Families and children at NDP

Crowds at the Esplanade

All the foreign workers are there.

Colours of NDP

Pics of 21 gun salute

Ready, fire and smoke!

My take on Hsien Loong's ND message

Singaporeans from all walks of life shall unite and work together with the govt for a better future in challenging times. This is another version of an all inclusive society, where every man/woman counts, as family, the Singapore family. What can the netizens do to be part of this family, to be embraced as friends and not as foes? If the netizens are going to continue to criticise the policies of the govt, it is unlikely that they will be welcome for tea parties or as friends. Who needs criticisms when everything is being run so well, when the govt is working so hard for the people, who needs people to throw cold water or cast doubts into the works. What would the govt expect then of the netizens? Obvious, please sing more songs of praises, and stop criticising and post cynical remarks. Then we will be family. This, I think, will run counter to the call to Singaporeans not to be complacent, that they can go on holiday, or their grey matters can go on holiday, and not to worry. Everything is well taken care off. No need to be vigilant, trust the govt, have faith in the govt that nothing will go wrong? Is this what being a family, be united as one people is all about? If that be the case, the netizens will forever be enemy of the govt. For this is one role that netizens should do as the govt is inevitably surrounded by good people with good intention and good things to say. Anything that is unpleasant will not be spoken or will say it in a way that will not prompt any serious reactions. A system without complaints is like removing the pain sensory mechanism in our body system. Without the ability to detect pain, we will get into serious injury without even knowing. The criticisms of netizens is a feedback to the govt, a very strong feedback that is good for the govt to take note. A wise govt will not dismiss criticisms as simply bad, simply anti govt and the bearer of such criticisms or bad news as anti establishment, not with the govt, not for the govt and people. Will our govt be enlightened enough to accept and embrace the positive side of netizens or criticisms? Very difficult I think. Look at the national day honours, or invitation lists to govt functions, how many opposition politicians are honoured? The netizens or people with opposing views are also with the govt to want a better Singapore. It is for the govt to work with them, together, as a people, for the betterment of the country.

When verbal acrobatics rule the day

When monk tries to justify a high living lifestyle of a millionaire as acceptable in present day, when words were twisted or given new meanings to justify the unjustifiable to the point of being deceitful, it won't last very long when the truth will come crashing down on the philanderers. The people were told to live within their means, buy things only if they can afford while on the other hand people wanting to raise their million dollar salary because a Lamborghini is now priced beyond their reach. What kind of logic are we led to believe in? Put it in simple layman lingo, if you have $1, find what $1 can buy and be happy with it, you losers. But for me, when my toy is now $2m instead of $1m, I want my salary raise to get my toy. Get it? That is my logic. This is the meaning of affordability to me. I make my income affordable, to buy anything I want. For the losers, your income is fixed and you get what it can get for you. The meaning of affordable is being stretched, logically of course, to mean different things to different people. It is like shifting the goal post every year, today here tomorrow there. Let's see how this twisted definition of affordable means over time. Once, a 3 room flat can be paid up with a mortgage of 10 years by a single income worker. That was affordable. Then it needs a 20 year mortgage. A new kind of affordable definition. Without realising it, the meaning of affordable becomes a 20 year mortgage to be paid by 2 incomes. And it went on to a 30 year mortgage with 2 incomes. Still affordable, sure, correct sir. Soon affordability will be defined by 2 incomes from two generations or 4 incomes, including the parent's incomes to buy a 3 room flat. It will still affordable. What else is new?

Nasdaq and BATs to stop flashing orders

'New York: The Nasdaq stock market and BATs Exchange will "voluntarily" stop offering flash orders, a controversial service that gives certain firms an advance look at market bound trading orders....' This is the first para of a REUTERS/Bloomberg report in the ST today. How could any responsible exchange allow this to be put in practice in the first place? To let it go and then to put a stop to it after being investigated is unacceptable. How many of such unfair practices have been allowed into the system? The US watchdog is still reviewing all the 'illegal' and unfair practices and will be putting a stop to them. Top on the list is 'high frequency trading' which gives the big boys an unfair advantage over the small investors. Are such practices criminal? Shouldn't someone be held accountable for allowing them to be in practice? Do we have such unfair practices in our stock exchange, and if there are, are we going to keep quiet about it because we don't have a powerful watchdog like the Americans to bring justice and fair play to the small boys and continue to let the sheep stumble blindly to the slaughter house? I hope, really hope, that we are clean and no unfair practices were allowed into our system. I can only hope, but I have this nagging suspicion....

Are you 30 something?

All those 30 somethings out there, stand up and be counted. You could be the next PM of Singapore. The search is on for the next PM to succeed Hsien Loong. All eyes will now be starring at the next batch of PAP candidates for 2012. Those in young PAP or helping in the MPS would probably stand a good chance. Youth is capital. All those above 40s or above mid 30s, well, keep slogging, over the hill.

