Many Singaporeans may be unhappy with him and his arrogant housing policies and how it affected their lives and their income. Because of that, many have forgotten to look at the good side and achievements of this man. He was handed a $2b problem, more than 10,000 units of unsold HDB flats. There was initial panic when so much money was tied up in unsold properties.
Then he did a miraculous feat. Within a few years he not only sold all this flats, and the sale was so good that he turned a surplus into a shortage. As a result, HDB was able to sell its flats at higher and higher prices, bringing in great profits, though it surprisingly registered an unfortunate big loss in one year. The gist was that he was the best seller of properties. The best property salesman in the number of properties sold.
He also taught the complacent young people in family planning. Many have taken for granted that marriage is a thing that just happened and buying a flat is so easy. He is not going to make it easy for them in their careless approach to setting up a family. He made them plan ahead. He made them plan at least 3 to 5 years ahead, and the penalty was to get married without a flat in waiting. He would only build public flats when his order book was full. Period. And this demanded the buyers to plan carefully. It also cut down on spurious applications and long queues for flats. Only genuine buyers needed register.
He also encouraged the higher income young couple to buy private properties instead of HDB. He maintained the eligibility ceiling at a level that many had no choice but to go private or ended up no housing at all. There were many advantages which many young people did not see, like low interest rates and high demand for flats with influx of foreigners. Those who took his cue are now smiling as their properties would have appreciated many times despite the high mortgages they took. It indirectly also helped to boost the economy and GDP with higher consumption and borrowing. Those who did not listen to his advice only got themselves to blame. And many are still flatless and not eligible for public housing any more while private housing went beyond their reach.
Mah Bow Tan’s other achievement is conservation. By not building too many flats, the land was kept in reserve instead of wanton building for the sake of building. He knew how precious and limited is our land bank. And because of this, he went one step further by building flats of smaller sizes, saving on land, material and cost. The cost savings went into the furnishing as well, smaller space needed smaller furniture and lesser furniture. Great savings for the owners. Micky mouse flats become a fad and a new way of life and with assurance by HDB that the quality of life would not be affected.
While the people took for granted the ownership of public housing, the tight policies made the people more aware of how important owning a flat was, and how valuable a flat as well. Many are so happy that the same flat, after using and staying in it for so many years, can still fetch higher and higher prices. They are feeling so much richer.
This man deserves a medal for his foresight and nature conservation policies. If he did not hold down on the building programme, all the land would have been built up and no space left for anything. Don’t just look at the negative side. There are goodness in badness and badness in goodness.
With 2011 in the past, let’s give this man a medal for his achievements in public housing and conservation.
1/03/2012
1/02/2012
2012 a year of give and take
Many ordinary people will understand this give and take phrase to mean you take some, you give some, or you give some and you take some. It is so simple as that, or is it?
Different people have different takes when comes to give and take. Some say those who have been taking should stop taking and those who have been giving should stop giving, and the role be reversed. The takers should start to give and the giver should start to take.
Another view is that the taker should continue to take since he is the taker and the giver should continue to give since he is used to be the giver. And there are variations to how much to take and how much go give. The familiar formula is to take $1,000 and give $1. Oops, sorry, this is not about money. Money is not in the picture. In that case the position of giver and taker means different things. When money is concerned, the taker is always at the advantage. If not money, then the taker is at the losing end, taking shit and whatever.
Yes whatever, in the end it is likely that the taker will continue to take as it has become habitual. On the giver side, he too will be giving all the time. And it will still be a give and take situation, some will take and some will give. Some will take more and some will give less.
Different people have different takes when comes to give and take. Some say those who have been taking should stop taking and those who have been giving should stop giving, and the role be reversed. The takers should start to give and the giver should start to take.
Another view is that the taker should continue to take since he is the taker and the giver should continue to give since he is used to be the giver. And there are variations to how much to take and how much go give. The familiar formula is to take $1,000 and give $1. Oops, sorry, this is not about money. Money is not in the picture. In that case the position of giver and taker means different things. When money is concerned, the taker is always at the advantage. If not money, then the taker is at the losing end, taking shit and whatever.
Yes whatever, in the end it is likely that the taker will continue to take as it has become habitual. On the giver side, he too will be giving all the time. And it will still be a give and take situation, some will take and some will give. Some will take more and some will give less.
