Happy 60th, Singapore

 Happy 60th, Singapore. 9 August 1965 to today.

A nation whose leader seriously reckoned would not last on its formation.

An island republic which has no natural resources, but gritly utilised innovative planning, its strategic advantages, technology, human skills and social harmony as imperatives.

An island that virtually imports most of its food.

An island that learns from her past but more emphatically prepares for the future.

An island with so much humidity but relies on energy sucking air conditioning.

An island that has thrived on free market trade and projections of financial governance.

An island that treasures cultures of her denizens - and values contributions of all, more on merit than on divisions.

Is this an island that already has become so costly in terms of paying for accommodation, health care and other aspects in life?

An island that values public transport for all over the trappings of a private car.

An island republic that treasures every inch of its small territory.

An island with a national airline that sets and maintains standards in a sector which is one of her national pillars.

An island that sees herself as a beacon to attract others on investment, educational and technology fronts.

A republic that does not sit still.

#yongkevthoughts

Snippets of War Observations

The USA government has so far never officially apologised for the nuclear bombs dropped on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945.

No Anglo nation has been extensively firebombed in contemporary times from the 20th century to now, except for the United Kingdom.  Pearl Harbour was attacked, but not the mainland of the United States.  Darwin in northern Australia suffered more damage from the Imperial Japanese forces than Pearl Harbour, but not the rest of the Australian continental island.

Most of Europe incurred massive grief, destruction, personal loss and division in the reign of the Nazis under Hitler.

The ensuing battles and efforts to bring Hitler down in mid 1940s Europe ensured further deaths of many civillians caught up in the meeting of Allied and Axis armies.

The Japanese Government has never apologised for the Nanjing massacre in Central China in 1937.

A significant number of residents of colonies of the world wide British Empire in the 20th century fought for the United Kingdom in both the two World Wars. These included residents of India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaya, Canada, Hong Kong and the Caribbean.

American born Japanese volunteered in enough numbers to form the Nissei regiment which saw service in Europe fighting against the Nazis.

Germany has officially and profusely apologised for the gassing by Nazis of innocents in the death camps echoed by Auschwitz.   Not only Jews, but European Gypsies, gays and various nationalities whom Hitler wanted exterminated were gassed.

The extermination of many Armenians in the early 20th century is often under recognised, together with other genocides those in current power refuse to emphasise.

The executions of overseas Chinese in Malaya, the Phillippines and Singapore by the Japanese Imperial Army, when they invaded parts of South east Asia in the early 1940s, illustrated the intense revenge sentiment and behaviour of payback.  These overseas Chinese had sent funds and volunteers to fight against the invasion by Imperial Japan of eastern China from the 1930s.

Many Nazis escaped to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay after the end of World War 2.

Jews fleeing from Europe did find refuge in Shanghai in rhe 1930s.  The invasion of China by Japan caused them to flee again, this time to New Zealand and eastern Australia.

No south eastern Asian nation permanently accepted boat refugees from Vietnam in the 1980s.  They languished in temporary camps mainly in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore until the Western countries offered permanent settlement.

Australia and New Zealand sent troops to Malaya to help British colonists fight communist insurgents in the 1950s.

The extreme cruelty of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia extensively scarred an ancient society and culture of a nation already damaged by the American war in next door Vietnam.

Afghanistan remains a land which has fought off foreign armies, whether those led by Alexander the Great, the Soviet Union or the United States of America.

The rich resources of petroleum, religious tribalism and political interference in the Arab and Persian lands have proved to be two edged swords.

Southern and Eastern Europe continue to be frontiers where and when Islam, Christianity and Judaism met in fraught and intense historical experiences. 

Did Winston Churchill send Anzac troops to Gallipolli in Turkey in the First World War, preferring to save British troops from a rather hopeless encounter?

The most number of civillians and troops died for Russia in the battles against the Nazis in the second World War.

Commemorations continue to be held in France to remember the sacrifices by the Anglo nations in both World Wars of the 20th century.

Thailand and Japan were the only Asian nations which collaborated against the Allied countries in World War 2, together with Nazi Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

The Australian Federal Government in Canberra for a few years hid the fact of Darwin being bombed by the Japanese. Australia prioritised the attack of Pearl Harbour as being more important in communicating with her own residents during World War 2.

Many surviving Caucasians trapped in South east Asia, as British, Dutch and French colonies were over run by the Japanese Imperial Army in the first half of the 1940s, suffered traumatic experiences as prisoners of war.

South west China became a hub of resistance, defence and preparation for the Chinese besieged by the Japanese Imperial Army in the 1930s and first half of the 1940s.

The invasion by the Japanese Imperial Army in the 1940s sparked off the urge for national independence by several colonies after the end of World War 2.

#yongkevthoughts

On Life and Death

 Caring for basic humanity has again in another year been stampeded upon by those possessing power of all types, yet prioritise other things.

Every one of us do not choose where, when or how we are born.

It can be the luck of the draw.

While on Earth,
we are still mostly responsible for what we choose and how we act.

Whether to look away, keep silent, earn what we achieve or take a stand. And continue to have not enough, enough or unnecessarily more. Sufficiency in various meanings and layers.

No human being takes away anything upon death, except reputation.

Ignorance, chosen delusion, concerted pretense, cultivated addictions and
embedded beliefs lurk in every corner while we are alive.

#yongkevthoughts

Thank You, Readers

 It has been 220 months since this blog commenced.

Time meanders, experiences accumulate and our hunches become embedded.

As around this end of July 2025, average statistics indicate around 4800 reads a month.  Some postings remain frozen as time capsules, that photo shot taken reminding me of a moment with Nature, the hearts of individuals I enjoyed company with and those I learnt from.

Or such capsules reflected my thoughts, values and emotions on a particular day - with this blog strewing like jewels in the sand what consistently are what gives me inner joy and what I consistently believe in.

It has been a privilege to share. It has been a blessing to get your time and effort to read my musings.  Human interaction is best when we can relate our views with mutual respect and understanding.

In a world increasingly of obsession with strong articulation of differences, whether in politics, community and behaviour, I call for emphasising on commonly shared values.  Better understanding comes more from realising and embedding our similarities rather than harping on our differences.

I encourage every human being to also develop our own spiritual development in the best way you see fit.   Let us grow our uniqueness especially in personal development in a positive way.

Writings and images can be as temporal as the breeze that passes by on what seems to be an ordinary moment. What is of more everlasting value is to add to what is the true meaning of our privilege to live on Earth.

#yongkevthoughts

No Land Boundaries

 Let us look at some nations with no land boundaries, not sharing some of the problems and opportunities with another state crossable by road, walkover or possible easy infiltration.

1.    People you want to keep out must sail or fly over to reach your country.   Australia and New Zealand easily come to mind.  At times, you have too much of coastlines to monitor.  Passengers arriving by air have found it easier to overstay once they get into a nation with a tourist visa, especially when the country is vast and government checking resources are inadequate.

2.   The nearest foreign state is relatively far away.

In contrast, Iceland lies not that distant from the European suncontinent - so is the proximity between the Japanese islands and the Korean Peninsular.

Sulu and Mindanao, part of the southern Phillippines, are so temptingly near Sabah, north east of the huge island of Borneo but part of the Federation of Malaysia.

3.    You may truly be a relatively small island state, but technically you do not have a land boundary with a foreign nation.

Singapore is an island state, but have two bridge connections to Peninsular Malaysia.
Her strategic location in the midst of vital trading, air and supply routes has vastly contributed to her economic growth.

Malta and Cyprus enjoy having the Mediterranean Sea waters lapping on their shores, but are easily
accessible from Italy, Greece and Turkey.

4.    You may be surrounded by sea, but you are legally part of another nation far away.

Greenland, Hawaii and French Polynesia come to mind.   So are the areas carved out in the Antarctic. You are subject to the rules, norms and control of a state you do not have land boundaries with.

5.    You do not share a land boundary, but your demographics, culture and economics can be tightly knitted with your nearest neighbour.

