LOCAL ACTOR LIM KAY SIU: TIME FOR LEE HSIEN LOONG TO STEP DOWN

 THEREALSINGAPORE 29 April 2015 - 2:04pm
 
‘Let us not forget the term FIXING! LHL used it openly at the 2011 elections, and found, to his surprise(!!), that it made him utterly unpopular. Can the inheritor of a bogus democracy, that is actually a dynasty, even get close to understanding, let alone rectifying this travesty, and move forward with the full trust of the people he supposedly promised to serve?! I think not....’

 
The above article appeared in The Real Singapore and many people must have been caught with their mouths open wide wide. Since the days of The Last Hero, the heroes today are relatively young in the likes of Martyn See, Roy Ngerng, Leslie Chew, Han Hui Hui and the boy hero Amos Yee. We have not seen a ‘lau’ hero for a while.
 
Oh I digress. Let me come back to Lim Kay Siu’s call for Hsien Loong to step down. Maybe I would approach this from a different angle. Singapore has very few talents, and super talents even fewer. Fortunately or unfortunately Hsien Loong is one of the few rare talents that we have. Unless we want to consider all the 6b people in the world to pick as our PM. Hsien Loong is pedigree, from a distinguished family of talents, first class honours and president and queen’s scholars. How to find such an impeccable family track record? This one did not come from Mumbai or Southern Pacific for sure. We all know that. No need to check. Real stuff, no fake.
 
And he has been trained from young by the founding PM of Singapore that happened to be his father. The training is personal and intimate. Many kungfu masters would not teach their disciples everything, and would keep a few tricks up their sleeves. In this case you can bet Hsien Loong would be taught everything that he needed to know. Unless he is a poor student that failed to learn, he must have learnt well like young Luke.
 
And he went under a second tutelage as Chok Tong’s favourite disciple, 12 years of training under him. No PM in the world has this kind of privilege to have tutors before becoming a PM. Many were novices, like his father and all the PMs and Presidents of a democratically elected system. Actually in all systems, other than a monarchy where the prince could be groomed to become king, all leaders did not have the skills set or experience of a national leader and learn on the job, OJT. No skills set means cannot be hired. Fake skills set also good when the employers can’t find one Sinkie with the relevant skills set.
 
Where else can we find another PM that is so well trained to be a PM? And Hsien Loong is working so hard to bring more growth so that every resident can benefit from the growth. And he has brought in the best team to run the country. Things can only get better and better. See CPF Life, Medishield Life, Pioneer Generations? It is premature to ask him to resign right? Everyone is so happy here. The foreigners here are even happier. Everyone is getting so rich, millionaires and billionaires. If one is not a millionaire it is the individual’s fault. We can even live with fake degrees from fake countries and everything will still go on running smoothly. Oops, there are some exceptions, isolated cases or happened once in 50 years, so no count.
 
And being the third generation PM there is a lot of pressure. There is a saying that fortune will not last through the third generation. Imagine how much pressure Hsien Loong is facing to make this belief not coming true? He is fighting against this ancient truism. Even if he fails, touch wood, it is not his fault. Fortune will go away in the third generation, nothing to do with him. He can be the brightest, and have the brightest team, but when lady luck is running out, nothing can be done. It happened.
 
So Kay Siu may be putting the blame on the wrong person. It is not his fault if the country goes down. It is fengshui, hope he does not touch the family house. And ancient wisdom said that what goes up must come down, and all parties must come to an end.
 
Take it easy, Kay Siu. We are in good hands. The country is in good hands. See. Where got problem? If there are problems, they are only imaginations or wrong perceptions. A little communications will solve everything. Everything is fine, just fine, fine, fine.

GIC is my model fund management company

Phillip And wrote an article in his blog titled ‘Should GIC invest our CPF in a company after its share price quadrupled?’ He raised the question based on a number of reasons. I just quote this one,

‘GIC has paid for a business which was worth only a quarter of the price less than a year ago. Its purchase price of Rs 222 valued Nirlon at US$316 million when the market had earlier valued it at below US$80 million.’

I think any layman would also find this outrageously funny or even stupid. Why not buy it when it was Rs 50 but only after its price quadrupled to Rs 222. Isn’t this a perfect example of the market joke, buy high and sell low for losers?

I must disagree. People not in the industry of trading stocks always think it this way. But from my 20 years of experience, this is called play safe strategy. Do not buy a stock until one is sure that its price is up and confirmed up. In this case the price has quadrupled, which means it has confirmed going up and the uptrend is very strong.

