We have the name

Some Many Human Batteries seem to have this strange idea that the Matrix Island has very low income tax and in return, it has very little welfare benefits. The corollary is that the only way to have more welfare is to increase tax rate substantially. Rubbish! Singapore has one of THE highest income tax rate in the world for its average citizen, except that we do not call it "income tax"! We call it CPF.

CPF is income tax! And why so? Look, in other countries, citizens pay taxes in return for comprehensive welfare benefits, ranging from free medical care to retirement benefits. Hey, you know what, that's exactly the goal of CPF - a nest egg for medical care, and retirement benefits. In fact, the CPF board itself defines CPF thus: "The Central Provident Fund is a comprehensive social security savings plan, which has provided many working Singaporeans with a sense of security and confidence in their old age" (emphasis mine).

So, whether you call it "income tax" or "cpf", it doesnt matter. No matter what you call it, it works fundamentally in the same way: the government collects $Y from you, and returns $Z to you, , either in cash or in kind, after a delay in time. Now, if $Z is much greater than $Y, that's good. Conversely, it's bad.

This is how the CPF system works:

• Everyone - regardless of salary level - pays the same 33% of his income to CPF: If your income is $X, you and your employer, under the old system, each contributes 20%. Thus, your overall income is actually 120% of $X (the employer's 20% is also part of your income). So cpf contribution / true salary = (20+20)x / 1.2x = 33%


• At retirement age, you get back this 33% plus a miserable interest of about 2.5%, after leaving behind a minimum sum of some hundred thousands, which you can never take out. And once you finish up this amount, that's it! You are on your own till the day you pass on to another world.
  

Now, contrast this with other countries, where firstly, the poor pays much less than the rich, and secondly, the average tax rates of many countries are nowhere near 33% and thirdly, they get back much more than the amount they are taxed, in terms of unemployment benefits, health benefits, and of course, monthly retirement payment till the day they die, even if they live till 100 years old!

The sad miserable truth is: each and every one of us pays 33% income tax, calls it "CPF", and gets hardly any welfare after paying so much tax! And please, don't start with me about using cpf to pay for HDB flat. HDB is overpriced and is just another way for the Matrix Master (MM) to get your cpf money away from you permanently so that he does not have to give it back to you at 55.

Is there anything sadder and more miserable than this?

Actually, yes, there is. Sadder than this is the fact that most Human Batteries are oblivious of all these! To them, CPF is simply "compulsory savings". Hmm, maybe they should read more Shakespeare:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

"What's in a name? That which we call Income Tax
By renaming it CPF would hurt as much."
The Human Battery

Bottomline: We do NOT need to tax the people more in order to increase welfare spending. We have already taxed them more than enough! (Look at this if you are still not convinced). We just simply need to get rid of the Matrix Master who is stubbornly stucked in his zero-welfare belief and who just simply refuses to go!

Neo: My name... is Neo.

Trinity: My name's Trinity.

Agent Jones: We have the name of their next target.
Agent Brown: The name is Neo.

I'm going to enjoy

"子曰: 幼而不孙弟，长而无述焉，老而不死，是为贼" -《论语·宪问》

朱熹注：“...贼者，害人之名，以其自幼至长，无一善状，而久生于世，徒足以败常乱俗，则是贼而已矣"

有些人就是这样. 每天都在干坏事, 绞尽脑汁来欺负良民, 強抢人家血汗钱, 到了年老而还不死，实在是一个害人的贼!

这种人呀, 活得越久,就越为害人间. 套用孔子的话, 堪称"老而不死，是为贼"! 不过, 我可不希望你死. 你可千千万万不可死呀! 你一定要睜大双眼, 看一看你那腐败江山是如何灭亡的! 哈哈!

Agent Smith: I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson.

