$8 by pass, 30% cheaper flats…?

Boon Wan must have read all the negative comments after his infamous $8 open heart by pass surgery in Class A ward. Thought he would be more careful as his popularity among the people fell by a few notches. Anymore such blurbs would be disastrous to his credibility and what he said. People would be more careful when he said things that are too good to be true.

When he announced in Parliament that HDB was going back to basics, to provide housing for the people, I refused to use the word affordable anymore, I thought he really meant business this time round. I was kind of encouraged when he said new flats could be 30% cheaper. I don’t doubt the feasibility of this as the actual cost, still a non transparent transparent official secret, is definitely something to hide from the people. The building cost is definitely quite low and the sales price of HDB flats can be brought down much lower than 30%, if only the true construction cost is known. Anyway, I gave him the benefit of the doubt even though it was too good to be true.

Now, to the disappointment of everyone again, but many have seen it coming, the 30% cheaper flats will come with many conditions. Simply put, he is pitching to sell an apple for half its price, but it will be half an apple, not the whole apple. Singaporeans are used to this kind of talks, nothing new anymore. The worrying thing is the 6.9m population and the higher quality of living in 2030. Read the fine prints or wait for all the terms and conditions that have yet to be spelt out.

PMETs, level playing field is not good enough

Parliament discussed quite a bit about the plight of local PMETs being discriminated and victimized by foreign companies and even local companies that have foreigners in the management. The sad thing about this episode is that if the kpkb in cyberspace was not there, no one wanted to know of this problem. It was not reported in the main media and neither was MOM doing much about it. And the daft PMETs accepted their pathetic existence to become self employed, under employed or unemployed.

The whole thing is so ridiculous when the citizens allowed themselves to be bashed around in their homeland. This may be due to the current day mantra that Singapore is no longer for Singaporeans. Some said publicly that it is an empty slogan. I think it is and that is why this employment shit is hitting the fan. It is all about meritocracy and foreigners who claimed or faked and deceived to look meritorious will get the cake. Or is it meritocrazy, when merit is as fake as a degree from the degree mill?

So finally the MOM knows about this problem, the ministers and MPs know that there is such a problem affecting Singaporeans and degrading Singaporeans and robbing Singaporeans of their dignity and self respect, by fucking foreingers. This is like a scientific discovery! The worst affected is the finance industry. We are a major financial centre and we are employing third world talents or people from third world villages to be our finance professionals as if we don’t have people qualified to fill such positions. At the way things are developing, soon we will hollow ourselves of our own financial talents as our locals are not found good enough, not hired, and all the top financial professionals were foreigners here to learn the rope and skills. It is unbelieveable that such a thing is happening under our nose. Singapore, a world financial centre and its daft citizens all unfit to be finance professionals and needed to be replaced by third world talents. This is a bad joke right? To quote Gerald Giam, we are now transferring banking and financial skills to foreigners instead and Singaporeans will soon be reduced to taxi drivers and self employed agents.

So now we know the problem. A bit late isn’t it? This shit did not happen overnight. It has been like this for many years. Anyone sleeping or on drugs? So what are we going to do about it? Some things are going to be done by MOM. Tan Chuan Jin is working on it. But read between the lines and all the excuses that were said in Parliament, this cannot, that cannot work, not so simple, not so easy….what it means is that it is going to be a half hearted measure. It is unlikely to be pushed through but some wayang to appease the anger in cyberspace. The organizers of May Day Protest in Hong Lim would have more to say on this.

The MOM is going to ensure a level playing field wow! My goodness, when all things are equal, it must be Singaporeans first, no buts. A level playing field in our home country to provide jobs for Singaporeans is not enough. Singaporeans must have first priority. Which country and which idiotic govt practices such silly employment policies in the whole world of civilized people to victimize its own citizens? I don’t blame the foreign companies for discriminating against Singaporeans. I don’t blame local companies, including govt services and GLCs where the employment practices favour foreigners. Where is this discrimination coming from? Who is encouraging discrimination against Singaporeans?

What do you think?

Japan Asean Co Prosperity Sphere

‘Japan and Asean can regard security cooperation as a realistic option because China is their common adversary.’ Dr Hideshi Takesada, a Japanese defence expert, former professor at South Korea’s Yonsei Unversity.

This is the gist of the vice ministerial meeting in Tokyo hosted by the Japanese for the Asean ministers. It is a new tag to bring the Asean countries into the Japanese sphere of influence not much different from the failed Asia Co Prosperity Sphere of the Second World War. The difference then and now is that Japan was the enemy, the invader of China and Asean countries. Now Japan is touting China as the common enemy of Japan and Asean.

Would the Asean countries bite this Japanese line and pitch themselves as the enemy of China, taking sides with their brutal and barbaric occupation force that attempted to colonise and rule over them? Japan has a real pricky problem with China, having seized Chinese territories during its imperial days through wars. There are disputes between some Asean countries with China but over islands in the South China Sea that have not belonged to any Asean countries in the first place. The Asean countries like Vietnam and the Philippines, including Malaysia and Brunei are staking claims over some rocks in the high seas that China had claimed centuries ago.

Japan is arrogantly and adamantly sticking to keep the Chinese territories it seized from China and is likely to go to war with China for that. Would the Asean countries be prepared to go to war with Japan against China for uninhabited islands that they are just staking claims to but with very little supporting documents of ownership?

