More Sinkie jokes

The banking industry is hailing a grand plan to groom Singaporeans for key positions. My God, they suddenly realized that barely any Singaporeans are good enough to fill key positions in the banks. No wonder they have to bring in foreigners to fill the many top positions in the banks. Sad isn’t it. And it looks like one whole generation of Singaporean bankers have been wasted and now a plan to groom young Singaporeans for the future. Hopefully in 30 years we will have some Singaporeans that are found good enough to fill the top positions in the banking industry.

And the reason is simple. There are just not enough Sinkies with the right experience and skill sets in the banking and finance industries to fill up the top jobs. Now they have to go to third world countries to look for them. What is the matter? A regional financial centre, with aspiration to be a world financial centre, or nearly there, could not train of produce bankers with the right experience and skills. And only small cities in some corners of the world can produce such talents. Is this meant to be a joke? April 1st has gone by for nearly two months! I would think all the third world aspirants who want to learn the latest skills in finance would want to come here to learn the ropes?

If a world class financial centre is not the place to train and throw up experienced bankers, where else can do better? Timbuktu or Fiji Island, or Mauritius? Maybe Bermuda Triangle. And what to think of our world class universities when second and third grade universities from Australia to the US are supposedly producing better and cleverer graduates to fill the top posts here? Gaming the score sheets to be ranked among the best is looking more like a futile exercise, like the straight A graduates that are found wanting to third class graduates from lower ranked universities.

And the banks were proud to tell that 75% or 80% of their employees were Singaporeans AND PRs. What the fuck is this PR thing lumped together with Singaporeans? How many are Singaporeans and how many are PRs? Please tell. Another cannot face daylight fact of Sinkie Land.

This must be a classic joke of paradise.

Making fallacious political statements

Everyday I am bombarded with points that Png Eng Huat is a NCMP reject, honesty or integrity in question, and WP is not respecting Hougang voters by insisting on offering them a reject. I am finding this line of thought a bit amusing and could be turned around and played up as well.

Notwithstanding that Png Eng Huat’s nomination to be NCMP is a totally different issue. Nothwithstanding that even if he was a reject by his CEC, lets look at how would this apply to the PAP candidate.

Desmond Choo was a reject by the Hougang voters in the last election, not rejected by his CEC. His predecessor was a reject over and over again by the Hougangkia. This is direct rejection by the voters, not something that is remote from the context of the election, to ask for the voters acceptance.

Next, why is WP not respecting Hougang voters and forcing them to accept a reject to a NCMP post? Or put it the other way, why is the PAP not respecting the Hougang voters and forcing them to accept candidates that have been found not good enough and have been rejected, in Eric Low’s case, over several GEs?

The other point is about integrity and commitment to serve the Hougangkia. Over the last 20 years, were the PAP there for the Hougang residents when its campaign line is ‘Always there for you?’ Yes, they were there, but many things that the Hougang residents needed and wanted were out of their reach while the PAP was there.

Would the same be the same again if the WP wins? Would Hougang be at the end of the queue for goodies and handouts? Would PAP respect the wishes of the Hougangkia and offer them a better candidate in the next GE and not another reject?

Political arguments are full of holes and can be twisted and turned to suit whatever purposes at the moment. Just bite on a little error or misquote a word, and don’t let go. Shaft the knife in and give it a twist to make sure it sticks. But most political arguments cannot hold water and are made only to score a few points for the moment, if they could agitate the emotions of the listeners. When one steps back, cool down, think about it, most political arguments are just plain hogwash, like mine : )

The brave Hougang spirit

The brave Hougang spirit cannot be dampened by a little rain. There is a sense of pride, a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of hope in the faces of those in the Workers Party rally. This kind of spirit has not been seen for a very long time. They were the losers, the underdogs. They did not go there for freebies. They were not coaxed to be there. They were there, willingly, happily, to support their party and the candidate.

