I see this topic but I cannot comment much on it.......

Coz when I was 16 or 17, my parents took me to visit Fujian to see ancestral village and visit relatives, and the usual tours, including visiting Forbidden City and getting my name inscribed on a medal with a Mao picture and the Forbidden City on the other side.

That medal coincidentally is hanging by my bedside. Just near me, as I type now on the computer. Been there for years.

So I cannot comment much.....

Meat Pao

I see that the title has been slightly modified.

Keep it up.

Meat Pao

This is an exellent example of Singapore success recipe.

Without the second graph up there, the first graph would have never existed.

Well pay and near-parity of its officials, politicians, and civil servants' renumeration with the private sector, is one of the major tenets of Singapore's success story.

Meat Pao

I read that he has registered another party and the leader will probably be one of his cousins.....

So we will see round 4 very soon.....

Thai Rak Thai....reincarnation--> PPP...reincarnation-->Puea Thai....

Thaksin...reincarnation--> Samak...reincarnation-->Somchai...reincarnation--> ? (coming soon)

I hope the Thai nation will be able to break the cycle of reincarnation and reach nirvana.

I am quite concerned about Thailand. But anyway, I am not a Thai, I dont have a real knowledge of what is going on there, even by reading news sources.

I am surprised though that at forums, here and elsewhere, there are Thais who seem to support PAD. This makes me think maybe they are not evil after all. I trust more the real Thai people rather than frustrated tourists or the talkative journalists.

Also, the theoretical talks about democracy and classism, maybe it is a little bit of overanalysis. I am imagining myself if I am a so-called midlle class or upper middle class Bangkokian maybe I will support PAD too, and I believe those middle class and upper middle class Bangkokian actually are the ones who know the best about their country and the politics.

Possible cause I was surprised to see some of them shopping at neighbourhood supermarkets......but I am not convinced Singapore will be able to attract them for long-term....except if it is willing to lower the standards

Originally posted by FireIce:

last time (about 8-to-10 years ago), when i playing those yahoo games and they ask ASL
i say 36/f/singapore, they will ask is singapore is part of china
i say no..

but i think now, i can proudly say........... yes....... soon........

 

Ehem.....

I see you always said you are 36 years old........

Mancha....actually ETA and IRA i think did have support from the population of their base, or at least partially.

It's the same isnt it, in this case when terrorists sympathizers go to street and chant "death to infidels", the root cause is due to the fact that those people in the streets are connected to an issue of a territorial, nationalistic, political, dispute. They are involved in it and they have an argument. They are involved in a dispute and a conflict.

But again, I find it fascinating that these territorial, nationalistic, political, conflict is not being seen as the root that it is. Rather, the manifestations of one side's terrorism and its link with their religious ideology is being seen as a root cause. It is not. It is not.

There is a wide ranging group of terrorists, ETA, IRA, LTTE in Sri Lanka, all these are not Muslims but they are involved in a territorial, nationalistic, political, conflict. Since they have no capability to win in a conventional war in a proper conduct of a gentleman's warfare, they get desperate and become crazy, they go for asymmetrical warfare.

The commonality is always, a conflict of a territorial, nationalistic, political, nature. And the losing side is the desperate side who would eventually turn very desperate and unleash an asymmetrical warfare. They resort to terroristic tactics.

OK let's say, let's say just by coincidence, the religious leaders say "we should all embrace infidels as fellow brothers and sisters from now on" Do you really think this kind of religious exhortation will solve the problem? No, their underlying desperation and their fundamental territorial, nationalistic, political, dispute will just manifest in other ways, they will use other kinds of rallying call and their self-psyching up will just take another theme and another flavour. They can just take a secular flavour, for example along an ethnic line, so now they change from religious chants into ethnic chants.

"Kill indifels" will just morph into "kill Americans".

The root cause I believe, is not due to these linkages with their religious ideology. I have my own comments about this using of religious teachings to achieve a goal in a dispute of a territorial, nationalistic, political, nature, but I am not very qualified because I am not a religious scholar, and anyways there are many experts and scholars who have already made their comments. But, it is important that we understand that this religious issue notwithstanding, it is not, definitely not, the root cause of terrorism.

