1MDB – modus operandi of SWF

The way the 1MDB operates and the attacks on its integrity have become a great publicity case in Malaysia and a political football between those in power and those waiting to unseat those in power. Given the fact that both sides are quite equally matched in political influence and with significant support on the ground, the contenders are not going to get away easily or be thumped down without putting up a big fight.

In the rumour mills, there have been speculations as to how a fund like this would or could make money for the people behind the fund. And it is interesting to see the different processes involved and how money is being made. The first part is the source of fund. As a sovereign fund, the funding is easy if the people behind it could use all the political influence and power to get cheap fund without having to go through the due process of qualifications as a reliable and credible borrower. It is a case of just demand and the money will appear, OPM, or from govt linked organizations where there is no individual owners to talk about.

Such funds are not only easy to come by, the terms of repayment are just as fluid if not hazy. It can be on a continuous basis with no beginning and no ending, round tripping or refinancing and refinancing with the funds remaining in the SWF forever and unaccountable to anyone. With this part secure, there is money, plenty of money, unlimited supply of money.

The next big question is how to siphon the money out from the fund. Oh, I have skipped the investment part completely. Maybe I should touch on this, as suggested by some analysts as to how the SWF will invest the good money to make good returns. The trick is NOT to make money. Profitable investments are only good on paper but not worthwhile if the money cannot be taken out from the fund. So paper profits or cooking the books to show profits would do.

The best and easiest part is to lose money, the more the better. Any bad investment would mean the money in the fund can be drawn down, or lost, spent. With this model, investment becomes so easy and needs only a little bit of ingenuity. Find junk companies, boost up their share prices, inflate them as high as possible, buy high, very high. Then let the price falls and sell at the bottom. Junk companies can be created by proxies or cronies. Some junk companies can be a shell or fictitious, never mind. The intent is to lose money in order to get the money out from the SWF.

Just imagine if each investment in a junk or fictitious company would lead to a loss of $300m, how much could be pocketed if 10 such companies would to fail? Easily $3b and setting aside a few hundred millions for the cronies and proxies would be small change and everyone very happy.

The other important trick is to keep the accounts secret to allow the fund to write whatever profit or loss it so desired. In a way the fund can keep on running in perpetuity, with new money coming in and pocketed by announcing bad deals and big losses. Then top up with more of OPMs.

This is a very simple model of how to make SWFs make money for the people behind them, no transparency, no accountability, just get a few cronies to go through the motion of investing in loss making companies over and over again. No one will bother to check it out, no one will bother to complain and ask for accountability. 1 MDB was just unfortunate that it could not keep its activities under wrapped and was exposed prematurely. If not, it could be a golden goose that would lay unlimited golden eggs.

The genuine SWFs got to sweat to make money, to justify to shareholders, to govts and auditors, and be accountable for the profit and loss. It is not easy to make good and profitable investments. Not everyone is a Warren Buffett. But making ‘sure loss’ investment is a piece of cake. The small difficulty is how to make the loss as big as possible and still look genuine.

This is great fun, oops funs, to operate. No stress, no need to work too hard and money is coming in by money going out in loss making investments. Simply ingenious!

Expats agree Singaporeans should be employed first

‘It seems there are just VERY FEW good jobs on offer in Singapore because the market IS SO SMALL.
Having said this, why does your PAP Government even allow Pinoys and Indos to take PR and then take SENIOR MANAGEMENT JOBS?

These jobs (which are the same jobs I am competing for) are in EXTREMELY LIMITED SUPPLY and, in my opinion, should be RESERVED EXCLUSIVELY for local citizens and foreigners should be told to fxxx off.

You see, while I compete with Pinoys, Indonesians, Indians and Chinese (not locals) for these jobs, I have seen on many occasions that my interviewer is actually NOT EVEN A LOCAL SINGAPORE CITIZEN.

I feel the PAP is doing a great disservice to the local Singaporeans.’ By Sam

The above extract is posted both in Transitioning.org and TRE, supposedly by an expat called Sam.
The main question is why are Singaporeans, PMETs and young graduates, facing so many problems and hard times getting a decent job here? Singaporeans are complaining not because they are against expats and foreigners working here. The angst is that why are so many Singaporeans not able to get a decent job and ended up unemployed, underemployed or retired prematurely? And we have practically full employment. And we have a few hundred thousand foreigners here with good jobs.

Why is it so difficult to get all the Singaporeans, especially the PMETs and young graduates employed? Singapore is not facing a situation when there are not enough jobs to go round. We have so many foreigners happily employed here and many found it so easy to get a job while our very own citizens are having trouble landing a job.

Any politicians still cannot understand or see the point or the angst the Singaporeans are facing? I must conclude that such people are simply daft, dumb or pretending to be daft and dumb, looking the other way.

And no, for the monkeys who are accusing the jobless Singaporeans of having an entitlement mentality, I say stuff it in your ass. Singaporeans should have priority for jobs here, good jobs.  Level playing field is not good enough. This country belongs to the Singaporeans, not to any asses. But it doesn’t mean that they don’t have to work and underperform. The lazy and spoilt PMETs would get the boot. They should get preference, especially in govt or GLC jobs but it must not be an iron rice bowl and they could be fired if not performing.

We have so many jobs to go around, to 500,000 foreigners. There is no good reason that Singaporeans who want to work cannot find a decent job commensurate with his qualifications and experience. Please don’t give any crap reasons like lack of skills set. Rubbish! Sometimes a little training, orientation and OJT would be enough to work someone into a job until the job is so specialized or technical in nature. It is so sinful, a crime, for fake foreigners to take the good jobs of qualified Singaporean.

There is no excuse for not providing jobs to Singaporeans. There are plenty of jobs for Singaporeans and foreigners and for fakes. Even if all the PMETs and young unemployed Singaporean graduates are employed, there will still be hundreds of thousands of good jobs available for foreigners.

Let’s not short change the Singaporeans, the citizens of this country. Singaporeans must not accept this state of affair. Not doing anything to right this wrong against Singaporeans is unacceptable. This is the chance for politicians to prove that they are there to serve the interest of the Singaporeans, to look after the voters who voted them into Parliament. Did anyone say they need to take care of the interest of foreigners first, to give them jobs because they are better than Singaporeans?

Please kee chiu.

Who would you employ, degree mill or legit university?

Many people have wisen up to omnipresence of fake degrees here and all over the world. It is real, no joke. And many have started to question the value of the degree and the intelligence of the graduates, degree mill verses legit university.
 
