The news of Mahathir banning any foreigner from buying properties in
Forest City came like a thunderbolt for the owners and buyers and
potential buyers of this city rising out from nowhere. This decision by
Mahathir is going to shake the confidence of all foreign investors in
Malaysia. Who would dare to put money in a country run by an
unpredictable old man that has no respect for law and integrity? This
may be the main reason why he came home empty handed from Japan. He must
have told Abe of his plan to cut down on all the mega projects by China
by changing the laws as he wished. The Japanese must have cold sweat
when asked to pump money into Malaysia knowing what could also happen to
them when this raging old man decided to turn against them.
What is pushing this old man to do what he is doing today? Is the
failure of his crooked bridge got anything to do with his anger and
vindictive acts today? His pet project to build an unnecessary and crazy
bridge to replace a cheap and efficient causeway, wasting money for
nothing and rightly stopped the moment he lost political power could be
the answer to what he is doing today. He must be telling himself, these
buggers brought down my favourite foolish billion dollar project, now is
my turn to take revenge on them. ‘I will destroy everything they
planned and built to make sure they could not outdo me. They removed my
monument, I will remove theirs.’
This seems to be the key motivation driving this old man into his rage.
How daring for these people to destroy my dream of a crooked bridge? Now
all their dreams and pet projects must also go the way of my crooked
bridge.
In his rage he does not care how the world looks at him and his
Malaysia, a whimsical untrustworthy country with unreliable and
unpredictable leaders and changing policies. Who would dare to invest in
Malaysia anymore? And he thinks he could get away with it, tearing down
all the multi billion dollar mega projects without having to pay
compensation. The developers are likely to sue him and make him, not
him, Malaysia, to pay compensation for his reckless decisions. They are
not going to walk away without claiming back what they have put into
Malaysia.
The next big project to go or close down would be the massive train
factory in KL. With all the train projects gone, there would be no need
to build trains and other parts in Malaysia anymore. The massive Port
Klang project to replace Singapore would end up like his crooked bridge,
hanging half way in mid air, half complete structures left to rot.
Forest City would answer to his wishes, becomes a jungle, overgrown with
forestation, with no resident.
Is this man doing good for Malaysia or is he out to destroy Malaysia,
destroying everything his predecessors built out of spite? Without
foreign investments, Malaysia is likely to hit negative growth or the
lowest growth among Asean countries. Mahathir the savior of a corrupt
Malaysia would instead become Mahathir the destroyer of Malaysia,
destroying all the reputation, trust and confidence in the Malaysian
govt. Malaysia is going to look like a dictatorship run by a tinpot
unpredictable old man. Is this what he is doing to Malaysia?
Would Mahathir be chasing out all the foreigners that have bought
properties in Johore, in Iskandar and other parts of Malaysia and
staying there recently? How far would Mahathir go to rid Malaysia of
foreigners who have bought properties and staying in Malaysia?
For the moment the Malaysian narrative is that Mahathir can do whatever
he likes, even tearing up commercial contracts and causing parties to
lose hundreds of billions without recourse. The Malay Mail even wrote a
condescending article that Mahathir’s dilly dallying was his way of
trying to save the Chinese face from the cancelled projects.
The Chinese leaders might have agreed to Mahathir’s request and on
political ground accepted the cancellation of the mega projects. But
commercial considerations and contractual obligations would not be swept under the carpet. The
compensation clauses would be taken up by the Chinese companies. Even
the Forest City developers could take the Malaysian govt to court, I
mean ICJ if necessary, to claim compensation for the change of govt
policies.
Mahathir may blame Najib for stupidity. The Chinese developers are not
so stupid to plough in hundreds of billions of dollars into Malaysia
without protecting themselves from controversial political decisions.
Mahathir would be served with claims for hundreds of billions as
compensation for these projects if they are aborted. If Singapore is
firm enough to demand compensation, why would China threw away hundreds
of billions and gets insulted by a vindictive old man? Mahathir has all
the cards to play and China has no cards to play and has to walk away
losing their pants? A political decision would not take away the contractual and monetary obligations in such cases.
