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So explains my favourite Three Kingdoms character Me: You can feel it in the air - the Elections Department has announced their revisions, including a raised expenses limit, which our friendly neighbouring PM should have been aware of before claiming that his US$700 million was earmarked for campaign purposes. Meanwhile, the local dollar's nearing three to the ringgit, with no sign of the trend abateing. Dr. Chang: There have been more than a few juicy happenings during the past days, and it's hard to decide which of them is the most jaw-dropping, but for sheer breathtakingly misplaced gumption, it's hard to top the armed forces-general-heavy public transport junta, which has proclaimed that national servicemen may be mobilised to serve as ad-hoc marshals once the trains break down yet again. It has to be said: when all you have is a hamster, everything looks like a nail. Me: Hamster? Dr. Chang: We agreed that I'd get one product placement phrase minimum each blog post, human. Me: ... Dr. Chang: Predictably, the online reception has been less than warm, with netizens quite rightly pointing out that SMRT so happens to be a private for-profit corporation, just in case the authorities have conveniently forgotten. Therefore, so the reasoning goes, SMRT and pals should be paying market rate for auxillary aid to begin with, but then again, cheap labour grinding at saikang has always been the go-to strategy here. Me: And about this, just a minor note, I'd like to add that the army appears to have been outsourcing quite a lot of its transportational requirements, so there's a whiff of running about in circles here. But, carry on lah.  I'd say the outgoing Transport Minister timed his departure well. (Source: imgur.com) Dr. Chang: In second place, then, would be the National Solidarity Party's head-spinning U-turn on MacPherson, with former NCMP and topless maid photographer Steve Chia instigating their re-entry into the fray. This led to the NSP's acting secretary-general Hazel Poa, who looks to be one of the few of their members to have their heads screwed on, duly resigning in anticipation of the colossal cock-up in the making. The only reason why this wasn't top of the list, was due to it coming from the NSP, whom we have assessed as being on a decline - accusations of it being a No Substance Party may have been cruel, but given the latest developments, one has to concede that they seem bereft of the slightest shred of common sense, an affliction unfortunately shared with a significant proportion of minor political players locally. Recounting how all this began: recall that the Workers' Party had been willing to leave MacPherson SMC to the NSP, as long as Marine Parade GRC was left to them, which I noted that the NSP should have grabbed with both hands; they went on to overplay their hand and refuse, which left the WP to unilaterally declare their intentions to contest in both constituencies, at which the NSP was - for a moment at least - wise enough to recognize that they had bitten off more than they could chew, and withdrew gracefully, also in line with what I had advised, noting that MacPherson was not critical. Then, with opposition unity achieved at long last, the NSP then went and pulled this crap out of a hat. It is difficult to see how much worse they could have managed this:
 Kio tio! Ho say, now can whack liao! (Source: forums.hardwarezone.com.sg) Me: What can I say? It has been whispered that the NSP are actually incumbent moles, and while I lean towards dismissing such suggestions, and am willing to instead suppose that they are merely incredibly incompetent, these actions won't do much to address such suspicions. Dr. Chang: Yeah. Only consolation here is that this is likely the death knell for the NSP's reputation, which should signal to potential talents that they would be better served joining some other party, thus consolidating the Opposition's strength. As it is, I would drop their standing to below that of SingFirst, from this; if Chia winds up garnering below 5% of the vote in MacPherson, which is not unlikely in a three-cornered fight, and more of the NSP's bigwigs depart - not as if they haven't been doing so - they could find themselves ensconced firmly in the Spoiler Tier, which would be a sad conclusion for what was once one of the country's more prominent parties. Me: Ah, SingFirst. You have got to admit that our former Presidential candidate has identified a pretty viable niche in the political landscape. More overt nationalism and anti-immigration stands, whatever they are dressed up as, have been largely taboo and relegated to the fringes in recent decades, but if there's one horse that is enjoying a resurgence in global politics, this is it. Dr. Chang: Indeed, Donald Trump isn't the current Republican frontrunner because of his hairstyle. You could wonder at how many Americans, perhaps secretly, are all for the Trump's unashamedly racist proposals to kick undocumented Mexican "rapists and drug runners" back across the border, and make them pay for a new Berlin wall, and the answer appears to be: hella a lot. But, more seriously, European leaders are also coming to terms that their citizens don't exactly want more competition, with even ultra-liberal Sweden turning to a closed-door policy, if latest polls are any indication. Me: This is a legitimate concern. Take what had just happened at my neighbourhood community centre's McDonald's: The video appears to have been taken from the delivery riders' rest station. Your thoughts, Dr. Chang? Dr. Chang: Hmm, guy in white took the first one well, and had the presence of mind to drop his bag, but then threw a weak roundhouse, stepping in with the foot on the same side. You don't really want that, poor