Let’s make Money and More Money

It is good if everyone can make more money. The govt makes more money, the people make more money, everyone else make more money, including the foreigners. Making a lot of money is not a bad thing. It is good, really.

The trick is making more money from who and for who. Our govt has made plenty of money and a huge reserve. Who are the main beneficiaries of this wealth? Why are the people feeling the pinch and some calling for mercy? Obviously they are not benefiting from the prosperity of the country. I am not commenting on who the HDB is making money from, if they are making money at all, as they recorded something like $1b or $2b loss a year ago, I think. It was in the papers. Likewise the other ministries and stats boards and their money making policies, and who they are making money from.

I am fully behind the govt for making money as their top priority. The whole country must be restructured to make money, but not solely from the people. We can import more foreigners too, if they can help us to make more money, subject to how many our little piece of land can take.

The next most important priority is to make sure the Citizens benefited from all the wealth created. Let the Citizens be the ruling class. The wealth of the country must filter down more to the Citizens, not $10m for you and $1k for me.

Redesign and re prioritise

The govt can redesign the benefits of citizenship and make citizenship a very special class of people, the owners of the land, and not be given to any Tom, Dick and Harry. Make citizenship a privilege class, even an entitlement class, with the right to a share of the nation’s wealth and cheap housing and facilities. Isn’t that what a govt is for?

The country has already set aside a huge reserve. The reserve needs lesser top ups from the profits of the country’s future investments. A bigger portion of the profits can be returned to the Citizens.

The PRs, the foreign workers and professionals can work and live here, to contribute to our wealth. That is the whole purpose of their presence in our land. Let them work for us, treat them well, but don’t forget that this is OUR Country and we own this piece of rock. We provide them with the opportunities to work, to make a good decent income, safety and security, and a good place to stay. We must be rewarded for that. If they think they have a bad deal here, and have no choice but to come here, they can go elsewhere. You have to pay to visit Disneyland! What more if they even allowed you to make a good living here?

If the wealth and benefits of the country are well filtered down and shared by the people, there will be less anger and more pride and commitment to the country and govt.

Make Singaporeans the ruling class of their homeland. They are not daft. Many policies of citizenship/population must be tweaked to accommodate a new system and priorities in favour of the Citizens. Singaporeans be the master, the owner and main beneficiary to this paradise that we have created. There must be a distinction between a Citizen and others. In Rome, not everyone is a Citizen. Don’t throw away our citizenship like casino chips if they are really worthy.

PS. We already have a very exclusive ruling class.

Falling strawmen

The first strawman to fall in our political system is the GRC. Just like the impregnable mothership of the movie Independence Day, the weakness of the GRC is fully exposed and can be brought down. In the next GE, the ministers will be shivering, who will go next. And by the look of things, many will go down with the GRC in the present form.

We are now looking at another strawman bending with the wind, the elected Presidency. With $24m and more to take, hardly anyone is showing interest. For those who have come forward, they brought along a history that are not necessarily welcomed by all the people. Sure, a few will have their diehard fans, converts and cheer leaders edging them on as if the whole island is for them. The truth is further out there in the whole population.

Why is such an honourable office finding so few takers? Okay, 95% or more of the people have already been pre disqualified by the elitist criteria. All men are equal, many are less equal. The criteria is dismissive, with a stroke of the pen, the majority of the people are ruled as not good enough, and their rights as a citizen is limited, not fit to be President of the country.

As a NSman, trained and fit to fight for the country, to die for the country, why is he unfit to stand for the highest office in the land? He is prepared to stake his life for the people and country, defend its honour and freedom, why is he NG? All because he did not have the chance to be a top civil servant, a top politician or the CEO of a big corporation? Can the people accept these criteria lying down? They did, and still not questioning, and keeping mum.

Who is in a position to deprive all the honest and respectable citizens from running for the highest office in the country? A higher being?

The Singapore Squeeze

Two aliens looking at the Singaporeans being squeezed in a public place.

The Aliens of Paradise

Singapore is home to more than a million foreigners. Actually nearly half of Singapore’s 5m population are foreigners if permanent residents are included. Some were on temporary work passes as construction and manual workers, but many were professional and technical staff in the group called PMETs. The foreign PMETs is a big group of foreign talents employed in high earning jobs. Many were appointed to top local institutions over the locals when local talents were found wanting.

They are a very blessed group of professionals, earning high incomes and an enriching lifestyle that they could not find in their home countries. Some may take root and eventually become citizens while many will return home with a nice savings that will multiply several times in their homeland.

The Singaporeans must thank these people for contributing to the vibrancy and high economic growth of the country. This is the daily mantra that is heard in all the right places. And grateful the Singaporeans should be for the jobs that were created by their presence. Otherwise Singapore will not be able to enjoy the sustained high growth rates over the years, culminating in a superlative 15% growth in year 2011, the highest in the world.

While praises were heaped on these benefactors, a small corner of the population is sulking. There is another group of PMETs, the locals, that is finding life pretty tough going. Those above 50 got to pray that they do not lose their jobs for any reasons. For if it did happened, they are unlikely to find another employment. If they did, it will be a big downgrade and big reduction in income.

Many have gone for retraining for lower grade jobs with lower pay. Their skills and experience were no longer wanted and their jobs replaced by the new and gleaming foreign PMETs. Some turned to being self employed, driving taxis or becoming housing or insurance agents or any kind of agents, to be financially productive. With the high cost of living, high medical fees and high of everything, no income is a dreaded option. Worst, many still have school going children to support.

The lack of job opportunities for this small group of Singaporeans is not confined to just the oldies. Many in their 30s and 40s are also facing intense competition from foreign PMETs for jobs. The experience of writing tomes of application letters without getting a reply is defeating and humiliating. The sense of being not good enough or not wanted by any organisation is hard on the morale and self worth.

Even young graduates are encountering bad experiences in their job finds. The trend of hire and fire and contract staff are making life that much more uncertain. And the young people are expected, if they choose to get hitch, to take a huge housing loans of several hundred thousands, and repayable over 30 years.

How many people on temporary or short term contract jobs would dare to make such financial commitments? The letters of desperation and despair are mounting. In a country that can provide hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs to foreigners, it is troubling to see a section of its own citizens being marginalised, living in fear of being unemployed. These are the alienated citizens of a country that boasted of the highest concentration of millionaires in the world.

The aliens of paradise are complaining. They want to be heard, their plight known to the policy makers that turned their lives upside down. They are living a life of insecurity in a land of plenty for foreigners.

There is no official figure on the size of these aliens in their home country. Many are trying to make their presence felt today at Hong Lim Park, the Speakers Corner for free speech, provided one has registered with the Police. I am not sure if the rules have changed. If not, no free speech for anyone who is not registered with the authority before his freedom to speak.

Today, 4 June, at 5 pm, Gilbert Goh of Transitioning.Org forum is calling for the aliens to gather and make their feelings and plight heard. They are to wear black as a sign of unity and support for the affected. Jobs for Singaporeans is their call.

In the land of millionaires, fear not the despair.

A need for a referendum

Before the plague of 900,000 locusts hit our shores, it is urgent that the people, the stakeholders of this piece of rock, make their stand clear to the servants of the people that they do not want to be swarmed and die of suffocation.

When we were 1m there was fear that we were too small to survive. We survived. When we were 2m, the same fear was repeated. We survived. We survived when we were 3m, 4m, in fact we prospered even with the smaller population. Now at 5.5m, one corner of the truth is that we need more, 6.5m maybe 7.5m or more to continue to grow the GDP. What about economic growth at the expense of quality of life and living conditions?

Is there an option for smaller GDP growth, or GDP growth without the plague of another 900,000 locusts? There must be a way, lower GDP from lower influx of foreigners but maintaining the quality of life. There must be alternative models to development and a better life for the people.

It is time to call for a referendum. The people and the opposition party representatives must take the initiative before everyone has to jump off this piece of rock. This high population policy is like the high cost of living and high housing price policy. They must go together. With a huge population, other plagues will fall in line, concrete jungle, need for jobs, infrastructure, services, energy, water. The nuclear option is a consequence of this high population policy. If population goes up, nuclear option becomes a Hobson’s Choice, or no choice.

The masters must have the final say, not the self serving servants. This is our country, for our children and their children. Why should we allow a few elected politicians to determine the future of our children? The people must tell the govt where it must not go before it is too late. The people must pre empt the influx of another million or more foreigners here. Say no to the ballooning of our population.

Self serving logic

Is there such thing as self serving logic? It is the kind of justification that people used to do silly things that they would not do without having some defensive arguments to justify their actions. An accident victim lying unconscious on the road and his money bag was on his side. The self serving logic would say, take it, if not, someone else would take it.

If we don’t go nuclear, our neighbours will. So the decision to go nuclear is made. QED. We don’t need to pay super talents to make this kind of decision with this kind of logic do we?

In the Singapore context there are plenty of such wonderful logics in use. The people will be corrupt. So how, pay them to prevent them from being corrupt. I also get paid by the way.

