What is wrong enrolling your kids or yourselves into a private university? Many foreign students are currently studying for degree courses conducted by private universities in Singapore. Their degrees are as good as the 3 government-universities, judging from employers’ response in the job market.

The Government has successfully turned Singapore into an education hub. There are far more foreign students studying in private universities than in SMU, NUS and NTU. Like the Singaporeans, upon graduation, these foreign students will be staying back to work and contribute to the economy of Singapore.

It is unwise to draw lines between Singaporean students, PR students and foreign students. All students in Singapore are trained to benefit the nation as a whole.

2. It seems that any govt that is determined to ‘produce’ high GDP numbers can do so with very simple sleight of hand Number Tricks, usually requiring no more than just a slight raising here and a lowering there, or to leave out some negative factors and include a couple of favourable ones.

3. This article is from Euro Pacific Capital, titled “They Have Got to be Kidding” and was onlined 1 Nov 2007, just some months back. Although it describes Bush accounting tricks, it applies equally to LIE KY LHL PAP. Please read it with the LIEgime in mind and much will become clear as daylight…

http://www.europac.net/externalframeset.asp?from=home&id=10612

4. I cannot do better than quote Mr Kaye Poh email, especially this part :

“In Singapore’s case, the central bank, MAS, expects inflation for 2007 to be around 1.5% although the citizens have been facing price increases of double digits (in some cases, up to 20% rise) in daily necessities like food, transportation, utilities, housing, healthcare, education, etc ? (refer Seah Chiang Nee’s article in The Star newspaper of 3 Nov 2007, “..Increasing prices in just about everything has overshadowed the city state’s prosperity in the last four years” – link http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/11/3/focus/19360112&sec=focus. For additional reading, refer to The Straits Times article of 5th Nov 2007, “Grocery bills increase as prices for foodstuffs go up” – link http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_173723.html).

“In the Star article, Seah also says, “The (Singapore) government appears unable to take action to stop the epidemic (rampant price rises everywhere), a contrast to the first-generation government during such crises.”.

“Well, it seems that while the majority of the citizens are reeling from the rising inflation, the ministers are not only unaffected, but their salaries and bonuses are getting fatter: because, according to the MAS, it expects Singapore to achieve “…8 per cent growth this year”.

“Now let’s take a closer look at the ministers’ bonuses:

“If GDP growth is 5% – 10% or more, yearly bonus can reach up to 8 months’ salaries. So, for ministers earning $1.8 million a year, the bonus can amount to as much as $1.2 million, giving a total salary of $3 million a year plus benefits.

“Is it any wonder why then are the rich in Singapore (including the ministers with their million dollar salaries and bonuses) getting richer while the poor (and the middle class too) are getting poorer with “real” double-digit inflation and stagnating/marginal wage rises and miserable returns (less than inflation rates) on their pension (CPF) funds?

“Therefore, my question to the government: are the inflation and GDP figures reliable and independently verifiable by credible professionals?”

5. Thank you, Mr Kaye Poh.

When your own Singaporean children who dis NS have no place in the local unis, and foreigners get the places and not that you need their fees- there is a very painful cycle -starting from disappointment, to act of borrowing to see your own abroad in foreign unis, losing them later, and then with more disappointment facing the present policy makers – bang, there is no more inclusivity only widening diversity.

Any of your parents have children affected by the closure of the UNSWAsia campus ? Business decision, yes but where is the accountability ? When ministers involved refuse to meet parents ! You take what is dished out > It is time for CLASS ACTION should there be another debacle.
Pass the buck… protect my job…not my fault…..human error….and yet can get another pay rise ah! ….. Yet some guys cannot detect the groundswell until the volanco erupts…………..

Ok. We’ll allow it this time.. :)

Thanks for understanding…

If similar happens in future, which I doubt, since I am not capable of such similar intellectualising all the time, I will probably post it in my blog and link to it. However, I much prefer to Comment in TOC because TOC is by far the best and most important web resource in Singapore, so most of my thoughts find better expression here — in fact, most of my recent thoughts are actually triggered off by TOC articles, so I naturally, continue from your articles, continuing in the thinking and discussion started by TOC. Sorry.

Is it possible to not post such long comments? Maybe you can shorten them? I am all for free expression but your comments are about 2,000 words long (I think more).

Thanks.

Andrew

1. I had, in this previous Comment in The Online Citizen [ http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/02/knowledge-based-economy-needs-more-uni-education-financing/#more-527 ] first tried to reason dispassionately about Foreigners and their effects on GDP, which have led to an unbelievable tidal wave of foreigners that has swamped our islet. Today, I will try to fuller.

2. What makes a Singaporean? — vs a foreigner? I had postulated that it is SCE [Shared Common Experience]. “Thus, a Chinese and a Malay Singaporean can have More Shared Experiences than with a Chinese from China. However, if that Chinaman has enough Commonalities when he arrives, and gains more with time, he can be as Singaporean as any local-born.” [self quote].