I'll get one of my kids

联合早报, 2006-08-18
许文远昨天到华侨中学为“青山依旧《三国演义》油画展”主持开幕仪式后，接受本报访问时分享《三国》对他的影响... 他说：“我最喜欢的人物是孔明（诸葛亮），他足智多谋，才高八斗，巧言善辩，令人不得不佩服。可惜他事事亲力亲为，影响了健康。他的愚忠也让人惋惜，明知道阿斗扶不起来仍然要扶，导致最终出师未捷身先死，可恨呀。”

真乃五十步笑百步. 你还不是一样, "明知道那个阿斗扶不起来仍然要扶"他那'烂耙'. 呵呵! 看来你"出师未捷身先死"是指日可待了. 彼此彼此啦!


许文远谈到诸葛亮时神采飞扬，谈到后主阿斗（刘禅）时咬牙切齿，谈到刘备却一脸不屑。他说：“我不会同情刘备，他本身谋略方面不太行，能把有才干的孔明请出来也算是不简单的，但他明知阿斗无才却让他继位，可见他不太高明。”

小心哟, 别乱讲话! 言者无心, 听者有意. 可别莫明其妙地得罪你主子喔. 有位老人家好象就是"明知阿斗无才却让他继位". 果然是"不太高明”. 你在众目睽睽下, "咬牙切齿", "一脸不屑". 呵呵, 他给你来个吃不了, 兜着走. 看你如何还可以"神采飞扬"! 哈哈!

Neo: I'm sorry...
Oracle: I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it.

He's gone

"吴资政本月初建议，新加坡应多采用已故建国先驱的名字，为街道、地铁站、建筑物、体育场及公园命名，以加强国人对这些历史人物的认识，让建国历史“活起来”。他昨晚在马林百列30周年庆祝活动上透露，这项建议获得很好的反响。" - 联合早报, 17-12-06.

这块吴木头, 果真是朽木不可雕. 想拍个还没"已故"老人家的马屁? 呵呵, 人家可不领情呢!


" '胜者为王，败者为寇'。搞个人崇拜的地方，总喜欢为政治人物竖立塑像，以他们的名字做街名。然而，一旦政治发生变化，不是像毁就是名亡。苏联和伊拉克就是活生生的例子。一个人对国家和民族做出贡献多少，能否留名青史，不在于官位大小，也不在于有没有街道或地标建筑以他的名字命名。" - 陈华福, 联合早报, 今日观点, 22-12-06.

人家老家伙不知有多"醒目", 起码还有点自知之明! 比你吴木头略高一筹.

不过, 也说不得准. 或许, 这木头是在为那老不死探一探民间的反应, 也未不可知! 不过也没关系啦. 将来"政治发生变化"时, 至少还有个街牌可以拿来焚了, 以泄心头之恨! 呵呵!

[Agent Brown feels Neo's pulse]
Agent Brown: He's gone.
Agent Smith: Good bye, Mr Anderson.

We've had our eyes

古人常说: "天有眼"

难怪最近, 老天拼命流眼泪, 如何劝都没有用!

不过还好啦, 古人 (淮南子·原道训) 也说过: "夫善游者溺，善骑者堕，各以其所好，反自为祸. 是故好事者未尝不中，争利者未尝不穷也".

至于善电者, 不就迟早遭雷劈罗! 哈哈哈哈哈.

举头三尺有神明. 人可欺，天不可欺!

天有眼!

Agent Smith: As you can see, we've had our eyes on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson.

Walking the path

A while ago, I wrote this. Today, I am reminded of another wise ancient chinese saying:

秀才遇到兵, 有理说不清!

(When a scholar meets a soldier, even if the former is in the right, it would be futile to reason with the latter).


MHA: "On his return from Changi General Hospital, Chee was placed in a cell equipped with CCTV. The lights at such cells are kept switched on from 6 pm to 8 am the following day for visibility to enable prison officers to monitor inmates under close supervision, including those with suicidal tendencies or who may cause self-inflicted injuries".

