Story of a Super-Wealthy Widow Fell into the Trap of a Tour Guide from China

Please see the story I have written on my long time family friend who was cheated of all her possessions by a Chinese tour guide, Yang Yin. Yang is unemployed but is now rich enough to enjoy a leisurely life! He volunteers his service to Ang Mo Kio community centre and posed for photos with MP and PM Lee. Did these helped him to obtain his PR status? Would other senior citizens become his next targets? ….

Kathleen's situation raises a number of question:

(1) how our law could allow a foreign national to obtain a LPA so easily, without the knowledge and consent of any relative?

(2) Why did our medical and legal professionals help Yang Yin apply for a LPA without contacting her relatives and friends in Singapore? Would they do anything, including harming a fellow Singaporean if they were sufficiently well paid. I am sure Singaporeans would be grateful if you can interview them and know their views a reasons.

(3) It also makes a mockery of our government’s expressed wish to attract Foreign Talents. How could such a selfish and scheming Chinese national be treated by our government as a Foreign Talent and granted him his PR status? The criteria for PR appear to be very lax. I fear that there is insufficient investigations of the PR applicant’s background.
If this kind of person is permitted to remain in Singapore, he is likely to target other senior citizens by offering himself as their adopted son or grandson to rob them of their CPF and life savings.

(4) What criteria, if any, are used to assess the suitability of volunteers and leaders in grass-roots organisations? ….

The con-man must be brought to justice, prosecuted for his crime, stripped off his PR status, and barred from ever entering Singapore to harm other senior citizens.

It Koon

The above is a condensed version of a letter by a Dr Tan It Koon that is circulating in social media. Dr Tan must have found this episode very tragic to have happened to a helpless old lady. Now that she has been reduced to a non entity, suffering from dementia and her wealth stripped from her, many questions are being asked.
 
I would like to touch on a few more pertinent questions raised by Dr Tan about how a vulnerable old lady could so easily be stripped of her assets and possessions so easily and legally. There are likely to be medical and legal professionals involved in the whole process and everything seemed to be done legally and with medically acceptable given her conditions.
 
My questions, are there anything that would have warrant the medical and legal professionals involved in the process to have raised a red flag or eyebrows? The processes involved a very rich and lonely old lady with probably signs of medical conditions and a totally unrelated young man from a foreign country. And the whole process is putting the old lady at the complete dependency on the young stranger with totally no relations to her. And did anyone bother to ask about the possibility of the old lady having some living relatives that may have an interest in her well being and her assets?
 
No? Everything is absolutely normal and legal. No further questions need to be asked?
Another question, would any normal person of sound mind, no need to be a medical or legal professional who probably have access and experience in such cases, think that something is just not normal? Or would it be a case of everyone just their job they are paid for and mind their own business?
 
What have we become as a people if no one thinks that this is very unusual and suspicious?
 
I will leave you people with this sad story to ponder over the weekend. We have heard of politically apathetic Singaporeans. We have heard of Singaporeans that would not lift a finger when someone is in trouble in public, someone being bullied, being beaten. Etc. What more shall I say? Passionless, conscienceless, bochap?
 
Kopi Level - Green

Good news for Alibaba

Despite all the critics and venoms, Alibaba is hot favourite among the Americans. The typical analysts and anti China lobby were cursing and swearing and crying foul, pouring cold water at Alibaba or anything Chinese as usual. But the smart investors know where to put their money to make money. The last Baidu IPO had benefitted the investors by more than 300% in price gain. They know that China is the growth engine of the world.
 
In the case of Alibaba they are throwing US$22b to Jack Ma in his IPO listing in the New York and still demanding for more. Jack Ma’s net worth is now in the realm of Bill Gates overnight and could possibly overtake him in the near future.
 
Cheers to the Alibaba business and Jack Ma.

Kopi Level - Green

Scotland’s referendum – what does it mean?

The Scots are going for a referendum to decide to stay or to get out of the United Kingdom. It is a decision for a people, to want to be on their own to decide their own future or to let the Englishmen to decide their future. It is about breaking away to chart a new destiny by a people for a people.
 
We had a referendum to decide our future as a people in 1963, to give up our independence, to be part of Malaysia, to allow leave our destiny in the hands of the Malayans, to be part of another country. Given the frail nature of a small island with little natural resources, there was fear that we could not survive on our own. Conventional wisdom was to hook ourselves to a bigger land mass, a bigger country with a bigger critical mass and population.
 
We voted to be part of Malaysian, to surrender our rights to determine our future to another people. On hindsight it was so risky, treacherous and dangerous. So many things could go wrong and we could be forever under the domination and oppression of another people. We were lucky to get out of the arrangement to be our own master. It was also lucky that we did not a referendum to get out like the Scots. We would not be able to get out if a referendum was needed then unless the referendum was to be decided by the original Singaporeans and not by other people.
 
Today we have this policy of increasing our population by bringing in foreigners, sanctioned by a PWP in Parliament. What does this paper ultimately mean to the original Singaporeans? It is another merger of people, a merger with other people, to own this island. When the foreigners are small in numbers, we are assimilating and integrating them into us. If it is the other way round, we will end up assimilating and integrating with the foreigners. It is like merging to become part of Malaysia. In this case the original Singaporeans, if it becomes a minority, will be merging with a bigger foreign population, to be part of them.
We are going to bring in so many foreigners to decide our future, our destiny. Get it? This is another major change to our country and identity. But most important of all, we are going to hand our future to other people to decide for us, to decide our future, the future of our children. Think about this carefully. What is the difference between what we are doing with this PWP and being a part of Malaysia? Why are the Scots going to a referendum to want out of UK, to reclaim their country and their sovereignty and the right to determine their destiny?
 
