Meritocracy to the hilt

This post is going to make some quarters very happy and appreciative, those Sinkies that think they are very clever and meritocratic and are better than the FTs. This group has no interest in the less able Sinkies that would be run down into the gutters. They have very low tolerance for the less clever Sinkies. They will thump their chests and shout, ‘Bring in the FTs!’ The other group will be the FTs here and many on the way. They will be beaming and grinning at the stupidity of this suggestion but will appreciate how it will favour them. Paradise is beckoning.
 
Meritocracy is really good. We can have the best of the world to make this a most prosperous piece of real estate in the world. There is no room for mediocrity and no need for bleeding hearts. It is like the law of the jungle, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, where Nature demands only the fittest to survive. Good genes are needed for the survival of the human race. The less able, the NGs, should be abandoned, culled if necessary, citizenship is no protection in pure meritocracy, regardless of everything, including nationality.
 
The final outcome, a city of the best and brightest and richest, a human paradise! But the island cannot just have the best and very best. The dirty work, the manual work, the service workers to service the rich and cleverest must be around to serve. Only the middle group, the neither good nor bad ie the average Sinkie or middle class, will not be able to find any meaningful existence in such a meritocratic city. You are either the best, to be served, or the lowest life form in the pecking order, to serve.
 
Shall this be something to look forward to? A city of two classes, the super rich and the lowest manual workers and service providers, and both are foreigners.

Kopi Level - Green

Occupy Central – A subversive dimension

The streets of Hongkong erupted with Occupy Central when more than 10,000 protestors put on a show of people power to challenge the centre of power in Beijing. The call or civil disobedience came from an unassuming law don, Dr Benny Tai. Dr Tai was propelled to stardom with his article ‘Civil disobedience, the most lethal weapon’ in his otherwise not very well read weekly column in the newspaper. He is now a household name in Hongkong with the pro democracy movement.
 
The 10,000 strong march, to break the law, came after a mock referendum held to vote for the right to determine who should be the CEO of Hongkong. According to Hongkong correspondent, Li Xueying, Dr Tai was trying to spur democracy by turning to subversion. Could such a tactic be applicable to Sin City? Would any blogger or columnist dare to incite subversion and challenge the govt in its policies?
 
What could be certain is the publicity and politicial stardom, like Roy Ngerng, to be bestowed on the subversive writer. Maybe he/she could be another household name like Roy Ngerng. But that is not all.
 
I doubt there will be anyone who would be tempted or encouraged by Dr Tai to gain publicity in this manner and to spur democracy by calling for a break the law protest like Occupy Raffles Place. Hey, it was done before but there were no 10,000 protestors, not even 10 turned up at Raffles Place. And no one gained instant fame. And the state of democratic movement remains the same as before. There is no tolerance for democractic movement in a democracy. Or is a democracy to start with?

Kopi Level - Green

Only 200 think Hsien Loong not fit to be PM

The protest rally last Saturday at Hong Lim only attracted a small crowd of about 200 people. The issue was that Hsien Loong was not fit to be the PM. The keynote speaker was Goh Meng Seng who listed a number of points on why he thought Hsien Loong was not fit to be the PM.
 
Looking at the number of people listening to him, it was apparent that only 200 people agreed with him. Only 200 people thought Hsien Loong was not fit to be the PM. This compares very poorly to a population of nearly 4m people who did not turn up and thus did not support the motion of the protest rally. In other words, Hsien Loong is fit to be the PM.
 
It would be a different matter if there was a 10,000 crowd or better, 26,000 crowd like the Pink Party, then the message would be different. A 6,000 crowd at the first PWP Protest was also too small to make any difference and 6.9m target would soon be a reality. A 200 protest crowd in this rally is like saying the opposite, the majority of the people are happy with Hsien Loong’s leadership and think him fit to be the PM.
 
For Goh Meng Send and those who have doubts about his suitability, the poor turnout is double confirmed that Hsien Loong is doing well.

Kopi Level - Green

Shinzo Abe, the 21st Century Hitler

Shinzo Abe is revealing himself as the most dangerous man in the 21st Century. His ‘Meiji Restoration’ is militarism, a mirror of Hitler’s Germany. Japan is going to be the new military power and unstoppable. And Abe is likely to have most of the victim countries of Japanese military expansion and invasion of the Second World War supporting him. And Abe is going to tell these countries, ‘We may have invaded your country, defeated your armies, looted your country, raped your women and massacred your people, we now come in peace. Trust Japan!’ And these countries will all say, ‘Yes, Yes.’
 
The Philippines with many Pinoys massacred by the Japanese Imperial Army have already offered their support for the remilitarizing of Japan. Vietnam is next on the list despite being colonized by Japan. The Australians, with many of their soldiers died in the Changi Prison after being interned as prisoners of war, will host Abe and listen to his call to support Japan’s rise as a military power.
 
Who is next? America is a no brainer despite the sinking of their Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour. America is the one behind the Japanese remilitarization to counter the rise of China. India is also a likely candidate to support Japan for the same reason. India got a better affinity with the Japanese Imperial Army when Subhas Chandra Bose formed the Indian National Army with the support of the latter against the British.
 
