You have to trust me

So, why do they "need" to increase GST? To tax the poor so as to help the poor? That just doesnt make any sense. Now, finally, we have the real reason, from the Matrix Master (MM) himself!

Corporate tax to go down by at least 1%: MM Lee
Channel NewsAsia
21 January 2007

...Said Mr Lee: "Hong Kong's income tax (I think he meant corporate tax?) is 17%. In Ireland, its 14-15%. So we're going to bring it down at least by 1 percentage point, and that's going to cost us four to five hundred million dollars. Then we're going to top the lower income to make sure they do not stagnate. And the GST has to go up for the next 5 years. We have to do this either now, or next year or the year after. So let's do it now."


Aha, now everything makes perfect sense! This was exactly MM's principle of governance when he first became the Matrix Master 40 years ago - tax the poor locals to subsidise foreign corporations. Nothing has changed 40 years later, since he still is the Matrix Master!

I really miss those days when the Matrix Master governed the Matrix directly. In those days, we heard bullshits now and then, but many a times, we also got to hear the true reasons for implementing certain policies, reasons such as:

• The purpose of streaming is to prevent educational wastage - no point spending money to give a pupil a good secondary education if he is going to end up at VITB (the former name for ITE). (Not I guess one hor, the Matrix Master said that himself).


• the purpose of setting up SDU and of giving priority in primary school admission is to encourage graduate mothers to give birth, and uneducated mothers to stop reproducing and diluting our gene pool.
  

Now that the Matrix Master has decided to govern behind the scene, we hear bullshits all the time:

• Streaming is to help slower pace children to catch up.


• The HOPE scheme - where if you sterilise yourself, you will get money from the government to buy a flat - is to help poor people.

and now:

• GST increase is to help poor people!

What's the impact of such difference in governing style? Allow me to tell you: the impact is very serious!

It means that the Matrix Master was trusted by his people much more than his son is. Sure, he would lie whenever there was a need to, but generally, he spoke his mind. So while people may not have agreed with the shit he spewed, they trusted him generally. That's why they endured many of his unpopular policies because they trusted his reasoning and believed sincerely that these policies were for their future good (and indeed some of these policies turned out good). Of course, this also meant that whenever he really needed to lie, he could fool the people (since he was trusted much of the time).

Not his son. His son's government lies whether there is a need or not. It lies on a daily basis! This means that people will slowly not support his policies, because people do not trust his reasons (which indeed are mostly false), and do not believe that he has their welfare at heart. Furthermore, even when he is telling the truth, nobody will believe him (since his government is a perpetual liar).

Citizens become skeptical, cynical. They don't trust their leaders anymore! An untrusted government can only go one way: out! You have no ways to implement any policy! You implement unpopular policies -- people do not trust you that they will lead to good results. You implement popular policies -- also no use; people think there are some sinister motives behind them!!

Mark my words: PAP is on its way out, and years later, when political scientists sit in their cozy armchairs and analyse when the turn of tide occured , they will find that it boils down to this: the breakdown of trust, due to the tons of lies that started during Gok Chok Tong's reign and continued by Lee Hsien Loong - probably because the latter thought that such lying is the key to the former's popularity, and not realising that the former's popularity is due to his seemingly amicable mannerism.

In fact, one doesn't even need to be a Ph.D. political scientist to see this. China has gone through 2000 years of dynastic rules and has in store great wisdom about the reason for the rise and fall of rulers. Confucius said long ago:

子贡问政。子曰：“足食，足兵，民信之矣。”
子贡曰：“必不得已而去，于斯三者何先？” 曰：“去兵。”
子贡曰：“必不得已而去，于斯二者何先？” 曰：“去食。自古皆有死，民无信不立。”

(Zi Gong asked the principle of governance. Confucius replied: "enough food, enough military defence, the people's trust". Zi Gong asked: "If we were forced to give up one, which of the 3 should go first"?. Answer: "military defence goes first". Zi Gong asked: "If we were forced to give up one, which of the remaining 2 should go first". Answer"go without adequate food. Since ancient time, there has always been death in any country, but when the people no longer trust their leaders, no establishment can stand"!

The end of PAP is near!

Trinity: Please Neo, you have to trust me.
Neo: Why?
Trinity: Because you have been down there Neo, you know that road, you know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be.

I can only show you the door

PTC to allow more premium bus services for niche market
Channel NewsAsia
22 January 2007

...Premium bus services have to meet the following requirements:

(a) Operate only with air-conditioned buses;

(b) All passengers must have a seat; and

(c) Fares are at least 1.5 times the equivalent fare of basic public transport services.


In other words, even if private bus operators are willing and able to charge less than the government-controlled SBS transit, they will not be allowed to. The Public Transport Council will make sure that there is no real market competition. Making sure that SBS is very profitable is the job of PTC.

