sun tzu's ultimate strategy

military strategists and generals talked about how to fight and win a war. sun tzu on the other hand advocated winning a war without fighting. that is his ultimate strategy. a strategy which involves positioning, preparation, posturing and strengthening a nation up to a point where the enemy knew that he will lose if he starts a war. try applying this to the art of looking after the welfare of a population. a successful nation is one that has its citizens well fed, well housed and well looked after. it is a state when all citizens have jobs, have proper accommodations and fully able to take care of their own needs. a nation would have failed if it has to provide all kinds of aid and assistance to help its citizens. it is a big failure if the govt keeps telling the people we have this scheme and that scheme to help you. we should not be bragging about all the assistance plans made available. it is a sure sign of things gone wrong. it is a sign that people are in trouble and need help. it is anything but a bad sign that things are not well. when the people are well taken care off, there is no need for aids and financial assistance. though it is not possible to completely wipe out poverty and people in trouble, the very fact that we need to put into place all kinds of assistance plans is not something to be proud off. just like bringing up children. if they need to come back to papa for money and help, then papa has failed. what is the use of papa being a millionaire with a fat bank account and can finance all the handicap children who cannot fend for themselves? should papa keep encouraging his children to come back when they are broke and be grateful that papa has the dole to feed them on a piecemeal basis?

nkf's report card out today

many wait in anticipation of a big storm. or would it be a storm in a tea cup? there are two groups looking at this saga. on one side are the supporters of a well run organisation that can raise millions easily. professionalism at work. on the other corner are those who want accountability and the need for propriety in the handling of public money. an article in saturday's today paper on 'looking beyond the gold tap' by a heng cheong leong or leong heng cheong, attempted to describe how effective, efficient and forward looking the old nkf management was. the 21 dialysis centres, a dedicated fund raising team, dedicated professionals and dedicated ceo. but he also raised the comment by peter drucker that charity organisations will not be judged by their results but by their intention. there is another issue about charity. our national ethos is not in favour of charity. do not expect charity. there is no free lunch. and for that we expect all the professionals to be paid their professional dues. they cannot be shortchanged for their dedication and expertise. the funny thing is that the whole organisation is built on charity, people's charity. free money, just ask and people give. how much is necessary is not an issue. how much to spend on the sick is not an issue. there are free money to be asked. is there any contradiction? what eventually happened to the nkf saga is not about charity or about how much good work were done. with that kind of money, many things can be done. and could more be done if the money is properly managed? that is another issue. what is now the key issue is whether there is misappropriation of fund, misplaced trust and the people's feeling of unease that there may be fraud. hopefully we will know the truth this afternoon. and hopefully the people will not be shortchanged in wanting to know the truth. the damage could be far more serious if the people perceived that things are amissed in the report. then it will no longer be the credibility of the nkf at stake, but the credibility of a nation will be put to doubt.

women and cedaw

the women are waving the cedaw card, convention for the elimination of discrimination against women. hey guys, how about cedam? other countries i am not too sure. but we need cedam in singapore. we need both. there are cases of discrimination against women. there are also discriminations against men, especially in our antiquated laws. and then national service is one big discrimination. not that i am for women to serve national service. but the guys need to be treated more fairly while doing a service to the nation. i hope cedaw is not calling for the closing down of crazy horse. it is a place where women are discriminated. they performed and the men watched and clapped and whistled. and they are naked while the men are fully clothed. now is that discrimination? the men paid for the women to do things to make them happy, do things at their callings. but some may say the women in crazy horse are showing how well perfected they are as a specimen. they are proudly exhibiting what nature has done for them, beautiful, feminine, charming and exciting. can't imagine men performing the same kind of show without dressing like women. what do women want? you ogle at them they give you the bitchy look. you ignore them and they get angry. they do not want to be ogled and also do not want to be left on the shelf. they dressed up to be seen but not to be seen. some dressed up to the nines but put a black sack over them. women, to be adored and loved, and to be pissed off.

