Dr Thum should just go!

Planter’s club

Late tomorrow. Sometime in the late evening. I hope to upload a Youtube video of my speech in the Planter’s Club.

Who will win the Malaysian 2018 GE?

The short and sharp answer goes like this – no one knows for sure who will win. Not even the so called ‘experts’ or political pundits really know for certain. Neither can their recounts and accounts be treated as reliable either. Fact is there is so much noise and counter noise at every conceivable level of understanding, from grass root level right to the level of the movers and shakers that it is very hard to impossible to say what is right or wrong, truth or lies, worthy or for that matter useless….its simply very hard to beacon out the murk!

That is my honest assessment…anyone who tells you different is simply delusional.

——————————————————————————

‘What I am about to share with u will change the way you see yourself in relation to the known world…as you know it.

You only think that you have the freedom to read whatever you want to read in the internet!

Because the very moment you type a sentence into any commercial search engine, then what will actually happen is that your entire surfing history will be streamed thru an alogarithm that will crunch what it believes you like to read… to do this the calculus will determine in one fraction of a second…how much time do you spend here or there…right down to what was your last online purchase…to perhaps even common ten words that your facebook buddies regularly use in the last two weeks….and when your search results come out…although it may very well appear as if what is served is indeed what you pointed out in the menu…in the tragedy is what you actually have is merely an illusion that you have the prerogative to choose freely….you see that is the paradox of our digital age. The more online choice and freedom we seem to have…the less of it there actually is. Now you know why I dont have a facebook account…I’ve never had one and I dont ever want one. It doesnt really matter to me how virtual friends I have turned away by not having one or for that matter how poorer my life would be for the decision not to participate….that is just my final position and the clearest testament of how i see the whole issue of man’s relationship with technology.’

How to put a pocket battleship into a shoe box – Part 1

Last evening was the monthly planter’s meet. I turned up on time immaculately attired in my safari jacket complete with cravat. When the floor was opened…everyone expected me to make a scene. Instead I seemed more preoccupied with chowing down my peppermint flavored caramel crunch. I did not rub anyone the wrong way and took leave earlier than usual at nine.

I plan to be in my best behavior for a least a year….after that I will make my move!

——————————————————————————-

‘My needs as a business men are incredibly simple and basic. I only ask for a few things – common decency, good faith and the belief that the field will always be level.

But if for any reason I am not given these things…then i will at first ask politely why have I been denied my elemental rights that you all seem to enjoy?If for any reason no answer emerges and things dont change…then I will raise my voice and if nothing happens thereafter.

Then I will take these things….the how is no longer important…I will not ask…I will not even be polite or courteous over the matter. I will simply take these things.

So please dont blame me if i happen to come across as an unreasonable person. I want to be very clear…it is not I who goes out to this world to deliberately find trouble….No! Nothing can be further from the truth.

In truth…I am a victim. I am not to blame. My business rivals are to blame because they have create the very conditions that compel me to behave unreasonably….all they had to do was to give me the same considerations as they have always enjoyed. Had they done just that and that alone. I would have cooperated in every capacity and would have absolutely no trouble as coming across as a reasonable person.’

Someone told me that I should apologize to Edwin Tong for my comments…

I told this sad person…why dont you give my pariah dog a one hour blow job first. Then I went on to add…why should I…after all. he and his side kick did it all to themselves…they shot themselves in the foot in the quorum of public opinion…they had the quorum…they had the opportunity…but they fucked it up royally…if they missed the mark, what does it have to do with me?

I didn’t cross examine anyone for six hours!

I didn’t regard LkY as a god and believed wholeheartedly he was incapable of any wrong….

I didn’t piss off the online community with my callousnes and higher than art thou high and mighty attitude.

I didn’t corset any of the respondents to ONLY yes and no replies simply because I confused a fact finding mission with showing everyone what a good litigator I could have been!

So what does their failure to connect with the public have to do with me!

Coming to think of it what does their apparent lack have to do with me…maybe Edwin Tong should sue me?

Surely you cannot pin their lack on me?

Always remember I am just a simple farmer who tells it the way I see it. If you want to hear the good news then go and read the ST….i never asked you to come to me.