CSJ: "The MHA needs come up with more credible answers. Suggesting that I had "suicidal tendencies" or "may cause self-inflicted injuries" is complete and utter rubbish. Psychiatrists at QRP and CGH have examined me, and if the results indicated that I was suffering from any "suicidal tendencies", they should produce it. Obviously, the turning on of the lights at night is just an excuse to deprive me of sleep and affect my psychological health. Is it not possible for the prison to use an infra-red camera to do the recording with the lights off? If the prison is really monitoring inmates had "suicidal tendencies" or "may cause self-inflicted injuries", why did it not similarly monitor Mr Yap Keng Ho who had announced publicly that he was conducting a hunger strike while imprisoned?"

YKH: "我将绝食行动升级到完全不喝水。最后因此被医生静脉注射点滴。那个晚上，我一人单独被囚禁在设有闭路电视监视的牢房，严密被监视。尽管我是表明绝食绝水，已经被医生静脉注射点滴的危险情况，同样在有闭路电视监视的牢房，而且还是单独一人，但是牢房也没有整个晚上都开电灯！［李家王朝］内政部说什么声明，所有的囚犯都是同样待遇，没有任何特别的对付徐顺全博士，这就分明是放狗屁的！相比一下：徐顺全博士没有表明绝食绝水；有另外两人在同一个牢房；没有在静脉注射点滴的危险情况；但是他的牢房一连9个晚上都开电灯！"

Translation: "I (Yap Keng Ho) upgraded my hunger strike to the level of completely not drinking. As a result, the doctor eventually put me on intravenous drip. That night, I was incarcerated alone, under close surveillance, in a prison cell equipped with closed-circuit camera. Despite this declaration that I would go without food and water, and my having already reached this dangerous level of requiring intravenous drip, and my being held in the same type of prison cell equipped with closed circuit camera - moreover, I was alone - the lights in my cell were not switched on for the entire night! The Lee dynasty's MHA claimed that all prisoners were treated equally and that Dr. Chee was not singled out, this is like a dog farting! Let's compare: Dr. Chee did not declare that he will go without food and water; there were 2 other inmates in the same cell; there wasn't any dangerous situation warranting intravenous drip; yet in his cell, the lights were on for 9 consecutive nights!


Sigh, a learned gentleman dealing with a gangster. No wonder no amount of sensibility and reasoning is good enough! lol. Well, what to do? That's the price the poor scholar has to pay for wanting to walk the path, instead of just knowing it. It is at times like this that I wonder if it is worth his while.

Morpheus: Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize just as I did that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

I don't believe it

Primary Schools
Right now, citizen pays $0, PR pays $36 per yr = $3 per mth
Starting from 2007, PR pays $42 per yr = $3.50 per mth

Secondary Schools
Right now, citizen & PR pay $60 per yr = $5 per mth
Starting from 2007, PR pays $72 per yr = $6 per mth

Junior Colleges
Right now, citizen & PR pay $72 per yr = $6 per mth
Starting from 2007, PR pays $84 per yr = $7 per mth


So, my Matrix Master has finally decided to make those PRs pay $0.50 more per month than they previously did in primary schools. And in Secondary schools and JCs, he is going to "fix" them even more - they will have to fork out a whopping $1 more than I do per month!

With this significant price difference, my Matrix Master wants me to believe that PRs receive only "good treatment", but citizens receive "special privileges" - the privilege of paying $1 less per month!!!

I believe. I am a good Human Battery.

Cypher: No. I don't believe it.
Tank: Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn.

If you'd told us the truth

So, I have been writing about this Matrix Island and its Human Battery inhabitants for quite a while now. A few of my readers have been asking me: where on earth is this Matrix Island? Does it really exist? Does it even have a flag or a pledge of allegiance?

Of course it does! What were you thinking? Here it is:

Flag of the Matrix Island

The flag is the Matrix Island's most visible symbol of statehood, symbolising our sovereignty, pride and honour. It reflects the ideals, beliefs and values that we stand by as a nation amidst our rich and diverse make-up. It forms a crucial element of our national identity. As such, the flag is to be treated with dignity and honour.