This is something the PAP would have to reckon with. They used to command this kind of crowd and support. They must now recognize that the people of Hougang are very different. Not only Hougang, there were many from other parts of the island joining the WP supporters, to stand under the rain, to brave the down pour, to be with their leaders on stage, who were equally drenched. But you could see them smiling and knowing that the people are truly behind them. There is a unity of heart and soul that money cannot buy.

The spectators could sense it, could feel it. Political leaders surely know that they have won the hearts of the people. I think they have won the election even before the campaign is over.

Stop immigrants - Australia

In the ST today, 50% of Australians in a poll wanted to stop immigrants into Australia. They fear that more immigrants will cause stress to the country’s infrastructure as well as unemployment problems.

How could Australians be worried about over population? If they do not want the new immigrants, Singapore is waiting with open arms. Send them over, we can continue to grow our population to create more growth. Yes, more population means more growth. Can’t the Australians understand this simple economic principle? Australians stupid or what?

In another 20 years Singapore will have a bigger population than Australia and our economy would probably more than triple than what it is today and leave the Australians far far behind. And every Singaporean will be a millionaire.

The Hougang brawl slipping into the longkang

It started with a few swipes at each other. Now the swipes are turning a bit dirtier. Forget about a gentleman’s fight. It is looking to be another great crass act when all the knives will be out soon.

The Hougang leak is just the beginning. It is conceivable to see video clips to go viral in the follow up. Then there will be the iphone taps, the insinuations in cyberspace, and who knows, compromising photos may even appear.

Would the family lives of both candidates be aired as well, the who’s who being connected and the ugly episodes being staged one by one? The primordial instinct to want to win, come what may, is the dominant characteristic of how man will behave in a fight.

The people of Hougang and the rest of the citizens will be treated to an exciting free for all show down. Both candidates could crawl out of the ring covered in dirt and shit by the time the election is over. Great script and great directing and great supporting casts.

The Ferrari and Hougang by election

What has the Ferrari accident got to do with the Hougang by election? Someone emailed a story of a Hougang voter’s encounter with an old man. I am not sure if this is true or just a story. The gist of it is that the Ferrari was going too fast, just like the way the economy is being pushed to fly. And if the driver refused to put on the brakes, come what may, even when he saw the red light, the poor bugger that is going to be killed will be the innocent taxi drivers and passengers. The taxi driver was just going on his life, struggling to earn a living, even at 4am. How would he to know that there was a crazy driver that refused to stop even when the red light was on?

Now, who can stop such crazy drivers, or what can stop them? You need a good co driver beside him to tell him to stop when needed to. And to be effective, the brakes must be working as well to allow the co driver to pull the brakes. If not, if there is no brake or no co driver, the crazy driver will just go about driving crazily. And many taxi drivers/passengers could end up as collateral damages, not knowing what hit them.

The email story said Hougang is like the brakes. You need the brakes in an emergency. You also need the co driver or more co drivers. And remember, taxis got no airbags, no social security when a big bang happens. There is nothing to protect or act as cushion. And make sure the co driver is not a little girl that is infatuated by the Ferrari and the driver and enjoying the wild ride.

The story ended by asking the people if they want more brakes and co drivers or want to be another taxi driver that ended up as statistics. And the moral of the story is….Don’t drive too fast, slow down a bit, watch out for red lights. And stop when the red light is on!

Quite commonsensical really, unless one is high on drugs or drunk.

Why bother with money laundering?

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012


Civil Society, Business Groups Call on Congress to Support Incorporation Transparency, Ban Anonymous U.S. Shell Companies

From the FACT coalition, Global Witness, and Global Financial Integrity.



Civil Society, Business Groups Call on Congress to Support Incorporation Transparency, Ban Anonymous U.S. Shell Companies



Legislation Enjoys Support of Law Enforcement, Obama Administration; Would Clean-Up American Financial System



May 16, 2012



WASHINGTON, DC – Today, 41 business and civil society groups sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate urging them to co-sponsor the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S. 1483/ H.R. 3416). This bipartisan bill, which is endorsed by the Obama Administration, would require companies to disclose their ultimate owners at the time of incorporation, making it much harder for corrupt politicians, tax dodgers, terrorists and other criminals to form and hide behind anonymous U.S. shell companies.



