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]

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.

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.

The business of Air Travel after Covid

There was a news report about how SIA may be in a good position to gain market share in the post-pandemic air travel business.

Firstly, the business of air travel is going to change fundamentally.

Pre-pandemic, airlines and the industry was powered by business and first class travel. The pandemic has changed business travel. Zoom and WFH has shown that you can meet online and it can be as good as being there in person. Companies will scrutinise business travel - can a zoom or conference call achieve the same effect? 

Business travel is going to be reduced, and with fewer business travellers, there will be fewer flights, and with fewer flights, there will be fewer seats in economy, to fill with leisure travellers. 

Yes, there is pent-up demand for leisure travel, but this segment of the market is VERY PRICE SENSITIVE. Those low low airfares pre-pandemic, are not likely to endure. Sure, when planes fly again, airlines may offer promotional, cut-throat airfares. but it will not last.

Short Explanation: Nuclear Power

The World is being polluted by carbon (specifically, CO2) which is a waste from burning fossil fuels. And as the proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, it warms traps more heat (from the sun) and warms up the earth, and melts the polar ice, and causes sea level to rise, and extreme weather conditions.

You should know this. If you don't, your education is shockingly inadequate.

"I believe the Children are our Future"

That is of course, a truism.

And it is cute to see children stand up for their future.

And drive the "Youth Revolution" that includes saving the Earth from Climate Change.

Ever heard of the Children's Crusade?

And then there are the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who became activists and lobbied for changes to gun control laws in the US.

Not to belittle their efforts - they made progress which had been impossible with the NRA and fanatical gun right lobbyists resisting change.

But... there are still mass shootings. Even as recent as August 2019.

China - Boom or Bust?

The general consensus is that China's rise is inexorable. Inevitable.

And that the 21st Century would be China's Century.

And certainly, China's growth, development and emergence over the last 30 years or so makes the case for China's inevitable assumption of the dominant power and economy on the global stage, rather obvious.

In this first video, Kishore Mahbubani points out the obvious - China by sheer din of population just needs to achieve a per capita income of just 25% of the US, and it would be the number 1 economy, dwarfing the US (currently, as at Aug 2019, #1).



China's manifest destiny seems certain. Inevitable.

Coping with Climate Change in Singapore

[I began drafting this post some months ago, maybe even since late 2018 after the IPCC released its report of October 2018 for policy makers. What I got from the report and other commentaries on it, was that Climate Change was coming, all the talk and discussion about ameliorating or moderating the impact of climate change was just wishful and wistful thinking: Climate Change was happening, and NOTHING humans can do would avert it. Hoping SOMETHING we do MIGHT avert or just moderate the impact of climate change was wishful optimism not based on reality.

So, do we just roll over and die? 

Of course not. 

But what would Singapore need to do?

This was what this post was supposed to address. 

Future Economy - how to prepare for it?

[15 Feb 2017]

The Committee on the Future Economy released it's report. And the opposition parties immediately savaged it.

I don't blame them. The report was disappointing. Uninspiring. Insipid. Unreadable. And... what did SDP's Chee say?

“Long on rhetoric but woefully lacking in bold and aggressive measures to tackle the serious problems that confront Singapore”.

"Long on rhetoric" - that was what I was thinking too. About Chee's critique.

To be fair, I agree that the recommendations are disappointing. However, what is Chee suggesting or proposing "to tackle the problems that confront Singapore? This:

"He also said the political scene and mass media have to be freed up as the present situation stifles debate, creativity and the development of questioning minds."

And that is what I mean by "long on rhetoric" -- the usual cliched political "talking points" that comes from the opposition, with barely any attempt to hide their political agenda.

Alternative Energy

[Another draft from some time back. This post was began in 2015. And languished in my "Draft" folder for the last few years. I have some new thoughts on it.]

Every now and again, someone somewhere in sunny Singapore will ask, "why are we not using solar power? It's so freaking sunny here all year round!"

And some may even go as far as to ask if we can't harness other clean energy.

Here is the official position:

Climate Change and the battle for your mind

Climate Change.

A.K.A. Global Warming.

Is it REAL?



This first video challenges "conventional, accepted wisdom" that there is scientific consensus that it is Anthopogenic Global Warming (AGW) - see from about 4 minutes into the video. And the "smoking gun" is that about 2/3 of the almost 12,000 scientific papers on climate change had no position on AGW. The "consensus" is based on those papers that had a position on AGW. And in those papers 97% of those papers backed AGW.

But is this science or politics or politically-motivated science?

Singapore's Landfill Island

Pulau Semakau is Singapore's sole landfill. But it takes only... "processed" waste or refuse. And by "processed", I mean incinerated.

Singapore has land constraints. A problem Japan also shares. And not surprisingly, their solution is the one we also settled on.

And also Sweden's "Waste to Energy". Which they consider to be "recycling" because the rubbish is being "recycled" into energy.

