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Wednesday, Aug 24, 2016 - 23:42 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Fail To Dare

Me: It's great to hear that you're playing Pokémon Go too, Mr. Robo! We should go on a group trek together someday... hey, is that a Pokémon egg?


Come out slowly with your hands - or any other appendages - up...
(Original source: flickr.com)


Mr. Robo: Yes, I'm sharing an account with Mr. Ham. And it's our first 10km egg! I can barely contain myself! You wouldn't know how long it took us to get it, but we finally did it. It could be our first Onix or Mr. Mime, or even an Aerodactyl or Dratini!

Me: And that's why you're standing around with the flower garland, to welcome it?

Mr. Robo: Yep!

Me: But, uh, Hamchu, what's the sledgehammer for?

Mr. Ham: Well, if it turns out to be yet another effin' Pinsir or Eevee, rest assured I'm gonna turn the bugger into candy personally.

Me: Er, ok.


Rally 2016

This year's National Day Rally will probably be best remembered for our Prime Minister seizing up midway (which brought some tactless sniping from the ever-salty KJ - N.B. he could at least have set some records, had he been on Reddit); all's well that ends well, though, as he was given a clean bill of health by doctors in attendance, before continuing.

If that gesture was praiseworthy, however, the content of the speech(es), and of the follow-up announcements, was somewhat more... mixed.

I'll begin with the parts I liked:
  • Disruption being the single most defining economic challenge - while not exactly an exclusive insight, recognition remains plaudit-worthy. As for the proposed remedies - developing skills and entrepreneurship - we'll get to that later

  • Reaffirmation of "friends with everyone" foreign policy - it's hardly a secret that Singapore has striven to be a sort of independent honest broker, avoiding overly-close entanglements with particular blocs.

    Of course, given that we do still possess a sorta-strategic geographical position, great powers can and will try to influence our stands. This has most recently been reflected by the ongoing South China Sea dispute - which, recall, had an international tribunal at The Hague rule against China just last month. Some Chinese netizens have since been butthurt at us somehow, for not supporting their (frankly iffy) claim, and it was refreshing to hear the PM effectively politely informing them, that they could put a sock in it.

    [N.B. That said, "international law" mostly boils down to: if you can take and hold it, it's yours. It has been noted that China kind of self-pwned by by ratifying UNCLOS, thus setting themselves up to be bound by its procedures. The US of A in contrast has never ratified it, and given that they have a Hague Invasion Act in the event that the International Criminal Court has the gall to try American citizens, one can get very cynical about what "international justice" means in practice]
Kinda meh:
  • Eldershield Review - would have been more inspired had the last major CPF review not mostly resulted in the renaming of the Minimum Sum, with the latest pseudo-inflation-linked lifetime payout plan merely rejigging the payout schedule to - again - retain more funds in the coffers... but I'm willing to wait and see

  • Terrorism - while it's honestly near-impossible to forestall competent attackers (or even half-competent ones - consider that our MRT trains routinely get graffitied by bored expats, then imagine how much easier it would be to just tape a bomb under the train, rather than come up with street art), the part about registering religious teachers does make a lot of sense

  • Passing the Premiership baton - no surprises here, it has been hinted at for a long time; however, with projected successor Heng Swee Keat getting hit by a stroke recently, it's looking a little murky... unless, of course, Tharman steps forward...

Zhun Bo, Can Fail Meh?

"...It's not just a recognition of your academic ability, it is a life-changing moment for you and your family. And the opportunity from the Government to rule..."

- our Foreign Affairs Minister displaying admirable candidness
[N.B. Promptly quietly edited away by the mainstream media]


And we come to the inconsistencies. So, it seems that the latest governmental policy fad is for "risk-taking" and "entrepreneurial spirit"; I'll play opposition's advocate here, and make the case that the administration remains wedded to top-down nannying and state control in reality (like China), with lip-service being paid to alternative paths and creativity.


All The President's Men

First off - all indications are that they're going to force through the skulduggery about the Elected Presidency, with the PM already calling for the Chinese community to "support changes to allow for minority Presidents from time to time".

