Punggol East a circus or a walkover

The news today, 5 parties will be contesting the Punggol East SMC when the by election is called. The parties announcing to be in the contest are WP, SDA, SDP and Reform Party, and the incumbent party PAP. The news is immediately met with a roar of ludicrity. Four opposition parties competing against each other and against the PAP would be as silly as it could be. The Presidential Election did not seem to teach any of the parties any thing.

In a tight contest of one versus one, any opposition party would still be in a tough position to think of winning. Are the parties real, in announcing that they all want to be in, for what? Are they thinking of a circus for entertainment or are they serious in thinking of winning and dislodging the PAP from Punggol East? At face value, it is just too clownish to be true except for SDA.

The other possibility is that Zhuge Liang is at work again. It is as real and as unreal. Everyone will be kept guessing. PAP will be kept guessing as well. Only on Nomination Day will the truth be out as to the number of parties will be contesting. Let’s hope reasons will prevail and sensibility will be the order of the day.

Yawning Bread thinking aloud on by election candidate

Yawning Bread did a bit of introspection as to the problem facing the PAP in finding a suitable candidate for the Punggol East by election. He ruled out Ong Ye Kung and Desmond Choo as possible candidates for obvious reasons. One has left politics and one a two time loser in Hougang. It is going to drain on him emotionally and psychologically to stand up in an election with so much controversies and negativities.

But there must be many candidates in the PAP’s reserved list. One thing for sure, the new candidate is likely to be put under the finest comb to be whiter than white, and more proper than a priest or a nun. And very likely, the candidate would have to declare in public that there is no misconduct in his record, in the past or in the future. The demand for such a candidate is going to be very stringent and PAP cannot be found not to have done its job in making a thorough screening for any flaws that could surface during and after the by election.

I can imagine the PM or DPM standing on stage to guarantee the moral virtues and integrity of the chosen candidate. It must be the most perfect candidate the PAP has ever put up for an election. The voters can be assured of a very fine and flawless candidate to serve them.

The opposition must take note of this and may have to offer another equally flawless candidate this time round. They had the experience of Hougang and should find this a familiar situation.

High COE will lead to higher cost of living

The equation is straight and simple. When a car or van is costing double, the operating cost will go up accordingly. Any business that needs the use of cars and vans, including taxis, not sure about school buses, will simply have to raise their cost. The hawkers and foodcourt operators that need to move their goods and raw material, or the suppliers, will have to incur the additional cost, and these will conveniently be passed down to the consumers, the lowest feeder in the hierarchy of existence.

Don’t think high COE just affects those who want to own cars. It affects everyone, every business, directly or indirectly. Of course those who need a car will be hit most and some will be hit earlier when their COE expire. Some are hoping that it will not happen too fast, but the clock is ticking and the old car they are holding to will be history as days gone by. And the real crunch will hit them hard. Many would have to readjust, a new lifestyle, and the buses and MRTs will have higher loads, and more crams again.

Low corruption rate doesn’t mean no corruption

Just like Wong Kan Seng said about low crime rate doesn’t mean no crime, low corruption rate does not mean there is no corruption. According to the stats, of all the cases investigated by CPIB, only 7.5% involved civil servants. And of the 135 cases charged last year, only 6 were from the public service. The numbers look quite healthy for a city that is famed for being corruption free. The few high profile cases recently do not tarnish the good reputation of the public service.

The problem of corruption is prevalent in many other countries and how to deal with them is first to recognize the problem. Countries that don’t recognize that there is a problem will have no corruption problem to deal with in the first place. Some are true and some are fiction, or corruption being disguised in various forms.

China is getting very serious in this business, recognizing that it is a serious problem and has to be dealt with urgently and with the full might of the state machinery. Vice Premier Wang Qishan has been tasked to clean up corruption, the most senior minister in the new leadership appointed for the task. Many cases were revealed publicly. The most startling change is to allow the media/blogs to publish cases of corruption that have not been proven. Luo Changping, the deputy MD of a news magazine Caijing, famed for publishing corruption in high places, received a call by the police that they will protect him. His publication of such cases used to be censored immediately and be visited by the security officers. Now his publication could remain untouched for months.