The people will squander their CPF savings. For their own good, lets lock it up for as long as possible. The people will all go for C Class hospital wards. So introduce mean testing to prevent such abuses. The higher income will all rush to buy HDB flats. So introduce an income ceiling to keep them away, so that they will go to the private market. Now my private property prices will definitely go up.

Water is a precious item. We must teach the people not to waste water. Charge them a higher fee and higher taxes for consuming too much. Is this self serving logic too?

The daft Singaporeans do not see these as self serving logic. They went along happily for decades. The not so daft Singaporeans remain reticent. But they turned them into party and private jokes among close friends. They are not that daft not to see walla when there is walla. Yes, not all Singaporeans are daft. The betterer dafters will be out there defending the self serving logic with all their might.

A futuristic Stock Exchange

Looking at my crystal ball and from the inputs of what are being implemented in the western model of stock exchanges, I have this vision of what the future stock exchange will be like. As desired, it will be a state of the art computerised system with minimal human beans involved, and superbly efficient.

In short, traders and remisiers can be excused from the system. They will not be able to compete with the machine. What will evolve will be high speed trading by computers and machine. Every big fund will roll out its state of the art computer system to trade for them, programmed by the best programmers applying the most complex algo logic to profit from every trade. To make a winning trade, they only have to beat the rest of the competitors by a micro sec faster or by a bid of 0.1c. That is all it takes. It is not about investing but a battle of machine. No need to bother about fundamentals or real values of the stocks. And all these will be done at extremely high speed by the supercomputers.

The game will be so sophisticated and super fast that no retail investors/traders will be able to play, or to think of making a profit. They will all pack up and call it a day. Trading houses too will not be in business when there are no investors/traders to pay them the commission to cover the operating cost.

Companies and business organisations too will find listing meaningless as the stock prices will hardly move, controlled by machine to minimise risk and making brisk profits in micro seconds and with marginal changes in prices. With the high cost of listing and listing fees, and unable to raise funds in a virtually lifeless market, many will delist from the stock markets.

Then what will the machines be trading? Derivatives, ETFs, CFD, ADRs, covered warrants, or any kind of papers that the funds could generate for the market. There will be virtual stocks created just for trading, with no need for a company and a profit generating business. A typical trading pattern for a penny stock like R2D2 will be: Buy 200m at 1c and Sell 200m at 1.1c. Or the higher value stock like C3PO Bank: Buy 20m at 8.00 and Sell 20m at 8.01.

And the industry will be so efficient that the management of a stock market would need not more than 20 staff. And the fund managers too will be operating with a handful of staff manning computers and machines. The whole industry could comprise of less than 100 expert financial professionals.

The broking houses will be a thing of the past, so are remisiers and traders and real stocks. It will be a real virtual world of stock trading, with stocks from non existent companies and machine trading for non existent traders and investors.

And the stock exchanges can churn in several trillions of trades daily from the handful of big operators and their machines. The stock market and exchanges of today will only be remembered and taught in schools as part of the syllabus in the subject called History.

The $24m race is on

If not for the silly exclusion clause that disqualified the majority of the population, I will also throw in my hat for the race. This clause must be deleted in time to come as it is the most discriminating clause against all citizens in the name of justice and equality. Reminds me of the Animal Farm where some are more equal than others. Who is to say who is more equal and has more right to be qualified as candidate for the Presidency except the people?

For the time being, only a select group of people who are rich and powerful are eligible to contest for this position. If not I would like to suggest that the Presidency be rotated on a monthly basis with each candidate selected from a pool of qualified senior citizens, excluding the unreasonable clause of being in high offices and running an organization of $100m. This will provide 12 high paying jobs of $400k per monthly term a year, or 72 happy presidents every 6 years.

The daft citizens will have to contend with the few candidates available today. Just be wise in casting the vote. Like Lim Boon Heng said, some are too close to political parties and may not be suitable. I fully agree with this kind of concern. The people must be guarded against incestuous relationship, and the elected President must be one that is not related to any political party.

Let’s hope there will be enough of neutral and decently qualified candidate to choose from. For those who are eligible under the present restrictive clause, they must know that there are very few around, they must stand up to contest as a service to the people and country. The people are hungry for an alternative choice.

Bikers

Two bikers riding side by side, a guy and his girl. More pics in Art of RAR Gallery on top right.

I did not ask for it

Hypothetically, or just my imagination, when the huge increments and pay were thrown at the lap of the President, could his eyes pop out and follow by a grumble, ‘Why so much? I didn’t ask for it.’ Nathan is a simple man, nothing ostentatious in his lifestyle, and probably very happy with his banana leaf fish head curry. He has never been seen as someone who would flaunt his wealth, spending wildly. Neither is his wife. Both very decent people living quite a simple lifestyle.

The millions of dollars thrown at him would probably go into his bank accounts and never see daylight. I am being presumptious of course. My point is that we are paying too much for a non executive president. We are not living in a kingdom where blue blooded aliens must be kept to live very well from the taxes paid by the people.

Also, whoever is elected to this high office, he is likely to be a man that is held in high esteem by the people, and unlikely to be corrupted. So no need to pay him an out of this world salary to keep his fingers away from the coffer. Anyway, his position is unlikely to get him too close to where the money is kept. The idea of paying an officer a lot of money to keep him from becoming corrupt is demeaning to such an office. For all its honour and dignity, this concept must be taken out of the equation when the good office of the Presidency is concerned.

Paying people to prevent them from corruption should be kept at those levels where people are likely to do so. I still got this funny feeling that the whole reasoning is foul, at least I can smell that something is not right.

I hope the Salary Review Committee will take the Presidency out of the package and deal with it separately, away from the stigma and idea of corruption. The thought of a president that is incorruptible may be a bit idealistic. But the safeguard is the office of CPIB, watching everyone to keep them honest.

A decade of failed public housing policies

With only a couple of weeks in office, Koh Boon Wan has virtually overturned many of the old housing policies of his predecessor and frantically trying to make up for lost time to make good what had went wrong drastically. Would the changes in housing policies be good enough evidence of the mismanagement of public housing or just a change of policies and nothing more? The decade of under building of public flats and the influx of foreigners have caught many first time buyers of HDB flats sleeping. Many did not really understand what was happening and were caught napping through no fault of theirs. As a consequence, many ended up buying excessively priced flats or missed the boat altogether. Many too have to put off plans for marriage, for starting a family, while some were forced to buy resale flats at higher prices or private properties at even higher prices. The net result is that many young people have to pay overpriced properties and cleaning up their savings. Those that missed the boat are just as bad as the little savings they stinged to save can never make up for the runaway prices. Could the victims of the decade of misguided public housing policies find recourse or reprieve in some way with new policies that will recognize their plight? Many have been forced out of the market for not being able to buy a HDB flat when their incomes were within the HDB ceiling. Is it their fault? Would there be an amnesty of sort to let these victims of past policies back into the public housing system? Or would it be a case of just too bad, caught by wrong policies at the wrong time? Or would some wise guy quip, ‘It happened, let’s move on? How flexible and people centric will the new regime be to the victims of flawed policies?

An unbelievable world record!

