SDP going for the kill

Chee Soon Juan and his supporters were at Bukit Panjang talking to the wet market stallholders on the recent rental hike. He has a cause to champion and at the moment it seems that the SDP is the first political party that is seizing on this opportunity to win more supporters. Not only will they be getting the votes from the disgruntled stallholders, the aunties who are clamouring to have their rights to wet markets will go along as well. An issue like this will be another feather in the SDP's cap. They went in to answer a call when others are staying clear. Let's see if SDP could reap any rewards from this issue. If the wet market stallholders feel that when help is needed and no one came except SDP, it could make a difference.

Stupid and mindless Singaporeans at it again

Singaporeans, sad to say, are unable to create their own identity. They only imitate, anything, from anywhere, good or bad. The Ang Mohs like to go pubbing, so Singaporeans go pubbing. The Ang Mohs like sarong party girls, so our girls all want to be sarong party girls. I must say going to pubs is any time better than going to bars. But wait till the Ang Mohs find out what's inside the new and revamped bars and the China Mei Meis in them. Ionescu has found out. Just wait, when the Ang Mohs flocked to these new bars, Singaporeans will all be rushing madly to these bars as well. Then we can say good bye to Mohammed Sultan, Club Street and Holland V. Today, the mindless Singaporeans have caught up with a new trend. They are now sitting in any empty spaces available on the streets, under MRT tracks, to have a drink, and party, just like the foreign workers. 40 or 50 years ago, the poor Singaporeans used to do that, for they cannot afford to pay to sit inside kopitiams. Neither were there nice aircon places that sell expensive but nice food and drinks and be served by waiters and waitresses. They made do along five foot ways, back lanes and besides longkangs or under any trees. So our young now think sitting on the streets, along pavements are cool. Hey, those are what the poor foreign workers are doing, for free. The smarter ones have already parked themselves in the casino. Ok, I know, casino is a no go for Singaporeans. Have to pay to enter. Oh, I forgot, the foreigners are to replace the locals from their places of comfort, and the locals will replace the foreigners, this time on road sides and street pavements. Now that is cool.

Horror story of the week!

This must be the horror story that sends shivers down the spine of Singaporeans. Chiam See Tong and Kenneth Jeyaratnam were seen together in a walkabout in the Bishan Toa Payoh GRC over the weekend. And speculation is that an alliance between the two is in the works with Chaim leaving his Potong Pasir ward to team up with Kenneth in a GRC. This, in a way is good news for the opposition parties. A new urgency to close rank and fight together, providing a stronger team instead of scattering their limited resources. What is so frightening about this news? Bishan Toa Payoh GRC is where Hsien Loong is standing. (Ooops, my mistake, AMK GRC is where Hsien Loong is) Chiam and Kenneth may take the battle to the Hsien Loong's backyard. And if sway sway they won, yes, if they won, you can imagine what will happen? Hsien Loong will no longer be the PM, plus his team of Singapore's best talents. Wait a minute, can the constitution be amended to co opt a PM that lost an election? Still a possibility if the PAP retains 2/3 majority in Parliament. That may save the day. But if sway sway again, no 2/3 majority, then we will lose the leadership of Hsien Loong. This is unthinkable. This is the real horror story that Singaporeans may have to face. Frightening enough or not?

A strange phenomenon in paradise

Singaporeans are increasingly looking to moving out of paradise for one reason or another. On the other hand foreigners are rushing in to fill up the places vacated by them. This musical chair is also evident in many areas, with foreigners taking over the places of Singaporeans. We have jobs, from the low skilled jobs that Singaporeans did not want to the middle level jobs where foreigners are cheaper and to the top end CEOs when foreigners are deemed smarter or more experienced or more qualified. Then what is left for Singaporeans? We built high end homes to sell to rich foreigners and Singaporeans downgrade and look for cheaper homes elsewhere. From the city to new towns and then to neighbouring countries. We built world class hospitals to service foreigners and encouraged price conscious Singaporeans to go JB and other parts of Malaysia for cheaper treatments. We built schools and universities with Singaporeans complaining that they are increasingly being squeezed out by foreigners for places. We built golf courses that rich foreigners could play and Singaporeans ended playing in Malaysia or nearby Indonesian islands. And the latest, we built casinos and foreigners can go in for free while Singaporeans have to pay or go to Genting Highland for free. And Singaporeans were given the message that if they don’t buck up, they will be replaced by foreigners. Housing agents, insurance agents, foreign student agents, in fact all agencies, Singaporeans are fighting tooth and nail with foreigners for a piece of the action. Is there anything that is exclusive for Singaporeans? Yes, National Service.