Wang Qishan also urged other officials to read the French Revolution written by Alexis de Tocqueville. The 19th Century French Revolution led many aristocrats to the guillotine, not much different from the Communist Revolution in China in 1949. Wang Qishan’s message was clear, ‘The biggest failing of the old regime was the corruption of the rulers.’ Said Dr Gao Yi, a history professor at Peking University.

The corruption problem in China is huge and pervasive and would take more than one man and a few years to eradicate. They know they have a serious problem that could lead to regime change.

After Palmer comes AIM

The Aljunied Hougang Town Council was given a red card of sort in the town council’s audit. This put Aljunied Hougang as the only one, I think, with a red card, which was bad when all the PAP Town Councils were mostly all greens except for a few yellow cards.

This event has led to the Worker’s Party making its defence as to why it was given a red card which made them looked bad. The problem was in the Town Council Management System for collection of town council fees from the residents which was terminated and WP could not get one up running in time. It was not due to any missing numbers or money.

The protest by WP led to some defending on why the system was terminated and the surfacing of a $2 company called AIM. The three directors of the company, the only staff with no employees, were Chandra Das, Lau Ping Sum and Chew Heng Ching, all former PAP MPs. The facts so far, the PAP Town Council developed the system, sold to AIM on a public tender. AIM bought it for $140k and leases back the system to the town councils for a monthly fee of $785 pm each. AIM then subcontracts National Computer Services to manage and service the system on its behalf. Apparently AIM could practically recover the full sum of $140k paid in a year and subsequent years will be more like profits.

The revelation of the company AIM and the details of the sale and the lease back of the Town Council Management System have led to many questions now being asked that are not looking good on the part of the Town Councils. Teo Ho Pin, Coordinating Chairman of PAP TCs would now have to fill in the blanks for all the questions being asked. How would this look from the point of efficiency, transparency, correctness and proper would depend on Teo Ho Pin’s answers. And the answers would likely to be in public and may even be raised in Parliament. This is going to overshadow the exciting details of the Palmer Affair for sure.

COE, a time bomb in the making

When COE of small cars costs $81k and big cars $100k, it is it. The anger has not become an outburst yet as many car owners are still hanging on to the last few months of their old cars. When their COE expires, when the need is genuine and serious, the cries will not be merely a whimper. Many less well off families are heavily dependent on private transport to get around. Public transportation would not do to these people when it is not just a matter of inconvenience but real difficulties getting to them. The very old, the very sick, the handicaps, the children that need to be ferry around to inaccessible schools will be the first victims to this ingenious and talented scheme to control car population.

The rich will go about their lives as if nothing has happened and many would quietly be saying, cannot afford private transport, take public transport lah. Why so difficult?

When more and more people ended up in such difficult situation, the noise is not going to be loud and unpleasant. It is could lead to an outcry, a revolt against the establishment that smugly sat in high heavens and making judgement on the loser mortals. How long could the losers bear with the difficulties of moving around or not able to move around anymore unless with great pain and trouble or paying a small fortune?

The time has come for a change, for a system that cares for the ordinary and the average Sinkies, a system that does not snub at the losers and telling them to buck up, to work harder, to earn more if they want to live better. The losers cannot write their own paychecks. The fact is that many of the losers are working very hard trying to make ends meet, to make their lives better. Now, with the huge population, with limited land and space left to provide for easier mode of transportation, and when owning private transportation is going to cost an arm or a leg, something gonna give. And some are still saying we need more people to come in to fill the space and take up the slag in property prices, to support property prices or the price will collapse.

The pain of this vicious cycle of high economic growth, high population growth, and high usage of land and space is starting to hurt.

SMRT was so perfect

SMRT was so perfect, so efficient and so profitable. And they rewarded themselves with huge bonuses and big pay packages. Then overnight the nightmare begun, starting from the clips falling off and stoppages every other day.