Sri Lanka has historically had huge influence in several aspects from the Indian subcontinent.
Madagascar, Seychelles and the Maldives are other examples of this observation.

Mobility of humans,  advanced transportation and significant leaps in trade, technology and geopolitical developments have overcome any isolationist impact of nations with no land boundaries.

#yongkevthoughts

This Suburb

 I am standing along a suburban street lined mostly with unassuming shops.

The only place seemingly abuzz durinv the daytime
is the local cafe, where freshly made barista made cups of Aussie coffee blends set the pace, mostly takeaway.

The sun does shine brightly, accompanied by blue skies, even in winter.   Does the optimistic outlook not reveal the reasons for the otherwise quiet aspects of the place apart from the cafe?

Most of the businesses are basic but perhaps essential.   A hair salon, a small grocery, a vet, a house interior showroom, a dentist, a GP clinic, a newsagent, a physiotherapy, an optometrist, a Vietnamese bakery, a pharmacy. And of course there is the local pub, bought several years ago by well funded corporates from rhe Big Smoke.

Recently a vape and tobacco outlet opened, shattering the placid tones of a little village like community which was essentially defined by strolling dogs, kids on electric bikes and retirees.  I must say a small liquor store already exists, together with a machined gambling venue that firms a critical part of the club network in New South Wales.

There are no fresh produce markets - but the nearest one is only a kilometre away, in another suburb.   All three major supermarkets of the nation are only a ten minute walk away, downhill.

No imposing high rise apartment blocks have nevertheless sprung up.   The hills of the escarpment delude one to believe this is a refuge from the main highway not really far away.   One can view the ocean horizon by just walking up not many steps from the local strip.

A Meditteranean restaurant of repute continues to do well, in its second generation of operation.   Someone has invested in a wine bar yet to open. There are nearby local primary schools.

Families are the core of any growing and vibrant society.    They do appear especially on weekends in this village environment.  Nearby are parks, playing fields and children's playgrounds.

This suburb is pronouncedly bereft of activity on most afternoons.  After dusk, it seems residents sleep early.   The skies above are a riot of striking colours especially on autumn sunsets.  After dusk, the stars are clear and bright, as the place lacks the choking artificial lights of populated cities.

The sunrise from.the Tasman Sea beckons at first light.

Opposed to this, increasing traffic criss crosses this suburb when the main thoroughfares nearby become congested.
No roads have been expanded for the exploding number of vehicles.

The economy here runs on personal consumption and lifestyle,  based on a microeconomy structured on income earned from elsewhere.   This suburb is essentially residential, having  no forward looking hubs of growth.  Though pleasant and with a relatively mild climate, it does not generate tourism.   Youngsters still leave the area for the luring bright lights of other places.

Do aspects of this suburb ring familiar tones in where you live?

#yongkevthoughts

The Current State of Australian Television

 So it is Sunday.

An afternoon to turn to trivial things.

Eatery reviews these days are within an environment post Covid that has to deal with rising rentals, lack of staff, increasing costs of electricity and ingredients and a shrinking eat out market that has to grapple with continuing inflation.  Definitely not trivial.

So I shall turn my attention to the devastating state of free to air television across Australia these days.   Shrinking numbers watch such screens, as wi-fi induced streams and portable anytime diversions attract the competition.

Commercial stations have become more obviously the advertising behemoths that they essentially are.   Ad time is longer and more often.   Proper programmes are definitely after thoughts in these wagons of on screen sales inducers.   And the ads lack imagination, creativity and finesse.   Becoming more uncouth, do ads reflect the mindsets of evolving society in general, or just of the paid creators themselves?

Channel 10 Australia is wholly owned by CBS, part of the American Paramount group, which has merged with Bytedance.
Channel 7 is owned by Kerry Stokes based in Perth.  Channel Nine is part of Nine Network Holdings, owned by the Australian Packer family, the Murdochs and Bruce Gordon of WIN television.

Advertorials are blatantly put down our viewing sensibilities as if they underestimate the intelligence of whatever audience tv still has.   The morning and breakfast shows have followed a formula for over fifty years, first tried in the USA.

Peculiar obsessions of Australian television  are game shows, quizzes and participants driven by cash prizes.   The British and American dominance on the presentation and styles of such shows is evident even in the separately produced Australian versions.  At times, people can watch the foreign version in the early afternoon, followed by the Aussie set in the early evening.

And this leads to the next point.  The domestication of tv programming in Australia has reached one of the lowest points. We are being overswamped by American and British content every day and every night.  At times, I mistakenly think I reside in Leceister or Ohio when I tune on to "Australian" television.

Road accidents, shootings, weather episodes and more are generously sprinkled in news bulletins here - but they are all happening in the UK, Canada and the USA.  By a quirky coincidence, I do however find that very little is reported about New Zealand, a neighbour of Australia.

Although Australia geographically is situated in the Asia Pacific, there is relatively little content about Asia on Australian tv.   The exception is when Asia is mentioned littered with negative matters - a flood, a protest, a collapse, a political quake or a problem.   Rare these days on Australian tv are broadcasts of improving infrastructure, standard of living and cultures of the Asian region ( which is economically the fastest growing in the world).

In recent years, on the other hand, there has been wider presentation of television by SBS addressed to the interests and sensitivities of Indigenous Australians.

Live telecasts of key sports events have been a key landmark of free to air Australian television, but these have been eroded by pay streaming apps.

Australian tv in the past thirty years has achieved successes like her versions of imports like Masterchef - or in originals like Bluey.   Do not even remind me of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Neighbours and other classics from a forgotten past.
What happened?   Australia has become location wise a much cheaper place to produce American movies and that has had implications, especially when Aussie talent has moved Stateside as well.

Moving on, the expanded number of HD channels relegated to each Australian free to air station did not translate into more quality offerings.   Quantity did not translate into quality.   There are more repeats, shows dredged from the past and a startling absence of live presentations.
Having 24 hour transmissions has brought in endless shopping shows that drains us of meaningful watching.

An interesting trend of flagging audio only radio channels on television is only diluting the magic and uniqueness of television's future.   More news bulletins on television from  noon to dinner time has not had much return, especially when anyone can read the latest news readily anytime from the internet.

There is a declining availability of live music shows.  Food themed cooking shows in 2025 are mainly imports.   And the strong television obsession with weather updates is most intriguing.

On to the taxpayer funded tv channels.
Financial cuts by the Coaltion ruled Canberra Federal Government from around 13 years ago  has seen evident
deterioration in programming of SBS and ABC.    Both channels have resorted to providing streamed in news bulletins around the world, but seemingly of USA allied nations, as time fillers especially overnight and during  mornings.  

There is a high propensity of documentaries, detective dramas and politically compliant presentations on both ABC and SBS.   Bright spots perhaps can be in the continued funding for 4 Corners on Monday nights, satirical Charlie Pickering's The Weekly,  Gardening Australia at the end of the working week, the very observant Media Watch, Podcast styled If You're Listening and two servings per week of  Planet America on ABC News.

I recall the days when Aussies living abroad could follow up on things happening back home on the ABC tv service overseas - but has that gone too?

Certain quarters across Australian society have remarked upon the increasing politicisation of news bulletin content across both commercial and tax payer funded channels.   It depends on who calls the shots behind each station.

I try to be realistic that television is a trivial matter - but is it truly?  

#yongkevthoughts

All On That Device

 Why do we continue to put all our eggs in one basket - cyberspace and the smart mobile phone?

Portability, accessibility and convenience.  The days of having to reach a specified physical location to work on a database or effect significant transactions is now so passe. 

The transportability of human beings, the expectation of being able to whizz from one city to the next and the presumption of instantaneous response in more matters has lulled many into the use of wifi connected device dependability.

Answers are expected - and delivered - in a jiffy.  Gone is the opportunity to truly reflect or think about a complex or delicate matter.   Replies are given by a click or instant messaging.   There is increasingly no vocal communication or discussion.

Gone can be the better understanding and exchange of views when one had to meet face to face to negiotiate, compromise or make a revised offer and consideration.

