A sad accident

Foreign student fainted and fell into the MRT tracks and both her legs were run over by the train. She has been here only a few weeks and wanted to learn English. Now she is going to live her life without her legs. Some are angry why there are no dividing screens to prevent people falling into the tracks. I ask, why can’t the trains slow down as they approach the station to a more reasonable speed to allow the driver to slam on his brakes in an emergency? Why didn’t the driver stop in time? I have seen many crazy drivers coming to a screeching halt at traffic junctions even when they knew that the lights are red from a distance. Is it such a big hustle to slow down the trains? If they can go down to a speed enough for emergency brakes, you don’t even need the expensive dividing screens. Oh ya, the whole system will slow down and people will kpkb. As I have suggested, the trains can go on a higher speed in between stations to catch up for lost time. Ok, I am ignorant of how the train operates. Maybe it cannot be done and need a $6 billion system to improve it. It may be difficult to stop in time when someone intends on suicide and time it at such that the train is near enough before taking the plunge. In normal accidents, there could be some time interval to see the impending accident. Anyway, the best solution is to stop operating the trains. _________________

Only 20% wants to emigrate

A survey by the Institute of Policy Studies found that only 1 in 5 of the Gen Y wants to emigrate from their home country, called Singapore. Only 20%, why so little? My God, if 20% of China or India’s population would want to emigrate, that would be more than 200m from each country. And won’t it be surprising that a world class country has so many of its future leaders wanting to quit? The biggest communist country and the biggest third world democracy may not have so many citizens wanting to quit. How’s that for comparison? And one of the reasons quoted for living is stifling? Mentally or physically? Wait till we have 6m or 10m population then we will know what stifling means. But by then the state would have convinced the people that stifling is progress and the only way for growth. And the people will get use to it and probably adjust their waistline to be trimmer, so that there will be more space when travelling in public transport. Don’t worry, 20% only, too little. If one member in every household wants to emigrate and they said only, it cannot be serious lah.

A little reflection

After the initial shake out, with defections, break aways and a big doubt on where the opposition was heading, I thought the next GE will be more of the same. The bunch of opposition parties will just strangle themselves and their chances to be elected. How not when they could not even keep their own houses in order and show that the only thing they could do well was quibbling over their little differences when they could not even think of winning more than two seats? For those who are hoping for change and a brighter future, it was depressing to say the least, and bleak. Since the initial hiccups, two changes have taken place. First, the PAP’s announcement of new candidates is rubbing the people the wrong way. They thought they could throw anything they want at the people and all will be accepted, as there were no better choices from the opposition camp. Newly minted citizens to replace and rule over Singaporeans at a time when the pain of having too many foreigners here just did not go down well to the true blue Singaporeans. And to train bright and chirpy newbies at public expenses, it is no longer cheap to pay for an MP today, is also not well received. The next big development is the coming forward of better and better candidates from the opposition camp. After so many years of longing for better candidates from the opposition, this dream is coming true. We are seeing many good candidates, some excellent, standing up to be counted. This is an opportunity that the people have been waiting for and they better not waste this chance to do what is necessary for the good of their children and the future of Singapore. Squandering this chance will send the wrong message to more good people volunteering to serve the people and country. These are brave and able men, coming forward willingly, not waiting for an invitation. The people need to return the favour and tell these men and women that they are most welcomed. And hopefully, several more will step forward at nomination day. These will be the things that will cheer up the disillusioned and helpless Singaporeans, to have an alternative instead of more of no other choices. I am feeling a little better now, and in higher spirit looking at the forces that have been lined up. The opposition may not defeat the ruling party in this GE. But it looks good that several GRCs and SMCs will be there for the taking. And we shall have a more balance Parliament with more balanced views for the good of the people.

It was April Fool!

I know the GE is around the corner and everyone is getting quite uptight. But when a good April Fool joke is started, can’t the people just take it as it is, and have a little laughter? Pei Ling traumatised and was counselled by Dr Fatimah. Nice one. Who says PAP politicians are all deadpan and can’t joke? And Chok Tong is good at surprising people with his jokes, and on April Fool Day is quite an appropriate timing to put people at ease. Unfortunately no one is in the mood for jokes. No one remembers April Fool anymore. Must be the inflation or the housing prices, or the foreign worker bugging them. Chok Tong getting his dementia, or should he use his dementia joke as an excuse to get out of this since people are not appreciative of him? This is likely to be the last joke before things get serious and all the knives are out as the GE approaches. Enjoy it while it lasts.