Now a new man is at the helm. 8 key managers were recruited to tackle the problems in the organisation. What problems? It was the perfect company a few months ago with its CEO earning praises for a very profitable and well run public transport company. How could there be problems and needing an infusion of top managers? And are they recruited to boost up the top management team that were doing so well or doing so badly? Or were they recruited to replace some of the top managers that were doing so well and still must be replaced?

No organisation has seen its fortune and image went legs up within such a short interval of time, from being so good to being so bad. What happened if the clips did not keep falling off? Would SMRT be still the darling of a well run and managed organisation, and its top management still receiving the laurels of success and efficiency and huge bonuses?

Are there other organisations that are looking so good, like a polished juicy red apple from the outside, but a rotten core that is waiting to be exposed? Is this the beginning of more disclosures, that all that is not well will not last long and cannot be hidden from the public for too long?

By election Laws, the spirit and intent of the law

Since the last interpretation of the spirit of the law in the Hougang by election, the govt’s position is that a general election is to elect a govt. When such a govt is in place and when a MP’s seat is left vacant for some reasons, it really does not matter as the govt is already elected. So having a by election or no by election is not of much importance as long as someone else is looking after the constituency on behalf of the MP. A stand in, a MP on loan from another constituency, or in the same GRC, or a CCC Chairman or any appointee could really fill the seat legally in accordance with the provisions of the Election Laws. This is what I have heard to be the official position and I stand corrected. The govt can always correct me if I am wrong and educate us on the correct interpretation, the law, the spirit of the law, the intent of the law, or the convenience of the law to be interpreted to whoever’s advantage.

If the above premises are true, and if the judgement by Judge Pillay is the absolute truth, that the PM has full discretion to decide to hold or not to hold a by election, then the constituents of any single member constituency may not be served by an elected MP after a GE. Anyone or any appointee would do.

I choose to disagree as a citizen and as a constituent. And I would also like to interpret the spirit of the law, the intent of the law to my advantage. As a constituent, I demand as my right to be represented by an MP that I have elected or have a say to his being my MP. No substitute is good enough. No part timers or part time MPs from other constituency to part time in my constituency. I demand a full fledge MP elected by my fellow constituents to represent me in Parliament and to take care of my problems. There is a direct quid pro quo in the case of a properly elected MP who promised to serve the people and the people duly elected him. Anything else is no good. It is a short change.

What do you think?

Merry Christmas to everyone

Let me say merry Christmas to everyone first while I ponder on what I shall write this morning.

Cheers.

Remisiers are low income earners

No more Peter Lim of remisier kings. The pathetic take home pay of remisiers that was reported in the news last week, this has been kept under the carpet for some time, is a revelation of a dying profession that once was the envy of many professionals. Gone were the days when remisiers could spend lavishly on their clients and living a high life. The $800 pm is even less than the lowly or uneducated aunties and uncles cleaning tables in the footcourts. The SMRT foreign drivers are earning much more. And the PMET drivers are laughing their hearts out, that they are rich compare to the remisiers. Those earning this sum are now qualified for assistance and monetary handouts from the govt. The Remisier Society or the brokerages should take the initiative to apply for govt assistance for this new poor in the country. Maybe the SGX should start to dip into the contingency fund to help the remisiers tie over this rough patch that does not seem to want to go away.

Many remisiers are professionals by training and experience, some with CFA, finance and post graduate qualifications. Many would have long quitted the industry if not for their age that rules them out from employment. They have become the new breed of ‘chiat pa tan si’ PMETs. They have no where to go and no one to turn to and waiting for the curtain to fall. I would have left too if I could find an alternative job. And to make things look sillier, remisiers have no official lunch break and are expected to work from 9 to 5, just to earn $800 with the market running non stop.

Does anyone know why the industry has hit such a low? Or does anyone really want to know?

