TR EMERITUS

I refer to the new advertisement to promote filial piety – spearheaded by the National Family Council and supported by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports- that is currently showing on TV. Many may find the message is touching, and in many aspects, in line with the “Confucius ethics and values” that our leaders and media are trying to advocate. The advertisement is no doubt sent though the media in conjunction to the law passed which enforce the responsibility of children to take care of their parents. While I applaud such move by the relevant authorities, the message on filial piety is, with resemblance to our mainstream media, totally loop-sided and irresponsible. (Words I say; Action you do?) Filial piety can only be done when the populace is given the environment and circumstances to do so. With MM Lee’s adamant refusal to improve our GINI coefficient (The Straits Times - 20 Oct 2009), majority of Singaporeans are finding it harder and harder to provide for their homes, let alone their parents. This arguably may be the main reason on increase in cases where children would not, or cannot, take care of their parents. Singaporeans are repeatedly drawing the short end of the stick: higher income gap due to government plans, ever increasing living costs, and now laws to enforce filial piety. Instead of addressing the problem up front, a “cure-all first aid plaster” is used as rectification by shifting the responsibility on caring for populace, back to the populace. Tax money is spent ENFORCING populace family responsibility; not AIDING it. Sending the filial piety message through the media is simple as the action to do as said inevitably lies with the people. I am not encouraging financial aid, of which would go against MM Lee’s distain on breeding “crutch-mentality”. I am, however, saying that the Government should do its part too for the tax-paying citizens that it is tasked to protect. If a law can be drawn up to put responsibility on taking care of parents to children, then laws should also be drawn to protect these very children so that they can adequately provide for their parents. Laws include minimal wages, structural changes to reign in the GINI coefficient will indeed help majority of the population to provide for their parents, without the need for any rigid legalities. Any push factor should accompany a pull. (Confucius Values? Show 2 sides of the coin please) The often trumpeted “Confucius values” by the ministers in our country might be a good excuse to enforce the filial piety ruling onto the citizens. What is not shown and often neglected, however, is that Confucius ethics also involves Social Responsibility and Political Ethics. These areas are not only neglected, but never put into use, as shown in the Orchard Flood, the MRT train incident, the loss of billions of taxpayers’ money by the GICs, right up till the $6 billion surplus from GST increase, quote: “to help the poor”. The new law and the media barrage on filial piety are only once of the many band aids that is plastered on holes created by a bursting dam. Without dealing the root cause, the bursting flood of pent-up stress from the people may be more disastrous than what we had in Orchard.   Joe Ng  Read More →

World stock markets retreated Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve struck a note of caution in its latest assessment of the world's No. 1 economy. The central bank's statement, which accompanied a decision to leave interest rates at a record low, added to unease after weak housing figures suggested the U.S. economic recovery is uneven and vulnerable to turmoil in the markets. The Fed said that "financial conditions have become less supportive of economic growth." The Fed cited what it called "developments abroad" but didn't mention by name debt-laden Europe, where shaky government finances have threatened to nip the continent's recovery from recession in the bud. Economic news in Asia was more upbeat — with Japan reporting continued growth in exports for May, driven by demand from within the region — but couldn't stop most markets reversing course after early gains. Oil prices, meanwhile, fell below $76 a barrel. The dollar was lower against the yen and gained versus the euro. "Investors are still paying close attention to the uncertainty in Europe, because that might hurt China's exports," said Peng Yunliang, an analyst for Shanghai Securities. In early European trade, France's CAC-40 dropped 0.9 percent, Germany's DAX fell 0.7 percent and Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.6 percent. Futures pointed to tentative gains on Wall Street. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index edged up 4.64 points, or 0.1 percent, to 9,928.34 after exports rose for a sixth straight month as brisk global demand for cars and high-tech products helped shore up a recovery in the world's second-largest economy. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 1,739.87. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 retreated 0.1 percent to 4,479.70 amid news Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had been dumped as leader by the ruling party and replaced with his deputy. Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6 percent to 20,733.49 and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up 0.1 percent to 2,566.75. Stocks in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and New Zealand all fell. In New York overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed just 4.92 points, or 0.1 percent, to 10,298.44 Wednesday. In currencies, the dollar fell to 89.62 yen from 89.93 in New York late Wednesday. The euro slid to $1.2286 from $1.2316. Benchmark crude for August delivery lost 43 cents to $75.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.50 to settle at $76.35 on Wednesday. Associated Press    Read More →

During the recent U.K. general election, about 80 percent of the new immigrants voted for the Labor Party which gave them British passports and citizenships. (Source: Daily Telegraph) Though Labor eventually lost to the Conservatives, the support of the immigrants enable Labor to retain some seats in tightly-fought contests. The fact that new citizens often voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ruling party is not lost upon the PAP which may have devised a political scheme a few years ago to mass-import foreigners to boost their flagging support base as young Singaporeans clamor for more political freedom and participation. Due to the PAP's pro-foreigner and liberal immigration policies, foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore's population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. Between the years 2006 - 2008, an estimated 60,000 new citizens were added to the pool of voters. While the electoral registers have been updated recently, no official data is available on the percentage of voters who are born overseas. With the PAP actively courting the votes of the new citizens by splurging taxpayers' monies on them to make them feel happy in Singapore and to draw them into grassroots organizations, it is highly likely that almost all their votes will go to the PAP in the next general election. The Straits Times interviewed a China national Ms He Li Fang who became a Singapore citizen only three months ago on her political allegiance. "When the country is small, the government makes more of a difference. This is why new citizens will not waver in their loyalty to the ruling party," she declared her loyalty to the PAP. Ms He's profession is a teacher. It is not known how she obtained her Singapore citizenship since PAP leaders have been claiming that foreigners are only employed in sectors shunned by Singaporeans and only highly talented individuals are given Singapore citizenship. For many immigrants from mainland China who lived under the repressive rule of the Chinese Communist Party, the PAP is a god-send to them which explained their "unwavering loyalty" to it. PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew once said that it is a "good thing" that Singapore is welcoming so many Chinese immigrants (from mainland China) as they are more "hard-driving" and "hard-striving" than locals. More importantly, they are also more "loyal" as well to the PAP which will enable it to perpetuate its political hegemony in Singapore forever.     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →