Hero

No, I wasn’t about to discuss about some enigmatic being in black cape driving a bat shaped automobile of any sort, nor someone in red cape and underwear worn on the outside.

I just happened to return from a movie outing with the missus, she; in her usual movie buff persona (and a fan of Takuya Kimura) had been pestering me to watch the show for the past week, so I guess I had to oblige her, although I’ll really prefer some mindnumbing violence in the likes of 30 Days of Night after a dreary long week in the office. To be honest, I know pretty much next to nothing about the show except for the fact that this movie was actually a popular Japanese TV series, with a nice theme song by Utada Hikaru.

Not being a follower of the TV series franchise, kinda makes one feel like a reader trying to understand the life story of Harry Potter just by reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Nonetheless, the main idea of the story managed to pull through while leaving me (a first timer to the franchise) in proverbial dust trying to grasp at loose ends at secreted jokes and storylines.

          

The lack of understanding immediately shows at the start of the movie while Kuryu Kohei (Takuya Kimura) was watching some TV ad with a pseudo spanish soccer star promoting a spanish soccer review, a delivery man sent a package of you guess what? Yes, a box containing that review along with the soccer star’s figurine and a learn-spanish-as-you-go-along CD. Much to Kuryu’s dismal, the review is actually written in spanish, then realising that the CD is meant for the purpose to learn spanish in order to read the review. (At this point in time of the movie, my brain was actually screaming INANE! I am not exactly sure what other followers of the franchise might make out of this portion of the movie, but for me, its just a pure vacuous segment).

The inanity of meaningless (to me) plots continued with Kuryu and the rest of the public prosecuting team, watching a social dance competition with two of their colleagues participating in it Misuzu (Nene Otsuka) and Takayuki (Fumiyo Kohinata), with them crashing out of the tango competition after Takayuki attempted an ill-fated jump in the midst of their sequence, with the result of him being carried out on a stretcher with a sprained ankle; much to the consternation of Kuryu and the rest of the gang (and me; while pondering cluelessly if this had anything to do with the main plot).

The story finally moves on to the main plot, relating the return of Kuryu to the Tokyo public prosecutor office after six years of exile to the Yamaguchi prefecture, with Kuryu quickly picking up a manslaughter case after it was transferred to him from his colleague Shibayama (Hiroshi Abe) whom was embroiled in a divorce case. From the onset, the case looked straightforward with the suspect already confessed to the crime during the interview with Shibayama, while all Kuryu needs to do is to step forward to prosecute him, though little did he know that the suspect Umebayashi is going to be the key alibi for an ex-transport minister Hanaoka whom was being investigated for corruption in the background.

The prosecution then snagged on tripwire as the suspect denied involvement in the killing of the victim, pushing the case from a simple prosecution of a confessed suspect into a full-blown litigation. The story then proceeded apace, while drearily prancing through its steps as the prosecution were continually foiled by the expert defense of the virtuoso lawyer in the likes of Goma (Koshiro Matsumoto) - whom was actually hired by Hanaoka. While the prosecuting team, Kuryu and Amamiya was forced to travel to Korea, in order to find new evidence to prove Umebayashi’s manslaughter case.

The whole Korean segment, beyond the scenes that they were searching relentlessly for an evidence, it was more about setting up both Kuryu and Amamiya together as a couple than anything else. With Lee Byung-Hun being thrust into the cameo role as inspector Kang, with scenes lasting no longer than a few minutes in the final quarter of the movie, him being there was just so to provide a catchline for the main casts’ final scene. The final part of the movie had Hanaoka being thrust into the limelight as he was being summoned as a prosecution witness against Umebayashi, where he had his own statement given in his own corruption case turned against him as he had named Umebayashi as his alibi; which was proven to the contrary.

The story ended with Kuryu and Amamiya sitting in a restaurant, where Kuryu had the parting words of inspector Kang translated by a Travelmaster (a translation device), telling him not to leave Amamiya. He then said in spanish promising her that he wouldn’t, with the ending scene stopped at the frame where the both of them were locked in a kiss.

I would have to the say that the story is entertaining with its very own saccharine sweet silliness coupled with a crowd winning working class hero in the likes of Takuya Kimura, I mean, he is extremely charming in his own peculiar sense. While I do not even honestly believe that an actual courtroom scene in Tokyo could even be enacted as such as in the movie (or even perhaps the TV series). The main plotline is followable with the main characters chasing around for key evidences to convict the suspect while imparting the message that the truth is out there and justice is always available should one is willing to push hard enough for it. What is hard to follow, was the numerous apparent subplots that are only accessible to followers of the TV series such as the travelmaster thingy (from what I was told), while the rest of us (the newcomers) are left scratching our heads in apparent confusion.

