Kirsten Han tries to criticise Singapore, but falls flat on her face.

[steffychun]

interested in attacking Singapore in this sensitive time. Within 3 weeks the publisher released three hit pieces, two authored by none other but Kirsten Han - one in WaPo itself and now one in Foreign Policy - which is owned by the same company (it's a really poor smokescreen...). What's next? Newsweek? Slate?

I'm going to deal with WaPo in another article - for now let's focus on the millennial do-gooder, Kirsten Han.

You might be forgiven for thinking that she's one of those crazed peace-loving hippies who simply want the world to be a "better place" - even if she has few skills in making a meaningful, positive change. It's a disease afflicting much of the left side of the political spectrum, full of people with big egos and even bigger mouths, but few skills to match them.

As it is usually the case, a closer look reveals not a warm-hearted activist fighting for the underprivileged but a ruthlessly cynical ideologue, pursuing her goals by all means necessary.

Unsurprisingly, then, there's one theme that characterizes Kirsten's "career" - betrayal.

-------- 1. Betraying her country.

First and foremost, she betrayed Singapore. It's one thing to have different views on political and social matters, and campaign for a change you believe in. This is perfectly normal and by no means banned or discouraged in the tropical city-state. After all, not everybody thinks or is forced to think alike even within the ruling PAP.

But it's an entirely different matter to rely on hefty foreign donations and suspect foreign media coverage to attack your homeland in the middle of a global pandemic. Not to mention sucking up to Mahathir in the middle of a series of conflicts between Malaysia and Singapore last year, just to keep your Malaysian-registered NGO afloat.

Incidentally, that's when Kirsten committed betrayal no. 2:

-------- 2. Betraying her (supposed) ideals.

Kirsten's 'New Naratif' (that she departed in April to focus on Singaporean affairs - likely due to the coming GE) bills itself as a, quote: "movement for democracy, freedom of information, and freedom of expression in Southeast Asia".

Which of these is Mahathir exactly a paragon of?

In their blind quest to trash Singapore she and her companions went as far as kowtow to Malaysian politicians who have enormously worse track record of civilized governance than the peaceful beacon of prosperity that the Lion City is.

So, what are all those slogans about civil liberties and democracy worth now, exactly? It's pretty clear they're just that - slogans, a facade hiding rather dubious intentions behind.

Surprisingly, however, Kirsten's cynicism doesn't end there.

-------- 3. Betraying the weak, poor, underprivileged.

Here we arrive at the latest shameless hatchet job someone generously allowed her to publish in Foreign Policy - for reasons that are quite suspect, considering the coming GE.

"Singapore Is Trying to Forget Migrant Workers Are People" - really?

Show me how migrant workers live in Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand - or any other Southeast Asian state for that matter. Or better yet - go global, show me which country cares more about its migrant workers than Singapore?

Kirsten doesn't give a damn about migrants - all she cares about is the spin on the story that she can use to assault the country and its government ahead of the elections.

She announced her departure from New Naratif a week after Electoral Boundaries Review Committee released its report. It's quite clear that her newfound dedication to Singapore and Singaporean affairs only is ideological and political in nature - and that, on its own, wouldn't be particularly wrong.

But, again, it's an entirely different affair when you're enlisting foreign support, leveraging foreign media outlets to attack your own country in the middle of the worst pandemic in 100 years only because it's expedient to your neo-Marxist cause - while, simultaneously, abandoning all those impoverished, suffering millions who really could use some aid from the self-professed activists right now.

Kirsten and her pals were happy to use them when it was beneficial to make bold claims how they want to change Southeast Asia - but now, as millions of migrants in Thailand or Malaysia are facing unemployment, poverty, lockdowns depriving them of basic necessities, the "do-gooders" from New Naratif prefer to pummel the only country that actually takes care of its foreign workers.

Their blind political ambitions that aim to blow up the most successful Southeast Asian state are simply too important for them to care about the ongoing plight of millions just around them.

New Naratif is based in KL and yet not a single word was published about the Selangor Mansion? About the Malayan Mansion? Here's something from The Star on "Mansions of Filth": https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2020/04/20/mansions-of-filth

Try searching for any article or blog post that would lament the terrible conditions that migrant workers have to endure in KL or pretty much everywhere else in the region of 650 million people - nothing.

To Kirsten and NN they DO NOT EXIST.

Conceited, duplicitous activists have just made them the "untouchables", the Dalits of the pandemic, the ones you don't speak about, the ones who are not human enough to mention because it would upset the ideological narrative Kirsten and friends are peddling.

