It is easy to behave like a busybody shouting at everyone to obey the
rule of law when it is none of your business. The consequence of such
naïve behavior growing out of a big head is to make enemies unnecessary
instead of making friends.
The Pedoman Affair, when a Malaysian govt boat chose to park itself in
Singapore territorial water is like the Philippines parking a broken
down boat in China’s island and refused to butt off. China is acting
with great restraint by not doing anything to the scoundrel’s bad antics
and let them make a fool of themselves inn the middle of the South
China Sea. In the Singapore case, the provocation is real. It is not a
‘broken down’ vessel that could not move, but a boat deliberately sailed
and anchored in Singapore water. And the Malaysian boat just sits there
and telling the Singapore govt what can it do.
This is a test of patient and tolerance and diplomacy. China has been
facing such antics from the Philippines for years. Singapore now is
having its share of what it is like when another country did it to you.
And for its past behavior for crying out loud when it was none of its
business, Singapore now has no friends to cry out loud to support its
position. No one wants to breathe a word in favour of Singapore. Not
even the 5 eyes countries that were Singapore’s allies.
The 5 eyes countries would be very happy to gang up to protect their
white allies, not an Asian little country, no matter how Singapore
professed to be their good friends, good ally. If Singapore were to act
like the little boy PM in Canada and call on the 5 eyes countries or
friendly countries to tell the Malaysians to back off, would they
comply, would they send letters to the Malaysian govt on behalf of
Singapore?
Where are all the friends of Singapore? Where is the Philippines that
Singapore shouted until it voice went coarse the in South China island
dispute and supporting the so called UN backed back lane arbitration
court in Haque?
Singapore is looking so lonely in this incident. Somehow there is a lack
of busybodies to come forward to Singapore’s aid, to stand beside
Singapore. It is indeed a very lonely feeling out there.
But that is ok even if Singapore has no friends coming to stand on its
side. It still can punch above its weight. Ya? What is Malaysia when
Singapore thought it could even punch countries like China? Why is it so
difficult for Singapore to give Malaysia a black eye, to arrest the
Pedoman and pull it to Singapore harbor, and to release it later if
Malaysia pays a fine, like the Philippines used to do, or to blow it up
like the Indons did? Cannot punch above its weight even with Malaysia?
Is Malaysia too big and too powerful than China?
Why so much restraints on the part of Singapore to deal with this border
interference and provocation issue to the point of looking hapless?
Where are all the loudspeakers from the MFA?
2/14/2019
Foreign talent - Guilty until proven otherwise
'These
reportedly included a linguistics degree from Vanderbilt University, a
Master’s degree in developmental and child psychology as well as a
doctorate in psychology and education from the University of Paris.
“In 2016, we were alerted by the police that the educational certificates Brochez submitted were forged. Following which, we introduced an additional step of verifying the submitted educational certificate(s) with the admissions office of the respective universities (local and overseas) for applicants whom we plan to hire,” said the spokeperson.
Brochez’s first job in Singapore was with an educational services company, according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
He later joined Temasek Polytechnic (TP) from February 2009 to January 2011 as a lecturer for the diploma in Psychology Studies and the diploma in Early Childhood Studies, said the polytechnic.
He taught for three semesters before leaving the polytechnic upon the expiry of his contract.
“In 2014, as part of a regular
review of our policies, we had strengthened our hiring process to
include enhanced background checks with former employers. Our HR
department also contacts the employers to obtain details about the candidate’s employment with them,” said the spokesperson.
While the ministry declined to provide Brochez’s full employment
history, he is believed to have separately set up a private practice in
child psychology.' YahooNewsThe more I read about this cheat and how easy it was to fool our idiots in charge of hiring the more piss off I get. And this is par for the course. How many hundreds of thousands of foreigners have come and go, cheating our idiots for years, decades without being found out and laughing at the stupidity of Singaporeans, a supposedly highly educated and worldly wise first world citizens. And many are still here, probably dept or division heads in charge of well qualified Singaporeans, using their fake degrees.
Shame on all those that let this ruse to go on for so long without doing much to kill the problem.
Shame on those that did not see this as important enough to do anything.
Shame on those that directly or indirectly destroyed the rice bowls of honest and hardworking Singaporean PMETs being replaced by these cheats.
Shame on those who still have a lot of these cheats in their employed currently and not wanting to do anything about it.