My bet, all the projects would be reinstated when Mahathir found out that he has no money to pay for the compensation.
8/30/2018
Patnaik - DBS foreign talent sent packing
DBS has reported that the foreign talent employee, a local from India,
who posted a picture in facebook of a torn Singapore flag is no longer
with DBS. This means he is not in DBS Singapore or DBS India or DBS
anywhere else.
The posting by Avijit Das Patnaik stirred strong nationalist feelings among Singaporeans for violating their pride in Singapore as a nation. Some even threatened to close their DBS accounts. Hopefully this episode ends here and would not be repeated by any foreign talents be they local or not. There are several lessons to be learnt from this episode.
As I mentioned earlier, Singaporeans should not begrudged this Patnaik for his strong feeling and pride for being an Indian national. He should be proud of his motherland, India. Otherwise he would lose all respect as an Indian citizen. At least he can still be proud to be called an Indian, a patriot.
Many foreigners that are here are like Patnaik, be they locals, PRs or new citizens. This is a natural thing. Many of these foreigners came from big countries or bigger than this red dot and have strong ties and pride for their nation. They have long history and rich culture, not like our rojak dunno what way of life. They cannot be easily bought over by monetary incentives. They are not mercenaries.
Our little boys and girls must take note of this. Foreign nationals are not cheapskates, at least most of them, that they would betray their country and their nationalities just because we threw some money in their face. While there are Singaporeans who have this kind of thought, that money is everything, their childishness must not be used to influence govt policies. Money is not everything to these foreigners though it may mean a lot to some Singaporeans. Such Singaporeans are shameless and likely to sell their father and mother if given enough money, definitely their integrity and principles and their country.
Luckily many Singaporeans still have some pride in belonging to this island that resulted in an instantaneous uproar when their national flag was abused. Hopefully the naïve and childish boys and girls would wake up to the fact that a nation, a country and citizenship to a country is not something to be trifled with, to be compromised because of money. We don’t need foreigners that could be easily bought over by our money. Such foreigners or quitters that would quit from their country would quit from here when the situation changed. Call them locals or citizens but deep down inside them, many are still loyal to their motherland and Singapore is just a place to make money before they return home when time is ripe.
The simplicity in the thinking of our boys and girls is frightening and dangerous to the well being of our nation and our citizens. Patnaik has done Singapore a good service by telling the boys and girls to wake up from their foolishness. The foreigners don’t belong here, would not want to belong here, except for a few. They don’t call this piece of rock home. Stop wasting public money on the foreigners and giving them good jobs at the expense of Singaporeans.
The posting by Avijit Das Patnaik stirred strong nationalist feelings among Singaporeans for violating their pride in Singapore as a nation. Some even threatened to close their DBS accounts. Hopefully this episode ends here and would not be repeated by any foreign talents be they local or not. There are several lessons to be learnt from this episode.
As I mentioned earlier, Singaporeans should not begrudged this Patnaik for his strong feeling and pride for being an Indian national. He should be proud of his motherland, India. Otherwise he would lose all respect as an Indian citizen. At least he can still be proud to be called an Indian, a patriot.
Many foreigners that are here are like Patnaik, be they locals, PRs or new citizens. This is a natural thing. Many of these foreigners came from big countries or bigger than this red dot and have strong ties and pride for their nation. They have long history and rich culture, not like our rojak dunno what way of life. They cannot be easily bought over by monetary incentives. They are not mercenaries.
Our little boys and girls must take note of this. Foreign nationals are not cheapskates, at least most of them, that they would betray their country and their nationalities just because we threw some money in their face. While there are Singaporeans who have this kind of thought, that money is everything, their childishness must not be used to influence govt policies. Money is not everything to these foreigners though it may mean a lot to some Singaporeans. Such Singaporeans are shameless and likely to sell their father and mother if given enough money, definitely their integrity and principles and their country.