Other being a PAP MP, he(Yeo Guat Kwang holds) has an amazing 64 other positions !!! http://www.parliament.gov.sg/mp/yeo-guat-kwang?viewcv=Yeo%20Guat%20Kwang 1) Member, Government Parliamentary Committee on Manpower 2) Member, Government Parliamentary Committee on Community Development, Youth & Sports 3) Member, GPC for Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts 4) Vice Chairman, Aljunied Town Council 5) Alignment Director, NTUC Quality Worklife & All Nationalities 6) Acting Advisor to Taxi Operators’ Association 7) President of Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) Vice-Chairman, North East Community Development Council 9) Member, Board of Directors of PUB Board 10) Advisor to the Singapore Table Tennis Association 11) Advisor to the Singapore WeiQi Association 12) Advisor to the Ren Ci Hospital 13) Advisor to the Bright Vision Hospital 14) Advisor to Artistes & Performers’ Association 15) Advisor to Restaurants Association of Singapore 16) Executive Secretary, Singapore Chinese Teachers’ Unions 17) Director, Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC) 1 Advisor, Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore 19) Executive Secretary, Amalgamated Union of Statutory Board Employees 20) Member, Workplace Health and Safety Council 21) Co-Chairman, National Tripartite Committee on Workplace Health 22) Co-Chairman, Customer Centric Initiatives 23) Co-Chairman, NTUC-SNEF Migrant Workers’ Forum 24) Member, Aids Business Alliance 25) Member, Mental Health Alliance 26) Member, Centre for Service Excellence and Leadership Governing Council 27) Member, SPRING Standards Council 2 Patron to Pets Enterprises & Traders Association (PETAS) 29) PAP Community Foundation HQ Executive Committee 30) Member, Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL) 31) Member, Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) 32) Member, AVA Human Resource Committee 33) Member, WSH Council Finance Committee 34) Member, Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers 35) Member, Tripartite Committee on Portable Medical Benefits 36) Member, Tripartite Committee on Flexible Work Arrangement 37) Member, Quality Service Advisory Council 3 Member, Institute for Service Excellence @ SMU (ISES) Governing Council 39) Member, Motor Industry Disputes Resolution Centre Pte Ltd Board of Governors 40) Member, Retail Price Watch Group 41) Member,Tobacco Licensing Consultative Panel 42) Member, Ngee Ann Kongsi Council 43) Advisor, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Staff Union (IRASSU) 44) Advisor & Trustee, NatSteel Employees Union (NEU) 45) Business Advisor, NTUC LearningHub Pte Ltd 46) Advisor, Yeo Clan General Association 47) Advisor, Singapore Taoist Federation 4 Advisor, Fo Guang Shan (Singapore) 49) Advisor, Mun San Fook Tuck Chee 50) Advisor, Society of Sheng Hong Welfare Services 51) Advisor, Sian Chay Medical Institution 52) Advisor, Society of Tourist Guides (Singapore) 53) Advisor, Singapore Furniture Association 54) Advisor, Eggs’ Import/Export Trading Association (Singapore) 55) Advisor, Federation of Merchants’ Singapore 56) Advisor, JCI Senators Club of Singapore 57) Advisory Board Member, Singapore-China Association for Advancement of Science & Technology 5 Patron. Buddist Fellowship 59) Independent Director, Grandwork Interior Pte Ltd 60) Independent Director, Japan Foods Holding Ltd 61) Independent Director, Koyo International Ltd 62) Independent Director, United Envirotech Ltd 63) Independent Director, Asia Water Technology Ltd 64) Independent Director, HLH Group Ltd The above is copied from Thoughts of a Singapore Statistician. This is the kind of overworked super talents that Singaporeans can be very proud of. As an average individual, I would forget at least 80 per cent of the names of the organizations in the above list. It is a marvel to even remember them, let alone trying to perform all the duties associated with them. But I am just an average bean. The uncomfortable or unfair part is that for a miserable $15k per month, this super talent is made to shoulder such an unenviable number of important positions and responsibilities. I really feel sorry for him. I doubt he even has time to eat or sleep if he is to do his duties, just to attend meetings alone. But when I look at how well he looks, I think he is coping very well. And he is not alone. I believe all his peers are also shouldering a fuller list of appointments, maybe more. So Singaporeans should not begrudge these great talents and the money paid to them. They deserve every penny they received. In fact they should be paid more. I will die trying to do more than 3 jobs. Singapore is indeed blessed with such super human beans, rightly described as more than mortals.

How long will the Ponzi Scheme last?

Many have commented that the public housing scheme is another Ponzi Scheme or something similar in nature. In all sense, it will die a naturally death by the time the lease expires in 99 years, all 900,000 of them. On that day, all will be worthless. There seems to be a way out though, to extend the game, by SERS, whereby the HDB will buy back the flats before the lease expires, offer the lessee a new flat of the same market value or slightly more. The lessee will be happy to get a new flat for a smaller fee and a new lease. This option of buying back and offering a new flat can go on and on provided certain conditions are present. Without these conditions, the renewal and new life will still come to an end. The first condition is that the flats to be acquired are low lying, and on the same plot of land a doubling of the units of flats can be built. A 10 storey block can easily go to 20, and 20 to 40. After that it must go to 80 or 100 storeys so that the cost of building the new flats can be paid by new lessees. As the cost of building is going to be much higher, and there is inflation to add on to the cost, it is also assumed that the income of the new lessees will go up proportionally to pay for the much more expensive flats. Or else, the aspiration will be for smaller and smaller units or smaller in size like what is happening now. The third condition is that there must be more and more buyers to buy the new flats. As the formula is based on the doubling of the units, if all the flats are to be rebuilt, it will need a doubling of the population, from 5m to 10m. So the floodgate for foreigners cannot be closed. The fourth condition is that the island will not sink with all the Towers of Babel loading on it. And hopefully, the supporting infrastructure to house the kind of population density can cope with the increase. If all the conditions are met, the Ponzi Scheme can go on and on.

The crime of earning $10k

The arbitrary $10k ceiling for the combined income of young couples is looking like a crime. It has been elevated to a sacred status that it is almost untouchable, like a commandment carved in stone. Young couples who have a combined income of $10k are disqualified from public housing. They are deemed too well paid, and able to pay more for private properties. They should go and buy a smaller but more expensive private property, or go for the big owns and take a bigger loan to service. The value of thrift and savings and financial prudence is thrown to the wind. If after taking a big loan and something untoward happens to their income that is their problem. And the private developers and speculators are all rubbing their hands eagerly waiting for these young couples to commit, after being forced out by the system. They have no choice but to take the plunge. What kind of philosophy is this? Forcing young people to go into big debt because they earn a little more than others? What is $10k anyway? Any decently qualified young couple that failed to get hitch within 3 to 5 years will see their income exceeding this arbitrary ceiling pronounced by god. Is it wise or decent to force young couples, just starting to work and with a full list of commitments ahead of them, to plunge in with a half a million or one million dollar loan? I think it is a crazy idea and very irresponsible. The crap about some of these young couples adding to the queue is another hogwash. Just like the spurious building acitivity today, it is all about building to meet the needs and demands of the people. The crime is for not building, not the young people wanting to join the queue. And not many would join the queue as those with lesser commitments would risk taking a bigger loan for private properties. It is no crime or shame to want to buy a cheaper home and save for tomorrow. The principle of thrift and prudence is age old wisdom. Punishing the young people for your own inept, poor planning and farcical beliefs is shameful. No one must be forced to eat sharksfins and force to pay for it. The $10k ceiling is another mean testing that is wicked to the core, like its parallel in healthcare. It only serves to fatten the pockets of speculators and developers at the expense of the young people. Just go and build the flats that the people need, and stop the silly reasoning. Every able young man must be given a chance to buy his first public housing. This is only equitable, just and fair. They also do their bid to serve the country like everyone else.

The housing mess or housing achievement?

25,000 BTO flats will be built this year. And now Boon Wan is saying tens of thousands of rental flats are needed and building of rental flats must also be ramped up. Are these happy problems or manifestation of infested problems in public housing that are surfacing today? With 25,000 being built and the demand is still growing, and a shortfall of tens of thousands of rental flats! What’s happening? Didn’t MND know the problem or they did know the problem but not building because the policy maker decided otherwise? Or is it that the information on supply and demand was misleading that led to the current mess? MND data quoted in today’s ST said that there were 3,700 and 2,300 rental flat applicants for year 2008 and 2009 respectively. If these were the data that MND was working on, not more than 5,000 rental flats need to be built. How could the numbers balloon to tens of thousands of flats needed as mentioned by Boon Wan? Whatever, policy failure or information failure, something is wrong with the housing needs of the people. They can’t say they did not know or did not see it coming. Boon Wan is only in the job for a couple of weeks and he is in a big hurry to clear the mess. The media also reported some views that the ramping up of rental flats would have little impact on the price of private properties. Could this kind of thinking be the main determinant in the supply of public housing, both rental and purchase? There must be many big speculators out there hoarding 10 or 20 units of properties each and fearing that the prices will fall. So are the property developers, all fearing that their profits will fall. It is thus important that the supply of public housing be carefully managed to ensure that the speculators and property developers are happily sitting on huge profits. Yep, must not remove the $8k/$10k ceiling so that these young people have no choice but to support the private property market and help the speculators and developers to make handsome profits. Tell them there are cheap loans, low interest rates, just borrow, half a million, one million, just borrow, no problem. Hope the ramping up of BTO flats will not affect the price of private properties, or else speculators, big investors and developers will be hurt.

Boiling the daft brains

After a long period of gradual abuses, the human beans would have adjusted and adapted to a higher level of pain and absurdity. Subsequently any lowering of suffering would be greeted with relief and gratitude. The high housing price is a living example that the people are getting used to it and paying a little less is cause for celebration. The people are now jubilant over the announcement by Boon Wan of the release of more public housing and a change in policy to build in advance of demand instead of waiting for demand to build up. Great man, compassionate man, with people centric policies, compare to his predecessor. Now this is a caring govt for the people and will look after the needs of the people. They have forgotten how they have ended in the shit hole in the first place. The history of lack of housing in the founding years need not be retold. The story of govt building public housing for the people, where people can go and choose their flats like choosing to buy a car or private properties must be repeated to remind the beans that it should be that way. But after getting used to waiting for 4 or 5 years, the beans are so happy if they can get it in 3. Now they will go down on their knees if they can get it in 2 years. Even the expectation for 5 rm, executive or private properties is forgotten. They no longer aspire for them and are contented with a 4 rm public flats for young professionals. Boiling daft brains are not much different from boiling frogs. The daft Singaporeans deserved to be treated that way, easily conned, easily appeased, easily contented, in their unthinking way. They will take it lying down when told to plan their marriages 4 or 5 years in advance or they will have to suffer the brilliant BTO housing policy. It is their fault for not planning ahead. Dumbos.