The Great Singapore Debate that wasn’t

Touted as a must watch political show on earth, oops, I mean in Sin. The PAP sent in its best speaker of Parliament, the opposition sent in, supposedly their best. Ok, a mismatch as far as class and oratorical skills, and ability to deal with the issues were concerned. But the whole show was a disappointment. It was a show about time keeping. Yes Sir, your turn now. Sorry Sir, time out. Next, you there. Sorry you got only 30 sec. OK, next one. Quick, quick, oops, your time running out. Dong! Was it a debate? What was more important, the issues in discussion or keeping time? Oops, sorry, I got to go now. No time to write some more. See you next time. Bye.

Who is calling the shot in the stock market industry?

SGX is still fighting tooth and nail to get married to ASX. It has offered the highest dowry it could pay and may even have to go on its knees to ask for the hands of the bride. According to some financial analyst, this marriage is like a life and death situation. Without the copulation, there would not be any future down the road. Both parties, on its own, without being hooked together, will be left on the lurch. The stock market industry has changed. The big funds are now calling the shot and dictating how the stock markets should operate. Big funds will eat into the market share of officially corporatized stock markets around the world by playing foul. No, not really. They just hook their super computers into the stock market system to take advantage of their high speed and technology to clean up the small players, with approval from the stock exchanges. This is now legal. Stock markets now do not have to ensure a level playing field. For if they do so, the big funds will not want to play ball with them. They are now held at ransom by the big funds and have to take orders from the big funds. And the big funds simply say, I want to take advantage of the system with my technology. To hell with the small traders. It is us or them. The next great fear is Dark Pools. The Dark Pool operators make transactions in the dark, unknown to the rest of the investors. They could also trade outside the stock market system. The need for transparency to ensure that all traders are privy to the same information, and level playing field, no longer apply to the Dark Pool operators. As long as the stock exchanges know, or the Dark Pools informed the stock exchanges, that is good enough. The rest of the traders need not know who buys what and in what volume. The same reasons go. The Dark Pools are going to eat up the market shares of existing legal stock exchanges and the stock exchanges cannot do anything about it. The stock exchanges must compete under the same rules and operating styles of the big funds and Dark Pool operators, or else they will go the way of the Dodo bird. The govt controlled stock exchanges around the world are threatened by the big funds and their big machines and the Dark Pools. You have to believe this logic. It is the new testament, the new commandments. The rogues are telling the govt constituted stock exchanges how the game should be played, under their terms and conditions! In the name of fair play, transparency, level playing field, could not the govt make such unfair practices illegal? Why are the govts across the world not stopping such nonsense from going on? The big funds and Dark Pools are cheating and robbing the investors with unfair advantages and practices. Is there such thing as right or wrong today? Is there such thing as legal or illegal? When the rogues and gangsters run the show, where will it lead to? You may wonder why the big funds and Dark Pool operators did not go to the casino to do the same thing. The answer is obvious. The losers will be the casino operators. In the case of stock exchanges, the losers will not be the exchange but the disadvantaged investors.

The Cow

There are two cows and a chicken in this photo painting.