Bush and peace

                                                   

 We all know the day when George W. Bush decides to talk peace, you probably know that something very wrong is in the works.

For a man whom would rather use the American war power against those whom would dare to stand against him in the post 911 global conundrum; as we could just simply look at the deposed Saddam Hussein of Iraq and the former Taliban controlled Afghanistan. George Bush’s message to the world is clear, its either you stand with us or against us in the new world order where the word terrorism carries the connotation of threat against American interests.

Perhaps it should be made clear that George himself probably does not care about what is actually going on in taliban infested Afghanistan, or whether Saddam Hussein’s Iraq really posed any threat to Middle East stability and American national security (which we already know they don’t possess any weapons of mass destruction). But the plain and simple fact is that he is going to war anyway, and all he needs is a reason, and 911 gave him that.

War, brings about alot of things, if you had not realised by now, much of America’s economic success happened during periods of extreme strife and chaos, and I could give you two examples in both World Wars I and II, during WWI, America mobilized its economy, manpower, and resources to aid in the fight in Europe by the order of President Wilson, in the aftermath of the war, the whole of Europe was pretty much in shambles, while America’s primary industries remain largely unharmed, and the result was that America had to supply alot more goods and loans to Europe, allowing for a period of sustained economic growth for the United States.

  Wars are by no means cheap, to set things into perspective; World War I cost all fighting nations an estimated US$337 billion dollars, and after adjusting for inflation would now cost an estimated US$4.59 trillion dollars. And perhaps you can make a guess at how much money have the fighting nations borrowed from America, and the interests that they would have to pay.

Continue on,  do you really think that all those money spent in wars had nothing to do with politics? Defense contractors are among some of the most ready donors to political parties in the United States, from General Dynamics (manufacturers of M1A1 MBTs) to Lockheed Martin (Manufacturers of F-16 Fighting Falcons & F-22 Raptors), and they have some of the most powerful lobbying firms at their beck and call in Washington due to the amount of money involved…

I’ll leave your minds to connect the dots while I continue.

Was it really hardly anyone’s guess that Bush would turn to the Middle East again after creating a havoc in Afghanistan and Iraq? The problem is yes, the fact that he would have to return to the region after his disastrous war management in Iraq in order to pay lip service to the Move-on groups, Democratic camp, and of course his own disenchanted and probably disenfranchised Republican supporters and constituents by making a show of peace overtures to the region. One of the few places that he could target without causing much discomfort to the defense lobbies are the places that are unlikely to increase profit margins, while massaging the egos of the Jewish lobby in the capitol, and that is the Palestinian - Israeli conflict.

Could we really expect George Bush to succeed where the charismatic Bill Clinton could not after years of sustained diplomatic efforts? NASA would probably have a better chance of hitting the jackpot by finding exterrestrial lifeforms before the year end than to expect results from Bush’s rhetoric. With Bush weakened politically, he would face much skeptism not just from his targets, but from leaders of the region, domestic foes and probably even from his own supporters.

After years of tough talking, bunker busting, and administration failing crap from the man whom americans had entrusted to protect them, it had finally came to the point where Bush would have to resort to a ’show’ of peace to chalk up points in his final year of administration before the report card is marked, and showed to the rest of America for posterity.

Well, if there is anything else, they are probably better off awaiting for the next presidential elections in 2008.

The Price of Competency

There is always a price to pay, no matter what you do, what you eat or drink, what you buy, or even the distance that you walk. 

Yes. 

Even the distance that you walk could be computed into simple dollars and cents by the meter. Such as the deterioration or depreciation of the Nike sneakers that you wear, the water moisture and energy expended on such an endeavor, and the cost of replenishing it could all be calculated and be slapped with a price tag. Humans have became such economic creatures that we have started to calculate the intrinsic value and cost of whatever we do in order to place a proper price tag for the jobs we do, food we eat, time spent in the toilet and even the cost of making a pass at the babe across the street. All for the sake of efficiency and cost effectiveness, such is a phenomenon that we could not avoid. 

Even when I was a production planner back in my previous company, the process engineers that I work with, would tirelessly attempt to create ever more efficient production layouts, system designs, and even  new walkways just so to ever decrease the time spent by the operator to walk to the toilet and back from the production floor. Everything has a price to them, something which I have seen magnified by the most inane proportions by such companies. Even to me, the cost of hiring those process engineers for the sake of redesigning walkways, production floor layouts and making suggestions to acquire newer machines simply outweigh the small savings that the company could possibly make from such implementations.