Business and socials are effected on the screen - it is up to you as to when and how you read and respond.

The significant increased volume of gigabytes used is not a problem anymore as videos, images and graphics chomp on much way beyond mere text.

Will storage and usage capacity crash, or be transformed into ever more taken for granted transformations?

Human preoccupation can be ever channeling inwards.  Does it lead to social isolation, spearheading the epidemic of loneliness, as we spend more time with machines and software, rather than with personal interaction and the art of socialability?

There is a decrease of the use of paper, but more exposure to the debilitating consequences of light, dazzle and screen over use.

Communication used to emphasise the art of conversation  and writing.  Now it is silence, the dexterity of tapping fingers and the use of predictivd AI.  Is personal creativity eventually shown out of the room?  Has anyone consciously retained a semblence of still being able to write with a pen or pencil?

And what really happens if we misplace that personal device that contains virtually everything?  Or the big hack corrupting every item in that hand held device, with our personal identity stolen at the same time.

Electronic passes, financial accounts, life's meaningful images, news updates, means of messaging family and friends far and near, health records and more.

Each of us are also at the mercy of rising prices imposed by wifi providers which can be in a duopolistic market.

We may be already too late, having placed all of life's essential needs in a hand held device that needs to be changed or updated faster than the family car or lounge tv.

Well, that lounge tv is already nearly defunct.  No one gathers around to enjoy that screen together.  Instead, individually each of us are glued to the vagaries of our personal concerns, joy and diversions on our individual devices, even when we are seated together at the same table or room.

#yongkevthoughts

1400 in 16 years

 This is my 1400th write up for this blog.

To every one of you who have followed and read my posts even once, occasionally or all this while, I extend my deep appreciation, humility and gratitude.

In this age of temporary things, I am thankful for being able to go back to my previous musings, photographs, articulations, thoughts and moments.  Oh yes,  some of you may wonder why I have stopped posting images for several years now.   I still have not been able to resolve the technical problem, it may have to do with me preventing some thing on Google as part of strengthening my personal security parameters.

In culinary review posts, I had linked to Zomato, which has since gone defunct across Australia.

So many view points in the millions have been channeled in cyberspace, never going into print.    They gush through instant messaging, group chats, comments in apps that gaslight immediate feedback and other opportunities that may not encourage thoughtfulness before reacting.   Response by the masses churn as it is so ready for one individual  to light the fire of discord or inspiration.   We are pushed from checking websites to apps, from providing measured thoughts to spur of the moment gestures.  We need not even write in our response, but utilise symbols, icons and emotional signs.

Many of my previous posts reflect on matters that are no longer pertinent.   Yet I relish other posts that touch on longer lasting and still relevant subjects.    Politics, eateries and encounters can come and go, but meaningful human interactions and inspiration remain embedded.    The nature of passing and insignificant matters is illustrated.   Geographical places visited and experienced remain a joy in my heart.

Have some of my opinions changed in all these ensuing years, especially since my blog Kindlyyours.blogspot.com started in April 2008?   Each of us are evolving creatures and I hope the answer to that is a big Yes.  I may have moved on but I refuse to edit the views from opinion pieces from as far back as sixteen years ago.

#yongkevthoughts

If Not, Then Why Not?

If you cannot find it, remind yourself of the reason for the search.

If you miss it, then make new plans.

The best way is often not what the crowd is urged upon.

Adding a new ingredient can often lift your game.

Things can somehow organise themselves.

I do not realise that I get away at times to better appreciate not getting away.

The best plans get chucked away by unexpectedly meeting the right person.

You encounter the new by not only taking a different route, but also at a different time.

We will not pass by again the same banks of the river of a life's journey.

It is more fruitful to heighten our own expectations of one's self, than to bother with our expectations of others.

If we are no longer useful to some, then we do not hear from them again.

Conserve our energy and joy away from those who just seek attention to and for themselves.

Silence is the most relaxing position to assume when we try to listen.

Walking away in silence is the most effective way to handle negativity.

To accept inspiration and joy ftom others is divine.  To protect ourselves from the opposite calls for our mindfulness.

Enjoying love from a pet reminds me of no need to verbalise what is pure and fortunate.

What is most precious are not things.

Realise what can be not obvious.

The mind can take us to a higher and more meaningful plane of existence.

We do not have to like and dislike things from twenty years ago, for each of us have moved on.

When we do not use it, we lose it.

We are lucky to remember, retain and cherish moments and words that nourish us from the past.

Embracing the new is as important as relishing the past.

What seems routine and ordinary can turn out to be more meaningful than so called big moments.

Indulge with individuals we have as loved in the present, for the future relegates each of us to the past.

We are what we think.

#yongkevthoughts

The Thin Lines Between

 In this age of information overload, all competing for your loyalty, belief, funding, behaviour and more, what is propaganda, selective data, truth, marketing, fact, opinion, misinformation and falsity?

At a click, there are parties out there in cyberspace who spawn messages out in such huge numbers at a speed only their wifi can channel them.  We do not know, or have met, such entities or persons who send them - and they need out be human.

On any matter these days, we are bombarded with a spectrum of views.   The first check we consciously must be aware is who is the deliverer of the message.   Does it come from the horse's mouth, a middle broker, an agent of the source, a paid distributor or a more neutral person?

How is the message worded? Does it come with a balance of articulated various views, or does it come hammering our senses with only one view?  Are shouting words or phrases used to push each of us accept the message, instead of allowing the recipient an opportunity to think independently?

Is the message condescending, or utilise oppressive humour to knock down other parties?

Is the information only focusing on selective matters and show strong indications of cherry picking?

Can the recipient validate what is driven down the throat with other sources of information?

Does the information raise sentiment, emotion and provocation?

Does each of us consciously remind ourselves of our own biases, preferences and beliefs when processing information given to us?  I know of individuals who are so rigid in their thinking - they quickly dismiss information received from the other side, or deeply have suspicions of any such information.

Do we remain mindful of the context in which a message, video clip or weblink is sent to us?  Are messengers really wanting something from us, or consistently trying to influence our mindset?

I am taught in school that fact requires solid evidence to support its validity.  Opinions are so easy to spot - millions of opinions are sprouting like plankton in high season on social media.  Propaganda is also obvious - or it can be subtle, especially if they are expressed by authority in society.

Misinformation can involve so called experts, academics and regulatory authorities.  Selective data and evidence can be cleverly structured to convince individuals and the masses.  Many an occasion we are told what is good or bad, when reality is not so clearcut and can vary.

What is truth depends on perception, cultural upbringing and past experience.  So I learnt that truth need not be factual, but facts are true.  When facts are not accepted, the recipient has had other versions of what is truth in the mind, conviction and context.  I may be sold to a falsity which I have been taught to be true.

The blurring of things can become so significant when we confront matters of personal health, belief and politics.  We can be overtly or covertly pressured to conform when we are active members of a specific community in every sense.

How do I handle it when what  I have always held to be truth turns out to be against the facts?  How do I feel when selected facts given to me are discovered to be cherry picked to support an otherwise non factual menu?

We remain vulnerable when we are given pieces of information that stir our emotions, pushing us further to accept falsity as truth.   Fragments of truth can be found with sharpnels of falsity in a misleading brew.  The roar of mass approval can cascade us into this situation when we had hardly a chance to independently think for ourselves.

In shaking the chaff from the grain, I realise most of us take comfort in what we consciously or subconciously want to hear. That is critical to advisors and speech writers working for powerful politicians.

I get most gullible when I receive information from those I have trusted all my life.  Beware of those who then transform beyond their original perceived selves as they get caught up in commercial greed, huge funding and access to power.

On relatively small matters, it can be a fun game to discern from information that looks kosher but is really dodgy.

On more significant matters, increasingly there is no point to argue or challenge each other on who is "right" or"wrong".

The reality can be that we have all been fooled, manipulated like puppets on a string.

#yongkevthoughts

In the Course of Routine in a City Suburb

The air definitely feels more than a tad nippy.