Employers are interested in good and intelligent graduates. And this used to be a graduate from a reputable university, best an Ivy League university. It used to be that simple. A good graduate from such universities means a tested and proven one. No need to look further.
 
Things have changed so much. Today a degree from an Ivy League university could be a printed fake degree unless one do due diligence to check it out. And there are also many fake degrees with degree mills with very similar names to Ivy League universities.
So employers have changed tack. The piece of paper is not important anymore. It is whether the candidate can do the job. I believe anyone can now be an engineer or doctor or software expert without going through the mills of a legit university. The proof is in the pudding.
 
I think employers could have been seriously looking at those with degree mill degrees to check for intelligence, creativity, street smart, and the ability to take short cuts. A degree mill graduate has all these qualities, including the communications skills to get pass whoever is on their way. It takes a lot of ingenuity to get that degree mill degree, of getting it cheap and fast, saving so much effort and money. This is surely a measure of intelligence out of the box. And better still if they can con, I mean convince, the employer that a degree mill is ok. The employer would definitely benefit from such clever employees, to be able to cut cost and cut corners and talk their way out even in a sticky situation.
 
Getting a straight jacket legit degree graduate is at best an honest, decent conformist, run of the mill graduate, who would just follow all the rules and system. This kind of employees can be easily replaced by robotics, cheaper and more reliable.
 
Unlike this robotic type of employees, a degree mill graduate would have the confidence to bluff his way through any situation and has a lot of guts to do things and get things done, at the quickest, shortest possible time and cheapest cost. That is the real value of such employees, highly creative and ingenius.
 
No wonder there is now a new thinking, don’t waste time chasing that degree. Got degree good, no degree better. Some employers are now looking at other things than just a piece of paper. This is the real world, the new ethos, new work ethics.
 
Oops, did anyone say cheating is the flavor and desired quality to survive in this fake new world, where fake is the in thing?

China – The nonsense that the analysts would want you to believe

China is in big trouble economically. Its growth rate has gone down from double digits to barely 7%. Serious trouble! There was another article in the msm few days back with the title ‘China’s miracle is running out of steam’ with the author gloating that this is a truth that he had been writing about and is coming true, inevitable.
 
Let’s take a look at China’s 7% GDP growth rate. This is considered bad and China’s economy is going to collapse. Relatively speaking, from more than 10% to 7% is a drop, a substantial fall. Do the opinion makers want to tell you why it is 7% now? When China was growing at more than 10% they were also crying father and mother. Unsustainable, overheating, it will go bust. Now China reined in its runaway economy to make growth more sustainable, intentionally restraining the galloping away economy, it is also bad.
 
And countries making 3% or 4% growth are great, damn great, well done. Even the US and Europe with their less than 2% growth rate is something cheer about, but China’s 7% growth rate is troubling, even if it is intentional held back to cool down the economy. See the bull? They would not even want to know that China has a war chest of more than US$3 trillion to be used, if needed, if intended, to steam roll its economy. It can easily push it up to double digit by burning a bit of its reserves. But that is not what a prudent govt will do. China is engineering a soft landing, and has everything under control and with a lot of money to make it whatever way it wants? Serious trouble?
 
The other issue about China is about not enough immigrant workers from the country side and running out of steam due to labour shortage. What kind of ass thinking is that. China has 1.4b people, many are just breaking out of the poverty trap. Because of the ageing demography, China is short of labour supply? There will be lesser labour supply as the population aged, sure. Is it a good thing or bad thing given a population of 1.4b? Would this lighten the pressure on resource allocation and consumption to bring down the population and allow a good opportunity for restructuring the economy from a low skill to high skill economy with higher productivity and higher value add but less demanding for numbers? The ageing population and the older workers were the less literate population that is something best to reduce and do away with.
 
China’s next phase of economic development and growth could be from a paradigm shift that many developing countries had gone through, from quantitative change to a qualitative change. China has a lot of room to upgrade its economy, to move up the skills ladder where quality workforce is more desirable than quantity of low skill labour.
 
What is the problem? The Chinese leaders are daft, one trick pony, depending on labour and more labour to grow its economy, like the daft labour intensive policies in Singapore? China will see a transition to a new level of growth and it is not even rocket science but a natural progression. The refocus on domestic economy, domestic consumption instead of the high reliance on export, which still has a lot of room to grow. The whole of Asia and Africa is China’s market for growth, not counting Europe and the Americas.
 
China is in deep economic trouble, with US$3 trillion reserves to boot, with an economy growing at a managed 7% growth rate, with a 1.4b pool of untapped talent and a continental size country that needs to be redeveloped?
 
Which are the countries that are really in trouble, with low or negative growth rate, with barely any reserves and high debt, with high cost of living and low productivity, high consumption and low production? China is a low consumption and high production economy with very low cost of production and consumption.
 
Would you believe the silly analysts who wanted you to see what they themselves wanted to see, wanted to believe and keep screaming the glass is half empty? The USA, you wait. China is going to run over and be ahead, to be the world’s number One economy, if not already there, and holding its horses to run at a more manageable pace.
A 7% growth rate for such a huge economy is frightening in absolute numbers. Many countries will be crowing and gloating themselves silly with this number. Sure China has a lot of problems, so do other countries. The fact that they have rode the problems for the last 40 years and still growing speak for itself. Every country will have their host of problems, no exceptions, and China is no exception. It’s the net surplus or positives over the negatives that matters.

The myth of skills set

You need to have the right papers, right experience and the right skills set to be hired. Many PMETs are no longer employable because they don’t have the skills set to be employed. What are the skills set that is needed for one to get hired or to be suitable for a job, especially a high paying one?
 
Should I ask Lim Swee Say? He just said, or ‘believes that his successor is the "right person" for the job.’ Ok, he did not say Chan Chun Sing has the right skills set for the job of Secretary General of the NTUC. He said he believed. Actually not much different, just semantics. 'Kar ki kong, kar ki song'.
 
Chan Chun Sing’s background was a general in the army, a soldier. He had a stint as a minister in the Ministry of Social and Family Development, nothing to do with labour or workers or trade unions. Now what would the skills set be like for someone to fill Swee Say’s position in the NTUC? What are the job specs or job description? What kind of work experience that are related to this job?
 
Other than being a general, and a minister with some relevance in management and making policies at ministerial level, there is totally no relationship in Chan Chun Sing’s experience and training to the job of Secretary General of NTUC. In all counts, ask the recruitment specialists, they would throw his resume out. No relevance, no skills set for the job. Even if he produces a MBA would not be of much relevance.
 