Luckily many Singaporeans still have some pride in belonging to this island that resulted in an instantaneous uproar when their national flag was abused. Hopefully the naïve and childish boys and girls would wake up to the fact that a nation, a country and citizenship to a country is not something to be trifled with, to be compromised because of money. We don’t need foreigners that could be easily bought over by our money. Such foreigners or quitters that would quit from their country would quit from here when the situation changed. Call them locals or citizens but deep down inside them, many are still loyal to their motherland and Singapore is just a place to make money before they return home when time is ripe.
The simplicity in the thinking of our boys and girls is frightening and dangerous to the well being of our nation and our citizens. Patnaik has done Singapore a good service by telling the boys and girls to wake up from their foolishness. The foreigners don’t belong here, would not want to belong here, except for a few. They don’t call this piece of rock home. Stop wasting public money on the foreigners and giving them good jobs at the expense of Singaporeans.
8/29/2018
Singapore National Games – ‘Pian Ah Peh’
Singapore’s masters athletes signed up in full force to run in the
Singapore National Games 2018. Everyone was there for a bit of fun and
camaraderie. Nothing much was expected except for the individual
athletes to try to do their best for a PB or to test their timings.
In the course of two weekends at the Home of Athletes in Kallang and Bishan Stadium there were a few pleasant surprises for the ah pehs and the ah mahs participating in the competition.
The first surprise came when they were told to open a PayNow account as all winners of individual events would be receiving a cash award. Wow, that’s a nice thought regardless of the amount. All the ah pehs and ah mahs happily gave their names and ICs/mobile numbers and agreed to register for their respective PayNow accounts to await the cash awards. Oh, they knew that no cash awards would be given to individual event winners except for overall winners of the respective age groups. That was stated in the rules and regulation of the Game.
The next pleasant surprise was when uncle and team won the 4x100m relay event. Again we were told that we would be receiving a cash award which we knew the rules and regulations said no. Only winners of events with 4 teams or more would be entitled to cash awards. We took it with half belief. The cash award was confirmed during the prize presentation ceremony when a letter stating the cash award in black and white was given to us. Too good to believe but it was a nice feeling.
The organizers cannot be so stupid to make such mistakes, to tell us that we would receive cash awards and even presented us a congratulatory letter with the amount stated. We were all very happy for such surprises. No one is complaining for sure. How can a nation going to turn itself into a smart city make blunders by saying one thing and doing another? We went home and registered for our PayNow accounts and very hopeful that we would be richer by a few dollars.
We waited and waited but nothing was deposited into our PayNow accounts. Then we received confirmation that all the pleasant surprises were just pleasant surprises and too good to be true. The only thing that we don’t believe is that the organizers could made such elementary mistakes and telling us things that should not be. This could happen in third world countries but not in a first world smart nation. We are going to turn the city into a smart nation. It is not that we were hard up for the few dollars that we knew we were not entitled. But the false hope was unnecessary. Was the false hope a gimmick to con the ah pehs and ah mahs to open PayNow accounts that otherwise they would find no reason to do so? Is this another ‘pain ah peh’ exercise? The mistakes were totally unwarranted. The organizers knew the rules, could not be so blur or so stupid to commit such basic errors right?
The ah pehs kena ‘pian’ another time. Or at least the ah pehs in my relay team were. We were presented medals for winning our events. We were at the podium and Kunalan the sprint legend shook our hands and placed the medals over our necks and photographs were taken. After the presentation ceremony we were told to return the medals. Why? Because nothing was inscribed on the medals. The medals were blank, no description of which event they were meant for. They promised to call us to return the medals to us after inscribing the events on them.
Three weeks have gone by and we even asked them what had happened to our medals. So far no reply. It seems that no one bothers after the end of the Game. It’s over. Let’s move on. We paid to run in the competition and the least we could expect is our medals. Did we kena conned again a third time? Cannot be lah. I think they are running short of metals and have to return to the mines to get some to mint into medals. And this would take time especially if the metal is coming from Australia or some foreign land. And it would take more time to print the words on the medals before delivering the medals to us. 3 weeks after the event is a short time. Just be patient. The Ah pehs must wait for their medals, hopefully they will arrive before the next National Games in 2019.
