TR EMERITUS

 Written by Darkness of the brotherhood / There is a French word which I really like to share with only you this evening. It’s a word that doesn’t lend itself easily to the English translation, “d’epaysement,” a few years ago, I chanced on an article written by the Paris Bureau chief for the New York Times, his translation of the word felt just right so for ease of reference, I am going to quote him. “The feeling of not being assaulted by the familiarity of things, a change in surroundings where there is no immediate point of reference.” He went on to quote a French journalist who once said that “Most people don’t make it a point to d’epayses, only to end up craving a home they once knew in a place away from home.” This is unfortunate as it is true. Although one may even spend years working, living and playing in a country, their unwillingness to d’epayses ensures they never really left home. The British and Americans are the worst, go to any country in the world and you would most likely find either a sliver of Dorset complete with immaculate cricket lawns or an American club that serves super sized whoppers next to a giant screen blaring out the live images baseball games. As for overseas Singaporeans, we don’t endeavor so hard to create familiar fiefdoms in foreign lands, but we more than make up for our lack of verve by insisting on speaking in Singlish. Nonetheless  after exhausting the run of the mill dialogue as to which school, university, unit we more than make up for our lack of fetishness - when the conversation invariably turns to the very serious issue of bartering or begging for Maggi instant noodles. Trust me you know you’ve being away for too long, when you’re willing to trade your hippest CD’s for a packet of Maggi instant noodles. It never fails to amaze me even today how our entire historical sense of being revolves around the humble instant noodles. What I usually find unfortunate is whenever I ask whether they joined the locals at the café for a morning croissant or an evening aperitif, shopped at the outdoor marche, went to the local fete, or people-watched in the place, the answer is invariably, “dowan lah.” They may have had an amazing boat ride on the Seine, but they don’t know the real Paris – one has to make it a point like I mentioned to be depayses – step off the boat and walk around for that sort of knowledge – even perhaps try to get lost – and if a boat ride experience alone is what they were seeking, they certainly didn’t need to fly all the way to France: there are plenty of beautiful places to see the sights by boat in Singapore and Malaysia. Until you have really wasted time in a city, you cannot pretend to know it well. The soul of a city like a heart of a woman is not be grasped easily; her heart has many chambers, but as every Parisian will tell you, just as one begins to acquaint oneself with a building by first stepping into the lobby – the first chamber is to understand why she is often called, Ville Lumiere or City of Lights. Though it is constantly used in reference to Paris, it has become a sobriquet a term of endearment. Say Ville Lumiere and some will conjure images of well lighted sparkling pools doting the length of the Seine – the Champs-Elysees and Eiffel ablaze. Or perhaps the Pantheon, Sacre Coeur, Trocedero – all bathed in a yellow hallo. Personally I’ve often imagined the expression has more to do with the soul of the city. Apart from the illicit thrill of Paris – they also have real shops, colorful, family owned café’s, full of evocative smells and all of them seem to disregard the local bye law by spilling out quite openly into the streets, where minds meet and tongues wag into the night. To me café’s are just not places, they’re like transit points very much like airports, train stations and space stations where people gather around only in Parisian café’s they do something most of these places don’t do outside Paris – they talk and talk and talk….. I am reminded so much starts with conversations. The kind of conversation in which you start with a willingness to become a slightly different person, these are conversations that open the possibility of changing your mind. Perhaps that why so many new experimental hubs in the world insist on using the word “café” as a metaphor to describe their quest for vibrancy, verve and variety – certainly, for centuries, many in the world have been drawn to Paris like the proverbial moth to the flame precisely because it offers the opportunity for life changing conversations. In a sense the appellation ville Lumiere isn’t about physical light at all. Half a dozen other cities probably have more and brighter lights than Paris these days. Rather it’s a reference to the light of intellectualism that attracts the verve to ignite, political, spiritual, cultural and intellectual change. The glow emitted by these café’s which dot Paris is not simply climatic to what many refer to as “la atmosphere”, it’s a spiritual force that also shapes one’s character, opinions and judgments. It’s a powerful