Lee Kuan Yew and the American Society of Newspaper Editors - Press Freedoms and the Role of the Press in context.

"Press Freedom" is one of the go-to criticism of Singapore. Reporters without Borders rank Singapore 139 (out of 180 states) in 2022 - just above Somalia, and below United Arab Emirates. This is an improvement! Previously, Singapore was ranked 160th! Surprisingly, UAE (ranked 1 position above Singapore has 2 journalist currently in prison. Singapore, being 1 position below UAE must be worst right? So... 3 journalists in prison? Nope. 0. Somalia has 1 media worker in prison... So... who knows how Reporters without borders rank these things. Without borders, without boundaries, and without logic, perhaps?

New American Century

With the fall the of the Soviet Union, the US became the sole superpower and without a rival to compete and challenge the US started to reduce its military investments... until Sept 11 2001.

NATO was losing relevance, Trump was trying to extricate the US from its commitments to NATO, and so were other members of NATO... until Feb 24, 2022.

[Video: Can the US continue to be the Police of the World - Visual Politics EN]

COE hits $114k (in open Category -- 20th July 2022)!

COE - the world's best voluntary taxation system. 

[Taxes are usually mandatory. You cannot CHOOSE not to pay it. COE is VOLUNTARY. *I* don't pay COE, because I CHOOSE not to own a car.]

Chicken Feed

Fifty BILLION chickens are raised for meat (just for meat, not counting the chickens raised primarily for eggs!) each year, so approximately 136 million are slaughtered each day for meat.

Sea Level Rise - Singapore's possible response

[First drafted in May 2022 in response to a simplistic comment online about cancelling the Cross Island line, reducing our population, not cutting trees to prevent climate change and sea level rise, instead of coming up with measures and means to mitigate sea level rise.]

The truth is, even if Singapore does NOTHING to add to the carbon in the atmosphere, the sea levels WILL rise. For the simple reason that ALL the carbon in the atmosphere that was added in the last 100 years (or since the start of the Industrial revolution) is already melting glaciers and polar ice caps, and permafrost, and these are reducing albedo effects, and releasing methane (in the permafrost) and earth is already in a runaway cascade of heating up. EVEN if Singapore completely shuts down our carbon emission TODAY, it will not matter to the world. 

Singapore is less than 0.01% of the population of the world, and our land area is less than 0.001% of the world's land area. Our environmental impact on the WORLD will have less than negligible impact on sea level rise. Heck, if somehow a virulent and deadly pandemic wipes out the entire population of Singapore today, so we do not produce and pollute one MORE atom of carbon from today onwards, the sea levels WILL STILL RISE.

Fake News Checklist

 

Why Tolerance is Intolerable (A comment on a message of tolerance to LGBT)

[From a Facebook Post in June 2015 - I think it was a commentary on why we are intolerant of LGBT.]

It is going to take a while because the issue is tied up in values. And when one's position is informed by values, tolerance is intolerable.

Why? Because if you believe in the One True God, then what of other believers of other faiths? Obviously their gods are false. Then how can one tolerate those of other faiths? Obviously only in a patronising way. Not necessarily OVERTLY patronising. But in your heart of hearts, you KNOW you are the follower of the One True God (OTG, reg'd trademark), and those of other faiths are obviously wrong, deluded, and hell-bound.

How else can you tolerate them except with the Knowledge that they are wrong, but you have to keep your mouth shut because, hey - multi-culti, diverse and fruity, let's all just get along or the ISD will get you for sedition?

So we "tolerate" other faiths.

Childish Singaporeans

[From June 2013, when an Indonesian Minister called Singaporeans "childish"because they were clamouring for him to fix the haze problem.]

While I don't agree with the idiotic Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Ensuring Bribes get to the Right People (or whatever his official title is), I can understand why he is irked by Singapore clamouring for effective action. His constituents have long given up expecting their political leaders to do anything, so it is a vicious reality check for him to realise that in other countries you say what you'll do and then you do what you said you'll do.

So when he called Singaporeans "childish", he is saying in effect, "you expect me to do something just because I'm coordinating minister or some such political leader? You are naive! No other country works like your obsessive compulsive mentally disordered little red dot! Grow up!"

A half-baked CPF top-up scheme.

[First Drafted in Jan 2021]

So the govt has a matching top-up scheme (Jan 2021) to help Singaporeans aged 55 to 70 who do not even meet the Basic Retirement Sum in their CPF.

It's capped at $600 a year.

Up to 5 years, so technically, it's capped at $3000.

For reference the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) is currently $96,000. (those turning 55 in 2022)

Do we need to say this again?

Every few years, some bright (and not so bright) mind will have an epiphany (or what he, or she thinks is an epiphany) and suggests the revolutionary idea of NS for Women. Like it is an incredible and groundbreaking  idea. Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen has put paid to the idea. 

"The minister pointed to how some had suggested, during the debate on the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development, that women be enlisted for reasons of gender equality, in potential roles like nurses or teachers.
“Having reached this position of strength, should we for the sake of gender equality, now introduce NS for women?” he asked, highlighting how the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), despite reduced manpower, has remained operationally ready by using technology and optimising resources.
“I think there are distinct pitfalls if conscription is implemented for any other reason than the critical need of military defence, whether it is for men or women.”
The “primary reason” for enlistment must remain to train a soldier who is able to defend Singapore, and to repel if not defeat an enemy who wants to invade the country, Dr Ng said... 

“These are inadequate justifications or reasons to mandate that someone must suspend individual liberties as a civilian, give up two years of his or her life, and if they do not, they go to jail, as our courts have sentenced NS defaulters.”