The clouds overhead suggest of arriving snow fall, not within the immediate neighbourhood, but more likely kilometres away to the south, where this year's skiing season is due to begin.

Passerbys adorn that extra layer of cosiness, but more because there is a bite of chill from the single digit temperature overnight.

I head straight to the little bakery inside an arcade.  I know precisely what I want.  Not for eating on the spot but like a squirrel in a forest, I am saving the baked delights for another day, the culinary delights with flakiness, bite and fillings.

Yes, there they are behind the glass display.  However, there are several eager people already queqing when I arrive. Indoors, I feel warm enough to wait.

There are three compact shopping centres next to each other.   I easily navigate to another building.  Having not been back there for several months, I am eager to explore, to see if familiarity is still there, but also ready to realise if change has come about.

My subtle expectations of change are right on my path and in my eyes.  The once bustling cafe at a corner is gone.   An ethnic food eatery has its doors closed, an obviously not a good sign.  The bigger restaurant across the aisle has changed names.  Centre tenants come and go.  So it is a delight to see people still take the escalator to a long standing brunch and lunch place on the second floor.

I explore the spaces between rhe shelves in a still existing supermart on the ground floor.

The meet up for lunch with friends is at a recently renovated venue along the main road, but it is still two hours away for that catch up.

So I continue wandering into another building.   I check the custard apples at a fresh produce hall but today they are highly priced.  I relax looking at Japanese made packaging and kitchen items at a low price Daiso joint.  I bought the smallest kitchen filter sink that I needee to replace for years, a break to a lingering procastination.

Then I stumble into a cooked fresh food stall offering takeaways at a good deal of a price.  I cannot resist an exotic dish that I do not know how to make.  So I fall for the choice of pan fried cumin lamb, perhaps so appropriate to partake in this cool season.  There is also a queue lining up for the lamb and chicken.

I proceed to the main street.  It is now chock a block with vehicular traffic, underlying the hustle and bustle of the trading and economic activity there.  I look for a huge and well stocked kitchen ware outlet, but its doors remain well shut today.  I wonder why.  I quietly pray it is not closed, for I got a well made wok there a few years ago.

I pop into a place selling porcelain and furniture from the Orient.  I check out another family run bakery, spot their versions of small chicken pies and pork rolls. I wonder if their version makes the mark.  I get takeaway, no harm trying them once for a start.

The sun comes up, the breeze outside tones down.

I park myself at a contemporary bakery, yes another one, as the restaurant I am heading to for lunch with friends is just across the busy road.  All the walking around so far has energised my body more - and now I need a drink.

Enough hot coffee is my thought.  So I get a bit adventurous and try a new fangled concoction.  It is a cold brew but laced with a fruity flavour.  What am I thinking of, it is still a cold day.

My trying that contemporary brew turns out all right.  It has hydrated me at the right spot and moment.

I cross the road and line up in front of the door to the lunch time venue. The place is full, buzzing with hungry appetites, eager faces and endless chatter.

A middle edged lady rudely speaks to the elderly gentleman waiting at the door, telling him in an over the top voice that he is blocking the way.  The day had been pleasant for me since dawn - and even if such uncalled behaviour was not addressed to me, it broke the magical idyll when a day has been perfect.

#yongkevthoughts

Carving Up or Preservation of Territory

 Contemporary history continues the pattern of changing of boundaries and territories as the fortunes, power and fate of empires, states and societies vary through the course of time.

While some political states have largely maintained their lands, others have been afflicted with division, separation and takeover.

Nations are not created just because we share the same culture, religion or ethnic ties. States can be seen to hold diversity - and that can be both a strength and vulnerability.

Nations have been created or broken up for political convenience, as a result of violent conflict or subject to a powerful leadership past or present.

Europe is often cited as having the affliction of constant changing boundaries, small or large lands affected. Parts of Germany and France have switched to one or the other. The break up of the Austrian Hungarian Empire resulted in a platter of several kingdoms.  Scandinavia was once dominated by Sweden.  Italy was only formed in the late 19th century.   The end of the Soviet Union in 1989 mushroomed independent countries from Central Asia to the Baltic States.

Africa today retains the colonial map of the 20th century, even if independent states are in power today, instead of the carve up amongst the colonists from Italy, France, Portugal, Belgium, Germany and Britain.

Across Asia, several nations echo broken parts of what once was one.  India and Pakistan were separated based on religion when the British gave independence to the subcontinent.  The Korean peninsular underwent through a dramatic war between what was touted to be between communism and capitalism. Vietnam was broken in two when the French left in the 1950s, suffered a long bitter and violent conflict during the American War and finally was reunited under a nationalistic Communist regime.

In the Western Hemisphere, Mexican land was purchased by the burgeoning United States in the latter's expansionist phase going westwards in the 19th century.   Alaska was also bought from the Russian Empire in the late 19th century.

The United States controlled Panama after they built the canal that connected both Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This is an example of territorial  takeover in bits strategic to trade and geopolitics.

The 1895 defeat by the Japanese of a weak China saw the start of Taiwan under Japanese rule, until the break up of the Imperial Japanese forces in August 1945.

When the original territory of nations are divided, there are significant implications for the people caught on either side of the separation. Think of Berlin during the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union.  Reflect of how Koreans have been split up since the ceasefire from so many years ago.

#yongkevthoughts

To Remove One's Self from the Circus

 I do note people I know, in a very calming way, not get agitated, in fact may not even consciously notice, any particular episode or seemingly endless trend, in geopolitics or even localised uproar.

Contemporary society, whether in news readings on broadcasts or telecasts, or in the relentless social media of podcasts, video clips, instantaneous messaging or captivating agenda filled weblinks, overloads the recipient with so much information, many of them silo views, political or commercial agendas, that no one individual can truly grasp the reality behind it all.   And do not even add the role of AI blurring the lines between virtuality, manipulation, tampering, factual and opinion.

So my attention has been to try to understand these individuals who seemingly are not affected by these increasingly intrusive diversions.

Their mindset sails on mostly uncaring of such external events or oblivious to such distractions.

Their personal attitudes seems so charmed, not bothered about the latest conflict, natural disaster or political gaffe, even if it happens not geographically far from where they live.

Are they burying ostrich like heads in the sand?

Are they protecting themselves Amish like or cleverly not allowing the vagaries of outside life affect their seeming inner peace?

They are not like individuals I hear about having burnout from the relentless commercial push, then changing to a completely different lifestyle away from disillusionment and societal demands.  These people I am discussing about on the contrary carry on in the suburbs and do not show obvious signs of having made a drastic sea change.

One thing they teach me is that most things are temporary.  Events hyped about usually reverse and change, so they advise me to just observe and bend with the flow, breeze and temperature.

They also make me wake up to the fact most things in the course of nature are beyond our internal influence, action or cause.  Matters of destruction are naturally followed by adjustment, regrowth and reconstruction.

Many are influenced by philosophical or religious belief.

Some are convinced in their personal comfort and faith that they do not have to react at all, because the only importance they respond to is to their spiritual superior. And all things in their personal life are decided by this factor.

So such people I know remain unfazed by most external matters. They can remain immune to influencers, politicians, snakeoil sales men and peddlers outside their own world of orbit.

There are other individuals with special armour not to be caught up in the distractions of the contemporary world.

Advanced Buddhist practitioners are focused on their continuing journey through various states of unending existence - their aim is eventually for their soul not to be reborn.  So the trappings of current life are to be ignored.

Others are so focussed or obsessed with their personal passions, specialisations or inherent drives, that external matters are just trivia.

So amidst the increased networks of technology, communication and information, I find it captivating there are individuals who are not so affected by the clutter, noise and bang.

#yongkevthoughts

And Where Are You From?

 There are Jews who are so because of their focus on heritage and culture.

There are Israelis who are so mainly because they are Zionists.

I am Malaysian by background, culture and heritage, not by race.

Some in Australia incorrectly reckon I am Malay, just because I come from Malaysia. They mix up nationality with ethnic origin.