mahathir and his political truth

Things Mahathir did not say .... when he was in power "The country should have a strong government but not too strong. A 90% majority is too strong. We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right." "The Internet must be used extensively so that an alternative media would be available to publish and expose lies, be downloaded and distributed." "Although I am already 80-years old, I am not senile." (reproduced from littlespeck.com) when one is in power, one says and believes in a different set of rules that suits that position and situation. when one is out of power, a different set of rules apply. which is the better truth? it all depends on where one is. but i like the part that he said, 'when you are not opposed you think everything you do is right.' this will be a perpetual truth and will be repeated over and over again until one is thrown out of power. only then will one realise that all along one has been making mistakes but peddled as good decisions.

why are people so unhappy with khoo swee chiow?

if i were khoo swee chiow, and if there are people or organisations with money but do not know what to do, and are willing to give me for my little frills, i will take it. why should people blame him for his feat? he just sold his ideas and people bought it happily to the tune of $150,000. i will say well done swee chiow. never mind whether what you are doing is worthy or nonsensical. it is not your fault. next time tell them you will attempt to live inside a mpv for one month. i am sure the car manufacturers will eagerly queue up for the advertisement and pay you handsomely. and you might get the mpv for free as well. for commercial enterprises, they always have budgets for marketing. what i am concern with is people managing public fund. for public organisations or ipcs, they better be careful when they throw money away like sponsoring this kind of acts. i am still not sure whether the sponsorship money goes to any charity or just for swee chiow's little fun.

caricature of a face

i was watching lim hng khiang delivering his speech at the wto. at an instance i was engulfed by this feeling of sadness. i was wondering where it came from. then i realised that face, a face of sadness. why did he wear that sadness in front of the tv and at the wto. and he had that sadness with him all this while. the closest person that has a similar expression is ho peng kee. but his has a slight variation that appears more worried than sad. a face that carries a lot of problems and issues that bothering him. compare to lily neo, when she is making a speech in parliament, you just cannot disagree with her even if you cannot agree with her. she has that disarming sweetness in her that you just sit there and let her speak, without any anger or thoughts of opposing her, not even want to rush her. interrupting her would seem rude. it is amazing how a face can convey a message more than shouting and thumping tables. this leads me to ponder on the variety of faces that we see in the box. charles chong has lately appear to look like maitreya, the laughing buddha, with his big fixated smile. and there is wong kan seng with another kind of smile. the smile of a magician that can pull out all kinds of tricks to wonder you. and lim boon heng has that gentle look with a perpetual quiet smile like mona lisa. while khaw boon wan has the calm and serenity of a morning mountain. there are other variations. tan soo khoon has one that has the 'cannot tahan' look, that he cannot accept anything he sees or hears. while teo chee hean's face says everything is smooth flowing, everything goes, and life is a stroll. then there is yeo cheow tong who reminds one instantly of the word affordability. as i meditate over a peaceful sunday morning, many kinds of faces make their appearance in my imaginations. but not all can be put to a particular personality. i was trying to figure out who has a blur like sotong look, or who looks like he needs more sleep, a sleepy head. the face of a never say die look, a fighter, a gangster, or the face of a grandfather. or is there anyone that has the bob hope look, or a george bush, or a peace maker like tommy koh. a cocky look or the look of a maverick. or is there one that looks mean? i couldn't find one that has the mahathir's 'boleh' look. this is just a little distraction from the otherwise dull whinning of how things could be better. i hope people have a little sense of humour as i, myself, try to find a little of that in me that has long been lost.

