SDP and three doctorates

Who says SDP is a lost cause? Many may have the impression that with Chee Soon Juan at the helm and the associated bad press and publicity in the media, the SDP is like dead horse. And in the coming GE the SDP could just be another no horse run. Just when people thought the SDP is a goner, in came two doctorates in the form of Vincent Wijeysingha and James Gomez. The trinity of doctorates will now helm a revived and revitalised SDP. SDP can now claim to be able to attract talented individuals and professionals to join its ranks, something that the Workers Party has been quite successful recently. In Vincent Wijeysingha there is a history of pro establishment blood in his father, the renown ex principal of the famous Raffles Institution. Passing through his hands during his tenureship were several ministers and many MPs and luminaries of the Singapore society. With such a scintillating background, it is not easy to throw mud at him and get them stick. James Gomez is no small weight either. His entanglement with the Elections Committee in two previous elections have made him a household name for good or for worst. His experience in the academia and his overseas stint could be put to good use in the coming election. Resourcefulness and financial resources will be his strength and SDP could benefit from them. Spending so many years overseas, in Sweden, Australia and Japan speaks well of his finances and networking. Now that the SDP have two additional bigwigs of no lesser mantle than the PAP candidates to show, they could produce more surprises when the election approaches. More names of professionals could appear at the same time as the PAP introduces its slate of new candidates. The Workers Party should have some good candidates in their sleeves. SDP too will not do too badly when its full deck of cards are revealed. The next GE would be an interesting poker game for now.

The rude pommies

When David Cameron paid an official visit to China with the hope of signing more trade deals, he and his entourage arrogantly wore the poppies on their lapels. They justified themselves that it was their tradition to respect their war dead. They insensitively brushed aside the Chinese request to have them removed as it was a rude reminder of the Opium War humiliation the Chinese suffered at the hands of the pommies. Of course the trip ended with nothing to bring home. So, would they come back with the Jardines and Mathesons and their gunboats loaded with cannons and opium again to force trade with China? They were superior in weapons technology once. They may still think that they could shove the Chinese aside like football hooligans. They better be reminded that even their world famous Rolls Royce engines are falling out of the sky. This is the last days of a dying Empire and more will come when the loot they ransacked from the Asian and African countries were used up. Soon they will be auctioning away all the stolen treasures in the London museums and the Crown Jewels. Buckingham Palace on sale! Who will be the first sick man of Europe? The Brits have a good potential to assume this position, starting with Ireland. Maybe it will take a little longer as they could also print more English pounds, provided the EU did not stop them from doing it. Or maybe David is thinking of slaying a dragon, like Goliath.

A new kind of colonial conquest

For those who have read history or still remember, the Western powers sailed into Africa, Asia and America in their gunboats and took everything from the natives. And the best part is that they claimed everything as theirs, including the people who became subjects of their empires. How Europe became rich had its beginnings in robbery and piracy. Today they came again, guns hidden, but with stash of newly printed papers they called money. And they are taking everything in exchange for these pieces of printed papers. And the natives just gave them away happily this time round. They gave away goods and services. The latest are beautiful houses and properties which they built at high cost, all for the pieces of papers. And the Americans are warning the rest of the world that stopping the use of these printed papers is destabilising the world’s existing order. In other words, if they are not allowed to cart away goods and services, which they happily exchanged with printed pieces of papers, they are going to pull out their guns. There are countries that have wise up to this new form of colonial robbery. They are not going to give away their valuables for worthless pieces of papers. There are others who are happy to collect the printed papers and willingly give away their goods, including hot properties.

Save Singapore while there is still time

The hottest topic in cyberspace Singapore Chapter is overcrowding in Singapore. But this is only a one sided view of the disgruntled Singaporeans. The supertalents don’t believe a wee bit that Singapore is overcrowded and there are signals and mind conditioning processes actively trying to convince the unconvinced that Singapore can support a population of more than 10m people. The people of the world are crying out loud to save the Gaia while there is still time. Singaporeans, or some Singaporeans, are crying out to save Singapore while there is still time. For this group of Singaporeans, they fear that one day they will end up like a congested fish tank teeming with fish fighting to push their heads up gasping for air. For so many years, even today, we have been crowing about how successful we are and how great this little paradise is. Is there anyone seeing signs that it is going downhill and can snap into chaos, unemployment, bankruptcies and disorder? Some thought they are seeing the signs. Some are oblivious to any signs and are looking at more good years ahead. But they have bought their insurance plans, overseas properties just in case. Can the party go on and on like this, with inflation shooting to the roof. Oh, that is only my personal view and it is likely to be wrong. Inflation is very low according to official statistics despite runaway housing prices, car prices, transportation, medical services and even food prices. With the bulk of the population whose salary got to fit the bill of ‘cheaper, better and faster’, can they cope with the rising cost of living? Looking at the speed in which properties are being snapped up and the long queues waiting for ever more expensive housing, I think all the doomsayers are wrong. Singapore and Singaporeans are getting more prosperous everyday, or at least their property prices are making them richer by the days. And now even buy cars can make money too. The good days are here and will stay forever. Who says must save Singapore while there is still time?

Hongkong and China coming down hard on property speculation

Hongkong has announced more stringent measures to curb property speculations amid warnings by the IMF that the property bubble could burst. Sales of properties within 6 months of purchase will not have to pay 15% of stamp duty. Down payment for properties above S$2m has been raised from 40% to 50%. This irrational fear of property bubble is spreading from South Korea, China to Brazil. The control measures would mean that property prices in these countries will not go up anymore. Now that is bad. In Singapore, property prices can only go one way, up and up. And this is good. It must be. And we have no property bubble to fear. Our properties are all priced to be affordable. This is the ingenious trick that all the other countries failed to learn. The affordability formula is as stretchable as rubber. Even if our HDB 3 rm flats are priced at $1m each, they will still be affordable. From two income households servicing the mortgage for 30 years, this can be made even more attractive by having 4 incomes to pay for it. There is further flexibility to increase the repayment period from 30 years to 60 years too. If these countries would be humble enough to learn from us, they will not need to panic and impose all kinds of anti speculation measures. And they will be cheering everyday for property prices to go up, the higher the better.