Unethical business practices are still legal

‘Mr Iswaran said that he agreed that the sales tactics employed (by rogue merchants) are unfair to buyers and that "we must not let such unethical practices tarnish Singapore's hard-earned reputation". He said that he was glad that many have spoken up against such behaviours, and that some have even come forward to help the victim, referring to a crowdfunding effort initiated by Mr Gabriel Kang to buy the Vietnamese tourist an iPhone 6.
 
However, Mr Iswaran went on to say that "some have gone too far", revealing that the police are looking into reports regarding the alleged cheating case as well as "a related report on harassment".
 
Mr Iswaran urged the people to "exercise restraint and do not take matters into your own hands". "Let due process take its course," he wrote.’
 
Above is copied from AsiaOne Singapore. 9 Nov 14.
 
So, is Iswaran going after the rogue merchants like Jover Chew or after netizen vigilantes who shamed him? Who is the rogue that the police would deal with and who should be protected? This Jover Chew seems to be very important or may have good connections that his acts are touted as legal and clever and instead of punishing him, the netizens are warned not to go too far.
 
Law Minister K. Shanmugam was reported by The Straits Times to have said that Chew's actions were "completely unacceptable", and that "bad conduct should be dealt with strictly". He said: "My own view is that there are laws which can deal with that kind of conduct. I know the police are looking into it, and I know AGC (Attorney General's Chambers) is working with the police."
 
This must be a very complicated case that the police and the law are scratching their heads on how to deal with it. It must have just happened after 50 years of independence, something new and no one knows how to handle it.
 
May I suggest try heckling. If it doesn’t work, try harassment. If it still doesn’t work, try public nuisance. I think the last one sure to work.
 
What do you think? Can or not?

Kopi Level - Green

Disrespectful to think LKY does not deserve to be an MP?

There have been many critics of LKY with some making derogatory remarks about him in the social media. These have drawn out this letter from a PAP Supporter expressing his disgust at the ungrateful Sinkies. A few paragraphs of his post in TRE are attached below.
 
‘I refer to the article: “WHY ARE WE PAYING $16K TO AN MP WHO CAN’T EVEN STAND AND ATTEND MEET-THE-PEOPLE SESSION?”
Despite his health conditions, I personally think this man deserves more than a measly $16k a month. Considering what he has done for our country. Thats worth more than money. No amount of money can equate his contribution to singapore!
How would you feel if you are already in the nineties and you still can’t rest? Give the man a break! The contribution that he has given to sg is immeasurable. I applaud him and hope that he can live out his remaining life in peace.
You’re a little petty aren’t you. Seriously, at this age do you think LKY is still working for money or trying to be “giam siap” to earn “easy money” as you insinuate. Just think.’
 
I must say that I agree with this PAP Supporter. LKY deserves more than to be an MP. An MP is a very demeaning position for one of the living founders of modern Singapore. LKY deserves more than to be just an MP. Even Chok Tong is given the title ESM. LKY should be given a proper title if he is to remain in political office. By calling him an MP and putting him up on a high pedestal in breach of protocol only makes LKY looked bad.
 
The govt has failed in its act to accord LKY a proper title and role in the govt. If the govt wants to keep him in politics, for goodness sake, accord him a proper title. It draws many smug remarks and sneers for an MP to sit in the front row in Parliament. It makes people make unsavoury comments for an MP not doing the job of an MP. And there are those questioning why he should be in the Istana when he is only an MP. It looks bad on him and on the govt.
 
The PAP is not short of talent to come up with a good title or position to give credit and credibility to LKY as a senior politician in the govt. If they are unable to assign him a rightful place in the govt then don’t keep him in politics. He should be given some big title as honorary elder statesman or whatever to befit his stature and importance in the govt.
 
I think it is very inappropriate to call him an MP and to expect him to work like an MP, to contribute like an MP. Making LKY an MP makes him look funny and attracts funny comments. That is more disrespectful to him. Hear people said, MP come already and ministers must stand up.
 
For those who are in support of paying him a big sum of money instead of an MP’s miserable allowance of $16k, it would be better to give him an honorarium of whatever amount, accompanied by a respectable title for protocol purposes, definitely not an MP. (Note: He is being paid a life long pension that is based on his last highest pay) The MP title is a misfit in every sense of the word.
 