Who implements them you might ask?

In any of such scenarios, the management would have the ultimate decision to implement any of the above said changes. Therefore, the capability of the management to know what is presented before them, to be able to recognize and properly access any of the proposals submitted to them are thus important in the implementation of any policies. Otherwise, it would result in flawed policies, and in turn result in increased costs, and therefore loss of revenue for the company. Depending on the impact of the implemented policy, it could result in perhaps nothing more than arrears of more than a few thousand dollars in the balance for the company, which the accountant would probably dismiss as calculation variables, or more drastically, resulting in the redlining of the company’s profits, resulting in major restructuring of the said company’s policies.

What is the price tag for these people in management positions to make such decisions then? 

Our tendency to put a value on every single activity in the bid to reduce cost and increase effectiveness (productivity you might call it), has to be balanced by capable leadership. And even such leadership comes at a definite price, the average CEO of a Standard & Poor’s 500 company, they received $14.78 million in total compensation for the year of 2006. Yet, question that begs us is, are they truly worth that amount of humongous payout year after year? Do all of them make ingenious strategies every year that allows their respective companies to make another record profit making year? Even as we look at Forbes ranking for most efficient of CEOs in comparison to their pay scales, for the fiscal year of 2006, the most efficient CEO John Bucksbaum of General Growth Prop earns a measly 0.23 million, 491^st on the money list, while Lawrence Montgomery of Kohl’s earn 10.05 million, 141^st on the money list, while languishing at the bottom of the efficiency charts. 

What does all this tell us?

A standard simply do not exist on the proper valuation of leadership competency. As we have seen in the example which I have listed above, even as we try to put a value on the ability of a person to head a company, one could still pay a humongous sum of money to attract top talents or supposed competent figures to do a job, yet, one could still find themselves ended up with monkeys. 

There are simply too many factors to relate to the computation and calculation of the proper remuneration for competency at management levels. It could base on the company’s directors valuation of their CEO, the company’s profit margin, share value, productivity, administrative efficiency, relationship to the board of directors, approval ratings, and so on. We could try to focus on a single aspect of job valuation based on the company’s valuation and shareholder returns for that company, to rate the leadership performance of the captain. Yet, while this might be applicable in a dedicated business on creating wealth, would this model be equally applicable to other organizations where leaders requiring a uniquely different set of qualities are needed to man the helm? 

Indeed, it is question that could continue to beguile us all for many years to come. Try as we might while we continue to solve the world’s mysteries and its many wonders. Sometimes, it is the very solutions that we created, that heap more problems on our common sensibilities. Till the next time.

Of insurgence and inconsequence

Many people would probably have heard of the news by now, whether its through the mainstream papers or have seen it in on some of the notable blogs. That the ruling party have finally decided to answer their online critics from a pro-establishment view.

 There are many other personalities on the net whom were already conducting their own witchhunts with regards to this news report. Most of which unfounded, serving nothing but to add perceived chaos to the blogosphere over its announcement. As of the moment to date, I would have figured that Kway Teow Man had probably had the distinction of the web personality as been the most pro-establishment centrist figures that had been targeted for as a suspect for a ruling party activist. It is perhaps true that Kway Teow Man might not be the most popular figures on the web for his mostly nonchalant and perhaps pragmatic views on most of the issues pertaining to government policy. Yet, of course, there were points which he did raised as simply nothing more than what a practical and pragmatic Singaporean whom would perhaps agree on. Pardon me, I’ve digressed, for this is not a post to discuss about KTM’s rhetoric or position, nor am I planning to. What I was trying to make aware is that, based on whatever that has been said or reported, there is no reason nor stimulus to carry out a witchhunt on whom is a PAP supporter or activist.

There are probably alot of rumourmongers, churning their mills with their doomsday stories with regards to ruling party activists posting pro-PAP comments while impersonating other popular personalities, or spreading insidious rumours and inciting the netizens against the moderates on the web by painting them as pro-establishments. Most of these rumours are unfounded, nor are they credible in the face of technology and political reality. Lets face it, its one thing to post anonymously, writing in and stating pro-PAP comments and providing counter-arguments on the net, and another to incite insidious actions as those I’ve described above. The web is not as secure a place to make insidious comments and expect to extricate oneself fully from the scene, the possible political backlash that might result from any of such insidious actions, would only serve to justify the majority anti-establishment sentiments, and tarnish their advertised squeaky clean image. This is not the kind of gamble nor a logical move that I expect the incumbent to make.

