prayer or schizophrenia

i like this. the quote is posted in soc.cul.spore. when man talks to god, it is called prayer. when god talks to man, it is called schizophrenia. (seow liao)

bush said he will attack any country

george bush said he will attack any country if needed to. and mahathir is furious. mahathir is calling on the world to prevent mass murderers from becoming world leaders. estimated 30,000 iraqis and more than 2,000 americans dead since the iraq invasion, and still counting. and the americans are going to spend $500 million in psychological warfare and propaganda in the world media to influence the thinking of people who are against their war on terrorism. they are going to use money to buy influence to change people's perception of their wrong into becoming right. our straits times should capitalise on this windfall and publish news favourable to america at a price. it must be smart enough not to pay to publish them. if the americans want good things to be said about them in the straits times, they pay. how nice.

big cheers for orchard turn

the high bid for orchard turn has been greeted with big cheers by market players. it has brought a big smile to many happy faces. the property market is going to use it as a benchmark to guage property prices. it is a good sign that property prices are looking up. is it a good sign or a bad sign? singapore is losing its reputation as a shopper's paradise. the prices of things here are getting more expensive compare to our competitors. if malaysia can get its acts together, all the shoppers will be flocking up north. they have so many natural advantages. low wages, lower property prices, all means lower cost. why is it that we are cheaper than them? there is no reasons for malaysia or any other asean countries not to sell their products cheaper than us. all their costs are lower than us. and with our property prices being driven up again, it is a matter of time before we priced ourselves out of the market, just like our labour. once we are deemed as expensive, game over. we lose our competitive advantage. our retailers cannot make a living with such high cost of land and rental. they can only sell to a captive market up to a point. when people find it cheaper to buy from neighbouring countries, they will do so. when tourists find it cheaper to buy from somewhere, they will skip here. all the supporting industries will fall apart. three cheers to higher property prices. three cheers to welcome the death of retail businesses. and three cheers to the death of shopper's paradise.

tat hong, a local public listed company

tat hong listed a subsidiary in australia bourse. first day of trading price up by 23c or 23%. this kind of gain on ipo is almost unheard of in our local market for many years. many of ipo listings ended underwater on the first day of trading in our market. why? is our market sick or dead? is our market saturated with unattractive stocks? is our market unable to absord the flood of ipos? is ipo money drying up? are all our retail investors dead or lost all their monies? why is ipo no longer attractive? what is happening? do we manage our stock market or let it run wild, pennywise pound foolish, short term gain for long term loss?

how to make corporate governance real?

the weakest link in the whole system of corporate governance is the independent directors. as long as the system does not ensure that independent directors are completely independent from the management, it is very difficult to make the system works. it is like having kelong referee in a football match. what could possibly rectify this shortcoming is for mas to require independent directors to be appointed by an independent institution. all it needs is for 2 or 3 independent directors to be appointed from a neutral body to a company's board. and the directors shall be a member of the remuneration and audit committees. presently the best body to take on this role is the sias. it represents thousands of shareholders and should rightly be given a voice or say in the management of public companies. the minority shareholders need to be protected. the neutral institution can set its own rules and regulations on the criteria and eligibilities of candidates to be appointed as independent directors, set its own length of appointment, guidelines on remunerations etc. the service and appointment of independent directors will thus be out of the hands of a company's management, and the directors will come and go without having to appease the company's management. the independent directors can thus act independently, objectively and professionally for the interest of the company and the shareholders, and not just for the interests of the management. it is a simple and basic requirement without which the whole system of corporate governance is flawed.