TR EMERITUS

After 40 days of the Israel-Hamas war, anti-Netanyahu sentiments seem to be growing. The country's opposition is asking Netanyahu to step down. Protesters are slamming him for delay in securing the release of hostages Molly Gambhir reports.      Read More →

I met Mr. H for the first time at a corporate event. We talked about happenings in Singapore. Mr. H is 60 years old, retired from a corporate job, and now runs a business. He told me that he was not vaccinated for covid-19. He had read, in detail, the documentation of the clinical trial for the Pfizer mRNA vaccine and was amazed to find some disturbing information. Some paragraphs in the document presented by Pfizer, suggested that the vaccine was not fully tested for safety, with some cautionary notes suggesting issues that have happened before. Due to his doubts on the safety issues, he refused to be vaccinated. Furthermore, he mentioned that the informed consent document which Pfizer had provided to be given to caregivers and recipients of the vaccine in the clinical trial procedure carried a lot more cautionary details with many possible serious adverse events than the one put out by MOH. MOH has updated the current informed consent document to follow the one issued by Pfizer. This is a real concern as previous advertisements by MOH carried in the papers stated that the vaccine was safe, and only mild adverse reactions may be expected, whereas Pfizer's stated very clearly that the drug was not approved as a vaccine but authorised by the FDA under Emergency Use Authorisation ( EUA ) with an on-going clinical trial. In Singapore, we were told the Pfizer's drug was a vaccine and that it was safe. I told Mr. H that I trusted the experts in our Ministry of Health and took the 2 jabs of the Pfizer vaccine and 2 boosters. Mr. H told me that the mRNA vaccine and boosters could have contributed to a drop in immunity. This has caused many people to suffer from turbo cancers, a term used where cancers suddenly developed to a critical stage, which was unusual because cancers take many years to develop to such a stage. However, people as young as in their twenties had developed turbo cancers and passed on, not withstanding that more people have passed on suddenly. Other forms of serious illnesses, including auto-immune disease, also shot up and the Lupus ward in SGH ( Lupus is one of the auto-immune diseases ) had ran out of beds for sufferers of this sudden auto-immune disease that had developed. Mr. H told me that two persons in his neighbourhood had recently died from cancer, with the same exact symptoms, 3 months apart. They were healthy without having had any previous indication of cancer, but had developed 4th stage cancer so suddenly. They had just taken their mRNA boosters then. He suspected that the vaccine had caused a drop in immunity in these cases which resulted in the turbo cancers. Mr. H also told me that his sister recently suffered from auto-immune disease from mixing with people who had been vaccinated with the mRNA vaccines. She was not vaccinated, and according to the clinical trial documentation, he had read that people who have been vaccinated with the spike protein mRNA vaccines can shed the spike proteins out of their bodies. These spike proteins could be absorbed by a person standing close to the vaccinated person who had just been vaccinated, for a period of 2 weeks or so. She became very ill suddenly, with many organs diagnosed as failing. The doctors could not understand her condition as 2 months earlier, she had gone for her health screening and there was no indication of any problems. The doctors made all kinds of tests on her but all the results came back inconclusive...with tests costing nearly $30k. Finally the doctor told Mr. H that it looks like she had Lupus, an auto-immune disease. But a quick search from the Internet found that auto-immune diseases are usually genetic diseases, but none of the other 4 elder siblings in the family had such diseases, including their parents. The shock came to Mr. H when he was told that his sister was not able to be warded immediately, as the Lupus ward was full with patients. It was 3 days later that she could be warded in the Lupus ward. Until today, 2 years later, doctors said she can never have full recovery...in all, she was warded for more than a month. Why were so many people warded for this condition? Was the ward ever full before ? ChatGPT explained that an autoimmune reaction occurs when the body's immune system, which is designed to protect against external threats such as bacteria and viruses, mistakenly attacks and damages its own tissues. In a healthy immune system, the body can differentiate between its own cells and foreign substances. However, in the case of an autoimmune response, the immune system fails to recognize certain parts of the body as "self," leading it to produce autoantibodies that attack normal cells, tissues, and organs. We then discussed the excess deaths seen in Singapore. The number of annual deaths mentioned by Mr. H have increased, 22000+ in 2020 before the vaccine program was rolled out, then suddenly shot up to 24000+ in 2021 and 26000+ in 2022, higher deaths than the normal expected increase. The same was happening in many countries where Pfizer or mRNA vaccines were administered. However, the ratio of excess deaths in Singapore was among the highest compared with the other countries that were covered in a recent statistical report. The high ratio correlated with the high % of population being vaccinated with mRNA vaccines, which, if he remembered correctly, was 95%. Was there a study done to check the reason for the excess deaths? If the vaccine indeed has serious negative impacts, it would hit Singapore harder due to our high rate of vaccination. I am not able to form any opinion on the views expressed by Mr. H. I hope that the Ministry of Health will give an explanation on the high rate of excess deaths in Singapore and comment if there was a large increase of cases that need to be treated in the Lupus ward.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

I refer to the Straits Times’ Editorial, “Gaza protests risk getting radicalised” (Nov 9). Israel has waged a bombing campaign to destroy the enclave's Hamas rulers since Oct 7, and the Israel-Hamas war has lasted for about five weeks, and the following situations are indeed exacerbating and worrisome : - 1) As the Israeli army has intensified its retaliatory bombardments of the Gaza Strip, hitting schools (For examples, al-Fakhoora school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Jabalia refugee camp, Osama bin Zaid school), mosques, and 18 out of a total 35 hospitals (e.g. Al-Shifa, al-Nasser Children’s Hospital, Rumah Sakit Indonesia, al-Wafa Hospital). These tragic military action had killed at least 11,000 Palestinian civilians, which included 4500 innocent children, two thousands odd women and more than fifty UN’s medical staff. Anyway, the number of deaths and casualties of the Palestinians civilians will be rapidly increased in the subsequent Israeli military operations. 2)Israeli cruel airstrikes have damaged the health system in Gaza Strip and destroyed/deprived the hope of survival for all the Palestinians casualties. 3) Israeli authorities have repeatedly obstructed UN humanitarian relief causes and efforts. These include delay opening more humanitarian relief corridors and allowing more humanitarian assistance to enter into Gaza Strip (such as water, foods, medical care facilities/equipments, medicines and power supply). 4)In the latest news received, Israel formalizes daily humanitarian pauses in Gaza, in first since war’s outbreak. However, the permanent ceasefire which has been repeatedly urged by the UN and the international community is still no time in sight. 5)Around 250 hostages who were abducted by the Hamas militants since the outbreak of Israel-Hamas war still remain the key worry of the families of the hostages. 6) Hamas is a Palestinian militant group which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. What disturbs and annoys Israel is : the Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction and wants to replace it with an Islamic state. Even if Hamas will be "totally eradicated" by Israeli forces within the foreseeable timeframe, it will still be viewed as an ideological organization, another similarity of Hamas would likely be “replicated and revived or resurrected” in the near future. This could be due to many Palestinians have been displaced and brutally treated by the Israel's deadly attacks. And, when it really occurs, it will create nightmares for the Israel and the international community as a whole. 7) The only way to truly ensure the permanent peaceful coexistence between the Israel and Palestine is to follow the suggestion of China and the consensus of the United Nations to promote talks and cooperation and realize the goal of the two-state solution at an early date. In conclusion, for seeking the long-term prospects of peace and benefits for the people of Israel, Palestine and the Middle Esst countries, the authority of Israel needs to consider and work towards this two-state solution seriously.   Teo kueh Liang (Mr)      Read More →