The best Tea Party Assessment System

The best interviewers and touted the best and most stringent assessment system since the Imperial Examination of the Chinese Dynasties, and 260 candidates later, and what did you get. Many were good and some were excellent. But some were questionable or contentious. I would tend to believe that of the 260 men and women, they must be the finest in the country. And the final 20 must be the crème ala crème. Instead of the oohs and aahs, there were immediate controversies the moment their candidacies were announced, which must be telling. It is like announcing the best football team, Pele, Banks, Beckenbaur, Rivelino, Cryuff, Maradona, Pavarotti, oops, what’s that? When the best are not accepted as the best, when there are so many disagreements and doubts and objections about the wisdom in the choices, it must say something. But never mind, betterer to be deaf frogs and scale the mountain. The top brasses from the military, the civil service and the stats boards came through smoothly without ruffling any feathers. What irks the people must be the readiness to embrace new citizens as our political leaders. The controversy of having so many foreigners among us is still a troubling issue, and this trend of new citizens of a few years to lead the country, to rule the people seems to have gone down quite badly. And given the new challenges of a modern economy when the demands of political leaders are much more daunting, to quote Chok Tong, only the best will do. Then came a 27 year old, to many still a child, to learn the rope, and the training fee is nearly $15k a month or more when the perks are included, paid by the people, the noise is quite expected. In the older days when life was simpler, when govt was simpler, chee cheong fan seller, barbers and people from all walks of life were easily accepted as MPs. After all, the voters were just as uneducated and ignorant as the candidates and the one eye Jack shines. Today, the ball game has changed. Many of the adult population are professionals in their own rights, well educated and thinking. Now we have the top brasses and top civil servants, all experienced and holding command positions as candidates and in the mix, what is being added, some ikan bilis? The concoction just does not seem right. Govt is a serious matter and not masak masak. The part time pay for an MP is huge in all measurements and only the best must be deemed worthy to be paid that kind of money from the public coffer. Don’t get me wrong, everyone coming through the stringent tea party interviews must be the best the ruling party can find. But the electorate will have their own views of what is good and what is doubtful. Say that there is a difference of opinion.

I don't buy that

Would I accept someone who becomes a citizen overnight and say he is going to stand for election, to look after my country and look after the citizens, including me? Nah, I don't buy that. This is my country, the place that I grow up and grow attach to. I know and feel for the country and the people more than any Ginny come lately who becomes a new citizen to want to represent me and look after me. I dunno about how the rest of the Singaporeans feel. For me, a new citizen is just not ready, not proven to be a stayer, through thick and thin. It takes years, maybe a life time to feel and become part of a place called country and home. It is cheap to say 'This is my country and this is my home' just because someone is here for two months or two years. This is my country and this is my home goes deeper than something one says as a pledge. There are emotions involved, sentiments involved, a whole process of growing up and being here, with many people and friends that we have built relationships with over a life time. And to miss this place, the cup of kopi O, or the nasi padang or char kway teow, when one is away for too long, the familiar faces and places that we missed and a longing for, an emotional attachment. When someone who is born and grow up here and affectionately say, 'This is my country, this is my home,' it is different.

Chen Show Mao

Did PAP goof on this one? PAP has cast its new wide and very wide, both in the country and outside the country, I believe. And now I am presented with this impressive CV of Chen Show Mao. 'Mr Chen graduated in 1986 from Harvard College and in 1988 from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. In 1992 he received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and in 2005 received his M.A. from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University. Mr Chen has extensive experience in international securities offerings and M&A transactions. He advised the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on its recent $21 billion initial public offering, which is the largest IPO ever, and the first global offering that involved a concurrent listing in China. He also advised ICBC on the $3.8 billion strategic investment in the bank by a consortium comprising Goldman Sachs, American Express and Allianz, which is the largest-ever investment in a Chinese financial institution. He advised China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) on its proposed $19 billion acquisition of Unocal, which is the largest-ever attempted takeover by a Chinese company. He completed the global initial public offerings of Air China, China Construction Bank, Sinopec, China Unicom, Chalco, Baidu.com and others, as well as offerings of sovereign debt by the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China. Mr Chen has worked on a broad range of securities offerings and M&A transactions by Taiwan companies, including Acer, ASE, ASUS, AU Optronics, China Steel, Chinatrust Bank, Far EasTone, HTC, Hon Hai Precision, Inotera, Nanya Technology, Quanta Computer, Taishin Bank, TSMC, UMC and others. He also advised the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the ROC, the Development Fund of the Executive Yuan of the ROC and the Taiwan Stock Exchange on securities law matters. Mr. Chen is a partner in Davis Polk’s Corporate Department and managing partner of the Beijing office. He has practiced in the New York office since 1992, the Hong Kong office since 1999 and the Beijing office since 2007. In capital markets, Mr Chen advised the Agricultural Bank of China on its recent $22 billion IPO, which is the largest by an Asian issuer, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on its $21 billion IPO, which is the second-largest IPO ever, and the first global offering that involved a concurrent listing in China. He also advised Sinochem on the largest-ever international debt offering by a Chinese company and the underwriters for China Unicom in the largest-ever international convertible bond offering by a Chinese company. Mr Chen completed the global initial public offerings of Air China, China Construction Bank, MCC, Sinoma, Sinopec, Unicom and others. In M&A, Mr Chen advised ICBC on the largest-ever cross-border investment in a Chinese financial institution. He also advised China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) on the largest-ever attempted cross-border takeover by a Chinese company. In addition to Chinese state-owned enterprises, Mr Chen has worked with Acer, ASE, ASUS, AU Optronics, HTC, Foxconn, Nanya, Quanta, Taishin, TSMC, UMC and others. Mr Chen has worked on offerings of sovereign debt by the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, as well as privatizations by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the ROC. He advised sovereign wealth funds such as China Investment Corp. and the Development Fund of the Executive Yuan of the ROC. He also advised the People’s Bank of China, China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan Stock Exchanges on proposed regulations. ' The big question, did PAP miss this big fish? This is truly a prize catch for the Worker’s Party. No dirty linens please. We need all the good and talented Singaporeans to come forward to serve the country, in the ruling party and in the opposition as well. And this guy served his National Service.

