The innocence of scrapping estate duty

Many rich Sinkies were over the moon when estate duty was scrapped. Now they could hang on to their assets and inheritance forever, and not just one property but unlimited number of properties, assets and cash. This is extremely good for the old rich and the super rich. Even the HDB owners were in a way happy with it as they too were hoping that their flats would be worth millions in the future. And this is not far fetch given the way things are moving.

What people failed to see is the impact of abolishing estate duty on inflating property prices. Without estate duty, no one needs to be concerned about how high the prices of properties can go. The higher the better, $50m, $100m or $1b, it is okay, very good indeed, for the owners. Govt too need not be unduly concerned once this is taken out of the equation. It is no longer a source of revenue for the state.

Seriously, it is this disregard to the high property prices that is directly affecting property prices here. Everyone, from owners, speculators and developers would want the prices to go even higher. And this will trickle down to all other property prices.

And unthinkingly, the people that benefited most from this no estate duty affair are the foreigners. They could come and buy up everything, as investments or to park their money, which in turn drives up prices even higher. And the foreigners are benefiting more than Sinkies as they have much more money to invest in real estates. They need to park their money somewhere. And we don’t have enough properties for them to acquire. If we are blind to this fact, it is only a matter of time when foreigners would own all the properties they are eligible to buy up. The number of rich foreigners is unlimited and so is their wealth.

Another sordid tale of foreigners dumping their money here is that some are ill gotten gains. Unintentionally or intentionally, our property market is turning into the biggest and legal laundry machine for such black money. There were many tales of foreigners buying anything at any price without bargaining or batting an eye lid. They need to wash their dirty money and where else allowed them to do so so freely and easily.

For those who are pissed off by the unfair advantages foreigners are enjoying here, this is another point of contention. Foreigners are taking full advantage of this situation, to exploit the property markets for huge benefits. They are talking in terms of tens and hundreds of millions, not the few millions which Sinkies are talking about or the few hundred thousands of our HDB millionaires.

When property prices are in the tens of millions and hundreds of millions, it is big money for the state in estate duties. Why are the super rich and foreigners given such great privileges to multiply their wealth which in turn fuelled the property bubble at the expense of the average Sinkies?

It may be time to reconsider reintroducing estate duty to tap on this very rich gold mine of properties in tens and hundreds of millions. Considerations can be made to allow Sinkies to continue to enjoy a tax free property at $5m or $10m. Anything more is reasonable for the state to impose an estate duty on them, a tax to defray the country’s expense, and to curb the uncontrollable escalation of property prices. And why not tax on the ill gotten gains of foreigners and also on them to pay for pushing up property prices here. They must be made to pay for the pains and sufferings of those who could no longer buy what they wanted to buy because of them.

The scrapping of estate duty is not so innocent after all and have very wide implications and consequences.

Ah Kong kenna fined for protecting his family

My hero, Ong Long Hock, broke the jaw of a gangster and was fined $3000. He could have been jailed if not for his age and for self defense.

The gangsters, three of them, harassed his daughter in law, whacked his son and he as well when he tried to protect his son. They ran when the daughter in law called the police. Luckily or unluckily, Ah Kong and son caught one of them and that’s when Ah Kong gave the gangster a broken jaw.

Then the law took over. The law is the law. And Sinkie law is the most civilized and kind of all laws against gangsters. When gangsters beat you up, you must be careful not to hurt the gangsters in self defense. Ah Kong forgot, and in the heat of the moment, after being beaten by the gangsters, and seeing his son being beaten, gave it to the gangster. For beating the gangster, Ah Kong kenna fined $3000. Well done, prosecutor. You have done your job well. Justice is blind. The symbol of blind justice is on the front façade of the court.

The gangster has yet to be charged and his two accomplices are still at large. But they need not worry. The law will be kind to them. Poor Ah Kong, kenna hit still want to hit back. Didn’t know how civilized our laws are. Cannot anyhow hit people lah, even if they are gangsters who hit you!

By the way, if I were in the Ah Kong’s place, I would not break the gangster’s jaw. I would break both his hands and legs as well. And let the court sentence me to jail, for justice to prevail. The law is the law. The law is to protect the citizens from harm, including gangsters and provocateurs.

Xenophobia, bloggers jump into action

Several bloggers are concerned about the rising trend of xenophobia and are setting up blogs and forums to try to foster better understanding between the foreigners and locals. Really? How many foreigners have been beaten by the locals for no reasons? Nay, nigh, not even one. The latest report of a Briton being beaten up by a local was because the Briton passed racist taunts at the local in front of his friends. In this case, it was more a self defense, or a reaction to a provocation.

The locals are timid, faceless and self debasing creatures in the presence of superior talented foreigners. All foreigners will swear that they were treated extremely well in all service outlets, starting from SQ. Foreigners are treated as best as they could to make them feel good. And in public places, foreigners would always get all the help they wanted if they asked a local. Of course there are some exceptions when foreigners think they were some royalties and demanded to be treated that way. Then they would only piss off the locals.

What’s happening here is the frequency of foreigners bashing the locals at their whims and fancies, and some just for fun. It has been reported in the media very frequently and the locals, when bashed up, would be told to take up a civil suit against the foreigners at their own expense. And the locals are not supposed to hit back or they will be charged in courts for retaliation. Just stay calm, avoid the blows as best possible. And if landed in hospitals, then engage lawyers to sue the attackers.

As for foreigners, in the case of the Briton being beaten by Abraham Lincoln, the beater was charged in court and fined $4000, four times more than locals who made false reports to the police. This is how civilized our laws in protecting the one who provoked or started the beating.