The age of colonisation from the 16th to 20th centuries have resulted in many individuals sharing the heritage of the Indigenous and the conquerors.  Think of South and Central America, Australia, India, the Phillippines,

Lebanon, the USA and Canada.

Across south-east Asia, migrants from India and China in the same recent five centuries have also married and set up families with the already diverse ethnic groups residing there.  Today their off spring are popularly referred to as Peranakan Indians and Straits Chinese.  

(Peranakan as one may know is the Malay word for "local born".)

Those who have family trees from both European and Asian sides, originating from the age of the rise of Euro sailing trading powers across Asia,  are popularly known as Eurasians.

There are Portuguese Eurasians ( think of Goa and Malacca), Dutch Eurasians, Anglo-Saxon Eurasians (reflect on Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore) and Spanish Eurasians (the Phillippines).

Their numbers have dwindled in Singapore and Malaysia, perhaps due to emigration.  However many young people across Australia, UK, USA, NZ and Canadia today are the new generation of Eurasians in the 21st century.

In societies that make citizens and residents hold an identity card by law, are Eurasians recognised as an independent ethnic group on their own?  Chindians in Singapore have to choose either Indian or Chinese to state in official papers.

For their own reasons, several political entities insist on identifying and compartmentalising the race and religion of their residents.  Others do not because it suggests discrimination.

So an Australian, British and Canadian need not necessarily be of Caucasian origin.

Residents of homogenous cultural nations can find it hard to accept that an Australian can be African in appearance, a Canadian is Indian and a Peruvian is of Japanese origin.

How much do emigrants settled in a new nation hold strong links back to the mother culture? 

There is strong emphasis by the Japanese on such things.

Indian women proudly adorn their traditional dresses.  Muslims are strongly bound by their religious convention.

Chinese tend to everyday wear contemporary Western styles in their adopted lands, bringing out the cultural wardrobes on festival dates.

Improved economic ability, easier air travel, technologically facilitated contacts and more physical interaction amongst the diverse demographics of the human species have also resulted in more intermixing of DNAs, genes and cultural richness.

The evolving development of an European union is also helped by increased marriages of people from the so many different cultures on the continent.

#yongkevthoughts

Universities Today

 There are 166 universities in the United Kingdom -  currently there are 3 Vice Chancellors in a British university with a South Asian background.

1.  Leceister Uni  - Nishan Canagarajah.

2.  Kings College London - Shitij Kapur.

3.  Canterbury Christ Church University  - Rama Thirunamachandran

The only VC in Britain with an East Asian background is Max Lu of the University of Surrey, who has recently been appointed by the University of Wollongong NSW in Australia as its new VC.

There are 43 universities in Australia.  No one with a South Indian background has been appointed a VC in this Antipodes nation.

No non ethnic Malays have served as VC of any university in Malaysia.

No non ethnic Chinese currently serve as a University VC in Singapore.

There are eight universities in New Zealand with no VCs of Asian origin.
Damon Salesa of Samoan origin is the current VC of the Auckland University of Technology.

In Canada, Mohamed Lachemi serves as VC of the Toronto Metropolitan Univsrsity.
Deep Saini is VC of McGill University and is of Punjabi origin.  There are around 100 universities across Canada.

Across the Australian university sector, there is an obvious under representation of females as Vice-Chancellors.

Are VC roles supposed to reflect the mores and uniqueness of each society?
Or are they increasingly chosen for abilities in corporate management, strategic leadership and financial
prowess, as higher educational instutitions become more of competitive
behemoths obsessed with research rankings, easy student revenues and corporate growth?

Universities do not pay tax and are inherently community entities to start with, originally meant to serve the ideals of education, inspiring thinking, academic growth and embedding benefits from society ideals.   They have now grown to be jaggernauts which can prioritise high level commercialisation over those of teaching, learning and student experience.

Universities are not accountable to shareholders and yet now operate like commercial entities.   The equivalent of a corporate Board can be in University Councils, whose members should be a broad based demographic but increasingly stacked with political aspirations and corporatised vibes.

There are universities burdened and yet enriched with historical traditions.   There are universities which carry the torch of enlightenment and innovativeness in ages of oppression, extremism and backwardness.   Universities are best when they develop the minds and behaviours of progress and reform for the larger society outside their campuses.
Our contemporary age has never seen so many numbers attending university.

Yet universities can be held captive by the overwhelming control of geopolitics.   Donations for such institutions are significantly important, whether in knowledge, finance or human effort.   Universities do not stand alone well by themselves, but are best to serve when they have a collective will and purpose to advance the course of continuing human civilisation.

#yongkevthoughts

The Titanic

 That Titanic sank in the North Atlantic more than 110 years ago in 1914.

Do ponder which contemporary entity, corporate, government, institution or so called leader may or surely flounder for the very same reasons the Titanic sank, after hitting the side of an iceberg.

1.   Touted as Unsinkable.
The over sensationalisation of an idea, product, agenda and promise should ring alarm bells like a canary in a coal mine.
Advertisements that shout,  social media clips that insists what we need to have and promises of remarkable returns on your money need to be treated with more than a grain of salt and reminder to protect our integrity and use our own confident intelligence.


2.    Speeding Irregardless of Risks in order to achieve a subjective important goal.
It has been said the tragic Titanic was on a secret agenda to arrive in New York a day earlier than scheduled, in a surprise move to impress and awe.  This over riding plan, hidden from passengers and crew, was an obsession with the powerful controlling individuals who were willing to do anything and take risks to achieve a rather unshared objective.

Have you encountered situations where any costs are to be expended just to attain one overriding purpose, whether as personally experienced or read in the annals of history?

Suicide missions by brainwashed individuals.   Customers treated as disposable numbers in the push to achieve pushy sales.  Financial claims to be minimised while collected premiums are maximised.    Prices to spike when customers are desperate.  Priorities to maximise share price and earnings at a specific time of reporting to the Board and key shareholders.


3.    Quality had not been maintained or ensured in the weakest spots.
The strength of anything, man made or in Nature, is truly in the weakest joints.
The Titanic had poorer quality iron in the parts that critically held its bottom.
It is not clear if this was due to a rush in its construction or because the funding was running out and corners had to be practicallly cut.

What are the obvious and hidden risks of a used business process?
Is government running on outsourced and expensively paid contracts, rather than on building a long lasting store of key experience and knowledge?
Is society's progress hindered by too much politicking rather than viable investment and steady implementation?
Is personal health hijacked by addictions, over commercialisation and dubious medication?
Are critical assets of a nation owned by foreigners?


4.      Burning fires within the hold was already happening, even if no iceberg was crashed into.
Were there already inherent problems brewing for some time within an entity before its inevitable collapse?
Is the product sold subject to temporary demand trends, a passing fad or on the basis of unsustainable logic?
Is the sentiment for a following dependent on other factors rather than on a solid reasoning or philosophy?
Is the market for a service built on fear, fool's logic or sheer fantasy?


5.    Tilting of the structure was so quick.
The Titanic did not take long to go under the ocean after it scrapped past a giant iceberg.   The cosmetics of the large cruising behemoth thoroughly hid the high dangers of collapse and breakage in an unexpected tragedy, as there was much smoke, glitter and hype on mostly unimportant diversions to paying passengers.

Would a pyramid like business structure hasten its collapse in a tragic economic event?
Is a political party carved out of a lack of relevant leadership long due to fall like a illusionary house of meaningless cards?
Is a construction company depending on too much debt, decreasing cash flows and falling ability to complete promised projects on time?

6.   The threat of the iceberg that broke the Titanic was not clearly seen in a possible mirage to the ship's crew.
A black swan event that breaks the so called camel's back is a risk scenario agreed upon as highly unlikely to happen, but when it eventuates in reality, no one is prepared to salvage from the disaster.
Unexpected cut off from supplies, dependent labour and breakout of trade wars all ravage anyone's capacity and ability to carry out viable operations.
A once in a hundred years of a climate disaster, a loss of a huge market due to unexpected geopolitical quakes and a war that was normally thought to not ever likely to occur.
A serious health issue that makes other problems not significant.


