Seriously?

How many days has it been now? 6? 7?

And we're still going on and on about Lee Kuan Yew.

Reminds me of mourning periods for Lenin and the Kim Jong Un's granddaddy.

Why is it so hard to have a decent conversation with some of his supporters?

I mean, even if you're supportive of his racist policies,

I could still respect that.

Just fucking acknowledge it.

The most infuriating are the supporters who come from minority groups.

The same minorities against whom his policies openly discriminated.

The same minorities he inferred were inferior to the Chinese (and Whites, of course).

Say what you want about the guy,

but once his grip on power was firm,

he didn't hide his bias, his disdain for the non-Chinese (and Muslims, in particular).

Hell, he even once blamed Muslims' specifically when economic progress stalled.

And let's not forget the things that are hidden from view.

The innocents executed, tortured, imprisoned, exiled.

Singapore has one of the highest per capita execution rates in the developed world, if not the highest.

And if I remember correctly, we have a 97% conviction rate.

Ninety-Seven fucking percent!

Why is it so hard for some people to at the very least, agree on this:

He was a very smart, cunning individual who did great things for a lot of people,

and also horrible, horrible things to others.

Learn to look past your own goddamn privilege, 

and re-connect with your humanity.

Fucking idiots

Well enough of that.

Just Another Death

Lee Kuan Yew is dead.
He died this morning,
and already people on Facebook have begun
to post news articles about it,
or change their profile pictures to a weird darkened image of him,
or write furious posts about those who are actually happy he died.

Since I have very little respect for him and the rest of the Lees,
I will keep this short.
He does not deserve a good article.

He was a despicable, conniving human being.
Intelligent, no doubt.
But also extremely racist and cruel,
and the policies he implemented reflected this.

I already expect the Chinese equivalents of privileged Whites in the US
to become furious at whoever does not mourn his passing.
Hell, I've already seen one post on Facebook.
More will undoubtedly come.

Some will claim that without him,
Singapore would have never prospered.

Well, we'll never know now, will we?
What we do know,
is that not only did he implement racist policies,
which will likely continue to remain in place for many years to come.

What we do know,
is that he imprisoned and tortured many political prisoners.

What we do know,
is that under his regime (it doesn't matter who the Prime Ministers were at the time),
many, many people have been hanged.

And having gone through the court system myself,
I can attest to how deeply flawed it is.
I have little doubt many innocent people have been executed.

What we do know,
is that he greatly enriched himself and his family and cronies.

Not a single major institution in Singapore is free from the tentacles
of the Lee family.

The damage is done.
Any major changes will only be the result of a great upheaval,
and the suffering of many ordinary citizens.

Am I happy that he's dead?
No. A human life is gone.

But am I sad?
NOPE.

Well enough of that.

Light on the Horizon

Things are starting to look up. At long last.
Yesterday I finally received the official job offer from Pitney Bowes,
and after many, many restless nights,
I finally got a peaceful night's sleep.
Well as peaceful as you can get with a 4 month-old baby!

Every time I get optimistic,
another part of me wakes up,
and reminds me of all the times things got really fucked up for me
nearly each time something great happens.

Sometimes I fuck it up.
Sometimes others do.
Shit happens.

But when I look back at how far I've come...
from staring down the barrel of perpetual low-income jobs not too long ago,
to earning an amount I never even thought of earning...
I realize I have a LOT to be thankful for.

And yeah,
I may not be the nicest guy around,
but I am a Muslim,
and I am so very thankful to GOD for all I've got,
words aren't enough.

I'm still working on changing my lifestyle, religious-wise.
It's not easy.
But it needs to be done.

Anyway there's a lot to do before I start on the 1st of April (perfect date to start, I know).

One of the most important things: I've got to finish my business plan for Tryt Clothing.
As much as I'm thankful for the new gig,
I'm well aware of how fast it can go fast.
And with a wife and hungry little baby to look after...
contingencies are in order.

The long-term plan is to run my own business for a few years
to the point where I'll be able to sell it off and retire.
I don't need a life of immense luxury,
just a nice house in the countryside of place like New Zealand or Sweden.

I mean I'll still work after officially retiring, but what I really want is to get into a position where I know that if I do lose my job,
we're all still going to be OK.

At the very least,
the business should be able to provide me with some income
in case things go south in the mid-term.

Oh and there's one more thing to add to my long-term plan.
A Porsche. Yep. Just one!

Next up, I've got to get on-boarded with a start-up
I've been working with on the side for a while now.

Well, 'working with' is a bit of an exaggeration.
They've only just launched,
and I haven't sold shit.
Don't even know if I will be able to.
But you can get your ass I'll try.

There's an Action Hero story I've been working on.
Sort of.
I need to firm up the story before
joining.

And I need to do all of the above,
while cycling every morning
and losing this belly.
Confidence is important,
and the belly is like a motherfucking black hole
that tries to suck up whatever confidence
manages to find its way towards me.

So much to do,
so little time.

Well enough of that.