[redbean]

New playground for foreign workers

Singaporeans and PRs have to pay $100 for entry to the Resort World casino. Foreign workers could enter free. What a great ruling. Now all the foreign workers will be making the casino their dining hall and playground. Free food and drink for the whole day at a cost of $3 for transport. And free aircon and comfort in a brand new resort. Ooh la la.

Now we will see how the casino operator going to handle this kind of situation. The casual Singaporeans who could go in and spend a couple of hundred bucks would not find it worth their while to pay $100 to enter the casino. Instead, the casino will have to put up with a mob of hungry foreign workers who may put in ten bucks into the jackpot machine, and many may not and will just be there for the free food, comfort and entertainment.

Interesting rulings and interesting situation.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Uncle Yap's productivity prognosis

I happened to read Uncle Yap's comment on how to raise productivity in Singapore. And he said it should start right from the very top. Right. He recommended that Hsien Loong chopped half of his cabinet to show the way.

I was musing over it the whole night and concluded that he was half right and half wrong. He was right in his diagnosis but wrong in his prescription. Right in the sense that any major policy must be top down with the leaders taking the lead and showing the way. But I don't agree with his recommendations to axe the top talents at the very top of the pecking order. These are the rare talants and in very limited supply and should not be anyhow wished away. Instead, I will counter suggest that in order to make them more productive, they should be given more jobs to do. Appoint them as Chairmans and directors or advisors to more institutions and organisations so that their talents and expertises are out to good use. Each one can easily take on 3 more Chairmanships or 10 directorship or 20 advisorships at least.

My suggestions are definitely more positive and effective and agreeable for implementation, and definitely will raise productivity at the highest level. Making suggestions that cannot be implemented or will be rejected is, yes, unproductive.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

The Wooden apology

Shall I call it the Wooden apology or the Tiger apology? After all it is all about the media and fancy news of the celebrities and a world of make beliefs. I did not watch the telecast and did not bother at all. It was after all his personal affair. It is big news alright for those who were his big fans and his sponsors. I was an admirer of Tiger Woods, the number one golfer, the world champion.

What went wrong or what was wrong with Tiger Woods when what he did was quite normal actually, for someone in his shoes. And he is not alone. His indiscretion somehow came up quite shocking and disappointing to his fans. I think his main problem was that he lived under an image of a flawless man. He was just like a priest or more, godly, and perfect. It was too big an image for any man to take on. When he turned out to be just like another ordinary guy in his personal life, it was too much to bear. The truth hurts badly.

It would be a different story if he had lived a life less pristine, less godly. No one seems to bother much about Mike Tyson or Bill Clinton or what some of the royalties did. As long as they don't pretend to be flawless, they are accepted as who they are. The disappoint comes when the flawless was found to be flawed. When you are white, a little spot or speck of dust is enough to damage the image.

Tiger should best discard his wholesome boy next door image. Just be himself and live life. If his appetite cannot be satisfied, he is going to create more problems to himself if he tries to be otherwise. Donald Trump has the best advice for him. Just go play golf and be a world champion. Forget about living like a priest. He is very talented.

His sponsors have a part to play in his spotlessly clean image. Don't they know that he wasn't?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Racist director and racist movies

In the Life page of ST today, director Pierre Morel was accused of being racist by casting all his villains as Asians or Pakistanis or Eastern Europeans. His latest film From Paris With Love also have non whites as villians, including Chinese or Vietnamese I think.

It is so funny really, to accuse a director for being racist just because he casts the heroes as Anglo Saxons and the badies as non whites. The non whites should be grateful for the roles and the doles he is offerring them.

Come to think of it, they should go back to the 50s and 60s when movies were so wholesome and non racial. I particularly enjoy the great movies of how the West were won, with American cavalries always arriving in time to kill the bad Red Indians and save the European immigrants, their families and little children from being slaughtered. And they always have happy endings too, with the Red Indians either shot or fleeing into the prairies or having their wigwams burnt to the ground.

Let's have more soldiers and Red Indians movies, more remakes and in grander scales. I am sure no one will complain about racism. And the Red Indian actors and actresses will be most happy with the jobs and doles. Provided they don't cast Europeans as Red Indians.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

More BS in Marina Bay

MBS will be the number one tenant at Marina Bay. It will compete with RWS headon for the gamblers comes April 27. The Marina Bay is going to be an exciting locale. And one can expect more BS to move in and stake a claim to this prime land. DBS is likely to be there, maybe OBS and KBS too. CBS another potential. Then there are the IBS, RBS, SBS, and the UBS. Not forgetting that NBS will also be there. Now, what is NBS, No Bull Shit?

