In defence of Ministerial Pay-Hikes

If we do not pay Ministers adequately, we will get inadequate Ministers. If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys for your Ministers. The people will suffer, not the monkeys. - 1993, Goh Chok Tong (transitionary PM between Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Lee Hsien Loong.)

source

As a country is moved from its potential collectively empathetic nature to a self-absorbed, self-interested, and materialistic one - that is stage 1 - it is rational to peg the salaries of ministers to that of the private sector. If not, the government, that hopes to instill in a people that amount of self-absorption that it takes to be apathetic enough for a self-aggrandizing government to enjoy political longevity, will be undone in spirit.

Abdul Malik Ghazali, another victim of a metaphorically-challenged people

Personal experience

I’ve often said, Singapore needs more Malays and Indians as they hail from relatively highly metaphorical and metaphysical cultures - Both Indian and Islamic philosophy is profoundly metaphysical and metaphorical as opposed to Chinese, or more accurately, Legalist-Confucian, philosophy which developed after taking the overarching authoritarian political environment as a given. Foreign talent would not be required as much if Singaporeans had made more of cultures that were foreign to 'Chinese' culture.

Are Chinese Gays more Chinese than Gay?

Upon the perusal of Fridae.com, a site seeking to ‘Empower Gay Asia’, I noted their provision of 4 languages for the perusal of their site. English, and three other Chinese options. To this, I dispatched a ‘feedback’ that went,

CorpCon: BT broadband ad banned over speed claim

We’ve all heard the ‘get up to x mb per second’ claims. I’ve heard it coming from singaporean ISPs as i’ve heard it here in the UK.

Now for those whom are quite tech-savvy, you know what this actually means. But for those whom are inclined to have faith in billboards as if it is no different from the tablets brought down from Sinai, listen up.

When an Indian 'talks Confucian', and what it means to 'be Indian'

I was disgusted when I came across the article, 'It is time for Singaporeans to take back our country', in the neo-Nazi(Confucian version) site, Temasek Review, and by a so-called Indian too - though i would not discount the possibility that it is written by T.R themselves to give the impression that all races are united in xenophobic tendencies of the typically confucian mind. Looks like the latter half of the 'Speak Mandarin and Appreciate Chinese culture' campaign zealously pursued by the government for a few decades now is really working.

email: Is there any place that is 'doing socialism right?'

The following is a reply to an email forwarding the above question.


Nik: Do you think there is any place that is doing socialism right?

If you ever come to the States, my husband and I invite you to dinner. I would love to sit and talk with you someday. He's a grumpy conservative, but loves me enough to let me broaden his horizons a bit.

Video: Panorama, Israeli Flotilla Raid (in English & Sign-language)

2 parts, approx. 30mins. 2nd part will play after the first.

on The Apprentice Boys and the Catholic-Protestant conflict

The ‘Apprentice Boys’ is a Protestant fraternal society that celebrates Londonderry’s resisting of the Catholic King James’ army in 1689,

“At the start of the siege of Londonderry in 1689, 13 apprentice boys slammed the city gates against the army of the Catholic King James II.

The Apprentice Boys of Derry, one of the Protestant Loyal Orders, is based upon this defiant action of "no surrender". bbc

on Singapore's Censorship Battle, Shadrake, Seelan, et cetera

A2ed abhors the government’s decision to imprison Seelan Palay for ‘unlawful assembly’.

Under more democratic circumstances, such proscriptions on assembly would of course be deemed unlawful in themselves. But, in an authoritarian Confucian state, the democratic standards of the west are deemed to be exactly that, a matter of western opinion and culture. After all, Singapore is and will be used as an example and model by quite a few s.e.Asian states, and, of course, China, of why ‘western’ style democracy is irrelevant within a global socio-economic status quo where the value of a society’s standards is closely associated with the degree to which such a society is able to deliver ‘first world status’. Where the profit motive is paramount, and can be relatively and successfully delivered, all cultural standards, unless they are blatantly inhumane, are validated.

Internship, Slave-Labour revisited

‘News’ sites, such as the BBC's 'The unstoppable rise of work experience', who, for the sake of their brand of ‘objectivity’, state that ‘to critics, interns are nothing more than a vast army of unpaid labour’, are basically implying that this is a matter of opinion and not fact.

Fact: They are working for free

Fact: They are not being paid whilst working

Fact: The company profits from not having to pay interns who take on entry level jobs and perhaps, only do so, when they are officially employed in entry level positions some months later, or qualify for higher level positions due to their unpaid experience in entry level positions as ‘interns’.

The 'Rated I' classification for blogs - what is?

‘Rated-I’ is basically a simple site classification that does not rely on ‘hits’ or ‘votes’ to determine a site’s value as these can just as well indicate that a site panders to the perspectival and linguistic deficiencies of the day. Rather, a site is classified as ‘Rated I’ if,

UK: Liberal-Cons reject 'bitty' for free milk for under-5s

I thought that this piece of 'news' - that a suggestion by the UK health minister to her Scottish counterpart to scrap the free milk scheme for under-5s be cut - is nothing more than PR designed to compensate for whatever points lost by the slew of cuts that have come and are to come with the Liberal-Con union. 'Why is what's not happening headline news? Or is it simply an opportunity for the Lib-Con union to show the UK that they care and aren't the self-interested toffs that they are.

What makes a 'Pro' Blog

Besides a 'professional blogger site' being one attempting to make money through the site, there are many sites that also promote a ‘professional’ look for bloggers. You have to get your own domain name instead of jollyroger.blogspot.com; you need to replace the word ‘labels’ for your posts with ‘categories’; you need to order your site like the ‘pros’; you should not have widgets that ‘pros’ don’t use; you must be polite and nice so as to not alienate your readers; you must post regularly; you must write and think in a way that can be easily understood - in other words, reinforce the learnt deficiencies that comes with life within an increasingly shallow, self-absorbed and consumeristic society - et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Singapore Inc. means more than you think

Commentator:

The arrival of Singazine into blogosphere is timely. As so much has happened with Singaporedaily and some sites. Most of us dont dare to say anything to Singaporedaily. If we do so, the fear is they will cut is off. On the otherhand, the people who have no fear, as they presumably have a loyal readership already are the only ones who will dare to pick bones with them. The problem now is this group have all disappeared. Where does that leave the majority of us?