charities should pay good money

Chua Mui Hoong wrote, 'Do away with cheap and good.' In her article she questioned the perception of people that honchos of charities should not be paid well. Her argument is that these honchos must be rewarded at market rate like any organisations. That charities should pay good money for good people. This argument immediately falls flat with NKF and Youth Challenge as outstanding examples of paying good money for frauds. The other point is the assumption that charities should be run like commercial businesses. This is exactly what is wrong with charities. Charities are charities and should be run like charities. Charities should be run by charitable people with a heart and not one with money in his head. People who wants to make their millions shall not run charities. These are money from the hearts, public money given to help needy people. Not for people to get rich. Go and get rich in the private sector. Make all the money if you can and no one will raise an eyebrow. But making money and getting filthy rich on public money is unacceptable. This is one of the fallacies that Singaporeans are made to believe. That every man is driven by money. And it is good to employ men by using money as the key motivator and nothing else.

Looking to run a Charity

The last time I wrote about my intention to start a Charity Organisation. Looks like I am late and need to speed up my search for a good charity to take over or start a new one. There are so many peanuts to be picked, big ones and small ones. And there is no need to worry. Yap Su Yin wrote in the Straits Times, 'Who will pay the extra cost for good governance?' Yes it is too costly to have good governance. Better not to incur such cost. And it is very comforting to hear Assoc Prof Mak Yuen Teen saying, 'Therefore, it may be difficult to take action against (past and present) boards for negligence or breaching their duties, unless there is an element of dishonesty or fraud involved. I don't think there is much you can do against the (previous) boards.' Prof Mak was referring to the new Youth Challenge saga. Since it is so difficult to find anyone guilty, and corporate governance is going to be too costly to be considered, then more volunteers should be encouraged to run more charities. Just act honestly and no one can find fault with them even if they pay themselves crazy or their friends crazy. Just make sure that everything is approved by the board or some one else.

Singaporeans are not crazy about Crazy Horse

Looks like that is the picture for the moment. Is it because we have too many priests among us or is it that Singaporeans are doers rather that spectators? The boat loads of Singaporeans visiting Bintang and Batam seem to prove that it is the latter. Perhaps it is the economy. And Singaporeans are just not able to afford the price tag. What Crazy Horse should do is to apply for subsidies just like the Durians. There are just not enough rich and crazy people to pay so much for class acts and crazy horses. In order to sustain such an appetite, financial subsidies are needed. Crazy Horse should reclassify itself as a exotic arts performance and get some grants for it. Or is it the rules and regulations that prevent the Crazy Horse from becoming a financial success? Restriction in advertisement? Maybe that is true. After the first couple of months of publicity on opening, many people would have forgotten about its existence. Would the two IRs fall into the same fate eventually, stillbirth because of too many restrictions and controls that they become not viable?

street battle with loansharks

Street battle with loan sharks This is like pitting textbooks and supertalents against street smarts Ah Bengs. And with 10,221 reported cases of harassment and 29 arrests, looks like Ah Bengs are outsmarting the academics. Maybe the number 29 has gone up after yesterday's islandwide sweep. How long will this battle go on? Will loansharks be sent to sea, or will they continue to find a safe haven to operate in this little island?

nkf story - a sequel

A sequel in the making The saga of Charity Organisations has proven to be a lively and intricate concoctions of plots and subplots. Now this will be given an extended run with a sequel in the making. Youth Challenge has proven to be every inch a worthy successor to the infamous NKF saga and we are now being given a preview of more to come. What is interesting will be the ending. Will it end with the triumph of morals over pragmatism or pragmatism over morals. Or would goodness win over moneyism or vice versa.

grandpa and grandma saving for their future

At 55, many would want to slow down, withdraw their CPF and take life a bit easier. Some will live longer, some will get badly ill, and some will die the next day. The number of people dying the next day or before hitting 60 will be as many as those with serious illnesses associated with old age. At these age groups, or older, when the body is malfunctioning, what is there left in life to carry on? What is life if one is bedridden or have to spend every cent in one's savings or Medisave Account? Would it be better to use the money to enjoy the last few years and let nature takes its own course? But at 55, if one has some time and want to keep oneself occupied, and continues to work, one is expected to continue to contribute to the CPF/Medisave. And when the Medisave account exceeds the legally provided limit, one is still compelled to contribute only to see the money overflow into a Retirement Account to be rationed to you. At 55 or 65 or 75, what is there to save when one can kick the bucket the next day or next moment? Technically, if one continues to work, even at 90 or 100, one still must contribute to CPF/Medisave. How ridiculous can this be? Is there anyone thinking?