The Grand Council

A council of wise men deliberating over a girl and stirring up a storm. The little girl is in the lower centre of the pic, long hair and sitting, surrounded by rowdy men. View more pics by clicking on the Art of RAR Gallery image on top right.

Would Inderjit and Lily Neo still be around

I have heard rumours that these two MPs will make way for new blood. These are the two strongest voice in the PAP that spoke out for the underclass, the less privilege in our society. They are the conscience of the party as well as the conscience of the nation. It will be a sad day if they were replaced. Replacing these two MPs will speak loud and clear that their views are not welcomed in Parliament. What will Parliament become without them? Who would stand out for the under privilege without them? Maybe some from the new batch of MPs with humble backgrounds and who knew hardship will take their places. This reminds me of the exchange between Zhou En Lai and Khruschev, the former of gentry class and the latter from the working class. Kruschev was sneering at Zhou En Lai, hinting that he was unfit to be a communist because he came from a rich background. Zhou En Lai agreed and said they had both betrayed their own class.

PAP to fight for Singaporeans

Someone told me that the PAP will be fighting for Singaporeans and the Singaporeans’ future. I must have missed this piece of good news. Anyway it is comforting to know that someone is fighting for Singaporeans. I feel good already, no, feel betterer. I was enjoying this feel good feeling while I laid back to enjoy the time passing by. The future is going to be good or at least something to cherish. There are a few things that caused my mind to be all tied up in knots. In the first place there must be something to fight about and someone to fight with. There must be this something, ok the future, and we need to fight with someone to have this future. Assuming the future is good and worth fighting for, so not need to dwell on it. Ok, who is going to deprive us of this future or take this future away from us that the PAP has to fight for us? If the army is not involved, so this somebody must be within the piece of rock, not another country right? Let me guess, the opposition parties? Maybe, if they got elected our future will be a goner. But they should not be a threat for at least a few more GEs as they are not going to be a force to be reckoned with in this election, or maybe even the next GE. So who is the PAP going to fight against for the future of Singaporeans? Don’t have leh, can’t think of anyone to fight with. The foreigners are here to help the Singaporeans also. The new citizens are already regarded as one of us. So good for them, good for Singaporeans. The PRs are also regarded as part of us and helping us also. Can someone enlighten me please. I am so dull. Who is going to take away the future of Singaporeans that the PAP has to fight to keep it for the Singaporeans. Can’t be a red herring right, that there is really no one to fight against.

Tin Pei Ling, the future of PAP

At 27, she is one of the youngest candidates ever fielded by the PAP. The oppositions had field some who were younger in the past if I can recollect. All these young things are so cute and promising. What is unfortunate is the dirty linen being dragged out in cyberspace. Why should people go and dig into someone’s past, some private and some personal to embarrass or discredit another person? This is definitely bad behavior and disgusting. Anyone guilty of such practices is unbecoming and undeserving of respect in the eyes of the public. Politics is already seen as a dirty game. Let’s not make it dirtier by having dirty people airing people’s dirty linen in public. We need to raise the political culture and ethics to a higher level, for respectable people and for politics to be a respectable endeavour. And it should be, as everyone in politics is seen as a leader of the country or aspiring to be one. Everyone, regardless of which party he/she belongs, should refrain from personal attacks and digging of people’s past unless it is criminal or something that makes the person unsuitable to be a leader of the people. Let’s leave this young lass alone. She is the future of PAP and Singapore. She will grow up and who knows, become the first female Prime Minister of Singapore one day. The people should look at the future with optimism and show more tender loving care to nurture it. Attacking and destroying the future is not a practical thing to do.