The signatories1, who include, among others, American Sustainable Business Council, Calvert Investments, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Citizens for Tax Justice, Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, CtW Investment Group, Domini Social Investments LLC, Friends of the Earth – US, Global Financial Integrity, Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, Jubilee USA Network, Main Street Alliance, Oxfam America, Project On Government Oversight, Revenue Watch Institute, Sunlight Foundation and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, are concerned that it is legal to form companies in the United States with hidden ownership.



The letter states:

Increased corporate transparency would curb corruption and tax evasion, promote an equitable market economy, reduce the opacity of corporate campaign contributions, help ensure a fair and level playing field for small- and medium-sized businesses, foster global development and enhance national security…



Investigations continue to reveal that American and foreign terrorists, narco-traffickers, arms dealers, corrupt foreign officials, tax evaders, individuals targeted for financial sanctions and other criminals easily and regularly set up U.S. shell companies, without providing any information about who owns or controls such companies...This enables criminals to disguise their identities behind the anonymity provided to U.S. corporations and launder dirty money through the U.S. financial system.

The full letter can be read here.



Corporate secrecy fundamentally undermines U.S. laws to combat money laundering and tax evasion, as well as U.S. efforts to tackle global corruption. A recent World Bank report found that the U.S. was a favorite destination of corrupt politicians trying to set up shell companies to access the financial system. Once corrupt and other illicit funds have been moved through an anonymous corporate vehicle into the financial system, it is much harder to track them down. Shining a light on the ultimate owners of companies, would make it easier for law enforcement to do its job. To date, eight law enforcement organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police and Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, have endorsed the legislation.

The above passage is part of an article posted in the site Tax Justice Network, an international NGO that is concerned with tax evasion, money laundering and the damages these caused to the ordinary citizens. It seems that the US is a favourite playground for money laundering while the US Govt is making a show of it by making fools of other nations, pressuring them to enforce strict regulations against money laundering. This is exactly the same modus operandi it adopts in calling their enemy nations as aggressors or warmongers when the US itself is the most aggressive warmongers today, creating tensions, starting wars and fighting wars. It screams danger when smaller countries try to acquire arms or nuclear weapons for their national defence while it is the biggest exporter of arms to the world and holds the largest collection of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction.

The treachery and hypocrisy of the Americans are beyond reproach. Only dumb countries will believe the biggest international gangster and do its bidding, to waste valuable manpower and resources to police money laundering in their little countries when all the major money laundering activities are being conducted in the US.

The Hougang brawl so far

I won’t use the term debate, discourse or election campaign, or anything that will give some semblance of maturity or respectability in the things said at the rallies so far. It is unbelieveable that so many childish and impish taunts and threats were aired as if they were clever points to make, by serious adults.

The kopitiams were full of laughters as they imitate or parrot the things uttered at the rallies. My gosh, are we seeing little children trying to score points against one another in a primary school debate? The secondary school debates were definitely several notches above in terms of lucidity, cogency and thoughtfulness in the points raised by the debaters. And here we are supposed to have a national debate by seasoned politicians. And what were they bitching about? The points were so parochial and pedestrian. Do they know that the school debaters out performed them in every point made. Put the school debaters and the politicians side by side, it is simply a mismatch, and in the favour of the school kids.

I can’t be proud of what I have heard so far. It is like trying to make a snide remark whenever the other party said something that is marginally ambiguous or with some loop holes to exploit. This is quality, we are progressing, raising political debate to a higher level. It is crass politics at its best.

F-35 Lightning II, another American con job

The F-22 Raptor, reputed to be the most modern and advanced multi purpose attack aircraft, is facing a mutiny. American pilots are refusing to fly this aircraft for fear of their own safety. Many dangerous situations have cropped up in flight with oxygen supplies being terminated, and in once case leading to the death of the pilot. Pilots have complained of blackout while flying, my goodness.