nkf story - irregularities were the norm

When irregularities were the norm As the story continues, more irregularities were exposed. But it seemed that all these irregularities were accepted as the norm. No one questions or bothers to question. Or is it that everyone was a party to the irregularities? Or is it that for personal and vested interests, it is better to just do and don't ask, don't see and don't say. Everything was fine. Everything seems so good. Everyone so happy. How can it be wrong? All the statistics looked so good. Everyone was patting everyone on the shoulder saying well done.

eager beaver got slapped

The eager beaver got slapped again. Indonesia banned sand export to us. The funny thing is that whenever there is a little problem in our neighbouring countries, our eager beavers will all jump on their feet to want to help with their time and money. On the other hand the recipients will either see this as a poor effort to curry favour, in bad taste, just to show how prosperous we are. And even thinking that we are doing it to please them for some goodies in return. And the Malaysian flood is also seeing our people rushing to help. Do people appreciate or would people turn around and say, "Get lost, hypocrites! We don't need your help." Our neighbours would rather let their water flow into the sea, or sand go to waste than trade them for money. They only want money to be given freely. And when they know that we need a commodity badly, be sure they will ban it to keep it from us. The next thing they will do is to ban maids when Singaporeans are too dependent on maids. This will come when maids will no longer be allowed to come to Singapore. More SEZs?

loan shark country getting better

Loan sharks active as ever. This is reported in the Today paper. More than 10,000 cases of harrassments or activities reported. In fact 10,221 cases in 2006, an increase of 47% from 8,600 cases in 2005. Ho Peng kee asked for more time to tackle the problem. So far only 294 persons were arrested on related offences. Looks like the loan shark syndicates are outwitting the police. They used electronic banking facilities, virtual transactions, debtors bank accounts, telephone numbers etc. They are so sophisticated that the police would need 'extensive intelligence gathering and investigation' to bring them to court. Tough job for the police when the criminals are so smart. In the meantime the people are encouraged to form neighbourhood watch group to help themselves, like the good old days.

nkf story - the lie detector

The Lie Detector I was reading the story of the one eyed dragon and how he told the court that he killed his victim by accident, misfired! Firing 6 shots by accident. Now what has this got to do in this thread? I thought everyone called to the witness box will have to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Looks like it is the other way round, to tell the lie, the whole lie and nothing but the lie. And then let the human lie detector to detect who is telling a bigger lie. There are two problems. The person telling lies can be a damn great liar that his lies become truth. The second problem is that the lie detector may wake up from the wrong side of the bed and misfunction. Justice is so scary.

nkf story- the moral of the story

The moral of the story When a student is ready, the teacher will appear. The NKF story is the mother of all teachers. It has so much to teach for those who are willing to learn. But there are those with eyes but cannot see, with ears but cannot hear. And there are those in a state of delirium and will not see nor hear anything. NKF is a case of being blinded by success. The bigger the success, the bigger the blindness. When it is so successful, no one can see their own mistakes or faults. How can they be doing anything wrong when everyone is so happy and money is pouring in like crazy? Then when money gets too much, people loose their bearing. Their perception of the value of money got distorted. What is $600,000 when you have several millions and with more money pouring in for no reasons. And many just sit there and collect money, in millions, just reading newspaper and having tea. The mind is sound but in a different level of soundness. And I can swear in court that everyone of them is doing an honest job, sincerely and honestly, and professionally, for the good of the charity and the patients. They just measure things in different ways, do things in different ways and using different rules. The people shall not judge them using the people's own rules of goodness. Especially the poor people. When they are living in those squalid conditions and struggling to make ends meet, to them a few thousand dollars will be damn big deal. Actually even $600k is chicken feet. For a good CEO he should deserve more. Society must use different yardstick and measurement for different people, the rich, the not so rich and the poor. Different world, different rules and different life.

