weigh heavily in my voting decision.

Random Discourse – Woman now ‘owns’ the Sun

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Inspired by an American man who had registered himself as the owner of the moon and most planets in our Solar System, 49-year-old Angeles Duran, a woman in Spain told the online edition of the daily El Mundo that she now owns the Sun in late November 2010.

Miss Duran said she now wants to slap a fee on everyone who uses the sun and give half of the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20% to the nation’s pension fund. She would dedicate another 10% to research, another 10% to ending world hunger – and would keep the remaining 10% herself.

I doubt there is anyway for her to enforce her fees. After all, if she even tries she will get sued. To put it in an analogy, if someone has a spotlight and shines that light into another person’s house, he can’t charge anyone for using that light. In fact, it is likely he will get sued just like what happened between the neighbours in Everitt Road, Joo Chiat.

Outraged by Miss Duran’s hare-brained idea, I encouraged instigated Robert to create a Facebook Group called “I Want To Sue The Woman Who Own The Sun For”…

There are already some crazy ideas there. Feel free to like and join the group. Express your opinion and share with us just how we can turn the tables on Miss Duran and ‘make her life miserable’ if she even considers pressing her claims.

Pass this on to your friends if you like.

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