3. Thus, while we become emotional and even angry at Foreigners many advantages over locals, we need to remember that our ancestors were once immigrants but became Singaporeans. Singaporeans vs Foreigners is not one or the other, not Black vs White, but a SCALE which we all, locals or not, are on, each at various points of being more or less Singaporean. Simply, it is how much SCE you have, I think. My maid has worked here ~15 years. She can MRT and commute about, speak, read and write fairly good English, speak Teochew and some Mandarin besides Indonesian, and in looks and behaviour, indistinguishable from Singaporeans. I think, on my basis, she deserves to be given PR instead of the ‘Foreign Talent’ [FT] who flies in with few Commonalities. This SCE principle may already be implicitly recognised by some countries. My wife’s colleague took his maid to London for several years. When he returned, his maid did not — she had qualified for PR!

4. Thus, countries may look into granting PR also on the basis of SCE and not just ‘economic value’. This will save much maladjustments to both the immigrant and the receiving society.

5. In PAPadise, it is purely economic value but as usual, stupidly and typically UNTHINKING, leading to great harm and tragic results.

6. For example, suppose you vacuum your floor and wash clothes and dishes. You are generating NO economic value or GDP activity. Thus, a housewife, according to current Economic theories, generates little or no ‘economic activity’ and thus no GDP. So Singapore housewives are encouraged to work outside home because earning a salary gets recorded as ‘economic activity’ or ‘economic value’ and thus gets into the GDP figures. So when she earns $1,000, she ‘generates’ far more than $1,000 because she commutes, eats outside, buys office clothes, etc. All these suddenly boost the GDP simply because that is how GDP is measured. Further, the maid she has to hire to look after her kids, for $350, also ‘generates’ far more than $350 because the maid also consumes some personal-use goods and services, etc, thus also boosting the GDP — again, since this is how GDP is measured. This explains the Second Wave in my 3 Waves Of Labour theory in my essay on Leeconomics [ http://i-came-i-saw-i-wrote-it.blogspot.com/search/label/RH%3A%20Robert%27s%20Complete%20Case%20against%20Leeconomics%20%5BMain%5D ].

7. Thus, we see the ATTRACTION of foreigners to the MinisterMoron, PrimeMoron, and their Cronies Morons. Even a lowly maid or other foreigner cheap labour generates far more ‘GDP activities’ than just their nominal salary. To crystallise it, suppose they import a foreigner cripple without arms or legs. This cripple will still ‘generate’ appreciable GDP activity because he will house, eat, buy diapers, medical care, etc. So more GDP activities. In short, like in the movie “Matrix”, just Human Bodies are enough to generate GDP. So the Morons keep importing bodies, almost all cheap labour since they cannot lure betters. Thus, today, >1 in 4 of people in Singapore are foreigners! The most astounding rate in world history! Do LIE KY LHL PAP know something we don’t? The contrary.

8. I don’t think these Morons, or anybody else, have reasoned it all thus. What they do know is that every time they import foreigners, the GDP goes up and hence, their Performance Bonuses, so they keep importing foreigners even when these DISPLACE LOCALS. In fact, by not understanding all this, their importing policies have the effect of Displacing Locals because the GDP GROWS EVEN MORE THIS WAY. Let me explain : suppose a cheap labour foreigner is imported to displace a local low-wage labourer. This cheap foreigner generates far more than just his nominal salary in GDP activities, so good for the Morons Bonuses. But the unemployed local labourer does not become 0 upon being displaced and unemployed. He still needs to house, eat, utilities, etc, so he still consumes and thus generate GDP activities. So the NET GAIN is not just from the foreigner but also the captive local who still needs to consume and thus generate GDP. Thus, 2-WAY net gains from this Displacement policy. This explains the callous policies and insane tidal wave influx of foreigners, almost all cheap labour — but never mind, they still generate big GDP. The so-called FT are only handfuls and mostly used to justify the real tidal wave influx of cheap foreigners. FTs have better options elsewhere so most don’t come or stay.

9. The Morons are like lab rats in a cage. They have discovered that by pressing the Green Lever, more marbles drop into their cage and somehow, the lab scientists reward them more titbits as a result of the more marbles. So they furiously keep pressing the Green Lever, thinking they are “successful” [Performance Bonuses] even though there are so many marbles they have little living space left. But they still keep pressing as if addicted. This analogy explains the Morons unthinking addiction to foreigners and DELIBERATE DISPLACEMENT of locals — nothing is NON-Deliberate in Singapore, except maybe the unique or extremely rare KASTARI escape from an ISD prison! Which is why it is so unbelievable and led to so many conspiracy theories.

10. Another example of this unthinking Green Lever Syndrome is the DELIBERATE [like Displacement of low-wage Singaporean workers -- IN MANY CASES, ALSO HIGHER WAGE ONES, TOO] policy to bias towards Manufacturing as against Services. Our Morons have always scorned Hongkong for its Service Economy and prided themselves on still having a big Manufacturing sector. The Green Lever Syndrome at work again.