nkf story - the master stroke

Reading the mind of the master As the story goes, the master has everything thought out and waiting to deliver his master stroke. While the new NKF and all the defendants were busy consulting their legal counsels and emptying their bank accounts, thanks to Drew and Napier, the new NKF can save their legal fees, the master has everything worked out. And very likely he is going to declare he will accept all responsibilities and will not have the need to appear in court. Just bill him for everything. No problem. Then after paying his legal counsel he will declare that he is left with only $2000 in his bank account. What happens to all the money that he made? Oh, did you remember that he was in Vegas?

the most popular singaporean serial

'In Parliament' - the most popular Singapore TV Serial I am going to be glued to the TV sson. So will all the Singaporeans and even foreign workers. Singapore parliament will be more colourful if the parliamentarians have their way. I am not talking about Lily Neo's elegant Beijing cheongsam or Ho Geok Choo's Versace. Neither am I referring to Eng Hen's Zegna or Mah Bow Tan's yellow and blue jacket. Parliament is going to be very colourful with dialects. Imagine Choktong saying, 'Lin peh pah si buay chow.' And Low Thia Khiang interrupting him saying, 'Tee ah, aga aga thio hor ah.' They will be so popular with the Ngee Ann Kong Si and Hock Kien Huay Kuan that these associations will start Teochew and Hokkien classses for their members. And Mah Bow Tan will not want to lose out by delivering his HDB speech in Hylam. He may engage Ngiam Tong Dow to be his private tutor to brush up a little on his mother tongue. All just to please his Hylam Clan. And Hsien Loong would be pressured to prove to his Khek Association that he can speak Khek as well. Then Inderjit, Jayakumar and Vivian will have to speak in punjabi or Tamil or whatever Indian dialects that are their mother tongues. The Malay MPs will have an easier task. I think Malay is the only dialect maybe with a little slangs from different parts, but basically Malay. And Singapore Tourism Board can promote visits to Singapore Parliament. Now Jack Neo, please move aside. When the talents speak dialects, your dialect movies will not be able to compete. The good thing is that there will be more jobs for translators and interpreters. And while the mother speakers were enjoying themselves in their nuances and flair of their dialects, no one will be able to understand them except listening through the translators. Parliament will thus have extended sessions to cope with the extra time needed. Now that will be Uniquely Singapore. And China will follow suit to abolish Putonghua and Shih Huangti will turn in his grave. And no sweat. China too will become a more colour nation with 2367 dialects to be spoken across the nation. Wow, Singapore is going to set a world trend, speaking dialects and mother tongue. And India will ban English in its Parliament.

nkf story - Grilling of the Minnow

Grilling of the Minnow For the whole of last week, the NKF story was centred on a subplot to grill a minnow, Jayaraman. He was made to be as guilty and look so bad in the eyes of everyone. The counsels had more or less painted a picture that he was a willing party to all the actions that he did, submitting memos for payments to Forte, rushing the payments out, despite his claim that the system was not up to specs. The question is how guilty is this minnow? Could he do otherwise when he was over powered and over ranked? It seems that he was a middle manager who feared to lose his jobs and was sticking to it come what may. He knew that something was wrong but the bosses sidelined him and made him do what he did, in a way comprising his opposition to the whole deal. Can we blame him? And if he is a foreign talent, he would be even under more pressure to tow the line. And the powers he had to contend with are so overwhelming that short of leaving the job, he will just have to do the necessary administrative chores as told. If he was a foreign talent, it would not be easy for him just to walk away without a job. He just have to bear it out. This grilling of the minnow is just an appetiser for the main course. Looking at the pace of it, looks like the main course will only be served in six months time, at least.