So, how come a person of a diverse background, with unrelated job experience, be the ‘right person’ for the job? This analogy is not to say that Chan Chun Sing is not a super talent? He is a super talent and touted to be the next PM. But if you were to use the same reasoning to dismiss those PMETs who have lost their jobs, it makes his appointment and being the ‘right person’ for the job a bit funny isn’t it?
 
How could a sweeping statement like no skills set be good enough to rubbish all the PMETs as no longer employable but a person with Chan Chun Sing’s military background, nothing to do with workers and trade unions, be suitable, have the skills set for the job?
 
What is wrong with the skills set myth? It is only applicable to PMETs. Or super talents are exceptions? Luckily this position is not thrown to an international recruitment agency to find the right candidate. I am pretty sure Chan Chun Sing’s resume will not match anything for the job. No skills set!
 
What do you think? Got myth or no myth? Why no one says got not skills set? This is what they used to say, head I win, tail you lose.
 
PS. No disrespect to Chan Chun Sing. Just using this example to show the silliness of the no skills set myth. If a recruitment agency wants to reject him for the job, it is so easy to use the no skills set myth and it sounds so logical. Did anyone say political appointments no need to talk about skills set, even for million dollar jobs?

Amos Yee – Making a mountain from a mole hill

Not say I want to say, I think it is unwise to pursue this Amos Yee’s case from the start. It was a video clip, people would have a good laugh and passé. To make this into a case and now snowballing into a monster would extract a heavy political price pay in an election year. I am saying this from the political perspective. It would definitely be an election issue for sure. No amount of damage control can help now. Many people are watching this episode but not saying anything but forming a lot of impressions about it. Only hope the damage is not too serious.
 
And there is another joker who taught it wise to attack Amos Yee outside the court and had his picture taken by so many cameras. What is going on? Hope this joker is a lone wolf and this is a lone wolf incident. Whatever, the perceptions and the court of public opinion is going to be very noisy and not very good for publicity. People tend to put one and one together to get two. It is a PR disaster.
 
Oh, it is reported that Shanmugam is visiting the Vatican City and even meeting Pope Francis. Good for him to get some divine blessing for Singapore. A little enlightenment from the Holy See would be useful and beneficial to Sin City. He should take the opportunity to get a shower of holy water for a good cleansing on behalf of Singapore.
And don’t forget to ask for blessing in front of Prophet Amos in the Vatican.
 
Literary there is now a mountain of issues coming out from a mole hill, something that could be avoided, with a little good communication, yes, didn’t they know good communication can move mountains? Didn’t they say that?
 
God bless. Good timing.

Singapore an education hub compromised

The Singapore Brand and the education hub Singapore is promoting for quality education would be the first victim if degree mills are going to be widespread and accepted without any disapproval shown by the authority. An education hub is all about quality of education and integrity of the institutions and the degree or diploma awarded. No legitimate students looking for quality education and a reputable degree would sign up with a degree mill or come to Singapore’s education hub if the image of degree mills and fake degrees become the norm here.
 
Degree mills and fake degrees will undermine and compromise the institutions of learning here. They will make a mockery of acquiring a good degree from a reputable institution and render them useless or a waste of time. Why waste time and money when a fake will do to get a good job?
 
How could the existence of good quality education and reputable universities exist side by side with fake degrees and degree mills? How could the authority tolerate the flaunting of fake degrees from degree mills and treating them lightly, like no issue and expect some respect for the graduates of legitimate universities?
 
What is the message? On one hand we are promoting quality education. On the other hand we are turning a blind eye to fake degrees and degree mills. Are the institutions of higher learning going to protest when their students are raped openly by the holders of fake degrees and losing out to them in employment opportunities? Do these institutions see the damage done to the value of their degrees and to their graduates?
 
The issue of fake degrees and degree mills has wider implications and consequences not only to the institutions of learning and the Singapore Brand. It will have negative effects on the education industry and the education hub that we are promoting here, to invite foreign students to study here, to grow an industry and revenue for the country.
 
Let me contribute a little to the degree mills. I am going to register for a few Ph Ds. My wall is quite empty and I need a few decorative pieces on it. Better than expensive paintings. Collecting degree mill Ph Ds can be an interesting and cheap hobby. I swear I will not put them in my resume. It is just a past time, a hobby.
 
PS. The Oregon state had named 6 institutions in Singapore offering unaccredited qualifications:
 
1. Cranston University
2. Templeton University
3. Trident University of Technology
4. Vancouver University Worldwide
5. Westmore University
6. Lee Community College
 
ST reported that Vancouver University Worldwide, which was ordered to be shut by the Canadian government in 2007, had been offering its courses in Singapore for several years.
 
(This is posted in an editorial in TRE)

Amos Yee - Identity of attacker not disclosed

Many people are demanding that the police release the photo and identity of the man that attacked Amos Yee out the court house. You can sense the anger and suspicion of the people wanting to know who this man is, how he looks like, where he lives, his family and background that brought about this attack. Nearly a week has passed and the police are not revealing anything.

Those people demanding to know who this man is must look at things from another angle. The police must have learnt a lesson in the Amos Yee case. When Amos Yee was under police custody, handcuffed and shackled, he was safe. I remember many years ago the police handcuffed a photographer photographing the flood in Bukit Timah for his own safety. It is getting to make sense, safety in police custody.

Amos Yee would have been safe under police custody and if his photos and identity were not disclosed. When the masses are braying for his blood, letting him walk around unescorted had proven to be the wrong thing. Also, with his photos everywhere, he could be identified easily. Unfortunately Amos Yee took the safety of our streets for granted and forgot that low crime does not mean no crime. And there are bound to be extremists, the loose ones, hiding somewhere waiting to strike.

This could be a possible reason why the assailant’s identity and photo are not in the newspaper. It would be very embarrassing if there is a repeat incident when this assailant is assaulted outside the court house. Protecting the identity of criminals may be a new practice to be adopted in view of what could happen to such people when there is an unrestrained mob out there with different ideas. Ya, the man may be a violator of the law, he still needs to be protected and not exposed to danger in the public.

And it may be a good thing that Amos is back in custody for his own safety. Amos, please do not opt for bail. It is definitely safer for you under the protection of the police. Now, would his attacker be produced in court wearing a hood for his own safety?

My reasoning ok or not?