I think the Indonesians did a better job in Jakarta in organizing the Asian Games. At least the winners got their medals on the same day, after the event. Some, like the case of the swimmers, had their names printed on a certificate on the spot. That’s efficiency. How smart are we as a smart nation? Or is it smart nation but stupid people?
In the course of two weekends at the Home of Athletes in Kallang and Bishan Stadium there were a few pleasant surprises for the ah pehs and the ah mahs participating in the competition.
The first surprise came when they were told to open a PayNow account as all winners of individual events would be receiving a cash award. Wow, that’s a nice thought regardless of the amount. All the ah pehs and ah mahs happily gave their names and ICs/mobile numbers and agreed to register for their respective PayNow accounts to await the cash awards. Oh, they knew that no cash awards would be given to individual event winners except for overall winners of the respective age groups. That was stated in the rules and regulation of the Game.
The next pleasant surprise was when uncle and team won the 4x100m relay event. Again we were told that we would be receiving a cash award which we knew the rules and regulations said no. Only winners of events with 4 teams or more would be entitled to cash awards. We took it with half belief. The cash award was confirmed during the prize presentation ceremony when a letter stating the cash award in black and white was given to us. Too good to believe but it was a nice feeling.
The organizers cannot be so stupid to make such mistakes, to tell us that we would receive cash awards and even presented us a congratulatory letter with the amount stated. We were all very happy for such surprises. No one is complaining for sure. How can a nation going to turn itself into a smart city make blunders by saying one thing and doing another? We went home and registered for our PayNow accounts and very hopeful that we would be richer by a few dollars.
We waited and waited but nothing was deposited into our PayNow accounts. Then we received confirmation that all the pleasant surprises were just pleasant surprises and too good to be true. The only thing that we don’t believe is that the organizers could made such elementary mistakes and telling us things that should not be. This could happen in third world countries but not in a first world smart nation. We are going to turn the city into a smart nation. It is not that we were hard up for the few dollars that we knew we were not entitled. But the false hope was unnecessary. Was the false hope a gimmick to con the ah pehs and ah mahs to open PayNow accounts that otherwise they would find no reason to do so? Is this another ‘pain ah peh’ exercise? The mistakes were totally unwarranted. The organizers knew the rules, could not be so blur or so stupid to commit such basic errors right?
The ah pehs kena ‘pian’ another time. Or at least the ah pehs in my relay team were. We were presented medals for winning our events. We were at the podium and Kunalan the sprint legend shook our hands and placed the medals over our necks and photographs were taken. After the presentation ceremony we were told to return the medals. Why? Because nothing was inscribed on the medals. The medals were blank, no description of which event they were meant for. They promised to call us to return the medals to us after inscribing the events on them.
Three weeks have gone by and we even asked them what had happened to our medals. So far no reply. It seems that no one bothers after the end of the Game. It’s over. Let’s move on. We paid to run in the competition and the least we could expect is our medals. Did we kena conned again a third time? Cannot be lah. I think they are running short of metals and have to return to the mines to get some to mint into medals. And this would take time especially if the metal is coming from Australia or some foreign land. And it would take more time to print the words on the medals before delivering the medals to us. 3 weeks after the event is a short time. Just be patient. The Ah pehs must wait for their medals, hopefully they will arrive before the next National Games in 2019.
I think the Indonesians did a better job in Jakarta in organizing the Asian Games. At least the winners got their medals on the same day, after the event. Some, like the case of the swimmers, had their names printed on a certificate on the spot. That’s efficiency. How smart are we as a smart nation? Or is it smart nation but stupid people?
8/28/2018
Asian Games and the takeaways
The 2018 Asian Games are progressing well in Jakarta and Palembang.
Everything is going as fine as if they were to be held here or in any
other Asian countries. The Games have been going on for years and
organizing it is more or less using a carbon copy of the processes of
the previous Games. No need to reinvent the wheel.