Now the American arms industry is pushing for the ultra expensive F-35 as the must have. Actually all these claims were bullshit. The specs of this latest white elephant, and those that came before, is nothing really special, but to match an imaginary superior Russian aircraft that the Americans need to be better of. What a load of rubbish. But the industry will keep on building a bigger and bigger demon and to con the Americans to pay for a bigger and bigger fictitious respond. This strategy is applicable to the other arms as well.

It is good for the American image, for the aircraft manufacturers and a lot of money to go into someone’s pocket. But who is paying? The tax payers are paying billions and trillions for a few pieces of toys claimed to be the best but never be so as newer ones will come on line and asking for more to be paid.

This is another big American con job. And not only the Americans are made to pay, the Allies are also made to pay as if without these aircraft they will lose their country or lose a war. Where is the war? Oh yes, coming, the Americans are going to start a few more in the neighbourhood and states will go to war and will need more advanced aircraft. More advanced than what, a Piper Cherokee or a Cessna?

To cut the story short, there is plenty of money to be had with such hype and by raising tension or starting wars. Russia and China could exploit this American weakness by playing up their own superiority, build imaginery superior aircraft, ships or land weapons and let the Americans chase after the shadows. The Americans love that kind of challenge. Oops, the defence industry loves them and will blow them out of proportion to make the American taxpayers pay for them. And they will spend themselves to bankruptcy much quicker.

Policy change in the main media?

In the last GE the main media was seen as providing a more decent coverage of opposition parties’ election campaign than they were used to. This went down well with the readers for a fairer game. When I flipped open the papers this morning, there was no denial that there was a deliberate shift in the coverage. It was so stark that there is no need to guess or to think where the sentiment lies.

Take the ST for instance, front page says, WP ‘chose not to send Png to Parliament.’ In page A6, a full page of coverage with headings like, ‘Voters free to pick best man’ and subheading, WP already has 5 MPs, Democracy is being free to choose: Denise Phua. Next, WP ‘changing tunes and taking Hougang voters for granted.’ The last two articles were titled, Desmond Choo on why he stayed on despite GE defeat and Parties keep up outreach.

Where is the coverage on WP?

And in Today, the headings, WP flip-flopped on national issues: DPM Teo. The next article on the same full page on the by election, with pictures of DPM Teo and Desmond Choo is, Will WP still serve Hougang if it loses, asks Desmond Choo. I was trying to find something on the WP, but again nothing reported.

And in mypaper, on page 2, Hougang voters value honesty, integrity most in candidates, says reporter Samantha Boh. The article is about how Desmond Choo can deliver and also about how clean he is. Another full page on page 4, Choo: Hougang belongs to residents, and another, Being scandal-free ranked low in poll. There were some mentioned of WP activities at the end of the former article though and one photo each of Desmond and Png.

The message is clear as to who should deserve more coverage in the main media. The battle line is drawn.

PS. Still searching for reports on the mammoth turnout at WP rally. If only it could be turned into votes. Maybe the majority were PAP supporters being there to give the WP a false sense of confidence.

Hougang does not matter, really?

Would the result of who wins Hougang really matter at all? A WP win will add the tally for opposition MPs from 5 to 6. A PAP win will add the PAP’s majority from 81 to 82. So what is the difference?



PM Lee: Whoever wins Hougang by-election will not change the basic picture in Parliament



And he is telling the truth. Hougang is non issue, inconsequential. The WP will remain an insignificant minority party that would need a loud speaker to have its voice heard or it would be drowned out by a cacophony of laughters. As for the PAP, all the bills will be passed, constitutions can be changed at will as it still holds more than two third majority.



So, is the Hougang by election a waste of time? Yes, it is. At least for the term of this Parliament, nothing will really change. At best there will be one extra vote against unpopular bills. At betterer than best, there will be one PAP MP in the name of Desmond Choo that would speak for the Hougang people, but would he still vote for whatever the PAP tabled even if he is against it, spoke against it, or if the Hougangkia did not like it. How can any MP be effective when he cannot vote against a motion by his own party? Such MPs will be as ineffective as the bloggers, only can kpkb for a bit of wayang.