The safari or bush jacket…

https://thearmoury.com/blogs/journal/the-armoury-x-ascot-chang-safari-jacket

Psychological warfare – Part 2

Last week I expressed a clear intention to a land broker that I wanted to buy a plot of land for agricultural purposes….I went on to add. The only problem I have is with the price…is there scope for negotiations. When the owner approached me to negotiate…I told him that I am no longer interested in the land. That same afternoon I expressed to a group of fund managers during a formal lunch that it is my considered opinion that the plantations sector would be in the doldrums for some time and for better returns its best to plonk one’s money elsewhere. After that i meet up with an erudite group of landowners for drinks and told them all the opposite….

——————————————————————————

‘Strategic engagement and disengagement is a term that refers to deploying a blow hot and cold tactic. The goal is not only o confuse and disorientate the enemy with disinformation, but it is also designed to create opportunities to undermine one’s enemy.

This strategy was used successfully to undermine the TPP. (To be cont).

Psychological warfare

This morning I was cross examined by a bunch of third rate pirates. Their strategy seems to be very transparent….to force words down my mouth so that ‘on record’ they can reference presumably to some documentary evidence on some future date to suggest I agreed and disagreed to this and that…at the end of the meeting when one of them expressed utmost surprise that I had not agreed to a single statement they had made and there was no such thing approaching consensus…this person asked in a demanding and exasperated tone – why did you say Yes and even nod your head approvingly at what we have said…I merely told this person.

What I did was merely rely on a social communication cue that signifies that i hear you…I must emphasize under the strongest terms in no way does this constitute express or implied agreement or consensus to any of your recorded comments…for one to say, I hear you is very different from saying that I agree with you.

I wanted this to be included into the minutes of the meeting.

Before I left a printed transcript was handed to me.

——————————————————————————

‘Constructive ambiguity is a term generally credited to Henry Kissinger, said to be the foremost exponent on negotiating strategy. Constructive ambiguity refers to the deliberate use of ambiguous language on a sensitive issue in order to advance some political purpose. Constructive ambiguity is often disparaged as beating around the proverbial bush. However i personally disagree with this view, only because unlike fudging around, it deploys the psychological component of lulling one’s opponent into a false sense of security. Hence CA can disguise ones inability to resolve a contentious issue on which the parties remain far apart and to do so in a manner that enables the user to leverage on a psychological advantage.’

How to put a pocket battleship into a shoebox

At the elevent hour. I have managed to secure last minute concessions from a small group of rival landowners who have been enamored by my numerous approaches for peace in our time….this group has managed to persuade the others, that providing I limit my operations within a designated zone and keep them regularly informed concerning my imperial tendencies to snatch more land…in return they are willing to offer me detente.

Of course i did not look a gift horse in the mouth…I took detente!

For the time being this will prevent the rest of the rival landowners from ganging up and killing me…I am already numerically out flanked by a ratio of 70/1. In terms of resources, I am out gunned by 1/800…the only bargaining chip i have to play with is my reputation…I am known as the battleship Bismarck…I have this remarkable reputation of being able to take on larger foes and leave them bloodied. Many a time I have gone into the ring under such terms and despite the bleak prospects I have always managed to pull a rabbit out of hat to save my own skin while leaving the opposition on the floor for the count.

But let us be realistic reputations only have so much mileage…beyond a certain point they become a joke!

For the time being I will accept the terms….i will keep a low profile for the rest of this year. Once I feel comfortable. I will start to kick up a fuss about how the field is tilted against me along with gripe about how i have been discriminated no end…blah blah blah. It is a story most of my enemies already know by heart.

Thereafter i will take more land under the aegis of self determination and the overwhelming need to protect my economic interest….this I will do eventually.

But for the time being since so many of the other landowners are eyeing me suspiciously…I will keep my nose clean and move quietly into this designated zone that has been prepared for me. When I am in this glass prison….I will be a very good, obedient and polite boy. I know how to pretend to do all this very well. I will lull them all into a false sense of confidence and security and when they feel they have ‘control’ over me…at that very moment…I will turn around and strike them like a cobra!

All warfare is based on deception!