1/01/2012
The inevitable change
2011 set the stage for change in a new world with new players. The Americans tried very hard to retain its number One super power status and to contain the challenge coming from an emerging China. Much as it tried, American power is dwindling in the midst of economic failures and a mountain of debt. America continues in its pursuit of military power and control, getting itself embroiled in wars, in sanctions, in interfering with the domestic politics of every country on its good book or in its bad books. It poked its finger into Myanmar and North Korea, two countries that have nothing to do with the lives of Americans. While the North Koreans are mourning the death of its leaders, the Americans are furiously engaging the South Koreans on how to deal with the North Koreans when it is totally none of its business. It still thinks it has the privilege and resources to mess around the world.
Domestically we are seeing a party on the defensive. The ruling party has expended all its political capital and with every minister a liability rather than an asset to the party. Without political capital, something that it callously chose not to build over the last decades, it is looking at social capital to fall back on. How much social capital is there when it neglected building on it like political capital?
Singaporeans went through a very painful phase of ‘nothing can be done’, it is all due to market forces, wide income gap is good and natural, that is growth. High housing prices are beyond the govt’s control, so is high cost of living, market forces at work. The high intake of foreigners labelled as foreign talents is for the good of the people, like it or not. It can’t be helped. It is not the norm or responsibility to build housing for the people when they needed it. The govt will dictate when they want to build and how many to build, and 3 to 4 years wait is a take it or leave it position. So what can the people do about it other than to accept it as the norm.
Many people benefited from the govt’s policies of market forces, including very high pay, very high property prices. Those who have plenty kept piling their plates higher and higher when they could live for generations without having to work. The average Singaporeans continue to make ends meet and whine quietly. And the people were told to accept it as normal in a meritocracy. The rich will get richer and the poor poorer. Can’t be helped.
Many things were taken for granted. Retaining more and more of the people’s money in the CPF/Medisave is done against their wishes as if the money belongs to the govt becomes a norm. No need to consult the people. Just legislate to make it legal.
Is there really much social capital that the govt can tap on or call upon when the social economic system benefits only a small group of elites at the expense of the majority? The elites and talented are very happy, very, very happy, as they get richer and richer with favourable govt policies. So are the foreigners and the foreign talents. No where can they find a system that is so friendly to them than Singapore. And they would threaten to move some where if govt policies were not favourable to them. We owe them a living. On the other hand the average Singaporeans are finding life getting tougher for themselves and were told that they have themselves to blame.
Does the ruling party really believe that things are getting better for them and not getting worst for the years to come? The Americans are going to face tougher time ahead, like it or not. The only thing they have left is power, power to destroy, to impose sanctions, to coerce, to start wars. As the born again convert of Americanism, everything the Americans do, we follow. Would the blind believer follow the leader to the same end?
Domestically we are seeing a party on the defensive. The ruling party has expended all its political capital and with every minister a liability rather than an asset to the party. Without political capital, something that it callously chose not to build over the last decades, it is looking at social capital to fall back on. How much social capital is there when it neglected building on it like political capital?
Singaporeans went through a very painful phase of ‘nothing can be done’, it is all due to market forces, wide income gap is good and natural, that is growth. High housing prices are beyond the govt’s control, so is high cost of living, market forces at work. The high intake of foreigners labelled as foreign talents is for the good of the people, like it or not. It can’t be helped. It is not the norm or responsibility to build housing for the people when they needed it. The govt will dictate when they want to build and how many to build, and 3 to 4 years wait is a take it or leave it position. So what can the people do about it other than to accept it as the norm.
Many people benefited from the govt’s policies of market forces, including very high pay, very high property prices. Those who have plenty kept piling their plates higher and higher when they could live for generations without having to work. The average Singaporeans continue to make ends meet and whine quietly. And the people were told to accept it as normal in a meritocracy. The rich will get richer and the poor poorer. Can’t be helped.
Many things were taken for granted. Retaining more and more of the people’s money in the CPF/Medisave is done against their wishes as if the money belongs to the govt becomes a norm. No need to consult the people. Just legislate to make it legal.
Is there really much social capital that the govt can tap on or call upon when the social economic system benefits only a small group of elites at the expense of the majority? The elites and talented are very happy, very, very happy, as they get richer and richer with favourable govt policies. So are the foreigners and the foreign talents. No where can they find a system that is so friendly to them than Singapore. And they would threaten to move some where if govt policies were not favourable to them. We owe them a living. On the other hand the average Singaporeans are finding life getting tougher for themselves and were told that they have themselves to blame.
