TR EMERITUS

Who's this "we" who are obsessed with royalty? Personally I don't give a flick (of my scepter). I never understood why the real citizens of Britain tolerate it...tradition or not its a great scam...It will be interesting to see what happens to the British monarchy after Elizabeth II. She is beloved as the calm center of a fast-moving and ever-changing world. Though wealthy and removed, she looks like, and clearly revels in, being a grandmother. She has lived a life of service and duty. Queen Elizabeth II had a brilliant opportunity to do something about race relations on a global scale and prove the value of the Monarchy by throwing the entire weight of the British Crown behind making Meghan Markle feel completely welcome in the UK. She should have made it known to all that any racism directed at the Duchess would be seen an attack on the Monarchy. Instead, Meghan felt abandoned. What an embarrassment it is that she had to reach out to Human Resources for help. Are the British so caught up in the pageantry that they can't see the Royal Family is a royal joke? Look no further for proof: How it coddles Andrew, son of Elizabeth and brother of Charles, and a former frequent house guest of Jeffrey Epstein, whose mansions and private islands were the alleged locus of a underage girls sex-trafficking enterprise. So far Andrew, who is credibly accused of partaking in Epstein's dirty business, has escaped repercussions because his rich and powerful family is shielding him. The Biden administration should impose sanctions on Andrew as well as the British "royal" family for their role in protecting Andrew from the consequences of his unlawful and morally reprehensible behavior. Charles is a much different character--flawed, lacking empathy, self-serving and entitled. He is not beloved. There is this inexplicable drive for dominance and power that seems to pervade everything and may also be related to the dark history of slavery (which, of course is the other gigantic blind spot). [LINK] In decline since the end of World War I, the nation has a giant collective chip on its shoulder. The Windsors & their palaces and art collections are also perhaps the biggest tourist draw the U.K. has. But the truth is that today it is little more than a tourist attraction and its younger royal members are like Disney employees; at the end of the day, they want to take the costumes off and be regular people, but their nation and the media that makes a living of the royals won't let them. Getting rid of its leading act will cost big money. These people do not work.. sitting on piles of money they did not earn..are waited on hand and foot. Own many houses and property they did not earn as well and yet they demand respect..What a con.... All the money that is spent and has been wasted on the royal family could have done and a lot of good for the people of Britain. Ultimately, that's why Harry and Meghan left Britain. It is less about royal family racism and mostly that they just don't want to be part of the old show any longer. They want their own show and now, as shown by the fact that 17 million people watched their interview with Oprah, they have it. How in the world can Harry and Meghan feel like they deserve to buy a house in California for $18 million with money they did not earn or work for...I get why Harry wanted out because of what it did to his mother...but the pompous ..arrogant attitude of the monarchy is ridiculous.. I don’t claim that the UK is anywhere near perfect. We have endless hypocrisies of our own - tribalism of any sort - from village to nation kills. Unless the monarchy is willing to adapt, it is indeed a relic of the past. We should not be simply promoting heredity: deference by blood - a view that is quite anachronistic to the modern times. Why is some countries STILL entrenched in this old British caste system where one's birth into a specific family determines one's social standing, and privilege of owning wealth, lands and property... is baffling. It's time to cut the colonial cord to the British Royal Family. Put up the flag - dammed it!   Sjorne Shen      Read More →

I read with interest the commentary, “Why Gen Zs need help especially now to kick the smartphone-fuelled compulsive buying habit”. Man’s desire is unlimited. It especially goes in tandem with the age prior to retirement. However a person’s fulfilment of his/her desire and expectations should preferably or solely base upon his financial ability and capabilities. Thus, providing proper parental guidance about this principle to children at young age is vital and necessary. Generation Z is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials (is anyone born between 1996 and the early-mid 2000s) Generation Z is generally and digitally literate and have been dubbed “digital natives” Due to the advancement of technology, it is easily available for young age children to access to all kinds of information, products and services on the internet as far as they have a smartphone in hand. As all know, the temptations and influences of online advertisements are so great that even sometimes you (as an adult) don’t have a real intention, but you commit it purely out of sudden urge or impulsiveness. Thus, it is good for us to teach our children the Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs, and also duly guide them to distinctly differentiate, divide or segregate individual needs and desire into different level of categories: Pragmatically needed or required it in the course of work, living, schooling and social interactions (such as the requirement of pursuing higher education/academic qualifications, job and language skills) Nice to have it and depending upon your financial and emotional situation, but not necessary require it (For example, keeping different types of pets) Not necessary or required to have it (keep upgrading to the newest or latest version of smartphones) provided you are financially affordable.   Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)      Read More →

Firstly, I side step a bit to congratulate TOC to be reborn in Taiwan. As you know TOC has been a thorn, it had been harassed continuously to stop its operation and the founder was subsequently locked up. As the authoritarian regime created more laws like FICA and now considering to introduce "cancel" to stop criticisms and negative feedbacks in order to further suppressed freedom and freedom of speech, learning from Russia and China. This is probably my only article to contribute and hopefully TOC and other websites like TR Emeritus, can continue the fight with this oppressive regime. In National Day Speech, we were told there are not enough babies for new BTOs and towns. But ironically, you see forests are cleared, more new BTOs are built and many seas are reclaimed. Who are these people they going to house? And many ulu and prime places are seeing transactions above million for HDB and if you dig further, many are foreign born new citizens and PRs, particularly from China. As more and more rich Chinese are migrating out due to national security law and covid 0 policy, they are flooding Singapore and buying out private and public at crazy prices. For the super visa for salary $30,000, you could see that is not the key, the key is shortening advertisement and accelerate employment pass to 14 days. As a result, pointed by Leong Sze Hiang, foreign employment grew 7 times in Q2 2022. This is a clear signal that massive import of foreign aka global talents are accelerated while public housing prices are being escalated to ensure maximum profit. There are few KEY takeaways： 1. Foreign or Global talent: They are same same but different, you see the same familiar faces from Malaysia, India, China, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar etc. It will be the same old soup but different name. 2. Conversion into new locals: No doubt, you can look at the stats and the numbers will grow exponential. 3. Everything has become very expensive but will continue to rise: From rental, utiltiy, coe, erp, gst, cpf policies, medical cost etc. Things have become unaffordable for many middle and lower class. 4. Is the country broke? I believe so, they are issuing bonds, selling BTOs are sky price and import foreigners to boost GDP. 5. More local PMETs will be made redundant or cant find job: The many articles on MSM glamorizing hawkers, bus captain, food delivery are regular affair, this seem to be sponsored brainwashing media to psyche locals to mentally accept and downgrade. 6. Crime rates up up up: Singapore has become unruly place with higher and higher crimes in addition to becoming a scam haven. 7. Locals heavily discriminated：It is becoming obvious that foreign born whether foreigner or PR or new citizen will prefer to hire their own native. Look at around you, you can see they may look Chinese but they actually speak Malaysian accented Mandarin, and many other foreigners are flooding Singapore as the legs of migration are now wider and wider. I believe it is a lost goal, the target is probably 10M by 2050, local core will be reduced to minority and led by a foreign core which will be taking over the leadership of all industries and perhaps politics. Remember our sovereign funds in the hands of foreign born, our banks likewise and many other industries are likewise. The locals are advised to downgrade to be hawkers or self employed. Thanks to timid and fearful locals, we have lost. Accept your fate and downgrade as they recommend.   Beatrice Lim      Read More →