—————————————————————————–

Why edwin tong and shanmugum are as relevant as used tampons

Because at the end of the day…you can certainly win all the battles…but that is very different from winning the war…they are not nearly the same thing. Let me put it this way…what if multinationals who hire people dont nearly believe in your world view of how you see the entire issue of fake news?

What if they even disagree with what is between your head to such an extent where their board of directors all give you the thumbs down and some of them even mind showing you their crack hole?

Think!

Now do you understand why and how you are simply a very small and insignificant component in the scheme of things…comimg to think of it…Singapore is so very small that it is even dispensable economically to the digital economy.

Let me cut to the bone. When people who manage corporations do not believe in your worldview. They will not create jobs to hire Singaporeans….let me put it this way, so that you will understand the mathematics of necessity very clearly. They will not invest in Singapore….so as you can see what you consider right is actually worthless….please dont get angry with me….I am merely a messenger.

—————————————————————————–

‘They could have brought people together…they could even have created such a thing known as common ground. But instead they came across as divisive, insecure and immature…in other words they behaved exactly like children juggling hand grenades….and what you must understand is many people are watching all this….and some of them are not just simple farmers picking off ticks from a dog in the evening like moir. I want to be very clear so that we both understand there is actually such a thing as a free economy of consensus and perhaps even discuss if we have more time how equilibrium of thoughts and states of mind can have a real world impact. Some of them might even own and perhaps even manage substantial stock holdings in tech firms that have the power to set the instructional and directional aspects of where the entire industry is going..some of them might even harbor such a thing as the valecdorian belief that they can make a better world for people and planet…and what you must understand is when these people do not agree with some of the views expressed or take issue with how the entire review was undertaken. Then they will cut you off….understand this clearly because you will never get such candor from the strait times…that is to say, you win all the battles…but you still manage to do the impossible…you lose the war!’

Dinner in the field

Removing the mask of the man

Each and everyone of us…you,me..they…we all wear a mask like we wear clothes whenever we go out before the world. That is because from a very young age we have been scripted to believe this is the way we should be..if we do not want to experience undue complications in life….this is how we would do well to respond…IF we want to be well received, respected and nourished by others. This and that is what we must strive for…IF we want others to look up to us.

All these requirements impose upon us the obligation to wear a mask….but there comes a point in a man and woman’s life, when he and she needs to remove it…without removing the mask. There is no possible way to gainfully make progress.

——————————————————————————

‘Most men and women know themselves. Or that is at least what they tell everyone when the subject turns to how well do you know yourself? But for me I have always experienced a deep dissonance between who I really am and what the world wants me to be…that is to say there has always been the idea of duality within the concept of oneness that is me. I am very conscious of this world that is actually the one that I know and that other world that I have to function and live in to gainfully pay the bills etc etc.

But to really know this world that is mine and the world that I have to make peace with…I really need to create a third world. Please bear with me…the idea of the space that lies between this two worlds…yes even there, there is a world.

But to find it one must first renounce everything from this world and that other world to journey into that other realm.

This is why when people look at the way I live my life and they realize that live all alone in the wild. At first they are quite surprised…they often ask. Arent you afraid to live in the wilderness all by yourself? I for my part always feel a keen sense of irony whenever I hear this…as somewhere at the back of my head. I can’t help but wonder why these same people who ask me these sort of questions dont seem to fear that they have to live with people all the time…so much so that they are always sorrounded by people, that the idea of being alone is completely alien.’

Only autistic people know how to take care of autistic folk

I know this sounds very controversial….but I believe it to be 110% true. One day I will return back to Singapore after selling off all my lands. I will negotiate with AVA, LTA and the NPB to long lease land that I believe to be suitable for agricultural and livestock.

I will create a world within a world for autistic folk….where we can work, live, play and eventually die with dignity and felicity…I will create a world where autistic parents and caregivers can give me their children with an open heart and died in peace…if for any reason they feel tortured and stressed, we will take their child in and I will raise him or her as one of my own.

I will run this place as a profitable plantation, we will focus on organic produce and given my remarkable business acumen I have no doubt that I will give the chemical supermarketers such as NTUC, Seng Siong, Giant et al a decent run for the buck…we will all be very happy as we are one happy family.

The end of the road

My relationship with some rival landowners has steadily deteriorated within the last two years. There seems to be no end to this expensive and protracted cold war.

