TR EMERITUS

Nearly all countries require their residents to have a driving license before they are allowed to drive cars on the road. They do not allow any person to drive without a license. They have the individual right to drive a car, but they must prove that they will drive the car responsibly by getting a license. This practice is well accepted. Nobody argues against this loss of freedom to drive a car without a license. This concept also applies to voting for the leaders of a country. In order to vote, the resident must be eligible. In most countries, the right is based on being a citizen and above a certain age. I prefer that an additional requirement should be imposed. The eligible person should also pass a test on knowledge of the country's constitution. If a person does not know the constitution, he or she should not be allowed to vote. In the communist party system in China, the right to vote is given to members of the communist party. The membership represents 9% of all adult citizens. There are 90 million members in the party. A member of the party is required to study and understand the constitution of China. The constitution enshrines a socialist system under the leadership of the communist party. If any Chinese citizen does not like the constitution, he or she is free to migrate to another country which is willing to accept them. China does not stop people from leaving the country. They did stop them in the past, but this has changed. Hundreds of millions of Chinese nationals travel each year out of China. They return to the country willingly. In theory, every person who wishes to join the communist party as a member is allowed to do so. In practice, the party does have some additional restrictions on who they accept as their members. Perhaps they have a quota on the number of members in each locality. I would prefer a system where everybody who wishes to join the party should be allowed to do so. But I am not aware if there are strong reasons to have the quota. Even if there is a quota on the members of the party, I would not argue against that practice in principle. I consider 9% to be quite a high proportion of the population. The members of the party vote for their leaders at the local level, maybe the village that they live in. The village leaders vote for their leaders at the county level. The county leaders vote for the provincial leaders. The provincial leaders vote for the national leaders. I prefer this system of election. The party members can be expected to know the candidates in the village well and can make the choice. They are likely to elect the most capable people who are less corrupt and cares about the village. The election at the higher levels are likely to produce similar outcomes. There is no guarantee that this system will prevent the people in power from being corrupt. But if they are corrupt, the voting system can act as a check and the leaders can be removed from power. There is also the discipline within the party to deal with corruption and abuse of power. Within the party, we can expect leaders to form groups, or cliques. This is part of the natural outcome of social groups. However, this group is not formalized into a party with separate ideologies. All party members have to follow the national ideology as enshrined in the constitution. I do not hold the view that the communist party system is perfect. I am sure that many people can point out its flaws and abuses. However, I wish to argue that there are merits to this system. It is quite democratic, at least within the party, and is able to produce capable and honest (hopefully) leaders to lead the country. If we compare the quality of the leaders produced by different countries, I would say that China comes out at or near the top. There are merits to the communist party system. I am not saying that the communist party system is the best among all the political systems. I only say that it is a good system. I also like some other systems, such as the direct democracy adopted in Switzerland and the proportional representation system adopted in Germany. I wish to summarize with the following main points: a) We need a good system to produce the right leaders for a country b) We should restrict the right to vote to people who are qualified to exercise the right. c) The system of voting at various levels is probably better than voting directly for the top leaders.   Tan Kin Lian        Read More →

The 1 June 2020 Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's national newspapers, has reported that Japan is considering easing travel restrictions on Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand with certain conditions. Singapore is not on their list. In the face of C19 pandemic, our world's strongest passport reputation simply melt away like ice under the scorching sun. Although C19 pandemic has affected every country, Singapore is one of the worst affected ones. By now, we have a fairly good idea as to the reasons why it is so and very unfortunately, many of them are uniquely Singapore. Among the reasons are that in the early days of it outbreak, the "exceptional" pap taskforce has refused to heed loud public's instinctive calls to ban the arrival of visitors and returnees from China. Public panic was further stroked and intensified when the pap government's assurance or by now we all know that they were hot air, that we have 6 months supply of masks exploded in their face and masks were in severe short supply everywhere anybody turned. Then came the no need to wear mask if you are not unwell advice given by non other than that useless son. That "exceptional" advice resulted in our country losing >2 precious months to effectively protect our people and Ong Ye Kung flatly rejected calls by so many worried parents to close schools. Eventually, all schools were still closed. There was a call by 4 doctors who jointly signed their exhortation for Singaporeans to wear mask. That call was dismissed by the taskforce. Looking back, I urge thinking Singaporeans to form their own opinions. The answer is clear as crystal and trust me, I can easily go on... Without the runaway C19 explosion among migrant workers who stay in worker dormitories, Singaporeans will never know the very, very pathetic state of the overcrowding and unhygienic situations of those dormitories too. This corona virus is so new until it didn't even have a name. Now, the world knows it as Covid-19 yet, the "exceptional" pap ministerial taskforce blindly sucked so heavily on those so called scientific evidences and advisories coming from WHO who itself knows so little about the virus before they were willing to move or do anything proactively. If that were only those impeccably educated scholars or generals are capable of doing, Singaporeans need not pay through their nose for their million dollars salaries anymore. Any "O" level educated persons would be able to do just as well, if not even better. Still remember that Lim Swee Say fella with his cheaper, better and faster rhetoric? In such a new virus situation, human instincts and common-sense such as the quickly wearing of mask and staying away from crowded places etc must override any book-smart knowledge when science still know so little about it even until today. The picture of lhl wearing a mask made him look extremely stupid to me and I believe that I am not alone. As we enter Phase One of our CB easing with people returning to work and students returning to school, I stress again that the danger of second and sebsequent waves of infections are clear and present danger. If I were in charge of enforcing CB measures, I will despatch many more plain clothes police officers and enforcers and incentivise them for their performances. I hope that Masagos and Shanmugam will be serious enough to understand the risks that we as a country collectively faces and not shy away because the GE isn't too far away and they may not want to upset or offend people. Think.   Simon Lim      Read More →