The stage for a Sino Japanese war is imminent. Would the Asean countries, those with counter claims against China, willing to be sucked into such a war and fight for the Japanese that was the aggressor and holding on to war loots from China? Japan is luring the Asean countries and telling them China is their common enemy. Are the Asean countries that gullible to be conned by another revisionist Japan Asean Co Prosperity Sphere with Japan as the over lord? The tagline is very humiliating to the Asean Ministers attending the Meeting. The Japanese must be thinking that the Asean Ministers are impressionable little school boys with no knowledge of the past, of Japanese colonialism and atrocities, and can be easily talked into fighting with Japan against China.

Foreigners issued with Employment Agency Licence

‘De Luna was actually issued a licence to operate her own employment agency, RSD, in Jul 2010. While still engaged as director of RSD, she set up another agency with her husband, William, without obtaining a licence for it. William was then in Singapore on a social visit pass.’ Quoted from TRE.

The process of bringing in foreign workers to work here involves local knowledge of both countries. At the PMET level there are the Search and Recruitment Agencies and Consultancies. These businesses are similar in nature to student agencies bringing in foreign students to study here. At the executive search level, the recruitment of foreigners to work here is or was not a major business as the number used to be small and at very senior levels or for specialized jobs. The line is now blur with recruitment agencies bringing in huge numbers of low and medium level executives that are nothing different from recruiting workers.

Again this is an area that approving foreigners to operate recruiting/employment agencies will put the local agencies at a huge disadvantage. Our agencies will not have the local knowledge that the foreigners located here will have in their home countries. And these foreigners being here will have local knowledge as well.

The question, why don’t Singaporean agencies operate offices in the foreign countries where the workers are? There is a comparative cost disadvantage here for Singapore agencies. Would it be cheaper for the agencies of both countries to operate within their territories and cooperate in the recruitment process as it was originally done and the cost savings filter down to the workers? Both sides will do their own business and earn their keeps respectively?

There are many agency licences eg recruitment/employment for maids, foreign workers, junior executives, housing agents, student agents etc etc that do not need to be given to foreigners to compete with our locals right here. There is no real value or skills added except putting more competition and even unfair advantages to the foreigners. There is no loss if foreigners are not issued with such licences and our local agencies could thrive or more locals could take up such small businesses.

Limiting such licences cannot be protectionism. Opening them to foreigners to come here will only make life of local small businesses tougher. What or where is the advantage to have foreigners coming here to set up such small businesses that locals are more than adequate to provide. No need foreign talents really.

Leadership style and generation gap

The leadership styles of the first generation political and govt leaders and those of the present generation have quite distinct features. In those days, political leaders and permanent secretaries were more individualistic, more confident and also abrasive. The fact that they were tasked to carry on the responsibilities of building a nation and the single mindedness in the way they went about their mission could also be a cause for their domineering and high demands on people working with them. There is no room for errors. Niceties were things that did not exist, or a rarity. These individuals behaved like gods in their own right. They were bossy and arrogant and ruthless. They were very task oriented, task masters. From the PM and his permanent secretaries, even to the RSM in SAFTI, each one was a terror in his own right and personality.

No one dared to make mistakes. Minister of Housing took his own life. The permanent secretaries went screaming, yelling and smashing things when things went wrong, particularly in Mindef. Senior officers trembled when called to see to the perm sec. There was little camaraderie at the senior level. Everyone was expected to perform and to perform. Many heads rolled. The bosses were real mean and had little tolerance for incompetence.

Such impersonal leadership style has its good and bad consequences. LKY, Goh Keng Swee, Pang Tee Pow, Howe Yoon Chong were names most fear for those having to work with them. The good part was that things got done efficiently or people got removed. Many second generation ministers were removed prematurely for under performing.

Some time in the late eighties the management style changed. The next generation of permanent secretaries took over the helm and valued teamwork, relationship became important. Political leadership also took on a kinder style. A change in a perm sec or CEO would see a new team being installed in the organization. The CEO or perm sec would bring along his most trusted lieutenants, people he had worked with, comfortable with, tested and dependable. He needed not to watch his backside when the men around him were his men. When he played tennis, all would play tennis. When he refused to play golf, all would not play golf.

It was a different leadership style and different personality cults. Though this style was supposedly more friendly, it could also be unforgiving for those not in the same camp. But generally those within the camp were assured of their rice bowls, maybe iron rice bowls. Heads no longer get chopped. The tolerance for mistakes and underperformance was must higher. Wrong doers were forgiven, ka ki lang mah!

This last feature could be the weakest link in the new leadership style. Ka ki lang, or my people were put into positions of power and responsibility. This could be good and bad depending on the people being put into those positions. Poor or bad performers were tolerated and remained to make more mistakes. This was getting more obvious by the days and very glaring today. No one seemed to have to answer for his mistakes, no matter how gross. It is kind of ok, never mind, put him aside, let’s move on. No one gets shouted at. Everyone is pally pally with the bosses and the bosses with their kakis.

The softer and team building style is easier to live with and everyone is just a close associate, a close friend. And if only they all performs well and doesn’t make grave mistakes, life will be a bed of roses. Unfortunately it is not to be so. It starts to rot and smell.

The harsher and less tolerant style was boorish, intolerance and hard on the individuals, on dignities and pride, very impersonal, but very task oriented and very little wastage holding onto not too able talents. No good, out you go and next please. It did not smell nice but smelling good was not an issue.

The old civil servants and politicians paid their price for serving under hard nosed no nonsense bosses. Some got very disenchanted and really pissed off, losing their pride and self esteem. Today, everyday is like a party, everyone so friendly and warmth and easy going no matter how they messed up things. Working life under the new style leadership is like a ball.

Oh, I forgot. The bosses then were mean, and so was the pay. Today the pay was so fat and comfortable that no one would want to retire or offend the more than friendly and generous bosses to trifle with their good fortune.