How Singapore became an oil-refining hub.

 Singapore has no oil resources as in we do not have oil fields to drill for oil.

But Singapore is a Petro-Giant. 

How Singapore became a Petro-giant (Asianometry)

Mysteries of Singapore

 Singapore is a small island.

Yet, there are some... mysteries.

A Superficial Summary (and commentary) of Countries Military Ranking

As a consequence (partly) of the Ukraine invasion, some "hypothetical" questions are being asked - Can China take Taiwan? If the US comes to Taiwan's aid militarily, or in a straight (military) contest between China and the US, will China prevail or will the US? If Japan gets involved, is it a given that Japan being "smaller" (militarily, territorially, and economically) it will be disadvantaged (at least against China)?

Can China take Vietnam if it wants to? In an Sino-Indian war who will win/lose/prevail/be left standing?

Those are the big questions.

There are slightly smaller questions. Like, would Singapore be able to defend itself against Malaysia? Indonesia? If her bigger neighbours attempt to swallow the "little red dot"?

Multi-Role Combat Vessel - Cos "Mothership" has already been taken

Sept 2023

So while we have wet dreams about Singapore having a (light) aircraft carrier, there are plans to have a Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV), which is a "mothership" for unmanned surface and air assets (drones).

This is a natural evolution for the RSN as more unmanned assets are incorporated into the RSN.

 

Location. Location. Location

One of the conventional wisdom for Singapore's early success was its location.

"Situated at the crossroads" and "gateway to the orient" (so... Singapore is not "orient"?) Singapore's location is key (according to many analyses) to her success.

I would argue that it may be a necessary but insufficient condition.

After all, Penang and Malacca have historically been trading centres as well.

To the south, Bintan and Batam are islands as well placed as Singapore. 

Raffles chose Singapore in part to challenge the Dutch who were in (what is today) Indonesia. 

Tipping Points

This video suggests that even as the world heats up, it would thaw the permafrost, and that would lead to a tipping point.


So the world is trying to get to "net zero" when we add zero carbon into the atmosphere, so we do not add to the warming of the earth anymore.

What if... Malaysia and Singapore goes to war?

[Edited/Amended in Jan 2024.

Yes, it is incongruous that I "refresh" this post just as Johor and Singpaore are looking forward to more cooperation and working towards passport-free travel between Johor and Singapore. But yes, I am hopeful for a "common market" for Johor and Singapore. This post is just a reaction to the video from a few years back.]

There is this speculative video on YouTube:

The video assumes that for whatever reason, and in whatever scenario, diplomacy has broken down, and war has been declared. This is an attempt to argue against the assumptions. 

1) Singapore is not worth conquering. 

Most invasions/occupations are for tangible benefits - land, oil, natural resources, etc. Singapore has limited land. Malaysia has LOTS of land (compared to SG). They don't need SG's land. SG has NO NATURAL RESOURCES. No gold. No oil. We even have to import SAND! But, you might say, SG is richer than MY! So wouldn't MY want to take those riches? 

But... the source of SG's wealth CANNOT be taken. It is intangible. 

ChatGPT answers: "Which is better? Malaysia's Roti Canai, or Singapore's Roti Prata?"

So I read the newsfeed that said Roti Canai is ranked #1 while Prata is ranked #12. So I asked ChatGPT which is better. This was the answer generated:

The preference between Malaysia's Roti Canai and Singapore's Roti Prata is subjective and can vary from person to person. Both dishes are delicious and have their unique characteristics, but there are some differences between the two:

Roti Canai (Malaysia): Roti Canai is a popular Malaysian flatbread that is known for its flaky and crispy texture. It is made from a dough that typically includes flour, water, and ghee (clarified butter).
It is often served with a variety of curries, including chicken curry, dhal (lentil curry), or fish curry.
Roti Canai is usually thin and crispy on the outside while soft on the inside. It can be folded or layered before serving.

Roti Prata (Singapore): Roti Prata, also known as Roti Prata in Singapore, is similar to Roti Canai in many ways. It is made from a similar dough of flour, water, and ghee or oil.
It is typically thinner than Roti Canai and is often cooked with more oil or ghee on a flat griddle, resulting in a slightly different texture.
Roti Prata is often served with various accompaniments, such as curry, sugar, condensed milk, or even ice cream.

Singapore to acquire 8 more F-35B fighter jets, growing fleet to 12

The Singapore Armed Forces will also upgrade its training with virtual reality technology and a new digital range, as part of its 2040 vision.

