否极泰来 Piji Tailai

A yet to complete journey 任务尚未完成，反对党和博客仍需努力 泰卦 否极泰来 决战 2011 新加坡大选 另一股声音 < 泰卦 否极泰来 > 在 2011 年二月开始发放博文以来，到现在已经是第 95 篇了。这个专门为大选而开设的博客，已经存在了三个多月了。原本以为，新加坡大选会在 5 月前举行，那里知道竟然拖到 5 月 7 日。即是说，原本以为发表几十篇博文后，大选就结束了。 从第一篇《不要再有诸子百家的遗憾》开始，否极泰来就是希望通过博文，表达一些行动党以外的声音。因此，博文的全名称为 ‘ 泰卦 否极泰来 决战 2011 新加坡大选 另一股声音 ’ 。 取名 ‘ 泰卦 否极泰来 ’ 是希望反对党能够胜出，取得突破，在大选中有好的成绩。并且，促使新加坡出现两或多党制的可能。 ‘ 否极 ’ 表示反对党的坏运已经到了尽头，而 ‘ 泰来 ’ 则表示反对党的好运开始出现了。大选的结果也的确好像有这个味道。 在发表了一个月和十几篇博文后，开始发现反对党的 ‘ 否极泰来 ’ 不可能在这次大选中，完全显现出来。因此，除了 2011upandcoming.blogspot.com 这个网址外，另外再开设多一个网址 pijitailai.blogspot.com 来延续 ‘ 否极泰来 ’ 的精神。因为， 2011 up and coming 只能是一个开始，要延续否极泰来， 2011 这个年是一定要过去的。因此， pijitailai 这个网址会更加有意义，更能显现反对党开花结果的日子是在下来的一，两届或更后的大选，而不是今年的大选。 2011 年的新加坡大选，真的只是一个开始，对反对党来说，似乎是 ‘ 革命尚未成功，同志仍需努力 ’ 。如果只是停留在 2011 年美梦中，那么，不只好运的 ‘ 泰来 ’ 不来，而坏运的 ‘ 否极 ’ 可能就会降临。 或许，对有些反对党来说的确如此。 2011 年大选过后，对一些声望低，士气低的反对党来说，他们的命运很可能随着 2011 大选的过去而成为过去。这有点像台湾，经过 20 多年的民主洗礼后，小的政党已经被边缘化了。老牌民主国家，如英国，美国的现状，小党也难成气候。 否极泰来也有着同样的感概 ‘ 革命尚未成功，同志仍需努力 ’ ，决战 2011 的新加坡大选已经结束。但是...

After May 7 election, PM Lee made some changes that seem to be big changes in Singapore .   Some observers even said he had re-discovered himself and been fully in charge of the government by his own judgment (less the influence of Lee Kuan Yew). It is too early to tell whether PM Lee’s commitment to change and listen to the people will go deeper and become a permanent change in Singapore politics. However, comparing to Chiang Ching-kuo of Taiwan in the 1980s, PM Lee is still far behind. Firstly, Chiang initiated political change without the pressure from voters.   Secondly, the changes that Chiang made have far greater impact and meaning than the changes announced recently by PM Lee. Key changes made by PM Lee The followings are the key changes introduced by PM Lee: * Announcing a younger cabinet without MM, SM and other not so popular ministers; * Reviewing the ministerial pay and senior civil servants; * Reducing the demand on foreign workers; * Improving the publi...

  Being an international city and centre for financial activities, foreign money are free to move in and out of Singapore to take advantage of the investment opportunities here, including property.      With a limited population, and a stable increase in income, the sharp rise of property price has to come from external demand. And these foreigners have extra money, a lot of it, which Singaporeans will find very hard to fight against them.   Since property price increases are foreign driven, what can the government do to protect Singaporean’s dream of owning a house or flat ?   And what can normal Singaporeans prepare for the money competition?   The cause: Property price increases are foreign driven.   In a Dow Jones article ‘ Singapore Prime Minister: Global Monetary Conditions Are Abnormal’, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that current global monetary conditions were abnormal with excess liquidity in the system finding its way to emerging ...

Less George, Less Yin for the PAP – Part 3 (The Dream of Red Chamber) Besides the Chinese books that mentioned in the previous post, George also likes ‘The Dream of Red Chamber’.  This masterpiece of Chinese literature has a few names.  In fact, many experts agree that its original name is called ‘The Story of A Stone’ (in the form of a Jade).  A stone as well as a dream One needs to relate the relationship between the stone and the dream in the development of this romantic story.  Red Chamber in fact is talking about a stone from heaven traveling to the earth and wants to experience the human life. It is an extra piece of stone which supposes to fill the hole of the universal.  Due to its redundancy, this ‘useless’ stone then makes its way to the world to see the real life. How the rich and famous live? Why woman is water? And how Chinese culture, religion, philosophy influences their thinking and decision making? It is like a dream describing a family fr...