asians please speak up

two major gatherings of world leaders took place within a week in malaysia, the asean +3 east asian summit and the global peace forum. is there anything coming out from the two major asian events that are worthy of a meeting of so many leaders and costing so much funds? the east asian summit came out as a feel good forum for asian leaders to be seen to be able to get together, to rub shoulders, to talk shop. and talk is about what came out from it. the global forum is a talk session and they talked. mahathir talked the most. and his impact is still the greatest. mahathir called for more asian ngos, movements and the media to stand up and put an asian voice to the world map. that asians must organise and set the agenda and tell the world what is right or wrong, how asian sees events and through asian perspectives. he embarked on an attack on usa policies and how the usa set the agenda for the world, war on terrorism, regime change etc. he encouraged asians to emulate some of the western movements like the movement to protect the environment, to stand up for the people of the world. for a long time, all these movements are western dominated, standing up on issues or attacking countries, and representing mainly western interests. our journalists were quite vocal in their support for anti terrorism but quite muted in regime change. do they have any stand on this? interesting to know if they support regime change from the outside. would asians be able to take up the cudgel and contest with western ngos, to take on western governments and reset the agendas. could other agendas be set by asian organisations, initiated by asians and financed and supported by asians? there are signs that the asians are standing up to be heard, and able and willing to push their positions and agenda at the wto meeting in hongkong. the koreans were very active, the taiwanese too. they could be the pathfinders for other asians to rethink and organise themselves. and the media and internet communities could do their part to support these movements. surprisingly the one issue hongkong mob was not to be found. without the westerners to lead them, they could only gather to cry for democracy, tiananmen and human rights. they could not think of other issues to demonstrate. if asians could rally together, then there will be a more balance view, a contest of ideas rather than one small group drumming down on the rest of the world on what is right and what the world should be concerned with.

singapore, 3rd world country with 1st world pretension...gerrie lim

how could gerrie lim claimed that singapore is a third world country pretending to be first world? didn't he see our splendid world class theatre? even our man in the street, our taxi drivers, have grown very affectionate about it. they embraced it as part of them. they don't call it ass..pla..nay but durian, a pungent smelling fruit that you eat along the road side with your hands and smell for the next three days. our people are cultured from the ground level up. or we have brought the taste of the arts to the people. isn't that first world? and anything the first world have, we have it here. just let us know and we will built one that is bigger, larger, higher, taller, and more expensive. we outdo what the first world countries have. we excelled in sports with a lot of gold medals from our imported sports talents. and we are in the book of guinness world records. our people have climbed the highest mountain, walked the antartic, and now attempting to stay inside a container filled with water for 10 days. these are great feats that we aspired to show to the world that we also can do. the next thing probably will be standing in the sahara desert for 40 days. but we need someone to do it first. then we copy and try to do one day better. of course we are in the first world. and we are also rich enough to start throwing tips at our cab drivers to ensure that they smile and provide us with the best service money can buy. and all these are for real, even if they appear queer. we also boleh.

prayer or schizophrenia

i like this. the quote is posted in soc.cul.spore. when man talks to god, it is called prayer. when god talks to man, it is called schizophrenia. (seow liao)

bush said he will attack any country

george bush said he will attack any country if needed to. and mahathir is furious. mahathir is calling on the world to prevent mass murderers from becoming world leaders. estimated 30,000 iraqis and more than 2,000 americans dead since the iraq invasion, and still counting. and the americans are going to spend $500 million in psychological warfare and propaganda in the world media to influence the thinking of people who are against their war on terrorism. they are going to use money to buy influence to change people's perception of their wrong into becoming right. our straits times should capitalise on this windfall and publish news favourable to america at a price. it must be smart enough not to pay to publish them. if the americans want good things to be said about them in the straits times, they pay. how nice.

big cheers for orchard turn

the high bid for orchard turn has been greeted with big cheers by market players. it has brought a big smile to many happy faces. the property market is going to use it as a benchmark to guage property prices. it is a good sign that property prices are looking up. is it a good sign or a bad sign? singapore is losing its reputation as a shopper's paradise. the prices of things here are getting more expensive compare to our competitors. if malaysia can get its acts together, all the shoppers will be flocking up north. they have so many natural advantages. low wages, lower property prices, all means lower cost. why is it that we are cheaper than them? there is no reasons for malaysia or any other asean countries not to sell their products cheaper than us. all their costs are lower than us. and with our property prices being driven up again, it is a matter of time before we priced ourselves out of the market, just like our labour. once we are deemed as expensive, game over. we lose our competitive advantage. our retailers cannot make a living with such high cost of land and rental. they can only sell to a captive market up to a point. when people find it cheaper to buy from neighbouring countries, they will do so. when tourists find it cheaper to buy from somewhere, they will skip here. all the supporting industries will fall apart. three cheers to higher property prices. three cheers to welcome the death of retail businesses. and three cheers to the death of shopper's paradise.

