One dollar for you one grand for me

It was only last weekend when Abdullah and Hsien Loong met in Langkawi and everything seemed to have taken off from a sound footing. It was all warmth and an eagerness to work together for mutual benefits. It only takes a few days and the mood changes. The fear has returned. The acrimony of the past, the mistrust of others and of self. Why should there be so much fear of the Singaporeans when negotiating for a deal to benefit both parties? Both enter the negotiation with a I want List. And before signing anything, both parties will have to satisfy themselves that their wish list is fulfilled. Then why should it be that after a few years down the road one party will complain that they have been taken for a ride, that they have been cheated? And now even the fear of losing jurisdiction over their own territories? I can understand such a fear after being colonised by big powers for so long. But such thing can never happen in a hypersensitive polity when everyone is politicised. It is just unimaginable that any country will ever sign away their rights to self determination. The only country that may do so is one that think too highly of itself and think that it can get away with it. The Malaysians are going to negotiate with the Singaporeans on an equal basis. It is unlike a small consumer accepting the top down terms from a monopolistic giant. One dollar for you and one thousand dollars for me. In an unequal relationship, the one getting the one dollar has to accept the deal compliantly. But a sovereign state would not accept such nonsense or an unequal treaty. The Malaysians must start to believe in themselves. What happens to Malaysia boleh?

Gravity defying act

The New NKF is going to become a model organisation in another way. The new management has just taken over for a short period of time and the cost to dialysis patients has gone down by 4 times. This is gravity defying, unheard off and unnatural in the Singapore context. How can cost go down instead of going up? Would they be sending out the wrong signal, that medical cost can actually come down instead of going up? Anyway, good work New NKF.

the malaysian nightmare

We have a reputation of having a lot of talented men in govt. And these men are well honed in negotiation skills and always get the best deal for us and make the other party looks stupid. And this reputation is going to haunt us and undermine our relations with Malaysia. They really fear us. What ever deal we propose or agree or accept will make them worry. They fear that they will get lesser benefits from the deal and we will get more. They fear that we will take them for a ride. Above all, they fear that the truth will be out for all to see, their incompetence when negotiating a deal with Singaporeans. How they have become so paranoid and frighten of Singaporeans and their own lack of ability to negotiate a deal that is favourable to themselves is quite startling. Don't they have any faith or confidence in themselves? Abdullah and Hsien Loong have just agreed on a few things to do together and you can see their immediate reactions of horrors!

NKF Story - A kinder Singapore

Whatever had happened or caused to have happened, the NKF has turned Singapore into a kinder society. Richard Yong and Loo Say San both got a slap on the wrist after being found guilty of the charge for failing in their duties as directors. Each was fined $5000 for allowing a $1.3 million deal to go to waste. Though the $5000 fine was the maximum allowable other than jail terms, the judge said it reflected the 'gravity of the matter'. For a grave matter like the loss of $1.3 million, a $5000 fine is grave and appropriate. This is one step forward towards a kinder Singapore. If the punishment is too severe, we may not have any good men coming forward to serve in public service. There must be incentives to attract good people and talented people to serve the people. And from the judge's comment that Richard Yong was only an 'ornament' without any real understanding of what was going on when he went along to Chennai to negotiate the deal, it tells a lot about the talents in NKF. And even Loo Say San 'was not aware of NKF's right under the agreement'. Both instances said that they are not competent and thus should not be made to feel too guilty about not doing a good job. Their intention were good. They volunteered to serve the people in a charity. They are not aware that they were not competent to do the job. They were not party to a collusion or acquaintance to a crime. They did not benefit from the deal. The $5000 fine was thus very appropriate and we shall just move on. Case close. And NKF may want to offer higher pay to recruit better talents to run the show. Paying peanuts is what they get. If they want talents, they need to pay in the millions.

Laws to maintain fair recruitment.

A letter by Sangeetha Bysheim in the Today paper described her experience in applying for a job. She said that all her interviews were by expatriates. This, she concluded, could be that most of the top jobs are occupied by expatriates or two, expatriates are likely to be less discriminatory. She had a point. And she suggested that we must have laws to prevent discrimination at work places, and in employment, especially when we are inviting more talented foreigners to take the place of less talented locals in the job market. I have a better idea and easier to implement. Appoint all the expatriates to the top jobs of organisations, or at least as the HR Managers. This will ensure that there will be fair play and foreigners will be given a fairer chance of getting employment here.