Hougang is immaterial for the short term. Hougang is only meaningful in the longer term. Hougang is like a glimsp of the future, a statement from the people of what they really want or who they want to represent them as the govt of the people. A vote for the PAP is an affirmation that the PAP is the right party to stay and run the country. A vote for the WP is a statement that change is needed, whether a regime change or a change for more opposition MPs to check the govt and have a govt that is more representative of the whole spectrum of the population, not just for the winners and the elite.



But there will be many minor issues that will distract the voters, some very personal and private, some very mundane, some over a bowl of porridge or a hearing aid, or some because they have stood their ground for fairness and democracy. Would the larger good of the people and country take the main stage? Would the WP be able to raise the thinking of the Hougangkia to a higher level, to see further over the horizon? Or would the Hougangkia be convinced that it is a non issue, vote whoever you like, or vote for a little goodie or handouts? It doesn’t really matter, really.



And the big turnout were there just for a party, just for fun? Daft Sinkies do not think politics or politics is not something that bothers them. This Hougang could mean more good years, depending on who you are. Hougang could also mean a stamp of disapproval of the PAP. If the later comes true, Hougang will be a very significant milestone in our political development and political history. The PAP will be history in 2016 if the WP could add on to their previous gains.



What will Hougang foretell in a week’s time? Whatever, it is best not to dismiss Hougang as inconsequential.

Rar Art - A Life Time

This is a piece of very complex rar art. It combines a blending of colours, criss crossing of lines and strokes and layering. All these features come together in a harmonious way without anything looking out of place. The colours are beautiful, the strokes are mature and well executed while the layering gives it depth and complexities.
There is a couple in the centre of the painting and it looks like their whole lives were unfolding in front of them. As one views the painting slowly, more and more images will appear to tell a series of stories of the lives of the couple. Take your time to enjoy this beautiful creation of Mother Nature

A different perspective to population growth

We need population growth to generate economic growth to enjoy a better quality of life. This is the biggest bullshit to come out from any sensible person. Population growth is not the only factor that leads to growth and a better quality of life. The sure things about population growth are inflation, congestion, higher demand for goods and services and many undesirable social and economic consequences that cannot justify the little benefits of growth.

Take a continent like Australia as an example. If with 50m, they can enjoy the whole continent, be productive enough to grow all the food and wine to make merry, why do they need to rush the population to 100m? If without population growth, maintaining at 50m for perpetuity, and they can produce a bit more for each person to better their life, what is the point of producing 100 times more to feed 100m people but did not live better except for a few super rich?

Coming back to home, if with 2m people, the people can have all the space to live in bigger properties, and own cars with more roads to drive around, and they could produce more goods and services to raise the quality of life, why do they want to push the population to 5m or 10m to have lesser space to live, cannot own cars but only to work ever harder to feed a population of 5m or 10m? 

What for? Because the economists say there is no growth? If the population can be maintained at 2m, and everyone has a bigger property and two cars to go with, no traffic jams, and higher skills of people, goods and services produced are getting better with higher productivity, who the shit needs another 3m or 5m people to take away all the land and roads and landed everyone in shoebox flats and car ownership becomes limited only to a few? 

I think the thinking is too simplified. What kind of growth, what kind of progress, what kind of quality of life? If every leader in the world subscribe to the population growth formula for a better life, the whole will be destroy at double quick time. Nature has ensured that population is controlled and not allowed to growth indiscriminately by throwing in many measures to keep it that way. If a better quality of life is simply to have more people, there is no need to have super talents or smart people to run govts.

The situation in Europe is slight different. They could continue to have a good life by being creative, innovative, improving knowledge skill and productivity with a smaller but able population. But they conned themselves into allowing less productive immigrants to fill the ranks and bloated the population base.  They have reached a turning point where the Caucasian or Aryan stocks are being depleted by lesser stocks. This will bring about their demise as a self inflicted cancer. Japan will shrink its population but will continue to enjoy a better quality of life without being adulterated with lesser productive stocks to bloat its population. A smaller and leaner population is good for them.

 If we are not careful, we could end up in the same way as Europe. Irresponsible and mindless increase of population is like drug consumption.

