Myth 201 - PAP is the only party that can run Little Red Dot.

Myth 201 - PAP is the only party that can run Little Red Dot. By Green Peas Present and past PAP leaders have been trying to inculcate into our mindset that without the PAP, Paradise will not be paradise any more. There will by chaos, riots, unrest, serious unemployment and our mothers and sisters will have to go to foreign land to become maids. They want to make us all believe that PAP is the only party that is capable of running the Little Red Dot. See what has happened in Thailand. Thaksin's party has been changed from TRT to PPP and now to PT. So what is in a name? It is not the brand name that counts. Names can be changed over-night at whims and fancies and expediency. It is the people who really counts, not the name of the party. And who are the people who really counts that we depend upon to run the Little Red Dot? The civil servants, the administrative service, the police, the armed forces and civil defence, as well as the quasi-govt staff who draw a salary every month. These are the people who actually run the country. Heads (not leaders because we don't have real leaders) can come and go, but the permanent staff are always there. I have been in a govt dept where scholars just come in and warm the seat as my boss for two years and then off they go after stirring up some shits without having to care who would do the cleaning up for them. Oh wait a minute. But people say they are there to plan and give guidance. Sure they seems to be there to plan and give guidance. But the next guy that comes in would turn the previous guy's plans and policies upside down. So what guidance are we talking about? Confusion! Disruptions! Discontinuity! So what is the remedy for the permanent staff? We continue to "run" the country the way we know too well, with or without the scholars. Scholars come, scholars go. They never last more than two years. Remember, they need to chase and climb the ladder up the hierarchy of their own selfish progress and promotion. Oh, yes! Didn't somebody said, "Meritocracy"? So, is PAP the only party that can run Little Red Dot? Or is it only a myth to cast fear and create a dependent mentality?

In absence of propriety

Why did the American financial woes grew so big and for so long? A lack of propriety, when everyone who is supposed to do his job, failed to do so. There was total negligence, no due diligence or worst, collusion. The consequences, the thieves and conmen had a field day doing what they wanted without any interference from the regulators. The first failure was the auditors. They were the first line of defence. Why are organisations paying so much for these auditors for not doing what they were supposed to do? And why is there, yes, why is there no one to watch over the guards? And the auditors are keeping very quiet because everyone is pointing the fingers in all directions but not at them. They must be held responsible and charge for the crime or as collaborators of the crime. And that includes guarding the regulators. Obviously the regulators were all sleeping or in cahoot with the thieves and con men. Or they might be beholden to them in some ways. Everyone got very rich, extremely rich in the process. And paradise is trying to emulate this great model of success. When people or organisations are responsible to do their jobs did not do them for some reasons, it is the recipe for disasters. The American lesson must be learnt fast and the flaws corrected.

Wage trap and housing policy

The truth is hitting us faster by the days. Our workers' salary cannot keep going up like the PMETs. No matter how we try, the larger pool of hungry and equally adaptable workers in the world will compete with our workers for jobs. And there is no way we can keep pushing our wages up. In fact the trend is to push them down. How is this going to affect the cost of living here? Everything is up, gravity defying. Now public housing for 4 rm flats in prime area are costing $500k, 3 rm flats $400k. How can our workers pay for such luxurious public flats? As the prices of flats cannot come down or many HDB owners will lose the value attached to their only asset, it can be expected that more and more will opt for rental flats. How many working class young people can afford to pay for a $300k flat? It is time that HDB turn to building rental flats and the existing HDB flat owners can hope that there will be people with the money to buy their flats with a profit down the road. Look out for en bloc sales. These people will be cash rich to buy cheap HDB flats. Or they may upgrade to private properties with their new found cash.

Days of paying millions to employees over?

Other than fraud, con jobs, collusion, mismanagement, the other major cause of the financial breakdown in the US is the paying of crazy millions to the top management teams. This practice came out as a scheme among the top management and the board of directors, a case of 'I pay you and you pay me' at the expense of the minority shareholders. And the amount they were paying one another kept going up from tens of millions to hundreds of millions to a few individuals. And what did they get? A bunch of cheats and conmen doctoring the company accounts to reflect profits and roaring businesses, but actually an apple rotten from within. Employees are employees, even at top management level. How could these people command millions and millions while the organisations kept going down? But would this insanity stop and the paying of multi million dollar salary come to a halt?

Myth 200 - Workers need to be represented by worker's parties?

