Keep Earth green and clean

In bali rampant use of nonbiodegradable plastic is hearttbreaking to see plastic rubbish floating.Bali needs a better waste management system before its scenic beauty is marred by waste pollution.
  Its so much an uplifting experience to see herds of wild dolphins happily leaping out of the ocean.But sad to see grossly obese monkeys fed on junk food.A huge obese monkey with a big fat belly was happily munching on salty potato chips given by irresponsible tourists.I saw many overweight, apes too lazy to climb up trees to forage for food and taking easy way out by begging for food.

     The time spent in nature is soothing and calming.The salty tangy sea air,the glorious sunsets ,waves lashing the shore are what makes one feel so alive.After parasailing,I tried ocean walking and love sensation of fish nibbling the bread from my hands;I was thrilled to see clown fish and sea anemone.An unforgetabble experience.No time for river rafting or trekking as distances are far and schedule tight.Incredible to view kecak dance with 1,900 visitors from all corners of the world.here in Bali cultural ritual is a part of daily life as we view a thanksgiving ritual by Bedugul lake.Little packs of flowers are placed at altars.

isolation from the global institutions is shooting oneself on the foot

China made a mistake in the past with its closed door policy to isolate itselffrom foreign influences.It to a decline in scientific and technological innovations and lower standard of living.
              Realising it had to compete at international level,it decided to become a global palyer under Deng Xiao Peng's economic liberalization experiments in the special economic zones.
                In the 1990s,China under the leadership of Zhu RongJi wasdetermined to get into the WTO.Zhu famously said."I've prepared 100 coffins,99 for corrupt official and one for myself." It's hard to think of a more courageous statement.Clinton despite all his fine rhetoric about keeping the world open couldnt match Zhu's courage.
                 The fundamental reason that China and America have been goingb on in opposite directions is because the Chinese triedthe isolated Middle Kingdom" approach.it failed It made China weak.China now wants to engage the world and its international organizations.
              The contrasting attitudes of America and China to international treaties and conventions and international organizations may surprise a lay reader.Much of the international fabric that provided the foundation for these treaties and organizations rested on ideas generated in theUS.Yet China has a better track record than America in the field of ratifying international treaties and conventions as well as joining international organizations.China has signed and ratified international agreements the US has refused to sign or ratify including the Biodiversity Convention,The Kyoto Protocol on Climate,the Hazardous Wastes Convention,and the law of the Sea treaty.By contrast,while China has been embracing the WTO and opening itself up to more international trade,American policymakers have progressively turned away from the WTO even though the WTO is essentially an American creation.It has not ratified the TPP which Obama had been pushing as a multilateral trading system and oushing for unilateralism.
             America suffers from three systemic challenges:groupthink,the erosion of individual responsibility and an inability to see how its abuse of power has contributed to many of the problems it now confronts abroad.many Americans are oblivious to the structural failures within their system of governance(dominated by special interests,(their social contract)-characterised by a widening gap between rich and poor and their response to globalisation (increased protectionism)Deep structural reforms are necessary in America to avert an inevitable failure.Tom Friedman states "Our country faces  a big choice right now.We can either have a hard decade or a bad century"
                                            The Great Convergence
                                            Author"Kishore Mahbubani

Disposable income

Growth will be driven by domestic demand in future in China.Chart by OECD countries in 2017 compares a few industrialised nations middle class disposable incomes in 2017.Standing out is China's urban cities at more that 6.5 compared to Japan at  0.8,Germany at 1.7,the US at 2.3,the UK at negative0.2.The Chinese statistic between 2015 and 2030 sees a drastic rise by 2xin disposable incomes of the elite upper class from 3 to 7,the upper middle class and the middle class.Poverty in the low class is reduced a lot too.So growth can still be consumer driven in China.
           In developed nations,student loan,mortagage and car repayment and high medical burden cuts away the reserve of liquidity and disposable incomes of the middle class.
          The demand for electronic and cars will skyrocket when disposable incomes in rural regions of China increase.There is still inequality in distribution in urban areas like Shanghai,Beijing,Zhejiang and Guangzhou surpassing areas in Yunnan,Guishou and etc.
    Still there is need to look at household indebtedness figures before any conclusion can be made.

