Great News, Resale home prices at new high!

This is the best news on the front page of the ST. More than 800k HDB flat owners are going to celebrate, and those owning 5rm flats and bigger are instant millionaires. The latest transaction at Bras Basah HDB complex fetched more than $600 psf. Whew, everyone is going to be very grateful. Now they should know who to vote to protect and increase the value of their HDB flats. And private property owners will also be waiting in glee as HDB upgraders will have more money to buy private properties at higher prices. For those singles and still waiting for a HDB flats, cannot wait liao. Go quickly and grab a flat fast. Tomorrow will be more expensive. The prices can only go up and up.

Property bubble is good

Justin Chiu of Cheung Kong Property lives by the religion that property bubble is good. It has to be. High property prices mean big profits for his company and big bonuses for him. Every property developer must live by this religion, or they should not be in the property business. They are in to make money, big money. They are not in a charity business. Sorry, I think I must qualify this. Some charity businesses are also very happy with big bonuses. No one should demand that property developers build properties and sell at a loss or at subsidized profits. That is fundamentally wrong. They must make the most profits they could from their projects. They must sell at market price, as high as the market can afford. It is not their responsibility to make sure that properties are affordable and reasonable. That is the job of the govt. The govt is responsible to the people and has a moral duty, a social contract, to house the people in decent homes, not in dog’s kennel. The roles of the govt and property developers are different. It only becomes a problem when a govt thinks it is a property developer, to max profits and a property developer thinks it is the govt and sells property at a loss. But in a world when the lines are blurred, when confusions set in, when the govt is not the govt, when the developer is not the developer, the people will become collateral damages in a greedy game of profits.

Going ahead with the Water Festival?

We respect the foreigners here. So we are going to celebrate their Water Festival. Do we respect other foreigners and celebrate their festivals as well? If we don't, does it mean that we are not respecting them? What if we celebrate some and don't celebrate some? Would those affected feel slighted and not respected? What if we celebrate this year because it is the in thing and don't celebrate in the following year or years? Would the foreigners say we have stop respecting them?

Calling a spade a spade!

Finally someone with the guts to stand up and tell the truth that everyone pretends not to see. It is govt intervention in the property market that caused high prices in property, not market forces. Simon Cheong, President of Redas, 'argued that the Govt's land sales programme has, in some instances, in fact accentuated the mismatch between demand and supply and contributed to higher pricing....His candid comments - which he said he had been "advised" against making, "for fear of it being a sensitive topic" - found resonance among some industry watchers, while others still argued for the State's role in curbing market volatility.' For someone in his position to take such a stand is a sign that he could not take the nonsenses anymore. The lip had blown off. He has to tell it as it is. Let's see if any more professionals have any balls in between their legs to repeat his stand publicly. Simon quoted the case of a plot in Tampines with a bid of $118 psf but rejected and now sold to a top bid of $421 psf and the Ten Mile Junction which failed at $162 psf and now sold at $437 psf. How not for property prices to go up? But it is wrong to say that the govt interfered with property prices. The govt only manages the property market to ensure that HDB prices can only go up. And that is an election position. Vote for the govt to protect the value of HDB flats. So, with a little management of land sales and building of new flats, the prices will simply and nicely go up. Then when new flats are built, they are sold at 'market prices' and with a 'subsidy'. So nice. The equation in simple form is to manage prices of sold HDB flats to make sure it can only go up. This in turn will create a synthetic market of higher prices for newly built flats. Another option, as a national policy, is to manage the new flats to be really affordable and let 'market' forces determine the prices of sold HDB flats. Both involved interference. Sorry, cannot use that word, a little managing at one end and pretend that the other end is the real market forces. The advantage of the present system is that prices would likely to keep spiralling up and makes owners happy. But new flats would also be equally expensive. The problem comes when there is a crisis and prices plunged. Buy high would mean losing big. In the latter option, prices may not go up too fast and also may not go down much. In a crisis, with smaller outlay, the losses will not be too heavy either. Which is a better policy? One is an illusion of wealth, manipulated and with the danger of people falling flat on their faces. The other is more prudent and less adventurous and less likely to bankrupt the owners.