astringent – coffee, cigarettes and conversations – the 3C’s which defines the City of Lights. There’s another intangible reason. Something about the quality of life, the outlook of the people, daring and provocative but never dull, the city of lights is often seen as the enfant terrible of the international community simply because they, the French don’t see the virtue of embracing globalization or the monologue of American foreign policy, where the mantra is either you are with or against us – they have their own will and they will do as they please – in these café’s a man learns at least three things, how to roll cigarettes from the outside in, listen to three conversations simultaneously and write his history, where the latter usually involves deconstructing established structures and reassemble them again like Lego bricks, nothing ever remains the same, man observes….he realizes…. he sees possibilities… makes a choice…..takes a position, one where he knows if he doesn’t someone else will just come along and write his history, only to end up being told where to go, stop there, turn left etc. I guess the reason why I see these café’s as embodying the light of the city is because they’re also about escaping the cacophony of modern life by truing oneself through a rigorous process of discourse – by this, I mean you can teach a man to draw a straight line; or how to string a sentence or even pronounce a word, with admirable speed and precision; but if you ask him to consider the deeper meaning of why he writes, he stops, his execution becomes scraggy; he thinks, and ten to one he thinks wrong; ten to one he slips up and doesn’t quite manage to convey what’s really in his head on paper – that’s what happens when sometime mechanical is rendered a thinking being, till then he was simply a monkey trained to pick coconuts, a machine, an animated tool, that to me is what these café’s actually are miniature production houses that keeps churning out critical thinkers. So even if it sounds cliché to the uninitiated, countless others, this is where the light burns brightest in the City of Lights. That realization occurred to me one muggy evening, many years ago when I found myself mulling over Thoreau’s dictum the “mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I found myself suddenly a stranger in a sea of many and soon that familiar depressing sense of estrangement from the mainstream fogged it – deepening the abyss – but how ridiculous it is the self-pity of the loner as he leans over the bridge pulling on a cigarette seeking answers from the Seine – that night in the language of rivers, she said, Yes? She said yes, so I asked again, and she said yes again. In the rush I didn’t notice the city lights being turned off for the night, or when the sparse crowd dispersed. As I looked out along the quay at the many yellow lights of the café’s still opened, I remembered the moments and the waters I had crossed in my life – above all I realized, it was a long time since I last went into one of those café’s in the City of Lights, a place so bright that I will simply have to go on using that cliché Ville Lumiere as long as those café’s remain through the night. (By Darkness / The Travelogue Series / Paris – EP 99878  – The Brotherhood Press 2007 – this travelogue series is fully sponsored by the Interspacing Navigational Guild – your friendly space transportation partner – “no matter how big or small, you always come first!”)       Side reads: Find out who is Oh Tham Eng! Find out what is his real mission in the internet? Scroll down the thread and read for yourself: http://wayangparty.com/?p=8002  Read More →

By Gunslinger, Guest Columnist In an marine ecosystem, the big fish eats the small fish, which eats the shrimp. The original defence strategy of Singapore, taking into account its size was to be a poisonous shrimp. A predator would be contemplating suicide unless it was sufficiently large, in which case, it would be weakened and could be eaten by another otherwise benign fish. Yet, the then BG Lee Hsien Loong remarked in 1982 in an interview that one cannot threaten a shrimp, but one can threaten a nation with destruction and when given a choice, the nation would choose to capitulate over suicide. This is however contrary to many examples in history. It is difficult to imagine that the Swiss could survive the German war machine during WW2 but they managed to keep themselves out of the conflict. The Americans could also have threatened the Soviet Union with nuclear destruction prior to the latter's successes in developing sufficient arms but this was not done, and the Cold War raged for half a century. BG Lee had already perhaps envisaged the future lack of will among Singpaoreans to defend the nation and thus needed to compensate with a more offensive “porcupine” strategy, which according to certain scholars have already been in place for many years. This new strategy however ran into difficulties over the next few decades. While Singapore armed herself with arguably one of the most potent western