CPF Simply said by ‘First Step’

This blogger posted a very simple but very effective explanation of the state of affair in the CPF scheme and how CPF account holders could kiss their savings good bye. And I quote,

‘First Step:

December 22, 2012 at 5:41 pm (Quote)

First Step – Increase Medisave. Second Step – Increase Medical Fees. Third Step-Increase Medisave Again. Fourth Step - Increase Medical cost again. Fifth Step – the cycle repeats itself, forget about seeing your CPF money again. Can just dream about it. Vote PAP out this Ponggol BE.’

This simplified statement says it all. And it can be duplicated for cost of living. The higher the cost of living the more needs to be kept in the minimum sum account. When cost of living increases, raised minimum sum. Keep raising the cost of living, the minimum sum will keep going higher in sync. It is like throwing money into a bottomless pit, never to be filled, and never to be seen.

Can Sinkies ever save enough for their retirement needs, for their medical fees and retirement? It is no longer how much the Sinkies are saving but how much they would have to pay for the high medical fees that they are expected to pay, like a guillotine knife over their heads. And the rapid and unstoppable high cost of living, starting with properties and car prices, will ensure that the minimum sum will be up and up and up.

Unfortunately daft Sinkies could not see the bigger picture and still clamouring to put more money into the CPF, a black hole.

Sinkie IQ highest in the world

This is no joke. I have my doubt that our IQ is the highest in the world, but I think it is quite high up there. This is what Chok Tong said, “This is a shame really, considering we are ranked 1st in IQ, high in maths and science tests globally, competitiveness and other ‘hard’ areas.”

And IQ is not the only factor that we are good in. Science, Maths and other ‘hard areas’. This confirms what Veritas has always been saying here, that our IQ is many times higher than the FTs who are here to help us and be our bosses. Many average FTs, with questionable qualifications from questionable institutions, are now considered better than the locals with better IQs and genuine qualifications from world class universities.

How could this silly state of affair become a norm here, particularly in job opportunities for the locals that found themselves losing out to low quality and maybe even faked FTs, and ended up as taxi drivers or low paying jobs or worst, jobless?

Something is very sick in this Sin City where the brightest are sidelined, booted out, to be replaced by snake oil peddlers whose ability is absolutely doubtful and questionable but thought otherwise by the authorities and employers. This plague will not be noticeable yet but will take its toll down the road.

A local story in the 60s/70s, 走江湖

Let me deviate from the norms of my Sunday postings and write something about life in a different time not too long ago. I am not sure how many parts I could write but this is the first introduction of Morgan's rite of passage into 'Jiang Hu".

The story of Morgan 白面浪子

He was very strongly built. His arms were twice the size of his contemporaries. This physical blessing came from a time when babies were fed with Milkmaid or Blue Cross condensed milk. The poorer brands were Lady General or something else. Morgan was luckier. Born a few years after the war, poverty was the norm everywhere. People were jobless or on call as odd job labourers, waiting in the kopitiam or ‘koolie keng’, a place where the coolies called home where all each had was a bed. The rest were common areas. Landing a full time job was a great contentment. Morgan had the good fortune of being breast fed. Mother was an illiterate immigrant from China, with bound feet and not the type suitable for labour intensive work. Breastfeeding a baby was not as easy as it looked. The mother must have at least decent meals to nourish the baby with enough healthy milk.

When Morgan arrived, the family fortune improved in a strange way. Mother was a ‘chap jee ki’ runner, collecting the bets for the syndicate. After a while she saw the trend. Most bets were losers. She took the risk by not submitting all the bets and pocketed the balance. With more spare cash, she started to plough some into bets of her own. And lady luck was kind. Enough food, lesser worries, Morgan was the ultimate beneficiary of the good fortune. He grew up a happy and boisterous child, fair and unusually sturdy. He was the apple of his mother. And the breastfeeding continued till he was 5 or 6 years old.

Morgan was in a way allowed to do as he pleased. From young he could tell Mother that he was not interested in schooling. And that was it. It was accepted and no pressure was put on him to walk the extra mile to do better in his studies. There was no tuition and no need for tuition. The hope was pinned on his elder brother to do well in school. The father passed away in a traffic accident when Morgan was only 8. His last few words, the brother could do well in school, and as for Morgan nothing was mentioned. It was kind of fatalistic, or the ability to assess the potential of the children and accept their fate. No need high education to know that. A child’s potential was well written before his teens.