power transmission. The other guy was open, a direct straight-line punch to the gut would probably have winded him good. Still, for a beginner, it wasn't that bad an account of himself. My humble two cents. Me: I mean, on the racist angle. Dr. Chang: Oh, that. Regrettable, but with real wages stagnating - Asian statistics aside - and no letup on the sardine-packing in sight, tempers flaring is only to be expected. It's one of those not-very-quantifiable factors that your planners don't seem to grasp readily. Me: Anectodally, I witnessed another altercation between a foreign national and a bus ticket inspector just last weekend - the inspector had wanted to take his companion's particulars down for some reason, to which he tried to snatch the inspector's papers, and wound up arguing loudly for maybe ten minutes on how "they were going back tomorrow already", so it looks like a case of overstaying on the surface. Well, they're assertive alright, so the incumbents may have a rude shock if they are expecting new typically meek citizens. Dr. Chang: For now, they have still been engaged in flogging the Workers' Party over AHPETC, which appears to have degenerated into nitpicking. Take the latest weary poking about, which had the Ministry of Finance rebut that AHPETC's statement on a DPM claiming that "...even if the operating grant withheld by the Ministry of National Development (MND) for FY 14/15 is paid in its entirety into AHPETC's Sinking Funds, it would not be sufficient to comply with AHPETC's sinking fund obligations for the financial year" was "inaccurate and misleading", as the honourable DPM had never said that. What the DPM had in fact said, as the official government propaganda website explained, was that "Even if you take into account MND's grant which MND is willing to discuss with you, and you have part of the MND grant that has to properly go into the sinking fund and another part which goes into the operating fund, the amount that is owed to sinking fund from the operating fund will not be solved by MND's grant. That is a more fundamental problem." Shortening this statement by removing subsidiary clauses while maintaining the intent, we get: "Even if you take into account MND's grant, the amount that is owed to sinking fund from the operating fund will not be solved by it", which sounds like more or less what AHPETC is claiming, less the financial year details! More incredibly, gov.sg's explanation begins with "[The DPM] didn't make any statement on the AHPETC's Sinking Fund obligations...", to which one has to be completely flabbergasted. Primary school students had better hope this case never comes out in reading comprehension!  (Source: memegenerator.net) Me: You get why I'm a little tired of the bullshit. Dr. Chang: What really gets me is that while saying that, the incumbents are explaining away their own many lapses as being "out of good intentions" and "for the benefit of residents". Zhun bo? Can like that one meh? Not only that, given that auditing a mere 6.4% of all grassroots organizations had already uncovered so many cans of worms, it would only be reasonable to expect that the actual number of lapses would be at least ten times that actually revealed! 赠一首诗吧: 树不要皮, 必死无疑; 人不要脸, 天下无敌! Me: Their latest chapter in self-pwnage, I guess. And, as it so happens, the "religious right" pivot you raised last Sunday might have a bit more to it than I thought. Dr. Chang: I say, that's a tad faster than expected. One thing about the incumbents, they don't waste much time. Me: Neither has our latest hot stuff rabble-rouser, for that: From 0:41 and 11:25, he hasn't learnt much from his time in the clink; Lucky for him, they've probably realised that he's not worth the trouble. [N.B. Video has approximately 10-to-1 like-dislike ratio] Irreverent and disrespectful as Famous Amos is, the sad thing is, he's likely a more eloquent communicator than the average incumbent candidate. Note also his surprisingly level-headed recommendation towards the end, at the 25 minute mark, not to vote opposition just for the sake of it. Very unfortunately, it may very well be coming down to that... Dr. Chang: Given that signing on with the incumbents tends to force one into questionable assertions, one can understand. It should be said that he seems an equal-opportunity instigator, though, with his supporters such as Jeyaretnam and Ngerng also getting it. Me: Before we take a breather again, an international roundup. There's been another explosion, this time at the Erawan shrine at the heart of Bangkok, which I had visited some six years ago. Does make you appreciate life a bit more. As for the Tianjin one, it transpires that relatives of CCP officials were behind the regulation-skirting chemical warehouse. What a shock, who could have imagined that? In other news, financial markets are crashing across the board, with the Communist Party of China discovering that when you pledge to defend a level and target another level, traders will just buy on the way up and unload once the target is reached. One supposes they really don't need Li'l Kim gearing up for war against South Korea at this juncture, after the latter blared Gangnam Style across the border. Dr. Chang: Let's face it, you'd bomb someone too. Me: Heh. Ending up with tech, The State's Times has ventured into science fiction, there might be 16TB solid-state drives soon, and Google, no, Alphabet, are showing off their Atlas humanoid robot hiking in the woods. Being a longtime Mechwarrior fan, that brought back memories. Gotta get on Mechwarrior Online someday...  Left: Atlas 2015, Google Boston Dynamics, ~150 kg Right: Atlas 2755, Yori 'Mech Works etc, ~100 tons (Sources: extremetech.com & ign.com) Next: What's Afoot
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