11. In the first place, Hongkong DOES have manufacturing and very big, too, except that it is all captured as China statistics in Shenzhen and other centres. Second, it is Green Lever Syndrome again because manufacturing is mostly measurable in $ [as in widget parts costs and final selling prices] and so easily captured into final GDP figures whereas Services like a Hongkong clerk processing forms or answering calls in a Call Centre is difficult to value in $ and so only their nominal salaries get into the GDP. This doesn’t mean that Manufacturing is superior to Services! as the Morons think. Only that one is more measurable than the other — at least in $ and GDP terms. But, just like reading to a child or volunteer social work instructing elderlies in exercise, activities that are not capturable in GDP does not mean inferior or not worth doing, as the Morons believe in both thought and action.

12. Thus, Hongkong has a more ‘normal’, REAL economy as opposed to the LIEgime FALSE and distorted economy. For example, like all Real economies, Hongkong considers many factors besides GDP numbers, such as inflation, unemployment, jobs creation, consumer spending, social spending and welfare, govt spending and taxations, etc, and devises policies towards these [multiple] ends, whereas the False and distorted economy of the LIEgime is constructed and deliberately designed to produce high GDP numbers only. The US, probably the most intelligently monitored and managed economy, has a whole slew of economic indicators besides GDP numbers. US business media almost daily analyse dozens of indicators, from housing starts to PMI to Producer Price Indices, stock indices and prices, etc, and not just the final GDP numbers. Only the LIEgime stupidly constructs an economy solely to produce high GDP numbers. Thus, Hongkong’s Real economy is probably many times bigger and better than the False economy of the LIEgime, which is more like a shop window display, artificial and FOR SHOW ONLY, like everything else about the LIEgime.

13. This False economy of the LIEgime is paralleled by its equally stupid education policies. In Education, there is also obsession with scoring high marks in exams, thus paralleling the construction of the False economy to score high GDP numbers. So, schools, principals, teachers and students are obsessed only with scoring high marks in exams. This means that non-exam subjects are hardly taught and studied. Worse, teachers and students choose subjects purely to score high marks, hence the decades-long bias to Math and Science subjects [far easier to score] than say, Lit and Lang. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Singaporeans and the way Math is taught from primary to university, this bias produces several generations of unintelligent ‘scholars’ [many become Cronies Ministers or Generals who later metamorphosise into GLC CEOs] who, other than high Math marks, cannot think, since Language is the Basis of Thought, not Math. Thus, when you teach [and learn] TO the test or exam, you do score high marks but learn little, in not much of an education.

14. Thus, the LIEgime has only 5 aims of govt. First, to entrench and further the LIE family stranglehold on power and to increase that power without limit so as to control every aspect of work and life in Singapore. Second, to LOOK GOOD always — an obsession — even if this is only surface or cosmetic. Third, as regards the economy, to produce high GDP numbers. Fourth, to produce huge budget surpluses. This means decades of unremitting, relentless, Overtax and Underspend policies, overtaxing exorbitantly on everything possible, especially HDB housing, car taxes [both giving many, many, multiples of profit or rather, profiteering], GST, etc, while underspending on everything else except the military, which always has the biggest budget allocations. Thus, Singaporeans are overtaxed in every way possible and imaginable while spending on heathcare, education, the poor, etc, are all shortchanged. The budget surpluses are not enough apparently, so in order to create even bigger and more impressive Reserves and SWF [Fifth goal], Singaporeans CPF are withheld to make the Reserves bigger. Thus, Singaporeans have little access to and cannot even withdraw their own monies because the LIEgime wants it in its own kitty. CPF was as much as 40% of every worker salary and bonus OVER HIS LIFETIME CAREER, now slightly less. Thus, ‘managing by/for results’, which is pretty legitimate, became bastardised, like everything else, to become ‘managing by numbers’, further bastardised to ‘managing FOR [GDP] numbers’. Thus, the economy is constructed mainly to score high GDP numbers and the easiest way is to massively import foreigners — preferably rich — but practically, mostly cheap labour, since millionaires or FTs cannot be imported in numbers for various reasons. This explains why the LIEgime bends over backwards [this time] to play nice to all foreigners. It also explains why there is such an unbelievable tidal wave of foreigners in Singapore, the Third Wave in my essay.

