The Year of the Rat - for Malaysia

In the aftermath of the historic 2018 Malaysian General Election that swept UMNO out of power after 60 years, and brought in fresh hope in the Hope Alliance that is Pakatan Harapan (PH), this piece pointed out how fragile a coalition government is, and offered some scenarios as to the challenges this fragile coalition could face.

One of the scenarios suggested was this:

Or Dr M, after ensuring that Najib has been dethroned from UMNO's leadership, may lead Bersatu back to UMNO. Then BN (with Bersatu) could ally with PAS, and based on the current numbers, they would have 109 seats. They just need 3 more seats for BN to be back in power. This could be from defecting PKR or Amanah MPs (DAP would be very unlikely), or the independents, or STAR, or Warisan.

The Future of Covid19

Chinese experts "believe" (officially) that the epidemic will run its course and die out (just like SARS did) in April.

Whether they REALLY (medically/scientifically) believe that, or they are required OFFICIALLY to believe that, is arguable.

They may be right. Or they may be official.

This video provides a more medical/scientific consideration of the two scenarios (or three depending on how you understand the situation/their explanation.

Can a Carrier Group Defend against China's "Carrier Killer"?

In my Oct 2016 post on Singapore's possible Aircraft Carrier Ambition, I suggested that China just needs to build up the numbers and performance of their "Carrier-killer" missile the DF21.

This video (not mine) explores how the US carrier group might defend against the DF21.

The Fear of Living Dangerously (or "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wu(han) virus?")

The 2019-nCoV is known as the Wuhan virus.

And as for "who's afraid of the Wuhan virus?". The answer is, Singaporeans. And everyone else.

Shouldn't we be afraid?

Yes and no.

Just how dangerous is the Wuhan virus?

That depends on how you define "dangerous".

Evidence of DunningKruger in Trump

Interestingly, there are Trumpeteers in Singapore - supporters of Donald Trump, who believes his talking points, who believes he is the best thing to happen to the US, and who is being persecuted by the Liberals and the Deep State.

There are over 3 years of evidence that he is not.

And over 15,000 of his lies have been documented and debunked (as at 16 Dec 2019, according to Washington Post, who is tracking the number of lies he has told. Update: Link to archived WaPo page provided by commenter. Thanks Mich.).

Here is just one example of Trumpslaining and the DunningKruger Effect:

OK Bumi

Two instances of Dr Mahathir making the news. By talking.

From 14 Dec on whether he would stay beyond 2020:

Malaysian PM Mahathir again hints he could stay on beyond 2020

14 Dec 2019 

DOHA: Malaysia's 94-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad again raised the prospect on Saturday (Dec 14) that he could stay in office beyond 2020, declining to give a definitive pledge to step down.
Mahathir returned to power last year after dealing a historic election defeat to the corruption-plagued coalition that he once led and which had been in power for six decades.

Biculturalism in Singapore, or the Importance of being polylingual or polycultural

I just realised I have not posted in over 2 months!

Not that I have not blogged. I have. I just haven't published.

Because, reasons.

Anyway, here is something I have been working on, off and on for a while - the Importance of knowing a second language, or at least more than one language.

We start with a joke. (Actually, it's all jokes. Not good ones, though. You have been warned.)

1) Chicken. Goat. Bag.

A Malaysian MP (or VIP) was kidnapped. The ransom was paid and the kidnappers allowed the MP to appear in a video to assure his family that he is alive and well. However, for some reason, the video had no sound, so the MP appeared in the video, and first carried a chicken. Then a goat. And then a bag.

When his family saw the video, they were overjoyed!

"He's coming back!"

Only Malaysians and Singaporeans may get this joke.