oriented air force in the region, Malaysia possibly responded by acquiring Russian jets with more advanced weaponry than the Americans were willing to sell. While the Singapore government lobbied for more advanced American weapons, the Malaysian army bought highly advanced Brazilian multiple rocket launcher systems that can threaten airfields and military installations to neutralize the Singaporean superiority in the air. More recent purchases were highlighted in the previous article. SAF acquisitions appears to be countered by asymmetrical acquisitions requiring extraordinary effort by the SAF to counter. Can the “porcupine” strategy de disassociated from the regional arms race? In fact, Singapore's leaders recognized in 2000 that the “porcupine” strategy has ruffled a few regional feathers. Yet, it seems that this strategy has continued and not ceased even during times of recession. Can Singapore's GDP and defence budget grow adequately at the required pace to continue this approach indefinitely? To delve into this topic, we must explore first and foremost the grand strategy, as coined by Liddell Hart, that Singapore needs to take. Unlike military strategy, grand strategy must consider the interplay of political and military action. Military strategy cannot be divorced with national or grand strategy. To defend itself, a nation must rely equally on both strategies. It is also said that during the winter wars against the Soviet Union, the Finnish rejected German demands to attack Leningrad although the former were only tens of kilometres away because they saw the political ramifications of attacking the prized city of their bitter enemy. In the end, their calculations were proven right as the Soviets eventually overran eastern Germany to end WW2. It can be thus argued that employing the right grand strategy is as important or perhaps even more important than the right military strategy. Just imagine the world today without Nokia had the Soviets decided to punish Finland as well for attacking Leningrad. The grand strategy that Singapore should adopt consist of several principles: make Singapore economically and politically too costly to attack; assure great power intervention in the event of armed conflict; avoid a regional arms race which she cannot keep up indefinitely; and maintain legitimacy in action. Singapore's current grand strategy is a result of cross breeding Swiss complicity and Israeli hostility. So it is perhaps by no accident that Singapore is a regional financial hub, and often the subject to accusations of being a money laundering centre, a tax evasion haven, as well as the place for regional personalities to park ill gotten gains. More recently she was on OECD's blacklist (subsequently “greylist”) of non cooperative countries that aided tax evasion. The presence of CISCO guardhouses in uber safe Singapore for certain unofficial VIPs in certain areas also supports the illicit funds theory. Regardless of the real reasons, Singapore's tax friendly environment and her continued ability to maintain strict banking secrecy laws outside Europe must also have featured strongly in a certain Swiss bank's decision to move its headquarters here. If true, there is very little incentive for rational leaders of neighbouring countries to attack. Even if the allegations are untrue, the value of a functional financial centre is much greater than a bombed out skyscraper. Thus the Singapore's government has done well in developing the financial services rendering an armed attack economically costly. But this strategy is being threatened by the lack of legitimacy as seen from OECD action and it does not win favours with the peoples of the neighbouring countries. Singapore's policies need to be seen to be fair and just. Arrogance and controversies involving Temasek Holdings in Thaksin's Thailand and Indonesia should be avoided. Temasek and GIC are sovereign wealth funds, and profit cannot be the only guiding principle as they represent Singapore. If Singapore is generally in the good books of her neighbours, it becomes extremely difficult for their leaders to create the necessary political conditions and support to sustain an attack without losing political ground, even if they are military despots. Global trade patterns, Singapore's strategic position, and current vested interest by the US already assures prompt action by the international community in the event of an armed conflict. To assure that the intervention benefits Singapore, legitimacy of action is primordial. The globalized nature of Singapore's economy and her dependency on trade for survival makes her extremely vulnerable to sanctions of any kind. Achieving a military victory without legitimacy could well spell the end of this Asian Tiger and pave the way for overall defeat and loss of sovereignty. The accompanying military strategy must support the overall grand strategy and should focus on developing an extremely hard shell aimed at preventing a land invasion, securing Singapore's lifeline - the sea lane of communications -, and preventing