This problem must be taken very seriously. Below are some of my suggestions.
1. Treat every foreigner and their certificates with a big caution, assuming that they are all fakes until proven otherwise.
2. Have a stringent regime to verify the certificates with specific procedures to be worked out by the HR practitioners.
3. Any certificate that cannot be verify must be treated as fake.
4. When in doubt, treat them as fakes.
5. Conduct a nation wide exercise immediately to root out all existing foreigners that are currently employed in here.
6. Do not simply believe that by checking with the respective universities would be enough to certify that the certificates are genuine. Heard of syndicates operating within the universities to confirm that the fakes are real?
7. Do not simply rely on past employer references and confirmations to be sufficient proof that the information provided are real. The former employers could have been duped without doing due diligence or could be fake employers.
8. The MOM must conduct a special course for all HR practitioners on how to identify fake certificates and resumes, including all the MOM staff. MOM must not hire foreigners to vet foreigners and their certificates.
9. Make it a crime for intentionally employing foreigners with fake qualifications or for not doing due diligence.
The govt and employers involved in the hiring of foreigners owe every Singaporean a heavy responsibility to kill this disease that is harming our people, country and economy. This is treason.
Singapore and Singaporeans cannot be made the laughing stock to the rest of the world, to be known as the most stupid people and the most easy to be conned by people that have poor or very low level of education, especially from their little villages, and to hire them, pay them handsomely, to manage and be in charge of our silly, stupid and daft but highly qualified Singaporeans.
Imagine Ah Meng being employed as a dept head or CEO to boss around with daft Singaporeans telling them what to do and scolding them for not performing when Ah Meng is the one that did not know the job?
Singapore and Singaporeans are so pathetic, so pitiful.
2/13/2019
SGX, a state of denial
The Incredible Shrinking Singapore Stock Market – by Bloomberg
For the last five years, delistings have outnumbered listings. Does it matter? Not as much as you might think. By Livia Yap and Tom Redmond 12 February 2019
Robson Lee had a decision to make. In his more than two-decade career as a capital-markets lawyer in Singapore, he’d helped more than 30 companies list on the country’s stock exchange, bringing to market everything from a grocery store chain to a pawnbroker. Business had been good, but it was starting to dry up. Lee decided he had to get out. “I saw the decline,” he says. “That’s why I moved.”
That was in 2014, when more companies left the Singapore Exchange than joined it, with S$8.4 billion ($6.43 billion) in value disappearing from the public market….
The exchange’s fortunes have only gotten worse. For the last five years, delistings have outnumbered listings in the market, which had 741 companies at the end of December last year, down from a peak of 782 in 2010. In 2018 the money raised from the 15 SGX initial public offerings, excluding depositary receipts, fell to just S$710.6 million, while 19 companies departed—a net outflow of S$19.2 billion in market value. …
Many of the businesses that have left the exchange in the past few years are well-known in Singapore. They range from GLP Pte., one of the world’s biggest warehouse owners, to Osim International Pte., Asia’s largest maker of massage chairs. …they see as low valuations in the city-state, are seeking more liquid markets that can generate higher stock prices. For example, Lee says, sofa maker Man Wah Holdings Ltd. was taken private in September 2009. Within six months, it was relisted in Hong Kong at about eight times its market value….
The dying Singapore stock market has been staring in the face of the govt, MAS and the SGX. The above Bloomberg article only confirmed what is going on. But no one seems to be perturbed by this sorry state of affair. Either they are in a state of denial or just did not know what to do next. And often they were trying to explain away the problem by pretending that it is ok, normal to be in decline, and some even pretended that this was good. Think of Ah Q mentality.
When would they wake up and face the truth and seriously do something before it is too late? Admittedly Singapore is a small market and cannot compare with the advantages of Hong Kong and even neighbouring SE Asian markets. But to spout nonsense like it is normal for more delisting than listing is telling like when other markets, especially Hong Kong, are getting more listings than delistings. The SGX has now been overtaken by Thailand and Vietnam.
The quality of listings here, as mentioned in the first paragraph, are petty companies that were good enough for Sesdaq or Nasdaq equivalent while the prized and highly valued companies gave this island a miss. Does this say anything? The days of grabbing all kinds of shitty companies to list here were wasted opportunities for not defining the role of the stock market and finding a niche market instead of trying to be big just for being big’s sake and ended becoming a rubbish dump. Not forgetting the billions that small investors have lost when these unaccountable, untouchable and unable to control companies just delist or just let the stock values go to nought. They don’t care about their listings here, where there is any value or no value.
