Electricity Up!

Next month electricity rate will go up by 6%. Add another 7% for GST, hmmmm, still less than 6.5% in total. Not bad. What would it cost to the hardlanders? Between $1 to $10 more per month. Definitely affordable. Oh, according SP Services, the hike is 'pegged to a higher forward fuel oil price of $96.64 per barrel,' which means that it is charging higher first in anticipation of a higher oil price. Makes good business sense and definitely will improve the bottom line.

Celebrating Singaporeans - Noreen Chan and Dover Park Hospice

Noreen Chan and Dover Park Hospice The Hospice has withdrawn from the Medifund scheme. The reason as explained by Noreen is that the philosophy of Medifund is in conflict with the Hospice. Its practice 'has always been to subsidise needy patients from its coffers before they reach such dire straits,' said Noreen. The practice of Medifund is 'typically (have) to produce documentation to show that they and their familymemebrs have little or no money left in the Medisave and bank accounts.' This is when Medifund will cough out some subsidies. In practice, none of the Hospice patients have reached such desperation to benefit from the Fund. What really is the problem is that you must be really in deep shit and dying before you get a little help. I salute Noreen Chan and the Dover Park Hospice for taking the wise and humane decision to back out from such draconian conditions. Where is the compassion for the desperados?

When will the corporate wayang ends?

Minority shareholders are taking to task to sack 3 independent directors from a public listed company for 'not doing their jobs.' They claimed that the two top executives of the company were getting unduly high pays while the company is losing money. It implies that the directors should have curbed the excessive payouts to the top executives. Now they are calling for an EGM to remove the independent directors. It is time that the wayang of having independent directors that are seen as not protecting the interest of minority shareholders be stopped. And honest and respectable individuals who cannot do the job for whatever reasons must honourably step down from such appointments or not to accept them. The practice of collecting fees and not doing the due diligence is becoming cancerous.

We have added Merrill Lynch

With UBS in the bag, we have bagged another biggie, Merrill Lynch. This round of financial crisis is much more than what Nick Leeson had done. We are seeing a spate of financial institutions crumbling down. And we helped to pick up the pieces. And so were other Sovereign Wealth Funds. These SWFs, once feared and hated, are now the white knights to the troubled banks and financial institutions. The world is changing. And so is the little Red Dot. We are in an enviable situation.

And Christmas is over

The last two days were great days of kindness and generosities. Gifts and offers of help were everywhere. Charitable homes have to turn down offers of help in some cases. Some even started to be selective and only want those who can render assistance on a longer term basis. Once a year kindness is appreciated but could not be of much help. Pope Benedict also commented on the selfishness of humankind and wished that they will be more unselfishness and share a little with the less fortunate. Like it or not, humankind will return to what they are. Time to work hard and earn a living, and be more selfish, now that Christmas is over.

My Christmas wish

As I was day dreaming. And this is Christmas, a time for giving and charity, then I started to imagine what I would do if I am given a $1m increment for the rest of my life! Would it be too much or too generous for me to donate my first $1m increment to the unfortunate? Afterall I still stand to gain that extra $1m for a life time. And especially so when I may be doing nothing useful or productive. I am only dreaming of becoming a generous man with other people's money. Still more generous than taking other people's money and not giving a little away.

Need further proof?

Below is a post' by a 'Leongszehian' in Sammyboy that proves that there is no need for compulsory annuity scheme. After 31 Mar 2008, 1st 20k of CPF OA and 1st 20k of SA can no longer be invested Everyone should think about investing their CPF OA (unless need to pay for housing loan now) and SA, because Age 25 To 65 - 40k will grow to (3.5%) $ 158,370 (5%) $ 281,600 (6%) $ 411,429 (7%) $ 652,456 (8%) $ 970,935 A 25 year old Singaporean earning just $1,450 a month, $500 monthly CPF contribution (34.5% is current CPF contribution rate), with 60k in OA/SA/MS accounts, assuming $500 contribution never increase (no pay increase) , from age 25 to 65 - at 5% grow to 900k+, 6% grow to $1.2 million+ - So, why average CPF balance at age 55 is only 66k (median estimated to be only about 20k plus) ? Why leave money in your CPF for others to invest? The computation is up to 65 years. 85 years is another 20 years of interest. What about the minimum sum retained? What about the amount in the Medisave? All these will add up to make every Singaporean a millionaire at 85.