 Looking from the ruling party’s viewpoint, it probably serves their best interest to have party activists, especially those of which who truly believed in PAP’s doctrines, and one whom understands their viewpoints and positions to provide counter arguments against those that might surface on the net, whether its on popular forums or blogs which netizens usually gather to comment on issues. Serving to provide a counterbalance to the already saturated anti-enstablishment viewpoints, information gathering for the PAP with regards to the netizens views on major policies, and perhaps trying to convert the moderates to their side with a new batch of anonymous reformed evangelists.

Pondering about the possibilities with regards to their anonymous foray into the net, are the ones that I think could only prove more exciting in the upcoming days as a netizen, and perhaps partially as a disillusioned citizen. If there is anything I agree with Mr Baey Yam Keng that was stated in the report, is perhaps that the identity truly does not really matter in this particular move. What is going to be debated are going to be the issues presented upon the blogs and forums which are already there for all to see. It does not matter to me if the person whom is going to rebut me with regards to my views have a vested interest on the issue or not, its a matter of whether that person’s views held up against mine, and the rest of the blogosphere.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Apologies and dreams

Well.. it seems that I had been away for a long time, which infact I have, I do have to apologise to those who still keeps track of my non-existent blog (mindfully taking note of the counter tracker).

 Indeed, I have been busy, busy with keeping the more practical needs of my life within this hectic sphere of economic success (or failure to some), that I had to constantly ensure the dough flowing into my bank account, or I’ll have the banks, insurance agencies, phone companies, LTA, HDB, the town council, or even Durex screaming after my ass. Why yes, such is the real world in the life of a typical average working Singaporean. Hmm.. Singapore Dreaming anyone?

 We seemed not to be working for the embetterment of our lives anymore, to enrich our souls, where extra dough simply means a way to enjoy better, to allow ourselves or our dependents to sleep in a relatively better comfort. Such is just a mere dream, where work for the average Singaporean, becomes a daily struggle to ensure survival, to keep up the race to ensure food on the table, roof above our heads, or even water to flush the toilet bowls.

Unfortunately, I have not been exaggerating, that is a fact of life in Singapore. One could no longer hope that his or her meagre savings, such as the one which we have in our CPF accounts to survive us once we are well over into our retirement. We have to look 20-30 years into the future, and work towards a minimal amount of dollars and cents that could help subsist us beyond retirement.

Though today, I don’t really intend to go into a lecture to teach people on how to ensure their survival in Singapore. Trust me, I don’t wish to, since I hate thinking that far ahead. Personally, I am one of a more insouciant nature, believing that there are hardly any constants in nature, people, like many things are subject to and of changes. And I, like half of the young people in Singapore, don’t wish to stay here.

So many times, I had to constantly revisit my dreams, ensuring that they are up to date. Looking back at my previous sentence, I seriously couldn’t help chuckling out loud. Yes,  I understand that this is supposed to be my serious blog but, could we really have a dream that could survive the rigours of changes and the passage of time? I might have believed that persistence and hard work towards a goal would reap its rewards perhaps 15 years ago. Now I believed that maintaining a clear head, having a vision and constantly keeping your reality checked coupled with hardwork and persistence could you ensure that you have a viable dream.

 I probably understand that many romanticists will probably scorn me for my previous paragraph. But let me tell you something..

Get real

So after all that rambling, do you know what my dream is? =)

 

And yes, time for me to go back to my real world. Till the next time people…

Azmodeus

Keeping my promise.

His comment to Zagy -

Our forebears and our leaders had adopted a “first to worry thine country’s woes, last to consume thee fruits of labour” view, expressing their concern of the nation’s wellbeing by putting one’s honor and glory on the line. Have you ever considered about the future of the next generation? Such that when you leave this world, that our nation would be better than the one you had arrived in? For a lotus blooming forth from the earth, it still needs to survive the rites of the various challenges, of societal changes, in order to stand tall; only through everyone’s hard work, contributions, and relentless self-improvement, with added value and recognition, creating our own feelings of rootedness, will there be a better composition for tomorrow.

My comment to his entry -

It’s a pity, should everyone holds true to such views, perhaps there would not be chaos that runs rampant in the world, no conflicts, corruption of power, personal greed, or hatred.

From the perspective of Singapore, our current prosperity, is indeed gained through the hard work of our forebears, yet, people in their moments of wealth and power, have a tendency to forget to return part of their success back to the society. Either that, or in the bid to gain more power, more advantage, and through that, forcing the less priviledged to provide more.