The problem can be summed up as follows – they want me to conform to A,B and C. But since A,B and C makes as much sense as eating my boots….I dowan lah.

Cut to the chase. I have reconciled myself with what will have to come to past….within two years. I will be either gunned down, framed under trumped up charges or just end up dead.

That is life….

—————————————————————————–

‘Back then when I was a kid. The thoughtware on autism was virtually non existent. Not even adults knew much about it. As for kids and their parents, they probably thought it was something like the common flu that could spread just being near to someone who behaved weird all the time. So i was never allowed to eat my lunch in the canteen like other boys. I had to settle for the yard….but one day it got so hot under the blazing sun that I thought maybe my nasi lemak would wash down easier with the help of some grape flavored fanta. So i sat down. Not long thereafter someone beat me up and this would happen for nearly a whole month. Till at some point everyone just left me alone PROVIDING i kept to this one table faraway from the rest. But the problem was this table had no fan and with just 30 cents to go around. I couldn’t drink fanta everyday only on alternats days. So i decided to move to a table underneath a fan and again some of the boys would beat the shit out of me and again this would go right on for a whole month. But eventually everyone left me be….so there is a moral to this story and it is simply this – if you dont take yourself seriously ,then the chances are…no one will take you seriously either and that whole process that I have just describe for lack of a better word will always be dangerous….that is why you have to be very mindful of men who choose to live dangerously.’

The man who knows only his version of the ‘truth’

Last week i had a frank meeting with a landowner whose plantation was not doing too well. The objective of the meet was for me to conduct a lightning assessment of his plantation management team.

After two days and a bit of being a fly on the wall. I told the board of directors that even if they engaged me as a consultant, it is very unlikely that i would be able to alter the inevitable outcome of the plantations impending doom.

When the patriach asked me whether my disinterest had anything to do with my fees…I said no. When he asked why i felt their plantation was doomed and that nothing could be done to reverse the rot…i made a rather strange request to walk around the grounds with the patriach. Since everyone knows me to be slightly autistic in the plantation world. They obliged me. When i was alone with the old man and he asked why my ten year prognosis of their family business was so dismal….I told him frankly, the problem is you…you only want to hear your version of the truth that has nothing whatsoever to do with the truth…and because of this corrosive culture everyone who works for you is a replica of how you choose to see the world and everything in it.

The old man clenched his fist….hissed…how dare you! I leaned forward and whispered, my words are painful, but always remember i speak only the truth.

When i drove off i could hear the faint cursing of the old man…soon the jungle swallowed it in one gulp.

——————————————————————————-

‘I think to make the most out of life. Its very important to elect to remain soft, flexible and open….the problem is, its easier said than done. During my replanting in the middle of last year. I was in a heated debate with a couple of planters on how to resolve an issue. Suddenly the surveyors girl who is responsible for making sure everyone has the right blue prints said something…naturally most of the other planters ignored her. For one she is not even in the quorum. As for another she doesnt have the prestige and experience of many of these planters and this is an important point. Because plantations is a very male and macho driven business process. Alot of weightage is given to field experience. So much so, its rare for younger people to ever challenge an experienced planter….its just not done.

But on that occasion I insisted that the rest bear what this young lady had to share. And at the end of it what she recommended was actually put into action….so there you have it. Its something that today I look at with a mix of curiousity and fascination. Because firstly, its unlikely to ever come from me and secondly it works.

I guess what I am trying to say is one has to be incredibly careful not to inadvertently shut out the field of possibilities just because we dont like to hear what others may have to say. Or how they may view their objects of interest to form an opinion….if that is really the case, then we are to blame and not others!

Infact if we should where possible cultivate the counter response of giving respect to what they may have to share and bear out patiently what they have to share. Maybe…just maybe if we do just that, we might be able to see the world slightly differently from the way we have always seen it and that is not such a bad thing…not at all.

After all there are so many truths and they all belong to all of us and not just one man.’

Kung Po Chicken

Ling Ngau Tong

Many people have commented that I look very young despite my advanced vintage…that I must say is certainly very true. I don’t like to admit it – but it is what it is… One reason is because I much prefer soup to a full rice and meat meal. I usually start the day with a thermos of clear soup. Lunch is usually very light on the rice and meat, but I always make it a point to finish another thermos of soup.