Would Indonesia and Malaysia join the queue to fall in line with Japanese militarism? Singapore is a good friend of Japan and would likely say yes. After all the Singapore govt has made a call to forget about the heinous crimes of the Japanese in WW2.
 
The revival of Japanese Imperialism is a certainty and likely to be welcomed by the American allies and Southeast Asian countries who have all forgotten about the Japanese invasion and atrocities inflicted on their people. They trust the Japanese and the most dangerous man of the 21st Century, Shinzo Abe.
And the Japanese have been telling these former colonies that they have behaved very well after the war. 

What the Japanese did not say is that they had no choice but to behave as they were muzzled and put on a leash by the Americans. If the muzzle had been removed and the leash cut earlier, this beast would have returned to its animal like behavior earlier. Now the Americans have chosen to unleash this beast to run wild against China. And even before the muzzle has been removed, it is snarling at China and Korea and itching for a fight. Abe has reinterpreted the constitution so that Japan can wage wars again!
 
Beware of this beast, a beast is always a beast.

Kopi Level - Green

What you said would not go away

‘Mr Prime Minister, we think that you are still going to be in your position. But when do you think you will retire?
 
A: As soon as there is somebody who is competent to take the job, I should not be here. It’s better for Singapore. If I hang on indefinitely, it will become more complicated.’
 
The above is quoted from an interview with LKY reported in the Asahi Shimbun in 1985. A blogger, Edmund, lifted the article and quoted it in his post ‘Why LKY continues to stay on till today’ in the TRE. Edmund made some interesting commentaries on the reasons for LKY to be still in parliament. What is interesting also is the above quote.
 
As early as 1985, the continued role of LKY as the PM was being questioned, and his departure from politics was a big issue. It was like the media asking LKY when was he going to let someone take over as he had been in politics for an unprecedented period of time. LKY’s reason or excuse to stay on in politics, as the PM, was the lack of an able person to take over the premiership. And he was like the guardian angel, to be there until the next guy was good enough, in his view, to go solo.
 
And, based on what he said above, when he is still around, it means that the incumbent PM is not good enough. When he has no confidence in the incumbent, he just has to keep an eye on him, like a goal keeper, just in case he needs to catch the ball from scoring. Another interpretation is that he had let go the moment he appointed someone else as PM, ie, since Chok Tong became the PM, he had found someone competent for the job of PM. This view will definitely invite alternative views.
 
Since 1985, we have two PMs, and LKY is still around. What does that mean? He is still needed to be safe as the two PMs were not good enough?.
 
There is another contradictory development to his staying in politics. There were comments that his presence in parliament would do more harm than good to the incumbent PM. People who shared this view are saying that he has overstayed and no longer welcomed. If this is true, his self assigned role as the goal keeper or guardian angel is going to be more negative than positive though his intention to guard the goal posts was admirable.
 
What if he has to step down due to old age in the next GE? Does it mean that there is someone ready and good enough that he is confident to leave the scene? Or would he die die want to stay on another term if the incumbent is still not good enough to him?
 
It is really pathetic that after two PMs, nearly 20 years of mentoring, no one is good enough. What is the reason? Poor judgement of the ability of the candidates or simply no talent available that is good enough? Or simply no one is going to fit that pair of big shoes? Maybe this time he would step down completely to affirm that he has found someone good enough to fill his shoes.
 
When God is concerned there can only be one God. No one else can be good enough.

Kopi Level - Green

Remisiers – The disappearing trade

The term remisier is quite unique to Singapore. It refers to a profession or tradesmen who execute buy and sell orders for stocks in the stock market. They used to offer more in the past, with some giving professional advice and opinions, information on stock rumours, speculations and sometimes ‘insider news’ to their clients. The remisiers also took on an intermediary role of extending credit limits for their clients to trade and becoming the first line of defence for the brokerages when a client absconded.

There was a healthy relationship between the clients and the remisiers then. This was in the past before the remisiers were, in a way, relegated to order takers or keyboard operators, not allowed to provide professional advice or recommend stocks to clients. Even providing opinions to clients on the stock market can by a scary thing if a wrong opinion led to complaints to the exchange. This is despite the fact that many remisiers have tertiary education, some in finance, and also certified to practise after passing the required tests stipulated by the Exchange. Remisiers are also required to attend refresher courses annually to keep them abreast with the developments in the industry.

The lowest point was the suggestion to rename remisiers as trade or sales representatives to accord them a level of incompetence or competency appropriate to order takers or keyboard operators. Recent developments led to the remisiers being required to be certified to trade in high risk products like structured warrants, derivatives, equity linked notes and financial products that only high net worth or ‘sophisticated’ clients can participate in and can afford to lose. Both the remisiers and ‘sophisticated’ clients must satisfy the Exchange that they are competent to trade in such high leverage products and would not blame anyone should they incur any losses. Some brokerages have renamed or rebranded their remisiers who have been certified competent to buy and sell such products as Investment Specialists or other more professional sounding names.