tat hong, a local public listed company

tat hong listed a subsidiary in australia bourse. first day of trading price up by 23c or 23%. this kind of gain on ipo is almost unheard of in our local market for many years. many of ipo listings ended underwater on the first day of trading in our market. why? is our market sick or dead? is our market saturated with unattractive stocks? is our market unable to absord the flood of ipos? is ipo money drying up? are all our retail investors dead or lost all their monies? why is ipo no longer attractive? what is happening? do we manage our stock market or let it run wild, pennywise pound foolish, short term gain for long term loss?

how to make corporate governance real?

the weakest link in the whole system of corporate governance is the independent directors. as long as the system does not ensure that independent directors are completely independent from the management, it is very difficult to make the system works. it is like having kelong referee in a football match. what could possibly rectify this shortcoming is for mas to require independent directors to be appointed by an independent institution. all it needs is for 2 or 3 independent directors to be appointed from a neutral body to a company's board. and the directors shall be a member of the remuneration and audit committees. presently the best body to take on this role is the sias. it represents thousands of shareholders and should rightly be given a voice or say in the management of public companies. the minority shareholders need to be protected. the neutral institution can set its own rules and regulations on the criteria and eligibilities of candidates to be appointed as independent directors, set its own length of appointment, guidelines on remunerations etc. the service and appointment of independent directors will thus be out of the hands of a company's management, and the directors will come and go without having to appease the company's management. the independent directors can thus act independently, objectively and professionally for the interest of the company and the shareholders, and not just for the interests of the management. it is a simple and basic requirement without which the whole system of corporate governance is flawed.

li ka shing may sell his shares in suntec

what strikes me this morning is the headline that li ka shing may sell his shares in suntec city on grounds of principles. li ka shing will not be involved in any gambling business. his hotels in bahamas have also been approached to include casinoes but he declined them. no gambling business in his empire. many rich and famous people shun unethical businesses. many will live within their own principles of goodness or morally right way of doing things. it is easier, and desirable to be so. when one is hungry, there is a tendency to fight the world, fight the system, fight all moral values, to earn that dirty dollar. i am not saying that all the rich and famous gone through this route. for those who have made the dollar and are very comfortable, it is surprising that many are still sticking to their old self, the immoral self, the unethical self, to continue to earn that extra dollar that did not mean anything more to them anymore except to add on to their fat savings accounts. many have gone pass the stage where they need to earn money. many have so much money to last for generations. but still just as unethical and immoral. they did not see the need to cleanse their unsavoury past. they did not see the need to be decent or to start to lead a more decent way of life, doing a decent business. they will still sell a basket of rotten apples with only the top layer covered by good apples. this may be the reason why the creature called human beings will live to destroy itself eventually. not monetarily, but morally. so much money and wealth, so little goodness.

corporate governance and davinder singh

davinder singh wrote a one page article in the straits times on corporate governance. for him to devote so much time, his time is very expensive, it means it is a serious issue that warrants a lot of attention. for corporate governance to be effective, he touches on many pertinent factors that have to be pieced together. these include ethics, good systems and practices, educating the shareholders, role of the press, role of enforcing agencies and regulators, managing family interests, and whistle blowing. davinder has covered all grounds except one which i find it very uncomfortable to be left out. i have suggested to the relevant bodies that independent directors must be really independent. for this to be true, independent directors must be appointed or be provided by an independent organisation unrelated to the companies they are to serve. their independence shall include remuneration and terms of tenure. by detaching independent directors from companies, they will not be beholden to the organisations and can then be more emboldened to question the practices of the organisations. the more the independent directors excelled in checking wrongdoings in companies, the higher will be their profiles, and the less welcome they will be in the boards of companies. on the other hand, they will stand up as the champions of the small shareholders. so it is very vital that their appointments to the boards be out of the hands of the companies. two organisations can take on this role, the stock exchange or the sias. both have an interest to want to see companies tow the line and be proper in the conduct of their businesses. under the current system, independent directors are invited and appointed by the company's management or ceo and paid by the companies. the extension of their tenure is also dependent on the goodwill of the management and are expected to play ball. how are independent directors going to be independent under such a system? an over zealous director will soon work himself out of the invitation list. the reason is obvious. for corporate governance to be effective, we need an independent body to appoint the independent directors.