Singapore buckling under Thai pressure

Singapore buckling under Thai pressure After the comment by Kishore that Thaksin had done an unkind act to us, I saw this headline in Today's paper, 'Was Thaksin a good friend after all?' The article by PN Balji speaks for itself. In the face of Thai pressure we are questioning our actions towards a good friend albeit one who has been ousted by a military coup. Thaksin had been a good friend before, a very good friend of Singapore when he was Prime Minister. Bilateral relations was at its best. Now that he is out, that the Thai military junta wanted him to disappear, should we tow the line and tell Thaksin to quietly disappear too. Shall we tell Thaksin that he is no longer useful to us and we do not need such a friend? I think if we do such a thing, we will lose big in the international community. We will become a fair weather friend. We need not accord Thaksin the honour and protocol of a Prime Minister, but we can accord him some decency as a former national leader, as another national stateman. This is the least that we should do. Unless Thaksin has been found guilty of a crime, becomes a criminal, that will be another matter. Other national leaders should see comfort in how we treat a fallen national leaders. For it may be their turn the next time. The politics of ASEAN and in fact the world is such that one can be in power one day and in disgrace the next. The military coup leaders may think that it will not happen to them. It will. Singapore must treat every dignitary with some respect and decency. It is bad if we spit out the cherry when some one tells us to do so.

opposition parties should hire a consultant

Just musing on a Sunday morning. The 666 event is passed 6 months. Now is the time to prepare for the next general election. And Choktong is giving some tips on how a general election shall be fought, how and what to plan, and what to pledge and promise during the election campaigning, and what to do after winning the election. The opposition parties shall learn from the wisdom of Choktong. Maybe even engage him as a consultant to map our their next election strategies. Then the next election could be interesting to watch.

myth 65 revisited

Myth 65 'The income gap will only get wider' I wrote about this myth some times earlier. It was then like the gospel truth. The income gap would continue to grow wider and nothing could be done about it. Everyone that was important said so. And better still, it was caused by globalisation, so not anyone or any govt's fault. So if I continue to earn my millions, I should continue to ask for more. It is just the natural thing due to, yes, globalisation. My multi million dollar salary is the fault of the international environment. So don't blame me if I feast myself or help myself. Who would ever believe that the income gap will be narrowed when the high income earners will stop getting more? It just cannot be if you have the right to pay yourself crazy. Who is to stop you from doing so. It is my own company. Better still if it is a public company. The small shareholders just have not enough clout to stop me from paying myself and my directors. And my directors and independent directors are all my friends. And if we sign praises for each other, soon everyone will believe we have done a great job and believe that we deserved to be paid even more. Would this myth go away? LKY said so. Yes, this unstoppable widening income gap will narrow. This is the headline in the Sunday Times today, 'S'pore income gap will narrow: MM. Now we will have to see which is which. Which way will the globalisation wind blows? How to stop the forces of globalisation? Or how to stop myself from paying myself?

Good old vintage wine

Choktong is turning out to be a wise teacher for the opposition and the population at large, telling them what politics and electioneering really are. During the election campaign it is alright to promise whatever the people want or whatever the contending party thinks the people want. No need to worry about how to get the money to do it. It will only be an issue after the election. And by then, when elected, the whole govt machinery is there to find the money to fulfil the promise. Opposition parties need not worry about being thrown questions of how are they going to finance their election pledges and promises to the people. GST is a great instrument for the future. Higher fees, charges, fares etc are all the cards that they can play. So in the next election, just ask the people what they want and promise to deliver when elected. More upgradings, more hospitals, more parks, more free porridges, more shark's fin soups, more mee siam, more handouts, more education or whatever accounts, even more discounts on HDB conservancy charges. 3 months discounts follow by paying for the rest of your life. Opposition parties could even up the offer by giving 6 months discounts. The opposition parties and the people have a lot to learn.

oil price down, prices still up

When petrol prices were shooting to US$80, companies quickly jumped at the high fuel cost and jacked up prices and fees. Now petrol prices are returning to ground level but no one seem to want to do anything. Or they are hoping to hold on with the high prices for as long as they can, and reaping all the additional profits? Commercial business logic!

Property prices shooting through the roof!

Property prices shooting through the roof! Long queues are back at the launching sites of new condo developments. People fighting to join the queues. New properties were quickly snapped up. Prices set to rise further! The good times are back. People are now rich again and all crazily chasing after a new property bubble. Then we are hearing several complaints about how genuine are all these hypes and whether the buyers are genuine buyers. Is it marketing or misleading information on the property front? Is it responsible reporting? Where is the line drawn between acceptable marketing tactics and painting a false picture?