JP Morgan Chase is the best

Obama has about US$1m deposit in JP Morgan Chase. And he is so confident of the bank to praise it as one of the best managed bank in the US. If JP Morgan Chase is one of the best and losing US$2b due to a flawed risk management formula that they have relied on, how many lesser well managed American banks are waiting to implode? Or is this a case of American is best, even when they can fouled up to such an extent?

How many high net worth private investors are licking their wounds for their blind faith in American financial wizardry? How many Sinkies are still staunch believers while privately cursing at the money they have lost from listening to American bank advisers?

Come to think of it, like Obama said, what is US$2b? There are many very well run funds losing tens of billions or hundreds of billions and still crowing how well their funds are being managed. Losing US$2b is chicken feat, a great achievement really, seriously, honestly. Just don’t check my books. The American banking and financial system is the best. They have exported this great formula of success to the world. The last port of call is China, before curtain’s up.

Blessed are the believers.

Hougang - A very strange feeling

I got this gut feeling but not sure if everyone feels the same. There is Desmond Choo out there in the trenches at the front line fighting. And he is telling his superiors to leave him alone, to let him fight his own battle. Is he really that confident that he could win this fight without the big guns? Or is he worried that the big guns will do him more harm than good, like killed by friendly fire? In football parlance it is called scoring own goals.

Could the big guns instead of hitting the enemies, landed on their own troops. The first minister that spoke in the by election is Boon Wan. And he is drawing more fire from the critics. Who is next to speak and to draw more fire to himself and Desmond Choo?

This is the gut feel that is bothering me. Ministers used to lend their weight to a candidate to make the fight easier. What if the minister himself is unworthy or not seen as credible and anything he said could only make things worst? Can this be the case in Hougang? Is there any minister that could speak out and win more grounds for Desmond Choo instead of doing him in?

The whole ball game has changed. How could Desmond Choo depend on the big guns when the big guns are a suspect and could be better off to stay away from him?

Coming to terms of being a loser

This FT smashed his $1.5m limited edition Ferrari to prove how good he was in road racing, so it was reported. Though he killed three innocent people in the process, he hit the newsstand as a young and handsome, successful and rich foreign talent. And they even ogled at the wealth he left behind, a luxury BMW, multi million dollar condos. Who cares where the money comes from? It was reported that he was a very clever investor and made his own fortune. Though there were suggestions of mafia links and money laundering, these were not important in a city state that worshipped success in terms of money in the bank account. More of such successful talents would be welcomed to shore up the property prices and the COEs.

At the other end of the spectrum, there was this retiree lamenting and complaining about a hefty $83 bill he was served with at the Alexandra Hospital’s A&E department. He was also unhappy that the parking fee came to a whopping $6. How could the hospital charge $6 for parking.

The widening gap of the rich and famous living it up and the losers trying to make every dollar counts, no longer making cents count as cents were practically worthless, is raising its ugly head. Throw a few coins on the road no one will bother to pick them up. Throw it into a beggar’s hat and he would frown.

For the loser retirees, they have yet to come to terms with living in a first world city state among the rich and famous when a tip to a doorman could be $50 and to a nice waitress could be more than enough to pay for the hefty hospital bill with plenty of change left. If the retirees are living on their pensions, sorry lah, unless the pension is millions of dollars which some privileged yodas are getting.

A $100k COE is simply peanuts. A few million bucks for a private property is small change. Where did the money come from? The money seems to be floating everywhere, as abundant as hell money. The moral of the story, as told by the elite, live within your means and stop kpkb.

Wealth creator versus wealth manager

Ngiam Tong Dow has spoken of the need to have more wealth creators instead of wealth managers. One is creating wealth and the other is just managing the wealth. He made a false assumption that wealth managers are there to manage the wealth, ie to ensure that the wealth will be there or at least not depreciating. This assumption has proven to be drastically and painfully wrong if we look at the bigger picture especially those coming out from the US.

Many wealth managers are basically gamblers. They are just placing chips everywhere and hoping that there will be more winners than losers. If only their books were to be opened, many owners do not know the truth until the hole is too big to fill.

