TR EMERITUS

1. I asked ChatGPT about two options to gather intelligence data. It replied. The better option for intelligence gathering depends on the specific requirements of the mission. Satellites have the advantage of being able to cover large areas from high altitudes and can gather a vast amount of data in a short time. They are also able to capture high-resolution images and other data using specialized sensors. High-altitude balloons, on the other hand, can be less expensive to deploy and can be more flexible in terms of where they can fly and what data they can gather. They can also fly at high altitudes for extended periods of time, making them useful for missions that require long-term monitoring. In summary, each platform has its strengths and weaknesses and the choice of which is better depends on the specific requirements of the mission and the data that needs to be collected. 2. I searched Google to find out how long was the high altitude balloon hovering over the sensitive military base in Montana to gather sensitive data over an extended period of time for long term monitoring. I found this report.  (American source). It appeared to be flying all over the place and not hovering over the sensitive Montana military base. China claimed that the balloon went out of control. This appears credible to me. If it is under control, it would be sensible for China to fly the balloon outside of US airspace, after it is detected. (But some people think that the people in China are irrational and cannot be trusted). I am not an expert. But my common sense suggest that if the balloon wander about all over the place, like this balloon did, the sensitive data that is gathered is probably not better than the data that can be gathered by a powerful satellite or from the China space station. America has the right to shoot down the balloon over its territory. But it was probably not necessary and not a friendly act to do.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

Called out by me on Wednesday for ignoring the glaring conflict of interest in accepting the position of Director of Public Policy at Grab while an MP, Tin Pei Ling resorted to the time honoured PAP tradition of Orwellian Doublespeak, or plain old-fashioned hypocrisy. She claims she is perfectly able to wear two hats at the same time: “I am absolutely clear that when I am discharging my duties as an MP, my constituents and Singapore come first. When I am working on behalf of Grab, I will have to ensure that Grab’s interests are safeguarded,” She went on to say: “The company has established clear rules of engagement to ensure that any possible conflict of interest will be properly declared and avoided. Likewise, the People’s Action Party has a published set of rules of prudence, as well as mechanisms in place for declarations of interest and the avoidance of conflicting interests.” I am indebted to Ms Tin for probably one of the purest expressions of the PAP’s doublespeak of “ownself check ownself” as to why there is no need for checks and balances and accountability. Her point is that all the PAP Ministers and MPs are fine upstanding and incorruptible individuals, with the exception of a few rotten eggs such as Teh Cheng Wan, who was mysteriously able to obtain a large supply of pills to kill himself, and Phey Yew Kok, whose trial took place in secret presumably so that details which ordinary Singaporean mortals were not entitled to know lest it engender unwholesome thoughts about their rulers were kept secret. The most egregious example of the PAP’s philosophy is the PM’s appointment of his wife on a secret salary to head Temasek and to a lesser extent his son’s appointment to head the Technology Agency as well as the refusal to disclose any details about the reserves and how they are managed. Appointments of family members are not evidence of corruption or nepotism because they were appointed strictly on merit and it should be self-evident to Singaporeans that these were the best candidates for the job. Even when LKY and his son were caught taking favours from Ong Beng Seng in the form of discounts on property not available to the public they were allowed to pay it back without any sanction as just an honest and trivial peccadillo. LHL said he knew nothing about the property market but was just using some savings he had accumulated after working in Daddy’s company for several years to buy a humble abode. Stretching back further in time there was the example of LKY’s wife being head of Lee and Lee while he was PM and cornering the HDB conveyancing market. The justification given for this licence to print money was that it would be unfair to hold Lee and Lee back from competing on equal terms with other law firms. By comparison minor public servants like policemen or ICA officials who take bribes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which serves as a shining example for foreign sycophants to point to and justifying our high ranking for being corruption free by box ticking robots like Transparency International. Recently the Government has refused to give anything more than a stern warning to the Keppel Six who were caught by the US handing out US$55 million in bribes to Brazilian politicians and Petrobras executives. No doubt the Government will say that these state industry executives, all connected to the ruling party and whose companies were part of the Temasek stable overseen by the PM’s wife, were only acting in the best interests of Singapore by paying off dodgy and venal foreigners to secure lucrative contracts and there is no leakage or carry through from what is done abroad to practices at home. TPL may be a fork-tongued hypocrite but then she has learnt from the best. But the sad thing is that Singaporeans have accepted the double standards of their leaders. They have been indoctrinated to accept doublethink, or the holding of two contradictory beliefs in their minds at the same time but accepting both of them. Thus corruption is bad but in Singapore our leaders, spouses and relatives are allowed to hold all the top positions and help themselves to public funds secretly because they are the best people for the job. Also bribing dodgy foreigners is not a crime. We must safeguard our reserves for the benefit of future generations but our children must go hungry. Freedom of expression and a free media is good but not in Singapore where instead we have a monopoly that works to keep LHL’s party in power. Singaporeans are incredibly talented but we must welcome foreigners with mediocre degrees and pay them better than our own people. NS is necessary but not for new immigrants. That is just a few examples. Until the scales of doublethink drop from Singaporeans’ eyes our leaders can continue to sleep easy.   Kenneth Jeyaretnam   About the author: I’m a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That’s why I’ve never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I’m quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don’t work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I’m a liberal. I’m not sure what the middle think of me. I don’t think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I’m a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I’m not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean.      Read More →