15. The >1 in 4 of us being foreigners has obviously [how can anyone NOT notice!] become ‘sensitive’, meaning actually ‘explosive’ — as it would be in a democracy instead of the secretive, suppressive dictatorship here. So, being politicians, and a govt obsessed with looking good ["Every time LIE KY looks good, the Truth doesn't" -- self quote] they spin and rationalise. They also Reclassify. This Reclassification trick reclassifies foreigners as Residents, PRs and even citizens to reduce resentment when the ‘official’ figures are out. If we grant PRs and citizenship more on SCE, this Reclassification trick will be harder. As is now, they can, with a simple sleight of the hand, change the numbers of foreigners into Residents, PRs and citizens. There is here, the ‘magic trick’ of DOUBLE or 2-WAY ‘gains’, just like in Displacing local low wage and even HIGH WAGE workers with foreigners. When the LIEgime reclassifies a foreigner into a PR or citizen, 1 MORE is added to the PR or citizen group while 1 LESS is reduced in the foreigner group. So double-counting ‘gains’! But foreigner or local or whatever, the buses, trains, food centres, roads, infrastructures, malls, etc, are all overcrowded [noticed the many big groups of dark-skinned young men watching the big tv displays or loitering near the money-changers or just loitering]? The problem is vaster than anyone, including the Morons, realise. They are just rats pressing levers and thinking they are doing a great job.

16. What can anyone do about it? Nothing. LIE KY LHL PAP are proven to have rigged the 1997 Cheng San GRC election, almost certainly also the 1963 General Elections in a suspicious 6-hour electricity blackout centred around the City Hall Vote Counting Centre, most probably also the Ong Teng Cheong Presidential election, plus the Malaysia Referendum that offered no, only rigged, choices. We can all do nothing because LIE KY LHL PAP need no mandate since they cheat massively ['winning' 82 out of 84 seats is mathematically, politically and electorally impossible without massive cheating -- like Saddam Hussein >90% votes every 'election'] so they do what they like, “never mind what the people think” — LIE KY.

17. According to a 2008 report from the Asian Development Bank, “The Singapore govt estimates that foreign labour contributed 3.2% of its annual growth rate of 7.8% in the 1990′s.” Another factoid : >40% of Singapore total labour force are cheap foreign labourers and >170,000 of the nearly 1 million foreign labourers are maids.

18. In an official Report from the ManPower Ministry for 2006 : http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/others/mrsd/Publications/ReportonLabourForceinSingapore2006.html

The 2006 Total Labour Force was 2.59m; ‘Residents’ [note Reclassification Trick] were 1.80m. UNEMPLOYED ‘Residents’ [seasonally adjusted] were 70,000 or 3.6% but 84,000 or 4.5% non-seasonally adjusted.

19. The point to note is that the overwhelming PAPaganda which has overpowered all thinking and discussions about foreigners, is that firstly, “foreigners do the dirty and dangerous jobs we locals shun”. Secondly, “FT do the kind of Talented Jobs that we locals don’t have the Talent to do so shut up and don’t dare complain when YOUR job goes to a foreigner”. Thirdly, “foreigners average DOWN business costs so businesses can profit more” [this is actually done by rigidly tying foreigners to employers so they cannot jobhop to better, plus other draconian conditions to give employers great advantages to exploit them, which explains why no employer wants Singaporeans!]

20. To this, I can only ask, pointing to MOM statistics in Paragraph 18, are there really so many “dirty and dangerous” jobs in Singapore? Or so many Talent jobs we cannot do? To the extent 3.6%/4.5% of us are unemployed? Or is it the usual politicians scapegoating and ‘blaming the victims’? After all, even garbage collection is highly mechanised, requiring few workers. Same for cleaners who even drive cleaning machines. Same for construction work, since there is a limit to how many workers can work at any time because concrete floors are laid and harden floor by floor. The Truth is, employers PREFER foreigners because they can be exploited far more easily due to LIEgime policies, entirely pro-business and anti-workers at the best of times, having jailed union leaders from the moment LIE KY seized power half a century ago, who then constructed and maintained by force, a fake NTUC ‘union’ body to further supppress workers, an NTUC whose main objective like every LIEgime org or institution, is to profit from its multiplicity of businesses from supermarket ‘co-ops’ to condos and even funeral parlours.

21. This is the tragedy for us — not for the Morons. They just keep pressing levers and collecting marbles and Performance Bonuses. While the tidal wave of foreigners continue to swamp every aspect of life on this little islet.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.news.php?clid=33&id=30038130

Recent 500-page extensively-researched book, “Lion Without Teeth” proves that everything most people, especially foreigners, know about Singapore and LIE KY are carefully planted and fabricated LIES.

1. I had, in this previous Comment in The Online Citizen [ http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/02/knowledge-based-economy-needs-more-uni-education-financing/#more-527 ] first tried to reason dispassionately about Foreigners and their effects on GDP, which have led to an unbelievable tidal wave of foreigners that has swamped our islet. Today, I will try to fuller.

2. What makes a Singaporean? — vs a foreigner? I had postulated that it is SCE [Shared Common Experience]. “Thus, a Chinese and a Malay Singaporean can have More Shared Experiences than with a Chinese from China. However, if that Chinaman has enough Commonalities when he arrives, and gains more with time, he can be as Singaporean as any local-born.” [self quote].

