Hope for another PM Lee

There were all kinds of mischievous speculations and troublesome remarks that there will be a third PM Lee after Hsien Loong. And the choice is between Hong Yi and Sheng Wu as the top candidate for the post. The grooming could have started and the ground being prepared. Chan Chun Sing was touted as another seat warmer to fill the gap while the two young men grow up and gain the necessary skills set to be a PM.
 
Most of these speculations and rumours were not well intended, a snipe at the possibility of the continuation of the Lee Dynasty. Ground feelings, as far as I know, is negative towards a third Lee as the PM. Somehow the thinking is that this should not be the case. A republic must not be turned into a dynasty and anyone would do except a Lee. It is not a case of how good the two young men would turn out to be. They have yet to show how good they are and to endear to the people. It is just a no no for a third Lee to replace Hsien Loong.
 
Wait a minute. Things are changing. Some were saying Singapore would be a better place, better governed, if Wei Ling were the chosen heir instead of Hsien Loong. She seems to have her heart in the right place. She could think simply and clearly, no silly nonsense. This is a gift that is likely to be inborn, to be able to see through the hypocrisies and pretensions of human beans.
 
Wei Ling is starting to endear to the people as a straight talking, no ‘bluffology’, no balls carrying kind. She said what she thought, pure and simple, right from the heart. Her latest comment on her father’s wish, not to build a personality cult, not to build silly monuments like the dictatorship of North Korea, is music to the ears of the people. It slapped very hard on the faces of hypocrisy and the unthinking and glory seeking, to want to flatter the legend and to look good and saying all the right things. In their scramble to be in the good books, falling all over one another, to build monuments to glorify the legend, they forgot what he was all about. And it takes a simple and clear mind, very exceptional when one is the daughter, with emotional attachments and sentiments, to say the right and proper thing, to fulfill the wishes of LKY. The man does not want a personality cult. Is that so difficult to understand?
 
There were some comments in the social media that Wei Ling would be welcome to join the opposition to do the right things for the country. And with here stature and accomplishment, I think she could be the one to bring the opposition parties together under one banner. And if she can do that, she would be the natural leader to be the PM if the opposition wins the next GE. She is the perfect candidate the opposition is waiting for. Never mind if she is another Lee. Never mind if she will be the third PM Lee, if she can do good instead of harm to the country and people.
 
What do you think?

Malaysia really screwing it up big time

The latest advice by Maybank about the oversupply of housing in Johore, first the Iskandar Economic Zone and now the Forest City built on 4 newly created islands with more housing available must be kind of like a thunderbolt. How are they going to sell anymore housing to the daft Sinkies? With the warning, no matter how daft the Sinkies are, they must know that things are not looking good. And there were talks of developers offering buy one get one free offer. Too good to be true or things are looking real bad, and developers are bailing out before they lost their pants?
 
The housing and commercial projects in Johore were really a very welcome initiatives and many Singaporeans were really salivating and wanting to cash out from Singapore, from their CPF, to move to Johore. There were so many comparative advantages that cannot be ignored. The advantages were real, not imaginery or fictional. It was a good deal, work in Singapore, live and rest in Johore. High income, good exchange rate, low cost, low property prices and cheap cars. The best of both worlds! The Malaysians have been enjoying it for so many years. Now Singaporeans too can have a bite of the cake.
 
Unfortunately good things don’t last. The warning by Maybank is sending shivers to many potential home buyers, even factory owners. And the developers must be trembling in fear. So much money pumped in and now the takers are fleeing. How man? What is happening man?
 
Why is Malaysia killing the golden goose before it lays its golden eggs? I can only see one reason, too many parties want a piece of the cake. The Johore royalties, the local govt, the federal govt, all must be looking at the piece of cheese like a hungry rat. Actually the Johore royalties have all the rights to get a big chunk of the pie. They started with the idea, authorized the projects, even as full participating investors. They deserved to have their profits.
 
But what about the local govt and federal govt? They would find their ways to carve a slice for themselves even undermining the whole concept that makes it viable. How could they be left out of the foodchain? Everyone in the chain must have his bite. Fair. But don’t take too big a bite that all the comparative advantages become disadvantages and turn a win, win project into a lose, lose project. The buyers are not taking the bite. The developers are losing their pants and the royalties falling flat on their faces if they don’t get the acts right.
 
Doesn’t anyone in Malaysia know simple economics or arithmatics? The buyers must have a good deal and the developers too must make their profits. The third parties, the vultures that do nothing, must be careful not to clean up the bones. This apparently is the case. If the Singaporeans, most likely the biggest group of buyers, can see benefits they would come in droves and just buy and buy, buying up everything. The present numbers could easily be absorbed if the conditions are good and make economic sense. When the cost or advantages become meaningless, what is the point? Why pay S$20 daily just to cross the causeway?
 
