One-upmanship Works Both Ways

Not once, not twice, but three times the Singapore Government sent a Third Person Note — a formal diplomatic nasty letter — to its Indonesian counterparts to register its ugly protest over the naming of KRI Usman Harun. And culminated in Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen declaring that KRI Usman Harun would not be allowed to dock in Singapore and the Republic’s navy would not sail with it in joint exercises.

The Bung Tomo-class corvette, equipped with advanced underwater sonar capabilities — the Thales Underwater Systems TMS 4130C1 hull-mounted sonar - was deployed by Jarkarta yesterday to join in the multinational effort for the search and recovery of the black box of AirAsia QZ8501.

More than 150 Hull-Mounted Sonars have been sold by Thales Underwater Systems, and adopted by the South African Navy (Meko A200 class), Indonesian Navy (Sigma class)
Royal Moroccan Navy (Sigma class) and United Arab Emirates Navy (Abu Dhabi class).

KRI Usman Harun was originally one of three Nakhoda Ragam-class corvettes built for the Royal Brunei Navy, a variant of the F2000 design, that have been sitting in BAE Systems Marine yard at Scotstoun, Glasgow, since 2007 after Brunei refused to accept the vessels over operating costs and a lack of sufficiently trained personnel to operate the ships. After BAE successfully took them to court, the vessels remained in Glasgow while Brunei looked for a buyer. In November 2012, it was announced that Indonesia acquired the vessels for one-fifth of the original unit cost. Sister ship KRI Bung Tomo, named after Sutomo, the leader of Indonesian guerilla during the Battle of Surabaya, has been involved in the search and recovery operations since late December 2014.

Instead of diving into the Java Sea, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) waded into the depths of the dictionary to come up with something to wash the pie off Ng's muddied face. The best they could do is this:

“Singapore offered its help for this humanitarian effort arising from a tragic accident of AirAsia flight QZ8501 which has befallen our Indonesian neighbour. We offer our deepest condolences to the bereaved families of the passengers and crew. The Singapore Armed Forces will continue to assist in this search effort professionally.”

Meanwhile, RSS Valour has returned to Tuas Naval Base after only 8 days on site, with RSS Supreme following suit for "replenishment". Why they could not take on bunker, fresh water and virtuals at a port closer to the area of operations is anyone's guess.

No Peace For The Departed

The latest brouhaha in town concerns a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) upset at Sengkang West. Once again, the authorities are counting on the short term memory span of Singaporeans to forget that tempers also flared in 2012 over an eldercare center in Woodlands Street and a studio apartment for the elderly in Toh Yi Drive.

A wide range of facilities are found within Fernvale Lea, boasts the glossy brochure for the Housing & Development Board (HDB) Build-To-Order (BTO) project. You can choose to jog along the meandering footpath or exercise at the adult and the elderly fitness stations. You can also pay respects to the dead at the columbarium next door.

Adding fuel to the rising temperatures, the HDB and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) dug in their heels by saying that the town map and site plan issued did include notes which indicated that "places of worship may include columbarium as an ancillary use".

Member of Parliament Lam Pin Min didn't exactly help to defray tempers when he wrote, "I have also been reassured by the developer that there will NOT be crematorium or funeral parlour services at the new temple." Maybe Lam is not familiar with Chinese funeral rituals, but when the ancestral table is ceremonially installed at a temple, there are prayer rites conducted by monks, complete with chanting and musical accompaniment. Interestingly, HDB awarded the tender for the columbarium development to Life Corporation, an Australian funeral services company. Maybe the outfit from Down Under also missed the fine print.

Human resources executive Soh, 28, shares the sentiments of those moving into Fernvale Lea next year. "I know I should respect the dead, but I don't wish to live near a columbarium knowing that the dead are resting there." The objection is not necessarily one of superstition, but the journey home after a hard day's work should be towards a place of happiness, not a house of sadness.

There are valid reasons why most of us don't visit our ancestors' final resting places on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The pain has to be too much to bear, especially when the departed is so dearly beloved. And when we do visit, we like to recall the cherished memories in a quiet and serene environment. Not within the sights and sounds of a development boasting of two playgrounds for frolicking kids at play. Is that so difficult for the insensitive bureaucrats and heartless politicians to understand?

Money Well Spent

On Thursday 1 Jan 2015, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUVs) that arrived on the RSS Persistence via Super Puma from Pangkalan Bun could not be unloaded until 7pm due to sea conditions. RSN personnel explained that they have to wait for better weather to start productive work as the AUV has to be launched from the RSS Persistence using a smaller craft.