3. Thus, while we become emotional and even angry at Foreigners many advantages over locals, we need to remember that our ancestors were once immigrants but became Singaporeans. Singaporeans vs Foreigners is not one or the other, not Black vs White, but a SCALE which we all, locals or not, are on, each at various points of being more or less Singaporean. Simply, it is how much SCE you have, I think. My maid has worked here >10 years. She can MRT and commute about, speak, read and write fairly good English, speak Teochew and some Mandarin besides Indonesian, and in looks and behaviour, indistinguishable from Singaporeans. I think, on my basis, she deserves to be given PR instead of the ‘Foreign Talent’ [FT] who flies in with few Commonalities. This SCE principle may already be implicitly recognised by some countries. My wife’s colleague took his maid to London for several years. When he returned, his maid did not — she had qualified for PR!

4. Thus, countries may look into granting PR also on the basis of SCE and not just ‘economic value’. This will save much maladjustments to both the immigrant and the receiving society.

5. In PAPadise, it is purely economic value but as usual, stupidly and typically UNTHINKING, leading to great harm and tragic results.

6. For example, suppose you vacuum your floor and wash clothes and dishes. You are generating NO economic value or GDP activity. Thus, a housewife, according to current Economic theories, generate little or no ‘economic activity’ and thus no GDP. So Singapore housewives are encouraged to work outside home because earning a salary gets recorded as ‘economic activity’ or ‘economic value’ and thus gets into the GDP figures. So when she earns $1,000, she ‘generates’ far more than $1,000 because she commutes, eats outside, buys office clothes, etc. All these suddenly boost the GDP simply because that is how GDP is measured. Further, the maid she has to hire to look after her kids, for $350, also ‘generates’ far more than $350 because the maid also consumes some personal-use goods and services, etc, thus also boosting the GDP — again, since this is how GDP is measured. This explains the Second Wave in my 3 Waves Of Labour theory in my essay on Leeconomics [ http://i-came-i-saw-i-wrote-it.blogspot.com/search/label/RH%3A%20Robert%27s%20Complete%20Case%20against%20Leeconomics%20%5BMain%5D ].

7. Thus, we see the ATTRACTION of foreigners to the MinisterMoron, PrimeMoron, and their Cronies Morons. Even a lowly maid or other foreigner cheap labour generates far more ‘GDP activities’ than just their nominal salary. To crystallise it, suppose they import a foreigner cripple without arms or legs. This cripple will still ‘generate’ appreciable GDP activity because he will house, eat, buy diapers, medical care, etc. So more GDP activities. In short, like in the movie “Matrix”, just Human Bodies are enough to generate GDP. Thus, today, >1 in 4 of people in Singapore are foreigners! The most astounding rate in world history! Do LIE KY LHL PAP know something we don’t? The contrary.

8. I don’t think these Morons, or anybody else, have reasoned it all thus. What they do know is that every time they import foreigners, the GDP goes up and hence, their Performance Bonuses, so they keep importing foreigners even when these displace locals. In fact, by not understanding all this, their importing policies have DELIBERATELY DISPLACED locals because the GDP grows even more this way. Let me explain : suppose a cheap labour foreigner is imported to displace a local low-wage labourer. This cheap foreigner generates far more than just his nominal salary in GDP activities, so good for the Morons Bonuses. But the unemployed local labourer does not become 0 upon being displaced and unemployed. He still needs to house, eat, utilities, etc, so he still consumes and thus generate GDP activities. So the net gain is not just from the foreigner but also the captive local who still needs to consume and thus generate GDP. Thus, 2-WAY net gains from this Displacement policy. This explains the callous policies and insane tidal wave influx of foreigners, almost all cheap labour — but never mind, they still generate big GDP. The so-called FT are only handfuls and mostly used to justify the real tidal wave influx of cheap foreigners. FTs have better options elsewhere so most don’t come or stay.

9. The Morons are like lab rats in a cage. They have discovered that by pressing the Green Lever, more marbles drop into their cage and somehow, the lab scientists reward them more titbits as a result of the more marbles. So they furiously keep pressing the Green Lever, thinking they are “successful” [Performance Bonuses] even though there are so many marbles they have little living space left. But they still keep pressing as if addicted. This analogy explains the Morons unthinking addiction to foreigners and DELIBERATE DISPLACEMENT of locals — nothing is NON-Deliberate in Singapore, except maybe the unique or extremely rare KASTARI escape from an ISD prison! Which is why it is so unbelievable and led to so many conspiracy theories.

10. Another example of this unthinking Green Lever Syndrome is the DELIBERATE [like Displacement of low-wage Singaporean workers -- IN MANY CASES, ALSO HIGHER WAGE ONES, TOO] policy to bias towards Manufacturing as against Services. Our Morons have always scorned Hongkong for its Service Economy and prided themselves on still having a big Manufacturing sector. The Green Lever Syndrome at work again.