 

Meat Pao

I will forward this thread to the police.

:D

Buy something for your Greek boyfriend. He will appreciate it.

 

Meat Pao

You are barking up the wrong tree......

If you look closely, the root cause of terrorism, is simple.

The root cause is always, territorial, nationalistic, political, conflict.

That is the primary reason.

As you can see the Palestinian and various other middle-eastern Arab terrorists, they are basically having a land dispute. Namely, there is a dispute of a territorial, nationalistic, political, nature.

The same can be said with Chechen terrorists. Again, territorial, nationalistic, political, root is the cause.

They wanted to make their own country.

This case, Mumbai attack, same again, these people are sympathizers and supporters of Kashmiri independence.

In each and every one of these so-called terrorism cases, the root cause is always one of territorial, nationalistic, political, nature.

When you look and focus on their religion or religious ideology, you are just looking at the secondary factor. It is not the primary reason. You forgot the real cause.

I would like to remind you that ETA and IRA in the past, also employed terroristic tactics, and they are not Muslims at all.

However there is a similarity, and always there is this similarity. ETA and IRA had a dispute of a territorial, nationalistic, political, nature.

Another example, in 1970s there was a group of Japanese terrorists, forgot the name, and they were not Muslims either.

So you see.

 

So the commonality of all these terrorism factors, is one of territorial, nationalistic, political, nature.

In some cases, when the protagonists and the belligerents got so desperate, they are willing to inflict a cost and a damage to the other side, without paying due regard to proper conduct of a gentleman warfare. They resort to terroristic tactics. They are desperate, filled with hatred, pushed to corner, and dont care anymore.

Some of them will use justifications of an ethnic nature or a personal nature or ideological nature, or perceiving their acts as a rightful revenge, some of them will look deep into their philosophy and religious teaching to find justification and courage.

Of course, all acts of terrorism is wrong, I agree with that. There is no moral grey area in this regard. It is absolutely wrong. However when you look only at their secondary soul-searching or self psyching up by searching deep into their religious beliefs, and then you point at that, and blame that, I think you are being rather short sighted and you miss the real reason altogether.

So whether they are ETA, IRA, Japanese terrorist, Kashmiri terrorist, Chechen terrorist, or all sorts of terrorist acts do not have a religion as a commonality, rather, the commonality is a conflict of a territorial, nationalistic, political, nature.

 

Meat Pao

Very much disagree......you should not be thinking about how to stop PAP....but how to prolong PAP....

If you love Singapore and Singapore people and thinking about the future of your grandchildren, then you should be thinking about how to prolong PAP.

I had a dream, I was staying and living in a kind of dormitory or something. Apparently I was a new police officer. But in my dream, that dorm was not a police dorm, it was like a mixed students dorm. And at that dorm, a crime had happened. I think a murder took place. Although this instance was short in my dream, there was not much gory or violence, it was just a short mention, like a brief CSI introduction.

After that I notice something as I was walking around in the dorm and maybe took a shower, I notice a few things a bit off with one of the residents there. I suspected he was involved in the crime.

Then after a while I tagged him and investigated him, and also shared my concerns with another policeman. I remember my policeman friend, he is rather short and well built.

After a while one time we were following this suspect as he was walking outside, heading somewhere. Then we made the decision to arrest him. There was a brief struggle. I remember pulling out my gun, it was small, a kind of a small gun. And the suspect also pulled out his gun, another small gun. But no shots were fired, in fact I was thinking and saying to my friend, look, this is the proof, he must be the criminal.

But one thing we were doing, was to look for bullets, because his gun has no bullets in it. But then I remember we found bits and pieces of something like allumunium or iron, and melted iron, and finally a round iron, like an ancient bullet, and finally we said, aha, finally we found the bullets, ok we have enough evidence.

Then the 3 of us are back in the dorm. I remember something like a shower queue and I said to my policeman friend, who had just finished his bath, hey, lets arrest and take the suspect to police headquarters. He said ok. So we looked for the suspect who was in shower queue and said, hey come with us, we are arresting you. He said some things which I forgot now, and seem to be mildly reluctant, then I handcuffed him. I took out a handcuff and handcuff him.