Now, in principle, this is not a bad thing (but note underlying tone of you ain't racist, are you?). However, as raised here before, and now also eloquently questioned by Alfian Sa'at:

Why now?

Why, after just five years of a Chinese president, following twelve years of a (minority) Indian president, has it become such an urgent issue? Is there something up with their internal polling? Okay, I'll just say it up front:

Is all of this just to prevent Tan Cheng Bock from contesting?

To this end, the PM pulled out a survey that suggested that citizens tend to consider those not of their own race as less acceptable to be President... but seriously, what does this prove? So what if only 68% of Chinese and 75% of Malays felt that an Indian was acceptable - did this stop the late S. R. Nathan (though, The State's Times leading sentence being that he was our "first elected president", might be a clue that those behind our national mouthpiece would rather forget elected presidents who try to do their jobs; well, with any luck, they might yet get sold off to less-uptight offshore interests)?

But fine. If they want to ram through rule changes to raise a moat and protect their monopoly, they can do it. It's been done enough times before, anyway. GRC also like that what. So what if individual minority candidates on both sides have shown themselves totally capable of winning seats by themselves? If a problem happens to be convenient if it exists, it'll just get dragged kicking and screaming into public view; otherwise, good luck digging it out (see: AIM, the PA, etc)

Risk failure? Why chance it?


Win Together, Fail Alone

There is perhaps no better illustration of the overall attitude towards unorthodox risk-taking, than the story of our first Olympic gold medallist, Joseph Schooling. You've seen it, definitely - the full-page adverts blanketing The State's Times from various companies congratulating the new hero, to the extent that the International Olympic Committee had to issue a statement against unauthorised commercial campaigns.

And the rest of the contingent, who didn't get the metal? Get whacked in public for not talking to the press, as if they're owed anything (not that they won't just come up with their own content in any case). But back to Schooling - where were all those glad-handers and back-slappers, before he came good big time? While the S$1 million award may seem huge, 20% of it goes directly back to the Singapore Swimming Association - as if they've done much of anything for him - before taxes take another chunk. And if we're talking about money, the Schoolings probably haven't even turned a profit, given that his dad believed enough to sell their house and plow in almost a million US dollars, for his training needs.

Not only that, while not helping is one thing, Schooling's mother had to fight tooth and nail, just to defer his National Service. Fortunately, she managed to get it done, or Schooling might have been - in the best case - wasting away on lifeguard duty at NDU or something. Essentially, they had to constantly fight against the local "risk-friendly" system, every single step of the way, simply to get a shot at succeeding!

Continuing on, while the table tennis team has returned empty-handed this time, this has actually gained them some sympathy from me - though my general stand against sourcing for ready-made foreign sporting talent remains. Which, come to think of it, is another reflection of the actual disposition of those in charge - take a punt on domestic hopefuls? Nah, the athletes can take risks, but not the relevant ministry, they'd much rather Pay To Win, thank you.

Which brings us to what remains the most everyman of sports - football. As R. Vengadasalam has recently pointed out, the goalposts keep getting shifted to prevent outsiders like him from getting a fair shot (a preview of what's going to happen to the Presidency?). Despite decades of indisputably mediocre results, both with the national side and the S.League, the powers that be seem intent on appointing career politicians to the post (which, ironically, has taken FIFA to fix somewhat)

But, yeah, innovation, entrepreneurship, we get it.


But, But, Engineering And Tech!

Yeah, we get it, everybody's smart idea is to teach programming early. Britain's doing it, Japan's doing it, now Malaysia is hopping on the bandwagon. Long story short, talk so much, just show the basic sincerity of putting money where one's mouth is, lah. In case it's escaped you, it's the iron rice-bowled steady-paychecked civil service who's taken to shilling for others to take risks with their livelihoods. So if it doesn't work out, they're gonna feed your family? Or maybe pitch in for your mortgage? Fat hope.

Leaving the most f**ked-up measure for last, the Ministry of Law is going after VPNs now, which would see us join the exalted company of North Korea and Iran. If there's a single push factor that would lead me to seriously consider emigration, messing with the Internet would be it.

(knowledge economy, yo)



GIVE ME YOUTUBE OR GIVE ME DEATH



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