movies

There seems to be a lot of superhero movies being churned out.Is that a sign that when reality sucks,people turn to fantasy for a feelgood factor.But I still prefer indie movies or documentaries.Movies from India are so entertaining so it's not the big names or fancy CGI that counts but the plot and characterisation.
            Although the clothing,and lifestyle are distinctively Indian but the human angle in the story can be easily identifiable by all of usThe themes of struggles,challenging the status quo,love of family and etc are so relatable to us.
          When we are laughing at the characters,we are also holding a mirror to ourselves and being able to laugh at our own faults and weakness is a sign of a healthy and self confident personality who is not ashame to admit his or her flaws for that is what makes us humans.
       Sometimes,when i take a step back and meditate,the journey of self discovery is so enlightening.I'm a louder than life person and make no apologies for talking and laughing loudly.Im not a shy violet or wallflower.But when I hear my son trying to hush me down by saying "don't talk or laugh so loudly mom,people are looking!" "Sonny, let them look all they want.I must have been a laugh out loud comedian in my past life".Just walk 10 steps behind and pretend you don't know me.
            It had been a hell of a ride to be your mom.I've done the mummy thing and now it's time for me to try new experiences.just dont expect me to be your free nanny to your kids and call me only if your kids answer you back or break your curfew rules.Then I'll pass some tips to you.
         

One man show

When my only colleague changed from teaching to another profession,I was left high and dry as a one woman show.But I began to appreciate the freedom to teach four classes using my own methodology.The international syllabus gave me freedom to vary my coursework evaluation so that I could introduce poetry writing and reading,writing of storyboard and scripts,project work of short movies and documentaries,review of feature films,making collage as representation of themes.I believe in educating and teaching of diverse characters from different socioeconomic backgrounds so that there is no one size fits all solution.
            I've to observe student behaviour,get feedback and devise lessons that will scaffold step by step towards instilling attitudes and building up skills in editing software,improvisation etc so that they learn to build teamwork and trust.With standardised lessons,we have uniformity in pace of teaching among the four classes but people don't learn in the same way and at the same rate.For the restless class,I devise movement exercises ,for the competitive class,quizzes and contests,for the weaker classes,remedial work to reinforce basic skills.So to make all classes being taught in the same way and the same pace assumes that learners absorb information in same way and so a cookie cutter approach makes lessons dull and repetitive.I like being a maverick teacher and buckle the trend
             My approach is to work on social skills as well as EQ.In this I feel drama and play with movement is important because after 4 straight hours of sitting still,the brains suffer a mental shutdown and I'm teaching zombies with brains somewhere in outerspace.
            As a language class,I prefer an interactive,noisy,participative class rather than a quiet,passive one.Sometimes there should be jokes and laughter,another time the excitement of running to the finishing line to complete a task,sometimes there is singing and sometimes there is heated debate.
          I'm a firm believer in role play and understanding current affairs to make a well rounded person.Sue Jennings work on neuro-dramatic play is really relevant in resolving a lot of emotional problems in teenagers.The creative arts has been neglected in schools when neuro dramatic play and embodiment projection role are as Sue Jennnings put it important in developing core competencies like: "establish healthy attachments,develop trust,creates confidence in the body self,facilitates growth of empathy,encourage resilience and maintains emotional literacy."
           These are life skills important in mental health so that the child or teenagers knows how to seek help to pull themselves out of depression and mental disorders at a period of hormonal challenges and trying to find self identity.
         It would be great if I can access her reading references here.The book I'm dying to read is Gerhardt,A,et al(2014) Why Love Matters .Hove:Routledge and Jennings,S(2013) Activities for Managing Challenging Behaviour.Buckingham:Hinton House.
            We can never really understand someone until we've walked a mile in their shoes.
So when we see a student struggling with schoolwork,I believe we should befriend them so that they see that we are not punitive and hostile but really care for their emotional and social development.To bar teachers from interacting with students outside the classroom limits our ability to intervene nd help students with challenging issues.It's through sports activities,drama activities or class trips that we can establish trust and rapport with the students.We should never take over the parental role but acts as an extra support system to these kids.
       My first school was a fully residential school in which all activities and tuition was preplanned and decision making taken out of the kids hands.They would grow up with no initiative and have an "self entitlement" attitude.My second school had students from different socio economic backgrounds and races.I empower the kids to initiate projects,seek their own funding and carry out activities without constant monitoring by me.i only step in if they are in serious trouble.The kids in this environment are resourceful and self reliant besides taking initiative without being prompted.
       When we did folk dancing and lacked a stage,wooden tables with wobbly legs or slightly damagedones  were used by kemahiran students to be recycled into a stage.Legs were sawn off to the same height,cheap planks placed on the table tops and covered with old carpets to became a make do stage.Of course with tap dancing,you can get away with noise.
    Some kids came from rural backgrounds.I  found out the Malay student who skipped classes did so because he had to guard the durian trees of his grandparent orchard by staying in a hut so that no one would steal the durians that dropped in the nite.In those days,durians were costly and had only one harvest a year. I didnt have the heart to reprimand him but gave him coffee in the morning to stay awake.He gave me a whole basket of durians after he passed his high school exam.
     Some students ,I did home visit and went to Pulau Ketam to stay for the weekend.Theirfamilies were fishermen who depended on the sea to make a living.The kids took me to the kelong to see how the fish like garopa were reared in cages.They took me to the seafood processing plant and the stench of drying salted fish is unbearable.The place was previously a mangrove swamp so all houses are built on stilts with no cars allowed.
 So kids who are not overprotected and oversheltered by parents are more hardy,resilient and resourceful and adaptable.
             One of my students was determined to enter the medical line although he took arts subject in high school.He was so determined that he took extra tuition in science subjects to catch up.He used to ge up at 5am in the morning and drive across town to reach the college and slept in the car park until classes started.I told him to open a gap in case he had carbon monoxide poisoning.He got into the medical course through sheer hard workThe gal i was teaching came from a single parent family with two younger siblings.She has been working part time to pay for her tuition fee and even saved enough to be an exchange student in the UK and describing the thrill of watching Shakespeare play live in a theatre.She changes two MRT lines to reach for 9am class although she works past midnite at her part time job.Kids like that will do well in life because they have the right EQ.
                 The education system that does everything for a child will grroom adults who will  not have the mental strength to face the ups and downs in life.I tell the kids all the time,if you are not ready to learn in school,I'll let Life teach you as experience is the best teacher.There's no one to guide you ,to tell you right from wrong or what to do,Life is a tough teacher and you will have to learn on your own.The other thing I won't do is lower my expectation of an A grade.Getting an A from me is like squeezing blood from a stone so when Claire Chew and Choo See Yuan got A at international examsthey know they have reached the global standard of achievement.
    