For more than half my life, I knew nothing about Operation Coldstore which took place on 2 February 1963. When I had the opportunity to meet and know several of its victims/survivors, I was angry and sad. How could a government that claims to respect the rule of law and vowed to govern in the interest of the people unleash Operation Coldstore on them with just the sole aim of winning a general election and retaining power? There was very little information about Operation Coldstore until the past ten years. I suspect many of its victims prefer that it be forgotten. But when more than a hundred innocent people were arrested in the wee hours of that fateful day, can historians ignore the incident? What is disturbing about Operation Coldstore is the fact that those arrested were not ordinary people. They were top opposition politicians, professionals, trade unionists, renown journalists and brilliant students. They form the cream of our society. Why were they not given the chance to serve Singapore? On my occasional visits to parliament as an undergraduate, I had wondered why it was always so empty and why ministers and members slept in those big and comfortable leather chairs pretending to hear what was going on. I didn't know why there was no opposition in parliament. And I didn't know why one election after another failed to send any opposition candidate into parliament. It was not uncommon in the 1960s and 70s for people to compare the calibre of opposition candidates with that of the PAP. They said the PAP candidates were better qualified and experienced. Really? Surely J B Jeyaretnam and Chiam See Tong have qualifications higher than many PAP members. Yet they were time and again rejected by the people until 1981 and 1984. In the last ten years, I came to realise that the root cause for the absence of opposition presence in parliament was Operation Coldstore. Operation Coldstore had decimated the opposition. How can democracy survive when the leaders of all the opposition parties and trade unions were arrested and imprisoned without trial for decades or deported to countries of their birth even though they have made Singapore their home? Just look at the names of the detainees below: Lim Chin Siong – General Secretary, Barisan Sosialis Linda Chen Mong Hock – Malay scholar Dr Lim Hock Siew – CEC Barisan Sosialis James Joseph Puthucheary – Hon Adviser and member of Barisan Sosialis Ho Piao – Paid Secretary, Singapore National Seamen's Union Said Zahari – Editor, Utusan Melayu, Chairman of Partai Rakyat Dr Poh Soo Kai – Asst General Secretary, Barisan Sosialis S Woodhull – Vice Chairman, Barisan Sosialis Hussein Jahidin – Member of Partai Rakyat and journalist A Mahadeva – Secretary of Singapore National Union of Journalists Tan Kok Fang – Graduate of Nanyang University The list goes on. The entire central committee of Barisan Sosialis and Partai Rakyat were wiped out. (Part of the list can be found in “The 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore, Commemorating 50 Years” edited by Poh Soo Kai, Tan Kok Fang and Hong Lysa). So many brilliant minds locked up without trial, some for 20 years. In Operation Coldstore, the PAP was aided and abetted by the Tunku and the British. They used foul but legal means to destroy democracy in Singapore. They were afraid of losing the general election which they were going to call in September 1963. They were cowards and bullies when they used the law to arrest and imprison their political opponents so as to prevent them from contesting the election. The PAP was victorious in 1963 but at what moral cost? “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36 King James Version). In three days' time, it will be the 55th anniversary of Operation Coldstore. Let us remember the hundreds of brave and brilliant people who sacrificed their freedom for us.   Teo Soh Lung      Read More →