Davina Tham

24 Feb 2023 

SINGAPORE: The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will acquire another eight F-35B fighter jets, growing its incoming fleet of the fifth-generation fighters to 12.

Singapore will take delivery of the eight jets from US manufacturer Lockheed Martin "by the end of the decade", Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in Parliament on Friday (Feb 24).

In 2019, Singapore announced the acquisition of an initial four F-35Bs, which are on track for delivery by 2026. The purchase was worth an estimated US$2.75 billion, according to a US government press release.

What makes Singaporeans happy (from 2010)

Jan 7, 2010

By Tambyah Siok Kuan & Tan Soo Jiuan, For The Straits Times

THE media gives some insight into what makes Singaporeans happy or upset.

Singaporeans are happy when the Government rolls out a family-friendly Budget. Singaporeans are annoyed by service staff who are not passionate about their work or cannot speak English well. Depending on the performance of their investments, Singaporeans may love or loathe coffee shop talk about the stock and property markets. 

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?

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.

Fake News Checklist

 

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?

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.

How Social Media (Facebook, Google, Youtube) is not good.

"The main culprit, Haugen said, is Facebook’s desire to maximize engagement, which has turned its algorithm and platform design into a giant bullhorn for hate speech and misinformation... For clickbait farms, getting into the monetization programs is the first step, but how much they cash in depends on how far Facebook’s content-recommendation systems boost their articles. They would not thrive, nor would they plagiarize such damaging content, if their shady tactics didn’t do so well on the platform."

From "How Facebook and  Google

fund Global Misinformation."

Living with Covid. Living with Singaporeans. Living with idiots.

There is a blogpost about how Singapore is coping or not coping with the current "transition" from containing Covid, to living with Covid. And it points out (eventually) that Singapore's policies are inconsistent:

"... there are actually more than 1000 patients admitted for Covid-19. Are our admission criteria too lax? By now we should have enough data to know what are the patient profile characteristics that will give a good prognosis and those that we know will not do well later on. This data should be carefully analysed and translated into better clinical practice so that we do not admit excessively and take up too many beds. At present, out of all patients diagnosed, 1.8% require oxygen, 0.2% are in ICU and the rest are either asymptomatic or mildly ill. Given our extensive experience in the last 20 months treating Covid-19 patients, can we extract more efficiency out of the system in terms of hospitalisations of asymptomatic and mildly ill patients?
On one hand, we say we are resolute on opening up and living with the virus. On the other hand, when we test almost everyone under the sun, we seem to be also going for a zero-case disease elimination strategy. As one public health expert put it, it is like asking each and every person caught in a downpour, “Are you wet?”
Another expert put it more starkly, “the pain of transition is made worse by being stuck in applying disease elimination measures to deal with an endemic disease. Much of what is being done in the name of disease prevention is counter-productive”."

He is right. The policy is to live with it, but the measures are for zero covid strategy. And the reason for this inconsistency: Politics. Or Political reality.

On China and the Pacific Century

China has the second largest economy after the US, and is expected to be the largest economy in a few years.

Meanwhile:

As the 4 Asian Tigers grew, and as China emerged onto the global stage as a global economic player, soothsayers and prophets predicted the inevitable "Asian Century".

Subsequently, this gave way to the "Rise of China".

Deng Xiaoping didn't believe in the Asian Century. He didn't believe it would ever be.

Deng is quoted to have said, 

"Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership."

Singapore to import electricity?

[From Feb 2020. In draft for over a year.] 

So Singapore is planning to import electricity from Malaysia. 

On Facebook, this news was met with derision and incredulity.

And what I could call "patriotic anxiety".

Why is Singapore doing this? Netizens (Singaporeans) were bemused. We had just severed our dependence on Malaysia for Water. Why start to depend on Malaysia for another critical resource?

Let me explain... well, this is my interpretation.

Vaccines and Conspiracy Theories.

This may come across as an argument against the anti-vaxxers (in general) as well as the vaccine-hesitant (specific to Covid-19) in Singapore. 

That is not my intent. 

For the hardcore, "Andrew Wakefield is a saint", "Medicine is poison!" "Big Pharma is Evil!" "Vaccines causes autism!" anti-vaxxer, science cannot reach them. Logic is beyond them. Reason does not interest them. Facts bore them. They are unteachable/unreachable. They have gone down the rabbit hole, and there's no way to pull them out.