SCCCI broke its silence

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry has joined the debate over the lack of linguistic skills of foreign immigrants working in the sales industry. Many forum letter writers have written to the media to complain about this lack of English Language skill and some even suggested that people who can't speak English should not be allowed here. Ah, it brings back memories of the good old days when a pass in English is the key condition for a job in the colonial civil service. I think it is a good idea to make English proficiency a criteria for employment here. Maids, construction workers, sales staff etc and who else to include in this category? Employers must be fuming mad. It will give life to a new industry in language learning, and more private language schools to come into this new business.

Resurrection of the 'Demons' In White

The book Men In White has the inadvertent consequence of bringing together the political foes of our freedom fighter generation. These were the people who fought the British for independence and later fighting among themselves for political supremacy. There was a contest of will, political ideologies and beliefs. They fought and threw punches at each other, or they fought, and one side received all the punches and black eyes, and were demonised, captured or fled the country. Many never ever dream of a homecoming unless they recant their 'wrong doings'. Yesterday many returned. For those who were biting their nails and waiting to see these men with horns on their foreheads, they were disappointed. They came and appeared like ordinary men, with a tie. There were no signs of the terrorists or rugged guerilla fighters left in them. Fighting for political powers in those days were really fighting for life and death, unlike today when fighting for more money, status and power was the order of the day. It is good that old men and women should put down their swords and cudgels and shake hands and call each other friends. It is good to let the bad memories fade into history. Yes, bury the hatchet and embrace one another as old friends. If we can embrace strangers and new immigrants as one of us, there is no reason not to welcome home our brothers and sisters of the past to live among us. A first step forward to more graciousness. The next question is whether the political climate and rules of the game be changed as we move forward. Or would it be just a flash in the pan and things will return to normal, and the weapons be strapped back around the waist, the cudgels in hand, ready to deliver the next deadly blow?

CPF Life the best scheme

The CPF Life annuity scheme is the best scheme that the govt can think of. I won't disagree with that. For many who are unable to manage their forced savings, they definitely need another forced annuity scheme to carry on the trend of being forced to look after themselves. With so many enquiries, the CPF Life scheme is expected to robe in many more contributors, especially with the carrot of a $4,000 bonus for those who are not forced to sign on. I will encourage all those who need someone to manage their money to sign on too. This leaving your money to other people to manage is becoming a Singaporean habit, a Singaporean trait. For me, no way. I will never sign on anything that has a 'forced element' in it. I am very capable of taking care of myself and my money. It is such a great feeling to touch the money inside your pocket and say, 'Yes, it is my money. It is real. And I can do whatever I want with it, any time any place.' Mine is just a personal preference. Actually, with such a great scheme, if it is that good, people will be queuing to sign up, like property launches. No need compulsion. They will queue over night for it too. Community Clubs can help by providing buses to fetch them to CPF Board. Maybe not necessary if they can sign up in the Clubs themselves. Should CPF Board try this and see how many will queue to sign up for this great scheme?

Do banks have the ammo to fight frauds

This headline in the ST reminds me of the realisation in the European community of the real robbers that are robbing the people. Before I go on, the article in the ST was about banks trying to curb credit card frauds and limiting the liabilities of card holders. The European concern that was taken up by their Finance Ministers at the G20 was about the disproportional ransoms that the bankers are extorting from the banking industries. They reminded the ministers at the meeting that even before the financial crisis is over the bankers are paying themselves the crazy bonuses that they were getting before. And the Americans are not going with the Europeans as the main culprits are the American bankers themselves. These robbers are robbing their shareholders of hundreds of millions each, individually and annually. How on earth could they justify their abilities to earn that kind of money? With or without them, with a new team in charge, their banks are going to do just as fine, or just as badly. Many were managed to the brink of bankruptcies, or were bankrupts and needed govt and public funds to save them. The read fraudsters that are cheating the minority shareholders are the bankers themselves, and the CEOs of MNCs where the minority shareholders are helpless while the management just write their own pay checks, and pay themselves crazy. Do we need to look anywhere for fraudsters? Oh, pardon me, I am referring to European and American bankers and MNC CEOs, those who took tens or hundreds of millions. And it is not just the CEOs, it is the whole management team and board of directors. All are in it. It is a case of I pay you and you pay me, I approve your pay and you approve mine.

Bird watching

I went on a bird watching trip recently, armed with binoculars and camera, to watch and count the number of birdies in our little island. Many of the old birdies have disappeared. The merboks, the magpies, the Mynars, the nectar feeders etc. Even the sparrows, the most populous and in every roof corners, are hardly seen today. We were briefed that the bird population has grown with more sanctuaries being set aside as protected territories for migratory birds to nest here. So we counted all day long. As usual, the mynars and sparrows were few. But the numbers of crows, egrets, green pigeons, herons and many that were rarely seen in our island, non residents, are setting roots here and making our sanctuaries their homes. A thought came to my mind. One day we may see Singaporeans lugging their binos and digiphones in the city looking for Singaporeans and counting Singaporeans. The Singaporeans have gradually become a rare specie, and it takes effort to find them in the crowds of foreigners. There may be conducted tours with well informed tour guides leading groups to look out for Singaporeans. They will be armed with knowledge on Singaporean behavioral patterns, eating habits, slangs, dressing and their favourite haunts, what to look out for to separate them from the foreigners or new Singaporeans. And I think this will become a new industry. Conducted tours for Singaporean watching, and counting.