China and Singapore

Ok. So now we have a little diplomatic tussle with China. All thanks to our Once and Future King, DPM Lee Hsien Long. Yeah. He's off visiting friends in Taiwan, despite the protestations of the Chinese. So what exactly does that mean?

Well MAS had organised a talk with the speaker being the head banker of the People's Bank of China, but he cancelled his trip. Hmmm... I wonder why China's top central banker suddenly could not come to Singapore...

You know, if you really have to see friends you haven't seen in twelve years, you could ask them to meet you half way. Surely it's a small inconvenience compared to pissing off your big trade partner. Taiwan is important to Singapore but China is even more important. What will happen to all our biculturalist we are training? No relations with China, no job lor.

Actually why don't we train biculturalists to deal with Malaysia too. Malaysia is an important neighbour too. We should train more Malaysia specialists, and US specialists too. Also a few Latin American and Arab specialists wouldn't hurt. A Russian specialist would not hurt too, comrade. That way we keep our options open. Don't forget the EU specialists, now that's a life time of studying, even if they don't expand.

Talking about Europe, so this weekend they were comparing Singapore to Latvia, and asking why we can't succeed like them, or Norway or Sweden. Well, we don't start young. That's the answer. So true... Need to get them at 7 and 8, but every parent wants to produce a Beethoven and not a Beckham. Who cares if Beethoven had to find patrons, while Beckham is a relatively rich man. Yes, yes. I know what a pleb I am. No appreciation for the fine arts. Which leads me to the next question. How come all our pianinsts start young, but we only have like 2 or 3 famous ones, who are mostly girls, and usually have been abroad for a long time. Coz' most kids HATE their piano lessons. I was blessed with parents who allowed me to read instead to learning some silly instrument.

Now don't get me wrong. If you enjoy playing an instrument, that's good. But if you don't, I can only imagine the hell you live in.

So basically, once we get to a certain age, our parents start telling us to concentrate on a job and career. Once it was engineering, then computer sciences & IT, then business, then Biomedical, then who knows what else. I tell you be like the McDonald's head right now, he started flipping burgers at 14 in Australia. Now the number two is form France, also started like that.

Back to China. Sigh... Now we got major damage control to do with our big neighbour. You think someone with so much intelligence coupled with so much more intelligence behind him would figure out that someone of his capacity visiting Taiwan on holiday could still cause unhappiness in China. "But my dad go no problem leh." "Yes, but you're not your dad. You've pointed that out yourself. Dimwit."

Ok, gotta go. See all of you soon.