The Verdict: 93% say Singapore governed well

Reach has done a survey and the results are very comforting and encouraging. 80% are confident of the economic future, 87% say the country is corruption free, 92% happy with the quality of education and a smaller percentage still not comfortable with the cost of living. With so many happy people, let's ignore the unhappy voices, at least for now as we are celebrating the National Day. Maybe we should brush aside all these irritating voices or better, ask them to pack up and go. The survey was conducted on 1558 Singaporeans. The sample size is definitely much bigger than the bloggers in mysingaporenews. Here we have a very happy and contented Singaporeans against maybe 5 or 6 unhappy Singaporeans. If I were to conduct a poll here, I think the happiness index will be at most 20%. But that will be unfair. A sample size of 5 or 6 and from a generally biased group in cyberspace, you can expect what the result shall be. Reach has done a good job in having a sample size of 1558, good number for 4D, and from a neutral group. The result should be more representative of the perception of the population. Now this is something we can celebrate for this National Day.

Mum to be put off by ungracious people

A letter to Today paper by Tan Ai Chern described how she was put off by ungracious people, a child/mother who refused to offer her a seat in the MRT, commuters pretending to close their eyes, ignoring her, people jumping queue to buy fish soup in front of her. I hope mums to be will not be put off from having babies because of ungracious people. While we are encouraging people to have more babies, people should think very carefully why they are having babies. The last thing they should do is to have babies because they are told to do so. Or worst, because the economy needs a few more workers as cogs in the gigantic machinery. Or for the money minded, having babies because of the monetary incentives. Then there are those who have babies because someone from somewhere said so. A baby is a life. One must be responsible for bringing that life into this unforgiving world where losers will pay painfully for their whole lives. It is so easy for those who are naturally productive to keep producing. But producing babies to be prime ministers or to be manual workers? The most important and simple point is to give life only if you love the life and are able and willing to give the life a good life. Otherwise it is a very cruel and wicked thing to do to bring life into this world and let that life fend for itself as a deprived and underprivileged.

What is Seagate saying?

2000 jobs gone and company relocating to cheaper place. Are we expensive? What is making us expensive? Labour cost, land cost, infrastructure cost, govt cost, and whatever cost, are all going up, which is good. Then we can be in the league of the first world cities, notable for being expensive. But one of these costs can and will surely go down if we are to remain at least competitive to keep some manufacturers here. Or maybe manufacturing is already a gone case and service is what is the next biggest employer. We need to thank the two IRs for the job opportunities available. Hey wait a minute, the problem is still there. What problem? Labour cost still must come down, which means the income of the workers is not going to go up by any measures. Ok, where is the problem? With a stagnating income, who is going to pay for the services and goods with escalating prices? Housing, transportation, medical, food and entertainment will only get more expensive because the demand is there. How come, when our workers are not creating the demand? That is beside the point. Our workers will just have to live with the situation, lower income and higher living cost. But don’t worry, housing, go for smaller units or rentals. Food, go for cheaper substitution, don’t each chicken, eat fish, I mean ikan bilis, not pompret or groupers. Actually the real situation is that life is good. People are all very rich and with big disposable income. Just walk to the big shopping centres in Orchard Rd and you will know what I mean. And the long queues of people in private property launches will tell a happy story. What is real and what is make belief? I think the buying frenzies in Orchard Rd and property launches are real.

Anwar suing after being called a traitor

Anwar is taking up a law suit to sue those who called him a traitor of the Malays, for selling out Malay supremacy to the non Malays. Utusan Melayu reported today with challenging statements like 'Who will hold the position of Chief Secretary? ..Who will be senior officers in the police and military?' It is so easy for CB politicians to go on a name calling campaign to brand the other party in whatever way they like and have the media to join in and make the impression stick. But the masses must think and decide for themselves who is what. Is a politician who everyday chants 'Melayu Ketuanan' a champion of the Malays when he pockets millions and billions and throws a few coins at the poor Malays? Or is one who claims to fight for all races, and to assist all the poor regardless of race a traitor to the Malay race? What is a traitor? Who is a traitor? Will the Malay Malaysians ponder a little before they decide? I think the PKR supporters have already decided.

GE did it for its own good?