Then we were at police station. There was a kind of interrogation room, and me and my policeman friend were explaining to the interviewer about our findings and produced the evidence, the gun and the weird bullets.

But at that time maybe I was already half-awake from my dream, I remember thinking to myself, this is irrational, what kind of bullets are these, these look like melted iron from solder work. I must be having a silly dream, the police interrogators there at HQ would not be believing me, I made a mistake, this is a little disappointing, I thought I had a solid case and I have proven myself as a good new police officer.

Then after that....mmm....yaa....more or less...this is my dream....I missed a few bits and pieces but roughly that was how my dream went....

I didnt know I was so interested to become a policeman subconsciously.....lol

 

Meat Pao

Why dont you read one of the books by Kishore Mahbubani, he is an excellent thinker and if you read a few articles on the internet by him you will get an idea.

 

Btw, according to him, Iranians consider Persian civilization to be on par with Chinese civilization but above Indian civilization since they tought Indians many things.

 

Now emergency is declared at those 2 airports....means the police and military can storm and take over......

I think most likely they will be forced to do that anyway....coz there is no way to tolerate non-functioning airports for very long, right..?

I mean they can tolerate people sitting in government house, they can just move to another venue, but airports..?? Especially airport in capital city, it is too damaging.

I am waiting, it seems there will be a confrontation and a forced flushing of the protestors.

My condolences.

Singapore is just a small nation.....so I am less worried about foreign intelligence mucking around and sabotaging in Singapore, or trying to steer its foreign policy one way or another.

So, in that sense, the threat coming from within Singapore is relatively low-level, from certain radicalized people who wanted to take arms and avenge perceived injustices.

That is totally different with Bali Bomb, Mumbai Attack, etc, 9/11, all those are bullshit attacks which I am 99% sure have the involvement of foreign intelligence agencies.

It is interesting that these groups of people now attacking Mumbai are supposedly targetting British, American, visitors, as well as a Jewish center, while airing their grievances about Kashmir. I am just imagining about all this and I think it is very absurd. A group of teenagers and early 20s doing all this..? If they care about Kashmir why should they care about Jews..? Now it generate a lot of headlines from Western media sources as well as Israeli media outlets. I think it is highly probable to be another bullshit false-flag operation.

My condolences to the people of Thailand.....

Im not sure what those people want....

Democracy surely is not what they want, since they want to forcibly topple an elected government.

But I blame the police and army the most....they are too passive, in fact waiting for the government to collapse....if they want, they can start arresting and disbanding the demonstrators.

Tell him that you object.....and want him to be faithful....in mind and in spirits....

I think he will understand.

ohh...its terrible news indeed...

If I were you...maybe it is better to calm down first...and give some time to think....

Those SMSes and emails etc....might not mean that he has gone into a serious relationship with other women....my feeling is that he just like to flirt.....especially if there are 3 women....it means he is not having a serious affair...most likely playing/ flirting...with anyone he likes....and it seems there is a chance his flirting is only at SMS level, or maybe chat/ drinks with those women, it might not have progressed into an intimate contact yet......

It seems to me your hubby doesnt take the marriage seriously....he still like to fling around...that type of guy....

First give urself some time to think through...and then think maybe you can have a serious talk with your hubby and tell him to take his marriage seriously, and no more flirting with other women.......

But if the relations has progressed into intimate contact with those women....well, that is a serious sin, and its up to you whether you want to forgive him or not. But if I were you, firstly I will try to find out the true nature of his flirtings.

If they come and post arguments rebutting the critism against them, why cant they do that..?

after all, that is the idea of a forum...?

This is a place for open discussion, for everyone, isnt it..?

And if they are party members, or sympathizers, then they really do believe in what they are believing in, and they are conveying their beliefs and their viewpoints, why cant they do that...?

Just look around, it seems there are party members or sympathizers of opposition parties here too, maybe 10-to-1 ratio, and why dont you lambast them too..?

In fact I see a few SGForums members with logos of opposition parties, and is that supposed to be wrong too..?

I dont see whats the big deal.

