Consider Mercedes or BMWs for staff cars

During the early days of Mindef, most staff cars are Minis, Fords, a few Japanese makes and a few Mercedes for the top brass. But those days cost was important as the country was not that rich. Today we have billions and billions in our reserve and maybe it is timely that Mindef or the other ministries should go for quality since money is no longer a problem.

And going for quality is not extravagant really. Buying cheap cars is like penny wise pound foolish. A Mercedes or BMW is made to last for 20 years unlike the other cheaper makes that would last no more than 10 years. And the ride is so much better and comfortable. And there is the safety aspect to care for. Mercedes and BMWs are built with many safety features which will make them so much safer for the passengers, our NS men. Oh, include in the specs to have 4 airbags, two in front, two behind, plus side protection bars and anti roll bars. Safety is of paramount importance and cannot be compromised.

Buy quality is not wasting money. Mercedes and BMWs must give me a commission for this brilliant suggestion. And with two of them submitting for the tenders, there is a price comparison and competition, and the contract can be given to the lowest bid. Can throw in Audi if three bids are needed.

Remember, quality comes with a price. Can cheaper, better and faster mean quality also? If that can be so, then no one will want to buy expensive goods. Start by changing all the chairs and office furnitures.

Do not underestimate the Malaysians

Malaysia just launched one of the world’s largest IPO in IHH Healthcare at $2.6b. The company will be listed in the SGX and Bursa Malaysia. What is amazing about this launch is the list of hospitals in its stable. Among the big names are Mt Elizabeth Orchard, Mt Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles and Parkway Hospitals. If the names sound familiar, yes, they are all the top hospitals in Singapore.

Malaysia has not only bought over this strategic group of hospitals, it also owns one of our power stations, it has bought into two of our brokerages, and I am sure it is also into many other acquisitions of good Sinkie companies. With their oil money, it is quite foreseeable that it could buy up many good assets and companies here.

I see this as a brilliant strategic move. They have turned the table and thrown away their village mindset of always on the losing end when dealing with Sinkieland. They are on the offensive. When everything is for sale in Sinkieland, it is only a right thing to do for Malaysia to buy them up. And don’t forget, it is exchanging Malaysian ringgits for Sing dollar. In the long run, should the ringgit depreciated against the Sing dollar, Sinkieland will end up with much less value ringgits while Malaysia will be sitting on highly valued and well appreciated Sinkie assets.

For those who are worrying about the fate of Sinkieland remerging with Malaysia, not to worry. It need not be. It will be bought over in a matter of time. Don’t underestimate the strategic minds of the street smart Malaysians. Our book scholars will be no match to them as they only think of buying and selling for immediate and short term gains. The long term strategic thinking is somehow absent. And with so many Malaysians here as PRs or citizens, the merging or takeover will be smooth and easy.

And the Malaysians know how to buy good stuff. They don’t go around the world to buy junks or out of luck companies.

What is $57,200?

When $600,000 was dismissed off as peanuts, why are netizens screaming over $57,200? The amount was spent on 26 foldable Brompton bikes that NParks had purchased. Many felt that it was excessive and unnecessary when a $500 bike is already a damn good one and a $1,000 bike is a luxury. A $2,000 bike is just inexplicable for a govt organization to splurge using public money. And poor Khaw Boon Wan now had came out to defend this purchase as reasonable. And this is going to cause more ire among the bikers who knew the value and quality of bikes. Best advice is not to explain.

But spending $57,200 is really nothing, not even a drop in the ocean. Not even half a month’s pay to many. Why the who ha? Personally, as a low wage worker, $500 for a bike is definitely too much for me to pay. Then it is all relative isn’t it? What is a lot to the losers is, yes, nothing to those who are used to spend millions and hundreds of millions.

The netizens are also complaining why a tender for 26 bikes only attracted one bid. Is it that the tender contract was too small, no supplier was interested, no one could meet the stringent specifications, or no one knew about the tender except for one? Many questions are being raised on this peculiar incident, just like the designer chairs for, was it MOM or NTU? Such small matters and small amount of money could not register in the memory of most people, not even my elephant memory. Of course dementia is starting to gnaw throw the thick skull.

My conclusion, the amount is just too small, too petty for any suppliers of foldable bikes to be bothered to submit their tenders. So it ended up with only one hungry tender, and according to civil service procedures, since there was only one tender, it was proper to accept the tender. Case closed. Let’s move on.