Google is so funny!

Google has left China and move to the British territory called Hongkong, to escape from Chinese laws and to propagate unfriendly Chinese news. It can now raise the Union Jack and claim protection from Great Britain. I think it should prepare other options like Macau and Taiwan. And if these proved unworkable as well, then it should look no further than Singapore, where there is internet freedom for it to do what it wants in the name of press freedom. It is quite a common thing to read China bashing news here. I strongly recommend Google to relocate to Singapore if it wakes up from its slumber and found out that Hongkong is in China and no longer a British colony.

Casino Autonomous Regions

Smoking allowed in the two casinos. Isn't that great? While Singaporeans have gotten rid of this dirty and smelly habit and could not stand the sight and smell of tobacco and cigarette butts, we know have to bear with them all over again, all because of money. For money's sake, what else do we want to sell out? Maybe we can turn the casinos into autonomous regions and allowed whatever we do not allowed in the main island. Let them have chewing gums, littering and spitting are ok too. And let the Ah Longs operate there. Oh, move Geylang over there too. Just keep all the sleaze there may be a way to keep the main island clean and healthy. What am I talking about? There is one casino in the main prime city area. How? Imagine all the hard works and campaigns and money spent to educate a population to be like the civilised first world, clean, impeccable and sauve, and we are going to abandon it for money. We allowed the foreigners to come here to spit, litter, commit crimes and now to smoke in our midst, in our island in the sun and our prime Marina Bay. What is going on?

A new twist to Your Singapore

Netizens were furious on the news that a grassroot organization is planning to organize a Water Festival, the same as those celebrated in Thailand, Myanmar and the IndoChinese states for the foreigners here. I look at it differently. If we are going to tell the world that Singapore is theirs, then it is only expected that we should also share their festivals and make them feel more at home here. Let's make it their Singapore for real. And having more international festivals here is also a good thing for tourism. We can show the world how happy we are as a people, partying everyday to every festival that we can find. We can even declare every other day a holiday for a festival. Now, would that not be fun? Come to Your Singapore and party for a life time, everyday of the year. There is never a dull day or a dull moment. The thought of it already brightens up my day. As for integrating the foreigners to love Singapore, there is an easier way to do it. Just stuff some money in their pockets. I am sure the whole world will descend on Singapore and call it home. Your Singapore will truly live up to its name.

Talking cock about China and Yuan revaluation

The Western media and the US Congress have been talking cock about the Yuan as the main cause of their economic misery. So China must revalue its Yuan to make its export more expensive and save the US economy and American jobs. China cannot keep on growing at the expense of America and Europe. The assumption of these attacks is that China's economy will keep growing relentlessly, unstoppable. The Chinese will probably hope so. Then we read another bunch of cock stories that the Chinese economy is a big bubble waiting to explode. The Chinese housing is a bubble, the car industry is a bubble, and what not is a bubble. The rich and poor gap is going to break China, the corruption is going to break China, the cities are over built and wealth inequalities will cause unrest in China. The minorities insurgency is going to cause upheavals. In other words, China is at the brink of a collapse of gigantic proportion. The biggest economic tragedy in history is about to happen to China. With such a scenario, should the Chinese revalue its Yuan to invite an immediate collapse? Its economy and political system are so fragile and so unsound. How could the mean westerners demand that it revalues its Yuan knowing that it is going to collapse soon? There is no need for China to revalue its Yuan. China will collapse in no time and it will turn into a house of cards. And all the problems of America and Europe will solve by itself. How's that for talking cock? As good as Paul Krugman and all the professional western experts, journalists and reporters huh!

The American Israeli Wayang

While the Israelis continue their pounding of the Palestinians in Gaza, the US pretends to be pricked by conscience and is looking displeased. And that is the best they would do to show the Arabs that they are their friends. And they let the Israelies to continue to kill the pariahs of human civilisation as if it is a natural thing to do. And when I flipped through the pages of the newspaper there was hardly a mention of the killing of the Arabs. Non event. There are more important news about how to bash China for causing the ills of the bankrupt America, and blaming China for it. In the meantime, the Palestinians can only look to Allah for help while the US looks the other way.