Now the market is filled with many worthless little super penny stocks that only help to undermine the quality of the market and affect the valuation of otherwise quality companies. Good companies are delisting and bad ones remained or wanting to come in because no one wants them.
Whither the stock market without a clear vision and mission and with a pretentious ambition of overtaking Hong Kong as the choice market in Asia? More dangerous derivative trading is going to run this sinking ship aground. Running out of ideas and hibernating in a cocoon, not wanting to see the truth would only expedite the death of this stock market. Its existence today is like a child in ICU and everyday is a bonus.
For the last five years, delistings have outnumbered listings. Does it matter? Not as much as you might think. By Livia Yap and Tom Redmond 12 February 2019
Robson Lee had a decision to make. In his more than two-decade career as a capital-markets lawyer in Singapore, he’d helped more than 30 companies list on the country’s stock exchange, bringing to market everything from a grocery store chain to a pawnbroker. Business had been good, but it was starting to dry up. Lee decided he had to get out. “I saw the decline,” he says. “That’s why I moved.”
That was in 2014, when more companies left the Singapore Exchange than joined it, with S$8.4 billion ($6.43 billion) in value disappearing from the public market….
The exchange’s fortunes have only gotten worse. For the last five years, delistings have outnumbered listings in the market, which had 741 companies at the end of December last year, down from a peak of 782 in 2010. In 2018 the money raised from the 15 SGX initial public offerings, excluding depositary receipts, fell to just S$710.6 million, while 19 companies departed—a net outflow of S$19.2 billion in market value. …
Many of the businesses that have left the exchange in the past few years are well-known in Singapore. They range from GLP Pte., one of the world’s biggest warehouse owners, to Osim International Pte., Asia’s largest maker of massage chairs. …they see as low valuations in the city-state, are seeking more liquid markets that can generate higher stock prices. For example, Lee says, sofa maker Man Wah Holdings Ltd. was taken private in September 2009. Within six months, it was relisted in Hong Kong at about eight times its market value….
The dying Singapore stock market has been staring in the face of the govt, MAS and the SGX. The above Bloomberg article only confirmed what is going on. But no one seems to be perturbed by this sorry state of affair. Either they are in a state of denial or just did not know what to do next. And often they were trying to explain away the problem by pretending that it is ok, normal to be in decline, and some even pretended that this was good. Think of Ah Q mentality.
When would they wake up and face the truth and seriously do something before it is too late? Admittedly Singapore is a small market and cannot compare with the advantages of Hong Kong and even neighbouring SE Asian markets. But to spout nonsense like it is normal for more delisting than listing is telling like when other markets, especially Hong Kong, are getting more listings than delistings. The SGX has now been overtaken by Thailand and Vietnam.
The quality of listings here, as mentioned in the first paragraph, are petty companies that were good enough for Sesdaq or Nasdaq equivalent while the prized and highly valued companies gave this island a miss. Does this say anything? The days of grabbing all kinds of shitty companies to list here were wasted opportunities for not defining the role of the stock market and finding a niche market instead of trying to be big just for being big’s sake and ended becoming a rubbish dump. Not forgetting the billions that small investors have lost when these unaccountable, untouchable and unable to control companies just delist or just let the stock values go to nought. They don’t care about their listings here, where there is any value or no value.
Now the market is filled with many worthless little super penny stocks that only help to undermine the quality of the market and affect the valuation of otherwise quality companies. Good companies are delisting and bad ones remained or wanting to come in because no one wants them.
Whither the stock market without a clear vision and mission and with a pretentious ambition of overtaking Hong Kong as the choice market in Asia? More dangerous derivative trading is going to run this sinking ship aground. Running out of ideas and hibernating in a cocoon, not wanting to see the truth would only expedite the death of this stock market. Its existence today is like a child in ICU and everyday is a bonus.
2/12/2019
Can the US Provide Promised Security Guarantees to DPRK?
US Holds Major Key to Unlock Korean Peace
The 2019 DPRK-USA Vietnam Summit will see US President Donald Trump meeting
DPRK Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 27-28 February 2019. This is their 2nd meeting.