Michael - King of Pops

This is what Master Nature painted of Michael. And Master Nature says, beneath the cosmetics, he is Afro American. More pics at Art of RAR Gallery at top right.

The irrelevance of KPIs

Amid the hoohaas for change and the thrills of a Ministers’ Salary Review Committee, many well meaning experts have offered their views and suggestions on how to assess the performance of ministers and the appropriate rewards due to them. KPIs have been booted around as the panacea of all the ills that have surfaced. KPIs are widely used as a HR tool and also seen as a better and more objective tool for performance appraisal. It also has many drawbacks and easily misused by management to serve the wrong objectives with very adverse consequences for the organisation. The recent political developments have provided many interesting aspects on the misuse or misinterpretation of KPIs as a management tool. Kan Seng was promoted to Coordinating Minister earlier, Mah Bow Tan openly announced how great and successful were his housing policies and programmes. He would probably write a memoir on his great contributions to public housing and expecting the people to thank him profusely. These incidents were evidence that they were doing well, or their superior must be telling them so, for a job well done. How well they have done, in the eyes of their superior, using whatever KPIs, can easily be deduced by the amount of performance bonuses and growth bonuses they received over the years. Check it out. From their confidence and the high positions they held in cabinet, there were no doubts that their performances were rated very highly. What about the people’s assessment of their performances? Though the people did not have access to their KPIs, from the reactions and feedback in the media, it is quite clear that both must be ranked at the bottom of the people’s assessment. Here lies the first fault, what their superior think is good may not be good to the people. Both the ministers and their superior could be congratulating themselves for achieving all the goals in their KPIs. But to the people these are not the goals that are good for the people. So we have conflicting expectations and KPIs to start with. How then could KPIs be used to be both relevant to the superior of the ministers and the expectation of the people, if the KPIs are in conflict? Who then shall set the KPIs, the superior, the ministers or the people? If only the three can agree on the same set of KPIs, perhaps that will be a good reason to use KPIs to appraise ministers for their performance. It is a non starter in the first place.

The perpetual strawman for whacking

‘Only US can balance China’, why not ‘Only China can balance the US?’ Why is it necessary to keep the Americans interested in the Western Pacific to balance the influence of China and not keeping the Chinese interested to balance the influence of America? The inherent biased of a WOG or a western biased viewpoint of international balance of power is obvious. China is the perpetual strawman for whacking. ‘You can take Japan, Korea, Asean, and even include Taiwan and India, but you cannot balance China. It is too big. Only with the US and its superior technology can you balance China.’ Why not, ‘You can take Japan, Korea, Asean, and even include Taiwan and India, but you cannot balance the US. It is too big. Only with China and its superior technology can you balance the US?’ This western view has always placed China as the rogue nation, or the nation that is dangerous and all out to bully the smaller nations. In reality, the rogue nation is always the US. Look at the wars and the bullying of smaller nations across the world map. Who is bullying the smaller countries? But if one eats too many hamburgers and potatoes, one’s is gonna look at China like a potato or a hamburger, or think like a potato or hamburger.

Who shall decide who can be President?

Tan Cheng Bock is thinking of standing for the elected Presidency and has to meet the eligibility criteria of the PEC. The criteria include the following to ensure candidates are people of integrity, good character and reputation: 1. At least 45 years 2. Held key appointments such as minister, chief justice, speaker or permanent secretary for not less than 3 years, or been chairman or chief executive of a statutory board. 3. Or similar or equivalent positions in the private sector. The above criteria mean that one must be some big shot or else not good enough even if one is a person of integrity, good character and reputation. A school teacher, school principal, a GP, an accountant, a lawyer, a successful insurance or housing agent, a good social worker, an academic etc etc, will not be considered as good enough. Why? MP also cannot? Not perm sec also cannot? The criteria are actually PAP’s criteria. Do the people have any say in them? Who should decide the eligibility criteria for an elected President, the people or a political party that is in power?

Political appointments are not employments

There are so many views and suggestions on how the Ministerial Salary Review shall be conducted. From a human resource point of view, I think it is necessary to revisit the fundamentals. What is a minister or an MP? With that understanding, we may then approach the design of its compensation in a way that is appropriate to the nature of the position. A minister is not a job like any job, but a political appointment. Just like MPs, they are all elected representatives of the people but holding a higher office for a duration of 5 years. Period. It does not have an unending tenure of service. The fact that some of our ministers have been serving for decades is a peculiarity that may not happen in the future. Even if it does, each period of appointment is a new term of service, unrelated. Why are people talking about annual appraisal, salary increment, bonuses, pension etc etc that are part and parcel of an employee of an organization? What do these terms have to do with a political appointment with a short mandate from the people? A Prime Minister may want to appraise the performance of his ministers and reshuffle his cabinet as he deems fit. That is his prerogative. Is he also thinking of the annual appraisal of an employee which ends with a salary increment or performance bonus? Who is the employer and who is paying for the increment? If the employer is the ruling party, and the money is from the ruling party, by all means, do whatever they like. The employer of the politicians is the people, who voted them for a fixed term of 5 years. They will then have to seek the people’s mandate for another 5 year term. The people/employer will then decide if they want to give them another 5 years. It is like a contract for service with fixed terms. With this kind of contract, the remuneration for the ministers and all politicians shall be a fixed sum for the duration of the mandate. The issue of annual increment does not come into play. It is a package deal for 5 years. Bonus and pension too have no place in such political appointments. If there is any reward for politicians who have served for an exceptional long period of time, this may be provided as a form of one time gratuity to the deserving politician on a separate basis. The same could also apply to the head of govt or head of state as exceptions to the rule. It shall not be an across the board provision for every political office holder as if they are employees. The other important issue is who shall decide how much to pay the politicians? Obviously it is not right for them to approve their own pay cheque. A neutral Salary Review Commission can be appointed as what is already done. The approval shall come from the people through a referendum, something similar to shareholders approving the remunerations of the Board of Directors in an AGM. At most, this may be held once every 5 years or over a longer period if the economic condition or inflation has not deflated the value to of the compensation package to make it meaningless or unattractive. No political party must get away with the impression that once they are elected, the Treasury is their piggy bank and they can create as many appointments as they like to reward their members. Politicians going into politics, to be elected by the people are there to serve the people. They do not join politics as an employment with a career path and a life long pay package. If the current thinking is to go by, the govt will have to set up a human resource ministry to administer performance appraisal on the politicians, including the Prime Minister. Staff performance will become another job specifications for the Prime Minister and Ministers, and of course a salary scale, including a scale for the MPs, and all the terms of conditions of employment. After so many years of one party rule, the people have been distracted to think that ministerial appointments and political appointments are jobs, a career with career path and salary scale. Every year the incumbents can look forward to promotions, career advancement, annual increments and bonuses and pensions. Grandfather’s company? If the political climate is changed and after every election there is a change of govt, all the suggestions for performance appraisal, salaries, bonuses etc etc will become obsolete, irrelevant even if provided for. Please don’t get confuse. A politician and political appointment is not a job. Let the people decide how much they should be remunerated as a package for a fixed term of appointment. Nothing more, nothing less. If they want more, seek another mandate from the people and approval from the people. The current govt has been entrenched for too long to forget that they are not employees of the state like the civil servants. There is no contract of service and no terms of employment. KPIs are being booted by everyone as if it is the main factor to determine how much must a politician be rewarded. It is superfluous actually. The KPI, if useful, is to let the people judge the performance of the politician and whether to re elect him in the next election. It must not be an instrument to reward him with more bonuses or pay increases. The performance of a politician is not for the PM to tell but the people to decide. I hope the Review Committee will approach its task from the point of a 5 year mandate and not a life long employment. They must erase the current thinking that the package comes with all the perks and terms of an employee.

Alice in Water Wonderland

Alice in Water Wonderland. A masterpiece by Nature using Koi as painting material. More pics at Art of RAR Gallery on top right of page.

Daft Singaporeans are so easy to con

The COE is too expensive at $100k. Please make it cheaper. The seller says ok, I will sell it to you for $20k but for two years only. The daft Singaporeans will be so happy to grab it straight away. Woah so cheap, only $20k instead of $100k. This is the mentality of Singaporeans today. Despite the higher level of education, their ability to think clearly is still missing. What is the difference between buying a HDB that costs $400k with a 99 year lease and a $100k flat with only a 25 year lease? Oh yes, it is cheaper, can pay up the loan in 10 years instead of 30 years. Very affordable! This is the kind of suggestions that one forumer wrote in the ST today to bring down HDB price, to make it more affordable. He forgot about why the HDB price is so high in the first place, and whether it is justifiable. I am going to set up a car showroom to sell cars in pieces. The daft Singaporeans can buy the cars very cheap, but in pieces. They can buy two wheels or four wheels first. When they have more money, they can then buy the doors, the seats, and later the engine. And they will be so happy, running around screaming cheap, cheap, very affordable. Singaporeans are daft and for good reasons. Please, bring in more foreign talents to help these daft people. I feel like crying for Singapore.

