"The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward." - John Maynard Keynes

***

Quotes:

[On the government wanting to be liked] That's why Catherine Lim, 1994... People no longer love the government... It hit them very hard.

The Singapore Story is the Lee Kuan Yew story. What happened to the coolies, rickshaw drivers, prostitutes... It's about the PAP on the playing field, scoring goals for Singapore.

Sometimes people say 'it's all about the fans', but they don't mean it. Our government doesn't even say it.

[On sports bounties] It also shows the government's pragmatism, because they know they'll never have to pay the money.

The GIC has $100 billion, which it invests overseas. Suzhou being a stunning example of success... CPF?... The money it makes doesn't go back to your CPF.

'Eternal life' is one of those ideas. Like 'nation'... 'Nation-building' is never complete... Moses brings people to the Promised Land, but you never reach it... It's an unreachable goal.

[Student on metaphors: The believer follows the religious leader. I don't want to say 'blindly', because I'm a Christian]... This assumes the deity is real. It could be a Wizard of Oz. A little man operating a machine.

[On faith] Hell is Thailand. That's what the PAP does. Or Malaysia... PAP doesn't say if you democratise you become like Scandinavia, high quality of life. They say you democratise, you become like Bangkok - riots. Malaysia - Dr M.

[On founding fathers] It's the Solonic thing. You have to quickly disappear, otherwise you will become more and more human. [Student: You crucify him] Or his son.

[Instructor: *** is god. He chooses his ministers.] And he sends his only begotten son. [Instructor: Well.]

It's very hard to be an atheist... We all want to believe... Even though our rational beliefs militate against it.

[On me] He got quite a lot of luck, but bad luck.

This is approximately my salary. If you are in [a] good university, you get 20,000 a month. Maybe I exaggerate a bit.

[On the Allais Paradox] For Chinese people they prefer gambles, so there is no contradiction... In China, this theory works well. In France, it's not that good.

You cannot enter this market. He is predator. If you enter he will kill you.

[On the chicken game] Here, this is no issue that they will deviate in the same direction [and still crash].

pah'tense (patents) (Ed: 'Pah' is pronounced the French way)

[On market entry] And then you have hotels. Easy to enter and hard to exit. Which I don't know why. (Why this is so)

I need to jian3 fei2. [Translation: Lose weight]... [Me: Then your breasts {will} shrink, how?] Get breast implants lor.

This pre'day'tery pricing (predatory)

This person is assumed to live forever. Quite a common assumption in Economics.

[On optimal control] Let's employ all of the conditions and solve the model. It's gonna be fun.

The Solow Model, which should be second nature to any economist. You know it like the back of your hand... No need to memorise it. You know it subconsciously.

The social planner is assumed to be a benevolent dictator. Like the PAP government. Supposedly.

[On TS Eliot] I like the sex scenes.

[On what nationality/race she'd want to be] Spanish, because the women are hot and the men are even hotter.

[On PRCs] In hall, they leave their used sanitary pads around. [Student 2: There's 1 guy who cuts his hair over the sink and leaves it there.]

'Kiasu' just entered into the Oxford English Dictionary. [Student 2: Oxford or Coxford?] Oxford.

d'rar'cornic identity (draconic)

The image NUS promotes... 2 ang mohs, 1 african... 2 indians, 1 chinese. You come here: they're all chinese. [Student 2: You mean PRC]

After taking some Chinese odules, I don't like China anymore.

I had a quarter boyfriend. [Me: Why, because you only went to First Base?] You're only the second person to comment that.

They provide time series analysis, they provide cross-sectional analysis. Basically lots of complicated stuff I don't understand.

Think about your boyfriend. or husband. Marriage is a credible commitment problem.

Isn't obvious I like him?... You see me crying when I'm with him. [Me: If you're crying why do you like him?] Because I have ***?... [Student 2: It's okay. You can go for muti-citizenship theory.] [Student and Me: They're both American!]

I don't use tampons... You know the thing about tampons. [Me: They makes you looser?] Yeah. [Me: If I stick my finger in your vagina everyday, it's not going to make you looser]. Eugh! Stop it! It's a foreign object. [Student 2: So is. *tsk*]... [Student 3: A dick is a foreign object also] [Student 2: A dick is a foreign as things go, honey, especially in your case.]

He's cute. This is the kind of guy who qualifies for a fling. *** is the kind of guy who qualifies for marriage. *** is the kind of guy who's a fallback plan.

Do you think anyone knows I'm two-timing? [Me: I think everyone knows, except ***]

[Student: I'm getting bored already.] It's so addictive... That means you have no life in Facebook either.

Some departments are full of Marxists... These are like Geography and Ethnic Studies which no one cares about.

When I came here I was blindsided. There's no right to free speech... [Instructor: It's in the Constitution, but that's where it remains.]

[On religious knowledge] 1984. In the 80s, people were saying really crazy things... Weber... Protestant ethic... Some kind of structure of explanation was offered in the 80s. Asian Tigers... Confucian ethics was the big thing... Make people more respectful, obedient... They wanted everyone to do Confucian Ethics, so they made all the exams multiple choice. The others were all essays, short answers.

[On 'Shared Values', 1991] Empty signifiers... Apple pie, motherhood... Their purpose is served by being there: 10 Commandments... Something people can look to and worship.

I don't know what this is like. What is Civic and Moral Education like? [Student: Irritating]

[On her life in the KC branch of the franchise] Abortion videos were shown... before recess. Then during recess the canteen was really empty. [Instructor: You guys must really have had a problem with this.]... They would get a priest to come in and go: 'Teletubbies are evil. Kiss is evil. Ozzie Osbourne eats bats.'

[On Civics and Moral Education] Nothing to do with rights. Nothing to do with 'what to do when you're being seriously hounded by the ISD'

[On propaganda and social engineering] We have this entire culture of cynicism in Singapore... Ironically, or maybe not ironically, it's because of the government... No one trusts the government... Isn't it scary? Everyone votes for a government which nobody trusts.

[On 'Being and Becoming', 1984] A lot of teachers said they couldn't deal with it, because it was too profound... I don't think it went on for more than 1 or 2 years.

[On Malaysia] I don't know how applicable this is. We had 80 values [to learn in school]

[Student on Malaysian civics: If you see a foreigner saying bad things about your country, what will you do?] Tell Mahathir.

[On Singapore 21] You spend your precious time... Your evenings... Then: 'The Singapore Heartbeat'

Some of these have become ideological markers of resistance. 'Every Singaporean Matters' has been used as a rallying call by the gay movement.

[On USP] All my arts modules are government banging.

[On theory in term papers] It was like garnishing. You cut the carrots and put them on top to look nice. [Student: What do you want us to do?] Cook the carrots with the dish.

[On theory in term papers] In Political Science it's very easy to write essays which are like coffeeshop talk. Which is great, I like to read them. But what is the purpose of the module?

[On Jiannie] You guys are not normal. You have long hair and you have a perky butt. People think you're gay.

In our life, we often free-ride... For example we have [a] coffee machine in our department, and it's free. So I started to drink coffee 5, 6 times a day.

splitted (written) (split)

scar'la product (scalar)

I used to be crazy about RI. I had the RI badge, PE shirt... [Me: If guys do that, they're perverted. If girls do that, it's just - strange]

[On wearing a shirt with a teddy bear on it] It's a proven tactic. My classmate asked me for my MSN so she could find out where to find it.

VTO agreement (WTO)