The 1.8m long 37kg AUV is supposed to hover above the sea bed, with sonar scanners picking up images from each side. But the images are not uploaded immediately, and must be retrieved from the craft's memory card after each deployment to be reviewed manually by trained personnel. Ergo, any items identified may have drifted away by then. Also, the AUV is not a pinger, and pretty useless for detecting signals emitted by a plane's black box. The craft's primary use in the Singapore Navy is to search for mines. Last we heard, AirAsia QZ8501 was not carrying mines.

Meanwhile, harsh weather notwithstanding, the Indonesians, using correct equipment for the task at hand, found two large objects on Friday night measuring about 10 metres by 5 metres. "As I speak we are lowering an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) underwater to get an actual picture of the objects detected on the sea floor. All are at the depth of 30m," rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo proudly announced.

Indonesia is unique among developing countries, and unusual among other Asian countries, in the relatively low priority given to defense spending. In 2009 the military budget totaled US$3.3 billion, about the same military budget and force level as Thailand, a country with less than one-third of Indonesia’s population, and Burma (Myanmar), which has only one-quarter of Indonesia’s population.

Last year Singapore allocated about $12 billion of its budget to national defense. Malaysia's annual defense budget was almost $5 billion in 2013, while Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, had an annual defense spending of about $7.9 billion.

That's the difference between Indonesia and Singapore.

Just Do It

A colleague used to take pride in his command of spoken English, as he had the misconception that only the hoi-polloi of Ah Bengs sprinkle dialect in daily discourse. Until a German visitor reminded him that his sentences are often terminated with "lah", the unique punctuation that gives away the Singaporean presence. That and the occasional instances of "meh" and "hor".

Language development starts from a young age, and that's one reason only the born and bred have a true accent that is discernible from the fakes. Like those who have spent a couple of years overseas and think their American slang is so cool. Anybody can wear denim or dye their hair blonde, only true Canadians will pronounce Toronto as tuh-ron-no, silent on the second T.

Born in Yugoslavia, landed at the age of 27 and picked up the red passport 8 years later in 2007, it is doubtful that Aleksandar Duric can be mistaken for a Singaporean at any social gathering. Unless the ex-football coach also happens to be a closeted cunning linguist. So why did William Wan suggest that we should "do it like Duric"? That has to be the unkindest cut to our Singaporean identity. ("Do it like Duric... See what makes us Singaporean", ST Friday 2 January)

Sorry, Wan, we have to disagree that "there are limits to building a national identity". Unless the powers in play are still practising the colonial divide and rule tactics of fracturing an evolving nation for selfish reasons, to perpetuate their totalitarian dominance.

Banish our true mother tongues, force feed a language from a communist country, and for good measure, import more foreign languages from Burma, North India, Philippines, Vietnam and goodness where else. The story of the Tower of Babel is about God being unhappy that one people with one language could build a tower reaching for the sky. So he confounded their speech, so that they could not understand each other, and scattered them over the face of the earth. Wan should know this story, unless he has decided to worship a different god.

Off To A Flying Start

When the Flying Dutchman announced he was going off the air, he wasn't too explicit about his plans other than focusing on his businesses outside radio, "... shore up the businesses to make sure they give me the retirement I want.” Which prompted his co-host to ask if he was retiring to prepare for retirement. Sounds like he's heading for a  busman's holiday, where a man who drives a bus for a living goes on a long bus journey on their holiday.

Another personality who hanged up his trademark yellow wellington boots in 2014 said he wants to spend the next 20 years making his family smile. One of his regrets is missing his firstborn’s first steps: “I left the house and the baby was still crawling. I came home late – the baby was walking.” Since Gurmit Singh's youngest child is a 20-month-old baby girl, plans for another must be on the way.

Fandi Ahmad was more candid when interviewed for 8 Days magazine’s 27 November 2014 issue, "“I want to retire in Batam.  I like the kampungs there with their coconut trees. Singapore has no kampungs anymore, and it’s getting so expensive!” Outside of football, he went through two failed investments  made in the early 2000s – a used car dealership and a coffee shop.

At least these guys still have the resources to look forward to their dreams of retirement.

Recently some of us pooled in to top up the depleted Medisave account of one senior citizen relative who needs monthly check-ups and medication. Rude awakening number 1: There are two lanes for payment, an express one for payment in cash, and a slow lane for those who pay by Medisave and have to fill up a form to do so. Rude awakening number 2: A maximum of $400 can be deducted within one year. Anything extra, pay in cash. If you have the cash.