Female recruits who will go on to become regulars at the Basic Military Training Centre on Pulau Tekong
on Feb 11, 2020. (Photo: CNA/Try Sutrisno Foo)

He goes on to state that there is no need to conscript women now. Yes, in times of emergencies, women, younger men (teenagers) and older men would be conscripted as was done in Ukraine. But we are not in that position today, and hope never to be.

Singapore Militarily

I had previously noted that the third most popular post on this blog, as of this writing, is "Singapore's Aircraft Carrier Ambition"... and that is an understandable hazard with mandatory National Service -- we all think we are armchair Generals.

So this blogpost is for the armchair generals (you know who you are!)

First a video:

The video describes how Singapore's military strategy evolved from "Poison Shrimp" to "Porcupine" and then to "Dolphin". It also covers how the Israelis helped Singapore set up our Military, and the nature of their help. 

Singapore's Global City Strategy - From SG History Unauthorised.

From SG History: Rajaratnam's vision of Singapore as a Global City

From the IPS Singapore Perspective 2022 video:

How did Singapore, the "Accidental Country" become the Nation that it is today?

Police Shootings (Singapore)

For some strange reasons, or perhaps no reason at all, just coincidence, or perhaps for reasons beyond human comprehension, in the last few months, there have been a spate of incidents involving men armed with knives, and in one case a sword.

In at least two cases, the police were present and tried to de-escalate the situation, but had to shoot the armed man. In the case of 17 Feb, the man with the knife charged at policemen at the Clementi Neighbourhood Police Centre. The police at the scene shot the man.

He was hit in the arm, and survived.

The Russo-Ukraine War and the (Cautionary) Lessons for China

This video below is a panel discussion on how China is reacting to and learning from the Russo-Ukraine War.

The video starts with the question: Is China ok with this war?

One naive view is that they are. That China has Russia's back, and this is fine with China. 

Be reasonable.

[This post has been "rescued" from a 2010 Facebook post.]


You may have heard this saying: The reasonable person adapts to circumstances and the environment. The unreasonable person expects circumstances and the environment to adapt to them. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable person.

Seeing as how Singapore has progressed quite a bit since independence, can we then conclude that Singaporeans are probably a bunch of unreasonable people?

I mean the national pastime of complaining is a sign of this unreasonableness isn't it?

But wait. The one thing Singaporeans complain about the most? The Government. The PAP. 

The Empire Strikes Back (Or PAP refers Pritam to the Public Prosecutor)

If WP taking Aljunied GRC, then Sengkang GRC was "A New Hope", this could be when the PAP strikes back. (For background, click on this link.)

The Committee of Privileges (COP) had completed its inquiry and recommended that Raeesah Khan be fined, and two of the WP leaders, Pritam Singh and Faisal Manap be referred to the Public Prosecutor for investigation as to possible perjury and contempt of Parliament. And Parliament has voted to accept the recommendations of the COP. 

However, "the report did not recommend any action towards WP chairman Sylvia Lim, in view of her voluntary assistance to the committee." 

Sylvia Lim took exception to this characterisation of her and spoke in clarification:

Basically she argued that she did not contradict Pritam's testimony, but had corroborated it (like a good team player). 

What would Singapore use an Aircraft Carrier for?

The third most popular post on this blog, as of this writing, is "Singapore's Aircraft Carrier Ambition".

I did not know there were so many armchair generals/admirals in SG... But I guess that is a understandable hazard with mandatory National Service.

So in that vein, here's my take on why Singapore might need or use an Aircraft Carrier if we were to get one.

But before we look at what we would use it (or them) for, we should determine what sort of carrier it might be. This video on Japan's Izumo-class "Helicopter Destroyer", provides a broad categorisation of different classes of carriers. [From 0:35 in the video].

Five Reasons why China will not invade Taiwan (in the near future).

I discovered this video after publishing my earlier post on How China might invade Taiwan, and Would China invade Taiwan?

This video explains China's strategic vulnerabilities and why they would want Taiwan to strengthen their defences and strategic options.

How might China "invade" Taiwan?

In case you are wondering why a blog called "Singapore 2B" seems to be (overly) concerned with issues of China and her commitment to "reclaim"/reunite Taiwan, it is because China is a major player in the region, the top trading partner with Singapore (in 2020), and Taiwan is similar to Singapore in many ways.

Some of the vulnerabilities of Taiwan are also Singapore's vulnerabilities, and there may be lessons for Singapore. Or cautionary tales.

I have previously declared (in another blogpost):

If you got the impression... that China is unlikely to invade Taiwan (at least in the foreseeable future - say within the next 6 years) that was the most important point. I wanted to discount the probability of an invasion, at least in the foreseeable future. Base on the current balance of power and advantages and disadvantages, it is on balance better for China NOT to attempt to retake Taiwan, because it is likely to fail.

However, a core principle or truism in military strategy is, you do not PLAN for what the opponent SHOULD, or is LIKELY to do, but what he CAN do. China CAN decide to try to invade Taiwan. On balance, China should not as success is unlikely, and the fallout would be devastating, so China SHOULD NOT TRY to invade Taiwan. 

But she could.

And plans have to be made as if she would. 

BUT...

Vexation without representation - or why we should be allowed to vote in US elections.

When the US revolted against the British and fought for their independence, one of their rally calls was "No taxation, without representation". Briefly, as colonies of the British Empire, the colonists were required to pay taxes to the British, but they were not represented in the British Parliament.

The US colonists were upset that the British could make decisions and policies that affected the colonies, and that they had no say (no representation) to protect their interests. Hence the revolt.

Videos Explaining Vaccines

This is simply a collection of videos on vaccines. In case you are still "doing your own research".

First: mRNA was 50 years in the making. Not just developed in less than a year:

This 12 minute video explains various processes and problems and challenges over 50 years and how these challenges were overcome.