The brother’s report card was all blue. That was a great credit and a great pride when the whole neighbourhood’s children were mostly a colourful mix of red and blue. Morgan was one of the statistics. As he advanced from Primary 1 to Primary 6 in Radin Mas, the number of blue marks got lesser while the reds got more. In his last few years in primary school, it was nearly all red. That was his life, his destiny. Mother did not go hysterical and rushed him for tuition classes. A young nonya girl a few doors away was giving tuition. She only completed Secondary Two and was good enough for the job where the rest were unschooled. Maybe money was also a problem by then when the coolie Father was gone. The selling of little satchets of opium as a side income was also sold.

The good part about the educational system then was that one could either get promoted to the next level or be advanced, ie failed but still moved up to the next grade. Morgan was posted to a new neighbourhood school in Queestown, Newtown Secondary School, probably without passing his PSLE. The only thing that he excelled in school was ECA, the official and the unofficial kind. ECA did not carry any weight in a child’s school performance and was incidental, something that was just part and parcel of school. His athletic built and prowess made him a champion in field events where might was an asset. For that, the school was kinder to him and did not really put him under a short lease. He was mischievous but did not get overboard. The disciplinary master, a black belt judoka, the father of a future national swimmer, was watching and assessing Morgan’s every move. Many boys that crossed Morgan’s path were chased and beaten outside the school. Often they were chased all over the school’s neighbourhood and up into the flats across the road. Morgan did not do the chasing. Neither did his sidekicks in the same school. He would call on his support from nearby schools to do the hunt. That kept him from trouble with the school.

He was not entirely an angel though. In the science lab and a lesson in biology, the science teacher was doing a dissecting on the table. The eager students were gathered closely to watch the demo. Many were good students and still wanting to study and do well, unlike Morgan. There was no purpose in him being in school. He was bidding his time and waiting for destiny to unfold, to take him on a path he had to travel. It was he and his life and his life to deal with.

‘Kock’, a loud noise was heard. In full concentration and the quiet of the lab, the knock was a sudden interruption. Everyone lifted their heads wondering what happened. The male teacher also stopped what he was doing. He lifted his hand and started to rub the back of his head. No one said a word. The teacher did not ask either. Then it was back to business. The lesson continued. Teaching in new integrated schools had their little risks and challenges.

My solo exhibition came to a close

My exhibition on the Secrets of Mother Nature came to a close after two months at the NUSS Guild House. A few of my paintings have found new homes. A few more could follow but unfortunately the deals did not go through.

The feedbacks from visitors were encouraging. Being a new artist, new technique, The Art of RAR, and a new kind of photopaintings, I am very pleased that people who have seen them appreciate and like them. For those who have acquired my paintings, they should be pleased to know that these are not the usual paintings that one can buy from everywhere.

Every painting is a mystery and a little miracle. There are painted by Mother Nature and appeared in a magic pond, and only visible to a camera. And the photopaintings that finally took form were conceptualised by the mysterious forces of Nature, a work of Nature. It is like Nature speaking or communicating to the mortals with its works. There could be some meanings in each of them that only the gifted could connect.

I am now planning to work on another exhibition with a few new series that are quite different from those that I have exhibited. My first exhibition was more of an introduction to the range of paintings that Mother Nature could share, a glimpse of the power and creativity of Mother Nature. My next exhibition will be more focus, maybe on a couple of series and with more depth.

What is real or unreal in accounting?

Or what is truth and fiction in accounting? SIA has booked a gain of $322m for selling its shares in Virgin Air for $439m. It bought the shares at a cost of $1.6b. I am a bit dull and think that this should be a loss of $1.161b! I am just being simple minded or ignorant of accounting practices and how profit and loss are computed.

Yes, the buying at $1.6b and selling at $439m led to a gain of $322m. I was reading Goh Eng Yeow’s article last Saturday and he explained how the apparent loss of $1.16b could turn into a profit of $322m. He said that over the years, the goodwill of Virgin Atlantic had been written down. There was also an amount of $117m written off to reserves. I do not know what this meant, really.