Notable quote by Lim Wee Kiat

"If the annual salary of the Minister of Information, Communication and Arts is only $500,000, it may pose some problems when he discuss policies with media CEOs who earn millions of dollars because they need not listen to the minister's ideas and proposals, hence a reasonable payout will help to maintain a bit of dignity." - Dr Lim Wee Kiat, PAP MP for Nee Soon GRC, 24 May 2011 in Lianhe Wanbao PS. Lucky has posted an article on this. I just borrow the quote which says a lot about the mindset of our leaders.

Try a different thinking cap

While the Salary Review Committee is thinking, perhaps there should be a rethink on the underlying assumptions for the high ministerial salaries. One key component that was built into the salary is the amount to prevent ministers from being corrupt. The ministers’ salaries thus consist of a normal salary plus a corruption prevention factor that is undefined. Knowing how bad corruption can be at high places, the amount in consideration cannot be small to be effective. There are only 15 ministers plus another few ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries. The total would not be too big a number to monitor for corruption. Maybe we can take a different approach to this corruptibility issue. Remove the corruption prevention component, say X dollars from the pay check. Let those ministers or people in high offices try to be corrupt and let the CPIB go after them and make them pay for their bad behaviors. This approach could put to test how many genuinely good men we have and how many would turn bad. And the amount of savings can be quite substantial if the $X is big. Assuming this is $1m a year per minister, multiply by say 30, to include the other office bearers, and spread it to 50 or 100 years, my god, it is no small change. In practice, I don’t think there will be so many corrupt ministers to pilfer so much money from the system and without being caught. This is a worthwhile experiment to try. From the money to be saved point of view, it definitely makes sense. Another option is to declare the quantum provided to prevent corruption. The ministers may opt to accept this quantum to free them from the temptation. Those ministers who are confident that they will not be tempted even without this sum of compensation can opt out of it. In this way, the more righteous and upright ministers need not be forced to accept this sum of immoral money which they did not want in the first place. There will still be huge savings as many ministers are likely to refuse to accept such compensation and be seen as corruptible. You see, the rationale for this corruption prevention pay is pretty humiliating and self serving as it implies that none of them can stand firmly on the ground and resist the temptation to become corrupt. So the good ones too become tarred by accepting the payout. Time to take a new look at the rationale and a new approach to the tackling the problem of corruption.

Socialising and acclimatising the foreigners

Lately the vigour to welcome the foreigners has been neglected with focus turned to the election. Now that it is over, maybe this exercise to welcome and socialize the foreigners will take off again. I have just one suggestion to the committees organizing such programmes. And this is from the experiences of the past when the sinkehs were arriving in their cargo ships in the last century. When the early sinkehs came to this island, they were taken care of by their clansmen and they helped them to adapt and acclimatize to the local environment. Coming from temperate countries, the tropical heat can be killing. One of the mandatory rituals is to make them take early morning bath. This is to protect them from heatstroke. The side benefits were personal hygiene which actually was not of much concern in those days. Poor labourers were not too perturbed by dirty places and their sweaty and smelly bodies. They slept anywhere, wore clothes for days and bathing and washing to keep clean were furthest in their minds. Today, many new arrivals are still not conscious of their personal hygiene, the students, and the office workers included. From the smell you know that they have not taken their bath for days, or at best, in the morning before leaving for work. Imagine squeezing with them in the packed trains and buses. For goodness sake, all the programme coordinators incharge of foreigners, please do just one thing. Teach them to take bath daily, and the most important one, before leaving for work. It is not only healthy, it not only reduces heat stroke, it keeps them clean and not smelly. The locals cannot or would not want to talk to them or get near to them if the stench is unbearable. And it can become offensive and invite a negative feeling towards them. A clean and not smelling body will make them more pleasant and people will not avoid them. I have no intention to be rude. But I cannot help but to pinch my nose when the body odour from unwashed bodies is too offensive. I hope this message gets through. I want to be nice and polite to them too. I have to say it because many are suffering in silence and cursing behind their backs. PS. Wally should be happy with this.

Why are the people questioning govt policies?

The noise is getting louder. The people, well known to be daft, are questioning govt policies formulated by the top talents of the island. They are openly criticizing the high ministers’ salaries, the high public housing prices, the high influx of foreigners. My advice to the people is not to go over board. These are well though out policies that were good for the country and themselves. Without these policies in place, the island would have long turned into a big slum. It is time that they think deeply, if they can think at all, and say a big thank you for their good fortune. Don’t they want to have jobs? Don’t they want their property prices to keep going up? They need them for their retirement and to pay for world class hospital bills. Say thank you please.

More foreigners snapping up private properties

Is this news? It does not take much to buy up this piece of rock. And if the property market is open to foreigners all over the world, what is there to stop them from throwing their spare cash to wipe up everything? The foreigners in this case are the super rich, and there will always be the super rich. Let’s take a bet when the whole island will be sold to foreigners, I mean the private properties.

Different views on the ministers’ salaries

Even when Hsien Loong appointed a review committee to look at the ministers’ salaries, an indirect admission that something is not right, there are still some quarters willing to accept what it is. A letter in the ST forum talks about provisions of KPIs and measuring performance to justify the loony salaries. Really, if you let the loonies do what they want, they will pay themselves not just a few millions, but tens or hundreds of millions. I called them robbers. They are found mainly in New York where the top executives of the financial industries are exactly doing that. Even the CEO of the stock exchange was grabbing hundreds of millions at one time. There are no jobs, I mean as an employee drawing a salary, that should be paid hundreds of thousands a month except in gambling or maybe in sales. Leave aside the specialized skills, especially those involving life and death, when the practitioner can demand anything under the sky if there is a willing customer to pay for it. How could a CEO whose tasks are mainly administrative and decision making justify a $500k or $1m salary a month? Oh, his decision involves millions and billions. So by saying yes or no to billions, he must be paid a percentage of it? This has been a key justification so far. There will be different views on this. Fair enough, if the decision is right, he gets his percentage cut. What if it is wrong, is he willing to cough out a percentage of the mistake? The other justification is always the market. Let the market forces decide. Shouldn’t that be the case? In the case of political offices, there is an international market that could be used to give a reference point, at least on the upper limits and lower limits. Why is this not used? No matter how exceptional, how unique, no one in his right mind will think it is not loony to pay the head of govt in a little piece of rock more than the head of the US or any major developed country. Our talents are super talents, world best? I have no delusion about that. Our problems are exceptional and demanded extraordinary human feats. I too have no delusion about that. While the two camps are throwing out their views in the media, new media versus old media, we will have to wait for the Review Committee for their recommendations. In the meantime the supporters of loony salaries will get their views heard. The detractors too will know where they can get their views published and heard.

It's over

The lady is walking away, sad that the relationship is over. The guy is in shock. How could it be? How they felt were written all over their faces. This is an image formed by Koi fish. More pics in Art of RAR Gallery at top right.

Indians are the best financial brains

Tharman is not only the Finance Minister, he is also Chairman of MAS. And he is also Chairman of IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee. The MD of MAS is also an Indian. The CEO of DBS is an Indian. The CEO of CitiBank and probably several American banks and financial institutions are also of Indian origins. And the finance graduates of Indian Universities are in great demand both in the US and Singapore. The Indians have crafted a niche in the American finance industry, occupying many top and senior positions. Needless to say, many Indians are in the top echelons of the UN and IMF. The Indians shall be very proud of their finance talents and their achievements, especially Tharman, who is widely tipped as the next minority PM of Singapore.

Politicians are servants of the people too

Politicians are servants of the people. Are civil servants also servants of the people? Why should civil servants serve the people in the comfort of govt offices built and paid by the public coffers while politicians have to meet the people in void decks or in places at their own expense? Is the work and service of politicians less important than those of civil servants? We have built comfortable office buildings for Town Councils and Community Clubs for the PAs to serve the people. Is it too much to provide a reasonable office place for the MPs to serve the people in these institutions? The allowance paid to MPs will not be enough if they have to pay for an office space just to look after the people. In principle it should not be so. It is public service, and free service to the people. It is also a duty to the people. The MPs are elected by the people to serve the people and solve their problems. If the civil servants are entitled to proper office space, why can’t the elected representative of the people be entitled to one as well? It is pathetic to see the people meeting their MPs in void decks which are not meant for such purposes. Would there be a mindset change? Maybe we cannot afford such basic necessities for a servant of the people. The servants of the people can only meet the people in void decks or any little corners that are permitted by the authorities, or they will have to pay for the place. How many would accept this kind of logic inherited from the past? Change? Change is a very difficult thing to do if the heart is not there.

