SGX to mandate sustainability report

A long and beautiful article on the great things the SGX will be doing to make it the best bourse in the world by Jessica Cheam, like all the great things it introduced to increase market volume, participation and trading activities came out last week. I read and read and it sounded so beautiful that I knew it was on the right track. So I knew I don’t have to waste time reading further. The sustainability report is the thing to turn SGX around.
 
What is this sustainability report about? In brief, ‘it requires a company to measure and report on the environmental and social impact of its business on top of its financial and governance performance, which is already part of the regulatory disclosure practised today…includes a wide range of issues such as biodiversity loss and green house gas emissions(environmental); workplace health and safety and employee relations(social); and bribery, corruption and business ethics(governance).’
 
Put it simply, it is like dressing up a model with the best protective gear ala the Ebola health workers, plus the best makeup on a super model. All the best protection gears needed but without knowing that the worker is already infected by the virus and dying.
 
How could this sustainability report help to bring the market to life? Or does the SGX know why the market is dying or already collapsed through lack of real investor participation? The industry is going kaput, and is this sustainability report another sophisticated window dressing like all the new dressings!
 
Now you know why I gave up reading half way? I would like to take a bet that the market will get worse with this sustainability report, like all the no lunch breaks, smaller bid size, smaller lot size etc etc. It is not going to work and it is not going to bring the market anywhere except down.
 
This is just my view. Please feel to disagree, especially the experts who know better.

Kopi Level - Blue, Thank you.

Jokowi forgives satay vendor that defamed him

Below is reported in the Jakarta Post and copied from TRS. It shows how big this man is and how his act of magnanimity would raise him above ordinary people with small hearts. He would gain more and win the hearts of more people by a simple and generous act like this.
 
‘President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has forgiven Muhammad Arsyad, a satay vendor who was detained by the police for allegedly defaming him online.
 
Jokowi said he forgave Arsyad during a meeting with the satay vendor’s parents, Mursidah and Syafrudin, at the State Palace on Saturday.
 
“I forgive him 100 percent. I forgave him through his parents,” Jokowi told reporters. First Lady Iriana was also present during the 30-minute meeting.
 
Jokowi added he had asked the police to release Arsyad from detention. ...Jokowi also called on the public to learn from Arsyad’s case and promote decency and respect for others online. ‘
 
When you are a big man, there is no need to throw your weight on the small men to show you are a big man. Doing that is a sure sign of weakness and insecurity, the sign of a small man. People will not see you as a big man anymore.

Kopi Level - Green

Malayan Railway land swap – A win win solution

When the Point of Agreement(POA) was signed, despite no agreement on the land development charges, it was touted as a win win agreement for both Malaysia and Singapore. Yesterday, when the issue of development charges was settled by an International Arbitration Court, despite the ruling in favour of Malaysia for not having to pay the development charges, it was again touted as another win win solution. All in all there were 4 wins to be shared by both parties.
 
In the first instance the 2 wins were equally shared in the sense that both parties have reached an agreement to break a 20 year impasse on the use of the Railway land. In the second instance, it was again a win win but it looks more like Malaysia getting the 2 wins. And the best part, Singapore is so happy with this win win settlement when it lost the right to collect $1.4b of development charges on 3 plots of the land swap. It could be a case of Singapore’s generosity and magnanimity. It could be a case that Singapore did not think it could win and the judgment was what it had expected all along. It could gain more goodwill and save some legal fees if it just waived it earlier without going through the motion.
 
Why is Singapore in cloud nine, a kind of happy like ‘fxxk’ feeling when losing a legal dispute or disagreement? I can only make a few guesses. The joint company MS with a 60:40 ownership between Malaysia and Singapore would be making the payment for the development charges. So with this ruling, Singapore only gives up 40% of the estimated $1.4b. No big deal really. And according to another MP’s comment, the accrued profits from the joint venture would benefit Singapore more? I am still trying to figure out how when Singapore’s share is 40%. Is there something that the public do not know? This statement could send the Malaysians wondering and many sleepless nights.
 
