TR EMERITUS

EDITORS' NOTE: [Our China correspondent, who had lived in Suzhou for 6 months can attest to the fact that its standard of living is comparable to Singapore. The pace of life is slower, cost of living is lower and the quality of air is definitely better in Suzhou! Not to mention the beautiful scenary in Zhou Zhuang and the demure, pretty and gentle ladies. View photos of th Suzhou Industrial Park here] As an important cooperation project between the two governments of China and Singapore, the accomplishments of Suzhou Industrial Park in last 15 years have caught worldwide attention: the annual revenue increased from 30 million yuan in the beginning, to nearly 10 billion yuan now. The gross regional product exceeded 100 billion yuan, increasing nearly 100 times compared to the early days of exploration. The level of per capita GDP in the park is close to that of Singapore. In the past 15 years, the annual increase of major economic indicators of Suzhou Industrial Park reached 30%. It handed in a total of more than 100 billion yuan in tax revenues, and utilized foreign funds of nearly 16 billion U.S. dollars. Its registered capital was more than 130 billion yuan, and created 500,000 job opportunities. The comprehensive Development Index of Suzhou Industrial park has taken up the leading position among the national level development zones for many years. Now, the Suzhou Industrial park has already become an important window for China's opening to the world and also a successful example of Sino-foreign economic and technical cooperation. As China's "experimental field, for reform and opening-up and demonstration zone for international cooperation", Suzhou Industrial Park learned advanced techniques from developed countries such as Singapore, and initially finalized the construction of ten systems such as planning and construction management, environmental protection, investment, logistics services and so on. From the beginning of April 1994, the Suzhou Industrial Park organized more than 2000 people to go to Singapore for training and worked out more than 80 regional management approaches in line with the direction of China's reform and conforming to international conventions. In the meantime, a large number of experts, officials and entrepreneurs from Singapore have come to the park to understand China's national conditions, nurturing a great many talented people. At present, the Suzhou Industrial Park has become a model for many areas of China. The China Development Association held two seminars here, training more than 200 cadres from domestic development zones. In recent years, more than 30,000 people have come here to study annually. The high standard of urban planning, the efficient services for the concept of pro-business and the high threshold of environmental protection measures of Suzhou Industrial Park have now spread to all parts of the country. In Jiangsu Province, the City of Suqian planned to spend 10 years cloning a Suzhou Industrial Park. Recently, the Sino-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Company Limited signed a letter of intent with the Nantong Economic Development Zone, planning to spend 10-15 years building an international technology New District and an ecological business Park on the north wing of Sutong Bridge. The most significant symbol was the birth of "Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City" project, the second major cooperation project between China and Singapore. Adopting the practice of Suzhou Industrial Park, it forms a Joint Coordination Council and separates the management body and development body. A number of responsible officers from Singapore in the Tianjin Eco-city project have already worked in the Suzhou Industrial Park for a long time. In this regard, the Singapore side expressed that the park was not only a brand for Suzhou and China, but also a worldwide brand. Source: People's Daily Online  Read More →

Original Blog by Lucky Tan HERE 最近BBC记者去中国，在购物中心与几个20岁以下的青年人谈话。 问他们是否知道二十年前在天安门发生了什么事件，他们以空白的呆视回复了记者。可见中国政府以制造宣传的机器和它的经济成就而设法令人民淡忘过往黑暗的回忆。 但为正义而战斗的行为从未真正完全地消失：从中国农民的土地由于‘土地劫掠’ 而猛烈地被侵占了、到四川(Sichuan province)地震期间死在倒坍了的‘豆腐’教学楼的学童之父母[链接]，中国人民都盼望取得正义和自由。当中国经济的引擎不停地转动时，每年有600宗暴乱 (这是根据官方数字，非官方的数字估计将更高一点) 。从数以万计的中国人民来看，他们所寻找的正义是难以捉摸的[链接]。 如果您在新加坡一个购物中心访问年轻的顾客，问他们是否听过光谱行动(Operation Spectrum) [链接]和‘马克思主义者的阴谋’，您是否将得到空白的呆视和BBC记者一样呢？ 在1987年5月21日的凌晨， 16个新加坡人在他们的家中被拘捕并且被扣留。 他们被指责用暴力设法推翻政府和以一个马克思主义政权来替换它。 他们没有武器，… 16个被捕者之中11人是妇女…他们被指责密谋‘用暴力推翻政府’ 并且击败新加坡陆军(SAF)和警队…。 被拘留者在苛刻的情况下被盘问，在电视上被迫表白(confession)，和签署各种各样的文件。 在以后几个星期，新加坡人被灌输了一个奇妙的故事集中在这个人名呌Tan Wah Piow，他是一名七十年代的学生活跃分子，当政府因为他帮助了一班工人争取正义而追捕他时，逃到了英国。 这名假想邪恶的策划者Tan Wah Piow现在是一位在英国的人权律师。 他现在大部分时间花费在帮助移民争取正义。 他的事业选择大概有助于解释这策划者的指责是否可信。在被拘留者获释放之后，有几个人否定了他们的表白并且想起诉政府，他们再次被捕和被扣留了。 为什么我们不应该忘记22年前发生在这小组新加坡人身上的事件呢？这是由于什么东西都未改变：致使这样不公平的行动得以永久长存的同一法例(ISA：内部保安法)，同一政府(PAP)和同一媒介(ST：海峡时报)今天仍然存在，与22年前一样。 忘记了这马克思主义阴谋理论的神话？…这整个事件是关于一小撮人想通过压制的手段来保存他们的一党专政的霸权统治。 詹时中1987年在议会发言：“我们是否想要这样的新加坡，仅由于持轻微的异议而反对政府，人民便被拘捕了？您是否想要一个拥有普遍恐惧但无积极性的国家？” 除了能再次使用ISA来保存自己的权力，PAP政府没有理由保留这法例。 马来西亚己经采取步骤去重新考虑ISA [链接]，并且他们很可能以反恐怖主义法例来替换ISA。 当这样严厉的法律仍然存在并且在人民之中渗入了恐惧气候时，想要一个开放包含的社会只是无用的空谈吧了！  Read More →