$10 horror movie in Woodland

The discovery of a maid who was killed and dumped into a water tank in Woodlands is turning into a horror movie. Many residents ended up bathing with the water from the tank, some boiling green bean soup, making milk for the babies, general cooking, using the piped water when the body was still in the tank. The Town Council had acted quickly to remove the body, flush and clean the tank before telling the residents that the water is safe for drinking. The residents are not happy. They have signed a petition for the tank to be changed. Some must have found this request too sensitive and unreasonable. The tank has been cleaned, no more dead body. What’s wrong with it? The Town Council has offered a $10 waiver on the conservancy fees. This has infuriated the residents even more. The cleansing and prayers for the dead maid is one thing. Normally these could let the matter to rest. What the authority fails to understand is the emotional, religious and psychological part of the affected residents. The phobia and psychological attachment to what had happened in the water tank would not simply go away to some people. Some will be terrified every time they turn on the tap, take a bath, or cook a meal. This cannot be easily explained away. Neither can those badly affected be persuaded to accept things as normal. To the extreme, some could repeatedly visualize the maid’s body still in the tank, or seeing blood when the tap is turned on. Too much horror and ghost stories, yes, and they will play on their imaginations for as long as they are living there. It is something that cannot be removed by a mere $10. The horror movie will keep on replaying in the minds of some residents, and some may even move out for a little peace of mind. Finally it was reported last night that the water tank will be removed. PS. Water is a strategic and important resource. Think of the possibilities if our water security is in the hands of wicked minds, terrorists etc? How many of our strategic and sensitive resources are in the hands of ‘harmless’ uneducated foreign workers and educated foreign talents? Keys to our drinking water in the hands of foreigners! Then, how many of our strategic installations and institutions are in the hands of foreigners? Is it a sensible thing to do? Do we have complete faith in foreigners to manage and control our sensitive and vital installations and institutions?

Ministerial Salary Review

Just a few points to add to the discussion. The appointment of the Chairman of the Review Committee desirably should be someone that is not only independent but must be seen as independent from all the parties affected. A foreign academic, a professor of some international standing can also be considered. Ideally the committee should be free to deliberate with absolutely no worries about breach of confidentiality. The concept of life long pension for elected people’s representative shall be scrapped. Elected representative of the people is not an employment where there is a career path, a route of advancement, annual appraisal and a performance bonus. It shall be a fixed allowance for the 5 year term of office. A one time gratuity may be offered to those who served at ministerial level and above and after a certain number of terms. It has been proven that many good and able citizens are willing to step forward to run for political office without the attraction of a huge payroll. A huge payroll will attract the wrong kind of people with wrong motivation. The myth that there are no good candidates without big dollars has been debunked. For comparison, the portfolio of a politician is very different from the CEOs in the private sector. The latter can be used as a kind of a guide, but one cannot totally ignore the remuneration of politicians in other countries. They are relevant and comparison with them will provide a better perspective of what public office is all about. Pay well, no one is against that. Pay well enough so that they are not tempted to be corrupt. This is a bit controversial but the people would go along up to a point. No need to pay excessively for this. If any public officer is tempted to put his fingers in the cookie jar, let the CPIB take care of it. No amount is good enough to keep a greedy person from turning bad. As for the Presidency, a totally new mindset must be applied as the current premises are far from what that office represents. A ceremonial President with no executive role except a custodial role, should remain more or less a ceremonial role. The remuneration shall be assessed accordingly. The Presidential Office shall not continue to be the joke of the people because of its grossly overpaid salary. It is already a great honour for any citizen to be elected into the Office. A decent and respectable allowance is more than adequate. Citizens seeking this office must not be attracted by the money. Some will even be willing to pay to have this honour. The dignity of the Office of the Presidency must not be tarnished by the controversy over money. An impartial and independent Review Committee is necessary to serve up a recommendation that is relatively more objective and appropriate for those in political office. There will be less doubts and controversies than what it is now.

Change is in the air

Everyone is talking about change, about throwing out old practices and policies. No sacred cows, nothing is sacrosanct. A wave of fresh air is blowing swiftly through the stale political landscape of everything is fine and everything is the best there is. The message of this new drive is that many things are not fine. But that was only a few weeks ago when everything was fine. Would the daft Singaporeans again be told that one party dominant political system is the best for them, that we are unique and cannot have multi party democracy? Would the people be told that there is no need for checks and balances, that a ruling party can check itself? Would the people be told that opposition parties are bad, the opposition politicians are out to destroy the country? There are many old mantras that are not looking like old follies. Would the daft Singaporeans still be saying ayes, ayes, we want more of the old ways? Now that the obstructing wall towards a new future is being torn down, would the Singaporeans look ahead with optimism that the future can be better, or still stuck with the old mindset that change is bad, fearing change, and crawling back into the old comfort zone? What do the Singaporeans want? Be a well fed bird in a cage, be birds in the bird park, where some are kept in cages, some allow to fly freely, within the park’s bigger net, or will they want to soar like eagles, where the limits to where they can go are limited by their own vision and resourcefulness?

The naked truth

At long last, the emperor knew that he was naked. After all the years of deception, with his merry men telling him how beautiful his clothes were, he finally knew that it was all a lie. George Yeo did his part by being the first brave man, out of desperation, to tell it right at Hsien Loong’s face. This was George’s last and most valuable contribution to his party. Reading the Sunday Times today on the slaying of the sacred cow is comical and sickening. I wanted to throw out. Was it hindsight that everyone’s comment on the outrageous minister’s salary was spot on, that it was flawed from the onset? No, it was not hindsight, it was the emperor’s new clothes that no one dared to say differently. It did not help when it was resolutely defended by the undisputed power of the land. Would any sensible person dare to defy the living gods? The minister’s salary was not the only piece of emperor’s clothes that was defended furiously. The high HDB prices, high medical fees, huge income gap, were stoutly pronounced as sound and well till the eve of the GE. The volteface, the grudging admission of failures, and the reluctant apologies, only came about when there was no way out. The emperor has spoken, face the music, admit to one’s mistakes, and no more thumping down at the people, is perhaps a bitter pill to swallow to some. The years of high and mighty, and ruthless dismissal of discontent are over. At least it appears to be so. A more accommodating and earnest approach to deal with the people is emerging. This change of heart and change of style are at a nascent stage and can end up a stillbirth. The risk is high if the reform is not resolute, to back track to the old ways. Please, let the past go, let the yodas go. Still there are many voices clamouring for the yodas to continue with their influence. Do the people really want to revisit the days of brash, unforgiving and vindictive style of politics and flawless schemes concocted in seventh heavens? The yodas pervade the establishment at all levels. They were the power wielders, having tasted power and dispensing them at the misfortune of their opponents. The old thuggish way of political contest is inimical to a gentler, more gracious and less confrontational political system and culture. Let the past go. Start with a new slate, with new people and new mindset, for a new nation, more agreeable, more listening and more consultation, when everyone with a different view is not necessary an enemy. Would there be a new dawn, or the same old morning sun?

Entrenched power, entrenched mindset

The Qing Dynasty ruled China for nearly 400 years. In its dying days it was all about power, holding on to power at all cost, no means was too harsh or brutal, as long as they could hold on to power. An entrenched power would only seek its own interest above all else. Our history has also seen a similar but shorter period of entrenched power. It has developed a mindset among the ruling class that they indeed were the rulers, destined, mandated by heaven, to be at these supreme and privilege positions. And the ruled also acquired a mindset of hopelessness, that it was their fate to be ruled. The years of ‘democrazy’ did not educate the people and the rulers that the country belongs to the people and the people are its real masters. A few weeks after the watershed GE, the old mindset of a ruling class is clearly prevalent. The rulers would not go away. They are so entrenched in their lifestyle as rulers, and it must continue to be so. The children of the ruling class and the elite too acquired a dismissive and unforgiving attitude towards the ruled. We have seen and heard it before. In the midst of an outcry for change, some quarters of the ruling class claimed to have heard, and are giving out signals for change and reform, like the Qing Dynasty. In the latter, many reformers lost the battle and were either killed, imprisoned or ran away. Reforming a dynasty from its old ways is not as easy as it thinks, as long as power still resides in the hands of the old ways. A few selected letters in the ST forum deemed worthy, or the prevalent views of the people, are calling for the retention of the yodas, and an unwritten consent for the old Machiavellian ways of knuckle dusters, threats, fears, law suits, just do what I say but don’t do what I do. Be content and be grateful, and shut up. The yodas no doubt are still good and able for many good years. They don’t become dummies overnight. They are still what they are, still entrenched in their old mindset and old abrasive styles. Is this what the people want? More haughty and cocky top down approach of father knows best, and carry a cane ready to strike at the wayward kids? In the new line up of younger leaders, there are several very promising young men that have entered the ring, with a clean slate, and a new mindset. If there is any hope of reform and transformation to a more gracious ruling class, less vindictive, more forgiving and generous, less thuggish, it must come from these new faces. Among the older reformers, perhaps a small handful could be sold to the idea of reform, and genuinely want to take a new approach. As for the rest, the entrenched mindset of ruthless and absolute executive power remains intact, waiting for the day to say, ‘I told you so, we must do it the way we knew better. The ruled only understand the rule of power.’ We are at a threshold of a new incoming tide and a receding old tide, refusing to go away. There can be no real reform if the yodas will not go away. Yes, the leopard will not change its spots. Who will triumph in this tussle for power and change, and how long will it take? The decadent Qing Dynasty dragged on for decades before a revolution finally sent them to oblivion, and before they struck havoc and destruction to lives and the country in general.