Can a worker's party not representing the worker's interest or with a membership of workers? Can a worker's party operates without trade unions under its umbrella? In every country, when a party calls itself a worker's party, it normally has a list of trade unions in its organisation. In paradise, it is very strange that trade unions are under govt link organisations instead of worker's party? You do not need a worker's party to represent the workers. This is a unique formula.

Telling the good stuff

This was easy in the olden days when things were either black or white. In the ever increasing complex modern world when grey is bigger than black or white, trying to say that things are white when they are not is going to be tricky. This is made more difficult by the higher literacy level and worldly wise population. Everyone can now see a rotten fish when they see one no matter how many layers of gold plating were coated over it. It thus takes a very brave man or woman to proclaim that something is white in a public forum or with international audience when it is not. Whew, what a task. For the people put in such a position, often it only compromises their own integrity and reputation as decent and honourable men and women. How could someone stand up on stage and claim, with a straight face, that there is no shit when shit is everywhere? Earning a decent living nowadays is not so simple. Righteousness, morality, decency will have to be sacrificed for the right to lead a comfortable life. I try to tell the good stuff as often as I can here. But I will look very fake if the good stuff that I claimed were not really good at all. So it is a very sticky situation. I can only tell the good stuff when they are really good to retain some credibility here. Similarly, I can only tell the wrong stuff if they are really wrong for the same reason.

Why an A Team will succeed

I posted on a hypothetical A Team with members like Tan Kin Lian, PN Balji, Leong Sze Hian, Goh Meng Seng and maybe Subhas Anandan to stand in a GRC in the next GE and I think they will get elected quite easily. I received comments that they may not really be that good. That I agree. How good is the A Team is relative as there are many better people out there to form even better A Teams. For the moment, a team like the above is the best the opposition has ever assembled. This team, if they could come together, could stand in any GRC and win. That's my assessment. I mean any GRC with no exceptions. No GRC team in the ruling party today is infallible or formidable given the current situation and climate for change. And the ruling party has done itself a disservice by painting their A Teams too highly, and with a pay package that demands that they perform like super human beans. Unfortunately they could not and came out looking like very ordinary. Given the high expectations and mismatch in perception and reality, the people must be very disillusioned with the A Teams. Any opposition party that could put up teams like the above will be a tough proposition for the ruling party to take on in the next election.

Any lessons to learn from the Madoff con job?

The cats have been led out of the bag and everyone is shock and asking many obvious questions. Why such a big con job could be so big and go on for so long in an industry that is highly regulated? Reputation seems to be the biggest valiant in this case. Madoff has built up a reputation over the years as a man of integrity, trustworthiness, unquestionable faith and ability. And people just simply trusted him, blind faith? Again this is the same moral. Never trust anyone blindly. Anyone asking you to have faith and just trust him without questions, must be questioned immediately. Don't be a fool at the end of the game. Nepotism played a big role too. His key executives were from the family, brothers, children and who else. With an inner circle that is thicker through blood, everything can be concealed and no dirty laundry aired. Look out for this formula and run. Transparency, a familiar word. No transparency means something bad to hide. Period. His was a secretive operation. How could that be when there is a Securities and Exchange Commission doing regular checks and investigations on all financial institutions? Are we saying that the SEC was not doing its job or they chose not to do the necessary? Can we trust the SEC or the regulators? The Americans are saying that all the warning signs were there. So negligence or working in cahoot? 'They trusted him with everything' is the title of one article in the Sunday Times. Trusted him with everything! Isn't this frightening? We can't even trust gods with everything, how could we trust another human bean with everything? Singaporeans take note. Never trust anyone with everything. Never put all your eggs in one basket. The ancient truth never fail to show how silly human beans are at the end of the day for being too trusting. The truth shall set you free. Insist on the truth. Not the tooth.

Ponzi scheme in Singapore?