New definition for Singaporeans?

Flexible labour policy has helped Sporeans This is the heading of a letter by Jean Tan, Director, Corporate Communications of the Ministry of Manpower. Her letter talked about how foreigners have helped Singaporeans to be employed. 'Singaporeans have also been taking up better jobs - nine out of 10 jobs gained by residents from 1997 to 2007 were those of Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians(PMETs). Singaporeans and residents are now synonymous.

Wah lau, $5000 to produce legal papers

It is reported that 'the lawyers usually gets at least $5000 for doing the insurance paperwork.' Imagine handling 10 car accident claims a day, that is a cool $50k! No wonder the touting lawyers are willing to offer between $600 to $1000 for each case referred. Anything wrong? Why shouldn't lawyers be allowed to solicit for business? Aren't they also known as solicitors? Is soliciting such a bad word? What is needed is to make the business transparent and upfront, just like the way we curb corruption. Make all the fees transparent and allow the lawyers to solicit as often as they need, with all the terms and conditions set up. The law society can defined all the regulations they need to protect the profession.

And today is Christmas

A handsome couple appear on the frontpage of the Straits Times, happily smiling and holding the Book of Baptism Rite. At first I thought the man was Goh Keng Swee. The resemblance was remarkable. And the story goes, about a grateful couple finding God and were full of joy on the day of their baptism. They were born again. It is Christmas and Christ was born on Christmas Day. George Soh and his wife Anne are now born on Christmas Day. It is a beautiful story to be told on Christmas. I feel like converting as well. Few days back the ST reported profusedly on the EID, the sacrifice of goat by Ibrahim to Allah, or Abraham to God. And the Muslims were equally joyous and Minister Yaacob even reported that the sacrifice will be doubled. Few weeks back the Lord Ganesha's Temple had a celebration and pictures of all the pious devotees were flashed across the pages of the ST. Soon the Chinese New Year Celebration and then Vesak Day. CNY is non religious but Vesak Day will be more meaningful to the Buddhists. It will be a day of compassion and no killings or taking of lives. We can expect pictures of devotees in Kong Meng San or Waterloo Streets carrying joss sticks for their worships. Our responsible and enlightened press has been reporting such religious activities fairly and sensitively and it is a sign of how well we managed interfaith relations in a multi religious society. Cheers to all the believers and devotees.

He took a bet

Goldman Sachs paid $100 million to its Chairman/CEO for turning in US$11.6b profits while competitors like Citigroup and Merrill Lynch suffered multi billion dollar losses. And he is duly rewarded. No doubt that he had done well. The enormous profit could be contributed by his decisions. But for the profit to be that huge is because the company was big. And he bet right. He could not make billions for the company if the company is small. What if he bet wrong and lost billions? At the most he will get a sack. But if the wrong was not too big, he still got to keep his job and pay. This is how the game of big corporation is being played. Bet big on other people's money. Win big and get big rewards. Lose big, just pack up and go. And often it could be a 50/50 chance of winning big. Is this kind of pay justifiable? It can be easily justified. It can also be easily flushed down the toilet hole.

Top talents - got or no got?

