A Nation Cheated selling fast!

angel7030

19 Oct 08, 11:16

Originally posted by iceFatboy:

you talk so much, you want a "thailand" in sg?

thailand in sg, oh, no bad mah, the land of thousand smiles, hmmm laiketong and tomyam...prices goes down..back to farmland and rice plantation,...not bad hor. At least dun hv to worry about prices hike here and there and get cheated by mini structure bonds..

Sawadee karp, kincao liao mai.

Suratong Angel Jawong

Dept of Agriculture

12 Tomyam sotong Road

BKK

First Five-Eights

27 Oct 08, 10:26

Originally posted by angel7030:

everything download, download, pdf pdf,....very sian, people will read and forget, but a book is different, like the bible, why not they pdf it, cannot mah, cos it is a holy book, same goes to CHee and his book, he wants everyone of us to hold it so that we alway remember it wherever we go, and with this book, we can preach and brain wash peoples into believing his idyllic envision of a New World Orders.

Assuming the opposition is so inept that they cannot even financially sustain themselves, I find it shocking that people want to vote them in to take care of a country's money. Do you sheeple even have basic common sense? Personal success is proof of competence.

The bible is available easily on pdf. Search for it, you get links to all versions. I don't know what you're rambling on about.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=bible+pdf

I would have alot more respect for CSJ if he didn't come across like a moron all the time. I remember he did some hunger strike some years back and nobody gave a damn. That certainly backfired.

Atobe

27 Oct 08, 10:39

Originally posted by First Five-Eights:

Assuming the opposition is so inept that they cannot even financially sustain themselves, I find it shocking that people want to vote them in to take care of a country's money. Do you sheeple even have basic common sense? Personal success is proof of competence.

The bible is available easily on pdf. Search for it, you get links to all versions. I don't know what you're rambling on about.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=bible+pdf

I would have alot more respect for CSJ if he didn't come across like a moron all the time. I remember he did some hunger strike some years back and nobody gave a damn. That certainly backfired.

You must have been a "nobody" at that time when CSJ did his "hunger strike" to believe that "nobody gave a damn" - as his party members refused to support the then Secretary-General CST of the SDP decision in criticising CSJ at an inappropriate moment.

The entire SDP Executive Committee had instead broke ranks with CST, and had instead criticised CST.

The problem with "nobody" like you in having visions of him as a moron is due to your own moronic myopia caused by your own negative obssessions and inability to know what is real and what is not.

With so little "state sponsored" positive information about CSJ - how much do you know of the person before you pass judgment ?

Incidentally, there is a difference in the ability in managing your own financial affairs, and when others abuse their Political Powers has a political agenda to bankrupt you in any ways possible.

If you believe that skills in financial management is necessary to look after the country's money, you will need more then financial sense to demand explanations for the huge losses from the Annual Budget Surplusses incurred by GIC and Temasek - that require this present Government to get a PAP dominated Parliament to approve the drawing down of $150 Billion from the Singapore National Reserves !!!

angel7030

27 Oct 08, 10:45

Originally posted by First Five-Eights:

Assuming the opposition is so inept that they cannot even financially sustain themselves, I find it shocking that people want to vote them in to take care of a country's money. Do you sheeple even have basic common sense? Personal success is proof of competence.

The bible is available easily on pdf. Search for it, you get links to all versions. I don't know what you're rambling on about.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=bible+pdf

I would have alot more respect for CSJ if he didn't come across like a moron all the time. I remember he did some hunger strike some years back and nobody gave a damn. That certainly backfired.

158, I do not advocate anything about supporting opposition, just that we should not be so net savy as to said everything must come from the net, of course all things are on the net nowadays, just google it..but then, with a book, i can read it anywhere, dun hv to carry my laptop all the while, i can love a book, but i cannot love my laptop, so to speak. If someone give me a book as a gift, i will certainly treasure it. I feel the with the infuse of IT technology, we lost some of our human emotional touch, no doubt our knowledge and know how had widened, but also abused.