Sheng Siong has done a national service

The many outcries against Sheng Siong may be misplaced. Look at the bright side, Sheng Siong could be doing a good national service by helping to phase out the wet markets. Why go to wet markets when you can shop at nice, clean and aircon supermarkets? It is an outdated way of life. We must progress. No need to wipe hands and holding wet money notes. And the stallholders there are, hmmm, how to say it, anyway, cannot compare with the uniformed ones in the big supermarkets. And big supermarkets can buy in bulk and sell cheaper also. They have the muscles, the financial muscles to weed out the inefficiency of small stallholders. And the quality of life will be better. No more wet and smelly markets. And wearing pyjamas to market, an eyesore, will be a thing of the past. Who dares wear pyjamas to supermarkets? Look at the bright side. The stallholders can apply for work in the casinos or food courts. Plenty of jobs around.

The end game is Zero

We may be a multi culture and multi religion country, but the influence of Buddhism is widely felt and even practised as a way of life. Or at least one aspect of Buddhism is gaining prevalence without anyone realising it. Buddhism believes in emptiness. In the end all material things do not matter. We come naked and should go naked or empty handed. This is now a national philosophy. Many years ago we started this great saving scheme called CPF and the workers and employers contributed as much as 50% of an employee's income to the scheme. It was so successful that the Govt even switched its pension scheme to this scheme. The people were happy. They have enough in the CPF to buy their homes and then a handsome sum for retirement. The status quo lasted till probably the late 1970s or early 1980s when the savings in the CPF grew to such a size that it became very tempting to everyone. The CPF members not only smiled when the monthly statement arrived. They were rich with the amount of money in their accounts. And I am talking about the average workers, not ministers. As they said, the rest is history. Today, only a few lucky ones would have some decent money left in their CPF on retirement or to be passed down to their children. Every cent has been computed by all the interested parties to have a slice of it and leaving the owner practically just enough to meet his last rites. Some may say, but they still got a flat. Yes they do. But this is also computed that by the time they retire, they will have to trade it for some money to live on. And if they use reverse mortgages, that will be the perfect scheme in the game of zero. At the end no flat and no money. For those who have some money to live on and not having to trade in their flats, the flats also will one day become zero in value. I don't think this philosophy is Confucianist. It is fundamentally Buddhist in nature. The Game of Zero has been perfected. Come with nothing, leave with nothing. One qualification, it applies to the average Singaporeans only. PRs, foreigners and the rich are not part of this game.

Bloggers unite

Blog this shit: Open source information scares the pants of governments April 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment “If you bloggers self-organize and attach yourselves like leeches to specific issues, corporations, organizations, challenges, you will be the intelligence minutemen of this century. The power is in your hands. There aren’t enough guns to kill us all, and Haliburton can’t build the jails fast enough to keep us down.” I copied the above from Temasek Hedge. This is a video clip of a speech by Robert D Steele, a former intelligence officer, who said a lot of things that needed to be said. Other than the power of the internet, blogging and the role of bloggers, he talked about how govts treat its people as commodities, how govt benefitted from sponging the people's money, how America is committing war crimes and profitting from war, how central banks needed to be closed, how bankrupt America is today and awaiting to break up, and how you and me and every blogger can contribute to a better world. I strongly recommend everyone to listen intently to this video clip posted in Temasek Hedge.

Too much effort to write about rising cost of living

University fees increased, electricity increased, sigh, fee increases are no longer exciting news. It is happening almost daily so I am feeling tired of writing about them. Even rental of market stalls can shoot up for no good reason except a change of owners. HDB flat selling at $650k not high enough. Now Bishan EM selling at $900k with $170k COV. What else is going to go up? Salary, yes salary must go up or else who can afford to buy those multi milllion dollar properties. As for worker's salary, tkk. Worker's salary got to be kept competitive, not low, or else all the jobs will go away. Prices of cars were the highest in the world and are jumping higher. No country can ever dream of beating us in this.

Prices of resale HDB flats are stabilising

They have solved the problem of high prices. The resale price increase is getting smaller. COV increased from $12k to $24k in the previous quarter. The last quarter the increase was only $1k, at $25k. Good, more people now can afford to buy resale flats. Just prepare to fork out $25k first. And they are going to build another 12k flats this year and maybe more. So problem solved. Or is it? These flats will only be ready in 3 years time. In the meantime where are these people going to stay? And there are still several hundred thousand new citizens and new arrivals coming in daily. How are they going to add to the demand? How many out there are still waiting to buy their first flat and cannot afford to? And with this kind of indecent prices, is it supposed to be good? Have we reach a satisfactory equilibrium? But no need to bother now. Problem already gone. Everyone happy already. Job well done. BTO is the way to go.

