United Kingdom 01 (Dec 10 to Jan 12)

[iam802]

I heard that during the Royal wedding in April...

people were offered 12 days leave if they take 3.

I can imagine lots of people taking leave.

Wonder if the market will go soft and down...??

[kennynah]

oh i;ve not heard of this special arrangement.

then again, it isn't everyday affair that the future prince of wales gets married. thus, i do expect a huge amount of pomp pomp celebration leading up to this marriage.

i think, i'll just watch it from tv...

[kennynah]

this morning, there was an electrician who came to the apartment to sort out a fuse that keeps tripping..

i had Sky news on the tele and it was reporting the devastating situation in Libya...and we exchanged remarks about it..

he said "yeah, these people, they have weapons in their countries"...

in my mind, this poor man has been brainwahsed so badly, he believes everything his government tells him to justify the western nations led wars/invasions on middle eastern countries...

but that was just one brit man's opinion...

[LenaHuat]

Hi K - How long will U be in UK? The cold does help in promoting longevity

[kennynah]

hi L

shdould be here for quite a while...PMed you

[kennynah]

Barclays chief gets gbp6.5mil bonus... creating a big hoohah

[kennynah]

it's now 1045am GMT, 15/3/11

since about 12 hours ago, the city became foggy...the visibility is poor and is about no more than 2km... it's the first time i've seen this odd weather since arriving...
it isn't raining..it's just smoggy... like a white translucent veil just engulfed the city

anything to do with the japanese nuclear meltdown?

[kennynah]

ONE Party, ONE Parliament, Sure die ONE

we know that our current parliamentary system is modelled after the british system, albeit not in its entirety. the choice of not emulating the full UK parliamentary model can be attributed to the old man's familiarity and perhaps, knowledge of how it can be used to further his political agenda.

in the UK parliamentary system, it consists of 3 elements. namely, the house of commons, the house of lords and the crown. hence giving rise to the term "houses" of parliament. it does not comprise only of ONE house, but 3 tiers of debating bodies so as to ensure wide ranging issues are thoroughly discussed and the people's views can be properly represented, before policies are legislated into laws, but not before obtaining "royal ascent" from the crown. even so, the crown is often advised by a panel of privy counsellors, usually members from both houses who are subject matter experts.

this system, though can be bureaucratic, prevents partisan bias from creeping into policy decision making. its primary purpose is to serve as a check and balance of power from being abused by any single political party when it should become a dominant political power in the house of commons, where elected MPs sit.

contrast this original UK model of parliament to the one we adopt in singapore. it is visible but only to the politically dull, to see that we have been delivered a parliamentary system that is proned to abuse and group-think by whoever is the politically dominant party of the day.

this current single parliamentary system in singapore is not adequate in stemming out continuous seizure of political power, which has been happening since our nation's independence, and legislating laws that may not be appropriate or beneficial to singapore. the reason is obvious. there is not sufficient avenues for debate on any issues and no possible legal blockage of legislatures into laws when they are forced fed through by a dominant party gahmen in a single parliamentary system. there isn't a second layer of parliament to review the credibility, purposes, merits and demerits of these legislatures.
understanding the dangers of having a one tier parliamentary system, the US also has a multi-layered governing system; congress, senate and executive committee.

in short, we have been living under a tyrannical system of gahmen, whereby, the current administration can, and often do, pass laws that affect our lives without sufficient consultations and checks on the national policies, ministerial powers and performances of ministers, many whom are not democratically elected MPs, just to name a few.

i'm not saying that 3 tier parliamentary system is better than our 1 tier parliamentary system, but i'm saying, the one parliamentary system offers no integrity checks. checks that would have properly addressed issues such these below:

building of two casinos, disguised as Integrated Resorts, increasing GST during a global recession, runaway public housing prices, ministers' salaries, president's salary, bonus payouts to ministers and top gahmen officials, immigration (aka foreign talent) policies, GRC formation, banning of sales of chewing gum, selection and appointment of chief justice, raising of CPF withdrawal age, reduction of employers' CPF contribution rates, and the list goes on and on...

if there's a single lesson to be learnt from history, that will be that no gahmen will want to relinquish power until they are forced to....and even when that happens, they will resist illegally and immorally.

singaporeans are not stupid, that much i believe.... we simply choose to be ignorant and overly trusting....and the price we pay will ever more be higher...unless, we begin to take our future, the future of our children and their children, into our hands..

act on our knowledge that a single party dominant party gahmen in a one tier parliamentary system is not ideal and is in fact detrimental for our society's progress, prosperity and happiness.

vote wisely

[winston]

In addition to the check & balances provided through a multi-layered governing system of Congress, Senate and Executive branches, the following is also there:-

1) Independent Free Press

2) Two Term President

3) Independent Judiciary

4) Independent Department to Investigate Corruption

5) Human Rights Charter including Free Speech, Peaceful Assembly, Fair & Open trials for Dissidents, Activists etc.

6) Fair Election ie. One-Man One-Vote One-Representative System

[kennynah]

W : very good and valid points

the current administration wont dare to put up all these bcos they know they will be digging their own graves... but they are in total control...so, it's very tough to dislodge them...

tony said before..and i agree...we can only hope there will be more ex-speaker of house; ie internal conflict within their own party...

now, we can very easily understand why peeairpee ministers are paid exorbitant amounts of salaries...so that they stay loyal to peeairpee...they leave peeairpee, they lose their lifestyle, money, power, everything...
peeairpee disguises this move with the lie "pay them well, so they dont corrupt"

peeairpee is using taxpayers' money to maintain their party power stranglehold on our democracy

those who are sympathetic to peeairpee, ought to spend some time, reflect on what is happening...and why you consider peeairpee as a good choice for singapore....