incursions or attacks from the air, while being able to perform stand off retaliation and some surgical long range attacks at centres of power. For this, the RSN should provide the geographical depth that the island lacks. The current RSN should focus on controlling the sea lanes, and if necessary, to covertly block the sea lanes in order to speed up international intervention. Some amphibious capability is desired to add complexity to the aggressors plans and these crafts are often also useful for humanitarian operations, which raises the prestige of the SAF and is great for building goodwill regionally. Some strategic attack capability should also be added. The RSAF should focus on gaining control of the air with a small fleet of multirole fighters and replace her antiquated HAWK surface to air missile batteries with modern variants. Like the Swedish concept of operations, RSAF's fighters should not depend on airfields like crutches. The Swedish modus operandi was so successful during the Cold War that the Soviets drew up a plan to assassinate the pilots in their homes. Another important role for the RSAF would be of surveillance, a role that she presumably already excels in. The army should be made up of mostly conscripts but specialising in coastal island defence, urban, anti tank and anti aircraft operations mostly on foot or highly mobile platforms. Heavy tank and artillery units and could be professional forces or a mix but again they should focus on operations from the homeland. Using the Taiwanese and Swiss army as a guide, a 1 year NS period with regular local ICTs should be sufficient to train a army for essentially defensive duties. Current 2 year training plans are probably designed to train complex brigade and occasionally divisional level combined arms, inter army competencies, which is not required for most defensive duties. Instead of deploying so regularly for training exercises, the SAF should increase her international commitment of volunteer forces (professional forces who personally volunteer) to peacekeeping and peace support operations. The objectives are two fold. Firstly, to increase operational experience to debunk the non-combat tested hypothesis that is always floating around defence circles, and secondly to support the purported deterrence and defence diplomacy policies. Other regional armed forces have the dubious benefit of regular conflicts as well as regular operational stints, including Malaysian soldiers in Mogadishu where they heroically rescued US Marines. Without the necessary data and expertise, it is impossible to gauge the exact cost of equipping and maintaining such a SAF. However, with a reduction in heavy offensive weaponry, amphibious capabilities, and conscription training durations, an overall reduction in defence expenditure is not unimaginable. Today, Singapore should have enough water to last a short conflict with reserve to spare. Furthermore, the geopolitical realities of the region will not permit a prolonged armed conflict. Despite the widespread destruction in the Gaza, the Israelis did not damage any water infrastructure. Any action otherwise would cause an immediate loss of legitimacy, international condemnation and its repercussions. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that the threat to cut water supply is anything more than rhetoric. However, Singapore's lack of water is a strategic vulnerability that must be addressed and is already currently being addressed. What is proposed is extremely brief and cannot and will not attempt to pretend that it covers all areas. However, it proposes a departure from the “porcupine” strategy by reducing the SAF's offensive posture, by avoiding a arms race, and by accepting the realities of armed conflict in the 21st century. It also highlights the importance of other non military factors to secure Singapore's sovereignty.  Read More →

译者: 韦春花 雅国 易卜拉欣先生 环境与水源部长 新加坡的共和国 敬启者， 关于： 要求为芽笼士乃巴刹食物中毒设立独立调查委员会 我是尤金·杨，是大戏党--社会政治观察论坛的主编。 我写这封信，是因为看到最近这起夺�! �两条人命的悲剧中，有关国家环境局官员和芽笼士乃巴刹小贩在说法上显然很不一致。 国家环境局把芽笼士乃临时巴刹食物中毒事件的关键人物，Sheik Allaudin先生，以“食物与环境卫生疏忽罪”迅速控上法庭，虽然该局并没有掌握充分证据来证明他的疏忽是事件的直接原因。 与此同时，紧接着国家环境局发动大扫除之后，几乎所有芽笼士乃临时巴刹的小贩都获得C级的卫生评级， 我们派出的调查员与摊主深入交谈之后，他们都表示，即使在搬到临时巴刹之后，他们也照常勤奋地清洗他们的摊位。 尽管他们多次向管委会提出大扫除和灭鼠的要求，都没有得到回应。 过去这个巴刹每四个月都有一次大清洗，最近这次则是拖到发生食物中毒事件之后才进行。 摊主本身大多也参与捕鼠。最近请来灭鼠专家在一个星期内! 捉到百多只老鼠说明这个管委会的无能和不适任。 综合以上观察，摊主们实在不该为巴刹的整体卫生水平负全责。 比如说医生在一个没有良好卫生设备、陈旧仪器的诊所工作，不可能为病人感染到其他病毒而负责。 同样的道理，如果小贩们是在一个脏乱的屋檐下做生意，那要他们符合严格的卫生要求实在是强人所难。 我要借此机会向你提出一名摊主的指控，他说害虫灭鼠公司在食物中毒事件前的几天到来，在没有事先通知和给予时间让小贩遮盖食物的情况下就开始工作。 据悉一些灭鼠药具有血液抗凝剂会导致内出血。根据媒体的报道，有名受害者就是一路“流血”直到病院。从印度罗惹摊酱汁所查出的副溶血弧菌病毒并不会导致便血或死亡。 虽然食物中毒的真相还有待调查，我觉得有关当局应该调查一下灭鼠药污染印度罗惹摊容器和食物的可能性。 虽然�! �主有道义责任来维持食物和环境卫生，但是很显然的，有许多监管系统的瑕疵需要即刻的修正。 巴刹管理委员会玩忽职守，而国家环境局也不积极和警觉地监管。 看来这个管委会由于是该区公民咨询委员会所设立的，和你同属一个政党，国家环境局显然不情愿严惩他们。请容我建议设立一个无党派的真调会，包括学术界、普通公民，人民行动党和反对党议员组成来深入调查，好过各说各话。 这样才能查出真相，以免悲剧重演。始作俑者必须严惩，好让所有政府机关官员都明了敷衍塞责是不能容忍和原谅的。 最后，作为管理环境的部长，我诚恳建议你有必要为这起事件而担惊受怕的新加坡人、为新加坡的声誉、为贵局在这起事件中颟顸无能，向所有人道歉。 请显示敢于揪出疏忽职守官员的一点魄力。 敬上 尤金·杨   出处：大马论坛 (Malaysian Chinese Forum)          Read More →