The rebranding is in line with the Exchange’s new direction in wanting remisiers to offer more services to their clients. Presumably remisiers who have passed the tests in a couple of new modules offered by the Exchange could now give professional and financial advice to their clients to buy and sell stocks and other financial products and services, and not just order takers.

With the stock market being dominated by computer trading and HFT, where such traders are relying on the speed and computation power of their computers to front run or scalping profits from the market, stock trading is no longer as it used to be when fundamentals and long term investments could make good profits in the long term. Stock trading is now primarily short term in nature when speed becomes the essence to make profits from the market. The human traders and speculators do not stand a chance to trade against super computers plugged into the Exchange. Some operators even moved their computers next door to the Exchange to gain the nano seconds advantage to execute a trade for sure profit.

Under such circumstances and a market that is determined by technologies, it is only wise for the Exchange to advise the remisiers to look at other avenues to earn a living, like selling other products, the latest being gold bullions. Chew Su Tat, Head of Sales and Clients at the SGX said, ‘If this (relying on calls from short term traders) is your sole business model, it’s not likely to be sustainable in the long term.’ He called on remisiers to rely more on internet trading to increase their client’s trading activities. How would this help the clients to profit from the market if the clients are also short term traders competing against the computers is another matter. Would sales technique, fundamental analysis and technical analysis help when the computers are still skimming the markets against all short term traders?

The daily value of trades done in the market has been declining and is averaging around $1b. The football season has taken its toll and the recent numbers have gone below $1b daily. Is there hope for a revival in the industry? The Exchange has released figures showing an increase in the number of remisiers in the industry despite many of the veterans having to call it a day when their monthly commissions are barely $1,000.

There are now 3,900 remisiers against 3000 in 2009. The number of CDP accounts has also gone up with 68,000 new accounts being added in the last 12 months. And the remisiers are getting more professional with the upgrading courses they have taken. Surely these must be positive signs for a recovery in the market and maybe a super bull run on the cards.

What is the reality? Would more remisiers coming into the industry mean more commissions earned by each remisier? Investment specialists, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, sales techniques, more CDP account opening, more financial products for sale, and whatever, are they going to improve trading activities and the income of the remisiers when computers tradings are still allowed to dominate and destroy the market speculators and genuine investors? Or is the message clear enough, changing name is not enough, changing trade or profession is the way to go for the remisiers?

How could a lucrative industry, with only basic stocks and shares and warrants, now no longer viable as an industry. How could the addition of so many complex and sophisticated financial products, instead of elevating the stock market into a booming industry, turning the stock market into a failed industry? What is going on?

Is there an elephant in the room? Where, where got? All is fine, trust me. Maybe all the remisiers will soon become millionaire remisiers like Peter Lim. Or is it million air remisiers? The wind down of the stock market as an industry is nearing its end and the clock will soon stop ticking. Would rebranding help to save the industry?

Time to prepare a place in the museum for another disappearing trade.

Kopi Level - Yellow

Good communications cannot substitute for bad policies

The govt seems to be putting the blame on bad communications as the source of unhappiness in the people. Is that so? The MSM also have been regurgitating that it was bad communications that have resulted in angry voices heard. The assumption is that policies are good and it was all because they were not well articulated to the people that is causing all the problems. It sounds more like the craftsman blaming his tools.
When policies are bad, they are bad. No amount of good communications can make bad policies become good. They could talk it away for a moment but once the people got a few moments to think about them, or when the policies start to hit them adversely, the anger will return.
 
Many salespersons would talk honey coated words to the clients to close a deal. But that is the beginning of the problem if the service or product is not up to specs. How many good or bad policies is there that can be better communicated? There are good policies that can do with better communications. There are many bad policies that no amount of communications can help.
 
Think CPF policies are good and can be explained away? Think the lost of jobs to foreigners are due to good policies? Think the policies on foreigners having a field day in property speculations here are good and only a little communications will make the people happy? Think the money spent on scholarships to foreigner students are good? Think filling up the academia with foreign faculty members are good, the unrestrained employment of foreigners in top jobs, the emptying of our talents in the IT and banking industries are good? The list can be pretty long on bad policies that cannot be explained away.
 
If bad policies can be explained away, it will be like you can bluff people some of the time, some people all the time, but not all the people all the time. That is the art of good communications to sugar coat bad policies at best. Using good communications to deceive the people when policies are really bad is a con job.

Kopi Level - Yellow

Aircraft carriers – The Art of War

Technology and fire power have simplified the Art of War to a game of arithmetic. The Americans have perfected this game for the last 60 plus years to rule the world by its sheer military might. It is a game of I can hit you and you can’t hit me. It is a game of I can drop 100 bombs or 1000 bombs on you and you can’t do anything about it.

The aircraft carriers, other than the nuclear arsenal that could blast this world into dust, are the core of the American war strategy. They are like floating death stars, mobile and can strike at the enemy in every corner of the earth. The only concern of the Americans is the sinking of an aircraft carrier. And to prevent this from happening, the aircraft carriers are protected by several layers of defence, in the air and under the sea and at sea level. The aircraft carriers will be a top priority target and must not be hit.