Appoint a world class consultancy to come up with a title that would accord LKY what is due to him. And make sure the consultancy did not come back with the title MP after paying them a huge sum of money.
 
Now who is being disrespectful? Want to show respect also dunno how to and anyhow kpkb. Really boh liao, no talent.

Kopi Level - Green

Talking Point – A new comedy TV serial

Was watching the topic on Rogue Shoppers in Sim Lim Square on Talking Point last night and couldn’t help thinking that it was a comedy programme. No fault of Steve Chia. He handled the discussion well and the topic was current and of great interest to the public. For this particular episode I was kind of wanting to laugh but it was so painful to laugh at the jokes and the jokers. This episode is highly recommended. Please watch the replay and get some enlightenment as to why this city state is turning into such a God forsaken place. You will find all the reasons to clear your doubts that things could only get worse and who were contributing to the black comedy. Pay attention to spot the jokers.

Some of the things highlighted would keep your eyes popping out in disbelief. The statistics on the cheatings and scamming of shoppers were hopelessly spastic when the truth is out. It was all under statements, under reporting and unreal. The rogue shop keepers simply changed the name of the shops when they were getting too many complaints to start all over again on a clean slate. Many complaints were simply unreported especially when the cheated customers were tourists.

And the law, you would wonder what law is there to curb such rogue behaviours. And mind you, unethical doesn’t mean it is a crime. All the cheatings are never regarded as crimes. The law only go after the shops and not the workers or salespersons. So the rogues could keep on doing the same scams and immuned from the law. And the rogue shop owners were happily changing the names of the shops every six months. And the regulators were not really concerned. CASE’s main concern was not to deprive the rogue shoppers of their livelihood. This is very important consideration and you would know why after watching the comedy.

And don’t ever believe anyone who is telling you there were only a few cases and the cheatings only happened yesterday, and the Vietnamese case was only one such case and did not justify changing the law for a one case incident.

One thing was clear, the problems need to be addressed and it is so difficult to do so. No one knew how to solve this complicated and sophisticated problem of rogue traders cheating unwary customers. So Gabriel Kang, in all sincerity, perhaps the most rational guy other than the expert speaking from the TV screen, suggested bringing in some bright guys and locked them up in a hack-a-thon to brainstorm for a solution. Another suggested forming a committee or BOI, the most clever problem solving method of the super talents, to try to find an answer. Give them a little more time and they would likely suggest bringing in a foreign talent as the locals were too daft to find an answer.

I said it was a comedy. But I must warn you that it would be so painful to laugh. Luckily no one utter the phrase, ‘the customer is king’. In Sim Lim Square and a few of the notorious shopping centres, the rogue shop keepers are the king. And shoppers must be prepared to go down on their knees to beg for mercy.

After viewing the programme, I bet nothing concrete or useful will come out of it. It was all a bad joke, but highly recommended to watch and get sick in the stomach. Get a sick bag handy just in case.

Kopi Level - Green

A taxi uncle from Curtin University

Below is an extract of an article posted by a taxi uncle in TRE. If daft Sinkies still want to remain daft their fate will be no better than this taxi uncle. Look around the local banks and financial institutions and find out how many ‘chapalan’ university graduates from God knows where are employed, even in top management positions.

The next GE is likely to be the last chance for daft Sinkies to change their fate for the better. If they still blindly cast their votes against their interests, more foreigners, from ‘chapalan’ universities and fakes will come in to take over their jobs. And no, they will not become taxi drivers or security guards. Those are luxurious jobs compare to the alternative. In one or two generations they will end up as dalits. So will their children if they did not stop this foreign madness. The bright Sinkies will end up like daft and got not proper jobs while all the shitty foreigners will be employed in good jobs that rightfully should be going to the citizens.

As an ex HR practitioner, I make it a point to scrutinise the qualifications of the top management staff of GLCs and it is very shocking from what I have seen. Yes many came from ‘chapalan’ universities that are unheard of, would not be recognised by the PSC, and compared to Curtin, my goodness, I cannot believe those people could be better than Curtin graduates. I have known of kids whose academic results were all red but came back with straight As as graduates from ‘chapalan’ universities.

All I can say is good luck when you cast your vote in the next GE. Please read the full article in TRE. You will be like this taxi uncle in a matter of time when you are past 40, if you are young and employed today. The smug IBs are thinking that their fate will be different. Just you wait. The retribution will hit you sooner than you think. If you cannot empathise with the fate of taxi uncle, no one will cry for you when your turn comes. Think for your children and what kind of life they will be leading, what kind of jobs they will be doing.