Written by Darkness of the Brotherhood / Folks it may be the right time to cash out! Yes, the time has come when we just have to move to on to bigger things – I’ve come straight to the point, we are not getting younger and the way, I see it the whole idea of the internet is just a great way to make money without having to pay tax – I don’t know about the rest of you, but that is how I’ve always seen it from the very first day: as nothing more than a great opportunity to prosper very much in the way prairie pioneers once set their hopes and dreams eyes on as Emerson said so beautifully, "the thirst for the new and untouched" – This leads me in part to my windbag point through the years, I have managed accumulate quiet a small fortune in e-currency (monopoly money) – one reason why I have not cashed out is because of certain complications that some people reading this may only know too well – in  polite terms let us just say there are wating to pouch on me when I make the conversion – we know who they are and they know who we are – the game of life it seems is played in this cat and mouse way.   So far, we have outwitted them, but to be fair, they have more than made up for the slack by their dexterity; however, my feel is like any priceless domain, the field of economics will invariably try to command and control this new frointier called the internet, it always be unending power game that will sharpen as money begins its exodust to this new domain – the way I see it, learning when to put things down requires infinitely more wisdom than picking it up; the way I see it, it's only a matter of time before the bough gives way – not only are we seeing new arrays of panoptical digital eyes, but these days they can even make up the missing alphabets between A and Z and so much to even color whatever story they may wish to forward as the established truth - this should never be seen as curious - as everything even something as forgettable as shoelaces needs mythologizing. For example, its no accident North Americans much prefer the criss cross unlike Europeans whose ancestors  fought in muddy trenches who much prefer the straight lace, as every soldier knows when the laces are all lined up they're easier to cut off with the bayonet.   My point is nothing ever comes from nothing; usually its accompanied with a history  - in this respect, the internet has its own story and it the affairs of things: the story is not so different from the idea there is divinity that shapes all things that once worthless and suddenly assumed a value such as oil, wind or even a sliver of land winds - the internet has become such a thing; granted rough hew, crude even very much like the prototypal rockets once launched; but have not doubts, it can shift, tack ebbs and flows and if the net was ever a man who had ever lived through an age; he would probably express his age in the same prosaic sentiment as Abbe Sieyes when  asked what was his one greatest achievement during the French Revolution, he replied, "I survived and did not lose my head like the others...now many see me as useful...if they want to keep their head that is" – that’s one reason why it may be time to cash out.   As if we ask what will come after this time Sieyes described; it cannot be so different as to ask what have we really learnt from the internet? Like or hate it, the accounts dont hold out promise; as even the most sanguine observer must ruefully admit in the words of T S Eliot, "We have experienced, but missedthe meaning.   History teaches us the men who did not miss meaning and implication were the people who fill the pages of the history books (I am not referring to those self styled legends in their own minds who seem to do nothing but perpetuate their hologram legacy); I am referring to the real heroes, like explorers, scientist and rugged individuals who are prepared to stand and fight for what they believe to be right and to even do it in ways that may in certain cases raise eyebrows; I don't claim to be such a fellow, the nearest I came to such innate potential was a time when a woman of a fine standing told the world that I had promised her the fortune (or should I say the misfortune of starting a household); when I was asked why I declined, I simply replied, it would be impossible for me to fuck her; as even a sparsely furnished mind such as mine requires love making to be something beyond a chore - yes, if only we can all resolve all our differences with such candor - my feel is the world will be a much better place.  My point is for a new domain such as the internet to prosper, it much be infused with the leadership to be able to set its own terms, not the talk alot fuck everything up, then then do the no regret song and dance medley - in short , it has to be founded on courage, intellectual integrity and a sense of real values, not empty rhetoric and false pride - the problem with our accelerated age in the internet which may even have spanned a whole century is it has not really gone anywhere beyond chasing it's own tail - the government is still going on and on about online credibilitiy as if its that one value that trumps all; Cheong Yip Seng et al still writes about the internet without ever once directing himself to the cogent issue of the climate of fear or how it may even color the past, present or future (real or imagined); Tan Tarn How on the otherhand finds disillusionment and disappointment in the ideal of what the net should be instead of what it already is - al for Cherian George, he blows with the wind  in every sense, their metier seems to be one premised on the common belief; they have to prevent the infection of the fallen, depraved and feral species from spreading to prolong civilization.   