Another shark in the pond

Goldman Sach is now a full clearing member of SGX. Is it good news or bad news for the small investors? We have seen how the stock markets have been transformed into a casino without the stringent rules governing casinos. We have seen how the odds have changed into a vicious cycle where the big hedge funds have huge unfair advantages over the small investors. Now Goldman Sach is in our water. Would this shark gang up with all the other sharks to eat the small fishes or would it fight with the other sharks for a share of the pie? Would it make things worst for the small investors?

Motorists are also citizens

Motorists are also citizens and need protection from scams and robbery. Who is responsible to protect the interests of the motorists in the face of outrageous surge in motor insurance premiums at their detriment? No one is responsible? Or just because the silent motorists are not complaining so there is no issue and it is acceptable for the insurance companies to keep fleecing them? The No Claim Bonus is meant to be a reward for clean driving records and not making any claims against the insurers. This must be translated into lower premium, not higher. How on earth can the increases be more than the NCB when the motorists are not making any claims? Why should the motorists be made to pay more? Where is JUSTICE! Where can the little motorists find justice? More motor accidents, more claims, higher claims! Whose fault and who should be accountable for the higher insurance payouts? The motorists that did not make any claims? The sickening thing is that the insurers also knew that there is a big scam going on. And instead of tackling the problem at its source and make the culprits pay, the buck is passed to the motorists. And nobody cares, not anyone's business. Let the motorists continue to be fleeced. And if they are not complaining, it means that the premium is still affordable. And why not, the premium is determined by market forces, so must be right. What kind of principle are we following? Cost overrun also no problem. Just make sure the people can pay. Medical cost goes up, make sure the people have more money in their Medisave. QED. Problem solved. Are Singaporeans willing to live by such thinkings?

Thong Chai Charity

This Charity has followed the showbiz road to raise fund to support its charity work. It has been in existence since 1867, providing free medical treatment to anyone who goes there for help. Free medical treatment! What, what, what's that? In Singapore still got free medical treatment when medical and office space costs are so high! Is someone pulling a joke? Should they be raising their fees to keep up with inflation and rising wage cost? Indeed there are still a few of these dinosaurs that refused to keep up with time and still stupidly providing free medical treatment and medicine. They have taken the first step to the new world of commercialisation. I hope they don't go much further and start to privatise and become a profit making organisation. For more than 140 years, Thong Chai Charity exists quietly and doing its honourable job of providing free medicine to everyone who cannot afford the great names in modern medicine. And they don't mean test anyone. Just get your treatment and medicine, no question asks. Last night was the first time they came out to raise fund and many celebrities were moved to come forward for the cause. They included big names like Jackie Chan, Emil Chow, Mi Xue, Sky and many more from China, Taiwan, Hongkong and our local artistes. Prior to this event, the Charity survived on donations from many generous donors to keep it going. It is a worthy cause with noble and selfless doctors and staff doing their part to help the needies. The fund raising was successful. My only concern is that they don't get carried away by the generosities of the donors and make it an annual affair to raise funds for more ambitious schemes. Just raise fund when needed and not raise fund for the sake of raising fund to build a reserve for the next 100 years. The Charity has so far been doing a great and honorable job, and not distracted by the huge money that the medical profession can command. They have still not gotten to the idea of charging an arm or a leg to desperate people in need of help. We need such institutions to show what genuine compassion and charity mean.

Selling Your Singapore

With this new brand name called Your Singapore being brandished as a catchy tag, our representatives will soon be spreading out to the world to sell Singapore as a tourist destination. Let’s try to imagine how other people will react to this tag. First stop is likely to be China. I can imagine the Chinese asking, ‘How much?’ They would be keen to pay for it if it is for sale. It’s neighbour the Japanese would probably frown and say, ‘Can we have it back?’ It belonged to them for a while back then. Further to the East, the Americans would likely to give an approving nod and saying to themselves, ‘We had it in our pocket for so many years, didn’t you know that?’ As for the British, they would thank you for reminding them of their glorious past. They may regret for having giving it away to us on a silver platter. Our Indonesian neighbour may say don’t try to tempt us. Up north, they would not take it too kindly and give our representatives two black eyes for inviting them to ‘Your Singapore’. And hopefully the representatives would not be foolish enough to ask what was that for.

