Tony Pua – How to take down a SWF?

Najib is suing Tony Pua, a DAP MP from Petaling Jaya Utara and Chan Chee Kong, the owner of MediaRakyat website for defamation, for slandering him in the 1MDB controversy.  What the outcome of this legal suit is another exciting court drama in Malaysia and may drag on and gain infamy like the Anwar case.

What is important is the immediate impact of what Tony Pua and his peers had done, to bring down the 1MDB ‘sovereign’ fund. The PM Najib has ordered an investigation into the operations of 1MDB and the winding down of its activities plus the sale of its assets. The 1MDB has ‘become a hot potato for the Malaysian government. It was just too much to handle’ according to a report in the Star paper. With the fire sale, what would be left of the 1MDB would be just a skeleton with everything stripped off. Several hundred million ringgits of assets and investments just went pooped and it was all over. Not sure about the reported RM42b debt.

Such big funds are usually managed by a team of professional managers, the lucky people that got to gamble with OPMs with little responsibility and at most losing their jobs. They gamble with other people’s money, not their money, and imagine the kind of opportunities these lucky people have to line their pockets with the payments from all parties, the buyers/sellers of assets and investments, and their employers paying them good salaries plus big bonuses when the gamble was right?

And the good thing is that many of them would not be sacked even if they lost big money as long as no fraud was discovered. They became valuable assets for the expensive training fees paid for their mistakes and wrong bets. They become indispensable for the experience of losing big money.

In the 1MDB case, it was just bad luck that there were Tony Pua and the social media to expose the doubtful and questionable investments made. If all this was hidden, undisclosed, no one would be wiser. The 1MDB could even churn out financial reports after reports to show how profitable were their investments. Who is there to check on the real stuff, who is there to check and confirm that it was really making big losses and all the reports were merely cover ups?

The truth would be revealed in the investigation ordered by Najib. I bet he would assign an independent committee and not cronies to do the investigation. I bet the opposition leaders would demand to be a party to the investigation or to insist on an independent committee, not appointees of the govt. If not, then it would be no different than a kangaroo court with kangaroos doing the investigation.

There is really very big risk in the management of a sovereign fund when the money is OPM and the professional managers are employees who are also human beans and at times would behave like human beans when the temptations are sexy enough. The need for transparency cannot be overstated. Without transparency, no one really knows what is going on.

Malaysia is lucky in this sense, that Najib also believes in transparency and there is real opposition in Parliament to demand transparency. Otherwise, 1MDB would still be happily playing with OPM until the cow comes home and more and more OPM would be injected into the fund for the fun of the management and their patrons.

Tony Pua and his peers could claim one down and more to go.

CPF is an idiot proof retirement scheme

I am inspired, truly inspired, by what the leaders in the PAP Women’s Wing said about putting more money into the CPF for the wives. On first impression it sounded silly, and I thought so too, until I put on my thinking cap and realised how brilliant it is. I cannot blame those people who are so angry with all the things that are happening to the CPF Scheme and their money that is being transformed into not their money in many ways. It is a good lesson to learn. Once you put your money into someone else pocket, you might as well forget it.

Let me explain why the suggestion to put more money into the wives CPF accounts and why I called the CPF Scheme an idiot proof scheme make sense. I am sure all of you understand the meaning of idiot proof. It means it is safe even in the hands of an idiot. So, if one is an idiot, put your money in the CPF is absolutely safe. For there is this very caring and clever govt always there to look after your money and make sure it will be there for the rest of your life and with a lot to spare even after you passed away. In other words, your money cannot finish even after you are finished.

Other than the idiots, people that are prone to gamble away their money, people that are irresponsible with their money, stupid people that could easily be conned of their money, or anyone that does not know how to manage his money, the idiot proof CPF Scheme is the safest. Put your money there and it is guaranteed that the money would always be there, paying good interest rates some more.