Each feature of the flag has its own distinctive meaning and significance. Red signifies universal brotherhood and equality of man the blood of crushed Human Batteries. White signifies pervading and everlasting purity and virtue presence of the Matrix Masters (MM) and his men in white.

The crescent moon represents a young nation on the ascendant a young company (otherwise known as Matrix Island Inc.) on the descendant. The one and only star stands for the company's ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality of peace.

Oh, the Matrix Island also have its very own pledge of allegiance. It goes like this:

"We, the citizen of the Matrix Island,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society,
based on justice and equality,
as Human Batteries,
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation for our Matrix Master.

By the way, those words that are crossed out belong to a totally different Island, that bears no resemblance whatsover to the Matrix Island! On that Island, two third of the population firmly believe in those crossed-out words. And every August, each family will - after some gentle persuasion door-to-door coercion - diligently fly a flag outside their home, treating it with the "dignity and honour" it so rightly deserves.

They take one blue pill a day, which comes free-of-charge, courtesy of the Island's only morning newspaper - one newspaper per language.

They have to, for the truth is unbearable...

Cypher: If you'd told us the truth, we would've told you to shove that red pill right up your ass.

Animals in captivity do not breed!

I read the following on sammyboy's Alfresco coffee shop, and decided to post it here, to remind myself why, if I were to have a baby on this Matrix Island, I should wish for a daughter, and not son:

QUOTE
On the 7th of July, a thursday, we, sergeants-to-be and future commanders in the SAF, did saikang. We shifted huge steel lockers, tables, cleaned windows and bed frames, arranged chairs in the "entertainment room", swept the floors and took out the trash. All this on the Officer-Cadet-Trainee(OCT) floor. And not just for the OCTs, who are of the same age as us by the way, but for a particular OCT who was going over to Signals the next day. An OCT with a... particularly powerful father. I don't think i need to mention his name, do i?

It wasn't just the sergeants-to-be who had to do all this work. Every operator had to do their part, and there were warrant officers, people who've spent over 20 years as commanders in the Army, shifting beds around and going around unscrewing our locker door handles 'cos the OCTs did not have enough of them. Unscrewing door handles. An officer doing construction-worker-style stuff for no bonus pay. We even had to make sure the OCT's lockers had enough hooks to place their precious jockey-caps and berets...when almost all the beds in OUR own bunks have no hooks at all. (Not to mention the fact that our big mirror has been taken away...as well as our own bloody toilet door!!!)

It wasn't just yesterday. Word of the young prince's imminent arrival had spread over a month ago, and renovation work had begun since then. The particular floor was given a new coat of paint, mosquito nets were installed in the OCTs' bunks and new rust-free fans were installed. 10 fans to a room. In contrast, the sergeants and operators have 4 fans to a room, all rusty. And no way to block out insects that often fly in.

What makes me so pissed is that this normally wouldn't have been done for officers-to-be at all. Only for THIS particular batch for you-know-what-reason. As a senior officer whispered to us, normally there wouldn't any renovation at all, and no effort to wipe out the rat population before the OCTs arrived. Our OC apologised to us, as making sergeants-to-be do saikang wasn't his directive (although his sergeant probably couldn't refuse the officer who had sent him off to find man-power). "You know how it is", our OC told us. After all, what if that OCT had complained to his dad during dinner that the bunk conditions were horrible? Yes, what if?

Everybody i've talked to don't like what's happening, don't like this obvious show of favouritism and pulling strings, but most of them, including senior officers, also believe that there isn't really much choice. "Bo bian mah, he's his father's son after all." This's what disgusts me the most. WHY should it be "bo bian"?? Why should it be obvious to people that he should receive better treatment than the rest of us? Why are there so many people just craning their necks and taking all this crap simply because he obviously cannot be touched, that the world is unfair and "we have no choice"??

Is this something like our own Singaporean facination with our former colonial masters?? Is this favouritism for the supposedly more noble so inbred in our bones that we do it without thinking and even acknowledge it as a normal frame of mind?