When the people turn against the cops

The frequency and repetition of cop violence against the black Americans continue unabated. With the adverse publicity and seemingly some justice brought against rogue cops for killing black Americans, unarmed, boys, or in police custody, it was thought that such unjust acts would be put to a stop. Apparently no, the cops are continuing with their violence against the black Americans. There are deep seated reasons to treat the blacks that way. But when law enforcement officers took the law into their own hands, like virtuous killings, it is as good as the good cops turning against the people they are supposed to protect.
 
When the cops turned against the people, when the people see the cops as enemy, it is not going to be pretty. The law, the govt, the police, cannot be seen to be against the people, turning against the people. The situation in the USA has reached a critical point and someone posted this in TRE,
 
‘Apparently, this woman made a threatening post in her Facebook:
 
All black people should rise up and shoot at every white cop in the nation starting now…
and she ends with “Death to all white cops nationwide”.’
 
The FBI jumped into action and the woman arrested. But this did not solve anything. The distrust and hatred for the police would not go away and more shooting and killing of cops are going to happen. There are more reports of cops being shot without any provocations or warnings. The safest place for the cops is now the police station. Patrolling the streets would expose them to life threatening danger, the hunter is now the hunted. They brought it upon themselves.
 
It is so sad that the law is seen as anti people, the police turning against the people, that the people no longer trust the law and the police. Abuse of authority, of the law, against the people, can come in any form. Once the trust is gone, and when the people are hurt and felt they are the victims of the law, betray by the people they trusted to protect them, to uphold justice and the law, they will rise to challenge the law. In the case of the US, they are shooting at the law.
 
When the people turn against the police it is about the end of the police and the govt.

In praise of LKY – The table turns

Singaporeans mourned LKY for one whole week and listened to praises of him for the same whole week as well. The glory and achievements of LKY and his PAP must be music to the ears of the govt and supporters of PAP. Many were saying that these were good news and would be in PAP’s favour in the GE. Some were asking for a GE to be held quickly to capitalize on the goodwill, good perception and good emotions generated by the week of mourning and media blitz, In praise of LKY.
 
It is barely a month and in normal circumstances the goodwill and sympathy should last much longer and still be in time to give the PAP a lift in the next GE. What had happened over the last few weeks has instead turned the table against the PAP. The sentiments, in the social media, do not bode well for the PAP. One week of praising LKY is turning into weeks of kpkb against Hsien Loong’s leadership. Ok, this is not happening in the main media and may not be cause for undue alarm. Just read the few comments here that I reposted from a post in the TRE written by a Phillip Ang titled, ‘PM’s May Day speech shows he cares not for SG workers’.
 
There are more than 40 comments to this thread that were generally very negative about Hsien Loong. Fortunately this is likely to be a minority view in the social media and would not affect the votes much in the GE. If such negativity is prevalent among the people, the next GE would be a tough time for Hsien Loong and his PAP. Just ignore this as noise from the lunatic fringe.
 
The majority of the people is still positive about Hsien Loong’s leadership and will vote for the PAP. This is the view from the other side of the coin.
 
• Please Forgive LHL:
May 3, 2015 at 7:21 pm (Quote)
Dear Phillip,
Please forgive L*L He is, as we all now know, a complete washed-out, an idiot who is totally incapable of taking the country forward and has to rely on self-praise and his dead father’s achievement, if any, to win votes.
Rating: +88 (from 88 votes)
 
• Chris K:
May 3, 2015 at 7:58 pm (Quote)
It is better for him to step aside and for the Lee family to be consigned to the dustbin of history. This nation needs to change underlying socio-economic-political framework to ensure Mr. Tharman’s “new normal” is a good quality and prosperous normal.A man who keeps harping back to the father has an Oedipus complex, his inner conflicts comes out in more than his fair share of the Freudian slip. Such a man cannot be counted upon to lead this nation – it is even dangerous to leave him still in charge.
Rating: +63 (from 65 votes)
 
• CPF how?:
May 3, 2015 at 7:59 pm (Quote)
Already cannot return all our CPF at 55, talk about what leadership?
Rating: +62 (from 62 votes)
 
• Truth:
May 3, 2015 at 8:03 pm (Quote)
Instilling fear in people to overcome own fear. No one is indispensable. The world will not come to an end with the ouster of a few undeserving politicians. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.
Rating: +53 (from 53 votes)
 
• LIONS:
May 3, 2015 at 8:14 pm (Quote)
Whatever it is,a PRO-ALIEN ANTI-SGS politician should not be allowed to lead the nation.
Allowing it is daft.
Rating: +39 (from 39 votes)
 
• George02:
May 3, 2015 at 8:31 pm (Quote)
The problem we are now facing is not only that he has not care for workers.
There are so many issues arising since he came on board.
Sigh…. as time goes by….everybody will know this will be the ultimate outcome if you came to power not by meritocracy but because your father put you in that position. No more hiding once your father is gone. Maybe this coming GE (without the old man)is really a real fight unlike previous walkover.
Singaporeans will have a hard lesson learnt if they do not put in their brain and heart to exercise their due diligence to chose a capable leader. Choosing someone that really understand the ground and desire to serve Singapore just like the old gen leaders irregardless of party affiliation.
Maybe many years from now, we may also find out the truth on what is really the agenda behind those that were locked behind bars without trial. Are these men fighting for their own interest or for the better good of Singapore?
Rating: +26 (from 26 votes)
 
• opposition dude:
May 3, 2015 at 8:37 pm (Quote)
All that goondu Loong has said isn’t wrong, the only thing that is up for debate is whether PAP are still the ones to bring the country forward and keep it going.
Going by what we have seen in this election cycle alone, PAP can’t even keep its statutory boards straight let alone bringing the country forward and keeping it going.
Rating: +24 (from 24 votes)
 
• oxygen:
May 3, 2015 at 8:57 pm (Quote)
GOOD, INDULGING IN SELF-PRAISE tells us he is weak and vulnerable. He is worried sick about the possible annihilation of his Ministers in the GRCs wipe out in the next election.
AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE SHOULD STRIVE FOR – knock out as many Ministers in GRCs as possible in the next GE and reduce PAP into a minority in Parliament even if it is still the largest single party.
He will then have to negotiate with opposition parties from a position of begging weakness and submission.
Rating: +27 (from 27 votes)
 
• Dear Leader:
May 3, 2015 at 10:15 pm (Quote)
Today you talk talk we don’t understand. First, why you still insist on flooding our Island home with more outsiders? Second, why so many incidents happening but you and your team could not protect your citizens from insults and abuses? Third, more and more PMETs are unemployed despite having multiple real degrees (not fake) but you still welcome outsiders of funny background and take away citizen jobs. Hopefully you look at these before you ask citizen workers to work harder because we are already the most hard-working workers in the world – love bfear working hours and our salaries are peanuts compared with you and your team-members.
Rating: +13 (from 15 votes)

TRS, one down, one to go

In the social media scene, there is practically only a handful of active websites for alternative news. Taking away the more colourful sites, there are really only two decent sites that gave a good spread of the news in the social media and are the places that netizens hungry for alternative views will gravitate to, the TR Emeritus or TRE and The Real Singapore or TRS.
 