The whole PAP Government 4G Task Force are led by HEADLESS CHICKEN! They keep changing rules and regulations like changing diapers and underwear! Most importantly, they are totally out of touch from the reality on the ground and they lack differential common sense as well! For a start, how can we actually have confidence in PAP leader who thought Cotton comes from Sheep? How can we have confidence in leaders who keep changing Rules and Regulations. From You don't need to wear mask to, compulsory must wear mask. From food handlers can wear spit guards to spit guards not allowed. From Face Shields are as good as face mask to Face Shield can only be used when social distancing is possible to face mask is default! It really makes people wonder whether they know exactly what they are doing in the first place! Putting on a mask or face shield or even a spit guard will have Two functions with varying degree of effectiveness. It is PROTECTION from infection by others and PREVENTION of infecting others. In order to understand what are suitable in different situations, we must understand the nature of how this virus spread. The virus spread by large and tiny droplets of saliva and mucus. It may also be spread by aerosal. It can spread through speaking, coughing or sneezing. Although I am no expert but common sense tell us that as long as ALL people could prevent their droplets of mucus or saliva from getting spread to other people through speaking, coughing or sneezing, everyone will be protected by such preventive measures. In the context of UNIVERSAL Masking, the most important function is Prevention of spreading saliva and mucus to others, while Protection from infection will become secondary. Thus, no matte what, we must ensure that everyone should put on something which will PREVENT WEARERS from spreading saliva and mucus to others EFFECTIVELY. Between a Plastic Shield vs a piece of paper based mask, which will be more effective in preventing water droplets from passing through and spread to others? That's a no brainer question. I have dealt with face mask sourcing and there is something called Splash Test. Surgical masks have to pass the Splash test by blocking up to 95% of fine droplets before it could be certified effective. Splash test is a simulation of saliva and mucus being cough out or sneeze out at a certain pressure. Many of the face masks in the market are actually not certified or even tested! Cloth mask which are not made of non woven material will have doubtful effectiveness as well. A plastic shield or even a plastic spit guard will definitely be more effective that a paper mask which is not tested or certified. Spit guard may have much weaker prevention of infection by others due to the fact it is open on the top but it is close to the mouth as well as the nose. Whatever sneeze, coughing or saliva from wearer will be effectively blocked right at the outlets of mouth or nostrils. Face shield protects the eyes, mouth and nose, from direct hit while at the same time prevent droplets from straight trajectory. The only weakness is that droplets could still drop directly downward from the mouth. But as long as no one is position below the wearer, that's pretty OK. Face shield may not be suitable for MRT or buses because there might be people sitting below the wearer. Other than that it is perfectly alright in the context of universal masking! Face shields with proper cover on the forehead provides good protection for most situation. It should be made mandatory for those who are jogging or exercising where they can't wear face mask. When you are exercising, you will be breathing out heavily and there will be occasional cough or sneezing. Thus it is illogical to exempt those who are jogging from putting up a face shield or at the very least, a spit guard! If those highly paid headless chicken had really walk around and observe, they will realize that a lot of people will wear their masks with nostrils exposed. Due to our hot weather, a lot of expats and people from temperate countries are not used to wearing a face mask under hot sun and high humidity. This is why we can see so many Caucasians are resistance to wearing masks. Not to mention those who work as hawkers and cooks in hot kitchens. It is impractical and unnecessary for them to wear face masks when a spit guard would be more sustainable and effective. Most people have misconception of universal masking. They were thinking more on the Protection function rather than the more important function of Prevention in the context of Universal Masking where everyone is putting on something in front of their mouths and noses. Well, I would not take issue when people have such mistaken view or concept which made them coming to the wrong conclusion about Face Mask and Spit Guard, but for THOSE SUPPOSEDLY INTELLIGENT and Highly paid Experts, Civil Servants and Ministers to be so clueless about Universal Masking, that's really TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Well if they are really clueless, just learn from the very front line country, China! Right from the start, they have put up a comprehensive masking directive cater to different situations and scenario. They classify situations into High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk...Etc. They differentiate between different types of masks and now, they encourage the use of face shield in practical and pragmatic situations. How could our HIGHEST PAID Ministers in the world become so mediocre in comparison to the Chinese counterparts who are only paid a fraction of their salary? How could Singaporeans have any confidence left in PAP leadership if they can't even get such simple things right?   Goh Meng Seng      Read More →