It's really sad that you can be treated like a king simply for having the right parents. It's something like people getting treated better for HAVING lots of money, although they don't spend any more than the next guy. This particular OCT doesn't give SAF head honchos ANYTHING; he's just a normal 18 year old with normal grades like the rest of us (i don't know if he even plans to go into politics), but he still gets to have an easier life in BMT, OCS, and gets to go to an easy course in Signals and succeed in the army while doing less and having less hardships than everyone else. Simply because he has a father who MIGHT give the head honchos SOMETHING, however unlikely. It's not gonna help, you know...in the future he'd have a really myopic view on the hardships of NS life, which wouldn't be good for Singapore if he DID go into politics.

Other people have to sweat blood to get their officer rank. But he doesn't. And in the future, everyone except for those who were there when he was in NS would think he had gone through one of the toughest courses in NS. Whatever job he applies for, he'd be able to show off that rank to a lot of "Wow, he's such a talented person!" People will think that he had experienced hardship during his NS life. When he hadn't, actually. And that's really unfair.

I don't bear too much of a grudge to this particular OCT though, he probably doesn't have much of a choice except to accept the good treatment. His dad too; there's a good chance he doesn't even know what's going on. I definitely don't blame the poor warrant officers who had to make us do saikang as well. Rather, the blame lies with someone higher up, who just loves to lick other people's boots and get promoted.

But what can i say? As my friend says, the world is dark after all, and i'm just a corporal.
UNQUOTE


I disagree with the writer that the papa horse and the little horse are not to be blamed. Of course they are! If papa horse had given a strict order that absolutely no preferential treatment was to be given to his little horse and that any such unfair treatment would be considered bribery and those responsible would be court-martialed, nobody would be doing all these things! Obviously, the papa horse - even if he did not issue any orders explicitly- was knowingly and quietly encouraging all these nonsense!

And why shouldn't he? If I were him, I would also diam diam and let my subordinates 拍馬屁 (pat my little white horse's fart) as much as they want. So long as my unfair and selfish action is not exposed or questioned - it is practically impossible for a person to be given absolute power and then be expected not to abuse his power (esp, when the abuse simply involve keeping quiet, as in this case), which is why we need a free press, free speech, democracy, check and balance etc that The One has been advocating! Only then can absolute power - and the abuse that comes with it - be exposed and thus kept in check.

Anyway this post is not about all these. I want to talk about something else:

Animals in captivity do not breed!

Go look at those signs in our zoo, and they will tell you how much trouble they have getting those tigers, lions, polar bears etc to breed. It is a well-known biological fact.

These mammals somehow know that if they breed, their offsprings are going to suffer the same fate as them. And so, nature made sure that their sex hormones, stress hormones etc are at such and such a quantity and quality that they will have no interest in breeding or will somehow not breed successfully.

Maybe that's why Human Batteries are not breeding! We are mammals too! Give me one good reason why I would want to have a son to do cheap manual labour while being scolded with vulgarities, and subjected to the risk of losing a limb or even life, for exactly 2 years for 2 years initially and then periodically for another 10+ years? Mind you, I am not talking about defending the country, combat training and such cocks. I am talking about packing national day packets, helping to move schools (yup civilian primary and secondary schools!), watering the plants at Gombak (they call it "horticutural assistant", I believe) and in this case, renovating a dormitory for somebody else's son! What the chao chee bye has all these fucking things got to do with training to defend the country?

Nothing at all!

NS is about 3 months of learning how to defend this island (which is not worth defending, by the way, considering how it is being run), and the remaining 21 months being a source of cheap labour! And I believe I am already very generous with my estimation.

So yeah, bully me as much as you want. But that's it! I shall have no son for you to bully. haha!

Sorry. No Matrix quotes available again. As I search through my list of Matrix quotes, I am begining to envy those Human Batteries in The Matrix movie. There is no concept of white horse in the Matrix!!!