Bio-tech Suffers another blow Britain’s Dolly-creator is latest of three scientists to leave. Reuters. Dec16, 2007 By Daryl Loo British scientist Alan Colman, who helped clone Dolly the sheep, is leaving Singapore, dealing another blow to the city-state's biotech ambitions. Stem cell scientist Colman, who had been lured to the city-state with grants and research facilities, now heads a Singapore consortium in stem cell research.... The latest move follows news in September that two other top British scientists, David and Birgitte Lane, will also leave next year, giving weight to the World Bank's criticism that Singapore's biotech drive was overly reliant on "footloose" scientists who could leave at short notice.... Lee Wei Ling, a paediatrician who heads the National Neuroscience Institute, said that it was an inevitable that foreign researchers "will go where there's money available" as more Western universities raise funding for biomedical research.... The above is an extract of a Reuter article I copied from www.littlespeck.com. The tooth is the tooth. Foreign talents are 'footloose' and will go where the money is, especially the top talents. But what can we expect. Even our local talents who are good enough will go where the money is. Only those that cannot get a good offer will remain here and tell you they are worth millions. I am waiting for a top Singaporeans to head an American or European bank or MNCs. We can't even find any local good enough to head DBS after Jackson. The best Singapore can hope for is 'borrowed time.' Have them here for a while and learn as much as we can. We cannot have a FT like Jackson Tai here for so many years and still learn nothing and needs another FT to replace him. Or the tooth is that we don't have real talents locally?

The peanut fix

We used to buy a pack of peanuts while drinking our Anchor or Tsingtao beer in the kopitiam. That was a great way to live, a lifestyle for those with a few dollars to spend in the night. With growing prosperity, the simple peanut is no longer satisfying. Not because it is not tasty anymore. It is not expensive enough to fit into a new lifestyle called Rich and Famous. Now we have expensive wine and caviar. People's appetite grows with time and affluence. The more they have the more they want and the more they spend. The most revealing quote of Singapore's history is that $600k is peanut. At $600k, the peanut is still being sneered at, simply because those people have too much money. It is now more difficult to get a new high with a $600k peanut. The peanut needs to be worth more than that. Yesterday a $1m peanut may give a good kick. Tomorrow may be $5m and later maybe $100m. It is all relative and all drug addicts know how the dosage needs to be increased to feel the same way. There is no way out in the life of a drug addict. The only way to return value to the humble peanut is to find users that are used to a $2 pack and 2 bottles of Tiger beer. Start it at first base, just like the initiation of a new drug addict. A small dosage will be more than enough to get him high. Though the cycle will be repeated and eventually the new addicts will still be craving for $10m, it is still a reprieve and cheaper that way. Not all drug addicts start with morphine. Many grew up in the back lanes of yesterday running around barefooted. And the first stage to satisfy their desires is always the unassuming peanuts. When they are at the morphine stage, it is too late. The end is near.

Medal for model worker

I read about a post in Sammyboy of a bus driver 'arresting' a youth for cheating 20c. He stopped the bus, called for back up and the boy was taken away by the bus representative. All for 20c. This is the most honest, enthusiastic, dependable and conscientious bus driver that should be made into a model worker. Give him a medal on national day, make a bust of him and display it at Changi International Airport. Then write some stories about him and how he captured a commuter cheat singlehandedly and turn them in a Singapore legend. Cheating is a very serious offence. Bashing someone is not. A crime is a crime even if it is 20c. I think the bus driver is trying to make a statement on honesty and don't cheat the bus company's money

Time to feel generous and splurge

We all have a good year. Everything is looking so well, big pay rises and big bonuses. Time to give ourselves and our loved ones a treat. There is that expensive limited edition watch to pick up. Hmmm, a bit pricey but, what the heck! There is also the chocolate that costs $10 a bite, the abalone that may be even more chewy at $50 a chew. Ahh, the favourite bottle of red, $300, or $30 for a mouth wash. There are just too many good things in life that we should reward ourselves with for working so hard. And don't forget the little men and women sitting on the road sides or pedestrian mall. Spare them a couple of dollars as you pass by. Why am I feeling so guilty for doing that?