行动党的镜子： 反思全场起立欢送之恨， 错在哪里？    不久前，一位电视红星到东陵一间餐馆用餐，遇上了一件非常不如意的事。红星只是要一杯热水，却受到餐馆招待的冷落，为难，最后，不得不一气之下，离开餐馆。但是，最令人愤愤不平的是这一幕： 餐馆全体招待，包括经理在内，一起欢送这位红星和她的男朋友离开餐馆，并且还鼓掌欢送他们出去。 新加坡一向奉行‘有钱最大’，怎么一下子，会变成有钱不赚。而且，还‘恨’客人恨到鼓掌欢送的地步。 事情有这巧，就这么巧，过不了多久，天降大雨，水淹该餐馆，处罚他们这么不爱钱的作风，罚他们加班，清理餐馆。 每日三省 为何恨我 深一层的想想，为何要这么恨一个人。而且，还让人当从出洋相，尤其是在洋人面前出洋相。我们是否有必要自身每日三省吾身，到底恨在哪里，为什么要这样恨我？ 这使人想起，行动党过去 50 年来，做得这么好，国家上轨道，经济飞扬，世界上百万富豪排名第一，人人，尤其是外国人，都说好。 为什么，偏偏 40% 新加坡人说不好，狠狠的投下这恨恨的一票。为何？公理何在？ 新加坡人是否是身在福中不知福？同样问题，好像阿扁也问过。还记得他的名言吗？ “难道阿扁错了吗？” 是的，阿扁身为台湾之子，政党轮替第一人，以赤贫出身，台大法律系第一名，是一个活生生的奋斗成功的例子，可以说是好多好多人的楷模，为何最终沦为台湾之耻。阿扁不明白，还是要问，难道阿扁错了吗？ 回头想一想，行动党虽然有错，但是，应该不至于让人民恨到这个地步。是不是，我们自己心里不平衡，没事找事烦，自找烦恼。 自我反省，反思 - 错在哪里？ 儒家告诉我们要反省，希望红星能够反省一下，为何他们那样对我，恨我，错在哪里？我了解他们的文化吗 ? 听说该餐馆大部分员工都是菲律宾人，一是离乡背井来新加坡工作，一是他们是不喜欢喝热水的民族，再来，可能是钱的问题。 换一个位子，如果你是餐馆的员工，你的想法是什么？你是不是也和他们一样，鼓掌欢送客人出门。 或许，你会说不对。这里是新加坡，他们要以新加坡的态度对待客人，我有钱，我最大，我要热水，他们就要提供。大不了，我给钱就是了。对不起，这回偏偏遇到一间不认钱的餐馆。 以对方立场来做事，推政策 行动党是否应该反省一下，做事，推政策，实施条例的时候，有没有考虑到人民的感受。政府的政策和条例，人民就是要...

Less George, Less Yin for the PAP – Part 2 (Chinese Books that George read) Judging from the Chinese books that George Yeo likes and read, it seems that he is traveling in a not so absolute way. In his Facebook, George has clearly stated that he likes the phrase “ 道可道，非常道 .” Lin Yu-tang translated this into “The Dao that can be told of is not the Absolute Dao.”  So, is George heading for a not so absolute way?  And so he needs time to seriously think about his Presidential ambition. . “ 道可道，非常道 ” is also the first sentence of the first chapter of Laozi’s “Dao De Jing”, a favorite book of George. Not only Dao (Tao or the Way) can not be defined, so do Name. Dao is the highest order of philosophical Daoism and so there is no possibility to explain, describe and name it.   Let look at Chapter 1 of Dao De Jing: 1. On the Absolute Tao (translated by Lin Yu-tang) The Tao that can be told of Is not the Absolute Tao; The Names that can be given Are not Absolut...

Less George, Less Yin for the PAP – Part 1 (From the view points of Yin and Yang) I wanted to write about George Yeo ever since I noticed his liking of Laozi, Red Chamber, Three Kingdoms and the Art of War in his facebook.   It seems to me he is a person who posses and moves along “Yin” principles and uses negative/creative thinking in problem solving in his daily life, a contrast to majority of the PAP (People’s Action Party) leaders. Mr. Shanmugan, the new foreign minister, described George as a unique person and even irreplaceable. He said, "George is a polymath, a uniquely gifted individual of a type who comes along once in several generations. Interested in history, culture, a thinker, a true renaissance man. I can go on. But perhaps all that needs to be said is: He is irreplaceable," (Yahoo! News) No more a minister, George continues to show interest in the Nalanda project. As asked in an interview, he reaffirmed his strong commitment to the project and will visit ...