For those suppliers who were sleeping and did not know that there was such a tender, it is their fault. Then again, it must be the small sum that kept them away. In an exceedingly rich country when every mention of money is in the millions, when people conveniently asked, ‘What is $10m?’, what is $57,200? No case lah. Such a small matter is like making a mountain out of a mole hill. There are more important things to worry about.

God’s money

The believers donated happily, willingly, though painfully, to God, with the hope of 30 fold, 60 fold and 100 fold returns. What is wrong with that? Nothing really! It is willing giver willing taker. It is caveat emptor. Why the big fuss? The only thing that I cannot fathom is the round tripping. Maybe this one got some accounting peculiarities that offended the law.

Putting this aside, money willingly given to God must be God’s money. There is no compulsion, like taxes or CPF. There is no law against anyone giving money to God. Calling it charity is also wrong. God does not need charity. Who the heck called these as donation to charity?

Anyway, once the money if for God, how the money is used by God’s servants to serve God is no one else business. If the servants think that singing and cutting albums in the US is to serve God, then let it be so. If the intent is good, good for the contributors, what is the problem? Even if it is pornography or insurance schemes or whatever schemes, if it is for the good of God, that is good enough.

It is also reported that 40 companies were set up by CHC or the pastors and the senior pastors. If the monies are theirs, it is personal and private matter. If the money is God’s money, then one needs to ask what is the purpose of these investments. If the investment is to grow God’s money to serve God, it is perfectly legal and logical. Sovereign funds were also set up in same kind of reasoning, investing the funds to serve god’s interests. Oops, I meant the sovereign’s interests.

See, all can be explained. It is the intention that counts. If the intention is not to cheat, which no one will admit or own up, and if it is explicitly said that it is to invest for the long term for God’s sake, it cannot be faulted. Or can it?

Bankers Fleeing Europe Crisis Head to Singapore

The Europeans have started to take them down, one by one. The crooks and robbers in high places, wearing designer suits and an air of superiority, in the financial industry of the west, will hit the dust as their ill doings are being exposed. More will see their light being snuffed out as the financial industry with its unregulated mischievious products and practices revealed themselves as purely toxic and worthless waste. After wrecking the world economy in the late 1990s, nothing seems to change as they continue to revive and indulge in their old ways, and aggrandizing themselves with more dirty money from their ‘sophisticated’ but daft high net worth clients.

As the curtain is coming down, many are scrambling to the ignorant and naïve Asian countries that would open their doors and arms to embrace these financial rogues and their scam practices thinking that they were the god sent angels to boost up their financial systems and profits. If only they think a little and ask if these were really so talented, if their practices were so supreme, they would not be running away from the western paradise. And the top crooks and robbers would not be taken down, the big banks and financial institutions would not be in ruins.

But never mind, the Asians are always willing suckers to the west. Below is a compressed post on the great talents and their exodus to Asia. Sinkieland will be waiting in glee for these great talents. The first financial centre in Asia that will be in ruins will be Sinkieland if it blindly allowed all the rogues and their rotten products and systems into the island. Just watch the stock market and the signs of its demise.

Posted By: Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani
Assistant Producer, CNBC

29 Jun 2012

A 37-year-old Paris-based French investment banker, who’s worked in London and New York, has been looking for a job in one of Asia's financial hubs, Singapore, for the past six months.

A director at an asset management firm owned by one of France’s big banks, she asked to stay anonymous, but told CNBC that even her husband, a portfolio manager, was on the lookout for work in Singapore. She added that they would move to the city-state with their two children as soon as one of them lands a job….

The French investment banker is one among a growing number of bankers looking to leave Europe as deteriorating economic conditions together with tougher regulations have slowed business and led to job cuts…. “It’s very, very slow here [in Europe]. On top of that, there are a lot of regulations adding up on each other, so it makes things a bit difficult,” she said.

Several global recruitment firms have told CNBC they’ve seen a significant increase recently in the number of European bankers wanting to relocate to the Southeast Asian city-state….The slowness in European and U.S. markets is also leading to more Asian-born bankers returning home to work, according to Norton….Malaysian-born Wai Keng Kwok, 33, is one Asian-born banker looking to make a fresh start in Singapore. Kwok moved to the island-nation in February,

after working for Morgan Stanley in New York for five years, to take up the role of chief operating officer at a local hedge fund started by a friend.