I don't feel safe in my neighbourhood anymore

This is what Tan Ting Ting said in her letter to the ST forum. Her neighbour was attacked after a late night party, bashed and robbed. She used to feel so pleased about the quiet and peaceful neighbourhood of Anchorage and Sengkang but these have turned into fear. Another woman was murdered at Holland Road and a Bangladeshi worker is being charged. Like I said, it is only the beginning. But thank god, statistically we are still looking very good. The crime numbers are still negligible. Then if you don't add people being assaulted as crime but personal and private problems between two people, then we can keep the numbers even lower. Fortunately or unfortunately the woman that was bashed was also robbed. Otherwise it would be another private matter for her to pursue with her lawyers. There must be regulations to limit and restrict the rental of HDB flats to foreign workers. Having a flat with 5 or more men, all hungry, burly and lonely is a recipe for trouble. Only the naive Singaporeans who have lived a life of peace and undisturbed existence will think that life will always be that way even with so many foreigners living next door. The day will come when the mothers, the wives and the daughters would not dare to walk alone in HDB void decks or corridors. That is the price to pay for our reckless disregard of social and environmental security. You only need one or two bad hats in a thousand to create pain and fear.

How Singaporeans think

Actually Singaporeans don't think. Only the elite think. The hottest issue now is Minister's pay. Ministers and MPs are not employees but elected people's representatives in parliament. Their tenure of service is subject to the mandate of the people every 4 years. The concern previously is that these people may be tempted to corrupt if they are not paid well. So their salaries, wonder that is the right term, were raised to million dollars level. With that we have solved our problem of corruption at high places. Now the new thinking is that their salaries need to be raised further. For what? Corruption is out. The new reason is to attract more future capable people to join politics. They are paying the current batch to prove to the future leaders that this is what they can get if they go into politics. Before, we use money to buy honesty. Now we use money to buy honesty and talents. Whose thinking? Not the average Singaporeans on the street. It is elite think. They think for the average Singaporeans. And many average Singaporeans also think that this is right thinking. Nobody question what is enough, what is enough to buy honesty and what is enough to buy talents. Is $5m enough? Is $10m enough or $20m?

Can Ah Pek cope with the taxi surcharge system?

There are so many surcharges and additional fares to be added to the fare. Can our Ah Pek taxi drivers cope with such a complicated system? Can the Ah Mahs and elderly aunties and uncles know that they are paying the exact fare and not being fleeced? How to remember all these charges? Maybe we should raise the educational level of taxi drivers to at least a degree in mathematics or computer science. It is no joke trying to remember and calculate all these charges in a hurry. With the high income, taxi driving is now quite attractive. And if they can raise the fare a little bit more, I may consider driving taxi as well. With the new system, all the driver needs is to park his taxi in the car park and wait for calls. No need to drive around wasting expensive fuel. It is like ring a service. I think that should be the way to go for the taxi service.

When I'm 85

What it be like? At 85, probably my best friends will be Dementia and Amnesia. What would I be thinking of, or remember of? Very likely will be the fantasies of Hollywood. Yulp, the great movies of yesteryears like the Three Mouseketeers, all for one and one for all, Robin Hood, the one who rob the poor to help the rich, or Ali Baba and his 40 thieves or the Band of Robbers or Brothers. Can't really remember which is which. Then the great leaders of the past, Marcoos, Sueharto and Mahatail, all honoured in the Hall of Fame. But one good thing, I can live on my savings from the Compulsory Annuity Insurance. No need to work and keep collecting till I conk off, and all $350 a month. Ho, ho, ho, plenty of money to live by if not having to pay for first class hospitalisation bill. Now that would be a good life, in an old folks retirement village. Hope the villages will not be like some concentration camps.

Do the right thing when assaulted

Singaporeans must learn from KM Ho, the communications manager, who was attacked by a drunk US sailor while parking his car. When attacked, do not defend yourself by hitting back. Run if you can, but never strike back. For not hitting back, the attacker got no grounds to counter sue you when you initiated legal actions against him. So you are quite assured of getting some compensation. In this case, the captain of the ship also called KM Ho to apologise and he was invited to tour the US naval ship as well as a reward. Not bad at all. And if you have some friends to write to the msm to blow up the case, even in the internet, will all help to keep the offending party on the defensive, especially big organisations.