I must say that this is brilliant accounting practices and must be legal and correct. SIA is making money out of this deal by buying high and selling low. No wonder lay people are confused and there are companies like Muddy Waters trying to clean up the mud to make the water clean again.

CPF Medisave Required Amount to be raised to $38,500

‘SINGAPORE: From January next year, the Medisave Required Amount (MRA) in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) will be raised to S$38,500 from the current S$32,000.

The MRA refers to the amount that must be set aside in the Medisave Account, after the CPF Minimum Sum requirement has been met.

The CPF Board said those who have met the CPF Minimum Sum and have an MRA shortfall at the point of withdrawal have to make a top-up to the Medisave Account....’

This is the latest. Does anyone want to ask the CPF Board who gives them the authority to raise the minimum sum? Who does the Board think they are?

SGX – The truth is out

It is reported, finally, in the ST that all is not well in the stock market. For a particular month, many remisiers were earning less than $1000 in commission. This is nothing better than the cleaners in the foodcourt. And in a normal month, many are raking less than $2000. What are the implications?

It is not simply a dying profession for the remisiers. The broking houses need the commission to pay its staff or they too will have to close shop. The green eye monster has done its job well to kill this industry that once was a roaring business and supporting many other businesses in one way or another. The drastic changes in turning a stock market into a casino drove the final nail into the coffin.

The volume of trading appears to be high but simply fictitious in a way, generated by computers for brokerages or trading houses, house trades that bear no commission. The real participation of traders, retail and institutions too is dwindling and drying up.

The state of health of the market is best seen by good stocks being delisted as their real values are higher than the stock values in the market. It thus does not make sense for good companies to waste their time and paying fees to be listed. And with so many penny stocks, 1c or less than 1c stocks in the main board, it simply says something is embarrassingly wrong.

Surely the people responsible for ensuring a healthy and viable stock market know what is going wrong and how to put it right. They are not paid in the millions for nothing. Once the stock market is crippled, with remisiers and supporting staff quitting the industry, with brokerages shrinking and folding up, the damage is very difficult to repair. There will be a loss of confidence and a fleeing of funds. The offices in the financial district could go empty and rentals will slide as well.

The job loss in the industry is insignificant to the demise of a stock market and the finance industry. Make no mistake about it. The numbers don’t lie. The market and the associated businesses are going kaput while millions are being paid and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

The final assault on PAP

PAP has been a very successful political party for nearly 50 years. Through this period, it was the dominant and unchallenged ruling party and well supported by the majority of people of all races and political affiliations. It has chalked up an impressive track record from successful policies that brought wealth and material comfort to the average citizens and all. And this track record has been the PAP’s first layer of defence. It always, without fail, waved this track record to the voters in every election. This is what we have done and achieved, and challenged the people whether their lives are getting better than before. Its two other armours are super talent MPs and Ministers and impeccable and selfless men and women in leadership roles.

This first ring of defence is starting to crumble. The people are having doubts of their well beings. The elite have no problem identifying with the great material success as everyone of them is a symbol of success.. Even then, some elite are also starting to question things that are not as right as before. Those further down the pecking order, needless to say, are clearer as to whether their lives are getting better or going to get worst.

The second level of defence the PAP has built around it is the quality of its leadership. They are able and talented men and women of great abilities. They are the best of the best, the crème ala crème of the country. This is now ringing hollow. Many policies have failed. Many ministries and ministers are found wanting in their areas of responsibility. And the new recruits at the lower level are viewed with so much scepticism and cynicism that it is not a laughing matter. It was like scraping the bottom of the barrel. The aura of greatness, of infallible men and women with great talents and ideas somehow is drawing a blank. Many are being ridiculed publicly in the social media, in public conversation and private gossip mills.