And then she dares to write how Singapore "is trying to forget migrant workers are human". Check your own memory first, Kirsten. You have conveniently "forgotten" about millions around you - including the country New Naratif is registered in - only so you can keep throwing punches at Singapore.

But I understand, of course - writing about them not only does not present an opportunity to lash out against the city-state - but, even "worse", it would entirely vindicate it!

All of a sudden Singaporean dorms with cinemas, gyms and catering would look like hotels in comparison to anything found just across the northern border (or anywhere else). This, of course, cannot be allowed - the focus of every "article" should be on assailing the rich city-state and its authorities as driven by greed to supposedly dehumanize and oppress the poor migrants - even though no other country comes close in providing comparable quality of living standards they enjoy here.

Turns out that the "New Naratif", and people associated with it, really is only about "narrative", little else. Anti-capitalist, left wing neo-Marxism masquerading as "progressivism".

Kirsten and her partners intentionally marginalize problems in other countries as it would not aid their mission to crack Singapore. They are happy to cynically betray anybody and anything to succeed at that.

To that end they've allied with authoritarians, they've taken foreign funds and now even blacked out the suffering of millions in SEA - just when they need support the most.

Democracy? Civil liberties? Combating poverty? Who has time for these when you can devote yourself to screwing Singapore ahead of the election?

After all, with their "activism" that never actually changes anything, the poor (that they shamelessly lean on to claim moral superiority) are still going to be there after the votes in Singapore are cast.

 

[nightsafari]

@Annunaki ! lai, I think someone talking about your favourite subject.

 

[A Singaporean]

Fuck Singapore any time.

 

[Xisiqomelir]

Fuck Singapore any time.

+1

OP it does not matter to us if Kirsten is a fatty bu SPG who sucks AMDK.

I will encourage even the worst of people so long as they bash the PAPpies.

 

[horny]

Who is she????

 

[knowwhatyouwantinlife]

Please dont upload such self rhetorical garbage from someone who feels sugar is her best friend

 

[knowwhatyouwantinlife]

*Interesting viewpoint abt S'pore & the people's response to Covid-19 immigrant workers' plight*

This point of view is from a Polish PR in S'pore:

There are very few people who annoy me more than all the "caring" do-gooders crawling out of the woodwork to preach and parade their moral superiority whenever some crisis happens.

Years have gone by but now, all of a sudden, dorms for migrant workers in Singapore are a huge problem. Right.

Well, let me put this quite straight - save for a tiny, tiny group of activists nobody gave a damn about how low-wage workers live, what they do, eat, where they go to the toilet until the press showed a few photos of a bunch of bunk beds.

Sadly, the side effect of existence of social media is that it provides an outlet for all the armchair preachers to voice their ever growing list of demands. As usual, it follows the same style - government should do this, government should do that - it should do everything! Heal the sick, hire the jobless, anticipate disasters, prevent diseases, build comfortable homes for migrant workers and so on.

Basically, when you run through the list of demands voiced by people on various occasions, the government should provide everybody with everything - a job, a house, good holidays, education, full healthcare coverage, pensions, food and good mood. Now these demands extend onto the foreign workers that some feel bad about - and so to feel good about themselves they have to pin the blame on someone.

Let's make something else clear too - one of the reasons why Singaporean government can throw S$60 billion in to prop up the economy this year, is that it has for decades been able to employ relatively cheap foreign labor and save billions of dollars on building roads, subways, apartment buildings that it then passes for good investment to GIC (+ make some more from levies collected for their employment).

Every billion saved turns into $1.7 billion over 10 years, at nominal 5.5% annual return from GIC. Over 20 years it becomes nearly $3 billion, over 30 it's $5 billion. So $10 billion turns into 50, 100 turns into 500.

Some cry out - "it's EXPLOITATION! It's all built on the back-breaking work of the poor migrants! Singapore should be ashamed of itself!"

Really? Show me how good low-wage laborers have it elsewhere, first, perhaps?.

Nobody is actually forcing them to come to Singapore. They do because it's a good deal for them - much better than relying on meager paychecks in India, Bangladesh or wherever. They came to the city-state because they wanted to - and because it was a good opportunity for them.

It's not slavery, nobody smuggled them in a cargo container here, taking away their passports and forcing them into hard labor for a bowl of soup.

They make decent money which they send back home, supporting their families and even their entire countries. It's a free market win-win situation, where everybody gets what they wanted.

Nobody promised them comforts, though - they have come here to work, not to reside. They've been hired for specific jobs that the city needs done. With scarce land Singapore cannot afford to build entire towns for non-residents occupying the lowest layers on the social ladder. The only reason this arrangement works is because they work here but ultimately will move to live where they came from.