 The people do not mind contributing more, putting themselves on the line, as long as that could allow the rest of the populace, its next generation, to live a better life. But when these people realised that, the resources which they have helped garnered had been used to distribute to the hands of a few elites, yet seeing some within the society dropping behind, unable to utilise the resources which they had contributed or enjoy the fruits of their labour, there was a sense of disillusion, and disenchantment.

The old, or those found wanting, would constantly hear those sitting atop their pedestals, making proclaimations that they would not be forgotten, that they would not be abandoned. Yet, when the country’s resources were not disseminated to them, and still expect those, some of which, might still be struggling; to provide more love, care, and concern to aid them.

 How hypocritical..

That which the ruling elite do not wish to commit to, wants the citizenry to pick the burden, while at the same time, do not wish to hear their pleas.

We all wish for a united, peaceful home that is filled with warmth, a place where its citizens are proud to recognise themselves as one. Yet, when the country gets more affluent, there are those whom could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. When the ruling elites asked for more from the citizenry, one could see no end in sight of the calls for more.

 This place.. is it still our home?

先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐

It means,

First to worry thine country’s woes, last to consume thee fruits of labour.

Such beautiful words, epitomising the highest values of governance. One that I did not expect to see on our P65 MPs blog. But yes, I’ve seen it written by one whom had left a comment on Zaqy’s post.

For those whom wish to see the whole entry in context, do visit his blog here. I’ll not say more, for it was apparent that the person whom left these words had high hopes for our government. But I have left my comment to him in his blog, and will reproduce it here for your benefit.

His comment to Zagy -

我们的先辈与我们的领导们以“先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐”，表达了关心国家命运，把自己的荣辱得失置之度外的崇高精神。你是否为下一代考虑过?当你一命归天时，我们的国家状况是否会比你降生时更好?”莲花出污泥后的灿烂，还需经得起社会各种变化的冼礼，才能毅力不倒，只有通过全民的付出，奉献，不停的自我提升，附加价值与认同感，共创我们认同的感觉，才有明天会更好的谱曲。

My comment to his entry -

很可惜,如果人人都有如此崇高的精神,也许世界就不会有战乱,不会有纷争,跟不会有权利,私欲,与仇恨的存在.

而从新加坡的角度来看,我们现在的富裕,的的确确是我们先辈的耕耘所种出的果实.可惜的是,人人往往在得到成功与富裕的时候,也就是忘记如何回归社会的时候.要不然,就是为了更多的权利,更多的利益,要求人民得继续为国家而奋斗.

人们不介意为国家而奋斗,不介意舍身取仪,为的就是能够让这国家的人民,后代,过更好的生活.可是当这些奋斗者发现,自己的付出所换取的资源只分配到一些精英的手上,而看到一些落后在社会里的人,得不到他们所奋斗的果实时,觉得茫然,悔悟.

年老的,残缺的,只听到高高在上的领导人说,你们是不会被遗忘的,社会不会放弃你们的.可是却不愿把国家资源分配到他们身上,而要在奋斗的人民,有更多的爱心,更多的慈善精神来帮助他们.

好虚伪阿..

领导人不愿做的事,要人民来承担,却不愿听到人民的牢骚.

我们都希望有一个团结,和谐,拥有温馨与认同感的家.可是但国家变得越富裕时,却有人看不到曙光,国家要求越多时,人民却看不到尽头.

这里.. 还是家吗?

Do pardon me for the lack of translation, something which I’ll do in time after this current phase of heavy workload.

Regards,

Hogwash Tsunami

So it seems that I had gone for a longer hiatus than I had planned for. I guess when work does catch up to you; it comes in torrents reminiscent of a tsunami.

Heh. It seems there had been a lot of subjects running about in the blogosphere at the moment, from the discriminatory revision of the penal code against homosexuals, unequal protection accorded to women in marriage, HDB’s discriminatory refusal to rent flats to foreign workers, tightening of laws against web users, and before I know it, GST is going to be raised to 7% in the pretext of using the bulk of the taxes to strengthen social nets for the needy. I know some or most are probably going ‘bullshite’ all this while as they read the news.

So, there seems to be a whole load of bad news out there. Oh well, and so we have been telling others that no one is discriminated in our country, neither is our government homophobic, that we won’t resort to welfare to help the needy lest developing crutch mentality, or tell others that we take a light touch on bloggers commenting on issues. And sometimes you wonder, if our country is truly a place for everyone, or a place where its leaders do not put their money on where their mouth is.

