My Thoughts on Chingay Heartlands 2015 at Clementi

Chingay at Heartlands passed by clementi last night(sat). It was the 1st time the peasant residential areas got such procession & my 1st time viewing it live. Started on the 1st sat of this month & this coming sat will be the last with the procession taking place in the north.

Initially i thought the heartland procession had taken place before but the man beside me whom i struck up a conversation told me it is the 1st time. Indeed his claim is right as i google 'chingay heartlands'. I must have mistaken the heartland procession with the national day heartland procession which i can't be bothered with.

My digicam is crap when it comes to taking night pictures.

Vanguard of the floats. 'We Luv SG' - a prelude to hybrid regime's propaganda

Indeed the chingay procession which i initially thought to be a neutral event has become a propaganda tool for the hybrid regime as i heard the names of the regime's member of parliaments(MPs) for west coast district mentioned 2-3 times by the emcees.

I couldn't see the MPs as i was some distance away a few floors up at a nearby peasant block to get a better view. My eyes are focused on the floats & not on the damn bus which they are on.

Indeed, the MPs were on board the sightseeing bus behind the vanguard float. Look at the pictures below taken by the MP for my area whom i didn't vote for in the last election. The MP for my area can't be bothered with doing house visits which is a very tedious process. It is far simpler & easier to spend taxpayers $$$ to expand Chingay to the peasant heartlands as part of celebrating 50 years of independence & at the same time using the neutral event as a hybrid regime event.

If it weren't 50 years of independence + election coming, i doubt the hybrid regime would bother bringing Chingay to the peasant heartlands for the 1st time.

Spectators Less Than I Expected
You can see the spectators lining the roads from the MP's pictures above. However i consider the peasants turnout to be disappointing. Perhaps it has to do with the rain earlier but it has stopped & there's 30-45mins before the floats finally arrived.

Emcees did their best in keeping the atmosphere alive & attracting people living a bit further away. There are free finger food & 'light wands' distributed to spectators at the tentages. The 'batman beam lights' shining into the night sky & nearby blocks serve to announce that's activity going on. Before the floats arrive, there are performances from the community center.

If the fence barricading the people from the roads is any indication, there is certainly plenty of empty space where peasants could have lined up to see the procession in this overpopulated tiny island.

Last 2 Floats are China Related
Last float is Tianjin Eco-city float & the 2nd last is its breathen Suzhou Industrial Park. Both are joint ventures the hybrid regime did with China. The Suzhou Industrial Park is a humiliating experience for the hybrid regime as they got outplayed by the local chinese authorities.

What has these 2 china related floats got to do with SG50? My guess is their usage is use to garner votes from newly minted citizens from China.

Digicam crappy at night shots. You can barely see the spectators.

As the floats procession draw to a close, the ending part turned out to be an attempt by the hybrid regime to endear itself to new citizens.

Logistics & safety wise, it is very well executed. There's a tow truck at the rear with the usual police on motorbikes escorting the convoy. I would grade it 10/10.

Chopping Down Many Trees After Rat Infestation at Bukit Batok Hill

Cycled to West Mall's library to borrow an item. Haven't been there for at least 3 years. That area was in the headlines in december last year due to rat infestation on Bukit Batok hill.

The rat infestation was exposed & quickly ignited into a firestorm online by someone on the train platform taking a video of the rats running amok.

I'm aghast that the hill is becoming 'botak' due to so many trees being chopped down as i rode passed. Oh gosh to mother nature!

A 'stitched' photo.

Train station on the left.

A lorry(bottom left) is hauling away fallen trees with its boom extender arm.

I went to examine the perimeter fence & found that it is old & rusty. To double-checked, i enquired with a resident & she said that the perimeter fence surrounding much of the hill is already there before the rat infestation.

Pest busters on the slope beside the train station.

The rat infestation has been resolved by pest busters hired by the authorities at a rather hefty price per rat. How come still need to 'raze' the hill? Razing the hill to become barren to make it easier to spot rats should those pests reappear again?

Look at the lumberjacks & workers clearing the forest on the hill.

Leveling the Hill?
As the land is right beside the train station, it is a very valuable real estate worth hundreds of millions. Perhaps the hybrid regime intend to level the hill in order to sell it for development especially for a condominium as you can see one on the stitched photo above.

There is already a flurry of construction mania going on in this tiny island. The hybrid regime is selling as much as possible before it losses power & my guess is that this hill razing & leveling is another of their greed projects.

Down with the man-in-white in his ivory tower.

Remember the man-in-white wizard Saruman in Lord of the Rings? Too bad there's no Ents to protest against the deforestation & march against the man-in-white elites.

Dredging of Sungei Ulu Pandan & Dry Spell

Experienced a reprieve from the dry spell when there's rain for 3 consecutive days (Mon to Wed). This is the 2nd year where the dry spell has occurred after making its presence felt last year. The dry spell last year was particularly bad as grasses are wiltering. Evergreen tropical season become like autumn where grasses/flowers are dropping/dying.

I'm a believer of climate change. There are environmental limits to economic growth. All fishes from local fish farms are wiped out in this year's dry spell.

Field opposite Kranji mrt. Pictures taken in March(dry) & April (back to normal)

Such expanse of green fields are increasingly rare on this tiny island as the hybrid regime is obsessed with selling & developing the land to grow the gdp at all costs like cancer.