11. In the first place, Hongkong DOES have manufacturing and very big, too, except that it is all captured as China statistics in Shenzhen and other centres. Second, it is Green Lever Syndrome again because manufacturing is mostly measurable in $ [as in widget parts costs and final selling prices] and so easily captured into final GDP figures whereas Services like a Hongkong clerk processing forms or answering calls in a Call Centre is difficult to value in $ and so only their nominal salaries get into the GDP. This doesn’t mean that Manufacturing is superior to Services! as the Morons think. Only that one is more measurable than the other — at least in $ and GDP terms. But, just like reading to a child or volunteer social work instructing elderlies in exercise, activities that are not capturable in GDP does not mean inferior or not worth doing, as the Morons believe in both thought and action.

12. Thus, Hongkong has a more ‘normal’, REAL economy as opposed to the LIEgime FALSE and distorted economy. For example, like all Real economies, Hongkong considers many factors besides GDP numbers, such as inflation, unemployment, jobs creation, consumer spending, social spending and welfare, govt spending and taxations, etc, and devises policies towards these ends, whereas the False and distorted economy of the LIEgime is constructed and deliberately designed to produce high GDP numbers only. The US, probably the most intelligently monitored and managed economy, has a whole slew of economic indicators besides GDP numbers. US business media almost daily analyses dozens of indicators, from housing starts to PMI to Producer Price Indices, etc, and not just the final GDP numbers. Only the LIEgime stupidly constructs an economy solely to produce high GDP numbers. Thus, Hongkong’s Real economy is probably far bigger and better than the False economy of the LIEgime, which is more like a shop window display, artificial and for show only.

13. This False economy of the LIEgime is paralleled by its equally stupid education policies. In Education, there is also obsession with scoring high marks in exams, thus paralleling the construction of the False economy to score high GDP numbers. So, schools, principals, teachers and students are obsessed only with scoring high marks in exams. This means that non-exam subjects are hardly taught and studied. Worse, teachers and students choose subjects purely to score high marks, hence the decades-long bias to Math and Science subjects [far easier to score] than say, Lit and Lang. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Singaporeans and the way Math is taught from primary to university, this bias produces several generations of unintelligent ‘scholars’ who, other than high Math marks, cannot think, since Language is the Basis of Thought rather than Math. Thus, when you teach [and learn] to the test or exam, you do score high marks but learn little, in not much of an education.

14. Thus, the LIEgime has only 5 aims of govt. First, to entrench and further the LIE family stranglehold on power and to increase that power without limit so as to control every aspect of life in Singapore. Second, to look good always — an obsession — even if this is only surface or cosmetic. Third, as regards the economy, to produce high GDP numbers. Fourth, to produce huge budget surpluses. This means decades of Overtax and Underspend policies, overtaxing exorbitantly on HDB housing, car taxes [both giving many multiples of profit or rather, profiteering], GST, etc, while underspending on everything else except the military, which always has the biggest budget allocations. Thus, Singaporeans are overtaxed in every way possible and imaginable while spending on heathcare, education, the poor, etc, are all shortchanged. The budget surpluses are not enough apparently, so in order to create even bigger SWF [Fifth goal], Singaporeans CPF are withheld to make the Reserves bigger. Thus, Singaporeans cannot even withdraw their own monies because the LIEgime wants it in its own kitty. CPF was as much as 40% of every worker salary and bonus OVER HIS LIFETIME CAREER, now slightly less. Thus, ‘managing for results’, which is pretty legitimate, became bastardised, like everything else, to become ‘managing by numbers’, further bastardised to ‘managing FOR numbers’. Thus, the economy is constructed to run mostly on cheap labour. This is why there is such an unbelievable tidal wave of foreigners in Singapore, the Third Wave in my essay.

15. The >1 in 4 of us being foreigners has obviously [how can anyone NOT notice!] become ‘sensitive’, meaning actually ‘explosive’ — as it would be in a democracy instead of the secretive, suppressive dictatorship here. So, being politicians, and a govt obsessed with looking good ["Every time LIE KY looks good, the Truth doesn't" -- self quote] they spin and rationalise. They also Reclassify. This Reclassification trick reclassifies foreigners as Residents, PRs and even citizens to reduce resentment when the ‘official’ figures are out. If we grant PRs and citizenship more on SCE, this Reclassification trick will be harder. As is now, they can, with a simple sleight of the hand, change the numbers of foreigners into Residents, PRs and citizens. The problem is vaster than anyone, including the Morons, realise. They are just rats pressing levers and thinking they are doing a great job.

16. What can anyone do about it? Nothing. LIE KY LHL PAP rigged the 1997 Cheng San GRC election, almost certainly also the 1963 General Elections in a suspicious 6-hour electricity blackout centred around the City Hall Vote Counting Centre, most probably also the Ong Teng Cheong Presidential election, plus the Malaysia Referendum that offered no, only rigged, choices. All because LIE KY LHL PAP need no mandate since they cheat massively ['winning' 82 out of 84 seats is mathematically, politically and electorally impossible without massive cheating -- like Saddam Hussein >90% votes every 'election'] so they do what they like, “never mind what the people think” — LIE KY.