Below is the letter.

‘When I went abroad to study in 1990. I had to go to the British Council to check whether my university I applied for (Curtin University in Perth) was an accredited one with the Commonwealth Accreditation System.
After graduation, I tried applying for any kind of finance or Banking job but couldn’t even get a single interview. My NS colleague was the HR Mgr in a foreign bank and saw my job application. He privately told me in confidence then in the job interview that my Curtin degree was not that “recognised” and that was why I couldn’t get any banking job whatsoever.
What an irony. Nowadays I think u got any college or diploma qualifications from any rotten universities, whether genuine or dubious or not, from India, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam or Timbuktu also now suddenly “recognised”.
As long u are foreign, any employer, Bank or MNC will take you and MOM will approve or EP or SP within 3 days. Also, its got nothing to do with age. My pinoy friend with college qualifications as me is also above 50 and had his SP approved within 3 days. He has a desk job paying him well over $3K.
For me, I could even get a look-in applying for 1.5k salary jobs, even as a theme park operator or car park valet with MBS and RWS. In the end, only available jobs for me is to drive taxi or work as security guard.’ By taxi uncle.

Kopi Level - Green

PAP has never been so vulnerable

What is left of the PAP after 50 years in power? Superficially there is still a little fading glory of the past to hang on for a while. There is still some historical evidence to claim it has done good for the people. What else is left of the mighty political machine that could devour any opposition in its path effortlessly at its prime? The confidence, the war cry and the fake jeering of expecting and wanting stronger and more worthy opponents, the walkovers and the lame wishes to win an election the respectable way to enter Parliament were long gone.
 
Today, PAP is going to fight for its survival. Yes it is going to fight for its life or death in the next election not another 10 or 15 years There are so many very serious issues that it could not solve and could not sweep under the carpet. The people are demanding for answers that were not forth coming. The problems will not go away, the people will continue to demand for answers till the very last day of the GE, or else.
 
The team of politicians in PAP’s stable is like a list of has beens or understudies. The olds are too feeble to do anything. The young are too young to make any impact, all lightweights that could be blown away by a gust. The senior ministers that were dependable to carry their own weights have discredited themselves to beyond redemption. Some were just waiting to be shown the exit.
 
Where is the strength of the PAP today? Where or who are the leaders that could call the shot and carry the day? Is there anyone out there of such illuminating stature that could captain the team to victory? As for the run of the mill MPs, what the heck are they doing? Finding little silly faults with the opposition? Is that clever, a wise thing to do when living in a big glass house, wholly transparent and with all the problems waiting to shatter the glass to pieces? The more these MPs try to diminish the opposition for the slightest flaw, the more ridiculous they looked. And the more they remind the people of the hypocrisies, of the big issues not mentioned, the white elephants everywhere.
 
PAP is like a headless mammoth machine going nowhere. Where are the brilliant policies to give hopes to the people of a better future other than more shopping malls, more ‘affordabl’ housings, more food courts and more foreigners to bloat the already over populated city state? What kind of good life is there for the people other than higher and higher cost of living and lower and lower income? What aspirations are they when people are being prodded to ride bicycles, to become taxi drivers and security guards, not to pursue tertiary educations, and being replaced by foreigners from God forsaken places and from universities with names like Apapa and Amama? The better ones would produce certificates from the like Unversities of Calipornia, Harward, Cambrick, and more infamous brands.
 
There is also this dark force in the social media messing around with netizens. Unfortunately the quality of these insurgents and internet brigades (giving a false impression of who they are) are doing a great disservice to whoever is behind them. If they are what they portrayed to be, their hooligan and gangster behaviors and aggressive tactics are doing more harm than good.
 
With only a handful of safe candidates, the rest are touch and go with many more on the side of go. And for bragging about how they would fight for every inch, somehow it is not convincing and more like putting up a bad pretension. The next GE will find every PAP candidate fighting for survival on their own right with little room for comfort. Never has this state of affair happened in the PAP’s dominance record except for the early years when they were fighting the Barisan Socialis for their dear life.
 
History has come full circle. It is back to the days of fighting a life and death battle this time round. Can the PAP win the hearts and minds of the people again?

Kopi level - Green