In short these days when we really take a long, hard and serious look at the internet; we not only dont have any credible figures; but those who have been placed as the custodians of this great hope are often the very people who should not even be occupying positions of leadership - in short, we are sorrounded by too many people who are willing to compromise and trade their beliefs in the name of expediency or worse of all that fuzzy idea that can never be pinned down called the collective good (whatever it is) - to paraphrase, we have in our midst far too many spineless wonders - who were not so different from the pravenu's who once riven politics and made it look as is Machivelli was nothing more than a door stop - the problem is no leadership can ever emerge from such men; they are in every sense of the word, spineless, useless and worthless to suggest what we may really need to make the net a better place is the scarce commodity known as intellectual integrity - here what is not require is not platitudes or congenitiality as PAP would have us believe when they speak of the whole idea of polite conversations - but rather the courage to be stand up and be counted in support of a view which many not even be popular or buy votes - here, I am reminded everyone finds it easy to swim with the tide - by historical definition, there will never be a shortage of jelly fishes who will always find it expedient to swim with the tide.   But let us not detract from why we are doing all this: as it all boils down to only one problem, what happens when you convert virtual currency into real money? (those guys know I have a lot of money, the monopoly type) For one it attracts a lot of attention / you could say that’s the only problem – the heist is never the problem, the real problem is always the getaway.   Haven’t been able to figure out that part for a long time, as it requires finesse – but for the last two years, I’ve made plenty of plans for the great escape – and this is how it’s going to go down; sometime after Thursday when the bell strikes noon somewhere in Geneva, a man will pull up in a dark V8 Audi, step out and walk into a bank in an expensive Italian suit with a suitcase full of convertible bonds; he will speak immaculate French and the transaction will be done in the time it takes to empty a latte (don't worry, these bonds are kosher issued out from the Caymans islands) / on Monday in Kuala Lumpur, a man attired in bikers leathers will withdraw an equivalent sum of money from a local bank put it a haversack and take off in Z1000 BMW motorbike – don’t try to tail me, it's impossible, if like me you know how to split her in half and hammer all her cylinders till she screams, you wouldn't even come anywhere close, I've make it from KL to SG in 3 hours flat!– that’s how its going to go down - fast and furious with the help of lashings of red bull!   Why am I telling you all this?– because I want you to catch me red handed (believe it or not, that may have something to do with the perversity that comes with some measure of delusion with spending so much time in the virtual - petulance) – you cannot of course – all you could do is trail me to this IP that's probably programmed to run for 18 hours a day searching meaningless words to make sense of this meaningless world and maybe the real story is written somewhere else very far away from this place called the unreal.   Let us just say the curtain has come to a close and the lights are dimming.   I don’t know what I am going to do with the rest of my life or with all this money (if me and my motley group manage to pull it off). But one thing is for sure, I’ve managed to convince Singaporedaddy, Harphoon and a few others to join me in a business project in Cuba, it may hit off, then again, it may fall flat, but that’s how its going to go down – I have a lot of hope in Cuba, as few believe it will work out and that’s always a good opportunity for improvements.   I know what I say may not make a whole lot of sense to many of our readers, but lets just keep things simple ; those who understand, will understand and that’s really the most important part of this message – the rest is mere commentary.   Catch me, if you can...I am as slippery as wet glass.   Life according to Somerset Maugham is a very funny thing, if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you often get it - the Cubans may know little about the internet, but they have just purchased the top of the range Dimitri class space station from us - these propositions are impregnated with hope as they speak of not only what Louis Stevenson spoke when he once wrote,   "If beams from happy human eyes have moved me not, if morning skies....stab my spirit broad awake."    My gut feels tells me, we may prosper even more if we should work with people who have very little assumptions about the internet - you dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure out most of our problems is based on not having to learn new things, as it involves forgetting our scripting - the Cubans despites their seeming naivette dont suffer from such affectations - the treat us well, with respect, dignity and the promise of hope - I encourage the entire confederation to invest not only in fashioning it as an oasis of knowledge, but also as a beacon that may show many the light of what was once considered impossible, yet with reach if only all of us can put aside our prejudices and negative assumptions.    And as much as I wish to to say the same of Singapore. I cannot as in the litany that makes up the summary of our internet history - I have never ever once even heard a single minister speak of it in terms of a great hope that may be able to change anything beyond altering his receeding hairline.   Somerset Maugham's words right true; it is equally true of democracy or for that matter maintaining a car, if people refuse to accept any but the best of what they may offer in terms of governance, press write ups, working relationships and even something as simple as al dente spaghetti, it may probably usher in the golden age of a time that is worth living rather than just settling for existing - choice gives, as life gives what you may ask of it and as we set our eyes on Havana, I remain hopeful as always.   Go forth and mulitply! The rest can just as well go and fuck off!   Darkness 2009   The Brotherhood Press  Read More →