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Was not able to see Mars this morning because of the clouds and rain. However, most likely not much different compared to yesterday's sighting.

This is a photo of what it looked like yesterday from my bedroom window. Mars is still really tiny compared to the Moon at this time.



This is the realtime skymap viewed from Singapore :- astronomer's skymap

I saw for the first time, the moon and the planet Mars together (in the constellation of Aquarius), in the western sky this morning at around 6am. Not exactly appearing as "2 moons" yet, but probably the brightest that Mars will get for a long time to come; perhaps becoming bigger and brighter in the next 2 weeks.

This is the skymap at that time. Notice that this map is based on the astronomer's convention, and that the actual position of Mars as seen in the sky was at around 7 o'clock position below the moon.

Mars is the icon -->

With most of the new jobs in Singapore going to foreigners or Foreign Talent (FTs), the unemployment rate here for Singaporeans is on the way up; expected to be at high of 5.5% for the year 2003.

In June this year, the unemployment rate was 4.5% for citizens, but 0% for FTs. Before the Asian economic crisis and SARS, the unemployment rate in Singapore was typically 1.5% to 2.5%. Perhaps there were also fewer FTs around at that time.

The "Comment" in today's Streats newspaper page 13, entitled: "Not so transparent after all", is certainly critical of the Singapore Government, but true. When will Singapore and other Asian governments grow up and not hide "sensitive" information or data from the public under the cloak of national security?

I wonder if the writer of this article, Conrad Raj will start to get visits by agents of the government and will eventually be bankrupted by those in power for being so daring in bringing up the facts and stirring public interest in things that the government has controlled for such a long time? After all, information is power. In controlling or concealing information from the public, the government wields power over the population and controls them.

The government must have something to hide, if it is unwilling to reveal the number of jobs being given to foreigners, compared to citizens. Perhaps the government policy regarding jobs reserved for Singapore citizens is much worse off than that for foreigners and gays (even if they eventually become "residents"). Therefore the Singapore government is afraid that if this is revealed then there will be a popular backlash, and they will start to lose votes in the next election.

From the Singapore government's point of view, there are many advantages in encouraging non-citizens to work here. Foreigners or PRs cannot vote, but can still contribute to the local economy and work just as well as citizens. Non-citizens are also easily disposed off if not wanted any longer or if they become trouble-makers (just revoke their work permits and send them home). If Singapore citizens are provoked or pushed-around by severe government policies, then they could take revenge by giving negative votes to the ruling government party in the next election. This has been the trend, as the election results have shown in recent years.