Will be taking a short break for the moment due to work constraints, and will perhaps be back to write some more in due time.

Till then,
Azmodeus

The Kingdom and it’s Shin

It has been more than a month since the Sept 19 Thai coup which had ousted former Thai PM Thaksin from power while he was in New York for a United Nations General Assembly. In the aftermath of the coup, which had extended the furore of Temasek’s newest acqusition of Shin Corp from the former Thai PM.

Shin Corp was founded by Thaksin in 1983, which had grown and developed into one of the largest conglomerates in Thailand. The company is linked by stock control to companies including Shin Satellite and Advance Info Service, the largest mobile phone network in the country. It also holds stakes in Thai AirAsia, a consumer finance company and ITV, a local television station. Therefore the conglomerate had been regarded by many Thais as their country’s strategic asset. The resulting tax free sale of the company on Jan 23, 2006, to Temasek Holdings in a US$1.88 billion deal, with Temasek acquiring 96 percent stake through nominee companies to bypass Thailand’s laws to limit foreign ownership had caused much anger to the Thai citizenry, loudly denouncing their former PM for selling an asset of national importance to a foreign entity, and hence selling out his nation.

With the controversy of the sale granted impetus to the already planned anti-Thaksin rallies throughout the country. Which in the process, drawing Madame Ho Ching, CEO of Temasek into the foray of political outroar in Thailand - burning her effigies on the streets of Bangkok. While Temasek’s spokesman for the Shin Corp deal, Jimmy Phoon, Temasek managing director for strategic development had denied any wrongdoing in the acquisition, from Temasek’s point of view, economically, Shin Corp had been an extremely good bargain for its portfolio as the leading player in Thailand’s telecommunications industry.

Yet, as it is, apart from the fact that Shin Corp had been a good buy economically, the risks involved in acquiring a key Thai national asset owned by Thaksin amidst the political upheaval against him, had been for all to see in the build up to the coup. In Thaksin’s claims for more transparency and conflict of interests, his decision to sell off Shin Corp had been a politically correct move, yet, its the choice of buyer that had been his ultimate death toll, had the buyer not been Temasek (Singapore’s investment arm) but another Thai company; perhaps the military coup against Thaksin might not trigger without that fatal catalyst.

 In the aftermath of the coup and the sale of Shin Corp brought up into scrutiny for its alleged breach of Thai laws and its issues of transparency in the deal. There had been several official statements from our PM Lee Hsien Loong in the bid to defend Temasek’s dealings in Thailand and lambasting the military coup which he describes as a setback for the Kingdom and its democracy. Such was the imperiousness in the claim to legitimacy of the business deal which Temasek supposedly claimed which had been shared by our government. While our PM had continued to claim legality and business high ground in the deal as mutually enriching. It was the lack of consideration for the political risks with the common Thai citizenry and Thaksin’s political rivals towards the deal that had triggered such an enormous backlash. With our government describing the Shin Corp purchase by Temasek to a Thai Senator months before the coup as solely a commercial deal, our government could not say they’ve not been warned of the possible repercussions. It could only have been in Temasek’s failings to see the risks that were already laid out for it to see.

 As for our government’s stand on the acquisition of Shin Corp by Temasek as solely a business deal. It was from the strangest of position that our PM took in his official capacity to defend the deal. With the sole executive powers of Temasek in the hands of Madame Ho Ching, with no prior influence to the conduct of the deal, it makes his defense of the Shin Corp deal from a position of a shareholder of Temasek extremely tenuous, if not lacking in credibility; provoking such strong and continual response from our Prime Minister, which would only serve to strengthen the belief in the Thai citizenry that there were political motivations involved to control majority stakes in strategic Thai assets.

With regards to the lack of commentary by our mainstream media, it was only understandable due to the only plausible derivations from such a failure in Temasek. With the political ties accrued from Madame Ho as our PM’s spouse, with additional reporting on the blundered deal, would only lead to negative responses from the public towards the management of our government’s investment arm; which would conspicuously point fingers towards our supposed Madame Ho’s infallible judgement. Such is the kind of political fallout and repercussions which our local editors would prefer to avoid within the local populace in the name of nation building, though of course, one would ask, what kind of nation building would one attain by the suppression of a balanced coverage from its citizenry?

From a commercial perspective, had Temasek Holdings been any other major corporation elsewhere without its political ties to our government, would Madame Ho have survived the implication of making a possible S$3 billion paper loss in 6 months without any recriminations? (Should the Thai Supreme Court finds any wrongdoing on Temasek’s part in the Shin deal, or the Thai government nationalises Shin Corp in the process.)

