TR EMERITUS

The Launch of Huawei Mate 60 Pro has created a mini tremor in the tech scene not only because Huawei is back in the 5G handphone game or any significant "Top Technological Advancement" but it rings a huge alarm bell to the world, in particularly Americans and its Allies. A lot has been said about the technical possibility of producing a 7nm chip from an older DUV semiconductor machine but the yield is supposedly low. However Hauwei and its allied Chinese chip factory which has suffered from US technological sanctions have proven that they could even mass produce the 7nm chips even without the conventional machines! How did they do that? It's a great mystery. Have they achieved a new technique or even a new technological breakthrough? Nobody knows. The success of Huawei production of the 5G based Mate 60 Pro has revived the whole technological supply chain and this has great implications on the military front. Such revival or even advancement in technical and Technological know how will give assurance to the advancement of high tech weaponry development for China. The minimized reliance on Western technologies will mean a great build up of a reliable Technological supply chain independent of foreign source. It's really a milestone for China as well as the world.   Goh Meng Seng      Read More →

Since the election of the new president on 1 September, the ordinary people have seen shocking price increases in less than a month. Public transport fares will increase by 7%, postage will jump by 60% and water bills will jump 18%. The COE price for the open category jumped to $144,640. This is the amount to be paid just for the permit to buy a car. Families which need to use a car will find it more costly. The cost of taxis and private transport will increase further. The increase of 1% in the GST rate, scheduled for 1 January 2024, will trigger another round of increase in food, service and other prices. In most cases, the increases will be much larger than the actual increase in GST. These price increases are insane. They are getting out of control. They will add a large burden on ordinary people who are struggling to meet the higher cost of living on stagnant incomes. There is no need for the government to pass all of the higher costs to the people. Some of these increases can be subsidized by the past reserves as a temporary measure. If the costs remain high, the increase can be made over as longer period of time, to lessen the impact. The subsidy will make a small impact on the reserves. There is no need to continue adding to the reserves when the ordinary people are suffering from high taxes and high cost of living. This is what the reserves are for. They are to be used under exceptionally circumstances. The government and the president must step forward to make the right judgment. The people are calling on them to act now.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

Football Association of Singapore (FAS) got $22.36 million from Sport Singapore last year and still, its President Bernard Tan is seeking more money from sponsors, stakeholders and supporters. I will share my thoughts but I will be blunt. FAS faces many challenges and I consider money to be the smallest challenge among them. FAS has a rich 'daddy' in the pap government and there won't be lack of companies which are too eager to butter up to FAS, ie, the government for obvious reasons. What we truly, truly lack is the overall eco-system that encourages and supports football in Singapore. To begin, playing football these days is not popular among the chinese, the majority race here. Parents send or even drive their children for swimming lessons or tennis lessons but in all my years of living in Singapore, I have never seen or heard of any average Singaporean parents encouraging, sending or even driving their children for football training. Some do for tae kwon do too but never football. Many HDB void decks have clearly stated official notices that say ball games are probhited and even if young children who live nearby spontaneously kick a ball among themselves and play, chances are their enjoyment and fun will be cut short from resident complain about noises. When I travel around our neighbouring countries, I often see children enjoying themselves playing and kicking even very worn out balls and that adults around either enjoy it or don't complain about noises. It is quite unlike our highly educated but intolerant and spoilt suckerporeans. That is where young shoots are given a chance to grow and become stronger. In Singapore, we kill them off early. Next, support or the lack of it. I ask if we ever wonder why adults, especially men are interested in football? For this, we definitely do not need big sounding title pap generals or scholars to tell us the reasons and the key reason is simple. It is because they wager on the game results. I bet if the authorities were to clamp down hard on illegal football betting with harsh penalties and do away with legal betting at Singapore Pools, the support for football among our public will die a quick and thorough death. I can easily go on... All things considered, Singapore is really no place for nurturing football talents. The odds against its success are stacked very high. If your donkey cannot run like a race horse, however unwilling, learn to accept the reality and don't force it la. They sure didn't teach that in university. I say don't throw away our good money at it unless we use them to buy foreigners which will defeat the whole purpose of nuturing football talents among our people. Use our precious and limited funds and resources more wisely and judiciously to nuture potential winners in sports that we are good at, that our general population will not complain about noises such as swimming, sailing or bowling etc. In parting, if the pap government and FAS are too egoistic about winning football, then I suggest that since money is not an issue, go and buy some championship cups, yes buy some championship cups and display them in some display cabinets. That way, they will be a lot cheaper, sporting glory will come much sooner and everybody including pap ministars, their generals, scholars and senior FAS executives will all be happy and can hug and congratulate each other warmly and not forgetting taking more nice pictures with those newly acquired championship cups. Think.   Simon Lim      Read More →