Being a ground up news and views and opinion provider, an aggregator of what the people say, mainly individuals expressing themselves on events and happenings here, the posts are expected to be very colourful and varied, from rumour mongering, drumming, serious opinions and serious news. There will be the occasional fabrications of lies, of distorted news and the one sided news that the main media are also well known for.
 
The TRS has been ordered by the govt to be taken down and they did since last night. It was reported that their ‘licence to operate the site was suspended by the MDA’. This is news to me, the part about having a licence to operate a virtual site in virtual space. Would a site operating in the US or Europe but with contents about Singapore and frequented by Singaporeans and citizens of the world require to get a licence from the MDA?
 
The reason for the closing down of TRS, ‘they have published material that is “objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public order and national harmony”’. These motherhood clauses can mean anything under the sky and violating this regulation could see the editor in jail for up to 3 years or a fine of S$200,000. A couple, a 26 year old Singaporean, Yang Kaiheng and a 22 year old Australian, Ai Takagi, have been arrested and charged ‘with seven counts of sedition and one of failing to produce documents to a police officer’. They were alleged to have published articles that ‘promoted ill will and hostility between different races or classes here’. The more serious part according to MDA is, ‘deliberately fabricated articles and falsely attributed them to innocent parties’.
 
With the TRS down, the only popular website left is the TRE. Everyone is wondering how long would TRE survive given the sensitivity of the MDA and the coming general election. TRE is now the preferred site of choice for alternative news and will be watched like a hawk. If the TRE also goes under, there would hardly be any worthy alternative sites left for the social media enthusiasts to visit. It would literally mark the end of social media here.

Is this the end of the light touch policy and a new beginning to the end of social media?

Taking a degree mill course and getting a degree mill degree is exceptional

There is no reason not to take a degree course for pleasure, as a hobby as long as you tell your employer that it is not to be taken into consideration if you put it in your resume. The ‘smart’ employers will understand. Tell them it is a hobby, a past time and you don’t mind wasting your time and money taking it.

Actually there are many reasons to take a degree mill course. In the first place it is cheap. It is also convenient, no need to leave the house for it. It is also easy, no need to do anything, no test, not attendance, no course work. And there are plenty of degree mills to choose from. It is also super fast to get a degree from a degree mill. A few days will do and one could get half a dozen degrees in month. One is also spoilt for choices as you can get any degree you want, from any country of your own choosing.

The only trick to make the degree from the degree mills worthy is to tell your employer you did it thinking, honestly, genuinely, that the degree mill is a real university, a legitimate one. Your employer would not judge you for your stupidity for taking a degree mill course without checking. Your intelligence is assured, and equal to the intelligence of your employer. If the employer is stupid enough not to know that you are stupid or lying, you can bet he is a good employer that would buy your degree mill’s degrees and would not see anything wrong with it.

They would even come out in your defence, so that they would not look stupid, in case people found out you got a degree from a degree mill and was employed. The employer would likely justify that they did not consider your degree mill degree when employing you. You are safe as they need to look NOT STUPID for their stupidity and for not doing due diligence.

And the best countries to apply for a good job with your degree mill degree are the exceptional cities. The more exceptional the better are your chances of being employed. And better still, go to a city where the citizens are infamous for being daft, the kind of people that cannot think and would accept anything you said. It is in their DNA. But they will pretend that they are super talents. So just play with it. Flatter them for their intelligence as long as they give you the job. Remember, do not tell them they are fake talents even if your degree is fake.

Money laundering, degree laundering

We have heard of money laundering where dirty money are washed and clean to become respectable money for circulation. One of the methods is to use layering, get the dirty money through several layers, buy, sell, buy sell, like buying stocks, properties or even winnings in the casinos. Then the source of the new money becomes legitimate. When asked, the money comes from selling of properties or stocks or from the casinos, not from drugs or corruption. And if no one is able to trace a few steps back, everything will be fine, no more dirty traces to cry foul.

Laundering of fake degrees and qualifications and CVs go through the same processes, layering. Start with some fake degrees, get a job through some connection, by paying if necessary, work in some organizations, resigned, changed jobs, and along the way get a lot of recommendations and testimonials. These recommendations and testimonials can also be bought without one actually working in any organization. Pad up the new CVs and go overseas to gullible countries that are lax in vetting and checking. Get employed in some genuine organizations.

After several layering, the fake past can be discarded. Even the fake degrees can be discarded especially in silly countries that claimed degrees are not important. Look at the track record, can do the job, with good references will do.  These stupid countries did not think resumes and testimonials can also be fakes, can also be bought.

After getting genuine work experience in silly but reputable organizations or countries, jump ship, go to the USA, Australia or Europe to start a new life with the new resumes.  After a few years can come to 1^st World countries like Singapore and look for top management positions as foreign talents. No one will have any clue of who this animal was. The past will be erased and forgotten, all the fake degrees and fake resumes no longer needed. Now walk around proudly with a newly minted or laundered CVs, work experience and new degree by enrolling in genuine universities using the work experience as requirements for admission.

See, laundering of CVs and qualifications can also be done quite easily.

Amos Yee – A new divide

The flutter of a butterfly has morphed into many butterflies fluttering in this island. When the fluttering of a butterfly is allowed to go flapping unrestrained you will get a storm brewing. The Amos Yee Incident has led to the gravitating of two groups, one hating him and wanting him to be lynched and another calling for understanding as he is just a wayward boy and needing guidance. When no one thinks it is right and prudent to tell the lynching mobs to back off, the mob went wild.