Ball Carriers

温仁德：亚运创佳绩　“秘方”是总理
● 宋以彬（多哈报道）
　　新加坡代表团在本届亚运会上能取得空前的佳绩，原来是有一个“秘方”，那就是李显龙总理前去探营。
　　新加坡体育理事会总裁温仁德表 示，李总理在多哈亚运会开始 前，到选手村去探望了我国健儿，亲自为他们加油打气，虽然时间不长，但却对整体士气起了很大的作用。
　　他说：“这就像总司令到前线为士兵打气一样。这样的举动，让新加坡运动员受到很大的鼓舞。” -- 联合早报，14-12-06

Oon Jin Teik: Asian Games' spectacular result - "secret formula" is Prime Minister
Singapore was able to achieve such unprecedented results in Asian Games because of a "secret formula": PM Lee Hsien Loong visited the team! Singapore Sports Council CEO Oon Jin Teik said... "(he) was like a commander who went to the frontline to support his soldiers. Such a gesture lifted the morale of the singapore team tremendously" - Lianhe Zaobao, 14-12-06


Do you feel like puking after reading the above? The Human Battery does! Every of my goose pimple came out. "Commander"?!? "Frontline"?!? Hello, he travelled on first class, said a few words, and enjoyed himself in Doha, at taxpayers' expense! Was that not what he did?

But oh, what a hugh difference his mere presence made! Yup, nothing to do with hard work or daily training. Nothing to do with the individuals at all. In fact, we don't even need the sport school. Lee is the only needed "secret formula“ behind for success!

In English, we call such a person a sycophant, toady, crawler, lackey, bootlicker, apple polisher, fawner, groveller, truckler, ass-kisser!

In Chinese, we call this 拍马屁， 舔痣 (literal: lick hemorrhoid - originated from an ancient story where a man did exactly that to win the favour of his master. I supposed the closest English equivalence would be "ass-licker")!

But personally, I prefer the following 3 words, popularised by the taiwanese press, after its foreign affair minister accused his singapore counterpart of bootlicking Mainland China:

捧卵脬
（Hanyu pinyin: peng3 luan3 pao2.
Hokkien: Por Lam Par
Literal: carrying balls)

You SSC CEO and/or Zaobao journalist are really ball carriers!

Sorry, no Matrix quotes available. No one in The Matrix movie carried balls so shamelessly!

Asking the wrong questions

"Team Singapore's bowling contingent returned from Doha on Tuesday and was greeted by family, friends and fans at Changi Airport. The bowlers brought home one gold, two silver and two bronze medals from the 15th Asian Games. It was a roaring welcome for the Team Singapore bowlers and a victorious homecoming for Valerie Teo and Michelle Kwang. The duo scored gold in the women's bowling doubles and created a new Asian Games record as well." - CNA, 12 Dec 06

Well done. 'nuff said!


"Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development and Sport, says: "In the future, we need people who are totally dedicated to sports to make an impact. So I'll keep an open mind and I'll be most happy to expand the scheme if we've got the talent available, who are willing to dedicate their lives to achieve glory for Singapore." - CNA, 12 Dec 06

And so what if we do not have enough "talent available"? We can take the money to train our own people to become 10th place, 100th place, last place! Also "song"! My money spent on my own people, I shiok! 虽败犹荣! We throw money at foreigners. Even if they lead us to 1st place, SO WHAT? 胜之不武!

This is not biotech research where one still has some room to argue that the imported scientist will definitely may somehow help create jobs for ph.d. holders from other countries local Human Batteries, blah blah blah. What is the big hooha in the case of sports?

National sporting events should be about a hugh number of fans rooting for their fellow local heros - the neighbourhood boy whom we traded cards with in primary school, is now our soccer or swimming or whatever hero; the shy little gal whom we admired from afar donkey years ago, is now the national sporting heroine etc. The "political agenda", if any, should be about galvanising the citizens to a common cause ("let's do our best to bring glory to our nation"), national spirit, nation-building, pride in the nation ("we can do it too"), blah blah blah.

Tell me, what the F has all these "agenda" to do with outsiders, like the one below?