A sickly feeling

We paid $350m to $400m to watch English football. And this amount is about 13% of the takings of EPL. Got it? This little piece of rock with a population of less than 4 millions financing the EPL to the tune of 13%! And Hongkong with a larger population, thus more viewership,0 paid less for the rights. Let's try to do the arithmetics. 10% of 4m is 400,000 people. If 10% of the population watch EPL, it comes to $1000 per head. If 1% watches, it will go up to $10,000 per head. Quite a sum for a past time really. Another way of looking at it, 4m people paid $400m while the rest of the world, 6b people, paid $2.6b or less than 50c each. If we take 50% of the rest of the world, it is still less than $1 each. With that kind of money, we can be a major shareholder of EPL.

Bharti Chief thanks SingTel

Bharti Chief thanks partners after signing Zain Africa deal On 03.31.10, In Mobile, By Editor . www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the consummation of the US$10.7 billion deal with Zain Africa, Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal extended his gratitude to its partner Sing Tel for providing its much needed support. As a co-promoter, SingTel holds 31 per cent stake in India-listed Bharti Airtel and therefore its support is critical to any major M&A deal by the company. According to Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Mittal who signed the deal in Amsterdam, the extremely tight time lines and the enormity of the task posed a real challenge. Bharti was able to achieve this important milestone through much hard work and support from SingTel and the external advisors. SingTel owns 31% of Bharti Airtel, can I assume it pumped in $3.2b or there about? I hope the thank you means we will bring in the profit and not a one way thing. Thanks for the contribution.

The price of over staying

Has the Thai King overstayed and creating a potentially dangerous political crisis in Thailand? Till now, he is still the most respected institution in Thailand, holding all the factional parties together. The military pledged loyalty to him, the politicians too, and the Thais obeyed his every words. What if he comes to pass? The prince and princesses will have to carve out a new mandate and relationship with all the factional parties all over again. And looking at the fragile make up of Thai politics today, it is going to be a very difficult task ahead, and chaos is the most certainty. The politicians and military will break apart as there is no dominant and accepted power to pledge loyalty to. This is how precarious Thailand has become today. What if the King has abdicated his throne a few years back and allow another King or Queen to assume the role of head of state while he retires and spend time playing with his grandchildren or romancing his kingdom while he still can? Given the few years, the new King or Queen would have worked out their own relationships with the people and political and military forces to be able to stand on their own. And when the time comes, the passing of the King would be just another day for mourning a monarch and nothing else. The failure to depart from the scene early enough is as good as planning for disaster to happen. Maybe he feels that he is indispensable and the country cannot hold together without him. Then it can only be worst when he is not around. If the incumbent King cannot hold his own fort and needs him to back him up, he is truly unfit and will definitely be dethroned when he is not around. That is an ugly fact and truth that will happen. Thailand is ready for a new chapter in history.

Punching above our weight

We punch above our weight in the international arena. We speak louder and carry more weight than countries of bigger sizes. Now we are faced with a third rate European country called Romania whose Charge Affair knocked down and killed a pedestrain and hurting a couple of others and ran away. Can we bring justice to the culprit? The culprit has been found guilty. But he had feigned illness and hiding in his home country and questioning our legal justice system, even claiming that he is being framed. And the Ambassador is resorting to telling us how difficult it is to bring him here. And he is covered by diplomatic immunity. In short, there is nothing we can do about it.b Diplomats are above the law! Let's see if we can punch above our weight and bring this rogue to pay for his misdeeds. How about breaking diplomatic relations with Romania? We don't really need them. Send them home packing.

Soaring demands, prices hitting new highs

These are the headlines in today's paper. The new HDB launches in Sengkang and Sembawang are greeted by soaring demands. Private properties are hitting new highs in prices. What do these news meant? Demands exceeding supply? We have seen HDB launching BTOs after BTOs in the last couple of months. How can there be unceasing demands? Someone is bluffing right? These demands are fictitious. And the high prices must also be fictitious. I don't believe demands for housing is so high. Not true, cannot be, they may apply but will turn down when offered the flats. These flat applicants are just fooling around. Don't take them seriously. We have BTOs, DBSS and Exec Condominiums? Better don't build Exec Condominiums. Force these people to buy private properties to boost up their prices. Make them pay for it. They are professionals right, got a lot of money right? High pay right?