As a result not only is there no alternative to dorms - they are actually serving their purpose very well.

Of course, it may be discussed whether some additional comforts are needed - more toilets, a bit more space here and there, fewer beds in a single room etc. But the inescapable reality is that the only way for the system to work is to house workers together.

Land is scarce in Singapore. At 300,000 people the dorm population is on par with the biggest planning areas in the country - like Bedok, Jurong West or Tampines. Even if you wanted to give each person a room of their own it would increase the space currently needed by 5-10 times. You can build upwards, of course, but then you require greater investment in construction and maintenance of lifts, of sewage, roads that can handle traffic and so on.

5-10 times the space means pretty much 5-10 times the cost. Add greater sophistication to the mix and the factor goes only higher. As it does for regular expenses on utilities and maintenance.

And because the land is in fixed - and very low - supply, then to accomplish that the government would have to sacrifice space for local citizens and their children.

There's no magic solution, these things add up to absolutely humongous costs borne by the entire population of the city - and could very well eradicate all the benefits coming from savings on labor in the first place.

And now the current system also has - as I wrote in the post yesterday - proved to shield the local population from the spread of a serious disease.

Let's ask a simple question - if not dorms, then what?

It's quite clear that providing FWs with something like an HDB apartment is not possible - after all, locals pay good money to live in them themselves. So, what would happen if these dorms were not provided? What would happen if we simply left it to the free market?

Well, it doesn't take long to find an answer - just look at how foreign migrants live in the West. Eastern Europeans who flooded UK, France or Germany after EU expanded east in 2004 usually rent apartments between several people - as many as 5 or 10, just to save on the rental expenses and maximize savings.

In other words, the main motivation of the low-wage workers is to maximize their financial gains at the expense of personal comforts - it happens quite naturally, whether the government is involved or not. Only in this case they would be distributed among the local population, yet still living in dorm-like conditions that they've created for themselves to save money.

In case of an outbreak such as this, they would still be at a much higher risk of transmission - only this time they would be in frequent and direct contact with other residents. Instead of an isolated outbreak in dedicated housing facilities it would end in a national pandemic that would be impossible to contain quickly in a handful of known locations - as it has been now.

So, you can parade your compassion all you want but the uncomfortable facts are simple - housing foreign workers in dedicated compounds:
A. Makes financial sense.
B. Provides them with basic necessities to do jobs they signed up for willingly.
C. Prevented a far broader spread of Covid-19.

Of course taking good care of them to day is an important and simply "right" thing to do, for all the valuable services they provide for the nation.

But don't let emotions cloud your judgment: they came here to make money - and Singapore hired them to save some. And both sides agreed to the deal that serves its purposes for everyone involved

 

[knowwhatyouwantinlife]

In summary.. karma

 

[Pinkieslut]

*Interesting viewpoint abt S'pore & the people's response to Covid-19 immigrant workers' plight*

This point of view is from a Polish PR in S'pore:

There are very few people who annoy me more than all the "caring" do-gooders crawling out of the woodwork to preach and parade their moral superiority whenever some crisis happens.

Years have gone by but now, all of a sudden, dorms for migrant workers in Singapore are a huge problem. Right.

Well, let me put this quite straight - save for a tiny, tiny group of activists nobody gave a damn about how low-wage workers live, what they do, eat, where they go to the toilet until the press showed a few photos of a bunch of bunk beds.

Sadly, the side effect of existence of social media is that it provides an outlet for all the armchair preachers to voice their ever growing list of demands. As usual, it follows the same style - government should do this, government should do that - it should do everything! Heal the sick, hire the jobless, anticipate disasters, prevent diseases, build comfortable homes for migrant workers and so on.

Basically, when you run through the list of demands voiced by people on various occasions, the government should provide everybody with everything - a job, a house, good holidays, education, full healthcare coverage, pensions, food and good mood. Now these demands extend onto the foreign workers that some feel bad about - and so to feel good about themselves they have to pin the blame on someone.

Let's make something else clear too - one of the reasons why Singaporean government can throw S$60 billion in to prop up the economy this year, is that it has for decades been able to employ relatively cheap foreign labor and save billions of dollars on building roads, subways, apartment buildings that it then passes for good investment to GIC (+ make some more from levies collected for their employment).

Every billion saved turns into $1.7 billion over 10 years, at nominal 5.5% annual return from GIC. Over 20 years it becomes nearly $3 billion, over 30 it's $5 billion. So $10 billion turns into 50, 100 turns into 500.