Hawkers please be responsible

Hawkers are told to be responsible and not to raise prices irresponsibly. Kopitiams were closely watched in case they raise another 10c on a cuppa. Today the headline for the Today paper is ‘Electricity tariffs up 6.5% from April’. Of course this is well considered after the hike in oil prices. The headlines in ST are about the nuclear crisis and the flood in Koh Samui and a footballer that ran away. There is a letter in Today by a Huang Lifen complaining of hawker stall owners subletting their stalls at huge profits. A $2000 monthly rental could go up to $10,000 when subletted. How could genuine hawkers maintain their prices if the rental is so high and so irresponsibly raised? And the hawkers who subletted their stalls are not the only culprits. The landlords are all happily raising rentals over the years, some with the excuse of upgrading while some simply raised because property prices are up and they need to book their returns based on a percentage of market prices. Who are the real culprits that are fleecing on the people and raising the cost of living?

Coal miners

This is a series of dancers with a coal miner light on their forehead. Shot them during last year's F1 event. Can view more by clicking on The Art of RAR Gallery image on the top right.

Plenty of water if we are smart about it

Saw this headline in the ST today. Roughly I guess it is about the use of water or getting more water for the needs of the people. Actually, there is no rocket science about plenty of water if we are smart about it. I did not go through the article but just want to borrow the headline for a simple discussion here. Stretch this statement a bit further, there is plenty of food, energy, land and resources if we are smart about it, even in this little rock. The silly thing that human beans are doing is over consumption, Greed. We just want to consume and consume and consume, all for one silly formula called growth. We need to be growing, keep growing. Without economic growth everything will fall apart. And if our consumption is not enough, import more people to help to consume, to increase demand for land, energy, goods and services, and demand and more demand. Fucking silly thing to do I think. So we keep chasing after more water, more land, more energy, and more people to use them. And we will never have enough of water, never have enough of land, never have enough of energy, and never have enough of people. Are we really that smart or simply daft? If every country is doing what we are doing in the pursuit of growth, mother Gaia will die in double quick time. The Americans are irresponsible consumers of the earth's resources to conduct wars. Are we that different? We are also over consuming and wasting precious resouces in our build and rebuild programmes.

Is there a witch hunt going on?

Witches used to be burnt at the stake by honourable men in the medieval age. Today, with Harry Potter and his school of witchcraft gaining acceptance, the last thing we want to hear is the burning of witches. Witchcraft is a special craft practiced by a select group of very talented individuals called witches and wizards. Their skills are in great demand if they are good, like mediums and bomohs. The distinction is how good are they. A really good witch or wizard can command any price as they are able to bring someone back from death. They have life and death skills and with the riches willing to pay to save their lives, the witches and wizards can literally write their own pay checks. This is nothing new. In every profession, the so called very good ones are writing their own pay checks everyday. It is a free economy, laissez faire. What is wrong with writing your own paycheck on a willing buyer willing seller basis? It is pure business and contractual. If the buyer does not want the price go somewhere else. If a witch is that good, just name the price and tell the customer to take it or leave it. There are no rules or regulations or norms to say a witch cannot charge a million or 4 million bucks. Is there? Did someone say cannot? 1 million or 4 million is too high a price to pay? If I were a very good old wizard, I will simply say this is how good I am, and this is my price. No further explanation needed, and neither do I need to give any excuses. As a good wizard, I can even charge 1m for a visit, no matter whether I dispense any medicine, advice or witchcraft. That is how good I am and I know that those who need my service will come to me. Can or not?

Balinese Dancer

A Balinese dancer doing the final touches to her make up before her performance. More pics at www.artofrar.blogspot.com.

A small flood!

A small flood in Orchard Road and Singaporeans kpkb non stop. What kind of attitude is that? Can't Singaporeans take a small unusual occurrence and live with it, and move on? A small flood is actually good as it shows the fragility of the system. It also wakes people up to scurry for better solutions. Things will improve after the flood. How about a little flood in Parliament? I mean figuratively of course. The small flood can come in the form of a few more opposition candidates getting elected into Parliament. Now would Singaporeans start to kpkb? Or would there by hysteria?