#yongkevthoughts

The Southern Hemisphere

 Living in the Antipodes has its quirks and pecularities.

Most of the action is dominated by the Northern Hemisphere.  South of the Equator seems to imply something less, suggestive of secondary.   We have lesser populations, especially across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.   Even our land masses are perceived to have just mountains and forests like in the Andes and in parts of Africa.  The mystery loved by adventurers hangs around thick and alluring in South America and Africa.   Two of the most risky capes to sail past in the age of colonialism were the Cape of Good Hope and the Tierra de Fuego.

Geopolitics, technology advances,
finance, trade, arnaments and medical fields can be dominated by the big players in the European Union, Russia, China and the United States.  All north of the Equator.  

The critical air links and shipping routes all compete more in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Malacca Straits, South China Sea, Panama Canal, the Carribean, the Baltic and the North Atlantic.   The vastness and large distances of the South Pacific between Chile and New Zealand already prove to be barriers.   And I dare not reflect the  challenges in the wide ocean between Perth and Durban - I can only think of the secret USA military base at Diego Garcia.

South America in the past 100 years gives me the perception and impression of being a hotbed of revolution, dictatorship and violent change of ruling governments. I must not generalise, for each society and its history do have circumstances and conditions that create their own geopolitical path.

South Africa was strongly condemned by the United Nations as an apartheid state before the arrival of Mandela.   Australia has a whites first policy before it was dismantled by Gough Whitlam. 

The vast waters in the Southern Hemisphere  do provide so much for sea creatures, weather patterns and romanticised cruise travel.   On the negative side, the South Pacific attracted French government nuclear testing - as did the Australian mainland, by British and USA interests.

Time differences are not caused by being in the south or north.  These human measurement systems agreed internationally to bring order to the human world do mean that while London is starting a new day, Sydney is going to bed.  Events in the USA happen a day before New Zealand regarding calendar date.   However, Cape Town is the same time zone as Berlin - and Rio is only an hour ahead of New York.

Air routes tend to be more over oceans, rather than land, when you venture below the Equator.   There are more islands as you cross over the Indonesian Archipelago.  There is more emptiness seemingly as you fly over the oceans.   On the other hand, one can be captivated by the dry deserts over Australia, the lush forests or grasslands of Africa and the high peaks of the Andes.

Institutions of higher education below the Equator are generally ranked below the top universities sited above that geographical line.

The Indigenous of Southern lands and waters have had tumultous historical times since the arrival of the sailing ships from Europe.   Almost the whole non- European world was colonised in rapid succession from the 16th to 20th centuries ( exceptions were Japan, huge parts of inland China, Thailand and Ethopia).  The Australian continental island with around 200 Aboriginal nations was declared "terra nullius" by the first British stepping foot at Sydney Cove.

The Maoris in Aotearoa fought back against the colonists in a most vehement manner.   Natives across southern Africa were challenged by the technical superiority, agricultural transformations and better weaponry of the European arrivals.  The allure of gold, a falling Inca Empire and the resources in South America spurred on the Spanish conquerors.

The lands of the Southern Hemisphere all had gold mining rushes, echoing the richness of its topography which can still provide hidden resources.  European dictated agricultural practices were imposed in Australia to the disregard of native traditions.

People from Europe brought infections and diseases to the Southern Hemisphere in the period of colonisation.  

Flora and fauna come foremost to mind in the Southern Hemisphere. A striking example is the variety as studied by Joseph Banks as he sailed on the Cook voyages.

The ways of best managing the environment  in the Antipodes were challenged by the mindset of the colonisers to bring and implement their previous template and practices to their new world.  Australia, New Zealand and Argentina were strongly viewed to serve aa food growing resources.  Foreign plants and animals were introduced with short sighted reasons

The Koala population is strongly decimated in Nww South Wales.  

Quietness, especially at night, can bring forth a rather special charm when one is in the country areas outside cities and towns across the Southern Hemisphere.  I reckon this can be experienced as well in the depths of the Eurasian continent, the Canadian Tundra and in the forests of Europe.

So far, the horror of war conflict, civillian collateral damage and destructive arnaments has not been as much as in the Northern Hemisphere - bar around the South Pacific in the 1940s, where the USA navy gained stature in Australian eyes.  New Guinea was also a scene of intense physically close fighting between the troops of the Japanese Imperial Army and those of the Allies.  South America was spared much of the horrors of the two World Wars in the 20th century - but then became the refuge of Nazi escapees from war torn Europe.

Clearer skies at night are a delight and privilege in the Southern Hemisphere.
Due to less population and fewer of bright cities, it is easier to see a passing comet or let our eyes better appreciate the millions of sparkling stars of the Universe.
The atmosphere can be more refreshingly felt due to less pollution and more natural winds.

When societal disruption broke out in the Northern Hemisphere, due to war, discrimination and displacements of people, South America, Australia and New Zealand became places of refuge and attraction to start a life all over again.
Such migrants brought their unique cultures, philosophies, culinary and systems to their newly adopted countries.

Australia seems to still be a land where her migrants of various religions and background come from over 200 separate foreign nations.  Her Indigenous are also the world's oldest continuing civilisation.

#yongkevthoughts

Looking at War

 Which countries have always waged war for a long time now since the middle of the 20th century? 

The United States of America has chalked up the most in number of wars participated, starting with the Korean Peninsular War in the early 1950s.  An ironic fact is that such military episodes have never taken place on homesoil in mainland America. 

The USA military and government have mostly dabbled themselves and their arnaments in the Middle East - Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Yemen and Lebanon come to mind.    The cauldron of aggression, conflict, geopolitical tensions and social disorder sparked off by the establishment of the state of Israel have seen fights with her neighbours.  And the USA government is a dominant supporter of Israel.

The Cold War turned out to be varying degrees of heightened tensions, a game of high stakes who will blink first  and almost shaving near close encounters of military outbreaks.   The main protagonists were the Soviet Union and the USA, with the circle of accompanying allies.

The break up of the Federation of Yugoslavia in the 1990s arose from long brewing domestic differences.  United Nations sent personnel to be involved in the intracacies and complexities, thereby causing foreign troops to step in a stage beset with the divide between Eastern and Western Europe.

The Falklands Isles in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean witnessed the determination of Margaret Thatcher and Britain to not let a strategic colonial outpost be lost.  The confrontation with Argentina could have been the last fought battle of the British Empire's military tradition.

New Zealand has not experienced military mayhem domestically since the wars of attrition between the Maoris and the British colonists in thd early 19th century, leading to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Contemporary India and Pakistan have had limited skirmishes - and so have India and China on the Himalayan border, plus that between Vietnam and China.  China's last major war participation has been in the Korean Peninsular in a proxy conflict between Communists and capitalists.

Which European nations have not gone into battle since the end of World War 2?
Amazingly, most of the European continent has undergone peaceful political processes under the advent of the EU.  The Ukraine question escalated in the third decade of the 21st century with still an unresolved and continuing military conflict.  Historical fears and sentiment still run through the instinctive geopolitics of the European continent.

Most continents have never been invaded by foreign powers since the end of the colonialism period.   " Invasion"  these days can be more in the form of commercialism, soft power, financial domination, technology advancement and trade prowess, rather than in physical military wars.  However, colonies, albeit of small size, still exist around the world - we reflect on the possesions by the French in the South Pacific.  On the other hand, large nations like Canada and Australia still have Governor-Generals representing the ultimate authority of the British Monarch over their lands.

Which contemporary nations have somehow retained their viable independence amidst the rolling waves of human tribal conflict and war?  Thailand and Ethopia were never colonised when most of the world were.

Which nation has often joined others in warfare, and in the name of the another country leading the war, despite of almost never being attacked before?  Australia, India, New Zealand and Canada had sacrificed many in the war effort led by Britain and the USA since the beginning of the 20th century.

Which region of the world has attracted the most invaders in modern times since 1945?   Perhaps it is the Middle East.
Evolving disorders have broken out domestically in societies there  as a consequence of dictatorships, religious based groups, people's revolutions and interference by foreign governments.