And don’t forget about putting more money into the wives accounts too as recommended by the PAP Women’s Wing. The money would also be safe there in the wives’ accounts. But before doing that, remember to ask a few questions or the wives will kill you. Check if your wife is an idiot. Check if your wife is a gambler. Check if your wife is irresponsible or careless with money. Check if you can trust your wife if you give her good money in cash. If all the answers are yes and the last answer is no, then put whatever money you want to give to your wife into the CPF. Then you can feel very safe with the money and your wife not squandering it away.

Now you understand why this idiot proof CPF Scheme is an ideal scheme? Over to you wives.

Japan, who is the real devil?

A recent AFP report had Prince Naruhito chastising Shinzo Abe for trying to whitewash Japan’s crimes against humanity in the Second World War. Today, former PM Maruyama warned Abe for trying to undo all the works of previous PM and discredit them with his revisionist policies and turn them into liars.
 
‘Japan's crown prince has warned of the need to remember World War II "correctly", in a rare foray into an ideological debate as nationalist politicians seek to downplay the country's historic crimes.
 
In an unusual intervention in the discussion, Naruhito's mild-mannered broadside was being interpreted in some circles as a rebuke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a key figure in the right-wing drive to minimise the institutionalised system of wartime sex slavery. They even insulted the Koreans by saying the Korean women were willing to serve the Japanese armies as prostitutes, hundreds of thousands of them.
 
"Today when memories of war are set to fade, I reckon it is important to look back our past with modesty and pass down correctly the miserable experience and the historic path Japan took from the generation who know the war to the generation who don't,"
 
During the war crime trial against Japan after WW2, the Emperor Hirohito, as the Sun God, was shielded from all the blame for Japanese aggression and atrocities against the people and countries they invaded. But everyone was quite sure that the Emperor was the one that gave the order, and the guilty one. The Japanese Imperial Army and the Japanese soldiers were merely soldiers obeying the Emperor’s orders. If any one was to be blamed it must be the Emperor. But due to some horse tradings, the Japanese Emperor was spared the embarrassment and punishment. Not guilty but guilty.
 
Today, we are seeing the Prince, a member of the Imperial Household, feeling remorseful at what Abe was trying to do to rewrite history, to change historical facts and to remilitarise Japan into another military power like its infamous past. And the Imperial Household is the one that is distancing itself from the civilian power that wanted otherwise. Is this the same as during WW2 when the Emperor was not for war but dragged into a war by those holding the real power, PM HidekiTojo and his rightist cabinet and those in the Imperial Army? If what we are seeing is the truth and should Japan ended up in a Third World War, the people to be blamed must be Abe and his right wing govt and not the Imperial Household.
 
What actually happened that led Japan to its aggression against its neighbours? Was the Imperial Household wrongly blamed for the war and the criminals were really the non royalties and rightly executed for war crimes? Is Prince Naruhito trying to say something to redress the wrongs done to his grandfather as the one that issued the order for war when it was the civilians that dragged Japan into WW2 like what Abe is doing today, dragging Japan into a WW3?

Depleting our reserves!

Many jokers are screaming about depleting our national reserves without knowing what cock they were talking about. Do they know how much is in our national reserves, how much is being used for whatever schemes to help the people and how much is being put into the reserves or how much is the reserves growing, and how much is enough? Or are the reserves at such a low level, being depleted by losses that it is in danger of being depleted? As an analogy, if our reserves are $1 trillion, and growing by $20b annually, what is the fuzz if the Govt is taking out $15b to throw at the people? If what is being taken out is less than being put in, how can it be depleting?
 
There are many simple questions that needed to be asked about our reserves. How much is there? Is it growing or depleting? How much is enough? What should the excess be use for? Does anyone know anything about our reserves? Does any joker in Parliament know how much is in our reserves before crying father and crying mother about a few billion being spent? Are they really concern about the big money that belongs to the state and people when they are contented with grappling at this huge grey shadow called reserves but not knowing what exactly it is? President Ong Teng Cheong asked about it, to know how much was there, and only then could he or anyone be making sense in what they are talking about. Tiok boh?
 