No political capital left

In one GE, the PAP has practically spent every cent of its political capital to ride back to Parliament, but with only 60% of popular votes. Many ministers in GRCs managed less than 60% of the votes. They pulled through not on their own merits, for many there were none, but on the goodwill of the party built over the decades. It is quite clear that whatever political capital there was, all has been expended in this election. And comes 2016, there will be nothing left to fall back on. The last 10 years of arrogance, aloofness and unpopular policies that were not well received would be in the track record as deficits. Also by then, the party cannot think of depending on the goodwill of LKY to give them a lift. What a coincidence that both the party and LKY would be spent force then. 2016 will be a defining year, to determine if PAP will still be in power or in the opposition. And it has to rebuild its tarnished reputation and political capital from this very moment. This GE it only has a margin of 20% majority vote which means a 10% swing will become a make or break result. This is how precarious its position is now. The ground sentiment favouring the PAP has shifted and leaving only a few hard core believers in the camp. With more than 30% already entrenched in the opposition camp, with probably another 10% gone, there is barely 10% left of swing votes to convince. What makes matter worst is that the core of PAP supporters will be adopting a wait and see approach. Many no longer believe in the party wholesale like before. They have become more wary of a self serving party, and unless the party can prove otherwise, their votes cannot be taken for granted. The fortune of the PAP has changed, in just a short few days. Amazing indeed! The invincibility, the diehard believers that would simply vote for the party, will be no diehards anymore. There is a flutter in their hearts. The talk of another 10 or 15 years is now looking like wishful thinking. 2016 is going to be a new ball game and the electorate will have little emotional attachments to the PAP. The brand has lost its glamour and devotees. And with the pressure for more disclosure on how much the ministers are really getting mounts, the lack of transparency, to come clean, will bear heavily on the little trust that is left on the party.

Housing policy parameters

The parameters used to determine what is affordable housing should be discarded as it is a wicked way to enslave our young to a home that is no bigger than a shoe box. The formula of 2 incomes, 30% and 30 years to pay up is outrageous as the consequences of paying so much of two persons’ income just for a roof over their head went beyond just financial cost. It has a wide ranging negative social cost for the people and the country as well. Inflation, high cost of living, family formation and bringing up children, even the digits to go into the production of labour, are gravely affected by this sick formula. The argument that it is an international practice is bull. Why don’t the policy makers adopt the international practice of what is a decent salary for themselves as practiced internationally, which incidentally will be no more than 10% of what they are getting now? What is it that their incomes can be unique and defy all conventions? Why is it that they are willing to break all rules and norms when their own interests are at stake and persist in sticking to a deadly formula that is wearing down our future generations financially and emotionally? The formula is robbing the income of our young and depleting their savings for retirement. It is a seriously flawed formula and must be changed immediately for the good of the people and country. All the reasons against this formula have been aired, all the bad and negative consequences arising from this bad formula are there to be seen and are being lived by the bulk of the population. Would this diseased sacred cow be slaughtered? Or would the same song be sung and praised, that this is the best formula for the people? Who is benefitting from this formula and who is paying a heavy price for it? The beneficiaries are the govt, developers and the rich property owners. The adversely affected is everyone other than these three groups of people. Can we see a drastic and badly needed change in the housing parameters to one that is based on a single income and shorter period of repayment? Two income families are destructive in many ways for bringing up children and building a home.

Crazy pony

A crazy pony running away. Its backside is facing backwards squarely. The pony is on the right with its head looking back. Livelier than Hsu Pei Hong's horses. More pics on Art of RAR Gallery on top right.

The Duke of Bukit Timah

After 45 years of history, our political development is taking on the image of medieval Europe when society was divided into the ruling class, the gentry, the landowners and the farmers. We have unwittingly developed a similar ruling class, a gentry class, landlords and of course the worker class that do all the working today to feed the ruling class. The ruling class and gentry are those that have contributed to the success story of this island and it is timely that they should be honoured by the peasants and workers. As a republic, titles like kings and princes may be a bit too much to stomach. Perhaps something less grandeur, like Dukes and Duchess, Counts and Countess, Barons and Baroness would sound quite pleasing. They would also remind the people of our rich colonial past without being seen as subjects of an empire if we were to use titles like Sir or Datuk. The Duke of Bukit Timah, the Count of Toa Payoh, the Baron of Sengkang, etc etc, nice right? And the families of such title holders be entitled to a life pension, I mean stipend, to befit their nobility. Such titles will be better than trying to reinvent the wheel, like Emeritus Ministers or things like dat. And when there is a wedding among these nobilities, we can make it real big, and sell souvenir T shirts, cups and glasses as well. Good for tourism and tourist dollars. The Europeans still have their kings and royalties, the Indians have their Maharajahs, we can have out very own nobilities. And Catherine Lim can write books about the exploits and adventures of Dukes, Counts and Baroness instead of about bind foot maids, so unattractive subjects.

The GE aftermath - Cabinet shake out

Hsien Loong gave his cabinet a big shake out and ended up with a new wardrobe. Two were rejected earlier in the GE, two were out of fashion and retired, two museum pieces were removed, and three unpopular pieces were thrown out. In came two of the latest fashionwear while the whole wardrobe was rearranged with mix and match. The people must be eagerly waiting to see what new clothes would Hsien Loong wear, and hopefully not the same proverbial emperor’s new clothes again. With the superannuation of three of the most controversial ministers, and the big shuffle, Hsien Loong has cleared up everything and preparing a new recipe. The old mindset, the old clever ways and the old sacred cows are expected to be slaughtered. The new men in charge have no need to defend them and not having to answer for them. Can the people really hope for a new and radical change? For a start, no more $8 heart by pass. On the other hand, maybe $8 for a 5 rm flat. If the former is possible, the later should be easy. From all the signals flying around, the great housing success stories are history. The people can expect the whole ministry to be turned upside down, with the past glories turning to past follies. With a new man in Health, would the policies of having world class hospitals be toned down when there are not enough world class patients to pay the world class bills? There is no doubt that the public hospitals are world class and a pride of the nation. Unfortunately many patients would be made bankrupt if they are admitted for a major illness or have to stay in a few days longer. The minister must be reminded of the saying, ‘better die than be sick.’ Transportation is likely to be relooked at. This is a major infrastructure issue that cannot be transformed overnight. It would take longer than 3 to 4 years of building a public flat to restructure the transportation system. But the ineffective use of hiking ERP charges and parking fees that would not change anything may not be applied so regularly as in the past. The immediate issue is to bring down transportation cost before it paralyses a whole nation, with people choosing to stay at home when they find it too costly to take public transport. Changes are expected in all the ministries after the mechanic opened the shining car’s bonnet only to find practically every system in need of a major overhaul. Funny isn’t it? How did all this come about? The voice of a disgruntled people has finally been heard, and the people wanted change, by throwing their support for opposition voices. The popularity vote for the govt is down to a level that if nothing changes, the next election could see the govt being bundled out for good. The voice will be louder with the liberalization of the new media. The gongs and the bells are ringing loud and clear, incessantly. The noise is no longer noise, but anger, frustration, and unhappiness. Clarification, this group excludes those that have already attained a Swiss standard of living, and the believers. The govt would have to take heed or it would not be given another chance. Hsien Loong’s ransacking of his cabinet is a big signal for change. Now the people wait, while the changes take shape, for good or for worst. 5 years is all Hsien Loong got. PS. Originally I wanted to end this article with 'The reign of Hsien Loong starts today'. Looking at the big picture, I changed my mind.

Major cabinet reshuffle

Hsien Loong has announced a new cabinet with major changes. Kan Seng, Mah Bow Tan and Raymond Lim have retired from the cabinet. Heng Swee Kiat is the new Education Minister while Chan Chun Sing is Ag MCYS. Several appointments were shuffled. Watch out for the news tonight.

Are they still in politics or out of politics?

The shocking resignations. Radio Australia reported that both LKY and Chok Tong are out of active politics. What does this mean? Is there such a thing as active politics or inactive politics? Or is it another case of half in and half out? They may have left the cabinet, but they are both elected MPs and are paid politicians. So what are their jobs now that they are no longer inside the cabinet? For one, Chok Tong will spend more time coaching the newbies. But would both of them be serving their constituents in MPS? When they were both ministers, they could claim to be busy, one crystal balling, and one travelling. Now that these heavy duties and responsibilities are out of the way, would they really be meeting the residents and help them with their problems, like how to apply for jobs, how to apply for HDB flats, how to apply for subsidies? As the elected representatives of the people, they have the mandate to sit in Parliament to speak for the people. If they are no longer in active politics because they are now MPs, does it mean that all the MPs are also not in active politics? Are part time MPs in active politics or are they part time politicians? What is inactive or not active politics? Radio Australia, please explain. Sylvia Lim has resigned from her job as a lecturer in the Polytechnic to be a full time MP and be in active politics.