Central Africa had its share of turbulence
due to economic inequity, warlord dominancs, burgeoning populatons and claims over resources.   War has even been declared between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969 over the results of a football match in Central America.

All nations in South east Asia have been attacked and invaded by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War 2.  Which nations in present day ASEAN have managed to experience predominant lack of warfare since then?

Singapore, Brunei, the Phillippines, the Federation of Malaysia and Thailand have been fortunate to not have serious epispdes of warfare in recent history.   Indonesia had battles in Irian Jaya (western half of Papua New Guinea) and when fighting the Portuguese ruled Timor-Leste in the latter's war for independence.

Indo-China was quagmired in atrocious warfare as the Communists fought intense nationalistic struggles in Vietnam and Laos.  Kampuchea was taken over by a cruel regime under Pol Pot.  Myanmar continues under military rule and its central government fights the armies of several different ethnic groups in major portions of the country, apart from facing rebellions within the Burmese cohort.

What lies for the near future in the 21st century?   Will ideology continue to stir up the masses?  Are democratic styled elections a sham subject to manipulation, misinformation and huge monies controlled by a few individuals?  Will conflicts still arise because of significant fights over trade and resources?  Will the ideal human values overwhelm the human tribal instinct to fight?

The quality of specific leaders who hold the upper hand in world affairs can be so important.   Do politicians choose between the welfare of their human denizens and the tempting short term way to massive business opportunities and wealth?  The core generation of voters can decide the path but powerful people can pull the puppet strings.   War has always been waged by older politicians making use of younger people to do the actual fighting.

#yongkevthoughts

The On Screen Electronic Divide

 It has been like trampling through the jungle.

Accounts, apps, email addresses, websites and more cry out for your passwords.   Some insist on a specific set of characters, caps, punctuation and numbers.  The more careful entities do a two factor authentication.   Airlines and banks provide electronic fingermark access.  Others send a one time use six digit pin to your nominated mobile telephone number.

And yet the fraudsters and scammers are lurking in the bush.

Out in the wild world are people using online love lures.  Victims usually have not met their scam better half in person face to face - and depend on messages, electronic photos and online voices.  I am confused, don't you think you want to feel a budding lover in the flesh first in any serious relationship?

There may be a rising tendency for on screen commercial transactions to avoid meeting the other side.  We are not interested to meet the cook in our food deliveries.  We get our payments from human beings we are not interested to know.   So many consumers only interact with the middle broker or deliverer - or maybe not.  Even parcels are just left at your nominated place and the deliverer simply takes a photograph of where he or she left it.

House recipients put up front door cameras with apps on phones.   Gone are the days that we get a chance to chat with service people.   Is it because human beings are so entangled with other things that they cannot wait for a delivery?   Yet we patiently wait for the arrival of the plumber, electrician, gardener and tradie.

There used to be someone home to receive things.   Now they can go to lockers in shopping centres.  Oh yes, the traditional local post office is gone.   Fancy cafes are more popular in suburbs - and everyone perhaps goes there on  a regular basis more than any other place.  Cafes can play another role as collection centres, more than newsagents.  

Online commerce has spiked to such proportions that the cardboard and materials used to pack parcels are becoming a menacing disposal matter. 
Some deliveries still insist on a signature by the recipient - and the seller just wants any form of mark, not a proper personalised signature, as proof of receipt.

How do we get satisfied that we are actually interacting with kosher and authentic other parties online?

As online consumers, we are always challenged that we are not robots.   We hardly get to authenticate parties on the other side of the electronic interface.   It truly feels like a one sided way of we always having to prove ourselves in an electronic transaction.

#yongkevthoughts

Numbers 2025

 In 2025:

Narendra Modi rules over 1.46 billion across India.

Xi Jin Ping presides over 1.424 billion across China.

Pope Leo XIV heads over 1.4 billion Catholics across the world.

The European Union has 449 million in an emerging political union of still rather independent states.

Donald Trump is President over 340 million people across the USA.

Indonesia's 294 million people currently have President Prabowo Subianto.

Pakistan has 255 million people under President Asif Ali Zardari.

Nigeria has 238 million residents in a country ruled by Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Brazil has 213 million people currently ruled by Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bangladesh, located beside India and Myanmar, with 175 million people, currently has a caretaker government under Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus.

Russia has 146 million residents across a nation presided by Vladimir Putin.

Japan with 123 million people currently has Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.

The Phillippines has a population of 121 million under President Bong Bong Marcos Junior.

#yongkevthoughts

Clutter

 Clutter.....

Unknowingly.  Without any intention
.  They seem to creep up.  Before the sweeping conquest of most things online, clutter was more tangible, more physical, more visible.

It was one of the two times a calendar year we could leave things beside the pavement for Council services to collect
and dispose for us ratepayers.

Not everything, there are guidelines of what we can throw.  No chemicals, oils, paints, computer devices, toxic things, nothing too large.   Small furniture, mattresses, lawn mowers, kitchen gadgets, metal and pails seem okay.

How did households accumulate such items?  Once  they were useful, many times they were loved, always they provided joy.  Perhaps the original users and owners had moved on.   Maybe they had exceeded their useful life.  Many could have borne scars of peeled paint, loose screws and damaged corners.

When the items were removed, most likely from where they had been sitting for so many years now, a space was freed up.   The vibes of space and energy can move to a more positive stance when things that are hardly used are finally removed.

Why have such items been still kept but no longer used?    Are owners hanging on to sentimental memory or plan to use them again in the near future?   Everyone of us have wardrobe items from the past that we have not worn for a while.   We can have treasured books in our personal library that we read long ago.   Before wifi came and took over our lives, we had physical media in tangible storage for entertainment. Each of us have souvenirs from enjoyable tours.   

As baby boomers live longer, as houses become empty nests due to migration of the younger generations and as family elders downsize, the question of clutter and the need to dispose of household items can rear its ugly reality.

Every individual has silo interests echoed in personal possessions.

What is a person's treasure can be another's garbage.   What was lovingly cared for daily can become disposable in the eyes of another.

There can be a comfort zone in keeping something or not.   In a family scenario, will younger generations still keep the items valued by parents?   Will a spouse have the same cherished mindset over specific items prioritised by the other half?

Human beings are born with no attached material belongings - and so likewise when they pass on.  The human penchant for attachment especially to material things is how civilisation  and society have conditioned us.  Letting go of things is a trying process.    Over attachment leads to the accumulation of clutter.

Other people may call it clutter, but what we hold on to can represent our efforts, devotion and time spent in building them up.  It is essential to understand this perspective.   Then only can third parties comprehend the strong attachment of persons to things that cannot be let go of.

Clutter has emerged in cyberspace -  on screen records, documentation, images, videos and graphics for example.   As these are not that in the face physical, we may not fully recognise the extent of such clutter - until we run out of online capacity in our devices.

Everyone of us faces the responsibilityto manage clutter of whatever kind.  Is it much better that we control, manage and decide on matters of our own clutter?

Amidst the so called clutter, there can
be hidden gems.  The question then becomes when and to whom does the realisation of such hidden gems occur.

#yongkevthoughts

When It Is Fraud

 "i have not lost my memory, but I still do not seem to remember". So goes a line from an old British movie.

When asked to respond to concerns of the serious lack of competition in the supermarket sector across Australia, a representative of the business sector is said to proudly state that " but they are making profits to serve investors".

I cannot see the humour and logic in such pronouncements that miss the essential point.  More of such publicly made statements can be heard from those in authority, to detract and distract from issues they cannot explain.

"The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth."
(Jean de la Bruyere)

"Our ability to manufacture fraud now exceeds our ability to detect it." ( Al Pacino).

Albert Camus once stated
'Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object."

"Fraud is the daughter of Greed." ( John Grant)

"Force and fraud are, in war, the two cardinal virtues.”
— Thomas Hobbes

"The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self. All sin is easy after that."
(Pearl Bailey)

"If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud."
-  Nassim Nicholas Taleb

"If it is too good to be true, it is probably a fraud."  (Ron Weber)

In Australia, there is more legal requirement to ensure truth when selling toilet paper in advertisements, than when in flagging political ads.