[Note that the two links above on Japan and Sweden are from Australian TV and they may have a bias for recycling things... the conventional way. The host of the second link in his story on Sweden's waste management seemed more keen to critique incineration, and to equate the high temperature incineration with simple burning and his interview with Prof Goran Finnveden seemed to be for the purpose of drawing out a critique of "burning plastic". The video's host presented him as someone "who has studied waste-to-energy for many years". You can compare his profile with the claims of his experience. I am not saying he is not qualified or experienced, but I believe (and I may be wrong as I have NO Evidence) that the interview was tightly edited to present a sceptical view of incineration as "recycling" and as a true solution for Australia.]

A little bit of crystal ball gazing

What's going to happen next?

Well, Heng Swee Keat will be the next PM of Singapore.

And Tan Cheng Bock has announced that he is coming out of political retirement.

But that's all just the near future. And these are just small local details that will not change the BIG PICTURE.

"We're not destroying the Earth..."

"... The Earth is Destroying us!"

A different perspective.


The video provides an interesting perspective.

In the long, no, SHORT history of humans on Earth, we were mostly in an Ice Age.

Lease Decay Solutions (HDB 99 year lease problem solved!)

The Lease Decay issue is the problem of HDB flat owners in flats built more than 40 years ago, and now face falling prices for their flats.

As the original lease on their flat is 99-years, after 40 years or more, there is less than 60 years of lease on the flat and with the short lease there are constraints on buyers to get mortgages and to use their CPF to pay for the flat.

First, at less than 35 years of lease left when banks are unwilling to extend loans to finance their purchase. That applies to flats that are at least 64 years old.
Second, at under 30 years' lease remaining when CPF money cannot be used for down payment or to service the monthly mortgage (flats that are 69 years old). And third, when leases go under 20 years (flats that are 79 years old).
"When leases drop to 20 years and below, the prospective buyers will not be able to get HDB loans, bank loans or use CPF for the purchase. Everything has to be paid in cash in one go," Mr Ku noted.
The amount of CPF money that can be used to finance the flat purchase is also lower for units with a remaining lease of at least 30 but under 60 years.

So that in a nutshell, is the lease decay issue. How does the government intend to solve it?

Here are some solutions. First, let's look at what the government has suggested (PM Lee at NDR 2018):

VERS vs SERS

The details for VERS has not been announced. They will announce it closer to its implementation. That is, in about 20 years time.

For SERS, flat owners will be given compensation for their flat, and given priority to choose a replacement flat if that is what they want. There is also something like a "moving and renovation grant".

We will keep this comparison simple and just focus on the compensation for the flat, and what that will costs the government for SERS, and project or speculate what it might be for VERS.

That Old Lament

CNA posted this on FaceBook sometime in May 2018:

"Glen Goei goes On the Record about what ails the arts in Singapore "Now that Singapore is the most expensive country in the world, it’s even harder to choose the arts. There’s no money in it and therefore there’s no future." Director, actor, filmmaker, Glen Goei goes #OnTheRecord."

It is to promote their TV interview with Glen Goei on CNA.

CNA didn't misquote Goei.

But Goei's response was more nuanced than that soundbite CNA posted on CNA.

This is how we raise productivity.

One evening, we were shopping at NTUC at Blk 95 Toa Payoh.

This is a new NTUC (well, a few months old) and it was "state of the art" in terms of technology and labour saving.

One thing you'll notice is that the cashier will ring up your purchases, but WILL NOT TAKE YOUR PAYMENT.

That's automated.

Facing the customer at the checkout, are two slots for you to put in your coins, and your notes. And the machine will make any change automatically. Presumably, there is also an option for cashless payment options, but I did not notice because I pay in cash.

There are two checkouts.

High Speed Rail - thoughts on (from Jan 2017)

[This was drafted sometime in Jan 2017 or before, but somehow I never got around to "publishing" it. And now the HST has been scrapped. Maybe. It's Dr M. Who knows?]

I am sceptical about the KL-SG High Speed Rail.

Firstly, it is going to KL.

I know people who like to go to KL.

I know people who like to go to JB.

I am not one of them.

Secondly, it's a joint project with MY.

The same MY that had a Point of Agreement (POA) with SG to move the railway station from Tanjong Pagar. And took more than 10 years to realise what was agreed in the POA.

CPF for those who need it (Update)

This is an update of a post from Jan 2015.

Firstly, everyone thinks they can improve the CPF scheme. I am sure you have a grand idea for improving the CPF scheme.

So take this with a grain of salt, and if you think you can improve on these ideas, feel free to suggest tweaks. Or write your own blog and post your own suggestion. You could be the next CPF Blogger!

This update considers changes to the CPF scheme and the CPF Life projections.

And this hopes to address two issues: "CPF is my money", and the original intent of CPF (to finance our retirement).