High quality debate in Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament, Abdullah Tarmugi, thanked the MPs and Ministers for their high quality contributions and debate in the House. He said it was the best session he had seen in his 26 years in Parliament. Chua Mui Hoong in her article in the ST this morning lamented that if the MPs and Ministers would just speak instead of reading from scripted pieces of papers, Parliament seatings will be that much more livelier and interesting. Our Parliament has been turned into an exercise of reading essays. The questions were written and submitted in advance for the Ministers to reply. They will then be read out in Parliament and the Ministers will then read out their replies. Was there any debate at all? Maybe thanks should also be given to the ghost writers for their contributions to the quality of the essays. I wonder how many of the essays read out in Parliament were written by the ghost writers. I think I can offer my ghost writing services too, with full confidentiality of course, at a small fee.

The lure of hot money and big funds

We welcome hot money and big funds into our market. In fact the mention of such items will send saliva dripping down the corners of our mouths. Hot money and big funds mean a lot of money to be made and a more vibrant economy. Why then are countries getting the shivers when there are too much hot money and big funds pouring in? Why then is IMF talking about change and applying more controls on such hot money and the activities of big funds? There are two sides of the coin. The hot money and big funds will benefit the developers and speculators in properties and in stocks. In the case of properties, they will buy up everything they could for profits of course. Who pays for their profits? Anyone loses out? When someone is making tons of money, someone else must be paying for it. The whole thing will spiral down to the little guys who will find the roof over their heads getting costlier and beyond their reach. The big guys will all be laughing to the banks and having their parties. In the case of stocks, the big funds are making millions and billions at the expense of the small guys. Yes 1 or 2 may make some money, but the big picture is a sorry state of affairs. Just like listing of foreign stocks, when they grabbed the money and run, leaving a shell for the local investors. The Stock Exchange may be happy earning the $600 clearing fee per trade and add a few millions to its bottom line. Contrast this to the billions of profits that the big funds are wiping from the market and sending the small investors to the laundry. The net sum gain or loss is frightening and negative to the country as a whole. Is it worth it? Earning a few penny and losing billions in the process? Would anyone bother to look at the big picture? Would a few privilege ones making a few millions be enough justification for the majority losing their billions? The hot money and big funds are here to make a quick buck from the locals, and leave the carnage behind when they depart. Maybe the IMF is crazy. Maybe those countries that shunned hot money and big funds are stupid. Maybe we are smarter

Another China bashing article

China Business Mar 12, 2010 China lassoes its neighbors By Walden Bello Asia Times With the Doha Round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization in limbo, the heavy hitters of international trade have been engaged in a race to sew up trade agreements with smaller partners. China has been among the most aggressive in this game, a fact underlined on January 1, when the China-ASEAN Free-Trade Area (CAFTA) went into effect. Touted as the world's biggest free-trade area, CAFTA will bring together 1.7 million consumers with a combined gross domestic product of US$5.9 trillion and total trade of $1.3 trillion. Under the agreement, trade between China and Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore has become duty-free for more than 7,000 products. By 2015, the newer members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar - will join the zero-tariff arrangement. The propaganda mills, especially in Beijing, have been trumpeting the free-trade agreement as bringing "mutual benefits" to China and ASEAN. In contrast, there has been an absence of triumphal rhetoric from ASEAN. In 2002, the year the agreement was signed, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hailed the emergence of a "formidable regional grouping" that would rival the United States and the European Union. ASEAN's leaders, it seems, have probably begun to realize the consequences of what they agreed to: that in this FTA, most of the advantages will probably flow to China.... The above are the opening paras of Walden's article. The writer took the position that the Asean leaders were all dummies and did not know what they were going into, and the peasant Chinamen were first class conmen. I think the Chinamen cannot beat the conmen that caused the SWFs to lose hundreds of billions within a few months. Those, in my view, were either real first class conmen or the victims were really dumb asses. If one were to remember the early years when the empires put a gun at the heads of native headmen and forced them to sign away their countries and national wealth, perfectly fair deals. Today all the trade agreements signed between China and any country, no matter how small, were negotiated by the countries best brains on a willing buyer willing seller basis. No guns on their heads for sure. The western propaganda machine is still in full swin to attack and discredit China in all ways, but how many would believe in them today?

Looking at Parliament

Yesterday's In Parliament was showing quite a full house, maybe 50 MPs were present. Not bad attendance when they are only paid an allowance. Over the last few sessions what impresses me most is the slate of our Malay MPs. I think there are a few doctors and several doctorates. Impressive. But what is more impressive is the way they present themselves, very professional, articulate and cool. The Malays need not look any further to find the role model for modern and sophisticated and well educated Malays. Just look at the who's who in Parliament. No need to wear head gears of robes to look like Arabs. The Singaporean Malays have progressed in leaps and bounds and they look very very different from our neighbouring Malays. They are world's apart. They don't remind you of village chiefs and the days of Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat anymore. So too are our Indian and Chinese descendants of indentured labours and coolies. They all, including the Malays, look more like the English aristocrats and gentries, and a bit of American Hollywood. Suave and very international. But once in a while, when irritated, a little of the crudeness of their forefathers still resurfaced. Maybe in another generation all the traits of humble origins would no longer be there. CNA should have longer takes of In Parliament and beamed it across Asia. Maybe the Arabs, the Indians and the Chinese will all look towards their Singaporean counterparts as the role model of the future, successful and smart looking. And so will the rest of Asia. The Singaporeans will set the trend for others to follow instead of following and imitating others. The Singaporean Style!

Who the f@#% does he think he is?

CPF Life will be compulsory for those with $60k in their retirement accounts at the age of 65. They missed them when they got the bulk of their money out at 55. Now the net closes in and they are going for those who slipped out to be caught again at 65. Who does he think he is? It is the people's money. Don't touch, you have no right to confiscate the people's money at your whims and fancy. You are no god, boy. 'Such was the level of interest in CPF Life that it was opened up last Sept to Singaporeeans and permanent residents aged 55 and older. Since then, some 37,000 people have signed up, committing a total of $1.7 billion.' Why such a great and popular scheme only had 37,000 members? If it is so great, people will all be rushing into it. And why the need for compulsion? Is the govt so short of fund that it has to resort to locking up the people's money in all kinds of scheme? Boon Wan is waiting to transfer more money into Medisave. The people who are not happy with a govt that thinks it can do anything with their money must vote for the return of their money in the next GE. They must assert their rights to their own money and tell whichever joker to lay his hands off their money. I will definitely vote for the right to my money.