I own two thermos that I fill up with soup every day without fail. I will usually cook my soup using a magic cooker just before I sleep, it is a thermal cooker, when I wake up…like magic, everything is good to go!

The recipe above is good to go! Just add a dried squid to bump up the flavor. If its a rainy day and cold, I usually lace it with a double brandy in the thermos to keep the chills away from my bones.

Global conspiracy of coffee barons

I happen to know a whole lot about growing coffee to know a scam when I come across one…these days due to the perenial failure of arabica coffee crops. The global conspiracist, the coffee traders and their apparachik co conspirators have been silently trying to brain wash consumers Robusta beans offer greater range of flavor and taste to Arabica beans….they, (the manipulators, who call themselves public relations consultants) accomplish this Byzantine feat by adding all kinds of shit into coffee that subtley alters the elemental flavor of coffee…everything from whipped cream, nuts to green tea….in five to ten years…no one will ever know what real coffee taste like…no one…bullshit lah!

From today onwards. I am going to set aside some land and grow my own fucking coffee!

Anyone who wants to buy from me is more than welcome to drop me a line.

The origins of fake news

Nothing in Russia is ever real. You and I don’t realize this….but that is only because we don’t see things unfolding like a Russian from the inside out. We have to tendency to place our faith in the idea that the key to power is economic and technological strength….and now we may have even dabbled with the idea….providing we keep close to the kosher truth and nothing but the truth that would by itself be enough to insulate us from the malevolence and feral vagaries of the world.

But thinking like that is to deny the idea of what conditions created fake news. And this is where we come back to Russia again. Specifically Russia thru the eye of Putin. Russia’s economy is not big and they don’t really leverage enough on innovation to make serious money, but there’s one thing that Russians have always done exceedingly well and they have even led the world in that field and that is the psychology of power and politics.

Psychological warfare is essentially a Russian creature. One simply has to read Dostoevsky to understand how nuanced the Russian perspective of the mind can be….its multi layered and complex.

Throughout the Cold War, Russia was always better than any other spy ring when it came to infiltrating their enemies and dividing them. Rather than resorting to brute strenght, they would work quietly from behind the scene to undermine and eventually destroy. They excelled at turning people against each other.

The only reason why the soviet union collapsed was because they were lured by the west into a war of economics and technology that eventually led to attrition and the inevitable demiss of the soviet union – it was a material war of attrition.

After the epic collapse of the USSR. Putin himself blamed both Gorbachev and Yeltsin for being lured into this material conflict that could only have led to the demise of the Soviet empire. Thereafter we moved into a different world, a world of perpetual shifting perceptions defined not only by the internet, but how truths can be manufactured to fulfill the specific purpose of keeping the elites in power. The techniques which they used ironically had been sharpened not in the information technology era. Rather this arcanum was a throw back from the past that even predated the new digital world – it was the construct of information warfare that went back to the inception of the communist party.

Today no one really knows what is happening in Russia….or for that matter any where else in the whole wide world.

Ministerial committee on LKY’s house

If the ministerial committee to look into what to do with LKY’s house is going to be organized along the same vision and goals as the parliamentary committee which was set up to examine possible legislation to combat “fake news”….then it is best not to even have such a committee.

The catasthropic success of the select committee on false news merely confirmed everyone’s latent belief that government was not interested in soliciting the views of stakeholders. Instead of being a professional mission orientated outfit that kept religiously to the rigor of its terms of reference. The select committee came across as over bearing, manipulative and chronically tangential despite many who perservered to engage the committee in good faith. Instead they were railroaded by corsetted yes or no replies, insulted, harassed, threatened and misrepresented.

If its going to be that way better not proceed with the committee to look into what to do with LKY’s house….all it would really do is bring loads of grief.

—————————————————————————–

‘If you hang a sign out before the public square that reads, seeking to understand X,Y or Z and you want to engage the public in a process of enquiry. But you start by laying ground rules where participants can only consider this and not that and demand that they only limit their answers to only yes or no and on top of that you treat them all like shit…dont be surprised one day should you hang a sign out again. No one will ever come. That’s maybe another way of saying, no one owes you a living.’