Some cry out - "it's EXPLOITATION! It's all built on the back-breaking work of the poor migrants! Singapore should be ashamed of itself!"

Really? Show me how good low-wage laborers have it elsewhere, first, perhaps?.

Nobody is actually forcing them to come to Singapore. They do because it's a good deal for them - much better than relying on meager paychecks in India, Bangladesh or wherever. They came to the city-state because they wanted to - and because it was a good opportunity for them.

It's not slavery, nobody smuggled them in a cargo container here, taking away their passports and forcing them into hard labor for a bowl of soup.

They make decent money which they send back home, supporting their families and even their entire countries. It's a free market win-win situation, where everybody gets what they wanted.

Nobody promised them comforts, though - they have come here to work, not to reside. They've been hired for specific jobs that the city needs done. With scarce land Singapore cannot afford to build entire towns for non-residents occupying the lowest layers on the social ladder. The only reason this arrangement works is because they work here but ultimately will move to live where they came from.

As a result not only is there no alternative to dorms - they are actually serving their purpose very well.

Of course, it may be discussed whether some additional comforts are needed - more toilets, a bit more space here and there, fewer beds in a single room etc. But the inescapable reality is that the only way for the system to work is to house workers together.

Land is scarce in Singapore. At 300,000 people the dorm population is on par with the biggest planning areas in the country - like Bedok, Jurong West or Tampines. Even if you wanted to give each person a room of their own it would increase the space currently needed by 5-10 times. You can build upwards, of course, but then you require greater investment in construction and maintenance of lifts, of sewage, roads that can handle traffic and so on.

5-10 times the space means pretty much 5-10 times the cost. Add greater sophistication to the mix and the factor goes only higher. As it does for regular expenses on utilities and maintenance.

And because the land is in fixed - and very low - supply, then to accomplish that the government would have to sacrifice space for local citizens and their children.

There's no magic solution, these things add up to absolutely humongous costs borne by the entire population of the city - and could very well eradicate all the benefits coming from savings on labor in the first place.

And now the current system also has - as I wrote in the post yesterday - proved to shield the local population from the spread of a serious disease.

Let's ask a simple question - if not dorms, then what?

It's quite clear that providing FWs with something like an HDB apartment is not possible - after all, locals pay good money to live in them themselves. So, what would happen if these dorms were not provided? What would happen if we simply left it to the free market?

Well, it doesn't take long to find an answer - just look at how foreign migrants live in the West. Eastern Europeans who flooded UK, France or Germany after EU expanded east in 2004 usually rent apartments between several people - as many as 5 or 10, just to save on the rental expenses and maximize savings.

In other words, the main motivation of the low-wage workers is to maximize their financial gains at the expense of personal comforts - it happens quite naturally, whether the government is involved or not. Only in this case they would be distributed among the local population, yet still living in dorm-like conditions that they've created for themselves to save money.

In case of an outbreak such as this, they would still be at a much higher risk of transmission - only this time they would be in frequent and direct contact with other residents. Instead of an isolated outbreak in dedicated housing facilities it would end in a national pandemic that would be impossible to contain quickly in a handful of known locations - as it has been now.

So, you can parade your compassion all you want but the uncomfortable facts are simple - housing foreign workers in dedicated compounds:
A. Makes financial sense.
B. Provides them with basic necessities to do jobs they signed up for willingly.
C. Prevented a far broader spread of Covid-19.

Of course taking good care of them to day is an important and simply "right" thing to do, for all the valuable services they provide for the nation.

But don't let emotions cloud your judgment: they came here to make money - and Singapore hired them to save some. And both sides agreed to the deal that serves its purposes for everyone involved

kudos.

just look at how they are treated in their home cuntry

 

[steffychun]

Who is she????

She's a pig.

 

[Sibei YanDao]

Why she don’t run for elections? Can whack all she want

 

[laksaboy]

Libtards love to virtue signal, especially when it comes to the 'underprivileged' and the 'minorities'.

It's their habit, and their nature.

 

[steffychun]

Why she don’t run for elections? Can whack all she want

Who wants her as your MP?

 

[Sibei YanDao]

Who wants her as your MP?

She Pui Pui Tuk tuk , a sign of prosperity so very good as MP

 

[steffychun]

She Pui Pui Tuk tuk , a sign of prosperity so very good as MP

So you want her?

 

[Annunaki]

Marxist SPG Kirsten han is suspending all samsters freedom of speech and expression and will be asking Shanmugam to POFMA this thread!