Does the ruling party really believe that things are getting better for them and not getting worst for the years to come? The Americans are going to face tougher time ahead, like it or not. The only thing they have left is power, power to destroy, to impose sanctions, to coerce, to start wars. As the born again convert of Americanism, everything the Americans do, we follow. Would the blind believer follow the leader to the same end?
12/31/2011
Fallen myths and discredited policies
When the concept of super talents in politics was first proclaimed in an edict, the people quietly accepted it as there was nothing to dispute the fact that the country has been very well managed, from the Third World to the First World. Albeit a little flaws here and there, overall the country was in the pink of health and the people were rich and happy.
With this edict out of the way, it was easy to put meat onto this claim. The country needed the best talents to keep it going from prosperity to prosperity. And the best talents needed to be paid the best. The best talents would not want to sacrifice their careers and money making opportunities to serve the country and people if they were to be under paid. It made sense. So they went piling on the plate.
Till sometime last year, this year is not over yet, there were strong indications of more pay hikes for the political leaders. Something like how much you want, $3m, $5m or $10m? No one knows exactly how much the politicians were taking home except the basic pay.
The year 2011 proved to be a turning point of sort, a watershed in many ways. Hot on the heels of the Mas Selamat Escape in 2008, a series of bloops continued to fall on the faces of ministers in charge. Transportation, floods, Youth Olympics, Housing, cost of living, foreign talents and unemployments of local PMETs, all added to become a big pool of grievances.
The ground shift was felt in the May General Election. George Yeo was shaken even before the voters went to cast their votes. Hsien Loong made a quick public apology in his election speech. And the ruling party lost a GRC, an unsinkable contraptions that was not meant to sink, but sank it did, taking with it two ministers and a couple of top talents in the govt. It was only one GRC, but the psychological and emotional impact of this event was like saying more to come.
The appearance of Chen Show Mao, a truly super talent with international standing and a super income to boot, stood for the opposition and willing to accept a paltry $13,000 as an MP allowance. Small relative to what he could get but huge in many ways to what many MPs could get relative to their incomes. He could earn many times more. This act alone shattered the myth that super talents would only be enticed by money to serve the country and people.
Against this backdrop, the ruling party added to their wound with more questionable and doubtful super talents in their teams and hilarious accounts flooded the media. It was like the strike of a thunderbolt. The super talent myth was gone. There was disbelief as well as affirmation that it was all a myth.
With the fallen myth and the discredited policies that affected the lives of citizens adversely, the super salaries of politicians became a big issue. Suddenly it was seen as unjustifiable, grossly overpaid, leading to Hsien Loong calling for a Salary Review Committee to relook into the whole formula of out of this world salary for the ministers. And the first comment from Gerard Ee, who was tasked to do the review, was that the ‘final answer must include a substantial discount on comparable salaries in the private sector.’ A discount or a substantial salary cut is what the people are expecting. No body in his right mind would think that paying the ministers so much is right. And no ministers were in the right mind to stand up to defend their salaries as deserving and appropriate.
The report by the Committee has been submitted to Hsien Loong and all eyes and ears are waiting eagerly to see what the Committee has recommended. The year 2011 marks the end of the super talent concept and salaries in politics.
With this edict out of the way, it was easy to put meat onto this claim. The country needed the best talents to keep it going from prosperity to prosperity. And the best talents needed to be paid the best. The best talents would not want to sacrifice their careers and money making opportunities to serve the country and people if they were to be under paid. It made sense. So they went piling on the plate.
Till sometime last year, this year is not over yet, there were strong indications of more pay hikes for the political leaders. Something like how much you want, $3m, $5m or $10m? No one knows exactly how much the politicians were taking home except the basic pay.
The year 2011 proved to be a turning point of sort, a watershed in many ways. Hot on the heels of the Mas Selamat Escape in 2008, a series of bloops continued to fall on the faces of ministers in charge. Transportation, floods, Youth Olympics, Housing, cost of living, foreign talents and unemployments of local PMETs, all added to become a big pool of grievances.
The ground shift was felt in the May General Election. George Yeo was shaken even before the voters went to cast their votes. Hsien Loong made a quick public apology in his election speech. And the ruling party lost a GRC, an unsinkable contraptions that was not meant to sink, but sank it did, taking with it two ministers and a couple of top talents in the govt. It was only one GRC, but the psychological and emotional impact of this event was like saying more to come.