17. According to a 2008 report from the Asian Development Bank, “The Singapore govt estimates that foreign labour contributed 3.2% of its annual growth rate of 7.8% in the 1990′s.” Another factoid : >40% of Singapore total labour force are cheap foreign labourers and >170,000 of the nearly 1 million foreign labourers are maids.

18. This is the tragedy for us — not for the Morons. They just keep pressing levers and collecting marbles and Performance Bonuses. While the tidal wave of foreigners continue to swamp every aspect of life on this little islet.

After enjoy good and heavily subsidised primary and secondary schools, second generation PRs can say bye bye to S’pore without any liability to serve NS!!! Now, why does MOE give PRs equal Primary 1 registration privileges??

Currently, children of PRs and citizens enjoy EQUAL rights for P1 registration. Why is that so? Why should PR enjoy the same rights as citizens? Why can’t the govt give priority to citizens for P1 registration at popular primary schools?

I asked MOE the above questions, but their response puzzled me. MOE says that by giving PRs equal rights, they hope to incentivise them to become citizens!!!! Isn’t the logic weird? Why should PRs get S’pore citizenship when they already enjoy the same privileges as citizens????

Given how easy it is to obtain PR status here, the govt is eroding the value of citizenship by granting PRs equal or close to equal privileges enjoyed by citizens.

1. I had, in this previous Comment in The Online Citizen [ http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/02/knowledge-based-economy-needs-more-uni-education-financing/#more-527 ] first tried to reason dispassionately about Foreigners and their effects on GDP, which have led to an unbelievable tidal wave of foreigners that has swamped our islet. Today, I will try to fuller.

2. What makes a Singaporean? — vs a foreigner? I had postulated that it is SCE [Shared Common Experience]. “Thus, a Chinese and a Malay Singaporean can have More Shared Experiences than with a Chinese from China. However, if that Chinaman has enough Commonalities when he arrives, and gains more with time, he can be as Singaporean as any local-born.” [self quote].

3. Thus, while we become emotional and even angry at Foreigners many advantages over locals, we need to remember that our ancestors were once immigrants but became Singaporeans. Singaporeans vs Foreigners is not one or the other, not Black vs White, but a SCALE which we all, locals or not, are on, each at various points of being more or less Singaporean. Simply, it is how much SCE you have, I think. My maid has worked here >10 years. She can MRT and commute about, speak, read and write fairly good English, speak Teochew besides Indonesian and in looks and behaviour, indistinguishable from Singaporeans. I think, on my basis, she deserves to be given PR instead of the ‘Foreign Talent’ [FT] who flies in with few Commonalities. This SCE principle may already be implicitly recognised by some countries. My wife’s colleague took his maid to London for several years. When he returned, his maid did not — she had qualified for PR!

4. Thus, countries may look into granting PR also on the basis of SCE and not just ‘economic value’. This will save much maladjustments to both the immigrant and the receiving society.

5. In PAPadise, it is purely economic value but as usual, stupidly and typically UNTHINKING, leading to great harm and tragic results.

6. For example, suppose you vacuum your floor and wash clothes and dishes. You are generating NO economic value or GDP activity. Thus, a housewife, according to current Economic theories, generate little or no ‘economic activity’ and thus no GDP. Thus, Singapore housewives are encouraged to work outside home because earning a salary gets recorded as ‘economic activity’ or ‘economic value’ so gets into the GDP figures. So when she earns $1,000, she ‘generates’ far more than $1,000 because she commutes, eats outside, buys office clothes, etc. All these suddenly boost the GDP simply because that is how GDP is measured. Further, the maid she has to hire to look after her kids, for $350, also ‘generates’ far more than $350 because the maid also consumes some personal-use goods and services, etc, thus also boosting the GDP — again, since this is how GDP is measured. This explains the Second Wave in my 3 Waves Of Labour theory in my essay on Leeconomics [ http://i-came-i-saw-i-wrote-it.blogspot.com/search/label/RH%3A%20Robert%27s%20Complete%20Case%20against%20Leeconomics%20%5BMain%5D ].

7. Thus, we see the ATTRACTION of foreigners to the MinisterMoron, PrimeMoron, and their Cronies Morons. Even a lowly maid or other foreigner cheap labour generates far more ‘GDP activities’ than just their nominal salary. To crystallise it, suppose they import a foreigner cripple without legs or hands. This cripple will still ‘generate’ appreciable GDP activity because he will house, eat, buy diapers, medical care, etc. So more GDP activities. In short, like in the movie “Matrix”, just Human Bodies are enough to generate GDP. Thus, today, >1 in 4 of people in Singapore are foreigners! The most astounding rate in world history! Do LIE KY LHL PAP know something we don’t? The contrary.