There are a few takeaways from the Games so far. First is the appearance of North Korea, a country suffering from abject poverty if one is silly enough to believe the western media, and the medals they are winning. At this point of writing, 28 Aug, they have already won 12 gold medals, far ahead of rich and prosperous Singapore and even all the Asean countries except Indonesia that have 1 more gold. How could they produce so many sports champions when they did not have enough to eat, no proper training facilities, definitely cannot afford to hire super talented and expensive foreign coaches. If you are to believe in the western narrative, the North Koreans would be training with antique equipments and with half full stomachs. Their total medal tally is 12 golds, 6 silver and 7 bronzes, ahead of Thailand, Taiwan, India and of course Singapore with 3 golds, 4 silvers and 10 bronzes. And this is not counting their medals in the combined Korea team.
As the top medal winner nations are the richer Asian nations, it is foolish to say that North Korea is an exception, that it is very poor and still did better than the supposedly rich Asian nations. Sports competition today is a very expensive hobby that only the rich and able could afford. It is no longer simply about brawn and raw power but about training, systems, nutrition, equipment, medication and plenty of money for travelling, competition and coaches.
The other nation that stood out in the Games is Kazakhstan. This is a newly rich country, thanks to the wealth brought along by becoming a new transportation hub in the New Silk Road. The wealth of this landlocked country, once written off for good for many centuries, its natural resources untapped due to poor transportation network, is now a prosperous central Asian country. They sent in a huge contingent of 440 athletes, something they could not afford before and never dreamt of. Nevermind if they were not medal winners, they could afford to travel all the way from central Asia to Jakarta/Palembang to have a bit of fun and competition, to tell the world that they are around.
The other notable country is Bahrain. This Middle Eastern oil rich country is splurging its money on acquiring the best sports men and women from Africa. And their acquisitions are almost all winners and record breakers. This is how to use money cleverly. They have a lot of OPM to splurge and splurge they did, to buy winners. Singapore can learn a lot from them and turn our 3 miserable gold medals to a dozen at least. Money, especially OPM, if used cleverly, can achieve a lot of fame and glory, never mind if they are worthy of it or not. Compare to the OPM spent on footballs and table tennis, I think the Bahrainians are wiser or at least smarter in how they spent OPM.
Singapore can have a lot of sports heroes from Africa and a lot to cheer about if we go the Bahrainian way. There is still hope to hitch a ride on the New Chinese Silk Road, if we have not messed it up for good, and be as prosperous as the Kazakhstan. Our wealth cannot last if we are replaced as a commercial and transportation hub by our stupidity, arrogance and poor strategic thinking.
How many are still out there laughing at the ‘poor’ North Koreans, deceived and deluded by the western media? Without all the American sanctions and economic isolation pressure, North Korea would be as rich as South Korea. There are the same people, with the same DNA and intellect.
There are a few takeaways from the Games so far. First is the appearance of North Korea, a country suffering from abject poverty if one is silly enough to believe the western media, and the medals they are winning. At this point of writing, 28 Aug, they have already won 12 gold medals, far ahead of rich and prosperous Singapore and even all the Asean countries except Indonesia that have 1 more gold. How could they produce so many sports champions when they did not have enough to eat, no proper training facilities, definitely cannot afford to hire super talented and expensive foreign coaches. If you are to believe in the western narrative, the North Koreans would be training with antique equipments and with half full stomachs. Their total medal tally is 12 golds, 6 silver and 7 bronzes, ahead of Thailand, Taiwan, India and of course Singapore with 3 golds, 4 silvers and 10 bronzes. And this is not counting their medals in the combined Korea team.
As the top medal winner nations are the richer Asian nations, it is foolish to say that North Korea is an exception, that it is very poor and still did better than the supposedly rich Asian nations. Sports competition today is a very expensive hobby that only the rich and able could afford. It is no longer simply about brawn and raw power but about training, systems, nutrition, equipment, medication and plenty of money for travelling, competition and coaches.