In all, our government’s drive towards further economic gains had undoubtedly affected our judgement to commit to the Shin Corp deal with former Thai PM Thaksin without giving due political considerations. While Thailand’s interim PM had stated that this deal would not affect bilateral relations of both states, belying such a response, was the fact that the Thai government would not intervene in the investigations of any possible trial in the Thai Supreme Court, should there be any Temasek misgivings in the Shin Corp deal. Such was the lack of approbation by the Thai PM towards our government’s continued response, which served only to further incite misgivings in the Thai people of our state. Perhaps we’ll see if bilateral relations had truly been affected in the long run, yet, the economic goodwill which we had built up during Thaksin’s administration in the past few years had probably been exhausted by our economic arrogance, displayed by our goverment in this Shin Corp debacle.

 Kicked in the face by a ‘Shin’ from the north.

Addendum: In addition to what had transpired from the Shin Corp deal, there was apparent moves taken by Temasek in the background to link Thai royal counsellor Tongnoi Tongyai as Temasek’s corporate adviser to legitimise the deal with Thai royal family’s endorsement. Yet, in an about turn, the Thai Crown Prince office had issued a statement which had criticised the character of Tongnoi, which further embarrassed Temasek’s dealings in Thailand. This is further expanded by Alex in his Yawning Bread blog here.

Attitude of the High

With regards to the Ms. Wee episode, with her father finally making a full apology in our national paper. I’ll say, do let us drop the event for the moment, and let us be magnanimous, let the matter rest. Ms. Wee is after all, just 18, one whom is still concentrating on her studies whom had not known what it is to be like within the society to make one’s own living; until she has reached of age, when she had made her own mark within the society, have her own family and having served within the society; what she had said, or written would have to be taken in context to that background, and let us reserve our judgement till then.

And perhaps let us take joy in what what little victory that our voice had achieved. I personally agreed with what Kitana had mentioned in her recent post, do head there and take a look, and see what happens when we have that little voice to effect that little bit of change.

 It is just that attitude of our society, especially of those whom had been sitting up atop the pedestals of our state, which had caught my attention. The disconnection, antipathy, and insensitivity of replies in our leaders’ statements had always not failed to pull my feelings of cynicism of their words to the fore time and again.

It wasn’t that long ago, when Kitana had mentioned of why would she want to leave Singapore, and Kway Teow Man had put forth his questions to her reasoning; seeking to clarify his own doubts. While I felt that Kitana’s words had deeply resonated with mine, I had decided on my own accord to write a reply to his questioning, hoping that it might answer his questions. It was in the midst of our correspondence, I had wrote with regards to what exactly are the push factors that are actually driving us away. And it was here, I felt that the attitudes of Ms. Wee’s father, and what some of the statements of our MPs to the recent Mr Tan’s suicide, had echoed what I felt in what I had written to KTM.

 And here, I reproduce my second correspondence of my reply to KTM over email in full for your read.

Re KTM,

Well, I am glad to know that you’ve gone thru my mail and had replied with your own views with regards to some of my own.

Personally, you are right that I am a political activist at heart, though I am not sure if all that “upset” are caused by the fact that I was not heard. There are many other things I guess, some of which had already been covered by other people’s blogs, therefore I don’t intend to cover. To be honest, I think I had already gotten quite used to not being heard, I’ve had several writings to ST as well, and I don’t think any made it through (probably wrote it with a little more energy than the editors are able to swallow), mostly relating to topics such as our education system, ERP and fare hikes, the little exchange by our MM and our reporters, the pointless (pre-CSJ saga) Hong Lim park, and some other issues.

For me, I may not sell Char Kway Teow for a living, but yes, similarly content with my job as a sales engineer at a Japanese company. As one whom had gone through our famed education system, for a very long time, I had never realised what exactly is the problem when I as made to study relentlessly in pursue of academic success, the questions poised to my teachers and parents had only rendered me replies in realising my dreams in the future. And it was only later, when the questions became clearer, I start to ask, for all these years, the academic success for whom? And the dreams that I were seeking, were they really my own?

Doubtless, for years, the qualities which had sustained our economy, our workrate, the quality which had been encouraged by the government, to be hardworking, would mean you are able to sustain your lifestyle and perhaps your family, and to work even harder to earn substantial material wealth perhaps to brag to the rest of the extended family. That same quality being applied to our education system, to study really hard in order to achieve all that.