Your Singapore!

My first impression is distaste. How’s that for a logo to be viewed across the world, the message from Singapore? I don’t know how much they paid for this gimmick? When I started this blog, I had this little task of giving it a name. MySingaporeNews, or YourSingaporeNews were my initial choices. Both were quite meaningful. I wanted YourSingaporeNews for everyone to post their news here. MySingaporeNews also has the same meaning when ‘My’ means everyone who post their news here. I chose it as it is shorter by two alphabets. Your Singapore News has since been adopted by CNA and inviting forumers to contribute their news to the station. I have no quarrel with My Singapore or Your Singapore, as it is about Singapore and Singaporeans writing about Singapore. I feel rather offended by telling the world that Singapore is theirs, Your Singapore. Haven’t we have enough of foreigners here thinking that they also own Singapore? Haven’t we been selling every inch of our precious land to foreigners who came here to snub at the poor Singaporeans? And now we officially tell the foreigners that Singapore is their Singapore for the taking. Is it ours or no longer ours? Does Singapore belong to Singaporeans, for us to call Our Singapore, or to tell the foreigners, Your Singapore. All you need is money and you can buy it. Of course the promoters and advocates of this catchphrase meant different things. They are telling the foreigners that they can design their trips the way they want it, to see what they want to see. And definitely not to think that they can have Singapore as theirs, if they have the money. Your Singapore sure does not sound good to the already unhappy Singaporeans seeing their private space being invaded and taken away by foreigners. And for those who are chasing their little homes and cannot afford it, they will be more pissed off to hear this message. It is Our Singapore, not Theirs. Your Singapore can be demeaning to start from this angle. It is like an attempt to sell out. Telling Singaporeans that this is Your Singapore is different from telling foreigners this is Your Singapore. Just try telling the foreigners here that your home is their home.

Oh, what a beautiful name!

I have never heard of this expression for a long long time. The new reaction when a name is introduced is a kind of a blur. Uhh, what’s dat? Bikina. Oh, uhh, could you spell it out. Oh, cute. Never heard of that. Lee Wei Ling and Colin Goh both wrote about the trend in naming. And the raison de tre ranges from a colonial hangover, trendiness and being unique or cute, or for showbiz. It used to be trendy to be John or Michael, or Kevin or Edwin or Edwina. But they have become so common that everyone is a John Michael or Michael John that it is no longer fun anymore. The colonial hangover is fading away as the new generation grow up blind to that hideous and humiliating past. Yes, there was a time when being a little more angmoh meant one is of a different and better social class. It was much better to hear an angmoh shouting over his beer mug with a hi John than a hi, Ah Kow! Many illiterate parents were guilty of this demeaning act of naming their precious children as Ah Kow or Ah Ngeow or Ah Gu officially. Today we have another kind of apparition. I would not call it inanity. This affects the Chinese most with the presence of different dialects and words sounding quite different though written the same. Choo Keong, Chee Kong, Zhi Qiang, though similarly written to mean to be able to stand on one’s own or independently, could mean different things when spoken in different dialects. Chee is often made fun of in a negative sense in various combinations. Then you can have Sai Chwee or Sai Tang, or Kah Chui etc etc. The individuals are often caught in a not very amusing situation. The convenient way is to give one another name for a social setting. Some would change their names officially. Many names were given today for more innocuous intent. Some may have a chip on their shoulder to want names to mean certain things, from aspiration to aloofness. Whatever the case names will evolve just like our taste for things and trends. I briefly look at the names of a few cute babies in the Sunday Times this morning and they were called Afeef Shahid, Theeksha Shivani Suhanthan, Athrin Gan, Tan Yu Qi Jaslyn and the more mundane Gerrard Lim Wen Han. The latter is a combo of Hokien and Mandarin. I think Tan Yu Qi is also of the same mix but I am not too certain as Tan can be totally different in Mandarin. We will have varieties in names as we are Uniquely Singapore. What goes to a name has a good reason or many reasons, right reason or wrong reason, or simply just a name.