In the beginning there were the verbal threats of bodily harm to the boy, and this was followed by a man hitting the boy outside the court house. And there were applause from silly adults, supposedly responsible people, that the boy deserved it. And the icing to top up this comic tragedy of vicious attacks against a boy, a book store put up an insensitive tweet that went viral. I quote from an article in TRE on this,

‘Meanwhile, Popular bookstore posted an insensitive tweet on Twitter capitalizing on the “slapping incident” of Amos Yee.
It poked fun of Amos by putting up a picture of Famous Amos cookies and tweeting “Sorry you got slapped. Here, have some cookies on us!”.
Netizens were outraged and heavily criticised Popular bookstore. Many are calling for a boycott of the bookstore:… Facing a barrage of criticisms and calls of boycott, Popular bookstore later quickly put up an apology:
“It was a mistake that we accept and sincerely apologize for. We promise that we won’t do it again. #saynotoviolence”.
It has since deleted the insensitive tweet….’
The level of viciousness from the group against the boy, Amos Yee, is getting more serious and escalating. The voice of reason and compassion is also up a few scales to condemn those attackers. And the rest of those following this Incident are divided into two camps, one shaking their heads at how this is allowed to go on and on unrestrained, like it is the right thing to do, with approval from God, while the attackers behaving as if they are the righteous and godly people with God on their side. Come to think of it, when God is in the picture, who dares to go against God?
Everyone must be cowering in fear except some god fearing people that think they have the consent of god to do what they are doing to Amos Yee, the boy on the wrong side of god. What a heavenly divide this has become. And the storm is brewing, an act of God that nothing can be done to stop it except to hurry and evacuate to safety, away from the storm.
See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing and do nothing are the best things to do.
Which is the side of Darkness, which is the side of Light? Amen.
Below is a comment by a netizen, a father of 4 to Popular Book Store posted in TRE.

Trust et al:

May 2, 2015 at 1:52 pm  (Quote)

Dear Popular Book Store
I am a father of 4, a Singapore citizen.
I saw your utterly reprehensible disgusting and outrageous Tweet making fun of Amos Yee, a defenceless teen who was viciously assaulted at the doorstep of our Courts. There was the image of a human hand in the gesture of slapping accompanied by the words ‘Hi 5′ and ‘Ouch!’. This clearly meant you were celebrating and even congratulating the assailant and feeling gleeful about the attack. To a 16 year old imprisoned as an adult and in handcuffs and ankle fetters after an assault, you offered Famous Amos cookies, clearly to taunt him.
This was a carefully designed stunt calculated to capitalize in a sadistic manner on the trauma and agony of a teenager. You clearly sought to gain cheap publicity since the tweet featured stationery which you sell!
Minister of Law Shanmugan has categorically stated that this horrendous violent act cannot be condoned.
The Singapore Kindness Movement (whose Patron is our Prime Minister) has denounced the vicious online attacks on Amos Yee which led up to this atrocity.
You are a company which makes its fortune selling textbooks, guidebooks and stationery to kids.
I cannot comprehend how you could stoop to such uncivic and barbaric behaviour when a young person is being victimized.
It is highly probable that conduct such as yours will lead to further violence against Amos Yee and will promote a culture of political violence and thuggery in Singapore.
‎I am ashamed as a Singaporean that an apparently reputable company like yours could stoop to such reprehensible cyber-lynching.
You have not apologized to Amos and his family. Instead you are resorting to PR gimmicks.
Many netizen have called for a boycott of your store and products. I think this is the least that you deserve!

Amos Yee’s assailant arrested

I wrote about this trivial incident yesterday, just to quote the intro paragraph of the article, ‘The boy, Amos Yee, was hit by a man outside the court when he turned up to hear the charges against him for insulting religion and God. After hitting the boy the man ran off but not before shouting ‘Sue me, sue me’ in front of journalists waiting outside the court for the boy’s appearance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ17hfhI0C0....’

Our super efficient men in blue did not fail and the man was arrested at 2 am on the same night. The news broke the next day saying that a 49 year old man was arrested. Oh, 49 year old! Heck, my old man’s vision must be playing tricks on me, or was it the above video? That man seemed too young, at most in his mid 30s. His movement, mannerism, his running and gesturing, all seemed too young to be 49.

It is unbecoming for a 49 year old man to behave that way, more like a juvenile. If he is not caught and identified, I would go on thinking that it was a young man hitting Amos Yee.

The big question, what’s next? How would this man be dealt with? In this case, though trivial, it has an international standing and an international audience. It is a very high profile case, and God is watching over us. At the mortal level, this is a case of reckless defiance of the law, the police, and the govt. It was conducted just outside the courts of justice, presumably there would be police around, and in front of many journalists and reporters with cameras ready, and he did it, without a care that he would be caught in camera. He was so confident that he could get away with it, thinking, acting and behaving like a kid. After hitting the boy he turned around to taunt the boy, facing the cameras, without trying to hide his face, no sign of fear of the law, that he could be easily identified. It was very unusual for a 49 year old to behave so naïvely confident of himself. You would expect a 49 year old to know what he was in for and be more careful to commit a premeditated act of violence. He was not provoked and act in the heat of a moment. He was there waiting for Amos Yee..

Would the courts, the police and the govt take this case in a different manner? Would this be treated as more than a simple scuffle between two private individuals and Amos Yee be asked to file a personal suit against his assailant and claim for damages? The fact that he has been arrested means that the govt or the police are taking this very seriously. Would this case be used to make a statement, a deterrent, against all future and potential violators of peace and order, not to think that this is a lawless country, ‘bo cheng hu’, and they can go around hitting and assaulting anyone they liked, right in front of the courts?

With the noise about this case spreading unrestrained, many cheering, some jeering, that the hitting of the boy is a right and good thing, and with many leaders keeping their lips sealed, other than Shanmugam, the impression is not very well received.  Shanmugam, as the Minister of Home Affairs, had to say something or people will get the wrong message, like the fake degree case.

Now, would more righteous people, and ministers, speak out against this assault in broad daylight, against a child by a 49 year old man? A trivial case, nothing much about it, not vile, not outrageously?  Not alarming? Anyone wants to be kind to this kid, or to be kinder to the kid/man for hitting the kid?

What would be the message to be sent out by the govt and the police?

Eddie Teo – The ethos of an era

There is an article in the ST on 28 Apr by the Eddie Teo, the Chairman of PSC on the ethos of a bygone era, the things that the Civil Service breathed and lived by. The story of the Civil Service is best summarized by what Eddie Teo said in these paragraphs.

‘There was already a strong ethos of incorruptibility. I recently met Mr David Rivkin, President of the International Bar Association, who asked how our ethos of zero tolerance for corruption was imparted to, and sustained in, the public service. I told him there had been no training classes or brainwashing sessions.