Former chairman of Nasdaq, Bernard Madoff, is being charged for a massive fraud involving US$50 billion. He was running a huge hedge fund and paying good dividends for 15 years. What an unbeliever track record! For those who are staunch believers of track records, please take heart to this. Track records can be cooked anyway the chef wants it to look. What happened to Madoff was that he paid his old investors with money collected from new investors. He was losing money all the way. But through this version of the pyramid scheme, he collected new money to pay old debt that were due. Familiar? His con job could go on forever if he could find ways to keep the investors invested. Or he could bring in more and more new investors to cover up for the older investors. Or if he could delay the pay out to the old investors by keeping their money as long as he can. He should learn from the Redbean Bond. Keep the money and don't pay out. Just send to the investors their growing investments. That would keep the investors very happy and he could conceal his losses forever, and continue to pay himself handsomely, and crow about it. Unfortunately he could not hide it any longer. He could not bring in more investors to build a bigger and ever bigger pyramid base. He could not con more people to put money into a scheme that need not pay out for 20 or 30 years. When he has to pay according to the contractual terms, no delay is allowed, he is dead meat. Things will be different if he could shift the goal posts. Such a scheme cannot go on forever. It is only a matter of time before the pyramid collapses. And there are many such schemes in Wall Street. And all are collapsing. Wonder if there are any here? Why did I have this uneasy feeling, a bad hunch?

Club, club, club, how many kena clubbed?

It is in the news today that Seletar Golf Club is the latest victim to the minibond fiasco. $5m was reported to be invested in similar product and probably nothing much will be left. Fortunately Seletar had made $5m of profits over 5/6 years to offset this loss. Otherwise the members may have to cough out some money to patch the hole. Maybe because of this that the members are reported to be quiet and not kicking a fuss. The members are very understanding. With this first revelation, perhaps more clubs will also stand up to admit that they too were clubbed. Now, the members of other clubs may not be as easy going as Seletar members, or if the losses are much more, then temperature will rise.

The evolving A Team

The recent events that are turning paradise topsy turvy is churning up an unexpected result. We are seeing the spontaneous appearance of people into the political scene. This is the kind of development in history, that in times of crisis or of need, able men and women, some kind of mavericks, will stand out to find their rightful places, to do the needful. Tan Kin Lian is one of them. Then you have Leong Sze Hian and to a certain extent you have Goh Meng Seng, and a few others sprouting out in the field of Hong Lim. Another one that is increasingly making his presence felt is PN Balji. And when Subhas Anandan made his mark yesterday in the Probono, he too could be another new maverick in the making. Among them we can easily field an A Team for a GRC. A Team like this will easily win in the next GE. And as the day progresses, more of these men and women will step forward to be counted. This is the kind of development that will occur when change is inevitable and is near.

Telling the good news

In these trying times the media could sing a few songs of greatness to cheer up the people and lift their spirits higher. There is no need to fear. The financial crisis is nothing if we know that we have the best leaders the world can offer in charge. If money paid is a judge of the talents of govt leadership, we have the best. Each of our minister is probably 5 or 10 times better than the best of the West. And if we are to compare to Hu Jintao or Wen Jiabao, our leaders are better by hundreds of times over. So the people should not feel depress that we are being dragged along by the financial crisis. Everything is in control. And also we have so much money in reserve that we can use them to benefit the people. Cheer up, nothing to worry. Let's crack a few little jokes to put a few smiles on the people's faces.

More leeways for judges

This is the interesting headline in the ST. In fact the ST devoted several full pages to the revolution that is going on in the legal fraternity. There were proposals that judges be given more leeways to pass sentences. And frivolous prosecutors could be fined and the victim be compensated. The most remarkable of the changes is Walter Woon, the Attorney General, defending the perception of two laws, one for the rich and one for the poor. Instead of using the stick, he took pains to tell his learned friends that this was not so. Imagine if people are being hauled for contempt of courts or the legal system for questioning the fairness of the courts of law. We are progressing by talking to each other instead of treating everyone as an adversary. Good for Singapore going ahead. Would such an approach be the new ethos applicable to all Singaporeans?

The good news - More job losses

Some may take this news negatively, especially when they are going to be hurt badly. From the national point of view, from the employers' point of view, this is good news. There will be more workers available, hungry some more, and they need not have to pay them an arm or a leg to get them. So operating cost will go down. We will become more competitive. And the residents who are afraid of foreigners, they may see more of them returning home. Then their neighbourhoods will be back to normal. Singaporeans losing their jobs can go for retraining to become construction workers. And the ladies, maybe can be trained to be domestic maids too. Think positive.