A measure of fairplay and decency

As the TPL storm continues to brew, I want to make it clear that I have nothing against Tin Pei Ling. She can be just anyone’s daughter for that matter. I have tried not to get involved in this issue as it just doesn’t look good making her the scapegoat for the venting of anger and frustration of something much larger. The anger is actually all about how justice is perceived to be unfairly carried out, about how public money is being spent, about a system that the people are rejecting. This storm is not going away even if people try to sweep it under the carpet, trying not to talk about it. As long as it is not settled fairly under the law, it will continue to bug the govt for all it takes. The official news reported that a police report was made and that the posting and infringement of the Cooling Off Day was removed after 20 minutes. The netizens are calling foul. The other party goes on with their life as if nothing had happened. Would 20 minutes be too insignificant, or how long is bad enough? Should 35 sec be considered too long? Or how many seconds are there in 20 mins? The team that was disqualified in Tanjong Pagar GRC was technically or officially declared late by 35 sec. And that was all it took to be disqualified from the GE. The law is the law. Even 1 sec is 1 sec too late, and 20 minutes are 20 minutes too long. Now you know why the netizens are incensed.

Singapore Festival of Arts - Global Warming

Singapore is now hosting the Festival of Arts. This piece called Global Warming, is my little contribution to the Festival. The melting fishes in the photo are symbolic of what could happen if global warming continues and is left unheeded. There are some resemblance to Salvador Dali's melting clock except that this is an actual photo created using the Art of RAR technique, and not a painting. More photos in the Art of RAR Gallery at top right.

Exits weaken team

This is the title of an article in the ST forum today by a Lim Chuan Hock. He was lamenting on the departure of LKY, Chok Tong, Jayakumar and George Yeo from the govt. He felt that the team has been weaken from their departure. He acknowledged and praised the senior politicians for their contributions to what we are today. I can share his fear and concern for the weak team that is left behind. After so many years of being in office, and many are already nearing their sixties, the perception is that they are not good enough, probably still immature perhaps, that without the presence of the yodas to guide them, they are going to see hard times. And Singaporeans are nervous under their charge. They really need the yodas to be around to be safe. Isn't it sad that the current crop of leaders is still seen as inept, that they are unable to give the people the confidence that with them in charge, things will be better than before? Though I share the writer's concern, I think things should brighten up. The first sign of a better future is the increasing sales of private properties and at higher price. I can continue my dream of selling my HDB flat at $1m. This piece of good news is everywhere in the media. All the HDB flat owners must be very happy and waiting for the perfect timing to sell off their milllion dollar flats. Thank God that they have return the PAP to power. Have no fear. The new team will do much better than the yodas. Unless we are saying that the yodas are indispensable and the new teams will never grow up.

Green monster

A green monster watching a dancing flame. More photo paintings in Art of RAR Gallery on top right.

Whither the Stock market?

What would happen if there is no retail traders left in the market, of if the number is too small to be meaningful? The last few weeks told a story of a stock market that is verging on the edge of being barren, when retail or genuine investors have abandoned the market for their own safety. At 1 billion shares transacted daily, there was hardly any phone ringing in the trading floor of broking houses. Compare this to the heydays of the 1990s when a billion shares were traded, the phones of all the remisiers would not stop ringing for the whole day. In fact many had problems picking up their phones as two or three phones would be ringing at the same time. The tradings then were genuine, by traders and retail investors. Today, despite the hue and cry of 1 billion or 2 billion shares traded at times, remisiers are biting their finger nails wondering why there is no phone call from their clients. In a way the volume is generated by artificial trades, programme tradings, churnings by funds, high speed tradings, all generating no commissions, as they were either house trades or funds’ own tradings. And the funds are demanding that the system be made more friendly for them to trade, even making it cheaper, or to trade for free. The stock market has been transformed to the likes and dictates of the big funds to facilitate their tradings. What the regulators have forgotten is that the funds are not here to do charity. They are in the market for profit. And, unfortunately, stock market trading is a zero sum game. When the funds are making profits, someone else is losing his pants. We have reached a state when most of the big retail traders and investors have lost practically everything and are no longer in the market. Only a few small traders who have not lost their savings yet, and a few remisiers who still have some money left to lose, are left in the market. As days pass, this number is going to dwindle to non existence, if the system continues in this mode. The question is whether the broking houses can survive without the income from commissions generated by the retail investors or high net worth clients? The exchange can still laugh all the way to the banks with the clearing fees from the high volume. But the high volume means nothing to broking houses that have to feed all its staff, rentals, overheads etc etc. When retail trading reaches a point that is no longer able to sustain the business, the broking houses will have to pack their bags or downsize. But even before that, the funds that the exchange is begging to trade in the market will be the first to disappear from the scene. When there is no money to be made, there is no reason to be here even if they can trade for free. Who is left to feed the big funds? Can the stock market continue to exist without the participation of genuine investors? Can the current mode of operation that favours the big funds sustain the business of the stock exchange? As Merlin continues to wave his magic wand, the stock market is turning into a toad instead of a prince. And no one knows what is wrong with the market. They think that they can keep waving the magic wand and something good will come out from it when fundamentally the market is rotting at the core.

A church besieged

George Yeo figuratively described the PAP as a broad church. Now you can understand why the ‘pastor’ called on the sinners to repent, and why the believers shouted, ‘In George we trust!’. This new religion can be appropriately called Papism, or shall it be called Papianity? It is a big church in all counts, and very powerful with hundreds of thousands of staunch believers. It can and has blessed many people to richness and a good life. It serves the people and works for the good of the people. It has its own belief system and commandments of course. It also has a jealous god. It does not take it kindly on believers of other gods. It cannot tolerate the existence of other gods. And of course it is a white god and all its angels are in white. Not forgetting the church elders elevating themselves to higher mortals. In its early days there were persecutions of the non believers. Some were imprisoned, some burnt at the stake, some fled. It was fortunate that the persecution did not reach the level of the Inquisition. Lately the Holy Order has taken some knocks. The quest for material well being instead of spiritual well being has unsettled many believers. The absolute power of the Holy See is also being questioned. The mantra that ‘We are gods’ is starting to be ridiculed. Even ministers are questioning the wisdom of the core beliefs. There are signs that some reformists are attempting to break away from the church. There is a high possibility that a protestant movement may surface and a breakaway church of Singapore be founded to rival the old church. The making of a new church is eminent. Some ministers have openly criticized the old church and have left. Many believers are troubled with their belief and may just join the new church. They would want a new beginning and not more of the same. The old church has simply grown too big, a mega church, too rich, too many members who are not really believers but eat religion to get fed and wealthy. Verily I said unto you. Whoever believes in me shall have everlasting life. Seek ye first the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Amen. PS. I am posting this for fun reading, political humour. Please don’t call me a mobster.

I Turkey, I Duck

A turkey and duck standing side by side with the turkey in the far side. Another interpretation is that the duck is the turkey and the turkey behind is saying I duck. More pics in Art of RAR Gallery in top right link.

I was called a mobster in Temasek Review

Not by TR of course. TR reposted my article ‘The daft Singaporeans voted’ and it drew more than 110 responses and growing. One blogger by the nick of CPCM called me a mobster because he said I called the Singaporeans daft. Would he also label everyone who called Singaporeans daft as mobsters too? In his haste and anger, he forgot how the label ‘daft Singaporeans’ came about. If he bothers to read my article in full, he would have realised that I did not really called the Singaporeans daft, but responsible and thinking people, who voted using their heads. People who used their heads, thinking and rational cannot be daft, or could they? I quote from my article ‘The pattern and consistency in the way the daft Singaporeans voted are pretty predictable by now. They have seen what PAP could do and are enjoying the success and would only vote for good candidates if they are available. They are responsible and voted with their heads.’ The use of the word daft in the my article is in a cynical manner. Now who is daft, who is or are the mobsters: )

A joint statement to quit the cabinet

MM and SM are thinking more alike, it seems. Both decided to quit the cabinet to let a younger team of ministers led by a nearly 60 year old PM to start with a clean slate. Relatively, a young team was when LKY became a PM at 35, I think. Now that was a young team. At 60, many were grandfathers and have long forgotten about pacifiers and could hardly be considered young anymore. It’s better late than never. My original take was that both LKY and Chok Tong would not even contest the GE. I think LKY wanted to do that long ago, but for obvious reason, unable to let him go solo. Just before the GE, Hsien Loong was quoted to have said that both LKY and Chok Tong would be his advisers, a role that could make his job much easier, but also made him a PM under watch, with two yodas breathing down his neck. With Chok Tong still wanting to stay in politics, LKY too had to be around. It is either both quit or both stay. Chok Tong has proven to be quite a persistent stayer so far. And for him to quit the cabinet is the best that could be gotten. Now LKY can be more at ease as both are now MPs and should not be in the thick of decision making. The next move would likely be another joint statement that both would step down as MP. As precedence had been set, there would not be a need for a by election, and the govt will still be an absolute majority in Parliament, without rocking the boat. Only then would everyone be at ease, that a new era has dawn and the PAP’s internal struggle for power has a clear winner.