This is another angle that some people viewed the generosity of the Great Eastern offer. And some of its competitors also quickly jumped in to join the chorus. Indeed GE will gain some PR mileage in this initiative, and sure its customers and the general public will see GE in a different light, definitely more favourable than the mechanical FIs. After the dust has settled, after all the evasions, dodgings and excuses, people are still going to see GE as a more reliable, trustworthy, dependable and customer friendly organisation instead of an aloof, legalistic, calculative and you die your problem organisation. Then one may also want to ask, why didn't the rest of the FIs also think like GE, pay out and make their customers happy, do a one time PR exercise, absorb the losses, which is really peanuts, and save some of the uncles and aunties and their nest eggs? Is this not a worthy cause, a decision that is human, decent and being seen as a caring organisation to do business with? Or maybe these FIs are so entrenched in their position as market leaders that there is no need to spend on goodwills or to cultivate trustworthiness from its customers, that the customers will surely go back to them for more business. No, no, this is not the proper way to do business. It will undermine our business integrity. We need to protect the snake oil sellers so that they will continue to do their business here. it will encourage more snake oil sellers to relocate here, a perfect place to sell snake oil. I am very sure that all those badly hit by the fiasco and badly treated by the FIs will swear never to do business with them anymore. Say whatever you like, GE has done a very human and decent thing, to benefit itself and also the customers. We need more financial institutions that are run in a more humanly ways, where the interest of the customers comes first.

In Praise of Human Decency

Great Eastern has done a coup of sort to offer a big payout when it does not need to. In fact the precedent has been set for it to play by the market practice and save a lot of money, except for the pain and loss the investors will continue to bear. One question is whether Great Eastern has crossed the line to the extent of undermining the correct business practice and the rule of law here that we are so proud of, and chose to invest in a bit of morality, ethics and human decency, which are only good for the souls but not for the bottom line. It was a rare moment indeed in a country that crows about making money at all cost, where scoundrels are praised and held in high esteem, and not how the money was made, where making money is the end all, with no qualms about human decency. Investors have been complaining that they were questioned by high and mighty officers of financial institutions demanding only to know if they understood English, and if they had signed on the documents. If either was a yes, no further explanation was needed, and out of the door they went, with minimal or no compensation. Legally right, legally binding but morally shameful. Technically and legally, the financial institutions are right by applying the rule of law. That could be the reason why they were so arrogant that they were doing the right thing. It's all legal. The investors understood and signed the documents. These were enough not to compensate them fully or at all. Caveat emptor man! Just as much we need to protect the investors, the financial institutions also need to be protected under the rule of law. So which should overrule the other, the rule of law or morals and ethics? I think when in court the rule of law will be upheld and not any wishy washy stuff like morality, ethics or empathy. We cannot undermine our system of correct business practice, our rule of law, and compromise on such rulings. The peddlers of snake oil also need to be protected under the rule of law. My view is that Great Eastern must have come to the conclusion that the product must be flawed and morally not right to make this kind of money from the their customers. They have set aside all legal and technical arguments in their favour and chose to make a human decision to return the money to their clients. The decision of Great Eastern speaks a lot about the quality of their leadership. Something we find very lacking in this materialistic world and something we only heard in motherhood statements but not in practice.

10 is to 11 or 12, or 11 or 12 is to 10

After economy recovers, 10 workers should do the work of 11 or 12 – Lim Swee Say Can we have similar quotes like 10 ministers doing the work of 11 or 12 ministers, or 10 MPs doing the work of 11 or 12 MPs, or 10 MDs doing the work of 11 or 12 MDs? The answer is obvious. The higher it goes, the more difficult and complex is the job. You really need 11 to 12 ministers to do the job of 10 ministers, 11 or 12 MPs to do the job of 10 MPs, and 11 or 12 MDs to do the job of 10 MDs.

Another myth in the making?

Ho Ching's proposal to invite the public to co invest with Temasek has been receiving quite a lot of approval and favourable comments. At face value it looks like another great proposal for investors to grow their nest eggs. But before people plonk in their hard earned savings, they better think very carefully as investment is a high risk enterprise. The higher the returns, the greater the risks. Not very long ago, there was this great scheme called COWEC. It is a company welfare scheme where employees and companies joinly contributed to the fund to invest in stocks with the belief that stock investment was a sure win game in the long run. It was supposed to guarantee a higher rate of return than the CPF. It is now history. The same crazy belief also reemerged in the early 1990s when all the clever analysts and investment experts were churning out reports on how great investing in stocks and shares were against all other instruments. In the long run, investing in stocks will generate the highest returns compare to other forms of investments. This faith led to the release of CPF funds for stocks and shares and a kind of frenzy when every CPF contributor had a stock investment account. Again it became history when many of them lost their nest eggs, contributing to the miserable state of our CPF savings. Would co investment with Temasek lead to the same fate? Can investment guarantee a safe and high return? The fact that the CPF Life scheme has an escape clause in case the fund becomes insolvent speaks for itself.