Obscene profits at the Pinnacles

The craziness of the $200k increase in the price of the second launch of Pinnacle Duxton flats is again in the news. See Leong Kit wrote to The New Paper asking HDB to justify the hefty increase. Silence. I think this was casually raised in Parliament, or some MPs did asked a few questions about it and the answer was given. So case closed. The fact that it was raised in Parliament and no further follow up action is taken can be seen as an approval, that everyone in Parliament agreed with the increase. So it is an acceptable thing to do. So, all the kpkb in cyberspace will be pointless and there is no need for HDB to reply. And many like See Leong Kit still could not see the point and were asking for the costing. The costing is no longer an issue. It is market pricing. If HDB can provide data to show that similar flats are sold at those prices, that is good enough. OK HDB should at least put up some data to prove that similar public flats, not private flats are sold at those prices and how many were transacted. The logic of market pricing is not to be questioned any more. It is a govt policy. Oops, it is a HDB policy.

Sanctity of Office violated

Conflict of interest, opposing goals, human greed, have led to the violation of the sanctity of many offices and professions. The medical profession's primary mission is to heal and save lives. The legal profession is to see that justice is served. Both now come with a huge price tag. You don't get heal or get justice if you cannot pay the price. And this violation is not only confined to these two professions. It is so stark and blinding that no one can see it any more. It is like me looking into the mirror in the morning and still claiming how beautiful I look, with all the scars, blemishes and wrinkles. But I am so used to them that I no longer see them. Or at most I will apply a little cosmetics over them, get a plastic surgeon to pull at the wrinkles to give it a little freshness. Then I go around thinking that all is well and good. The fact is that the little cosmetics is only a make belief. Everyone can see the fakeness of it. When the sanctity of a good office is violated and the violators are so happy that that is the way to go, there is nothing that can be done except to wait for nature to take its toll. The time will come

10% interest and principle protected

With the minibond fiasco, the people are so frighten of financial products and institutions that they are all keeping their money under their beds. But that cannot do as inflation is eating away their money and they are all hoping for a product where they can grow their money and with their principle protected. The CPF is encouraging people to put in more money into the special account to earn higher interest rate of 4% and principle guaranteed. I am starting a Redbean Bond with principle guaranteed and paying 10% interest per annum. Your savings will definitely grow over the years and you will get a monthly report on how much you have. No headache and no fear. By the time you reach 80 or 100 years, your saving will balloon into a mountain of gold. Oh, one condition, the Redbean Bond is to grow your money, but you cannot take it out.

Two laws in paradise?

Fame criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan speaking his mind on the different treatment of crimes and offenders in our courts and also the boorish behaviour of judges. Ooooh, would this be a contempt of the court? He is questioning the arbitrary decisions of judges and 'wonders if there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.' Now, this is touchy business and the public who have no understanding of the courts of law should not get involved. Let's see if TOM or readers of TOM would start a discussion on these issues. I have so many things to say but as a layman, better to leave them to the learned counsels to their discourses.

Spread the good news

"In a crisis, it's to 'calm nerves, boost confidence'." This is the role of the media according to Boon Yang. It has a very important part to play in the way it imparts information. The media has been playing a very negative role in the recent financial crisis, fanning the fear, scaremongering etc which result in aggravating the already low morale and confidence of the masses. Shit, I must also have played a huge part in scaremongering as well. Better to spread some good news especially when Christmas is around the corner. I heard my neighbour struck Toto last week, got $1.5m and is buying a condominium soon. And there are a lot of jobs available in the construction industry. And the govt is going to give away hong paos to those badly affected by the crisis. And the minibond victims will be compensated. What is the role of the media if it is not to report news and tell the truth? If a media's role is to spread good news in bad times, or say only the good stuff, what kind of media is it? The first thought that came to my mind in North Korea. The media there only spread the good news.

Myth 199 - Fallen myths

Two big myths have fallen. The myth of paying big money for top talents is now a myth that will circulate in cocktail parties as a joke. All the supertalents in top American financial institutions and giant corporations, including the motor companies are laughing stocks. Paying them millions and millions and what did the shareholders get? Bankrupt companies. Oh, hold it a minute. The companies could be worst off if not because of their talents. And in times like these, their talents are even more needed. The second big myth to bite the dust is big names, reputations and track records. All the big American financial institutions are big names with proven track records, plus supertalents, tested and proven. What happened? An organisation is as good as the people running it. The people running an organisation now are not the same people who built them. Or if some are still around, the mission, priorities and values may have changed. Don't be complacent. Count ourselves lucky not to have employed these great talents at cloud nine salaries. Or are we thinking of picking them up now that they are losing their jobs?