Normally I would play safe and buy when the price is double. To me when the price is up 4 times is like playing safe 4 times safer. This is obviously a very conservative strategy. Look, when you are gambling with OPM, you cannot anyhow buy. You buy only when you are sure, very sure, double confirmed, triple confirmed and better still quadruple confirmed.

Fund managers adopting a ‘quadruple confirm strategy’ are very careful fund managers. I regretted that I did not follow this strategy. I always buy when the price has doubled. And you know what happened, I lost my pants. If I have known of this strategy, I would have made just as much money as GIC. Look at its past records, it is making profits practically every year, sometimes more sometimes less, but still profits. I did not follow this strategy, that is why I have been making losses all the time.

I am now watching and learning from this GIC strategy and learning a lot from it. Buy high, go higher! You see, when the price of a stock has gone up so high, it can only go higher. Now I am trying to start a fund to invest using this formula. This kind of strategy needs a lot of patience and homework. There are not many stocks that would have gone up 4 times in a year, or in 50 years. The chosen stock Nirlon is a rare gem. This kind of buys sure to make money one.

And better still if it is an Indian company. Indian companies are growth companies. There are 1.3b people there and growing. Soon India will have more people than China. Use the same logic, China’s population is 1.4b and many of its companies are growing and very profitable. The Chinese banks are the biggest in the world in capitalisation. Alibaba is one of the most successful IPO listing in New York. Indian companies would follow the path of these Chinese companies and would do better as they have more super talented banking and finance talents. They would out do Chinese companies in a matter of time. A caveat, unless all their top talents are in US or overseas, like in Singapore.

I ‘pai seh’ to tell Phillip Ang he did not know what he was saying. If GIC is a 3rd World SWF, you can bet something is not right. The analysts, the person who approved the buy and the board to concur, everyone must have a cut in this dubious acquisition. But GIC is a Singapore SWF managed by honourable people and with many layers of checks and controls. The decision must be make very carefully and it must be a good decision and the timing must be just right. The GIC is very professionally managed by the best talents money can buy. Period.

I like GIC, my favourite company, when investing strategy is concerned. Always make money one. Anyone wants to invest in my fun, oops I mean fund? I guarantee them sure make money using the same formula as GIC. Buy high and the price will go higher. And buy India, the most promising country for growth. The prices would not only quadruple, but could go up many more times.

My advice to Phillip Ang, don’t worry, be patient. Time will tell. Think long term. Remember CECA? If India is not such a good bet, the govt would not have signed CECA with India, a win win agreement. We laymen, outsiders, did not know how much thought processes, planning and homework have been put in before the decisions were made to invest in India and to sign CECA. You can blame them on anything but not on due diligence and expertise.

Degree mills in big trouble

The recent publicity and interest on degree mills are causing a big headache to the providers of such degrees. The publicity has given the degree mill seekers a better idea of what is available in the market. And knowing that degrees from degree mills are no longer held in contempt, no longer a crime to flaunt them, in fact there is a quiet acknowledgement that it is ok, nothing really wrong with such degrees, the demands for such degrees have shot to the sky. And there is also a precedent set, or not really precedent, but an acceptable excuse for anyone caught with attempting to get a degree from a degree mill. It is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to plead ignorance and sincerity in believing that the degree mill is genuine and not fake. There is a new ethos of willingness to compromise or to understand the innocence of the degree mill seekers and to empathise with them for their genuine effort to better themselves.

With this new trend of thinking and a more enlightened employer, many degree mill seekers, some graduates from reputable universities, are all scrambling to get the best degree from the best degree mill universities. Degree mill’s secretariats have all been flooded with calls from interested degree mill seekers enquiring on the credentials, the quality of the degrees, the type of degrees and even the quality of paper used, the stamps and reputation of the eminent persons signing the degree certificates.

Though the demands are very high, the job of the degree mills is not easy but getting more challenging and more competitive. They are expected to provide the best degrees and have the best reputations, like none of their degree holders have been caught or sacked from their jobs.

Degree mill providers are rising to the competition and making more offers and intensifying their marketing efforts. Buy one get one free offer is the most popular. It is good value for money as one can get two degrees for the price of one. Then of course the pricing is very important and undercutting becomes prevalent. Another query is about course works. Some want to get their degrees at the shortest time possible and some degree mills are promising delivery within 24 hours.

And to beat the competition, some degree mills are using letters of reference from employers on how good is the quality of their degrees and how genuine they look and sound. Oops, it is not the employers that are writing such letters but the satisfied buyers of degrees from degree mills. Some wrote glorious recommendations and testimonies on how well the degrees are received and how the employers commended on the fine quality of the degrees, and how easy they could find employments especially in daft cities with daft employers and daft govts. Some of the degree mills holders even have the audacity to comment how stupid and gullible were their employers for not being able to see through the fake degrees and having a good laugh at their silliness.