The appearance of Chen Show Mao, a truly super talent with international standing and a super income to boot, stood for the opposition and willing to accept a paltry $13,000 as an MP allowance. Small relative to what he could get but huge in many ways to what many MPs could get relative to their incomes. He could earn many times more. This act alone shattered the myth that super talents would only be enticed by money to serve the country and people.
Against this backdrop, the ruling party added to their wound with more questionable and doubtful super talents in their teams and hilarious accounts flooded the media. It was like the strike of a thunderbolt. The super talent myth was gone. There was disbelief as well as affirmation that it was all a myth.
With the fallen myth and the discredited policies that affected the lives of citizens adversely, the super salaries of politicians became a big issue. Suddenly it was seen as unjustifiable, grossly overpaid, leading to Hsien Loong calling for a Salary Review Committee to relook into the whole formula of out of this world salary for the ministers. And the first comment from Gerard Ee, who was tasked to do the review, was that the ‘final answer must include a substantial discount on comparable salaries in the private sector.’ A discount or a substantial salary cut is what the people are expecting. No body in his right mind would think that paying the ministers so much is right. And no ministers were in the right mind to stand up to defend their salaries as deserving and appropriate.
The report by the Committee has been submitted to Hsien Loong and all eyes and ears are waiting eagerly to see what the Committee has recommended. The year 2011 marks the end of the super talent concept and salaries in politics.
Temasek cutting losses
KARACHI:
Fed up with mounting losses at its only major investment in Pakistan, the Singapore-based Temasek Holdings is selling off its stake in NIB Bank and is reportedly in talks with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, sources told The Express Tribune.
Senior management officials at NIB Bank were so tight-lipped about the transaction that, not only did they refuse to discuss the matter, but they even refused to go on the record as having said that they have no comment. Neither the ICBC not Temasek Holdings were available for comment, despite repeated attempts to contact them by The Express Tribune….
Temasek certainly has reason to be unhappy. The Singaporean state-owned institutional investor has ploughed about $540 million into NIB Bank and has thus far seen the bank make close to $400 million in losses. At the close of trading on Wednesday, NIB Bank had a total market capitalisation of approximately $154 million, which values Temasek’s 74% holding (through its subsidiary Bugis Investments) at $114 million….
The above are the starting paragraph of an article titled, ‘Cut your losses: Temasek may be selling off NIB to China Bank’ by Farooq Tirmizi in The Express Tribune.
I could sense a little sarcasm and sneering by the author that Temasek is making such a huge loss. But smug not, for Farooq did not know how big is Temasek’s portfolio and this loss is just a pittance compared to all the big gains it is making elsewhere. I bet in the next annual report Temasek will announced another scintillating result with profits in hundreds of millions, after minus this small loss. For every loss of a few hundred millions, it will be covered by gains of many hundred millions. That is how good the track record of Temasek.
Our reserves are in good hands with the best money can buy managing them.
Fed up with mounting losses at its only major investment in Pakistan, the Singapore-based Temasek Holdings is selling off its stake in NIB Bank and is reportedly in talks with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, sources told The Express Tribune.
Senior management officials at NIB Bank were so tight-lipped about the transaction that, not only did they refuse to discuss the matter, but they even refused to go on the record as having said that they have no comment. Neither the ICBC not Temasek Holdings were available for comment, despite repeated attempts to contact them by The Express Tribune….
Temasek certainly has reason to be unhappy. The Singaporean state-owned institutional investor has ploughed about $540 million into NIB Bank and has thus far seen the bank make close to $400 million in losses. At the close of trading on Wednesday, NIB Bank had a total market capitalisation of approximately $154 million, which values Temasek’s 74% holding (through its subsidiary Bugis Investments) at $114 million….
The above are the starting paragraph of an article titled, ‘Cut your losses: Temasek may be selling off NIB to China Bank’ by Farooq Tirmizi in The Express Tribune.
I could sense a little sarcasm and sneering by the author that Temasek is making such a huge loss. But smug not, for Farooq did not know how big is Temasek’s portfolio and this loss is just a pittance compared to all the big gains it is making elsewhere. I bet in the next annual report Temasek will announced another scintillating result with profits in hundreds of millions, after minus this small loss. For every loss of a few hundred millions, it will be covered by gains of many hundred millions. That is how good the track record of Temasek.
Our reserves are in good hands with the best money can buy managing them.
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