Posted on 08/07/2016 7:02:39 PM PDT by djsunzi
Six suspects were arrested in an alleged plot to launch a rocket attack on Singapore's Marina Bay from the Indonesian island of Batam, Indonesian media reported Friday.
Singapore's Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen confirmed in a Facebook post late Friday that one of the alleged plans of the group of suspects was to use rockets to attack targets in Marina Bay from Batam.
"We should assume that there may be more plots, other terror cells on the lookout for ways, and new munitions to penetrate our defenses," Ng said.
Parts of the Batam Island are as little as 20 kilometers away from Singapore, although it wasn't immediately clear where the attackers were based.
Singapore's Marina Bay area is home to both office towers and one of the city-state's casino-resorts, complete with three hotel towers, a convention center, shopping mall, science museum and casino.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Indonesian police spokesman Agus Rianto told reporters the six had been plotting with a member of Islamic State in Syria to attack Singapore, a major commercial, banking and travel hub that is home to many Western expatriates.
Here is a part from Wiki about the bikes.
It was a terrible occupation in Singapore.
“Japanese land based aircraft found and sank the two capital ships on 10 December,[19] leaving the east coast of the Malayan peninsula exposed and allowing the Japanese to continue their amphibious landings. Japanese forces quickly isolated, surrounded, and forced the surrender of Indian units defending the coast. They advanced down the Malayan peninsula overwhelming the defences, despite their numerical inferiority. The Japanese forces also used bicycle infantry and light tanks, allowing swift movement through the jungle. The Allies, however, having thought the terrain made them impractical, had no tanks, and only a few armoured vehicles, which put them at a severe disadvantage.[20]”
Singapore is a crony capitalist plastic paradise. You won’t find a more first world country - easy when your about the size of a large US city. Their idea of socialism is to subsidize corporations to hire people and tax cars 500% and use the money to finance public transportation for the “workers”.
A $20K car in the US is $40K and you have to finance a $100K Certificate in your note that allows you to drive the car for 10 years (then its shipped out of the country).. so a $20K car is $140K with a 10 year car payment.
They pride themselves on cleanliness - Chewing gum and eating on the subway are illegal, but Lots of roaches, ants and bad air days if you look close.
The government keeps a tight leash on things. Probably 30% of population is muslim (mainly indonesians and indians but some from the ME - business owners/capitalist), but I wouldn’t be surprised if they kicked your whole family out of the country if a member went full jihadi.
Mandatory military service and they love “stuff” so not much of a chance of them surrendering to terrorism Obama style.
All of Singapore’s defenses faced south. The big, ship killing guns were in bunkers on Sentosa island and couldn’t really turned to fire north over the city towards the attacking Japanese - not that an armor piecing round would be any good against infantry anyway.
The British basically surrendered to keep the Japanese from destroying the city.
Are you kidding? It’s about as “first world” as it gets.
Good Lord!! Why were the allies always thinking something was impossible at the beginning of the war and before it!!!
You cant get through Franc except through the Maginot line.
Thanks wont work in this terrain.
Boy did we (the west) learn our lessons the hard way.
I should like to read more about this is I am VERY unfamiliar with the ground war against Japan.
Most movies and history lessons were about the decisive naval battles.
Good Lord. I had no knowledge of any of that. Thanks.
Low tax? LOL. I take it you haven’t been to Singapore.
As Peter Drucker, a world ranking economist, correctly asserted more than 2 generations ago, Singapore (along w/Hong Kong and Taipei) remain testaments to the free market impulses of the overseas Chinese; who rejected the Marxist fantasies of Mao and Zhou enlai. Instead they embraced the ideas of Malthus, Ricardo and Smith; thereby lifting their people out of poverty and setting a standard for the rest of the developing world as to how wealth is created. Try getting real.
Enjoy your studies, although, it is heartbreaking what the British forces and civilian population had to go through. That is what my interest was in.
The ground game of the Japanese through Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia was astonishing, perhaps also because part of it was simultaneous with Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese at that time were brilliant and bold strategist. Who would know they are the same people now.
Do you think it was wise what the British did. The hardship the citizenry had to go through, the infamous prison, the camps, etc., was it the right call?
How do you think that Singapore can best protect itself now given recent events. With their draconian laws, I don’t think it would be an issue to rid themselves of Muhammadans who show any inkling of trouble. Instead of caning for a small offense, they get imprisoned or deported. I hope they show some backbone.
Indonesia has not protected its Christian communities and I am surprised that the Hindus derived religion that is practiced in Bali has not been targeted lately.
It seemed to take forever to travel from Singapore to Jakarta ( I must have taken something less faster than a jet), but that is a long way to launch a missile, which makes me think they have upped their military game.
Where to they ship the cars?
I lived in LA at the time I visited, but I felt like a country bumpkin shopping in Singapore. Outstanding shop and incredible service.
I am still cooking out of my Singaporean cookbooks, but man, I wish I could be there, just to eat and eat and eat and eat. Delicious and imaginative cooking straits born cuisine. (Although, I hated the food in Malaysia, maybe it was the flies, roadside and in the cities like Kuala Lumpur, although, I guess things have changed in the decades I have visited.
The people I know who moved there are high-earners who lived in New York City.
There's no comparison.
Thank-you for the suggestion. My library is in storage right now and I have other V.S. Naipaul books ( I think), but not that one.
You have given me the idea to listen to V.S. Naipaul’s books on tape.
Singapore is the world’s most expensive city, and one of the reasons is the tax structure and regulatory environment. You can’t even own a car more than ten years old and sin taxes are outrageous - for example, the tax on a single liter of alcohol is $65US and a the tax on a pack of cigarettes is almost $10US.
In the 1940’s, there were still many in Singapore that had the Obama’s father’s dream that that the white British “occupiers” were not yellow or brown like them. They likely wouldn’t fight the Japanese and stab those who were in the back when the fighting got really tough. You fight with the army you have and surrender was probably the best move.
After the war, before Singapore embraced capitalism and multiculturalism, there was populist marxist bent that was disappeared. Because times have never been tough, it has never come back. If times got tough, I think an Obama figure could make it popular again.
The Singapore vision will work until other countries in the region get their **** together, which could be never, so they have that going for them.
The anecdote that provides insight on Singapore’s future: A Taxi driver I had was formerly an Engineer for Seagate making hard drives. The Government subsidized computer “R&D” in the 80’s 90’s but stopped and that work has all gone to the 3rd world, now. As a result, computer engineers are driving cabs. I had an early flight and I noticed multiple crashed cabs from the night before. “We work so much to make ends meet we fall asleep and crash” my cabbie told me.
In the 2000’s SIN subsidized the “good paying jobs” in the aerospace industry. Rolls, Pratt and GE have 10’s of thousands of aerospace employees there. In 2015 the “R&D” subsidies were cut off right after one of the founders of SIN died.
Only time will tell if 10 years from now some of those aerospace engineers will be crashing their cabs.
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