There is a rise in Sinophobia, a unique kind of reverse xenophobia in this island, where there is contempt for the locals, where the foreigners seemed so at ease in making locals their punching bags. Why are there no local bloggers feeling any discomfort about such a pathetic state of affair and wanted to do something about it? Sinkie land is the only country where foreigners feel so at home, so comfortable, that beating the locals is a past time, really. There is no other country in the world where foreigners would feel so at ease to beat up the locals. Many would feel a fear of the locals and would behave very decently so as not to provoke or anger the locals when in contact with them. Why is this not the case in Sinkie land, but the other way around?

The act of the bloggers is a manifestation that beating up locals is an acceptable thing, but being rude or speaking up to foreigners is bad and unacceptable. And in the work place there have been many complaints that the foreigners ganged up to bully locals. And when they are in charge, they will employed more foreigners to replace the locals. And they have good reasons for it. The foreigners are definitely cheaper to hire.

For economic reasons, for business competition, I fully agree with this trend. All local companies must gradually replace all the expensive locals with foreigners. Start with the top. Once the CEO is a foreigner, the change will be easier. And from the industries, this can be replicated in the civil service and the govt as well. The savings in monetary terms will be tremendous. If we can replace the govt with foreigners, the cost could be down to 10% only. Definitely good value for money.

Oops, I digress a bit. Can I call on bloggers to think about how to plead with the foreigners to be nicer to locals and stop using them as their punching bags or telling them to go back to China or India? Please be kind and gentler to the meek locals. They all wear spectacles and weigh 50kg. A strong breeze would have blown them away. Be gentle with them, especially the taxi drivers. Some are grandfathers trying to make a living.

I am not PRC

I read this article about a Sinkie complaining that a PRC waitress would speak to him in Mandarin for his orders. This is not the first time Sinkies felt offended when spoken to in Mandarin. Am I surprised? Is speaking to another Chinky, oops, I mean Sinkie Chink, in Mandarin an offensive thing? Isn’t Mandarin one of the four official languages of this country?

But I can understand why Sinkie Chink did not like PRC Chink to think that he is also a Chink. There is a difference of course. Sinkie Chinks are westernized, modern, sophisticated, with good manners, unlike PRC Chinks.

I think I have a solution for this agonizing dilemma faced by some Sinkie Chinks. And since it is not possible to ask the Sinkie Chinks to dye his skin white, have his slit eyes rounded, or his flat Chinkie nose sharpened, the next easiest thing to do is to wear a head band to say, ‘I am a Sinkie Chink.’ Then all the PRC Chinks would have no problems telling them apart and may take the hint to speak to them in English, the mother tongue of Sinkie Chinks.

And they should wear the head band overseas too as the PRC Chinks are everywhere, and richer too, driving Ferraris and Lamboghinis in New York and London. The Europeans are finding them so common and so numerous that any Sinkie Chink could be mistaken to be a poorer version of the PRC Chinks. So bring the head bands and wear it everywhere to be noticed and to be known.

When Rome burns

When Rome was burning, Nero was fiddling on the roof. Why was that so? Why did Nero have all the time to play his fiddle when Rome was burning? He had too much time on his hand. He had appointed a cabinet of very talented ministers to run the empire for him. They were the best the empire could find. He was happy and at ease that he had all the able men in his team. And he spent his time in his favourite past time, fiddling on the roof.

Nero presumed that all his ministers were hard at work. So there was nothing to worry about. And that was why he was alone at the top, on the roof. Unfortunately he did not know that his ministers were either busy making themselves richer or on holiday with all the wealth they had accumulated. But aren’t they supposed to do their parts. These were very able and talented men. They knew that they could not do their jobs. They were not trained for them. Some were experts in deciphering the Dead Sea Scroll. How on earth would they be able to know what was happening in defence, in finance, in education? Or how much would a physician know about engineering, trade, building the country’s infrastructure. Because they were smart enough to know of their limitations, they outsourced their jobs to super talents, even imported talents. They had the money to buy the best talents.

So all the ministers needed to do was to buy talents to do their jobs. And they could sing song all day long or go on vacation. The super talents were supposed to know their stuff. Did they? Or were they snake oil sellers? Very likely, for Rome was burning under their charge. Did Nero know, or did the ministers know that Rome was burning? Nero did not. The ministers either did not know, or did want to know, or hoping that the super talents knew their stuff and the fire was temporary. But most chose not to know, making more money was their main preoccupation.

But the citizens knew that Rome was buring. So were the firefighters. Why didn’t the firefighters fight the fire? They were waiting for orders. They were waiting for someone to raise the alarm. No orders, no alarms, no action. And they all sat on their fat arses watching Rome burnt. They were paid handsomely and no need to sweat or work or think, if no one asked them do.

And Rome continued to burn while Nero played his fiddle on the roof, oblivious to what was happening. Everything must be fine as no one was there to tell him.

Would Nero wake up in time to save Rome, to put out the fire? According to history, he did not and Rome was burnt to the ground. Could he have save Rome if he knew that Rome was burning? He might, if he started to ask a few relevant questions, called up his ministers who would question his super talents about what was going on, about the fire. But these might not happen as the ministers knew nothing about what was happening and were fully dependent on the experts who turned out to be snake oil sellers, and who actually started the fire and did not know how to put it out.

Raising the alarm was useless for many reasons. For one, no one was listening, or no one wanted to listen. Everyone chose to hide their heads in the sand, didn’t want to hear, didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know. They all had options to move out of Rome with their wealth, or to rebuild a new Rome after the fire.

There was a fire, and the fire was burning. And everyone was looking the other way, with Nero on the roof top having a blissful time.

PS. Many would be guessing what is this all about? That is a good sign. Those who know will know what I am talking about. Those who don't, never mind, ignorance is bliss. Just hope that Nero knows, or at least interested enough to want to know before it is too late.