As for CSJ, he got his own believes to live on, i have no comment on him, cos he doesn't affect my living. For a man to be successful, it can be a personal competence, it can be also be thru many undesirable ways such as corruptions, relationships, unethical action toward fellow humans etc etc. Therefore it is not just competence that make you successful, without some cunning and so call working smart, u can just be a mere doctor or lawyer.

seyKai

27 Oct 08, 11:36

I am not supporting inept politicians whether ruling or oppositions. We should keep a few oppositions in the parliament to balance the system and to keep up the competition. Just like in any business, the more the shops the cheaper the price. Monopolization and cartelizing is bad for consumers. Power is almighty, infallible and imminently corrupted regardless who is in power.

angel7030

27 Oct 08, 11:40

Originally posted by seyKai:

I am not supporting inept politicians whether ruling or oppositions. We should keep a few oppositions in the parliament to balance the system and to keep up the competition. Just like in any business, the more the shops the cheaper the price. Monopolization and cartelizing is bad for consumers. Power is almighty, infallible and imminently corrupted regardless who is in power.

few??? i think we got 2 or 3 only, is that enough to bring down the cost of living here?? and mind you, opposition MP are paid too, they should know who is their boss.

noahnoah

27 Oct 08, 12:17

Originally posted by angel7030:

few??? i think we got 2 or 3 only, is that enough to bring down the cost of living here?? and mind you, opposition MP are paid too, they should know who is their boss.

all for show nia

DM3500

27 Oct 08, 19:17

i wrote a review of the book:

http://agentsarego.blogspot.com/2008/10/nation-cheated.html

Poh Ah Pak

27 Oct 08, 19:30

A Nation Cheated

In return for buying his latest book, Dr Chee has asked me to build a democratic Singapore with him. I don't really know what to make out of it. It's not likely that he'll be running for the next elections, given his financial health.

Even then, how can I vote for his party if the PAP is most likely going to win a walkover for my constituency, just like in the previous few elections?

The problem with being an opposition party member in Singapore is that no one ever takes you seriously.

Think about it. A behemoth that's so deeply enmeshed with the media and economy of Singapore, versus a smattering of motivated but powerless opposition party members. Guess who will be taken more seriously?

The odds are stacked against them. The government-controlled (and this government we are talking about consists of a whopping 90% from the same party) media would be foolish to publish any ideology or suggestions from the people who might bring itself down.

And I'm not going to delve into the government's penchant to sue their rivals until they bleed. Or the way our Ministry-sanctioned History and Social Studies textbooks are written. This is after all a book review.

==

The tragedy is that these very people who the press lampoons and the government denounces are Singapore's true patriots.

A patriot wants the best for his country.

A patriot dedicates his life to improving the country.

A patriot would risk his reputation, finances and freedom for the sake of his country.

Sure, sure - many of our PAP leaders are patriots. But I dare you to prove that our opposition leaders are any less patriotic.

==

Dr Chee Soon Juan is a patriot. He examined democracy in detail and saw how it could work for Singapore.

He fought for it. And paid dearly for it, racking up jail terms and hefty debts from losing various controversial lawsuits.

But he failed.

You see, 'democracy' is a big word. I've recited that word in the national pledge for hundreds of times, but have never exactly been told what it really means. I recall my primary school teachers shying away from the question when being asked to explain what it is.

In summary, Chee was fighting for a concept no one understood.

The PAP, however, used more familiar vocabulary such as 'economy', 'jobs', 'peace' and 'security'.

The thing about politics is, ideology doesn't rake in the votes. Popularity does, and PAP had played that game well. They used vocabulary people understood and sold itself as a safe and comfortable option.

Most importantly, when they talk about vegetable prices and upgrading HDB blocks, they managed to get to the hearts of the everyday voters.

Chee Soon Juan however spoke of issues that the common Singaporean had not even heard of - things like 'transparency', 'freedom of speech' and 'oppression'. The common man didn't understand, and had written him off as an eccentric clown.

So as long as the common man has affordable groceries, a comfortable home and a job, he will be content. He doesn't need the right to free speech (even if he did have it, what did he have to say?), he doesn't need the government to be transparent (the complexities of government and the economy boggles him anyway) and oppression doesn't happen to himself.

What the common man doesn't know is that those very same issues that he ignores are the ones that dictate the health of society and economy as a whole.

Take the California Energy Crisis for example. Something as abstract as a partial deregulation of the energy market led to the common man having to experience blackouts.

That's where A Nation Cheated shines.

Its second part of the book explains how the government's strict policies towards controlling labour unions might not have been a good idea after all, that the way Singapore's economy is heading right now might be great for short-term growth, but detrimental to society and its income disparity in the long term, and how.

==

A Nation Cheated starts off with Part I - an account of how Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP had gotten into power, from his viewpoint.