The aircraft carrier itself is an extremely expensive piece of technology and homes to thousands of soldiers and other war equipment. The supporting force and equipment to protect and defend the carrier are just as expensive, if not more. Acquiring an aircraft carrier is only the beginning of a huge acquisition of hardware and resources before it can go operation. The aircraft carrier is a very destructive and fearsome force. But it can be sunk and would be a priority target to be sunk. A simple example is the deployment of oil rigs in the South China Sea. The oil rigs are like the aircraft carriers, but unarmed, and have become easy targets of the Vietnamese. Hundreds of Vietnamese boats are attempting to ram and sink it. The Chinese responded by cordoning the rigs with hundreds of ships, probably submarines and aircraft to protect the rigs.

So far, there are no enemies of the Americans that are able to pose a threat to an aircraft carrier group. No one has the technology and capability to do so. And this gives the Americans the confidence and eagerness to wage wars, to threaten and attack any country that refuses to tow the line. But this is history. The Chinese purposefully develop anti aircraft carrier missiles, the DF21, to strike and sink aircraft carriers. With a range of more than 3000 nautical miles, it means that any aircraft carrier within that range from the Chinese coast could be sunk by these missiles, a more sophisticated and deadly drone. The DF21s are a cheap way to take on high value targets like aircraft carriers. Each missile would cost only a fraction of the aircraft carrier and China could send a couple of hundreds D21s in waves against a carrier. And it would be very cost effective.

The aircraft carriers to an enemy that is capable of taking it down at long range is just like sitting ducks in a pond. They would no longer be able to deploy their military might, to be able to hit the enemy but not being hit, when the enemy can now hit it first. The formidable floating death stars are floating death platforms and are very vulnerable to attacks. It is still a simple strategy in the Art of War, of I can hit you, you can’t hit me. Now the table is turned. The aircraft carriers cannot be within the range of the DF21s without risking everything on board. It is no longer the untouchable fortress, safe and secure, and extremely deadly.

Technology has caught up with the aircraft carriers. If Iran were to possess enough DF21s, would the Americans dare to move their aircraft carriers into the Indian Ocean or Gulf of Arabia? Would the Americans dare to contemplate sailing the 7th Fleet into the Straits of Taiwan as a show of force to intimidate China?

Anyone thinking of acquiring aircraft carriers must know that the intended enemy will acquire killer drones to sink the carriers. The Art of War is playable from both sides. No one side has the advantage of initiative and military superiority all the time. One can dream on striking the enemy first, preventive and preemptive surgical strikes, so can the enemy. One can keep spending money on more expensive weapons, so can the enemy. The ‘enemy’ will be strategising on every counter moves to defend itself and to strike at the weakest link or most valuable targets of the aggressor.

The enemies are not dead or dumb. What one can do, the enemy will be doing something else to counter every move made. You have aircraft carriers, the enemy will be ready to sink them. The American carrier groups were invincible but no more.

Kopi Level - Yellow

GST Vouchers – Real spending money or smoke screen?

A blogger by the nick of Meng wrote the above article posted in TRE. I quote his first two paragraphs,

‘Something I do not understand on GST Voucher payout to credit off the Utilities Account.
I have a family of 5 staying with me. Looking at the MOF Letter, every family member is given a $180 to offset their household utility bills. So a total of $900. However, I can only deduct $180 for my SP Services. So where did the balance $720 go? Lost into thin air?...’

Assuming that there are 1m households of 5 and each household receiving a total of $900 of GST Voucher for utility bills, technically the govt could declare that it pays out $900m in GST rebates to the people. If every household has the same 5 heads as mentioned by Meng and only one can claim $180, then the actual amount paid out and redeemed by the 1m households is $180m. There is a difference of $720m not claimable. If we have two million households, the amount would be $1.44b while the govt could claim giving away $1.8b.

How much does the Finance Ministry budgeted for and how much it claimed to have spent on the people? Or would it later make a revision to say only 20 per cent was spent?  If so, it would be proper procedure to refund the 80 per cent back to the MOF’s account. Unless of course the payout is actual and not $900m or $1.8b as projected, there is thus no need to account for the difference of $720m/$1.44b.

It is still a very good PR exercise for the govt to claim to have given back $900m/$1.44b to the people. And 4 out of 5 in such a household would have a brief moment of happiness, thinking that the govt is giving them $180 each, only to realise that it was all a mirage. The issue could be just PR, gives out $180m but on paper reflecting $900m. As a paper exercise, there is nothing to it, as no money is lost or not accounted for.

Kopi Level - Yellow

GIC investing in student dormitory

‘Singapore's GIC and Macquarie invest in Australian student dorm developer

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Australia's Macquarie Capital said Wednesday they have formed a joint venture that bought a majority stake in an Australian student accommodation group.’ AFP. This news was reported about a month ago.

GIC, our SWF, one of the biggest in the world, is investing money to build dormitories for students in Australia. I can’t remember whether it was GIC or Temasek that invested in the ill fated childcare that went bust and burnt a big hole in the fund’s pocket. Oops, apologies, just a tiny hole only, smaller than a kacang puteh.