Singaporeans are daft. No doubt about it. But they cannot be so daft not to notice the advantages are no longer there. From now going forward the two projects would be hitting a stone wall. Well done Malaysia, for cutting your own nose when you could make a good killing and making both sides happy. You can’t believe that Singaporeans are so daft to empty their pockets in a lose, lose proposition right?
 
What’s next? Can the two projects be saved? Would they turn out to be short term mirages? Can the Malaysians work out the sums, make it attractive and make money from it? You can’t have the cake and eat it at the same time, and make the daft Sinkies pay for it? No way, in real life things are not as simple as this, stupid. You must creative value for the buyers. And don’t think you can continue to come out with nonsensical rules and regulations in the future to screw the daft Sinkies. They learnt and know the trick after a while.

What is wrong with employing foreigners in top positions?

There is an article in the TRE titled, ‘Good work by old guards being dismantled by LHL’ by a contributor calling himself ‘Disillusioned with current PAP’. The gist of his post is that too many foreigners are taking over top jobs in Singapore instead of Singaporeans. And he listed the following:
 
(1) Magnus Bocker, CEO of SGX
(2) Singapore Botanic Gardens hired Briton Dr Nigel Taylor as its director sidelining our locals
(3) Singpost is now headed by an Austrian, Dr. Wolfgang Bier, as its Group Chief Executive Officer since Oct 2011.
(4) Simon Israel holds position of Executive Director at our very own Temasek Holdings while Greg Curt holds position of President.
(5) The infamous former CEO of our national transport network, SMRT, was Malaysian Saw Phaik Hwa who mismanaged our train network.
(6) Mr Steve Leonard is the executive Deputy Chairman of IDA Singapore
(7) Stephen Forshaw, managing director at Temasek Holdings
 
The author also quoted LKY and saying ‘I may not necessary agree with everything LKY did but there is one thing I respect him – he put the interests of Singaporeans first.’ Many Singaporeans respected LKY for the things he did to improve their lives and the large turnout and outpouring of grief during his funeral were testimonies to this.
But what is wrong with employing foreigners to these top jobs? I study them closely, I even meditated on them to try to find faults with the govt for employing these foreigners to these multimillion dollar jobs. The only problem I could find is that he missed out on those given a pink IC so not counted. They are now Singaporeans. And I think a few of the abovementioned could also have been given pink ICs. I am just guessing but this is not an issue. Tharman was quoted to have said that this is a good way to offer good jobs to ‘Singaporeans’ by bringing in foreign talent and made them instant citizens. The people cannot complain that they are foreigners anymore.
 
To me the most important point is whether the govt can find Singaporeans, I mean true blue Singaporeans, not the instant tree type, to take over these extraordinary and very difficult jobs. When I look at the jobs involved, I must agree that no Singaporean is good enough to fill these positions.
 
As they said, the proof is in eating the pudding. Look at the new replacement for SMRT and tell me if there is any improvement in the train services vis a vis the foreign talent Saw Phaik Hwa. Then look at the CEO of SGX. The moment they announced that Bocker is stepping down, they headed straight to the world to look for a replacement. Obviously they must have looked in house and all over Singapore and could not find any Singaporean suitable for the job. Oops, sorry, my mistake again. There is only one Singaporean that can fill the SGX job. He is the only talented Singaporean that can fill any banking and finance position, the only Singaporean talent in banking and finance, but he is already the CEO of DBS. And he is very happy there, so no point moving him to SGX.
 
After thinking about this for many days, I also come to the conclusion that the Singaporeans do not have the skills set for these jobs. So it is right that these jobs must go to foreigners. I think the govt is starting to think, and starting to plan also, to train Singaporeans to fill these positions, according to Leo Yip, the MD of EDB. So maybe in another 30 years we may have some Singaporeans trained and with the skills set to fill these positions.
 
So, for the next 30 years, these positions must be filled by foreign talents. No choice lah. But they can also be filled by Singaporeans if the govt gives the pink IC to the foreigners offered these jobs. Instant Singaporean also Singaporean what? Not to worry, our govt is very far sighted and always plan ahead, they said this is called proactive, always thinking ahead. Nevermind if they don’t think for the present. Now they have a 30 year plan to fill these positions with Singaporeans. Got hope, got hope for true blue Singaporeans, in 30 years time.
 
I feel so comforted. Our govt is planning ahead. We are in good hands. Our future is in good hands. No need to worry. No need to kpkb for now. In 30 years time, if it is still like that, then you can complain. Must look at the long term.

IDA fake degree case. Who is abetting the crime?

Nisha Padmanabhan, a new citizen employed by IDA as an Application Consultant has claimed to have a MBA from a degree mill called Southern Pacific University. IDA has replied that they employed her based on her first degree from a reputable university, Mumbai University. The issue here is the false claim of having a MBA that is equivalent to a piece of junk in her resume. Is this cheating, lying, is this a crime? If it is not, case closed. If it is a crime, why is there no action taken against the culprit, and who is supposed to take action against her?