Would the Govt of the day make a policy statement on our reserves, how much it is, what is the rate of growth, presuming that it is growing and it should be if the two SWFs and MAS are investing wisely and making profits instead of losses. Would the Govt take a position as to what percentage at what level should be used for the benefits of the people? It doesn’t make sense to have an unlimited number and to keep on accumulating the reserves for the sake of growing the reserves and not benefiting the people?
 
And before another joker scream in fear, until face white white, that our reserves are being depleted please make sure you know what you are talking about. If the amount to be spent is less than the amount being used, it cannot deplete the reserves. If the fund managers of our reserves are making positive contributions with profits from their investments, and with more injections of new funds, the reserves will not be used up by a controlled and limited expenditure for the good of the people.
 
How much is our reserves? Do you know? Don’t be a clown crying wolf whenever someone suggests using some of the reserves or sharing some of the profits from the reserves. It may be time that we grow the reserves at a slower pace with a greater portion of the profits being used to better the life of the people, to let the people enjoy a bit of the combined wealth of the nation.
 
What is wrong with that? You only start to deplete the reserves when you are spending more than you are putting into it? Is the Govt spending more and putting less into the reserves?

CPF is not your money, the drumming starts

NMP Chia Yong Yong’s debutante speech in Parliament is exactly the right kind of speech the Govt is waiting to hear, and must be very pleased with it. CPF money is not the CPF member’s money, or at least not all. Her reason, the employer’s contribution would not be there if the Govt did not legislate it to be there. And the Govt also tops up once in a while. So, the CPF members cannot decide how and when it should take it out and how to spend it. Tiok Boh? See, when the Govt helps you, by topping up your CPF, see what is going to happen to your money? So scary.
 
All the charity organizations in Singapore that I have contributed my $2 to, using the same reasoning, please, the money is not yours and you have no right to do as you please. I want to have a say. All the civil servants and ministers and MPs, your salary is paid by taxpayers’ money and I am a taxpayer, I contributed part of your salary, you cannot anyhow spend your salary without my permission ok?
 
KNN, I am also confused. So, please tell me the money in my CPF account belongs to who? Who has the right to use it, spend it or use it to buy Medishield Life or CPF Life? Oh dear, if the entity that decides how to spend the money must be the owner of the money, then I retract my question. Sorry, take it that I never ask. It just confirms that the money is not my money because I cannot or did not decide or give permission for the CPF to buy CPF Life and Medishield Life Insurance for me. And yes, I also cannot decide when I can take out the money and how much I want to take out for my own use. So, on these grounds it is not my money. Tiok Boh?
 
This is the first time when the ownership of a person’s life time savings is in question, and it seems that the Govt or the CPF has a right to it. Not my money. But why the Govt says it is my money, or at least dare not say it is not my money, or says it is the Govt’s money? Not my money mah!
 
The money in the CPF is like in no man’s land, dunno who is the rightful owner. Got like that meh? While the Parliament is sitting, can the ministers clarify this for once, whose money is it? And if it is the members’ money, what right can the Govt decide how and when it wants to spend it on things the Govt compulsorily made the members to pay for it? Who gives the Govt this right to spend the members’ money on CPF Life and Medishield Life?
 
What do you think? Keep beating the drums that the money does not belong the the CPF members and after sometime the people will get use to it and will convince themselves that the money do not belong to them but to whoever that has the audacity to take it by hook or by crook. A lie when repeated often enough will be taken as the truth.
 
I think a legally trained mind must be cleverer than the ignorant and daft untrained mind. The daft Sinkies must get use to this new interpretation of your money, oops, not your money, but the money in your CPF account, is not entirely yours. Other entities also got a share to it. Maybe the employers can take it back. Maybe the charitable Govt that contributed $200 into it can have a controlling say over it.
 
Tiok Boh? This must be another uniquely daft Sinkie thinking.