And of course as usual, 66.6% are happy with such market monopoly. In fact, the majority of Singaporeans rely on public transport. The majority of Singaporeans also support PAP. Since both sets are majority (over 50%), mathematically speaking, they cannot be in two distinct groups - they must somehow overlap! Therefore, I think one can conclude safely that there exists a sizeable group of singaporeans who both take public transport AND enjoy being screwed and bullied, as far as bus fare and traveling conditions are concerned.

Well, good for them. You get a government that you deserve. There is only so much that The One can do. Ultimately, each person will have to "walk through it" himself.

As for this Human Battery? Well, he drives!

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.
Morpheus: Free your mind.
[Morpheus jumps from one building to another a long distance away]
Neo: Whoa.

The informant is real

I predicted that someone will explode publicly. Nope, he did not. He has learnt his lesson well. This time, he did a quiet maneuver behind the scene. This is the "U-turn" news report that appeared the next day:


Channel News Asia
12 Jan 07
...Manpower Ministry data shows that 124,000 jobs were created last year and 45 percent of these jobs went to foreigners.


So now, instead of quoting economists, they are quoting the Manpower Ministry. And the manpower people tell them: "hey, it's not 70%, it's 45%"!

Who is right? Well, based on the "NTU professors incident", the discrepancy lies in the economists treating permanent residents (PR) as foreigners, while the ministry regarded PR as non-foreigners, as citizens, as Singaporeans! PR from China/ India/ all over the world = Singaporeans!

WHAT THE FUCK?

The permanent residents of a country are not citizens of that country. They are foreigners! Full Stop!

These are basic definitions. Everywhere all over the world, that's the case! But no, on this unique Matrix Island, PR and citizens are lumped together as "resident population" by the Department of Statistics - if you plough through their statistics, you will no longer see any breakdown into citizens and PR. What does this mean?

Two things.

Firstly, it means that we have been downgraded and treated -- for all intent and purpose, when doing statiscal planning and projections -- as the same as permanent residents!! As far as the Matrix Master (MM) is concerned, there is no distinction between PR and citizens. PR = resident population = Citizens.

This is a cheapening of citizenship and a downgrade. Simple as that. No ifs, no buts. Not only was this guy talking cock, he had also come up with some cock policies to support his bullshit!

Secondly, it means we are mere Human Batteries. If we were citizens aka the bosses of a country, we should be able to have unhindered access to basic information about our country - for example: how many citizens and how many PR are there on this Island? But no, even for such basic data, we have no access! The only data you can get is the "(combined) resident population (of both citizens and PR)" versus the population of "foreigners (who have no permanent residency status)".

The worst thing is that those words in brackets are added by me. The Matrix Masters won't even bother to explain to us their subtle - and erroneous - definition of "foreigners" if we don't question them!

Information is the key to liberty. Without access to information, we do not know the true picture and we become controllable Human Batteries, at the mercy of those who has privy to information.

By the way, if anybody thinks the above are all mere speculation, this clarification by CNA should put such thoughts to rest:

"Hey Jeffrey,

The economists at IPS estimated that 70 percent of jobs created went to foreign workers, if we include PRs.

Ministry of Manpower statistics showed that 45 percent of jobs created went to foreign workers, not including PRs.

But the economists did not have exact estimates, while the Ministry of Manpower did, so we went with the latter figure. =)

thanks for watching".

Yeah, thanks for making us pay so much TV licence fee every year to watch your crap!

Agent Brown: The informant is real.
Agent Smith: Yes.

The answer is out there

Channel News Asia
11 Jan 07
Middle class wages have been stagnant in the past 5 years, according to economists, and this could lead to social instability. These concerns were shared at the annual Institute of Policy Studies Singapore Perspectives conference...

123, 000 jobs were created last year and economists estimate some 70 percent of these jobs went to foreigners.

"With the rate of immigration even among unskilled and semi skilled labour (Eh, I thought every foreigner is a talent. Not meh?) at a rate twice of what we experienced in the 90s, at a rate fastest in the developed world, the question is does this dampen our real wages as we grow? Does the strategy itself dampen real wages and depress real wages at the low and middle end of the spectrums? They are sacred cows but we should step back and think about them," said Yeoh Lam Keong, Vice President, Economic Society of Singapore.


This is old news. A few years ago, two NTU Economics Professors reached an even grimmer conclusion -- I think they said 90% of the jobs went to foreigners. They were chided by Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen, forced to retract their report and to apologise publicly.

But, other than the strong words, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) did not publish was incapable of publishing their own data side-by-side the Professors' data and of pointing out how the "error" occurred - the two professors defended that their conclusion was based on MOM's data!

Well, this time round, is the Manpower Minister going to explode again?

Doesn't really matter. He can explode all he wants. Chinese saying: paper cannot hide fire. Even if you censor the entire internet, people can still scribble the truth using just a low-tech marker:

JOBS FOR FOREIGNERS, NS FOR SINGAPOREANS!

Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.

Doing a machine's job

This is the new labour chief

He is a joker!