But public servants watched and followed the examples shown by our political masters.  We were incorruptible because they were incorruptible. We saw that they lived simple, frugal and unostentatious lives and dedicated themselves totally to nation building and improving the lives of Singaporeans. All the older public servants who worked closely with our pioneer generation political leaders will have stories to tell about their frugal habits. To people like Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Goh Keng Swee, there was no such thing as work life balance. Work was life, and life was work.’

These few paragraphs sum up the ethos and philosophies of a time not too long ago that seemed strangely different from what it is now. And it is only a couple of decades apart. The difference in ethos and values and the motivations of the Civil Servants are simply glaring. And they lived and work and developed a new ethos by the living examples of the political masters today.

Though apparently the message of an incorruptible, merit based and impartial Civil Service is still there, the essence and practices are starkly different from the days gone by.  Indirectly Eddie Teo touched on the new values and aspirations of a new generation of people that looked at life differently and wanted to live life differently and these would and must affect their work style and ethos as civil servants.  Affluence and opulence are the new aspirations and wide income gap is good as it allowed the top to indulge in the decadence of wealth and an extremely good life of plenty.

What makes the new civil servants today are greatly influenced by the affluence of a better time and also by the examples they see in their political masters. They follow the leaders and whatever the leaders do would and must rub down on them. The civil servants of today are not the same as the civil servants of yesteryears, crafted by a confluence of changes from many dimensions.  The aspirations are not similar and the ethos, have they changed?

Policies and political decisions were and are made by politicians. Civil servants are now expected to defend political decisions, in a way compromised to take sides with the politicians. This is a big diversion from the past when the political masters were confident to take a stance and make their own defence.

The emerging problems facing civil servants today is the possibility of a change of political fortune and new political masters on the horizon. How would such a change affect the impartiality of civil servants, their loyalty to party versus dedication to the service of the people, and their tenure of service? Would it affect the ethos of the Civil Service? A relatively less politicized civil service like the British system would provide better continuity than a politicized civil service that would have to go with the flow of political realities, serving the wrong masters of the land. They would have difficulties to stay relevant and remain in the Civil Service when the political masters changed. They are now in the same sampan as the political masters, to float or sink together.

Amos Yee - A piece of trivial news

The boy, Amos Yee, was hit by a man outside the court when he turned up to hear the charges against him for insulting religion and God. After hitting the boy the man ran off but not before shouting ‘Sue me, sue me’ in front of journalists waiting outside the court for the boy’s appearance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ17hfhI0C0

The news, though trivial, is now the hottest topic in the social media. People were shocked at the audacity and defiance against the law and order of the city state. All kinds of rumours are speculating in the social media as to the ‘who and why’ of this attack and how the man was able to get away without anyone thinking it necessary to apprehend him. Conspiracy theory seems to be having a very high rating here. Many were pointing the finger at you know who and have made all kinds of conjectures and the disappointment of how such a brazen act of defiance of the law could happen in broad daylight, in front of the court house, and in front of so many people, many armed with cameras.

I am sure the super efficient men in blue would have no problem taking this man into custody as the incident was captured by so many cameras and seen by so many eyewitnesses. Justice will be served for sure. No need to make wild speculation and gesticulations. Save the middle finger.

The issue is that this likely to be an isolated incident and of an aggrieved public taking the law into his own hand. Pure and simple as that. Would this be seen as a criminal act or as another private matter and the boy be told to take a civil suit against the assailant? Just wondering how the charges could be made, the hitting was like a hard slap. Can it be justified as causing serious bodily harm? Would it be assault or just a case of being a public nuisance?

The Law Minister Shanmugam has commented in his Facebook that this kind of acts is unacceptable. I am sure he would have given his order to get the culprit arrested ASAP. No sweat except for Amos Yee and his parents. If it is a civil suit, would they have the money to pursue the case?

Credit goes to LKY – 3rd World to 1st World

Ok, ok, don’t be angry. I know many of you don’t like this statement, but other than all the iffy arguments, it was during LKY’s watch that Singapore moved from 3^rd World to 1^st World. This one, no matter what, like him or hate him, you got to give credit to him or someone else would be getting the credit.

The question that I would want to ask is, who would want to claim credit for taking Singapore from 1^st World to 3^rd World? There are many ways to equate Singapore as a 3^rd World country today. Just by demography alone, one can classify Singapore as a 3^rd World country. Why, because half the population comes from the 3^rd World. So at least it is a country that is half in and half out of the 3^rd World.

Then look at what is happening all over and you have no choice but to admit that Singapore is looking more like a 3^rd World country. First point, it has no talent, or no native talent. Second point, it needs 3^rd World talents to help to grow the economy, to provide jobs for its citizens. These are official hard truths uttered everyday by the leaders, so must be the truths. Thirdly, the foreign talents are mostly from the 3^rd World, ie 3^rd World talents. This is one of the reasons why the streets are getting dirtier with litters everywhere. The trains and public transports are smelling like the 3^rd World, including the chattering. Don’t ask me what is the official reason for the litters and dirty streets and who are responsible for littering. 

Fourth, look at the frequency of train break downs? And very likely they are seeking help from some #rd World country to solve the train breakdown problems. Fifth, look at the number of fakes being employed here? Sixth, we got no talents and our universities are being filled by foreigners as lecturers and professors to teach 3^rd World students?

What more, what more to put this country in the 3^rd World league of nations? The political system, a citizenry of daft Sinkies that  are incapable of thinking? A country that is dependent on 3^rd World citizens and talents for everything. 3rd World culture, 3rd World thinking, 3rd World politics, and 3rd World talents laughing silly at our stupidity for employing them to replace our real talents with fakes.   

Is Singapore not already a 3^rd World country?

And who is going to claim credit for this?

LOCAL ACTOR LIM KAY SIU: TIME FOR LEE HSIEN LOONG TO STEP DOWN

 THEREALSINGAPORE 29 April 2015 - 2:04pm
 
‘Let us not forget the term FIXING! LHL used it openly at the 2011 elections, and found, to his surprise(!!), that it made him utterly unpopular. Can the inheritor of a bogus democracy, that is actually a dynasty, even get close to understanding, let alone rectifying this travesty, and move forward with the full trust of the people he supposedly promised to serve?! I think not....’