The third and final ring of defence, the integrity of the leadership, is now exposed to attacks. These include honesty, incorruptibility, moral righteousness, compassion, sincerity, selflessness and other goodness that are expected of benevolent rulers. Now the criticism and challenge are targeted at very personal level, very close to the heart and the persona of each and every leader in the party. This is not just about the ability to deliver anymore, though many are seen as not delivering. The people have gone past the stage of material well being. It is about the softwares, the ideas, the feelings, the hearts and the intangible goodness of being national leaders, to inspire and to lead, for the people and for the country.

When the characters of the leaders are being challenged, and if they cannot hold, there is nothing left to keep the party afloat anymore. Many good and charismatic rulers could survive and rule for years in spite of bad policies and bad administrations. No leaders can survive if they cannot win the support and trust of the people. The last chip to play by unpopular leaders that have lost the support of the people is to usurp power by ruling with an iron fist, authoritarianism, dictatorship, military junta etc etc.

Is the ruling party facing this final stage of assault on their rights and legitimacy to rule the country and people? If this is so, then it would not be long before the final curtain falls.

Contract for service, short term contract and employee

There are still many discussions with regards to the SMRT drivers and whether the pay for a job should be the same or different. Let me just share a little on the HR practices with regard to this.

In the case of a contract for service, the workers are employed simply to do a specific job with a specific pay. Period. There is no employer employee relationship, no benefits or difference in pay between one worker and another.

In the case of a short term contract, there is an employer employee relationship, but the pay can be different and the terms and conditions of employment can be different. The main argument in this SMRT driver issue is whether the pay should be the same or different.

Allow me to clarify this. Thereotically, the basic pay for jobs of the same specification is the same. So there should be no quarrel over the job worth. Two persons doing the same job would be paid the same basic pay for that job. In practice this is hardly the case.

The computation of an employee’s pay, assuming new sign ons, will still have to take into consideration many other factors. Qualifications and experience would affect the pay offered if they are relevant. New sign ons could be offered different starting pay because of these factors.

The other factor that is in play in this case is the nationality. Workers come from different countries with different cost of living and could be comfortable with different pay offered. $100 can be a lot in some countries and not enough in others. A simple example is the pay of a similar worker producing Apple Iphones in Indonesia, China or Thailand. Their pay will be different for the same job because of the country they are in. If they are to be paid the same as those in the USA, then there is no advantage to farm out such jobs to lower cost countries. Same job different pay because of different cost of living of a country is only practical.

An added factor to this is that the foreign workers are not working in their own countries and bearing the respective cost of living. They are now in Sin City and have to bear the higher cost of living here. Thus, this point must also be input into the pay to ensure that they are adequately compensated or else it will be meaningless for them to be here. This amount could be the same to all foreign workers here as it is related to the cost of living here.

Employers also have to account for the cost involved in hiring them. And the workers must also take into consideration the amount they have paid to the recruiting agents to be here.

In summary, employers recruit foreign workers for competitive cost advantage. But there are occasions when there is a shortfall of skilled local workers and employers would be willing to pay more to bring in foreign contract workers even at higher pay then locals to complete a job. The final computation of pay for a worker is thus not a simple factor of same job same pay irrespective of nationalities and other factors. The critical issue is that the pay must be fair to the workers and to the employer after taking into consideration all factors, and both parties perceived that it is fair. This is the tricky part of salary administration. It is not QED.

The deadly derivative game

Justice Pillay had made a major ruling against Deutsche Bank of the lost of $59m for recommending derivative trading to a client few days back. In 3 months, the client, Dr Chang Tse Wen, lost $59m! This must be a kind of a record for the speed and the sum to be lost by an individual client.

The client was recommended to put money in discounted share purchase programme commonly known as accumulator. Whatever names they called it, derivatives, in whatever combinations or clever arrangements, are nothing more than betting slips. They are not investments but high risk betting or gambling.

How could such gambling slips be approved and be sold so widely across the world is troubling. The amount of derivatives bought and sold is mind blogging and could be the very instrument that could collapse the world financial system. But many high net worth clients would have to go first, losing their millions and their pants.

Investors who do not know how the derivative games are played are best to stay clear from such instruments.