nkf reserves, 4.5, 7 or 30 years

this is getting to be very exasperating. it was 3 years before the court case. during the court case it became 30 years. a week ago it was 4.5 years or 7 years. today a forumer in the straits times, cheong wing lee, worked it out to be 26 years. cheong's figure is based on an annual expenditure of $19.6 mil against an interest income of $7.8 mil from the $206 mil in reserve plus a govt grant of $4 mil. this gives an annual shortfall of $7.8 mil. $206 divide by $7.8 will give 26 years. then there is the monthly donation of $1.7 mil which gives a total of $20.4 mil a year. this alone should be more than enough for the 19.6 mil expenditure, without having to touch the $7.8 mil. assuming that nkf did not go an an expansion drive to build more facilities, the $206 mil can last forever. and the $7.8 mil interest will actually be a surplus! now which is which? can all the experts and finance people please tell us what is the correct number? the public deserves the truth. or can the newspaper get someone to do some investigative reporting and explain to the public, once and for all, what is the true number?

we are doing well. all is well.

hsien loong said we are doing well and can look forward to better things. all the restructuring is a big success. with so many good news, how can we be not doing well? we have a big reserve to cushion us for many years, short of an unimaginable crisis. as a nation we are rich. we have gone pass the days of trying to make ends meet, i mean the nation, not the inidividuals. it is time to relook at our policies and how to make the people live better. we have invested our reserves and should be reaping the rewards of our investment. this is expected. if not then we are failing very badly. and with a constant stream of profits, the govt should think of how to return this profit to the people. before anyone shout that we are squandering our reserves, let me emphasise here that i am talking about distributing profits. how much to distribute can be worked out by the fund managers and the govt. if we do not use the profits from our investment, then there is no point wasting all the effort for bigger returns. and we are not doing justice to the people. the profit is a big plus for the govt to use to make the life of people easier. the days when a pound of flesh must be paid before the govt gives out a dollar should be revised. there is no need to extract back a dollar for every cent being given to the people. i saw this big banner at the wto protest, 'no privatisation of basic services.' i hope our hurried privatisation of public services is not a requirement for our joining the wto. it will be good if we can redo some of these privatisations and revisit the objectives and goals of basic essential services and the goals of the govt towards its people. money can do wonders. lets hope public money, especially profits from our investment, is put to good use to make the people feel that their money is invested for their benefits. but there is one area that is waiting to implode. despite the facade of furious trading activities and a rising stock market index, the stock market can collapse anytime, if it has not collapsed already.

the video victim is a bumi!

actually i would like to take a bet. that the woman in the video is a chinese national. i hope the real victim will appear and put this farce away. it is difficult to think that the bumi police woman would make another bumi to do ear squat. (originally i posted about the victim being pregnant. but she was not pregnant then.) at this point i am still convinced, from the video, that the victim can never be a bumi. i need more clearer pictures to prove otherwise. can only believe with picture of this bumi. from the video, this bumi must have chinese parents.

now australia is burning

uk burnt, europe burnt, now it is australia's turn. what next? i hope my friend matilah is well in perth. many singaporeans who migrated to perth look quite middle eastern. this division is going to tear the world apart. and christmas is just another excuse for more burning.

just an observation

how did the jews assailed themselves to such a position of power vis a vis the arabs? historically, apart from a few lapses in history, the jews were mostly slaves, servants or workers to the arabs. the arabs were the kings, the nobilities, the tradesmen and the intellectuals. they have their empires, their academies of excellence and everything befitting a great civilisation. what happen? 5 millions jews in israel and another 15 millions scattered around the world are causing the few hundred millions of arabs to wet their pants. a mighty civilisation has degenerated into a people that is helpless against a small group of their former slaves. where are all the great arabs of intellects, the great merchants and warriors? today, minus the oil, the arabs will be a beggar people, out of wits and the will to excel and compete with the world. and perceived as an inferior race to their mightly brothers, the jews. very strange in the change of fortune of two people of the ancient middle east civilisations.