Najib calling Malaysians to return home

Najib is putting his neck on the chopping block by calling for a change in govt policies, from favouring Malays to helping the poor. It is a fundamental shift to give a kick start to the stalled Malaysian economy but at the same time compromising on the position of Malay supremacy. This line of policy could undermine his position as the PM when the ultras make their war cry. And with Mahathir showing his true blue ultraism, Najib will come under strong pressure and may be ousted from power. So what now? Even if Najib is genuine, how long could he last? One term, half term or two terms? What next when another ultra takes over the premiership? The problem with Malaysia is the inconsistency of govt positions and the tendency to revert to extreme racist policies. Whatever Najib or any new PM may want to steer the country towards a fairer and more progressive system, there is a stronger underlying current that will threaten to derail it. Would any successful professional Malaysians take the bait and return home to rebuild a new Malaysia? I think this is far fetched. Malaysians, what are your views?

How many directorships can a man handle?

This issue was discussed at SMU. JY Pillay said not more than 5 are ‘humanly possible’. I like the word humanly and the inverted commas used by the ST. I am sure there must be a distinction between humans and inhumans. Lee Suet Fern also shared Pillay’s views and added that it was ‘physically very difficult to do so many directorships because the time demands are all bunched at the same time.’ Of course she is very clear on this, she is referring only to humans and not inhumans. The Chairman of Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), John Lim, felt that ‘it should be left to the individual directors and boards to assess the matter’, and an arbitrary number should not be imposed. I am wondering if the individual directors or boards’ decision on the number of directorships is considered arbitrary or objective? Teo Soon Hoe, senior ED and group finance director of Keppel Corp, agreed with John Lim. A limiting number is unnecessary, ‘it is an individual director’s responsibility to ensure that if he sits on any board, he has time for it’. Hmmm, I think I fully agreed with the latter two. Why have regulations and arbitrary numbers to say someone is unfit to do the impossible? Everyone is different and some have inhuman abilities that humans will not understand nor comprehend. And Teo reinforced his position by stressing that it was so difficult to find good directors in this land of no talents. This I agree also. The experienced directors are so hard to come by and are precious resources to be treasured. It was reported that Lee Suet Fern had observed that ‘self regulation has not worked because there are a good number of very egregious instances where people are taking on too many directorships. It is bad for us and bad for the investing public. I accept that all guidelines are arbitrary…but sometimes it’s better to have it than have a free for all and a wild, wild East’. Again Suet Fern is talking about people, the humans, and that makes perfect sense. But if we can find inhumans that are upright and uncompromising, they will be able to act independently always, and 10 or 20 directorships would be chicken feat. Let them decide for themselves arbitrarily. Oops, no I mean independently, with their good judgement. My conclusion, we must know what we are referring to. In the case of humans and humanly possible, Pillay and Suet Fern are right. In the case of inhuman abilities and integrities, John Lim and Teo Soon Hoe are right. I rest my case.

Why are Asian media carrying so many anti China and North Korean news?

It is understandable for western media and journalists to write and post articles that paint a very negative picture of Asian countries that are not in their favour. They did it with a known agenda, to influence the readers and manipulate their thoughts. It is a conscious effort and they are probably paid for it. Some may have an axe to grind, some because of their own prejudices, some of their own ignorance, and many just for the money or for god. T Now, what have Asian media got to do with such mischievious and one sided propaganda? What have they got to gain other than making the countries they reported on angry or even hostile to them? Are they also being paid? If yes, ok. If not, aren't they being foolish, doing someone's dirty work, knowingly or unknowingly? Do they have an axe to grind against China or North Korea? Is there a need to be a pawn in a big power game?

A Singaporean is a Singaporean

Singaporeans should start to call themselves Singaporeans and not Chinese, Malay, Indian or Others. What's wrong with calling yourself what you really are? It may be an artificial construct, but given time, it will sink in and will be accepted by the rest of the world. And Europeans call themselves Americans, the Africans call themselves Americans, the Asians call themselves Americans. And American is a well regarded nationality that they are so proud off. They would not call themselves European Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, but simply Americans. It is time every Singaporean starts to call himself/herself 'I am a Singaporean'. The only drawback is that Singaporeans are so bashful and spineless that they may be smacked by foreigners if the foreigners know that they Singaporeans. It can be quite shameful to be smacked by foreigners in your own country. But that is the price to be paid to be Singaporeans. And that is the price to be paid for not being proud of your own nationality. Any foreigner dares try to smack an American in America or an Arab in his own country, or a Malaysian in Malaysia? No way. Only in a country when the citizens have a mindset that they are inferior, would they allow foreigners to slap them left and right and feel so proud about it. And they need to respect foreigners and respect their cultures too. A Singaporean is a Singaporean, albeit a shameless one.