So-called greater democracy will bring factionalism and it will be to the detriment of Singapore. I am convinced of this.

In my opinion, there is not enough balanced discussion about this idea.

Firstly, there is too much enthusiasm or support, while not enough considerations being thought about the possible pitfalls of greater democracy. Similarly, too much negative sentiments being aired about present system, without enough balance and considerations on the benefits.

If you want to be rational, then you have to be brave. Brave to look at both sides.

Brave to see and think what are the possible pifalls of greater democracy, and brave to see and recognize what are the benefits that the present system has served for Singapore.

If you just want to think that there is something that is wrong, and you just believe of the concept of greater democracy like some kind of "sacred cow" or "ultimate goal" or a "cure-all pill" then I think this kind of thinking is wrong.

But unfortunately I see so many of these ideologues here in SgForums. I am in the minority. Once in a while, someone come along and say the same things like me, but mostly we are outnumbered 10-to-1.

Why does it have to be Lee Dynasty this....Lee Dynasty that...

Lets leave that issue aside for a moment.....or ok...lets talk about it....

In my opinion, people should not overemphasize on this issue, because there are certain human limitations that we are functioning in as a society. I think we just have a natural tendency in this matter.

For example, it is common to see a doctor father, son becomes a doctor too. Or a soldier father, son become a soldier.

In terms of social acceptance, a family connection does have its effect. It does have an influence, and I see it work as recently as in US election (Hillary Clinton, wife of a president, and George.W.Bush, son of a president) , so in this case, Singapore is not much different than the so-called democratic country like USA, or Philipines, where senator son become senator. Or Pakistan, where a husband of a leader become a leader himself.

So what does it all mean...? It means there is something intrinsic, innate, about family connections and how we function as a society. For better or worse, this is just how we are as humans, and how we view other people. Just accept it. For thousands of years we are like this, and we will be like this for thousands years more.

Now to come back to the issue of two-party system. In my opinion, this will be probably the most foolish non-solution ever to be devised. You will sabotage yourself severely. Because this situation will bring factionalism. If you have people grouped into two groups, give it two banners, two names, they will start to fight each other. It is very simple. Just like two group of football fans who support two different teams. Sometimes if you watch hooligans videos fight each other, you would wonder, why in the world they fight each other, no rhyme no reason, just different banners and names and colours.

But the factionalism in football hooligan fights is the same with factionalism in politics.

We just see countries like USA, Democrats vs Republicans, or Taiwan KMT vs DPP, or even like India with its multi-party, or Indonesia, Thailand, all the same, I guarantee you the same will happen in Singapore, in fact it has already happened and is happening and ongoing in Singapore, but with a smaller scale, because there is one  much dominant party. But it has in fact manifested itself, and brought costs to Singapore and its ordinary people. One example is the selective upgrading, no rhyme no reason, poor people cannot have better HDB or better street lights because of factionalism in parliament. This is one concrete example. There will be more such cases if two-party system ever were to be foolishly created in Singapore.

Make two parties system for what...?

It will bring factionalism.

Factionalism is a serious cost and will render Singapore worse off than before.

First, let us think clearer.....in my opinion, these ideas about two-parties system, or other permutations and ideas, are being discussed due to a general feeling that there is a disconnect between the government and the governed. Some people are bored and want to see change. However, it cannot be assumed that two-parties system or more vibrant political landscape will bring political contentment, or results. It cannot be assumed that this is the pill, the prescription.

We just need to look at factionalism and party politics in other countries and see what the result is, and how it affects common people. Are ordinary people in those countries neccessarily more politically contented, and feel more in touch and connected with the government elites..?

I just dont think so.

This is not the solution. Maybe there is no solution.

But one thing is for sure, more factionalism = more chaos, slower decision making, it is bad for Singapore.

I hope there will be a drizzle later....it will be good and cooling....

Mmm...ya...this is very dilemmatic.....I dont know what to say....I think only someone who has close understanding of all personalities involved, can find something as a solution....

Mmm.....maybe you should give yourself some time to think...

But let me tell you something....weddings is a stressful event....and it is common to have arguments, to have sensibilities heightened, and to have hurt feelings....so everyone should be extra patient for this period....