In reality, many wealth managers are actually wealth destroyers. Yes wealth destroyers. The first thing they do is to demand to be paid a ransom. And whether they deliver or not is not guaranteed. Most will try their best to do a good job. And when the chips are down, when the losses piled up, they take bigger bets and bigger bets, hoping that lady luck will smile on them for once. If not, just too bad. It is other people’s money on the table. They do not guarantee any winnings. The only thing that is guaranteed is the ransom that they will be paid.

Wealth creators, wealth managers and…wealth destroyers. The first is real. The latter two are interchangeable.

The temptation of Hougangkia

For more than 20 years, Hougang was like a step child, abandoned by the establishment and left to fend for themselves. They soldiered on under the leadership of Low Thia Kiang. They literally bit the bullet and accepted their fate, that for some reasons, they would be at the end of the queue for any goodies or handouts. They stood their ground. They were resolute and committed to what they believed in. Today, the pride of Hougangkia and their resoluteness are being tested.

A handsome man came along with a pushcart of abalone porridge or the best free porridge one could find. And he is yelling, this is only the appetizer. Yield to his master and he will rebuild Hougang and improve the lives of all Hougangkia. He is so confident that he could do a lot of good to the band of drifters. No one has yet to ask him where is the money coming from. Everyone, including the young man, takes it for granted that the money will be there to turn Hougang into a Disneyland.

Will the knees of Hougangkia turn soft to the temptation? Will the step child turn into the favoured child of the favourite concubine? That is what Hougang will become if the young man is elected as their representative in Parliament. Hougang will be the new favourite child and bestowed with all the sweets and candies in the candy shop. And Hougang will be represented in Parliament and their voice will be heard.

The last nail going in

We used to have a healthy and vibrant stock market and a finance industry supporting several thousands of professionals and supporting staff. The market used to be plodding along happily in its own steam with steady growth and an envious reputation of a successfully run system. This was despite the fact that it was a very small market with relatively small number of stocks and small number of investors.

There were some unique features in the system that allowed the stock market to function the way it was, punching above its weight like they used to say. The market thrived on volumes and demands over supplies. Where were the volumes and demands coming from in a small city state? There were two unique features that made this possible, remisiers and contra trade. The former took on the role of ‘ah long’, taking high risk, to extend credit facilities to their clients which no banks would want to do or allowed to do, too risky and without collateral. But it worked most of the time, based on trust and knowledge of the client’s ability to pay for losses. This allowed the clients to trade many times more than they were able to without being limited by upfront collaterals or cash deposits. It worked. The market was alive.

Contra trading also facilitates liquidity in the market. Clients could take positions and settle the differences when they squared off their positions. It used to be more than 14 days, and that gave the clients more room to manouvre. The longer the exposure, the greater would be the risk, but also more chances of market changing positions. In a way contra trading played the same part as remisiers in allowing clients to take bigger and more positions than they were able to if trading is restricted to money upfront. For a small pool of investors in a small city state, contra trading allowed the trading volume to appear tens or hundreds time larger.

Between the credit lending role of remisiers and contra trading, the market was able to trade with much more volumes than it could otherwise do. Doing away with remisiers and contra trading would be like knocking in the last nail to send the stock market into the incinerator.

No, apparently the smart alecs don’t think so. They believed that there is no need for remisiers and trading could be done online by computers. The shallowness of such stupidity has proven itself, and online trading is still standing on the high pedestal as a white elephant, too high cost to operate and for too little return. And there were all the other factors that made online trading ineffective and unworkable as a business model. It is history. It is also a reminder of where the market will head if people with little knowledge of how the market works make the decision. And there will be people who know but kept quiet, follow orders as long as they are paid, and do the master’s will.

The next attempt is to do away with contra trading. It is too risky, reduce the duration of exposure. Traders still have 5 trading days to square their positions. And there is no collateral, too risky. There were bad cases of bad debts. This too must be taken care of. Margin trading could be a solution. Better to do away with the remisiers altogether.