           

Scapegoat others when looking at the mirror to self reflect can identify solutions

Japan Then, China Now

May 27, 2019 STEPHEN S. ROACHBack in the 1980s, Japan was portrayed as the greatest economic threat to the United States, and allegations of intellectual property theft were only part of Americans' vilification. Thirty years later, Americans have made China the villain, when, just like three decades ago, they should be looking squarely in the mirror.

NEW HAVEN – “When governments permit counterfeiting or copying of American products, it is stealing our future, and it is no longer free trade.” So said US President Ronald Reagan, commenting on Japan after the Plaza Accord was concluded in September 1985. Today resembles, in many respects, a remake of this 1980s movie, but with a reality-television star replacing a Hollywood film star in the presidential leading role – and with a new villain in place of Japan.

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Back in the 1980s, Japan was portrayed as America’s greatest economic threat – not only because of allegations of intellectual property theft, but also because of concerns about currency manipulation, state-sponsored industrial policy, a hollowing out of US manufacturing, and an outsize bilateral trade deficit. In its standoff with the US, Japan ultimately blinked, but it paid a steep price for doing so – nearly three “lost” decades of economic stagnation and deflation. Today, the same plot features China.

Notwithstanding both countries’ objectionable mercantilism, Japan and China had something else in common: They became victims of America’s unfortunate habit of making others the scapegoat for its own economic problems. Like Japan bashing in the 1980s, China bashing today is an outgrowth of America’s increasingly insidious macroeconomic imbalances. In both cases, a dramatic shortfall in US domestic saving spawned large current-account and trade deficits, setting the stage for battles, 30 years apart, with Asia’s two economic giants.

When Reagan took office in January 1981, the net domestic saving rate stood at 7.8% of national income, and the current account was basically balanced. Within two and a half years, courtesy of Reagan’s wildly popular tax cuts, the domestic saving rate had plunged to 3.7%, and the current account and the merchandise trade balances swung into perpetual deficit. In this important respect, America’s so-called trade problem was very much of its own making.