There are some commonalities in the two investments. Both by Singapore’s world class SWF managed by the finest talents money can buy. Both involved education and students, only difference is one is bigger than the other. Let’s hope and pray that the commonality stops here.

One thing for sure, investing in the education of children is a noble thing to do. And the cost would not be as big as investing in world class banks. So it is a very safe investment and any losses would be kacang puteh at most.

This is prudence at the highest level, small risk investments. May I suggest investing in foodcourts, hawker centres and pasar malams, all national institutions, to the world market? These are low cost investments but with potentials to be Singapore’s Kmart or MacDonald and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Can tap on low cost engineering from India and low cost labour too to make these investments even more competitive.

They said branding makes a world of difference. Brand these products with the names of GIC or Temasek would definitely raise eyebrows and make them great household names.

Oh, talking about dormitory and labour, how about investing in dormitories for our 2 million foreign worker and talent population? There is a critical mass to make the venture worthwhile and also help to solve our social problem of not providing quality living environment for these people that came to help turn Singapore into a world class city.

F35 fleet grounded

A fire on the engine of a F35 has led to the complete grounding of all F35s in service. The US Defence Department has announced that a complete inspection of all the engines will be conducted, and for safety reasons, they will not let the F35s off the ground until they know what is the cause of the problem. A decision to put all 97 aircraft on hold must mean something serious is going on.

The F35 is by far the most expensive multi role fighter aircraft ever produced and will cost about $200m a piece. Singapore was reported to have committed to buy the F35s but the decision has been kept under wrapped given the series of problems facing the aircraft and the many concerns expressed over its ability to perform to specifications. The cost is also a very prohibitive factor and only countries that are very rich and have a lot of money to throw would be able to afford it. Singapore is the only exception as it would be small change to our big coffer.

An American general has publicity announced that Singapore has already made the buy decision. Would this be true and Singapore be acquiring this untested aircraft that is extremely costly and plagued with a host of problems? Under the old thinking, especially the leadership of Goh Keng Swee, Singapore will not touch any aircraft with a 10 foot pole unless the aircraft has been operational and proven in service. Has there been a new thinking, a new adventurism to plough billions of dollars on such an expensive piece of untested equipment that is infamous for all kinds of problems and have not been ruled fit and operational, let alone seen service in the battle field? It is like buying a dinosaur egg with a lot of promises and surprises that we would definitely get the dinosaur we paid for.

Maybe a decision has already been made and all the reservations are of no use. Just name the price and we will pay for it as long as it looks good on paper and the marketing brochures. This will be another great new toy to boot should it ever land on our shore. And with the price tag, it must be really good. It must be value for money. Good stuff doesn’t come cheap except when it is a con job like the few banks that we bought and nearly lost our pants.

Kopi Level - Green

Another protest at Hong Lim tomorrow

We would like to inform that we will be having an event on Saturday, 5th July at Hong Lim Park from 4 to 7pm. Subject of the event is titled – “Is our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong the right person to lead Singapore?”
 
For this event, we have invited 10 speakers from all walks of life to talk about the subject matter. As we know, the prime minister has recently launch a defamation suit against its own citizen, Mr Roy Ngerng. There are legitimate calls from certain sections of the community for our Prime Minister to step down from office.
Most of the speakers on that day will be ordinary Singaporeans who are either frustrated with the policies in place or are personally affected by it. Hence, the event will showcase arguments on whether the prime minister is the right person to lead the nation.
 
Link to the event page can be found in FB – https://www.facebook.com/events/657651847623510/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=1....
 
We cannot allow a leader who has no competency and heart to lead the country. We cannot allow a leader who is devoid of compassion to continue and pile on miseries towards citizens any longer.
It’s time for him to step down from office and allow a true leader with the appropriate skills, knowledge, competency and foresight to take over and lead Singapore to the next era….
Hosted by William Lim and Osman Sulaiman.
 
The above is posted in TRE. I am not sure who is the organizer of this event. This is the first time that a protest is directed at a person, in this case the PM, Hsien Loong. The earlier protests were about issues and policies. Just wonder what kind of crowd it will draw.

Kopi Level - Green

CPF – A cut off age to stop contributing

CPF is a forced savings towards a retirement fund, a time and age when the contributor is expected to retire from active employment and to take life at a slower pace with the life savings that he had set aside. At some point in time, people stop working or retire. Some may choose to continue to work if they are physically able, wanted to or needed to. In the last case, it is likely that there is no or not enough savings and no other form of financial support from the family.
 
In general, people may want to retire after spending a whole life working.
And the retirement fund comes in handy for this purpose. Some may not have much but could make do with family support and could choose to enjoy a life of leisure within their means.
 
Under the CPF scheme, there is no such thing as a cut off age when a person can stop contributing. In the case of employment, including self employed, one can still be economically active even at 70, 80 or 90 and is expected to contribute to the CPF, for the self employed into the Medisave Account. What the fuck for? These economically active seniors are in much better financial situation than those who have retired, unemployed and have no income. What are they contributing into the CPF for, for their retirement? If they are still working at such a ripe age, many would pass away without knowing what is retirement?
 