My parents bought that thought process, and thus, for years I was driven, sometimes by talk, mostly by cane to reach a point where I had been at the top. I was happy, happy that my parents were happy, happy that perhaps for a month or two during the holidays there wouldn’t be any caning or reprimands that my homework isn’t up to scratch. The process continued year after year, from primary school to seconday, and there, I stopped. I was tired, tired to continue the process, wondering when it will stop, I start to evaluate my dreams, wondering if all that studying would help me achieve what I want, and what do I really want?

It was when, I realised, I don’t really have a dream.

From there, I stumbled, I had stopped that relentless surge to maintain my academic grades, and in my mind was, whats the point? I started to indulge in things which I had not really had the chance to do in those years of studying, basketball till really late into the evening, video games at arcades, and late night outings to newton hawker centre. I just realised that I was tired, too tired to continue and I just wanted to be happy, life is supposed to be simple isn’t it?

It was till when my mum was freaked out by my sudden change, and her tears told me what was wrong, it was when it struck me that it was the society’s perception to success, that drive to success had forced itself on individuals. At that point in time I was 15? There I was thinking of things that I never thought that I myself as a 15 year old would have thought of. While my classmates were talking about that new pager or discussing about how to solve a chemistry 10 year series question, there I was wondering about the society’s pressure, my parents’ perceptions, and finding my dreams all over again.

And here I am, relating my my own path to someone whom I had never met, but yes, I have came face to face with this problem, and I did not let it wash over me as something which I should accept, simply because its reasonable to me. And this is not just my problem, but our society’s problem, when I mentioned of the limits and pressures set by others, and of our leaders’ views whom they think were superior than the rest. Does this mean that these views are meant to supplant the rest? and to force this set of values, which does not always work out there within the global arena, on us? And the next kid to question himself, why?

It affects me KTM, it does, and it isn’t about whether or not if I have been heard by the government, but of the consequences when they choose not to hear and impose it upon us. When I gave it even more thought, you’ll know its not the education system that is at fault, but the attitude, the attitude of which that economic success overrides all and with that you would attain a vicious cycle, the more the government continues on its drive to economic dominance, its going to affect its policies on its education, social welfare, public transport, civil liberties foreign diplomacy, and so on. To me, the most grevious of all injustices had not been the “stop at two” or even the ISA, but the attitude adopted by our leaders, the overriding principle which had been guiding our policy formulation. That, is the thing which will affect all Singaporeans no matter which field you may choose to do, where you may choose to study, or even where you wish to retire to.

And it is this attitude of our leaders, this self-centred view, that disallows all alternative views to their own, that dismisses positive feedbacks to them, had filtered down to the everyday Singaporeans. And together within this oppressed environment, as a whole, the people within the society decides, why should I be bothered when others do not, when the elites do not, I should just mind my own business and not be concerned. I’ve read the recent entry on the online ST forum by Seah Min Yi, as someone as young as her would even ask such a question on why had our social community start to deviate this way? When our education system were telling them to be more caring, when our leaders are telling us to be more concern, you ask why? Simply because, it starts with the attitude, an attitude which permeates through the society, from the top down, when our leadership deems Singapore lands too expensive for our old and aged.

I am not saying that all Singaporeans are like that, for there are those like you and me whom are concerned, and constantly wondering what went wrong with the likes of the everyday Singaporean. We may have our differences with regards to what may seem to have gone wrong with our society, but yes, the thing that truly bother me are not the tying of upgrading carrots to election, the suppression of our rights, or our education system, its our attitude.

And I have reached this point of my life, by adjusting to changes that I had made to my own life. But there will be the ones that I could not and perhaps never alter, that is the perception of this society, and I will remain to wait, to see change, and when I do not, or perhaps, got sick of the waiting, I might leave. Because like a lot of other people in this world, I just wish to be happy and continue to pursue my dreams, and not simply because when one fails, I had to forsake the rest of them.

And perhaps, maybe you are right on one point, the main problem with our society is not with our government, but the people, but I’ll stick to one point, that is, the government is a part of this society, and when the leadership attempts to subvert people’s minds to stop the progression as we could see in many areas of our society, the result, would be more drones within our society, the ones whom could think would leave, and leaving nothing but a shell in its place.

Perhaps my assessment is a tad grim, and there are some whom might share this assessment, I haven’t… yet, and I hope I never will.

And yes, it had been a pleasure for me as well to chat, I might have been rambling along sometimes. Do forgive me.

Regards
Azmodeus