Motor Insurance Taskforce Recommendations

After one year of in depth study, the Motor Insurance Taskforce has come out with a series of recommendations to arrest the runaway cost of motor insurance. I am not sure whether it will make any difference, but definitely not going to affect those who have to pay for this protection money this year. Anyway I couldn't wait, and luckily did not bother to wait, and have found my own solution. Hmmm, saving about 50% shouldn't be bad. Now I need not bother with all the shit that is going around.

Quality education doesn't come cheap

The quality of university education in Singapore has just gone up by 4% to 10%. The three state universities have just increased their fees by that amount for the Singaporean students in the next intake. If the quality goes up annually by 10% or bi annually, soon the quality will increase by 100%. I think a monkey could even become a Einstein at that rate of improvement. Singaporean students got one more thing to celebrate other than better quality education. They can feel comforted that their fees are subsidised to a tune of 50% or more compare to foreign students. I am not sure how to put it, a discount or a subsidy against market rate? One thing for sure, they are affordable. For you would not expect anyone demonstrating at the increase but grateful parents and students for the quality education that they are getting.

Temasek into technology companies

Below article is copied from Business.scotsman.com by Terry Murden Dotcoms set to bounce back out of the bubble ON THE tenth anniversary of the dotcom bubble bursting comes news from the East of a new appetite for technology. Temasek, the Singapore state investor, has a massive war chest ready to be plundered for a buying spree. Temasek is among a number of institutional investors now ready to splash the cash after turning bullish on a sector that has seen a lot of blood on the walls in recent years but is now undergoing a revaluation. Shares in some technology firms, including Intel, are now hitting record highs, and Temasek has not been slow in buying shares in blue chip companies such as Yahoo and Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry mobile device. It is now said to be looking to buy private firms which a view to listing them.... Other investors share Temasek's views. Henderson Global Investors and Franklin Templeton have turned positive on the sector with Henderson particularly bullish on e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com, and online advertising through Google and Baidu. It also likes online entertainment. It is a cross-section of contemporary technology businesses which differ from the old model by having sound fundamentals and real growth prospects. ------- I was worried when I first read the article. Then when I came to the para that said other investors share Temasek's views, including Global Investors and Franklin Templeton, I am now terribly frighten.

Another mad fortune teller

This mad fortune teller knew for sure that Kim Jong Il will not live past 2013. Actually he is better than a fortune teller, a doctor and god combined. It is reported in the ST, in an article by Associated Press and REUTER, that he has medical reports to prove his clairvoyance. And the mad fortune teller came by the name of Kurt Campbell. And he has a title called Assistant US Secretary of State. Actually the mad fortune tellers have been predicting Kim's death so frequently that it is next in numbers to those who predicted the end of the world since the time of Jesus.

The arrogance of power

The American senators wanted to punish China for not revaluing its Yuan. What rubbish! They wanted the Yuan to float so that they can manipulate it to their advantage. And they have roped in the World Bank and the IMF to sing their song. How atrocious can they be? The world's greatest manipulator of currency complaining about China who refused to let its currency to be manipulated as the manipulator. At least the UN, through UNCTAD, could see through the flawed and mischievious American argument and is calling on China not to float its Yuan. The peg on the Yuan has ensured stability in the financial world to facilitate growth by the developing countries. Floating the Yuan will allow the Americans to continue in their mischievious role in money speculation, price confusion and trade distortion which led to the global economic crisis. And there was this article in mypaper by another mad man called James Rickards. He claimed that 'it is the greatest bubble in history with the most massive misallocation of wealth.' And he was pointing his finger at China and Russia. Didn't he realised that the biggest bubble in history has just burst, in America? The greatest bubble had popped and he failed to see it and is blaming everyone for it. The greatest and massive misallocation of wealth is in America, where money were made in the billions, or robbed, by the most unproductive people in the finance industry. They did not produce any goods except pieces of papers which they sold to the world as worthless collaterals. The world shall stand by and watch the greatest failure of the 21st Century. Will it be America or China? And if the guru of liberal economics goes down the drain, the ardent followers and unthinking students will go down together.