nkf board and exco were misled!

there is an article by adrian tan(in today paper) taking the line that nkf board and exco could have been misled. that they did not have the full picture when approving all the extravagance. this is not too farfetched from another view that the board and exco were mesmerised by a charismatic ceo. how silly! are the board and exco all boy scouts and girl guides? these are top notched people who have rose to the top of their profession, with a whole life of working experience and professional trainings. would they be like school girls looking gaga at their idol, the ceo? or were they all sleeping at board meetings, not knowing what was happening? let's wake up and face the hard realities. the whole thing would not have gone that far without the acquiescence of the board and exco. and please do not claim that they were volunteers and shall not be held responsible for fraud and neglect of fiduciary duties. no volunteer shall walk away free if they are part and parcel of a fraud. anyone who does not have the time or dedication to serve must not accept such an important appointment. it is simply irresponsible. are singaporeans really that stupid to even think of such reasonings as possible and real?

why paying for honesty does not work

an honest man does not need to be paid to be honest. some may think that an honest man is a stupid man. but he believes in what is honestly his and will not take anything that does not belong to him. paying more does not make any difference to him. and there is no need to reward his honesty as it is already there. pay him his fair wage. by paying more and thinking that a dishonest man will become honest is a fallacy. such logic presumes that everyone is dishonest, or may be greedy. pay him enough and he will refrain from becoming his evil self. in the recent case it is proven that a dishonest man will always be honest. or is it that they have not paid him enough? then what is enough? very likely enough will never be enough. the other issue is how much to pay for job worth? many in mega organisations think that they must be paid proportional to the value of their decision and responibility that come with a big job. up to a point. other wise the president of usa must be paid the most. then there is paying for the value of the person instead of the job. how much is this man worth? what is his market value? can he get a similar paying job elsewhere? there are many factors that are used in the computation of a job. special skills, connections, risk, risk of life or job. not risk of making multi million dollar decision. that is already paid in the value of the job. and if one makes a wrong million dollar decision, one gets fired. there are qualification and experience etc. but no one pays for honesty. that is expected. so are integrity, being responsible, dedication, doing a good job. all these are expected from the employee. and if he is dishonest then he will go to jail. imagine what it would be like if an organisation got to pay for all these factors.

how to unwind 15 years of reckless policies of grandeur?

the coe prices are crashing down. so are the prices of cars. but these come with a price. people and businesses will be hurt. we are seeing the new buyers happily buying new cars. the people who have paid for expensive cars of yesteryears are bleeding. the secondhand car dealers are bleeding. fortunately the pain in this industry is not so severe as there are some residue values for scrap cars. also people are used to the 10 year lease. the more serious areas will be housing and high pay. housing is one area that is a huge problem that can never be unwind without hurting all the house and flat owners. the bigger the investment cost, the greater will be the lost. and the problem of negative assets will be massive. the inability to unwind the high cost of properties will also mean that high wages cannot be unwind as hdb flats are priced to affordability. then there are the high cost of essential services and hospitalisation. without unwinding the high wages, our workers are going to be uncompetitive. and the political cost is also going to be very high. cutting wages is going to cost a lot of votes. without cutting wages, we are suffocating ourselves to death, slowly. money and businesses will gravitate to where value can be found. we will price ourselves out of businesses in shopping, office space, manufacturing etc if we think that we are of great value when reality speaks otherwise. then there is the slow cooking of the stock exchange, dying without knowing. a neighbourhood roti shop selling 100 brands of roti to 100 customers has thoughtlessly and rapidly been transformed into one selling 100 local rotis, 100 foreign rotis, 100 muffins and 100 tarts to the same 100 customers. actually 30 customers left, as the other 70 either died or faded away. and they are still going to bring in another busload of rotten rotis from malaysia. this would only turn all the local rotis and foreign rotis into mould. and the muffins and tarts will be left to dry on the shelves. and the beauty of it all is that they did not know why the roti shop is dying a slow death. why there are no customers? they even formed committees to try to revive the roti shop, trying to be creative and innovative to stimulate more businesses. on the other hand they are strangling it with their own hands. anyone who studied econ 101 will tell you that with supply increasing by 3 or 4 folds but with demand dwindling, the system will collapse on its own. a small neighbourhood roti shop must not pretend to be the 5th avenue of new york or bond street of london. the year is coming to a close. can we see light at the end of the tunnel? or are we spiralling deeper into darkness? the leader is shouting that there is light everywhere. but the followers are only seeing dark clouds. perhaps the followers are all blind.

santa claus is an unfair old man

i have lived a very clean life, no drinking, no smoking, no gambling, no cheating, no telling lies, and work very hard every day of the week. i earned every cent with my blood and sweat. all honest money. i look at my stocking this morning and found it empty. where is my bungalow and mercedes and my million dollar bank account? where is merry christmas? where is santa claus? he dropped his presents to the wrong house again. merry christmas to those who did not receive any present from santa claus. smile and sleep well.

how to improve corporate governance? back to basics

the nkf fiasco has been an enlightening lesson to everyone. all the myths were destroyed in one stroke. all the big names, rich, professional, highly paid...people are just people. we need a few good men. and good men are not measured by all these. corporate governance must be revisited from the basics. we not only need independent directors who are really independent. we need people who step forward to serve to really serve and have the time to serve. we need responsibility and accountability. people who accept the appointments better have the time to do a good job and not be on holiday all the time. and telling people that they are volunteers is not an acceptable excuse. if they are not prepared to commit the time and dedication, they must not accept the job. it is highly irresponsible to do so. the job comes with a lot of prestige for the ego, some even pay big directorship fees, honour, and recognition. it also comes with a heavy responsibility. and everyone must be held accountable for negligence, mismanagement or fraud under their watch. there is no excuse and no escape from taking the rap. and the authorities must get this message through. no tea party in public service or as directors of commercial organisations. the rest of good corporate governance like regulations and procedures, training, corporate authorisation, checks and balances, legislation, duties of watchdogs etc will only be useful if there is a heavy hand on accountability. otherwise, for some cheap thrill of recognition and fame, and worst still, for director fees, people will just grab as many directorships as possible with no concern of whether they can contribute or have the time to contribute to the good governance of the organisation. lets hope that the party is over and people get down to serious business.