In all businesses, there were risks involved and bad debts could be incurred. So far, all the bad debts were manageable and were part and parcel of the business. The bad debts were not in the proportions of hundreds of millions, billions or tens of billions like the losses of well managed funds and banks. If bad debt is such a serious concern, all the big funds and banks should be closed down or not be allowed to take those risks. How come their colossal losses were acceptable as part and parcel of risk takings and taken in their strides as clever investment strategies but losses of small investors were unbearable? How come the few millions of losses by a few individuals in an industry of a few hundred thousand players were seen as so fearsome to live with?

There were rumours that contra trading would be replaced by CFD or contract for difference. What’s the difference between CFD and contra trading? CFD is claimed to be much better than contra trading. It allows the traders to hold their position longer, several weeks even if they wanted to. Shit, contra trading used to be like that but the length of holding to long positions were curtailed, deemed as too risky. In CFD, holding long and longer position is a plus point. CFD also can short positions. Now, why were short positions not allowed in contra trading? Isn’t this as good as saying having free sex is bad but going to prostitute is okay, both offering the same thing but the latter got to pay more?

What’s the difference between CFD and contra trading? Isn’t it contra trading in another name, another form? Oh it is not called contra trading. It is called Contract For Difference. Brilliant eh? The industry is being prepared to switch from free sex to having sex with prostitutes as a better option.

When this happens, the contra players would vanish. The remisiers too would vanish. And they expect the market to continue to thrive, bustling with billions of trades done by the computers. And the funds would still be churning the market without any suckers to pay for their expenses and profits. The funds would be happily chucking along in a stock market with practically no investors and no money to make, just to make the stock market look good for the city state.

Just wait for the smart alecs to knock this last nail in and everyone in the industry can go away. The fictitious trading volumes will still be there, an envy of all the outdated stock markets who can never dream of such volumes. But their phones in the brokerages will be ringing. The brokerages here will be as quiet as a cemetery, if any is still left standing.

Hougang is like part of a bigger scheme of things

Hougang is like part of a bigger scheme of things


Under normal circumstances this could still be the honeymoon period for the elected ruling party to ferment whatever it wants to do. The next GE is another four years away. This is the period for more increases in everything and whatever unpleasant policies, now is the time to throw them to the people. There will be some pain and unhappiness, but the people will get used to it, get over it over time. Then comes the last chapter, the pre election phase when the wounds are healed and little goodies would do the trick to prepare the electorate for more good years.

The Hougang by election must have come at an inopportune time. With this in the air, with the people getting political again and being agitated by all kinds of issues, and introducing or implementing tough policies would give the opposition a good platform to shout them down. Not doing so would have to delay it further down the road and may be too close to the next GE.

Whichever way, the temper of the people would not be given a chance to take a break. The temperature will rise again as in all elections. And expectedly, the opposition would rub the salt in wherever there is an open wound, or would open up old wounds. And it is defending time. The full backs and the goal keepers would not be able to rest or sleep soundly. Where are the goal keepers?

The other important development coming out from Hougang is the closing ranks of all the opposition parties. This is one of the rare instances that the oppositions are coming together to fight a common enemy. It would be interesting to see who would be speaking in the WP rallies. It would also be an opportunity for the opposition parties to rally together, to seek common grounds and build a closer rapport and understanding before the next GE. Hougang could pave the way for a better understanding among the opposition parties, and more give and take later on, and who knows, a united front that they have yet to forge after so many years.

Hougang could also be a testing time for people forced to reveal themselves to do damage to the WP’s cause. Many believe that there are plenty of moles in hiding in the opposition parties. It is a time to see the real stuff, the real enemies within, the desperadoes. But they are unlikely to cause a dent on the WP’s armour.

The PAP will, for the first time, be facing the opposition parties as a single bloc, speaking in unison. No more divide and rule, pulling strings here and there for the opposition parties to dance and bicker at each other. Maybe it is too premature to talk about this. It would be an interesting battle with more actors playing more important roles on both sides. All the big guns from both camps would be firing at the same time. A Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in the air.