Good quality degree mills are really doing roaring business and their profits are mounting, and they can’t cope with the volume of the business. Some degree mills are even thinking of expansion and getting themselves listed in the stock exchanges, with New York as the top priority. Some were quietly saying some Asian stock exchanges would be most happy to have them listed as they believe in liberalisation and minimum govt intervention. As long as they can meet the exchange’s listing requirements they will be most welcome to list. It is all about business.

Heard many IPOs are already on the pipeline in many stock exchanges. Suddenly a whole new product and business is taking off. Thanks to the positive developments and the positive attitude towards degree mills by govts, employers and degree mill seekers.

The degree mills are busily trying to get their degrees off the shelf. Make hay while the sun shines. Buy one get one free. Quality assured, satisfaction guaranteed. Damn good value for money. And some were so audacious to even say employment assured, but with small prints to say applicable only in some countries. The names of the countries were not printed on their marketing material but customers are to call a certain number and would be given a list of countries that accept degree mill degrees.

The latest, ranking agencies have started to rank degree mills to make them more marketable. Southern Pacific University is top on the list, ranked Number 1, for being the first to be accepted by employers and countries as legitimate degrees. The degree mills are most willing to pay for a good ranking to help the degree mill seekers to make an informed choice for a quality degree mill.

Abe, the Genie of War unleashed

Japan, the menace of WW2 with its abominable armies invading the countries of Asia and committing atrocities and barbarities, inflicting untold miseries to the people of these countries, was hauled in by the USA and kept tightly in a bottle for the last 6 decades, not to be able to do mischief anymore. The wild ambitions of an aggressive people out to conquer and rule the world, a people thinking it was right to kill and to rule with the gun, were snuffed out after its devastating defeat in the Pacific Ocean, and not before two Atomic bombs to bring them down on their knees.
 
With the Genie of War trapped in the bottle, Asia enjoyed 6 decades of peace and economic growth. The Japanese today are claiming credit for the peace that they destroyed, for good life they turned into horrors of war. They are projecting to the world that they are peace loving people, kind, compassionate and benign. They love peace and are the protector and guardian of peace. The want to guard and protect peace in Asia with their military might again!
 
In the same breath they have torn away their pacifist Constitution forbidding them from engaging in war. They have lied to the world, with the connivance and approval of the USA, ironically the same country that locked the Japanese away from their guns, and have built a massive military force that could wreck havoc to the countries of Asia all over again. And this time it is more deadly as they are joined, hand in hand with the Americans, and armed to their teeth, to use their military arsenal again, in the name of peace, but talking about going to war and ready to indulge in warfare. This is done with the approval of the USA. It used to be white men spoke in fork tongue. Now this black man in the White House is also learning to speak in fork tongue like the white men.
 
The Americans have let the Genie of War and destruction out of the bottle for their vested interest of world domination. And Japan is singing the same song, to walk and fight side by side with the Americans should the Americans wage wars with any country. This must be music to the ears of the Americans. Now the world’s number One military power, the war monger and agitator, has a willing accomplice all too trigger happy, to lend a helping hand, so as to relive its military glory as a warlike nation.
 
Can the world have peace with the Genie of War clothed in the cloak of peace but armed to the teeth? Can the people of Asia trust the Abe and his Japan with his revisionist policies, to rewrite history, to erase the Imperialist past of Japanese aggression against other Asian countries, no Nanjing Massacre, no comfort women, no war of conquest, claiming that they were all lies? 

The Japanese are coming in peace, with their warships and guns, to bring peace to Asia again. Didn’t Asia have peace without the Japanese? Wasn’t it the Japanese that started the war in Asia? Why were the Japanese soldiers in all the countries of Asia and ruling the people with fear and the threats of beheading, as colonies?

May Day Protest at Hong Lim Park – 1 May Friday, 4pm

Below are a few words from Gilbert Goh, the protest organiser.
 
‘During this labour day protest, we will be focusing on the fake degree saga and the unlevelled playing field for our local PMETs.
 
Our theme for the event is Workers' rights are human rights.
 
We are also glad to have Kenneth Jeyeratnam and Dr Ang Yong Guan from Reform Party and Singaporean First Party respectively gracing our event on that day.
 
William Lim from SDA will be the party rep for the event.
 
Leong Sze Hian will also be speaking on that day.
 
Five other ordinary Singaporeans will be speaking on that day.’