One of the many jokes he spewed is that hawker centre cleaners must double the number of tables they clean (But how? He did not bother to explain. One can only assume he thought these cleaners were very lazy and not working hard enough). In return, he said they may get higher income.

You can read his old joke below. Please remeber to laugh after reading. It's only polite to do so when someone tells a joke!


Low waged workers must make quantum leap in productivity to move ahead
Channel NewAsia, 19 May 2006

To improve productivity in Singapore in the years ahead, Deputy Secretary-General of the NTUC, Lim Swee Say has said there are two ways to do so.

One is for Singapore to be cheaper and better than its competitors and the other is to make a quantum leap in the productivity of low waged workers.

But this does not mean a small percentage in productivity but a 50 to even 100 percent increase.

Mr Lim said this may translate to higher incomes for these workers too.

One key area that will help in this effort is job recreation and redesigning jobs for example of hawker centre cleaners.

Instead of supporting a small number of stalls, by doubling their support, they also double their productivity.

Mr Lim made the observations when he was speaking to members of the Singapore Productivity Association Dinner Friday night. - CNA /dt


Mr. Lim seemed to think that humans are like machines. If he wanted to double productivity, all he needed to do is to turn a knob from "medium" to "high"! That's a frightening thought, but not a surprising one.

"Human Batteries can always be made to sweat more, work harder, and forced to pay double, if not triple, the fees/ fines/ tax they are currently paying" -- that's how the Matrix Masters have always felt.

And why shouldn't they? 66.6% of Human Batteries are more than ready to comply. Even this Human Battery said in his profile: 鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已！lol

Agent Smith: Never send a human to do a machine's job.

A prison for your mind

Since I will not pay even a single cent for an online subscription to a 146th-ranked newspaper, I guess I can only quote from the free (money-wise, that is) Chinese newspaper :)

I am not him, and he is not me. In fact, he may not even be writing about what I think he is writing about. But well, it's up to me to interpret whatever I read in whatever way I want. Ha!

联合早报, 副刊, 2007-01-04
河童－熊的对话

这是在热带岛国动物园里，一对北极熊母子的一段对白。

熊妈：妈老了，趁妈还有口气，不得不告诉你，你可要记住，你的祖籍在北极。

熊子：北极在什么地方？没听您提过。

熊妈：跟你讲你也不懂，北极在地球的北部，那里常年冰天雪地，非常寒冷，老实说，我也忘了那里的气候更说不上具体的感觉了。

熊子：那我是谁？我要回去北极可以吗？

熊妈：乖孩子，你是这里土生土长的，你是赤道上的婴孩，嗨！说个笑话给你听，当年你出世时还被冠上一个名堂说是世界第一只在热带地区出世的北极熊，嗨！宝贝，那又如何？妈对不起你，不应该把你带到这人间地方，当下万一妈真的走了，丢下你孤苦伶仃，你又无一技之长，叫人担心。


Hmm, didn't I already say: Animals in captivity do not breed?!?


熊子：妈，什么是一技之长？

熊妈：儿啊！我们熊类能在寒冷的冰天，恶劣的环境之下追杀海狮海豹，那才痛快，那才是熊性，那才不会辜负历代祖先的传承。

　　这就是一技之长。再说，熊就是熊，看到猎物就捕杀，站起来张牙舞爪大拍胸膛哦依哦才是我们的本能，你能吗？


Of course 你不能 lah! Don't say 拍胸膛哦依哦, even if all you want is to exercise your 熊性, to roam around freely, also must see if the guards will let you exercise your bear's rights or not leh!


熊子：这里有得吃有得穿，餐餐定时，又有掌声，不好么？


Typical ignorant bred-in-captivity bear cub's response. How else does one expect him to respond?. How does one tell such a cub which does not regard his little luke warm swimming pool as a constraint, that it is his rights to be roaming FREE among freezing cold polar ice? How?

The cute naive little cub supports the very people who imprisioned him!!! He is contented with just the basics, for it is only the basics that he knows: 有得吃有得穿, 不好么? Freedom to 拍胸膛哦依哦? What's that, mummy?


熊妈：孩子，你不懂，待在这里我们熊性的尊严全失，最痛心的是我们失去了自由，说实在，我们的的确确被软禁了。现在又要把你送出去，说要把这里转换成热带雨林，又说北极冰块开始融解，又要拯救地球拯救咱们，嗨！诸多理由。


Oh? 送去 where? Batam Retirement Village? Batam Zoological Park? Hmmm.


熊子：妈，我听不明白，他们把我送去别的动物园也许会更好。

熊母：嗨！说来说去，人类又要满足欲望，又要弥补过失，自圆其说往往就是他们拿手的本能，我们只不过是他们手中的傀儡罢了。

Yalor. After sending you to Batam, we can import some 热带雨林 and transfrom the zoo beyond recognition. Thank you, both mother and son, you have helped bring lots of profit to our zoo. Now that you are old and useless, off you go! Xie Xie. Bu ke Qi. Haha!

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.