Aha, I get it: the political agenda (this time no quotation marks) is to import a few foreigners who can win gold in some sporting events, so that locals will be proud of them, so that locals will become more receptive to foreign imports in general -- a means to an end: "See? If we did not import this foreigner, how would we have won this gold? So from this isolated example, we can see that it is good to import more foreigners to our science, biotech and IT and construction sector, and in fact, every sector of our society"!

...and hopefully in this way, Human Batteries all over the Matrix Island will forget to ask the correct question: Who is the one who issued the "stop reproducing " decree, which has now resulted in insufficient Human Batteries available, and which has led to the need to import outsiders, and which is the one and only reason why we are throwing money so freely at foreign Batteries to entice them here???

Agent Brown: Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions.

I can't stand it any longer

"Under the Singapore National Olympic Council's Multi-Million Dollar Award programme, she will receive $250,000 for her gold. Add the $62,500 for her bronze, and Tao Li is one rich teenager" - The Sunday Times, 10 Dec 06.

Are you proud?

The Human Battery is not!

So, Ah Gong has more than $300, 000 to spare. Guess how he is going to spend it?

Nope, he is not going to spend this money on his grandchildren's sports lesson, for they are not cut out to be champions. To hell with their aspirations. They are better off as Human Batteries.

Nor is he going to spend the money on his sons and daughters' welfare, for they are good-for-nothing who are better dead than alive (and indeed, one commit suicide every day - and their techniques have become quite creative too).

Instead, he shall adopt step-grandchildren from all over the world and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to nurture them in a specially built million-dollar spanking new sport school. And then, he shall give more than a quarter of a million - $312, 500 to be exact - when one of them bring glory to...

Erm, to what? The glory cannot be going to his own sons and daughters and grandchildren, right? They did not benefit a single shred from their Ah Gong giving money to adopted outsiders.

Oh I see, she brought glory to Ah Gong himself. Her success enhanced the reputation of his family! But, keke, what kind of !@#$% reputation is it when all of his own children would rather move out of the family home as soon as they can, and sever all ties with him, such that he had no choice but to entice other people's children with money so that they will call him (step)-Ah Gong?

Anyhow, luckily, all these occured in a family situation, and so whatever Ah Gong wants to do is his family business. After all, a) he is Ah Gong, so he calls the shot, and b) it is his money to be used as he wishes - if he decides to force his grandchildren into suicides while lavishing $300,000 on his step-grandchildren, who are we to say anything except to call him an old fool?


[If you have chosen the blue pill, this post ends here. Bye bye. Have a nice day, as I am sure you will. If you have chosen the red pill, read on and drown yourself in misery.]

It would have been very different absolutely outrageous had this occured in the context of a country, for then, a) he would have been no Ah Gong, but merely an employee/politician who should be submitting to the willo f his bosses aka citizen, instead of asserting his own stubborn thinking on everyone, and b) it would have been taxpayers' money, to be used to take care of taxpayers and their children first, instead of foreigners and their kids! Such an employee should be sacked immediately!

Agent Smith: I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it.

What good is a phone call?

146th-ranked newspaper: "(MHA) also said the prison authorities had examined the food provided for Chee and 'found no reason to believe' it was the cause of his purported nausea".

SDP: "The medical doctor at the Queenstown Remand Prison had found traces of blood in Dr Chee's urine. He had suffered from abdominal pains and his blood pressure was also extremely low that evening.


146th: "he has refused all medical tests and treatments at the hospital, the ministry said".

SDP: "Perhaps the MHA should have told Mr Low (of TODAY) that Dr Chee had done a chest X-ray, a CT scan and urine test. The doctor had also examined his abdomen and had told us that he was suffering from abdominal tenderness".

SDP: "When asked if he had found any "unusual" substances in Dr. Chee's urine, the hospital doctor said that he did not consider the possibility of the presence of this substance and therefore did not run the specific urine tests to ascertain this. When asked if a doctor conduct an independent urine test on Dr Chee, the prison authorities advised that the family should 'write in for this unusual request.'"