Last year the land vegetation is impacted more but this year the effects of the dry spell impacted the seawaters more as Plankton bloom causing mass fish deaths likely to recur

The hybrid regime is going to build a 3rd desalination plant at Tuas. When it comes to benefiting the elite's profits be it shopping malls, factories etc, they are quick to plan ahead. However for amenities like simple-to-build hawker centers to benefit the peasants, the building schedule can stretch for 10+ years. Even Bukit Panjang, a town built in the 1980s, still has no polyclinic for the peasants.

Before the recent announcement of the 3rd desalination plant this year, the hybrid regime is already planning ahead to increase water supply. We'll have to rewind back a bit to October 2013 with the example of the dredging of the canal in Clementi that leads to Pandan reservoir.

- Oct 2013 Dredging of Sungel Ulu Pandan.
- 1st Qtr 2014 Dry Spell hit land vegetation hard.
- 1st Qtr 2015 Dry spell wipe out fish farms due to algal boom.

Rewind to 2013.

Very 'Energetic' when Elite's Self-Interest at Stake
Very proactive in deepening the canal so as to hold more water as well as to mitigate sudden flash floods. There are no separate water pipes for the elites so of course the elites are proactive.

The elites have:

• separate hospital beds (can afford 'A' class)
• their cars (no squeeze with peasants on public transport)
• their high class eateries (book separate room for privacy)

But 'Switched-off' when it comes to peasants
Meanwhile instead of being proactive the elites adopt a fuck care attitude toward the peasants in regards to insufficient hospitals beds, public transport & hawker centers. On the issue of public housing, the hybrid regime deliberately build very little so as to make the prices shoot up sky-high. Sky-high public housing prices provide the elites a perfect opportunity to suck dry the retirement accounts of peasants.

Small boat attaching rope to pull dredged soil/mud to ......

Scooping up the soil/mud to the dump trucks to be transported away.

When joggers, cyclists see the machines in action or docked by the canal banks, how many will ask themselves "How come so proactive in water issue but when it comes to peasant issue, i'm fucked by the elites?"

To get an idea of the water level before the dredging, look at the drainage leading to the canal. There are 2 colors - dark & lighter tone at the hole. The exposure of the muddy bank also indicate the drop in water level.

Water level in the canal leading to the reservoir has actually dropped quite an amount due to increased population consumption. Dredging it make it drop even lower. The support column of the bridge has a brownish taint which indicate the water level before the population explosion & then dredging take its toll.


Again, the evidence is out there for people to see. There is no water shortage despite population explosion + dry spell. Is a matter of how many peasants bother to ask themselves:

"How come so proactive in water issue but when it comes to peasant issue, i'm fucked by the elites?"

Why Accepting Lowest Bid Blindly Often Lead to More Problems

Productivity & retirement funds (CPF) are the talk of town lately. With the hybrid regime practicing state capitalism, the mentality of choosing the lowest bid infects the govt-linked companies as well other than just the govt agencies.

Govt-linked companies(GLCs) = Pretty much the Govt. Thus mentality pretty much the same which is to play safe, don't make mistakes (risky) & collect their somewhat iron ricebowl $$$ for the top echelons. Middle & low level peasants working in GLCs playing safe & don't take risk is as good as waiting to be replaced by cheaper, younger foreign workers who excel in obedience nevermind their hidden costs.

The german economic model with their dominance of small & medium enterprises is a better route for us to emulate than the govt-linked companies dominance which resemble monopolies. SMEs are generally more open to innovative approaches than the big lumbering giants.

In order for state capitalism PAP style to end, the incumbent regime needs to take a severe beating at the polls. There is far too much conflict of interests be it parachuting its cronies like paper generals to top positions/directors & making profits high in priority than providing a reliable public good/service(eg public transport).

Like what the writer wrote, many of those civil serpents are pretty braindead - just choose cheapest without looking at overall value and/or hidden costs. I like his suggestion of incorporating key performance indicators of business process improvements to 'move' those serpents. His point of net customer satisfaction is something i can relate to. No point choosing the cheapest vendor for a product if it ends up the customer ends up wasting time with an unfriendly interface.

How Andrew Higgins Increase Profits with Change-Resistant US Coastguard
Speaking of civil serpents, i was reminded of Andrew Higgins in how he deal with those civil serpents. He is the man credited for making the D-Day landings on Normandy possible with his beach assault landing craft carrying the soldiers.

10min video. If you are impatient then watch 3:28 - 4:00 for how he increase sales/profits.

• sell fast boat to US coastguard.
• sell faster boat to smugglers. Hahaha
• sell fastest boat to scared shitless US coastguard.

If those civil serpents don't buy the fastest boat to catch the smugglers, they would lose their jobs. Being scared shitless, that is a strong enough reason so they can continue to have their jobs. Double-headed snake entrepreneur. Have to admit he is damn good. Is advisable to watch the whole video for his contributions to the war effort.

Another case of cheapest will do nevermind the hidden costs of poor communications with customers. Such scenarios are rampant in the service industry(bus drivers, nurses, waiters etc). Short-term cost savings but damage to long-term profitability.

A response was triggered in which LTA countered that they list out the project's requirements & they weed out companies unable to meet them. Then they go on to choose among the vendors who have passed the requirements. Your guess is as good as mine in how they choose in the 2nd stage.

Despite LTA's rebuttal that Lowest bid doesn't mean highest risk in how govt & govt-linked companies select vendors, my recent experience at the museum(govt agency)'s SG history exhibition which is riddled with typos tell me otherwise - Hidden Cost of Cheapest - Bad Advertising to Tourists & Locals.