 
The above article appeared in The Real Singapore and many people must have been caught with their mouths open wide wide. Since the days of The Last Hero, the heroes today are relatively young in the likes of Martyn See, Roy Ngerng, Leslie Chew, Han Hui Hui and the boy hero Amos Yee. We have not seen a ‘lau’ hero for a while.
 
Oh I digress. Let me come back to Lim Kay Siu’s call for Hsien Loong to step down. Maybe I would approach this from a different angle. Singapore has very few talents, and super talents even fewer. Fortunately or unfortunately Hsien Loong is one of the few rare talents that we have. Unless we want to consider all the 6b people in the world to pick as our PM. Hsien Loong is pedigree, from a distinguished family of talents, first class honours and president and queen’s scholars. How to find such an impeccable family track record? This one did not come from Mumbai or Southern Pacific for sure. We all know that. No need to check. Real stuff, no fake.
 
And he has been trained from young by the founding PM of Singapore that happened to be his father. The training is personal and intimate. Many kungfu masters would not teach their disciples everything, and would keep a few tricks up their sleeves. In this case you can bet Hsien Loong would be taught everything that he needed to know. Unless he is a poor student that failed to learn, he must have learnt well like young Luke.
 
And he went under a second tutelage as Chok Tong’s favourite disciple, 12 years of training under him. No PM in the world has this kind of privilege to have tutors before becoming a PM. Many were novices, like his father and all the PMs and Presidents of a democratically elected system. Actually in all systems, other than a monarchy where the prince could be groomed to become king, all leaders did not have the skills set or experience of a national leader and learn on the job, OJT. No skills set means cannot be hired. Fake skills set also good when the employers can’t find one Sinkie with the relevant skills set.
 
Where else can we find another PM that is so well trained to be a PM? And Hsien Loong is working so hard to bring more growth so that every resident can benefit from the growth. And he has brought in the best team to run the country. Things can only get better and better. See CPF Life, Medishield Life, Pioneer Generations? It is premature to ask him to resign right? Everyone is so happy here. The foreigners here are even happier. Everyone is getting so rich, millionaires and billionaires. If one is not a millionaire it is the individual’s fault. We can even live with fake degrees from fake countries and everything will still go on running smoothly. Oops, there are some exceptions, isolated cases or happened once in 50 years, so no count.
 
And being the third generation PM there is a lot of pressure. There is a saying that fortune will not last through the third generation. Imagine how much pressure Hsien Loong is facing to make this belief not coming true? He is fighting against this ancient truism. Even if he fails, touch wood, it is not his fault. Fortune will go away in the third generation, nothing to do with him. He can be the brightest, and have the brightest team, but when lady luck is running out, nothing can be done. It happened.
 
So Kay Siu may be putting the blame on the wrong person. It is not his fault if the country goes down. It is fengshui, hope he does not touch the family house. And ancient wisdom said that what goes up must come down, and all parties must come to an end.
 
Take it easy, Kay Siu. We are in good hands. The country is in good hands. See. Where got problem? If there are problems, they are only imaginations or wrong perceptions. A little communications will solve everything. Everything is fine, just fine, fine, fine.

GIC is my model fund management company

Phillip And wrote an article in his blog titled ‘Should GIC invest our CPF in a company after its share price quadrupled?’ He raised the question based on a number of reasons. I just quote this one,

‘GIC has paid for a business which was worth only a quarter of the price less than a year ago. Its purchase price of Rs 222 valued Nirlon at US$316 million when the market had earlier valued it at below US$80 million.’

I think any layman would also find this outrageously funny or even stupid. Why not buy it when it was Rs 50 but only after its price quadrupled to Rs 222. Isn’t this a perfect example of the market joke, buy high and sell low for losers?

I must disagree. People not in the industry of trading stocks always think it this way. But from my 20 years of experience, this is called play safe strategy. Do not buy a stock until one is sure that its price is up and confirmed up. In this case the price has quadrupled, which means it has confirmed going up and the uptrend is very strong.

Normally I would play safe and buy when the price is double. To me when the price is up 4 times is like playing safe 4 times safer. This is obviously a very conservative strategy. Look, when you are gambling with OPM, you cannot anyhow buy. You buy only when you are sure, very sure, double confirmed, triple confirmed and better still quadruple confirmed.

Fund managers adopting a ‘quadruple confirm strategy’ are very careful fund managers. I regretted that I did not follow this strategy. I always buy when the price has doubled. And you know what happened, I lost my pants. If I have known of this strategy, I would have made just as much money as GIC. Look at its past records, it is making profits practically every year, sometimes more sometimes less, but still profits. I did not follow this strategy, that is why I have been making losses all the time.

I am now watching and learning from this GIC strategy and learning a lot from it. Buy high, go higher! You see, when the price of a stock has gone up so high, it can only go higher. Now I am trying to start a fund to invest using this formula. This kind of strategy needs a lot of patience and homework. There are not many stocks that would have gone up 4 times in a year, or in 50 years. The chosen stock Nirlon is a rare gem. This kind of buys sure to make money one.

And better still if it is an Indian company. Indian companies are growth companies. There are 1.3b people there and growing. Soon India will have more people than China. Use the same logic, China’s population is 1.4b and many of its companies are growing and very profitable. The Chinese banks are the biggest in the world in capitalisation. Alibaba is one of the most successful IPO listing in New York. Indian companies would follow the path of these Chinese companies and would do better as they have more super talented banking and finance talents. They would out do Chinese companies in a matter of time. A caveat, unless all their top talents are in US or overseas, like in Singapore.

I ‘pai seh’ to tell Phillip Ang he did not know what he was saying. If GIC is a 3rd World SWF, you can bet something is not right. The analysts, the person who approved the buy and the board to concur, everyone must have a cut in this dubious acquisition. But GIC is a Singapore SWF managed by honourable people and with many layers of checks and controls. The decision must be make very carefully and it must be a good decision and the timing must be just right. The GIC is very professionally managed by the best talents money can buy. Period.

I like GIC, my favourite company, when investing strategy is concerned. Always make money one. Anyone wants to invest in my fun, oops I mean fund? I guarantee them sure make money using the same formula as GIC. Buy high and the price will go higher. And buy India, the most promising country for growth. The prices would not only quadruple, but could go up many more times.

My advice to Phillip Ang, don’t worry, be patient. Time will tell. Think long term. Remember CECA? If India is not such a good bet, the govt would not have signed CECA with India, a win win agreement. We laymen, outsiders, did not know how much thought processes, planning and homework have been put in before the decisions were made to invest in India and to sign CECA. You can blame them on anything but not on due diligence and expertise.