Isn't it interesting that gamblers are now hot personalities and being courted everywhere, and some being flown in and driven by Rolls Royces to the resorts! Soon we will be reading more great stories about the exploits of gamblers and how much they made every minute they spent in the VIP rooms. And the greatest gambler of the island will soon come out from this resort in Changi to join the fray. Many Singapore students will write composition of what they want to be when they grow up, 'I want to be a gambler".

Now the cool thing is not to be in the company of royalties and politicians but be seen with top notch gamblers.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

The badge of pride and pedigree

The princelings of China are emerging everywhere, and very successful. Their pedigree background is a badge of honour and also a badge to a smoother path to material success. It gives hint to an age old culture when princes and royal ties were equated with power and status. This is a big contrast to the days of communism when poverty and peasant background were brandished as a badge, as a true red communist.

And in the days of the flower people of the 60s, rich kids rejected their affluent trappings to smoke pots and donned filthy and tattered clothes, living in the parks, as the way of life. Rejection of society and wealth was the in thing. Scions of the rich left their homes and families to look poor and smelly.

This reminds me of a confrontation between the Soviet leader Khruschev and China's Zhou En Lai. Khruschev came from humble and peasant background and was very proud of it. His badge of pride and pedigree. Zhou En Lai's background was from the gentry and landlord class. And both became communist leaders.

Khruschev used to sneer at Zhou En Lai for his rich background and proclaimed to everyone that his was of poverty and peasantry. We were both communist, but from different classes. Zhou En Lai agreed, yes we were both communist, I was rich and you were poor. And we have both betrayed our class.

And they toasted to that.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[admin]

Year 2010 - Sayanging the footballers

We were supposed to be in the finals of the World Cup this year. I read that the coach is going to submit a nasty report on the behaviour and discipline of our professional players who were booted out of the Asian Cup in Amman. Aren't they playing the in World Cup Final?

Maybe that's the reason why they felt so disheartened and depressed. The coach should forgive them, for oversleeping, for smoking, for not attending training sessions. He forgot to sayang them I think. And he thought that they were too big for their shoes!

What's happening? These are our first class talents, our Dream Team for the World Cup.

[redbean]

Meet Yotaro, the hottest baby in town

Yotaro has blue eyes, cute cheeks, cuddly, can smile, cry, throw tantrums, everything a baby can do. It is going to be the latest craze and will be selling like hot cakes. The Japanese has developed this Robobaby to train parents in parenting and how to take care of babies.

The best part about this toy is that it can be switched off when the owners got tired of it. This is the greatest advantage over a real baby. And it will never grow up and does not have the problems, sickness and troubles that real babies will bring.

I think this product will be a must have, just like internet baby craze where two young parents neglected their own baby to feed and look after an internet baby. Move aside, real babies. You are not needed nor wanted any more.

What is this world turning into? Real babies nobody wants. Instead they will buy cute Robobabies, toys, dogs and pets as subsitutes to be showered with love and tender loving care.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

The roaring business of infidelity

While we have refrained from joining the mob in tearing up the parties in the recent case of infidelity, the case has been receiving more than warm attention. All the tabloids and media have allocated significant space and resources to it. In cyberspace, some blogs have dedicated themselves to it with gusto, constant updates and youtube clips.

It is a roaring business and everyone is happy enjoying every little bits of the news. It it showbiz all the way. With such news all over the pages, what else is news or interesting news for the masses? I wonder what will happen to the General Election should a piece of such infidelity appears concerning some big time celebrities. Maybe they will have to call off the election.

For good business and a decent bottom line, the one and only major newspaper would do well to produce a tabloid of its own to cover such matters of the hearts. Sure to sell very well. We have enough celebrities to produce materials on a daily basis, and a hungry mob of imitation paparazi that have nothing better to write about and want a little attention of their own. The advent of the casinos and liberation of lifestyle, many juicy things are there waiting to be reported.

Then we have the new age felines that believe, with some truth, that kiss and tell will pay. And telling such stories is like wearing a badge of recognition and instant fame. They did not invent the word infamous or infamy for nothing. Fame and success are attainable in many ways and there is no right or wrong ways.

Our society is maturing, getting more like Hollywood, more glittering. Someday any attention seeker would be inventing hit/her own juicy stories to tell and to appear on the front pages of the media for that bit of fame.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Your Singapore!

My first impression is distaste. How’s that for a logo to be viewed across the world, the message from Singapore? I don’t know how much they paid for this gimmick?

When I started this blog, I had this little task of giving it a name. MySingaporeNews, or YourSingaporeNews were my initial choices. Both were quite meaningful. I wanted YourSingaporeNews for everyone to post their news here. MySingaporeNews also has the same meaning when ‘My’ means everyone who post their news here. I chose it as it is shorter by two alphabets. Your Singapore News has since been adopted by CNA and inviting forumers to contribute their news to the station.