Chok Tong's 10 challenges

Chok Tong has thrown 10 challenges to the new political leadership as we celebrate 44 years of dynamic progress and economic growth. What I feel is that Chok Tong is unduly worried. There is no cause for concern if one reads the comments in cyberspace, the home ground of dissent, dissatisfaction and cynicism. The criticism of the govt were all very superficial and lacks dept. Many were just simply kpkb, with no substance. How could one call it a genuine complaint or hardship when one needs to pay 20c more for a service or $10 more for goods? Fortunately these are met by the real and genuine responses from contented Singaporeans who are very grateful for what the govt has done. We have progressed in leaps and bounds. And many Singaporeans can be proud to tell the world how expensive are their houses/flats and cars. Their homes will appreciate in value every few years, maybe doubling in value every 5 to 10 years. With this kind of progress, even living in the same 1000 sq ft unit, no Singaporeans would mind. All they want to know is that their homes are getting more expensive and another sucker will be queuing up to buy from them. Then they themselves can upgrade to another 1000 sq ft unit and pay double the price for it. Another sign of progress, to be able to pay for ever more expensive housing or the same size or smaller. For those who have made enough, they could downgrade into a 1 rm rental flat and live happily ever after.

Are Singaporeans really that crazy?

We used to pay $30k for a 1,300 sq ft HDB flat. Today, people are queuing up to pay half a million or more for a 1000 sq ft little pigeon hole in the air. And everyone is so happy about it. Don't they know that it will take them a whole life to pay to be cooped up in that little space when a big sprawling house could be had in other places for much less? What is so great about a little space dressed up like a hotel room, a place to sleep, a place to pee and eat, and a TV to watch. And that is about all for $500k to a million. And the best part, everyone is expecting to make a handsome profit when they sell that little space to the next sucker. What kind of quality of living are we getting into? Work like shit for life to pay for a little place to sleep and shit and getting so excited over it? Do Singaporean ever ask whether life could be better, less stressful, less work, more leisure and fun and space to run around? Or this is what good quality living is all about?

Bravo, Great Eastern

If we want to know what is being responsible and trustworthy, look no further. The name is Great Eastern. As a follow up to the Lehman minibonds and Pinnacle notes debacle, Great Eastern has voluntary taken the step to payback every cent its clients paid for a similar product. This is quite embarrassing to the other renowned and reputable organisations that were involved in the fiasco and refused to compensate fully or compensating a pittance. The whole episode and the pathetic handling of the cases with consumers having to fight tooth and nail to claim back their losses said that there is an urgent need for a truly independent body to protect consumer interest. Unfortunately, with the overlapping of roles and interests, and personalities involved, such an organisation is practically impossible to find, not that it cannot be formed, but there is no political interest to have one. The web of being connected is amazing in this little dot. The minibond saga is like all the organisations are banded together on one side and the consumers, the little people, on one little miserable corner with a gungho maverick in the form of Tan Kin Lian as their defender. it is an ugly sight like in the Miserables.

New chief at SGX/Building castle on shifting sands

Magnus Bocker has been recruited from New York, the finest financial centre of the new world. He was the President of Nasdaq OMX. I am not going to belabour the foreign talent or lack of local talent debate. I am looking at this appointment and what direction is the SGX heading? Having a foreign head with a wealth of experience in M & A of stock exchanges, like Chip Goodyears experience in commodities, can we expect that SGX will be heading in this direction, more mergers with other exchanges? The concept is brilliant, as brilliant as the acquisition of huge international banks. The disastrous failure of the latter was due primarily to bad timing as well as buying rotten apples without knowing it. We do not know what we are in for. In the case of growing SGX into an international financial centre in the league of NY, London or Tokyo, my fear is that we are taking too big a bite that we could not swallow. The way the current stock market is running is a case in point. Without a critical mass, a big and sustainable local fund, and relying on an over representation of foreign funds, we are completely at the mercy of these funds. When they are in, we all laugh to the banks. When they decide to pull out, we will be caught high and dry. There is no escape, and many local investors, no matter how big, will be hanged by the cleaners. Their investments can be totally wiped out. This has been our experience. Are we blind to it and still think that this is the way to go? Think big but not too big. Or should we take a step back and ask ourselves whether we should know our strength and weaknesses and play at a level that we can manage and control with lesser risk? Look at our football league. This is what we are and where we will be. Don't deceive ourselves to think otherwise unless we are prepared to throw our money away. The international funds are rich and have plenty of money, but they are very mobile and not only that they will move their funds at will to where the opportunities are, they will exploit the weaknesses of the local market and investors and clean everyone out if they can. Do not play with danger that we cannot control. The minibond saga, the failed investments in foreign banks and in anything foreign, the Scam chips, Malaysian chips, are painful lessons that we must learn from. We are not smarter than them. If we go this way, the biggest disaster that will come our way will be the collapse of the stock market.