8. I don’t think these Morons, or anybody else, have reasoned it all thus. What they do know is that every time they import foreigners, the GDP goes up and hence, their Performance Bonuses, so they keep importing foreigners even when these displace locals. In fact, by not understanding this all, their importing policies have DELIBERATELY DISPLACED locals because the GDP grows even more this way. Let me explain : suppose a cheap labour foreigner is imported to displace a local low-wage labourer. This cheap foreigner generates far more than just his nominal salary in GDP activities, so good for the Morons Bonuses. But the unemployed local labourer does not become 0 upon being displaced and unemployed. He still needs to house, eat, utilities, etc, so he still consumes and thus generate GDP activities. So the net gain is not just from the foreigner but also the captive local who still needs to consume and thus generate GDP. Thus, 2-WAY net gains from this Displacement policy. This explains the callous policies and insane tidal wave influx of foreigners, almost all cheap labour — but never mind, they still generate big GDP. The so-called FT are only handfuls and mostly used to justify the real tidal wave influx of cheap foreigners. FTs have better options elsewhere so most don’t come or stay.

9. The Morons are like lab rats in a cage. They have discovered that by pressing the Green Lever, more marbles drop into their cage and somehow, the lab scientists reward them more titbits as a result of the more marbles. So they furiously keep pressing the Green Lever, thinking they are “successful” [Performance Bonuses] even though there are so many marbles they have little living space left. But they still keep pressing as if addicted. This analogy explains the Morons unthinking addiction to foreigners and DELIBERATE DISPLACEMENT of locals — nothing is NON-Deliberate in Singapore, except maybe the unique or extremely rare KASTARI escape from an ISD prison! Which is why it is so unbelievable and led to so many conspiracy theories.

10. Another example of this unthinking Green Lever Syndrome is the DELIBERATE [like Displacement of low-wage Singapore workers -- in many cases, also higher wage ones, too] policy to bias towards Manufacturing as against Services. Our Morons have always scorned Hongkong for its Service Economy and prided themselves on still having a big Manufacturing Economy. The Green Lever Syndrome at work again.

11. In the first place, Hongkong DOES have manufacturing and very big, too, except that it is all captured as China statistics in Shenzhen and other centres. Second, it is Green Lever Syndrome again because manufacturing is mostly measurable in $ [as in widget parts costs and final selling prices] and so easily captured into final GDP figures whereas Services like a Hongkong clerk processing forms or answering calls in a Call Centre is difficult to value in $ and so only their nominal salaries get into the GDP. This doesn’t mean that Manufacturing is superior to Services! as the Morons think. Only that one is more measurable than the other — at least in $ and GDP terms. But, just like reading to a child or volunteer social work instructing elderlies in exercise, activities that are not capturable in GDP does not mean inferior or not worth doing, as the Morons believe in both thought and action.

12. The >1 in 4 of us being foreigners has obviously [how can anyone NOT notice!] become ‘sensitive’, meaning actually ‘explosive’ — as it would be in a democracy instead of the secretive, suppressive dictatorship here. So, being politicians, and a govt obsessed with looking good ["Every time LIE KY looks good, the Truth doesn't" -- self quote] they spin and rationalise. They also Reclassify. This Reclassification trick reclassifies foreigners as Residents, PRs and even citizens to reduce resentment when the ‘official’ figures are out. If we grant PRs and citizenship more on SCE, this Reclassification trick will be harder. As is now, they can, with a simple sleight of the hand, change the numbers of foreigners into Residents, PRs and citizens. The problem is vaster than anyone, including the Morons, realise. They are just rats pressing levers and thinking they are doing a great job.

13. What can anyone do about it? Nothing. LIE KY LHL PAP rigged the 1997 Cheng San GRC election, almost certainly also the 1963 General Elections in a suspicious 6-hour electricity blackout centred around the City Hall Vote Counting Centre, most probably also the Ong Teng Cheong Presidential election, plus the Malaysia Referendum that offered no, only rigged, choices. All because LIE KY LHL PAP need no mandate since they cheat massively ['winning' 82 out of 84 seats is mathematically, politically and electorally impossible without massive cheating -- like Saddam Hussein >90% votes every 'election'] so they do what they like, “never mind what the people think” — LIE KY.

14. According to a 2008 report from the Asian Development Bank, “The Singapore govt estimates that foreign labour contributed 3.2% of its annual growth rate of 7.8% in the 1990′s.” Another factoid : >40% of Singapore total labour force are cheap foreign labourers and >170,000 of the nearly 1 million foreign labourers are maids.

15. This is the tragedy for us — not for the Morons. They just keep pressing levers and collecting marbles and Performance Bonuses. While the tidal wave of foreigners continue to swamp every aspect of life on this little islet.

They have all the right numbers but are not giving it to us as the way we want it.

Just talking to any Tom, Dick & Harry on the ground will give you some crude but better feel.