The other nation that stood out in the Games is Kazakhstan. This is a newly rich country, thanks to the wealth brought along by becoming a new transportation hub in the New Silk Road. The wealth of this landlocked country, once written off for good for many centuries, its natural resources untapped due to poor transportation network, is now a prosperous central Asian country. They sent in a huge contingent of 440 athletes, something they could not afford before and never dreamt of. Nevermind if they were not medal winners, they could afford to travel all the way from central Asia to Jakarta/Palembang to have a bit of fun and competition, to tell the world that they are around.
The other notable country is Bahrain. This Middle Eastern oil rich country is splurging its money on acquiring the best sports men and women from Africa. And their acquisitions are almost all winners and record breakers. This is how to use money cleverly. They have a lot of OPM to splurge and splurge they did, to buy winners. Singapore can learn a lot from them and turn our 3 miserable gold medals to a dozen at least. Money, especially OPM, if used cleverly, can achieve a lot of fame and glory, never mind if they are worthy of it or not. Compare to the OPM spent on footballs and table tennis, I think the Bahrainians are wiser or at least smarter in how they spent OPM.
Singapore can have a lot of sports heroes from Africa and a lot to cheer about if we go the Bahrainian way. There is still hope to hitch a ride on the New Chinese Silk Road, if we have not messed it up for good, and be as prosperous as the Kazakhstan. Our wealth cannot last if we are replaced as a commercial and transportation hub by our stupidity, arrogance and poor strategic thinking.
How many are still out there laughing at the ‘poor’ North Koreans, deceived and deluded by the western media? Without all the American sanctions and economic isolation pressure, North Korea would be as rich as South Korea. There are the same people, with the same DNA and intellect.
8/27/2018
Belt tightening versus belt loosening
Hsien Loong’s key speech during the National Day Rally was to teach the
people how to change their habits to save some money given the high cost
of living in this most expensive city in the world. To the masses, it
is belt tightening time and this has been going on for the last few
decades. Their lives have been a serial of downgrading and downgrading,
from the 5Cs to smaller flats or even selling part of their leases, from
country clubs to community clubs, from car ownership to riding
bicycles, from eating in restaurants to foodcourts to hawker centres.
And to make eating in hawker centres more palatable, without being
undignified, like the best thing in the world, Singapore is going to
apply for UNESCO recognition that hawker centre is Singapore’s treasured
way of life.
minister has come out in support of this belt tightening exercise. “The Government will do its part – that is our commitment … But at the same time, we hope that people will also think through what they are able to afford and manage and also to make the right choices”: Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah on the cost of living in Singapore. Channel NewsAsia
On the other side of the rich poor divide, Chok Tong is telling the people that the ministers are underpaid. Is this the first hint that minister’s exorbitant salary, out of this world’s salary, is going to be raised and is he hinting that the ministers are not happy with their high salary? Are the belts of the ministers too tight and need loosening so that they could fatten themselves more? Looking at everyone one them, ruby and oily cheeks, they really look very well fed. And one MP is driving a Bentley, only an MP and can afford the luxury of a Bentley. Still salary not enough?
The people are told to tighten their belts and the ministers are thinking of loosening their belts, to consume more with higher salary? We are in it together, in the same boat? Anyone hallucinating?
minister has come out in support of this belt tightening exercise. “The Government will do its part – that is our commitment … But at the same time, we hope that people will also think through what they are able to afford and manage and also to make the right choices”: Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah on the cost of living in Singapore. Channel NewsAsia
On the other side of the rich poor divide, Chok Tong is telling the people that the ministers are underpaid. Is this the first hint that minister’s exorbitant salary, out of this world’s salary, is going to be raised and is he hinting that the ministers are not happy with their high salary? Are the belts of the ministers too tight and need loosening so that they could fatten themselves more? Looking at everyone one them, ruby and oily cheeks, they really look very well fed. And one MP is driving a Bentley, only an MP and can afford the luxury of a Bentley. Still salary not enough?
The people are told to tighten their belts and the ministers are thinking of loosening their belts, to consume more with higher salary? We are in it together, in the same boat? Anyone hallucinating?
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