Wayang is a disease of people with no ideas

There is so much feedback and truth on the internet, why not tap on these and move the country forward? why make feedback fake? proper channels? yes but the info has always been tweaked. this show one thing, in this new economy, the top will not last long. thankfully i hope. may the next better player take over.
There is one thing i learnt during my 2 years serving the nation, it is this word called wayang. a good balance is good but too much wayang is bad for the country.

A concerned citizen


The above is part of a post in TRE under the title 'Singapore is spiralling downwards'. Just a week earlier there was this big wayang conducted by MAS inviting remisiers and people in the industry to share their thoughts on why the stock market is dying. I was not there and did not know what was actually spoken. Did they admit that the stock market is dying or just going through another wayang to show that they are doing something, to want to save the stock market? The fact that such a meeting was called is an admission that something was badly wrong despite the regular rhetoric that the stock market is doing fine, doing so well, that derivatives trading volume has been trending up.

The calling for such a meeting said two things, one, confirming that Singapore is spiralling down, and two, yes, another big wayang. why?

The fate of a stock market is a result of many decisions by the authority and would not be resolved or saved by the views of a few laypeople that attended such a meeting with their impromptu opinions, mostly not well thought through, and mainly gut feels. How could such meeting on such a serious topic be of value to save a dying stock market.

Ok, some may think I am being presumptious, that I am wrong, the stock market is soooo healthy, the best in Asia. The fact is, the number of remisiers in the industry has dropped to half, and many still around are about to fade into oblivion. Many are earning less than a cleaner in the foodcourt or hawker centre, or even an office cleaner. Many are evening receiving subsidies for their low income.

And the insane thing about this sorry state of affair is that anyone stupid enough to want to join the industry must sit and pass a series of examinations and pay hefty fees for lessons and license to earn a few hundred dollars a month. Can you believe that? A cleaner or a security guard could earn more without the next to sit for stringent examinations!

Ok, what is the beef? The problems of a sick and dying stock market are serious problems that no ordinary laymen could resolve. And if people noted as super talents earning super talent pay cannot solve the problem, did not know what is happening, how could they expect the laymen, the low down no brain laymen to tell them what to do, to come up with solutions?

This is a fundamental flaw in the thinking and approach. The highly paid professionals and management that are supposed to make the market better have failed so badly that they are looking at straws to save the day.

Come on, let's face it, if the experts and super talents are lost and clueless, no one on the street can be of any help. And when the experts and super talents are running out of ideas, the way to go is down, spiralling down. No amount of wayang is going to help.

Seriously, what really came out of that meeting? Anything useful? Did they go back and study what was discussed or it was just a show, everything forgotten the moment they stepped out of the meeting?

Do they know what is wrong with the industry? Do they want to know what is wrong with the industry? Do they have the will and guts to want to right the wrongs in the industry and save the industry? Is there anyone having sleepless nights thinking about these problems or are they just crossing their fingers and hoping that it would last a few more days before game over?

Maybe there is really no problem and nothing needs to be done. The industry is just like that, nothing can be done, like fourth stage cancer.