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Recently a Facebook friend shared this meme of a Chinese woman who adopted a Malay girl, now a Phd scholar. I assume they are Malaysians from the source Asia Kini. I made a comment that "No Malay will adopt a child of another religion and not raise them as Muslim."   Taken without context it would seem that I was callous to make a racial/religious slight on what was an innocent humane story. The fact is the digital creator and I have a history of challenging each other's bias on religion and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  I made the comment as a matter-of-fact statement from worldly observation. As usual, it brought on an onslaught of the usual hysteria, ad hominems and whataboutism from many Muslim commenters. I simply asked of them to educate me what they know about adoption in their world, a question that has gone unanswered. I am surprised by the interest shown on this issue from so many comments the post generated.  It appears there is ...

This case sits at the intersection of business model innovation, accounting interpretation, securities law. and state policy and industrial strategy. It is a convergence where operational design directly influences financial and legal exposure. Practically every media worldwide carried this news because it is not everyday that a state sovereign wealth fund sues an investee company. In fact, this is actually the first instance. Local media BT, ST and CNA, and a few western media that I have seen, all ran mostly along similar lines. None provides a full picture that makes for a better understanding of the story. Battery swapping and Battery-As-A-Service (BaaS): In the early years, recharging of EV batteries was a big problem. A standard home AC charging takes like forever. A DC fast charger at a station may speed recharging up, but still took hours. Re-charging problem was the cause for the slow adoption of EVs. Batterg swapping is a way to get around the pro...

It can be expected that, following their detention, members of the Sumud Flotilla will separately issue aligned statements alleging mistreatment by Israeli authorities -- a cooordinated effort characteristic of such high-profile activist campaigns. Knuckleheads will believe that. Israel may have won the war on the battlefields, but it has lost the propaganda war decades ago. Chances are you think Israel has no right to board the Sumud Flottila in international waters. And I won't blame you as most folks are easily persuaded by the idea of  "freedom of navigation" and appeals to authority as media tells you so, such as Al-Jezeera here: Al-Jazeera rightly explained a state's territorial waters stretches only up to 12 nautical miles (nm) off the coast. Beyond that is international waters where international law applies. As the blockade extends to 20nm, Israeli Navy has no right to stop vessels in international waters. Ah yes, Al-Jazeera, the Q...

In the moral dichotomy of our times, outrage has replaced reason. If a controversy involves Israel, the verdict is delivered before the facts -- Israel is presumed guilty. Singaporeans of liberal persuasion as well as those from certain faith, jump on the bandwagon in symmpathy with pro-Palestinian mobs all over the world, raining curses on the Israeli interception of the Sumud Flottila and what they say is an illegal naval blockade by Israel. Jew-haters and empty bottles dominate social media where they really do not understand, or chose not to check, whether the blockade is lawful. Who is in the right, who is wrong, is not black and white. But of course, let's blame Israel. Let's unpack this to see if Israel's blockade of Gaza waters is legit and whether they have a right to board vessels in international waters. The Blockade and International Law Under the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea (1994), a naval blockade is legal...

Chart #1 (note the unequal time series) I drafted this article about 3 months ago but kept it in the back burners. Since the government has released its population data recently (CNA dd 29 Sep 2025 Singapore's population hits new high of 6.11m) I might as well post this now. My data for 2025 and beyond are projections but spot on with the government's actual for 2025. I leave my charts untouched. The charts are produced by Grok based on various publicly available data and projected to 2065. Note the projections are Grok's, not official government data.  Chart #1 above shows key metrics on Singapore citizens only , i.e., excluding PRs and resident foreign nationals such as work permit holders. Like all countries, Singapore experienced a baby-boom after WWII. 1957 saw record Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of about 6.4%. Immediately after independence in 1965 Singapore started seriously on family planning following a White Paper on population management. In 1965 the F...

"They seek him here, They seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? Is he in hell? That demned, elusive Pimpernel!" Only the evil rejoice in the death of someone. Charlie Kirk's death show us the worse of humanity coming from the progressive Left, Democrats and followers of a certain faith. They labelled him "fascist, nazi, bigot, racist, trans-hater, polarising figure, divisive person, MAGA, white supremacist, Christian Nationalist, mysogynist". Straits Times Dy Editor Bhravan Jaipragas calls his activism "dark messages". What worries me for Singapore is I see a bandwagon of local liberals piled on the condemnation. Even brilliant online commentators like Chris Kuan and Michael Han skewed to the sentiments of the Left. My knee jerk feeling is all these detractors have never actually tuned in to any of Charlie's Q&A sessions. I asked several, such as Mr Han, who indeed admitted so. They have simply judg...