Whether it is in the context of business, politics, government service, communication media or international initiatives,  each of us must observe the words and actions who promise one thing and enact another. 

Confucius can have the final say.
"Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to
propriety;
make no movement which is contrary to propriety."

#yongkevthoughts

Screen Messaging

 The variety of contemporary social media communication, on screens of all sizes,

spreads across various options.   Messages, especially social ones, are sent at all times of the day or night, with little regard for the niceties of rules after hours and with the apparent gusto of the convenience of the sender.

The existence of group chat messages, although purposeful when they started being available, has witnessed its down side.   Arguments have broken out due to the steadfastness in belief and principle held and expressed by specific individual participants.   Much controversy has arisen over matters and issues practically beyond the control of such indivuduals - and arguments breaking out in group chats over various people taking a stand of their own views.

This further leads to the observation that many such online chat groups serve the need to reinforce the comfort and assurance of those who want to hear and read what they already believe in - and such chat groups are not for those who have a healthy interest in listening to or trying to understand other views on the same subject.

Line, Tik Tok, Instagram, Whtssapp, Signal and Telegram, to mention a few, supposedly have varying degrees of supposed privacy and encryption.

All offer voice, video, message and attachment capabilities.   Some restrict the number of words in text messages, all have storage capacity limits.  Unless one occasionally deletes the creeping build up of content on such apps, there can be inevitable grief.   Many in a group chat app utilise the feature of disappearing messages after a predetermined time, but will some members  miss some earlier messages shared if they do not regularly check such group messages?

Do we want to carry a chat without using audio at all - consisting of finger taps that may not spell properly,  some in a rush without careful thought and others in  such a casual manner of using lingo that will be not acceptable in formal writing.  The art of writing has been undermined and rare do we get to read a message with the grace of full grammar, punctuation and careful thought.  To me, conversation with some other human being is best carried out face to face and by articulating our spoken abilities.

There can be an expectation of a fast reply in messaging.   The reality is that such written messages can be only read at the next opportunity when the recipient has time to do so.   Yes, apps do offer features as well when the message sender knows that their message has been read by the recipient.  It must be borne in mind that each message recipient has a basic human right to be not using a cyberspace device all the time and be free of on screen demands as well - there are other things to do with our personal time.

The over crowding of messages, say on Whats App, does dilute the importance of written messages going through this Meta owned channel.    When a specific sender usually bombs recipients with an over whelming load of messages filled with casual links of video and web connections, many of no mutual interest on the part of the recipient, there can be an inevitable outcome.   Recipients lose interest in such messages, pyschologically withdraw from opening the offered links and inevitably will miss opening  the occasional significant personalised messages from the sender.

This dilution of paying attention in reaction to such overloading of otherwise not personally important messages has occured in the use of emails not long ago.
Such messages can reek of propaganda from a political and commercial view point.   The daily receipt of such communication can be compared to junk in the phyaical post box of old and the advertisements forced upon our viewing pleasure in paid or free to air streaming services.

Daily greetings do mean the effort and concern of meaningful friends or relatives
who make time to reach out to us.  At times, the recipient may not check his screen messages daily.  Is it considered rude not to always respond on a timely basis?

Images and weblinks can be attached on messaging apps, much like what we used to do with emails.  Several types of attachments can pose higher risks of containing cyberspace viruses or attacks, especially when images received can be automatically saved on to your gallery in your smart phones.

Short form written messages can be made in haste.  Recipients can misinterpret, take it out of context or not realise the true intended tone of such messages.

Formal issues are best written on documents or emails for recording purposes rather than left to the casualness of other communication methods.

Video clips can use up limited device storage capacity in our smart devices rather quickly.   Deletion of content can become a regular exercise in using apps.

You Tube links can be short, middling or long in requiring your time to view their clips.   For many of us, our attention span has sadly shortened to quick injections of dopamine to our physical brain wiring.

The instinctive need to share with and forward to friends and relatives can be an inherent human behaviour.    We discover new things on and off when we are informed.   We can be more willing to inquire and trust when we are communicated by someone we know in person, rather than from third parties.   However the recipient can have a problem with information overload.

Is there a protocol of politeness that we have to respond to every message sent to us?   What about messages that are forwarded from other chats, messages that originate from people or sources we do not know, but transmitted to us by a person we know?   Time and time again on the other hand we are advised to not click on dubious links.

In a working envionment, information sent or discussions made on apps may no longer be accessible, unlike emails or email attachments.

So how do we manage and learn to say no in response to the above situations?  I myself plead guilty to committing several of the misdemeanours discussed above.

#yongkevthoughts

What Used To Belong To Me

 Designs on various, current and former parts of the Malaysian Federation seem to not let up.

When the Malaysian Federation was formed in 1963, the Republic of Indonesia under Suharto threatened the formatoom of the Federation, triggering a Confrontation crisis across the Malacca Straits.

Thailand used to have sovereignty over Trenggganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis.
The colonial British authorities referred to them as part of the Unfederated Malay States ( Johore State being the other member).

Penang State's formation was based on some agreement between colonial British Captain Francis Light and the then Kedah Sultan in 1786.  The Pearl of the Orient was part of the Sultanate of Kedah when it was relatively undeveloped on the arrival of the British sailing ships ( I am still curious as to why the Portuguese and Dutch did not venture much into Penang Island with impact).

The Kedah Sultanate paid homage to Bangkok royalty then as expressed in the sending of the iconic Bunga Mas to Thai King Rama I.  The tradititional vibes of Thai culture and practices can be observed especially in Kedah, which has a Bujang Valley full of important Buddhist archeological troves from before the arrival of Islam.   South east Asia was basically under significant religious, language, political and traditional influence from India.

Eastward across the South China Sea from from the peninsular,  the decision for Sabah and Sarawak to join the Federation of Malaysia was made by an inner circle of individuals chosen by the departing British  - no public referendum was held.

Large portions of Sabah and Sarawak were ruled by the Brunei Sultanate, which had conflicts with the Sulu Sultanate.  People from Mindanao historically have ties with Sabah.  The significance of the influence of both the Sulu and Brunei Sultanates has often been undermentioned in the annals of the island of Borneo, now shared territorially amongst Indonesia, Malaysia and the compact but oil rich state of Brunei.

The Phllippines today is a nation with a Malay cultural basis, transformed by 400 years of Spanish Catholicism, a hundred years or so of American colonialism and still having millions of Muslims residing in its southern islands.   Sulu is part of this flank of the Filipino identity.

Back on the Malay Peninsular, Malacca was a city state founded by a Hindu prince and who had converted to Islam by the time the colonial Portuguese arrived.   The port city has historically welcomed trade, migrants, religions, finance and diversity.  Its significant role in south east Asia was overtaken by the burgeoning ports of Penang and Singapore.  Together the colonial British grouped them up as the British Straits Settlements ( together with the much forgotten district of Dindings in southerm Perak).

Sir Stamford Raffles managed in 1819 to get the Johor Sultanate to part with Singapore after the former realised the strategic potential of the island's location at the nexus between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.  Contemporary Republic of Singapore governments are very emphatic in maintaining and developing strong relationships with the Johor Sultanate.

Singapore broke away from the Malaysian Federation after only two years.  Its high economic stature in standard of living, growth, financial prowess, governance reputation and technological investment surpasses many other nations larger in land size than her.  The Singapore government is ever conscious of her critical role in geopolitics and dependence on imports.   Will Johor want to reclaim Singapore?  

Will Sulu want to have Sabah back?
Will Penang revert as Kedah territory?
Will the northern Malay States want to rejoin the southern Thai Malay states?

Politics is an ever changing game.   Boundaries can be as fluid and pliable as what those in power want them to be.
Nations control parts which can be home to cultures and religions different from their controlling political centre.

The historical basis of which present countries have been formed can be flagged to the side in the game of acquiring resources, opportunities and power.  

#yongkevthoughts