Must read for the heartless who acted like having a big heart

From temasek review: 28 year old Singapore teacher burdened by hefty mortgage loan for HDB flat before marriage March 24, 2010 by admin Dear TR, Thanks for publishing the article by Ms Judy Eng. (read article here) It really strikes a chord in my heart as I am in the same situation as her too. I am 28 this year now working as a teacher in a secondary school. My fiancee just found a job in a GLC as an engineer after six months of looking for one. The pay isn’t fantastic as there is an abundance of foreign engineers in Singapore. He considered himself lucky to finally secure a full-time job after months of being on contract. We are planning to get married in July and just bought a 4-room resale flat at Sin Ming. Guess how much it costs? You won’t believe it, we bought it at almost $500,000. No kidding, it’s true! All the flats in the vicinity cost above $500K. After paying about $30,000 in COV partially paid for by our parents, we do not have a single cent left for our wedding which we will have a simple afternoon tea buffet at our church instead of the traditional 8-course Chinese dinner. I am really worried about our future. We earn barely $5,000 together and the mortgage loan already took up 30 percent of our income. We still have to cough out some cash after using up the entire CPFs. The moment I think of this, I lost all the mood already. People used to say that marriage is the happiest moment in a girl’s life, but I am not looking forward to it. I feel very heavy, like a burden placeed on my chest, sometimes choking me, it is so suffocating. Can we buy a new flat? I do not wish to wait for another 3 to 4 years, anything can happen to our relationship during this period of time. It is a risk I cannot afford to take. My hubby-to-be is burnt out everyday from work – OT, OT and OT and he is not paid for it. For me, my weekends are either burnt in school CCAs or marking the homeworks of my students. We hardly meet each other at all, sometimes just enough time to have a meal or catch a movie. Somehow I feel apprehensive startinig life together with another person, am I ready for it? I don’t think we can start a family, at least for the next three years or so. How to have children when we are not financially stable? I will pay the loan mostly on my own as my hubby still have to pay for his student loan and car loan. I have only a few thousand dollars in my savings now and I wonder how long they can last me. What happens when there is an emergency? Or if we are retrenched? I dread to think of the worst…but women being women, they always think alot. Every month, my pay gets used up almost immediately after it’s deposited into my POSB account – living expenses, allowances for parents, and now with housing loan, I really don’t know how far we can continue like this. Did we do our Maths before we make the purchase? Yes, but what can we do, the flats are expensive everywhere and we want to stay near our parents. Even 4-room flats in Jurong are calling above $400,000 nowadays! The prices are really going crazy, the agents told us that they will only go up in the future as the govt will never allow them to come down. Sorry for the ramblings. There are so many things on my mind now, I can’t think or type clearly…..Thanks for providing me an outlet to vent my frustrations, who can understand what we are going through? Sigh, maybe I am one of those few unlucky souls. Please edit and publish this rant of mine as you see fit. Thanks again for listening. Melissa Quek This is what we are doing to our young. All mercy, compassion and caring. Really? I see it more as being ruthless, uncaring and simply irresponsible.And this type of letters will not change the govt's policy on housing. They will see it as pressurising them to act and they would not be seen to be pressured to do anything. Redbean

Almost Singaporean

I am very proud of 3 year old Prateek Garg. The son of a PR, he feels every inch a Singaporean. He gave a smack to a Singaporean boy for calling him otherwise. He only sees himself as a Singaporean and felt offended. "'I'm Singaporean!' bawled the child, whose favourite food is chicken rice." I am also glad that ST printed this heart warming news with pride. And the stupid Singaporean boy deserved to be smacked for not knowing his place. Singapore should welcome more PRs who are prouder than Singaporeans. Never mind if they do not want to take up citizenship. And of course some of them may feel that the new policies of giving more privileges to Singapore a bit unfair to them. This is understandable. And if they want to move on to greener pasture, it will be a waste of talent and Singapore will be much poorer without their contribution. Singaporeans better be nicer to PRs. Please don't smack me, I am just a Singaporean.