Does the PWP that is going to change our life, our country and our destiny, deserve or warrant a referendum? This is no joking matter. This is no masak masak, child play. The implications and consequences are very serious and can be very adverse to our life and our future. Such a big change cannot be decided by a handful of people surely.
 
So far the good things about a high influx of foreigners were simply about economic growth. What about the other side of the coin? What is the price the people of this island are going to pay to give half of the island’s to foreigners? The foreigner’s share could be bigger if the number is bigger? No country in history ever did such a thing willingly without force. What are the negative and adverse effects of this change? What if the foreigners are not as generous and kind as us and want the island to themselves when they are in majority and ruling the island?
What do you thing?
 
Do we need a referendum? Do we want to surrender our country and our future to foreigners on a silver platter?

Kopi Level - Green

Two pieces of good news yesterday

In a trouble world of deceit and treachery when everything is all about self and money, two good pieces of news came out yesterday. The first, Obama has decided to go bombing the IS in Iraq and Syria all over again. Now why is this good news? To the Americans they have found a way to spend their weapons and probably getting someone to pay for it. Or if not, the defence industry would be getting the American citizens to pay for the rounds fired and the soldiers doing the bombing, not killing of the innocents. And this would keep the Americans in Washington very busy and got no time to cause mischief in other parts of the world. 

The pivot to Asia can take a break and China would have some breathing space. So did North Korea.
Hopefully Putin would increase the stakes in Syria and Ukraine to keep the Americans busy busy. Sorry Arabs and Ukrainians, your troubles are a sacrifice for peace elsewhere. I hope the silly Asian and SE Asian countries learn a lesson or two from what is happening in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and don’t invite trouble into the region. And when trouble offers itself, they must be smart enough not to welcome trouble here.
 
The second piece of good news is the growing tolerance and acceptance of drugs in the West and in Latin America. They are raising the white flag. They are claiming that even countries like Singapore and Malaysia with death penalties could not wipe out this scourge. The conclusion, might as well live with it, live with the drug menace. Oops, the new drugs are not that dangerous anymore. A little drug can be quite an acceptable lifestyle choice. They are quite fanciful and with nice names and very good looking too. Many celebrities are using them too. It is the new in thing, to replace the damn smelly cigarettes.
 
Many of these states are going to legalise drug consumption as a new and harmless lifestyle. I said this is good news. Just hope Singapore and Malaysia would not follow suit but increase the penalties for drug abuses. This will become a carrot and stick situation and all the drug addicts and lifestyle choosers would flock to those countries to enjoy their new lifestyles within the law and be very happy. There is no need to risk capital punishment in Singapore and Malaysia. It is a win win solution. Those who love the life style of drug taking can find their safe havens in those countries that legalized drug takings. Those countries that frown on this lifestyle choice would have lesser drug takers in their midst.
 
Now, isn’t that good news? Nobody’s freedom of choice is curtailed. Everyone is happy.

Kopi Level - Green

The future fashion of Sin City

Khaw Boon Wan was gazing at this crystal ball and foresaw that car ownership would no longer be fashionable to the young in the future. This would free up spaces occupied by carparks for the people’s use. We will have more parks and, not forgetting, more space for a bigger population, maybe the highly desired number of 10m.
 
I could see many things going in and out of fashion in the future, and as a result a better quality of life. People will not longer want to stay in landed properties or big properties. They would prefer a new and futuristic style of living, each one renting a cocoon in the shape of a big cigar for sleeping. They will spend their times enjoying life, working or staying awake for 18 to 20 hours a day.
 
High salary jobs would also not be popular. People do not need so much money since they don’t need to buy big houses and expensive cars. So they would be very happy earning just enough for the day. They would even opt for temporary or contract jobs, work for a few hours and enjoy all the free time they have. The happiest people will be those who are their own bosses, like taxi drivers, a highly desired and preferred occupation.
 
University education will definitely be passé. Who needs an expensive university education when they are aspiring for part time or temporary jobs? Many will be contented with an O level or ITE education. And they know that they could get very far with them as long as they work hard and are good at what they are doing. It will be so fashionable as a career choice that parents will all be opting their children for it, less stress and lower cost. No more expensive tuition, no more exams and everyone very happy, parents happy, children lagi happy.
 
No one would want to eat in fine restaurant, it will be unfashionable to go for fine dining for the average Singaporeans. Only the very few conservative rich that refused to follow the fashion will still be going for fine dining. They will still think living in big houses is good and stick to their old fashion ways, owning and driving big cars that the young have rejected as unfashionable. They forget that the new lifestyle, of very high quality living, is to take public transports, without owning cars. They do not mind being laughed at driving their big cars around. And they don’t mind being out of fashion or being unfashionable. But this group of people will be so small that they will hardly be seen in public places except in their private clubs. For the rest of HDB dwellers, another popular and fashionable past time, other than talking about down grading, will be walking in and out of pawn shops with their flats.
 
The future is really interesting, with high fashion and high living with no loss in the quality of living, eating in hawker stalls. Yes, eating hawker food will be a lifestyle choice too, for the people of Sin. There is a great and exciting future ahead of us.

Kopi Level - Green