Of course there is tremendous goodwill to gain from this process. Both parties would now be more comfortable going for international arbitration with Malaysia feeling that it is not necessarily a one sided affair, that Singapore with all the top legal minds would always win. So Singapore would have more chances to take the Malaysian govt to court in the future with international arbitration an acceptable option. This could be a case of a very long term view, losing a case now is worth paying for winning more cases in the future, provided there are future cases to be won.
 
No matter what, this is one of those rare instances where the losers in an arbitration were laughing themselves crazy and probably popping champagne in celebration for a ‘win win’ situation that it gets none of the 2 wins. For goodwill and good long term relationship, it is always good to let the other party win and feel good about it when one can afford to lose in monetary terms. What is a few hundred million?
 
A cautionary note, maybe Singapore should play down on this good news and cut down on the celebration. It may trigger the overly paranoid Malaysians to start wondering whether they did win this case or losing something big that they did not know. Historically they have been losing to Singapore in many tussles and knowing that Singapore always want to win, so how can they be losing in this case. And how can Singapore be celebrating when ‘losing’?
 
Fishy right? Just kidding. I say just kidding ok, can take a joke or not?

Kopi Level - Green

Aljunied GRC – Who will be sacrificed?

Aljunied is going to be the most feared GRC in the next GE. Who would PAP send to do battle against the WP? Whoever they are going to send would be most revealing of what is in the PAP’s mind. For instance, if they think it is a goner, they may send in a kucing kurap team of newbies and those that can be sacrificed like what the opposition commando squad sent to Teck Ghee with little chances of success. Not sending a team is not acceptable.
 
If they are very confident of taking back Aljunied, they would definitely put in a very strong team to mean business provided the biggies would not be risked in a losing battle.
 
The problem is that they are not sure. Then how? Would any minister be gungho enough to volunteer to take Aljunied? Or shall I rephrase that, would any minister be stupid enough to want to go to Aljunied? Or if there is no volunteer, who is going to decide the team to go to Aljunied, and how many ministers or ministers of state would be put in jeopardy?
 
Whoever is being asked to go to Aljunied is not going to be happy. Maybe they would draw lots to see who would be fielded, after taking out the few that should not be risked. I think this is going to be a very difficult task for Hsien Loong or whoever is tasked to be the strategist and to do the allocation. Then there will also be the two single wards to face the same problem. But in the case of single wards the PAP could be dealing with smaller fries or newcomers, so not too stressful.
 
It is when a minister or a few ministers of state would be arrowed to do battle in Aljunied that it would become a problem. Would any of them decline to go? Would any minister threaten to resign if directed to go to Aljunied?
 
Never has PAP faced with such a difficult position and dilemma. Tough. Why must there be an Aljunied? What if after the next GE there were more Aljunieds?
 
PS. The last team that contested Aljunied had two ministers, a parliamentary secretary and a minister in waiting. Watch out for Redbean’s choice for PAP’s Dream Team in Aljunied.

Kopi Level - Green

Singapore joining coalition against Islamic State

Just reported in Parliament, ‘To combat the militant group, Singapore will contribute assets that were previously deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen says. CNA.
 
The unavoidable happens. There is no way Singapore can avoid joining the coalition once it is in bed with the Americans. The Americans would make sure that it will happen or Singapore would be accused of taking a free ride. But Eng Hen assured the House that it would be a contribution in assets, with the assets now in Iraq and Afghanistan redeployed to the new theatre. No ground troops would be In Iraq or Syria. All precautions and necessary training would be provided to our soldiers to keep them from harms way. How effective would this be is yet to tell when the war zone could expand and contract and cover anywhere.
 
What is more dangerous is back home or Singaporeans happily travelling all over the world on business or as tourists. This war against the IS transcends all national boundaries. We need to warn Singaporeans everywhere, including stepping up vigilance back home. This is no ordinary war and violence can pop up anywhere. Australia and Canada have a taste of it in the heart of their homeland. It is a war without borders.
This is Red Alert.

Kopi Level - Green