In the case of self employed, even if their Medisave Accounts have exceeded the minimum sum, they are legally required to contribute more to renew their licence. What for? Why is there no cut off date for a person to stop contributing to the CPF/Medisave? Has the CPF Board forgotten what is CPF contribution all about? Or they are treating this as a kind of taxation? You work, you contribute to the Fund. You want your licence, you pay up.
 
What is going on? There must be a cut off age when contributing to the CPF in any forms except on a voluntary basis must ceased.

Kopi Level - Green

A foreign professor telling us that we are walking naked

In his article in the Today paper on 3 Jul 14, ‘Spore universities’ foreign talent policies need to change’, Professor Philip Holden, revisited the issue of disappearing Singaporean faculty members in the local universities raised by Seah Kian Peng earlier in Parliament. His observation, ‘While more than half of current tenured faculty in the university system are Singaporean, Singaporeans now constitute only a quarter of early career academics on the tenure track at NUS and NTU.’ Is this planned and the desired goal?
 
What is Philip Holden trying to say? There are too few Singaporeans in the university faculties and going to get bad in the future? To him this is a problem. To Singapore, is it a problem? Maybe lah. Maybe just enough to ‘talk talk’ and nothing more to it. It was discussed in Parliament, yes, but everything is forgotten. To Holden, this is not a little problem that is good enough for after dinner talk but serious enough to demand action. He said, ‘My experience as a visiting scholar in Canada over the past years suggests that discussions may not be enough and should be supplemented by concrete policy changes.’
 
Funny that a foreigner could see problems in our foreign talent policies and a problem serious enough to require actions while our chaps didn’t see anything wrong and a few talking cock sessions will do, nothing needs to be done? In a survey done, it ‘found that more than 80 per cent of Singaporean graduate students, whether abroad or in the Republic, answered “yes” or “maybe” when asked if they felt local universities prefer to hire non Singaporeans.’ Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Dunno leh, probably not important. The whole faculty can go to foreigner should be no issue too what? After all this is getting to become a non country or a non nation. Anything wrong with foreigners teaching us about our history, culture and literature?
 
There were rumours and murmurs that the selection committees of our local universities were dominated by foreigners who have the final say in who to hire. I can’t believe that this is the case. Next time our political appointees could also be decided by a panel of foreigners and no one will bat an eyelid. What’s wrong with it? Anyone who says foreigners taking over the recruitment of faculty members is unacceptable and must be xenophobic. And anyone saying bad things about the industries being dominated by foreigners and foreigners hiring their own kinds are also xenophobic and deserves to be whacked. We are a free economy and we welcome talents from the whole world. This island belongs to everyone here.
 
What the ….?

Kopi Level - Green

HFT – How much did they hide from you

Michael Lewis' 'Flashboys: Cracking the money code' tells how HFTs rig markets
By Sanjay Kumar Singh, ET Bureau | 30 Jun, 2014,

‘….Michael Lewis, who has written such highly-acclaimed books as Liar's poker, The big short and Moneyball, tackles the subject of high-frequency trading in his latest work, 'Flashboys: Cracking the money code.'

Imagine that you are trying to buy a company's stocks priced at Rs 100 over the Internet. As soon as you put in a bid to buy the stock, its price jumps to Rs 102 and your order doesn't get executed. You wait for a while, get frustrated, and then ultimately buy the stock at the slightly higher price.

Something similar happens when you try to sell a stock. This time the price moves lower, forcing you to take a small loss. It is as if someone has read your mind, acted just ahead of you, and thwarted you. Today technology makes it possible for entities called high frequency traders ( HFT) to do such front-running (which means to learn an investor's intentions and profit from them by acting ahead of him).

When you send a buy or sell order to a stock exchange, its matching engines match your buy orders with others' sell orders and enable you to buy a stock at the best possible price. But what if the process doesn't run cleanly? What if there are intermediaries who can intercept your orders midway and glean the information therein?

They then run ahead of you and buy all the stocks available on all the exchanges and then put in sell orders at higher prices, thereby forcing you to buy at those prices, especially when orders are very largesized. This is a simplified description of what high-frequency traders do.

Now, you might argue: how much would buying a stock for two rupees extra matter in the larger scheme of things? But imagine a couple of bucks earned on millions of transactions—some of them worth thousands or even millions of dollars. All those little gains then add up. That's how HFTs make their billions.

One of the functions of a stock exchange is to make risk capital available to entrepreneurs. Intermediaries like HFTs make money while adding no value to this process, essentially indulging in a form of rent-seeking. They end up raising the cost of capital for entrepreneurs….

Even US stock exchanges were hand-in-glove with them, allowing them to place their servers close to the exchange's servers, thereby gifting HFTs that tiny micro-second's advantage. Broking firms also played a part. Instead of executing the orders they got themselves, they would redirect them to HFTs, who fleeced the customer while giving broking firms a kickback. It is this nexus that Lewis exposes in his book….Well, HFTs have spread their tentacles to exchanges around the globe. The next time the price of a stock jumps suddenly when you try to buy it, or a flash crash occurs, ask yourself: have HFTs arrived?’