The Human Battery is reminded of a wise Chinese saying:

欲加之罪，何患无辞。

(To frame a person, there needn't be any worry that there will be lack of words).

Neo: You can't scare me with this Gestapo crap. I know my rights. I want my phone call.
Agent Smith: Tell me, Mr. Anderson... what good is a phone call... if you're unable to speak?

Another that looked just like it

(saw this pic on sammyboy)

"And it was also a very proud moment for some Very Important Parents too. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Ms Ho Ching were present to see their son, Li Hongyi, commissioned as an officer... says Mr Lee. "I'm very pleased; it's a rite of passage. A young boy becomes a young man, growing up. I'm proud of him." - CNA, 9 Dec 06.


哎呀，"Proud" 不 "proud", "pleased" 不 "pleased", 又有什么不同？

富不过三代嘛。

第一代， 创业。
第二代， 守业。
第三代， 呵呵， 不就败坏家业咯！

就只可惜， 你这败家子， 败坏的不是你自家的财产， 而是咱们的血汗钱！

注：电池人是在咒骂那妄图世代相承, 父传子，子传孙的暴君王朝，可不是在诅咒可爱的迷幻岛喔。爱捧卵脬的走狗们，可别胡乱为主子出头， 歪曲电池人的话。 不过也没关系啦， 欲加之罪。。。

Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.

You've been living in a dream world

"Right now, PRs enjoy the same subsidies as Singaporeans for education and healthcare, and in fact in healthcare, foreign workers also receive subsidised treatment. I think we should make a clear difference – PRs should pay more than Singaporeans but less than other foreigners, there is a distinction... If you are not a PR and not a citizen, you should be given good treatment but we will not give you special privileges."

Lee Hsien Loong, 2 Dec 06

"We got feedback from many Singaporeans and even from my own constituents that since everything's equal for Singaporeans, foreigners and PRs, what's so special about being Singaporean? To some extent, short of being nationalistic, PM's message of 'citizens first' is well overdue. It'll be much appreciated among Singaporeans who are wondering what's in it for me holding that red passport,"

Hong Kah GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad, 2 Dec 06

Huh? What "right now"? You mean all these while for the past 10-15 years until "right now", foreigners and first generation PR who need not serve NS, have been treated equal to citizens in education and healthcare subsidy???

And what "well overdue"? You mean we have not been treating citizens better than foreigners for more than a decade since we first announce the FT policy and so it is now "well overdue"?!? What "feedback from many"? When did they start giving feedback? 15 years ago, or was it only 1.5 months ago?

When the Head of State of a country has to openly announce to the world that *henceforth* it will start treating its citizens better than foreigners, something is very wrong right now something has been very seriously wrong for the past 15 years and continue to be so "right now"! (In fact, it will probably be just as wrong in the future, even after some token "preferential" treatment is implemented to fool angry citizens)

I, the Human Battery, have always thought that all these while, Singaporeans have been treated better than foreigners and PR? No? My Goodness, I must have been living in a Matrix for the past 15 years! Have I? Have I?

Morpheus: You've been living in a dream world, Neo.

I'm not afraid anymore

"Our kids know that this is part of their father's work, it's nothing frightening at all. Earlier this year, when my eldest daughter told her teacher that "my father is in jail", her teacher was rather embarrassed. She told her quietly that "you don't have to tell me everything, I will read the newspapers myself".

After Soon Juan's passport was taken away and he was prevented from leaving Singapore, I told my parents that he probably won't be able to visit them in Taiwan for the rest of his life. Surprisingly, my mother said, "Don't worry. It won't be a permanent situation. No authoritarian government is going to last forever."

I certainly hope she is right."

Huang Chih Mei, 02 Dec 06

Trinity: Neo, I'm not afraid anymore. The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that man... the man that I loved would be The One. So you see, you can't be dead. You can't be... because I love you. You hear me? I love you.
[Neo's vital signs return]
Trinity: Now get up!