Author: Rilek1Corner

Leon Perera: One-Party System Cannot Last Forever

In the coming century, I hope that my children and grand-children grow old and raise my great-grandchildren in Singapore long after I’m gone. But I fear that the government in our one party dominant system may fail one day. I fear that there will be no able, responsible and electable Opposition to take its place if that happens.

A one party system makes it very hard for such an alternative party to exist. A one party system makes it likely that the ruling party – facing no viable competitors – will eventually lose its way. A one party system makes it likely that the ruling party will get away with changing the Constitution and changing Singapore to something other than a democracy, to keep itself in power forever. So that the system becomes practically uncontestable. What would stop them?

Minister Ong’s recent comments are consistent with DPM Teo’s confirmation in Parliament on 9 November 2016 that the ruling party hopes to win 100% of all fully elected seats at the next GE.

But can one party solve all of Singapore’s problems today and tomorrow? Can one party generate all the good ideas Singapore needs to keep going? Has any one party state on earth thrived for 100 years or more as a developed country?

If a one party system cannot last forever, will there be another good party around when Singapore’s time for change comes, as it inevitably will? Or will a new, extremist party fill the political vacuum when a crisis hits and steer Singapore into the abyss?

We can ignore these inconvenient truths and keep kicking the can down the road. Because it’s always easier to go with the flow.

But I hope we won’t.

The onus is on all of us who share such ideals to convince our fellow Singaporeans of these truths and inspire them to act. So that your great-grandchildren and mine will still proudly pledge themselves “to build a democratic society based on justice and equality”…and remember us for having done our part.

Source: Leon Perera

January 25, 2017
Artmani Italia Closed Down Without Warning, Customers Furious

Ms Teo, an associate director of a recruitment agency, was hoping that a two-seater leather sofa she bought would be the centrepiece of her new home, after she moves in soon after Chinese New Year.

But she is now missing a sofa, and is $3,000 poorer. She had paid furniture company Artmani Italia in two instalments – one last July and the other two weeks ago – and the firm promised to deliver the sofa to her flat in Boon Keng in early February.

But Artmani Italia is believed to have shut down, leaving Ms Teo and about 50 others in the lurch. These customers, part of a WhatsApp group, are owed around $65,000 worth of furniture, and they have lodged police reports.

When The Straits Times visited Artmani Italia’s premises in an industrial building off Hougang yesterday, the firm’s showroom doors were locked.

At another two units listed under the firm’s name, letters from the landlord were pasted on the front doors, stating that no one was allowed access to the units with effect from Jan 18, unless authorised to do so.

Others who work in the building saw movers loading furniture from the showroom onto a lorry.

Attempts to reach the company were unsuccessful.

One possible avenue for redress for the likes of Ms Teo is to file a claim with the Small Claims Tribunals. For now, she has bought another sofa from another company, with delivery expected in March.

She still finds it hard to believe that she and her husband could have lost money like this.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

January 25, 2017
3 Things SAF Can Do With The Returned Terrexes
Finally, the PRC government is returning our Terrexes to us. They had so much time with the Terrexes that they probably copied every inch of it and are already manufacturing battalion-sized Terrexes somewhere in China now.

So what do we do with the Terrexes? Here are our suggestions:
1. Deploy the Terrexes to ferry people in times of another inevitable MRT disruption. More specifically, they could ferry the very old and very young to their next destinations. Have you seen the crunch that people get themselves into when trying to get on the bridging bus services? With the Terrexes, no one will dare get in their way.
2. Set them up to provide joy-rides at the Istana, at every public holiday open house. The Istana is sprawling. The children will love the adventure.
3. Display them in the Army Museum. The best way to learn and progress is to learn from mistakes made in history.
Any better ideas?

Rilek1Corner
January 25, 2017
PRC Netizens Irked By Dr Mahathir’s Remarks On Forest City Project, Wants To Boycott Malaysia

BEIJING — Chinese netizens have criticised former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad over his comments that China’s investment in the Forest City property project in Johor Baru is a threat to Malaysian sovereignty.

“Being an old friend for over a decade, Dr Mahathir had turned on China. It’s a big deal,” influential state-run tabloid Global Times quoted netizen yuchundaxianglianzhuli as saying.

“Shall we boycott Malaysia for this?” netizen jiemohu wrote on Sina Weibo.

Writing in his blog, Dr Mahathir had attacked the Forest City project as a “foreign enclave”.

“Much of the most valuable land will now be owned and occupied by foreigners,” noted the 91-year-old, who was current Malaysian premier Najib Razak’s former mentor and now one of his biggest critics.

“In effect, (land occupied by the Forest City initiative) will become foreign land,” Dr Mahathir added.

He also claimed that more than 700,000 Chinese nationals will be brought into Forest City, alleging that the Chinese citizens would be given identity cards to enable them to vote in the coming general election.

The Chinese embassy in Malaysia has criticised Dr Mahathir’s remarks.

In a statement released on its official website, the embassy said: “Somebody applauded Sino-Malaysian relations in office but fanned the flame of anti-Chinese sentiment after.

“We can expose the lie behind claims that Chinese investment is stealing job opportunities from Malaysia.”

Sultan Ibrahim of Johor has also reprimanded Dr Mahathir over his Forest City claims.

“He is giving the impression that Johor is surrendering land to the Chinese and that we are giving up our sovereignty, comparing even how we gave up Singapore to the British, the sultan told The Star.

Sultan Ibrahim also accused Dr Mahathir of fearmongering by playing racial politics that he said had no place in Johor.

Forest City is a US$100 billion (S$143 billion) property development by Chinese firm Country Garden.

The firm has partnered Esplanade Danga 88, an associate company of Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor, which is the southern state’s investment arm. The largest shareholder of Esplanade Danga 88 is Sultan Ibrahim.

The 1,386ha Forest City encompasses the development of facilities for business, tourism, hotel, residence, services and others, built on four man-made islands in Iskandar Malaysia.

Construction began in February last year and about 8,000 apartments have been sold, the company said.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 24, 2017
Former Certis Cisco Convicted For Playing Russian Roulette With Service Revolver

A former auxiliary police officer from Certis Cisco who fired his revolver in a game akin to Russian roulette was convicted on Tuesday (Jan 24) of committing a rash act endangering human life.

Gregory Lai Kar Jun, 23, was on duty at Tuas Checkpoint on Aug 13, 2015, when he emptied the revolver of five bullets and placed them on a table. He loaded the weapon with one bullet, pointed the revolver towards the ground and squeezed the trigger.

When nothing happened, he squeezed the trigger again. This time, the weapon fired. Lai had fired the weapon in a confined space – a small room measuring about 2.7m by 1.7m with his colleague standing about 1m away.

Lai and his colleague Muhammad Dzul Adhar, then corporals with security firm Certis Cisco, found the spent round and hid it inside a traffic wand. To cover up his tracks, Lai went to a restroom at the checkpoint and threw a second bullet into a toilet bowl.

The next day, he reported the loss of two bullets to the Tuas Checkpoint operations room.

In the meantime, Dzul agreed to help Lai dispose of the spent round. He transferred the bullet from the traffic wand to a cigarette box, before throwing the round into Bedok Reservoir in the early hours of Aug 14, 2015.

Dzul was last year jailed for three weeks and fined S$2,000 for intentionally obstructing the course of justice and for failing to give information to the police about Lai’s crime.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

January 24, 2017