The examples given by Lewis were simply criminal in nature. How much more the public did not know about the devious and criminal activities of HFT? If stock exchanges knew about how HFT operates as described, and allowed HFT into their systems, what shall be done to the management of the exchanges? If govts knew the same things are happening and do not stop them, what kind of govts are they? Heard of accomplices or partners in crimes?

Kopi Level - Green

Japan marching to war

The final chapter in the remilitarizing of Japan has been written with the Abe administration denouncing its Pacifist Constitution imposed by the Americans after its barbaric and brutal invasion of Asia and South East Asia. The spate of cruelties and atrocities inflicted on the people of Asia and South East Asia were beyond description, even more vicious than what the Germans did to the Jews. These acts led to the Americans lifting all restraints to drop two atomic bombs into Japanese cities as just deserts for the abominable crimes of the Japanese Imperial Army.
 
In contrast, today America is backing and supporting the Japanese to rearm, which is a fallacy anyway as the Japanese have already built an armed force more powerful than any country in Asia, and deceptively called it a Self Defence Force. In the name of defending Japan against a hyped up threat of an aggressive China, by the way China was the biggest victim of Japanese invasion and atrocities in WW2, and Japan is now asserting itself to conduct wars outside Japan on the excuse that China is an aggressive nation.
 
Without the revisionist reinterpretation of its Pacifist Constitution, the Japanese Defence Force is all ready and provided by its Constitution to defend Japan against any attacks by external forces. There is no need to reinterpret the Constitution to allow it to be involved in wars outside Japan. The intent is simply to allow Japan to conduct wars of aggression all over again.
 
While Japan is raising its military posture, behaving provocatively against its immediate neighbours, the whole world watched in silence, and the Americans clapped their hands in approval. The only retribution that the Americans deserved for this wanton support granted to the most barbaric nation in modern history is to be hit by another Pearl Harbour of a bigger scale by Japan. That would be rightful justice for encouraging and supporting a wild beast and unleashing it into the international arena.
 
Japan has not changed a single bit in its wild and ferocious ambition to be a big colonial power. China and the Koreans are prepared to deal with this animal should it return to its evil ways. The only country that is willingly and happily to be deceived by the pretentious Japanese is the USA, a country that the Japanese have a score to settle, to return the favour of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
 
History will repeat itself to those that refused to learn from their historical past.

Kopi Level - Green

Medishield Life – What to worry about?

Gan Kim Yong has fleshed out some of the details concerning premiums payable in year 2015 and year 2019. Under Medishield Life, with higher payouts and benefits, it is expected that the premiums should logically be higher. But given the fact that the coverage is for everyone, young and old, covering the whole population with everyone paying, would there be economy of scale to offset the premiums to make it even lower instead?

Gan Kim Yong announced that the premiums would be held unchanged for the next 5 years which is quite reassuring. This is possible by taking into consideration all contingencies that could be foreseen, a kind of front loading. So whatever that needs to be added in, real or imagination, or just to take care of the unexpected has already been added to the premiums payable. Just wondering what is the percentage in this front loading to the actual cost? If it is 30%, it means the premiums are already 30% higher than it should be. And this is a very conservative guess. What if you have a decision maker that wants to think of everything under the sky that could crop up and wants to include them for safety measures, never mind, it is ok to collect more?

Would Gan Kim Yong be transparent as to how much has already been added in the calculation of the premiums? There are enough statistics from the Medisave schemes to give a reasonable estimate of claims against cost. As Gerald Giam has pointed out in Parliament, the claims came up to be 67% of the premiums collected. I stand corrected if the number is slightly different from Gerald’s number. The data shows that there is room for the lowering of the premiums instead of raising it like someone who wants to cover front and back and top and bottom, every hole that he can possibly think off or imagine.

Gan Kim Yong has given the impression that he is very concern about the cost of premiums and wanting to ensure that it will remain affordable. I find the affordable formula frightening if the cost of medicare in hospitals is not reined in and not allow to run away like a wild horse. It would be more reassuring if he also announces that the policy and objective of the Medishield Life is not profit making and any profit would be ploughed back to lower the premiums in the future. Would he commit to this?

The other frightening thing about the premium tables is the premium for the oldies. Oldies are expected to continue to pay premiums up to the age of 90. How many people would have the money to pay premiums at that age? Many would have long retired by the time they reached 65 or 70. The PMEs may even be retired by 50 or 55 and cannot find reasonable employment. There are exceptions for people to work to 90. Maybe you can find some working as cleaners in the hawker centres and food courts.

Would Gan Kim Yong want to consider lobbing off the senior citizens from his tables, say by age 70 or 75? Would it be too big a burden for the govt to pay for the oldies? He has said that there will be more govt subsidies to help the seniors, why not have a policy to remove them from the premium tables and the govt absorb the cost? Under the PGP, those 80 and above will not have to pay for the Medishield Life premiums. Is this applicable to those in the pioneer generation but not yet 80? Why is this not extended to the future seniors when they hit 80? How many seniors in the future can afford to continue to pay Medishield Life premiums after paying for a life time and no longer having an income?