I have no quarrel with My Singapore or Your Singapore, as it is about Singapore and Singaporeans writing about Singapore. I feel rather offended by telling the world that Singapore is theirs, Your Singapore.

Haven’t we have enough of foreigners here thinking that they also own Singapore? Haven’t we been selling every inch of our precious land to foreigners who came here to snub at the poor Singaporeans? And now we officially tell the foreigners that Singapore is their Singapore for the taking. Is it ours or no longer ours? Does Singapore belong to Singaporeans, for us to call Our Singapore, or to tell the foreigners, Your Singapore. All you need is money and you can buy it.

Of course the promoters and advocates of this catchphrase meant different things. They are telling the foreigners that they can design their trips the way they want it, to see what they want to see. And definitely not to think that they can have Singapore as theirs, if they have the money.

Your Singapore sure does not sound good to the already unhappy Singaporeans seeing their private space being invaded and taken away by foreigners. And for those who are chasing their little homes and cannot afford it, they will be more pissed off to hear this message. It is Our Singapore, not Theirs. Your Singapore can be demeaning to start from this angle. It is like an attempt to sell out.

Telling Singaporeans that this is Your Singapore is different from telling foreigners this is Your Singapore. Try telling the foreigners here that your home is their home.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Selling Your Singapore

With this new brand name called Your Singapore being brandished as a catchy tag, our representatives will soon be spreading out to the world to sell Singapore as a tourist destination. Let’s try to imagine how other people will react to this tag.

First stop is likely to be China. I can imagine the Chinese asking, ‘How much?’ They would be keen to pay for it if it is for sale. It’s neighbour the Japanese would probably frown and say, ‘Can we have it back?’ It belonged to them for a while back then.

Further to the East, the Americans would likely to give an approving nod and saying to themselves, ‘We had it in our pocket for so many years, didn’t you know that?’

As for the British, they would thank you for reminding them of their glorious past. They may regret for having giving it away to us on a silver platter.

Our Indonesian neighbour may say don’t try to tempt us.

Up north, they would not take it too kindly and give our representatives two black eyes for inviting them to ‘Your Singapore’. And hopefully the representatives would not be foolish enough to ask what was that for.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

A new twist to Your Singapore

Netizens were furious on the news that a grassroot organization is planning to organize a Water Festival, the same as those celebrated in Thailand, Myanmar and the IndoChinese states for the foreigners here. I look at it differently. If we are going to tell the world that Singapore is theirs, then it is only expected that we should also share their festivals and make them feel more at home here. Let's make it their Singapore for real.

And having more international festivals here is also a good thing for tourism. We can show the world how happy we are as a people, partying everyday to every festival that we can find. We can even declare every other day a holiday for a festival.

Now, would that not be fun? Come to Your Singapore and party for a life time, everyday of the year. There is never a dull day or a dull moment. The thought of it already brightens up my day.

As for integrating the foreigners to love Singapore, there is an easier way to do it. Just stuff some money in their pockets. I am sure the whole world will descend on Singapore and call it home.

Your Singapore will truly live up to its name.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Casino Autonomous Regions

Smoking allowed in the two casinos. Isn't that great? While Singaporeans have gotten rid of this dirty and smelly habit and could not stand the sight and smell of tobacco and cigarette butts, we know have to bear with them all over again, all because of money. For money's sake, what else do we want to sell out?

Maybe we can turn the casinos into autonomous regions and allowed whatever we do not allowed in the main island. Let them have chewing gums, littering and spitting are ok too. And let the Ah Longs operate there. Oh, move Geylang over there too. Just keep all the sleaze there may be a way to keep the main island clean and healthy. What am I talking about? There is one casino in the main prime city area. How?

Imagine all the hard works and campaigns and money spent to educate a population to be like the civilised first world, clean, impeccable and sauve, and we are going to abandon it for money. We allowed the foreigners to come here to spit, litter, commit crimes and now to smoke in our midst, in our island in the sun and our prime Marina Bay.

What is going on?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Going ahead with the Water Festival?

We respect the foreigners here. So we are going to celebrate their Water Festival. Do we respect other foreigners and celebrate their festivals as well? If we don't, does it mean that we are not respecting them?

What if we celebrate some and don't celebrate some? Would those affected feel slighted and not respected?

What if we celebrate this year because it is the in thing and don't celebrate in the following year or years? Would the foreigners say we have stop respecting them?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Is the world getting better?

The Pope is under pressure to take a stand against paedophile priests and to reveal what Vatican knew over centuries of abuse cover ups. London MPs were accused of collecting money to lobby for causes, bankers are now called crooks everywhere, politicians are infamous for sensuous affairs. What else is new? Robin Hood turns robber?

It is now very difficult and confusing to tell who are the crooks and who are the good guys.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.