In their 1st
Singapore Summit last year on 12 June 2018, US President Trump
committed to provide security
guarantees to the DPRK, and DPRK Chairman Kim Jong-Un reaffirmed his
firm and unwavering commitment to
complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Immediately after the 1st Singapore Summit, the DPRK
dismantled their nuclear test and satellite launch site at Sohae
and shut down a long range missile factory near Pyongyang. DPRK in fact has not conducted any nuclear
weapon test or fired any inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 28
July 2017. DPRK also concluded peace agreements
with South Korea committing
to perpetual peace and no war.
US President Trump in fact declared that Pyongyang was "no
longer a Nuclear Threat" after the 1st Singapore Summit,
and cancelled joint
military exercises between the US and South Korean Air Forces in the Korean
peninsula.
The DPRK also released 3 US citizens arrested and imprisoned for alleged
spying, and returned the remains of 55 US soldiers killed in the Korean War. DPRK also ceased its domestic anti-US
propaganda.
However, the US has yet to provide a framework or any details of its DPRK security guarantees agreed in the Joint Statement of the 1st Singapore Summit.
The US holds the major
key to unlock sustainable peace in the Korea Peninsula US. Without categorical security
guarantees, it is unreasonable and unrealistic to expect a complete DPRK
unilateral denuclearization whose process she has already begun.
History supports the DPRK’s ambivalence and hesitancy
as she lacks confidence and trust in the US Congress’ support of President
Trump’s Korean peace initiatives.
Current domestic politics in the US increasingly make it difficult for
President Trump to fulfill his security assurances to the DPRK. A
broken and corrupt US political system has damaged much of American
capability to govern effectively. An otherwise highly professional intelligence
community network has been rendered dysfunctional by corrupt
and highly politicized senior intelligence leaders to cast deep
credibility on its own findings.
The DPRK and the world also remembered vividly US duplicity and role in
the 2014 Ukraine Deception and
Double-Cross.
In December 1994, the United States, United Kingdom and Russia signed
the Budapest Memorandum, providing
security assurances against threats to Ukraine's territorial integrity in
return for Kiev's giving up nuclear weapons.
No less than US Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama
also reiterated absolute US guarantee of these assurances over the following 20
years.
In 2014, the US
stood with the world alongside the feckless United Nations in abject
impotence and inept incompetence to watch Russia invade and annex Crimea, a
province of Ukraine. The
United
States' failure to honor the Budapest Memorandum clearly emboldened
Russia as she proceeded to instigate and support military
aggression in the Ukrainian Donbas region.
Over the past 5 years, over a million Ukrainians have been displaced
with more than 10,000 killed and thousands wounded.
The
undermining of the Budapest Memorandum is especially significant because this
treaty solemnised and formalised Ukraine’s decision to give up its nuclear
arsenal in exchange for territorial guarantees from major powers.
This is EXACTLY the essence and core intent of the Singapore Statement of the 1st US-DPRK Summit.
Indeed,
would Russia have attacked and annexed Crimea if Ukraine had retained a few of
its nuclear weapons when she agreed to denuclearise under the Budapest
Declaration? Highly unlikely!
On the eve of the 2nd
DPRK-USA Vietnam Summit, it is paramount for the US to
restore credibility to its integrity as a powerful nation trusted with global
responsibilities. If the US remained sincere and willing to be the DPRK’s only
conditional guarantor of her security, US President Trump and the US Congress
must be willing to underwrite with concrete actions the sustainable peaceful
stability of the Korean Peninsula.
Unlike the Budapest Memorandum, the US must commit to unambiguous,
unequivocal and categorical international treaty such security assurances to
the DPRK’s satisfaction so as to persuade the latter to stop developing her
nuclear deterrent and to depend on US protection. Achieving success at the eventual goal of DPRK’s
denuclearization depends entirely on the US.
In the aftermath of US’ failure to honour the Budapest Memo, Brad Blakeman,
former adviser to US President George W. Bush and the former president of the
national security group Freedom’s Watch asked: “The US has no credibility. Why
would anyone enter into an agreement with us now?”
The DPRK and the world will now be watching the US, particularly in whether
President Trump and Secretary Pompeo, with the US Congress, would restore
credibility and trust in American promises of security assurances for the
DPRK. And these promises must go beyond
mere words of diplomatic declaration and statement.