Kopi Level - Green

Can Singapore play the property investment game?

The property developers are crying foul. The cooling measures must be lifted. To them, property prices must go one way, up and up. And the only thing good about the property investment game is to let property price to go as high as it possibly could. I fully agree with this kind of thinking if I am a property developer or property churning investor. It makes good sense, and very good profit when property prices shoot to the sky.
 
As a govt, there are other considerations and the interests of the people, the rich and the poor, at stake. A govt cannot allow property prices to run crazy except those who have a vested interest to want it so. There were some missteps by the govt by allowing property prices to spiral out of control and causing a lost of hardship, and an extremely high price system that is no longer sustainable. The property prices are way too high against the income of the average citizens and are eating away their income.
 
Fortunately the govt is having second thought in spite of the pressure from the property developers. If the property developers are allowed to set the agenda, the rich of the world and property speculators would all be here to buy up everything and we just don’t have enough properties to sell to them. They could literally buy up the whole island in a laissez faire, anything goes system.
 
We are just too small to play the property investment game in the world market. The govt must review its policies on the property market and come out with a clear policy direction it wants to take. Unless it can create a dual market where the citizens can be protected from the world’s super rich, to be able to afford properties within their means and not priced out of reach, allowing a free and unrestrained property market will create a very grave situation for the average citizens.
 
The govt may want to introduce more cooling measures instead, to keep properties at a sustainable level for the citizens and not to allow cheap money to create havoc to the lives of its citizens. We may have reached a saturation point in the amount of properties we can afford to sell to the speculators and investors of the world. To bring in the speculators of the world into this island is sheer madness and irresponsible.
The property developers must not be allowed to call the shot on how the property market should develop. Their only concern is profit and do not have to bother about the lives of the citizens and how an uncontrolled property market could make life unbearable and unaffordable to the ordinary citizens. They don’t have to care.
 
They should go and compete in the world market, develop their properties all over the world in the same way Singaporeans are told to go overseas. The sheer size of our population will create a squeeze that will be unbearable if the property market is as open as our immigration policies. The average citizens will be screwed real hard and skewered by the property developers and speculators. This simply cannot be allowed.

Kopi Level - Green

What is SMRT thinking?

Commuters and the public are not amused by the latest SMRT initiatives to make commuting more relax and fun. SMRT is going to encourage buskers in the stations, paint the trains according to themes of the day, like football season and more. These frivolous things cost money and will eventually be passed to the commuters.
 
What is making the commuters and public seeing red is the obvious disconnect in the thinking of the SMRT management and the needs of the commuters. The commuters are not asking for the sky or pole dancing in the train cabins. All they are asking for are smooth, fast, clean, not smelly and less jam packed trains. Are these too difficult to understand?
 
The frills that the SMRT are planning to roll out are an astounding piece of ‘out of touch’ work, totally oblivious of their mission and the needs of the commuters. Who could come out with such ideas, some foreign talents or someone living in the ivory tower?
 
It is amazing, really amazing, that top dollars are being paid for this kind of queer thinking. Oops, don’t say that. No need to be rude. The SMRT is public transport and not a circus.

Kopi Level - Green

Complimentary roles of the USA and China

China and the USA have been working hand in hand to restructure and redevelop the countries of the world towards a new future that no one is saying and expecting. The mission of the Americans is destruction, like mother nature, to bring down govts and infrastructure wherever they go, akin to clearing the tables. Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and earlier, the African states are the latest examples of countries needing reconstruction. Wherever the Americans visited, there are bound to be wars and destruction. Countries are torn apart and turned into waste land and the economy runs aground. It makes reconstruction and rebuilding easier and absolutely necessary. Thank you Americans.
 
The work of China is cut out for it. China has all the necessary skills and expertise to rebuild these broken countries. China also has the money to do it. There is nothing about politics but restoring economies in a mess, rebuilding the infrastructure and recreating the lives of the people in desperation. The experiment in modern China with all the brand new cities built over the ancient cities that were crumbling by the ravages of time is the model to look forward to. Every new and sparkling China city is a new hope that China could transplant to the broken states in Africa and the Middle East and anywhere in the world that the Americans have laid to waste.
 
Wherever and whenever the Americans moved out after their mission of destruction, China would move in to rebuild and to repair the damages left behind. China has a lot of work to do to help the destroyed and failed states to rise again, like China did for itself in the last 40 years, if they can do away with the politics of war and destruction.
 
China is the new hope for these countries, to rebuild a new world for them. One came to destroy and the other to rebuild. One destroys the lives of the people, the other to give hope for a new and better life. The world is changing in an unusual, unplanned and unprecedented way. Or is it part of the bigger scheme of things of the invisible hand?
 
It is unbelieveable! China is in Africa and moving into the Middle East, and Iraq in particular, while the Americans are moving out. The Americans and the Europeans could not be the contractors as they were together in flattening those countries and would be killed by the natives. The Chinese were a non interested party to their destruction, a neutral contractor that comes with no political strings attached. They have the money and the technology, and a competitive offer to match.

Kopi Level - Green