It's probably biased - hell, who isn't? - but it casts doubt on the PAP's (probably biased, too) version of events.

Personally, I didn't really care much for this part. History is history. We can learn from it, or draw conclusions from it, but we can't change it anyway.

Part II addresses Singapore's labour and economic policies, looking at how they might have been successful in the short term, but we're finally seeing some of their shortcomings in the form of a widening income gap, a lack of entrepreunership and the poorly-hidden fact that many of the government's foreign investments have failed.

While Chee clearly outlines the problems, the possible solutions he offers aren't convincing, considering that he had managed to squeeze all of that into a mere 5.5 page-long chapter titled 'The alternative'.

"What can be done to improve Singapore?" is the question that he had answered in that chapter. However, what we really want to know is, "What are our opposition leaders going to do to improve Singapore?". The book, and possibly Chee's strategy, fails in this aspect.

==

A Nation Cheated ends off with a speech, and an appendix of questions and answers.

It's an informative read, provided you understand that books by political leaders - opposition or otherwise - are inherently biased.

A pity it doesn't tell us what they can do to improve Singapore.

Or for that matter, what I can do to build a democratic Singapore with Chee.

==

A Nation Cheated is available online at SDP's website (email them) or from Kinokuniya or Select Books in Tanglin.

http://agentsarego.blogspot.com/2008/10/

Poh Ah Pak

27 Oct 08, 22:10

A Nation Cheated continues to fly off shelves

Kinokuniya Bookstore has placed another order for Dr Chee Soon Juan's latest book A Nation Cheated, barely 10 days from its last one. A new batch of books was just delivered over the weekend. The book is also available at Select Books (Tanglin Shopping Centre)

This is despite the complete news blackout by the local mass media on the book. With absolutely no publicity except through this website, A Nation Cheated is selling robustly in bookstores. Online sales have also seen a constant stream with orders coming in through  // --> [email protected]  // --> .

This is a sign that Singaporeans are increasingly bypassing the state-controlled newspapers for information. The book tackles issues that the Singapore Press Holdings will not address and provides alternative ideas to take Singapore forward.

With the recent financial meltdown in the US and the local economy starting to tank, Singaporeans are beginning to realise that the PAP formula of "growth" has been based on exploitation and the repression.

More important, the cracks are exposing the weakness and vulnerability of the system. Note: In spite of all the PAP hype about the soundness of its policies, Singapore is the first Asian country to go into a recession.

The fact that Singapore's GDP has managed to remain afloat these past few years is not because we have been innovative or that we have been productive.

Our economy grew because the Government decided to make our banking system so secretive and non-transparent that criminals, drug barons, and tax evaders have found this place an ideal place to park their ill-gotten gains.

Another source of growth is from the flood of foreigners into this island. When you have a sudden and explosive increase in the number of residents, the inevitable result is GDP expansion. But you don't have to be a genius to see that such an economic gimmick is a one-off that very quickly runs into diminishing returns.

And the societal cost of such a policy has yet to be calibrated. Singaporeans should take note Mr George Yeo's recent revelation that the Government does not have a masterplan to accommodate all the new inhabitants. In the meantime we continue to ignore the severe brain-drain problem where our younger citizens are leaving this country in droves.

All this in a political environment that prohibits citizens from speaking out and makes believe that things here are hunky-dory.

These factors are all examined in A Nation Cheated. The author warns that if Singapore's politico-economic problems are not addressed soon, Singaporeans will face an increasingly bleak future.

Ironically, the censoring of this book is adding to the problem. Get your copy of A Nation Cheated if you haven't already and keep yourself informed. Remember, knowledge is power.

http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/1340-a

PacmanG5

28 Oct 08, 11:47

WOW!!

is that the new manga from CSJ??

ask to to cosplay the character leh..

storywolf

28 Oct 08, 16:37

Yep it is really flying off the shelves !!! Why - there is why!!! 1)Lawyers and PAP folks all buy to - to see what the silly Chee again accuse people of without evidences ! a few copies for reading, a few copies for filing and a few copies to submit to court later as evidence !!! That why a lot of copies is sold !!! 2)Chee ownself brought it with is own funds - he need to send copies to oversea to those rich folks he go tell how oppress he is here and beg for money, what better way to get more money to tell them more then his very own book. 3)Those who so bored that need good laugh - good joke books are hard to get !!! 4)Those who believe in UFO, jedi and Chee !!!