When a crime is committed, in this case it is expected that IDA, the organisation that discovered the crime should take all necessary actions to terminate her employment and to make a police report. So far nothing is being done and the culprit is presumably still employed by IDA, standing for Infocomm Development Authority, a govt organisation, an authority within the govt organisation. Is IDA condoning the act?

Presumably a crime is committed. I stand corrected as IDA did not seem to think anything is wrong with it. So I am not sure if there is any wrongdoing in this case. And if there is no wrongdoing, please forgive me for raising this issue. What is a crime and what is not a crime, what is a petty crime, what is a serious crime, the whole thing is so grey that it is so difficult to tell. Really, it is so difficult to tell. Perhaps one can deduce the severity of this incident from circumstantial evidence. The main media does not think this is newsworthy, an indication that there is nothing to it, no crime. The Police are not taking any action, so no crime. Or perhaps the Police have not been informed or no one makes any police report, or the number of police reports is less than 20.

Ok, after my clarifications, and to protect myself from making wrongful allegation that there is a crime but actually no crime, lets assume that it is a crime, assume only hor, forging or making false claims on one’s resume and qualifications, the law and legal processes would have been activated and the law enforcement officers would be moving their butts, like the very serious case of Amos Yee when 8 officers were reported to have arrested him in his home and handcuffed him before taking him away. Looks like this case, if there is a case, is going to be a very minor case, a minor infringement of the law.

And MOM and ICA also did not say or do anything. Aren’t they the regulating and approving agencies for legitimate job seekers and new citizens in the country? Aren’t these agencies supposed to police and regulate such ‘minor’ infringement of our employment and immigration regulations?

Do I see that a crime has been committed and no one is taking any action? Do I see the exposure of a forgery or false declaration and the enforcement agencies not doing anything, or not wanting to do anything? My past experience in HR says this is a police case.

But of course, our law enforcement agencies are not sleeping. They are dutyl bound to enforce and uphold the law and regulations, and if something is wrong, a crime being committed, they will jump off their butts and act on it immediately. The Amos Yee case is a good example of super efficiency of the Police and the judicial system.

Can I therefore conclude that there is nothing wrong with this case and it is all a red herring, a wild goose chase? Maybe a minister would make statement that everything is in order and we should move on. Maybe some authoritative bloggers, with good connections, would say just laugh it off. Maybe someone would warn the social media and bloggers not to spread rumours.

Is there a case or no case? I am a layman and just wondering aloud. And to the best of my judgement, from all the circumstantial evidence and the silence from the authority, there is no case. Case closed. Let’s move on. No crime has been committed. There is no cheating, or no intent to cheat. Oh, for this last part, someone from IDA commented that this Nisha took the MBA from the degree mill for fun or something like that. Putting the MBA in her CV must also be for fun.

I have wasted so much time writing about nothing. Really, believe me, trust me. We are a rule of law country. The law is fair and transparent and efficient. What is troubling is, should a hypothetical situation like this occur: The person who saw a crime did nothing, turned a blind eye. The police supposed to apprehend the criminal did nothing. And the regulators did not regulate and allowed the crime to flourish. In simple words, ‘bo cheng hu’.

Who is the real criminal? Or who is abetting the crime?

Miracles are happening in Sin City

We are going to see more miracles happening in this city state. We just had one miracle a few weeks ago. Unbelieveable, and more miracles are going to happen. We have self sufficiency in water, which is a near miracle but really not that spectacular. Look at the Garden by the Bay. This is not mere cosmetic piece of white elephant. It has many strategic uses. We plebians with our little knowledge could not see how important this monument is. Please allow me to enlighten you people with the great value in store and how it could create more value than you think.

Last week a miracle happened inside the Garden. They regulated the temperature of the enclosure to simulate winter, probably leading to snow flakes falling. That is not the miracle I am referring to. It is the olive tree. Can you imagine an olive tree flowering and bearing fruits, yes olives, in the equator? This is a miracle for sure.  Nature could not do that, God could not do that or God did not make it so. Olives only bear fruits in temperate countries, not in hot tropical land. And the value of this is that we can be self sufficient in our supply of olives and olive oil. No need to import them from the Mediterranean. We can grow our very own olives in large scale production.

This is only the beginning. Think of the juicy apples and oranges, the pears and the succulent strawberries. Miracles can happen everyday in the Garden. What, you can buy an olive for 20c a piece in Fairprice? What, an apple for 50c?

Come on, miracles are priceless. Not the same. The Tourist Board should rename the Garden as Miracle Garden and sure to attract more visitors. Come and see a miracle. Miracles do happen now and then.

PS. How much does it cost to produce that miracle olive?