Changed Singapore Dream: Fleeing The City of Possibilities

This is the heading of an article posted at TOC today. I read the 17 comments following this article and form the impression that we are losing the people. The comments were expressed by 17 vocal forumers. And their sentiments are probably felt by many Singaporeans. Why are we losing the people in the midst of such great material wealth? Why is this losing touch with the people, being felt by so many, but totally ignored by those at the top who still think that everything is ok? Which is the real illusion? At the rate that it is going, our NSmen may not do what they are expected when called to do. The heart is sore and no longing there. Who says only rulers got no heart? The people at the bottom are also losing hearts. And we are plodding along happily in delirium.

caveat emptor - minibonds

Ultimately, it's buyer beware (caveat emptor) I REFER to Tuesday's report, 'MAS tells banks to give priority to worried investors'. It may be presumptuous of Mr Tan Kin Lian to assume that the banks erred in selling structured products to retail customers. These products are regulated under the Financial Advisers Act and the Securities and Futures Act. Only qualified advisers can market and give advice on such products. They must have a reasonable basis for any recommendation that is made on structured products and must provide investors with a fair description of all material information.... Structured products are not suitable for all investors. Each product can exhibit very different characteristics as well as associated risks and rewards. They may appear to be fixed-income instruments, but may contain embedded options which do not necessarily reflect the risk of the issuing credit. These options may be 'plain vanilla' or highly leveraged exotic options. As each is unique, the risks inherent in any one structured note may not be obvious. Hence, read carefully the prospectus or pricing statement, which explains the risks, tax treatment and other important information in detail. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to protect your own interests. If you do not understand how the product works, seek clarification with your adviser. Don't buy anything that you do not understand. Jag Kuo Soon Yong The above was posted by sgnews in Singapore kopitiam. I can agree with Jag Kuo's argument about caveat emptor and buyers should not buy unless they know what they are buying. In reality, how many people know what they are buying. But that is beside the point. What if the seller peddle these sophisticated products to the ah pek and ah sohs which could barely understand what financial instruments are? Targettting them in first principle is already wrong. Now, how many of those affected belong to such a category?

The people are angry

Online and offline petitions by angry people to claim back money lost or to be lost in financial derivatives arising from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other American institutions have started. And MAS is looking into it. In America, the FBI is also looking into it for fraud by those organisations selling such bonds and notes. At best I think we can look from the angle of not enough due diligence and misrepresentation. This is the first time such an action is being pushed to the frontpage news by aggrieved investors. It may be time for MAS to look at failed IPOs that went down after a few years on listing. Some even reporting losses within 2 years from listing when the prospectuses were full of praises and recommendations on how well the companies were doing. There must be lack of due diligence or even misrepresentation or even fraud in some cases. The investors must be compensated. The organisations involved in the listing of such failed companies must be held accountable and to compensate the investors. So far they have been getting away scot free.

Life is party in Paradise

If only I were the director of 10 companies or chairman of a few companies, and collecting millions and doing practically nothing, life will be so wonderful. Not only playing golf in free time or travelling under company expenses, it is party all year round. Now the world's biggest bash, a $100 million party is in town. The F1 promises to bring in the world's rich and famous here, the well heeled and well connected, to party. And for these somebodies, you got to be somebody, they are going to party for free. All expenses paid by the banks, big organisations and sponsors of the events. To live in the best hotels and hospitality suites, the best seats to watch the race, the best food and companies, wine and dance the night away, all for free. As for the nobodies, please dig into your pockets and find that $300 or $3000 to buy the tickets. And they will have to buy their own drinks too. Life is great in paradise, if you have made it.

4th least corrupt country in the world!

Singapore is the 4th least corrupt country in the world. Only 3 countries, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand were better than us. In Asia, we are the least corrupt. Hongkong and Japan lie quite far away from us. Not a bad achievement. To take stock, countries that are more corrupt than us are Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Austria, Germany, Norway UK, US and many many more, in fact the rest of the world. The Americans, the Brits and the Europeans should stop criticising us about corruption. We are less corrupt than them. But it is all relative. It would be better if the survey by the Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index said that we are not corrupt. The survey just says that we are not as corrupt as others.