Yet the Reagan administration was in denial. There was little or no appreciation of the link between saving and trade imbalances. Instead, the blame was pinned on Japan, which accounted for 42%of US goods trade deficits in the first half of the 1980s. Japan bashing then took on a life of its own with a wide range of grievances over unfair and illegal trade practices. Leading the charge back then was a young Deputy US Trade Representative named Robert Lighthizer.

Fast-forward some 30 years and the similarities are painfully evident. Unlike Reagan, President Donald Trump did not inherit a US economy with an ample reservoir of saving. When Trump took office in January 2017, the net domestic saving rate was just 3%, well below half the rate at the onset of the Reagan era. But, like his predecessor, who waxed eloquently of a new “morning in America,” Trump also opted for large tax cuts – this time to “make America great again.”

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The result was a predictable widening of the federal budget deficit, which more than offset the cyclical surge in private saving that normally accompanies a maturing economic expansion. As a result, the net domestic saving rate actually edged down to 2.8% of national income by late 2018, keeping America’s international balances deep in the red – with the current-account deficit at 2.6% of GDP and the merchandise trade gap at 4.5% in late 2018.

And that’s where China assumes the role that Japan played in the 1980s. On the surface, the threat seems more dire. After all, China accounted for 48% of the US merchandise trade deficit in 2018, compared to Japan’s 42% share in the first half of the 1980s. But the comparison is distorted by global supply chains, which basically didn’t exist in the 1980s. Data from the OECD and the World Trade Organization suggestthat about 35-40% of the bilateral US-China trade deficit reflects inputs made outside of China but assembled and shipped to the US from China. That means the made-in-China portion of today’s US trade deficit is actually smaller than Japan’s share of the 1980s.

Like the Japan bashing of the 1980s, today’s outbreak of China bashing has been conveniently excised from America’s broader macroeconomic context. That is a serious mistake. Without raising national saving – highly unlikely under the current US budget trajectory – trade will simply be shifted away from China to America’s other trading partners. With this trade diversion likely to migrate to higher-cost platforms around the world, American consumers will be hit with the functional equivalent of a tax hike.

Ironically, Trump has summoned the same Robert Lighthizer, veteran of the Japan trade battles of the 1980s, to lead the charge against China. Unfortunately, Lighthizer seems as clueless about the macro argument today as he was back then.

In both episodes, the US was in denial, bordering on delusion. Basking in the warm glow of untested supply-side economics – especially the theory that tax cuts would be self-financing – the Reagan administration failed to appreciate the links between mounting budget and trade deficits. Today, the seductive power of low interest rates, coupled with the latest strain of voodoo economics – Modern Monetary Theory – is equally alluring for the Trump administration and a bipartisan consensus of China bashers in the US Congress.

The tough macroeconomic constraints facing a saving-short US economy are ignored for good reason: there is no US political constituency for reducing trade deficits by cutting budget deficits and thereby boosting domestic saving. America wants to have its cake and eat it, with a health-care system that swallows 18% of its GDP, defense spending that exceeds the combined sum of the world’s next seven largest military budgets, and tax cuts that have reduced federal government revenue to 16.5% of GDP, well below the 17.4% average of the past 50 years.

This remake of an old movie is disconcerting, to say the least. Once again, the US has found it far easier to bash others – Japan then, China now – than to live within its means. This time, however, the movie might have a very different ending.

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STEPHEN S. ROACH

Writing for PS since 2011 
103 Commentaries

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Stephen S. Roach, former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm's chief economist, is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institu

far sighted visionary

Our PM is educated in science and empirical facts.He also understands human nature and the dynamics of power in politics.So because he is well read and keeps abreast with latest knowledge,he understands two things.The importance of a national currency backed by the intrinsic value of gold as it has historically been acknowledge as a valuable asset.When  money is printed and circulated and used as a foreign reserve currency by national treasury all over the world,that currency if backed by petrodollars is dangerous because nationals are switching to green energy and the value of money backed by petrodollars will eventually devalue.Secondly if some nation overproduces oil and gas output,the price of fossil fuel will drop and national banks that use it as foreign reserve currency will find that its national assets will devalue with it.So to moot for an Asian currency backed by gold reserves is a rational move. for citizens  would not want a case of hyperinflation decreasing their purchasing power and lowering standard of living.
       The Other bold move is to set up the EAEC after the EU move to integrate economic development so cooperation to lower tariffs and trade barrier to speed up faster movement of goods and services across borders.Our PM is far sighted to look at regional cooperation instead of only national development as globalization interlinks markets