Related
Readings:
How bad is cyber attack?
'In her recent speech regarding Cyber Risk Management Project’s ‘Bashe
Report’ Launch on January 29, Elean Chin, division head of Monetary
Authority of Singapore, cited that in Asia, cyber-attacks are
disproportionately higher compared to other regions....
Earlier reports claimed that the Asia Pacific had the highest number of unfortunate incidents regarding security issues in the first half of 2018.
Nearly 40% of global cybersecurity activities and 30% of breached records were reported worldwide. In terms of financial losses, Asia lost US$1.75 trillion in 2017 or about 7% of the regional GDP caused by cyber attacks.
In a report released by the Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) project, a well-planned global cyber attack can be initiated through a simple sending of an email that could bring an economic loss between $85 billion and $193 billion. The report was co-authored by Lloyd’s of London, Aon and other CyRiM partners....' Source Channel News Asia
The quantum of damages at US$1.75 trillion lost in Asia alone is staggering. How much was lost from Singapore corporations? None or cannot tell?
These attacks are likely to come from external sources and all the defensive and protective actions and measures are to put up firewalls and mechanism to stop them from getting in. In a way this is like our NSmen, all trained to defend an external threat but oblivious to the Trojan Horse already in the city state in the form of 2 million foreigners with many engaged in top level IT jobs, guarding our IT systems. How precarious is this? No, the stupidity has no cure disease does not see any threat from so many foreigners dominating and in charge of our IT systems.
All it takes is one of these foreigners to turn rogue and a bank can have all its money in the system emptied within minutes, gone into thin air, in the cloud. While so much effort have been spent to block external threat, the most serious threat is from within, the people hired to do the job, to guard and protect our systems and data. with several thousands of them in the job, in the industry, how high is the chance of a few of them attacking our systems and data?
Trust them? Is this the way to continue to go on with so much trust in unknown foreigners in charge of our systems and data? It was Sri Lankan national bank that was hit. Now it is Bangladeshi national bank. When would be the turn of our national bank?
Would not happen?
PS. The Bashe report seeks to put emphasis on the cost and negative effects of any serious cyber attack. The report noted, in case of a major attack that came from Asia, for the next 24 hours, data installed in 30 million electronic devices could be encrypted. In turn, this could impact over 600,000 companies globally or about US$19 billion in financial losses.
Earlier reports claimed that the Asia Pacific had the highest number of unfortunate incidents regarding security issues in the first half of 2018.
Nearly 40% of global cybersecurity activities and 30% of breached records were reported worldwide. In terms of financial losses, Asia lost US$1.75 trillion in 2017 or about 7% of the regional GDP caused by cyber attacks.
In a report released by the Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) project, a well-planned global cyber attack can be initiated through a simple sending of an email that could bring an economic loss between $85 billion and $193 billion. The report was co-authored by Lloyd’s of London, Aon and other CyRiM partners....' Source Channel News Asia
The quantum of damages at US$1.75 trillion lost in Asia alone is staggering. How much was lost from Singapore corporations? None or cannot tell?
These attacks are likely to come from external sources and all the defensive and protective actions and measures are to put up firewalls and mechanism to stop them from getting in. In a way this is like our NSmen, all trained to defend an external threat but oblivious to the Trojan Horse already in the city state in the form of 2 million foreigners with many engaged in top level IT jobs, guarding our IT systems. How precarious is this? No, the stupidity has no cure disease does not see any threat from so many foreigners dominating and in charge of our IT systems.
All it takes is one of these foreigners to turn rogue and a bank can have all its money in the system emptied within minutes, gone into thin air, in the cloud. While so much effort have been spent to block external threat, the most serious threat is from within, the people hired to do the job, to guard and protect our systems and data. with several thousands of them in the job, in the industry, how high is the chance of a few of them attacking our systems and data?
Trust them? Is this the way to continue to go on with so much trust in unknown foreigners in charge of our systems and data? It was Sri Lankan national bank that was hit. Now it is Bangladeshi national bank. When would be the turn of our national bank?
Would not happen?
PS. The Bashe report seeks to put emphasis on the cost and negative effects of any serious cyber attack. The report noted, in case of a major attack that came from Asia, for the next 24 hours, data installed in 30 million electronic devices could be encrypted. In turn, this could impact over 600,000 companies globally or about US$19 billion in financial losses.
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