Oh, what a beautiful name!

I have never heard of this expression for a long long time. The new reaction when a name is introduced is a kind of a blur. Uhh, what’s dat? Bikina. Oh, uhh, could you spell it out. Oh, cute. Never heard of that. Lee Wei Ling and Colin Goh both wrote about the trend in naming. And the raison de tre ranges from a colonial hangover, trendiness and being unique or cute, or for showbiz. It used to be trendy to be John or Michael, or Kevin or Edwin or Edwina. But they have become so common that everyone is a John Michael or Michael John that it is no longer fun anymore. The colonial hangover is fading away as the new generation grow up blind to that hideous and humiliating past. Yes, there was a time when being a little more angmoh meant one is of a different and better social class. It was much better to hear an angmoh shouting over his beer mug with a hi John than a hi, Ah Kow! Many illiterate parents were guilty of this demeaning act of naming their precious children as Ah Kow or Ah Ngeow or Ah Gu officially. Today we have another kind of apparition. I would not call it inanity. This affects the Chinese most with the presence of different dialects and words sounding quite different though written the same. Choo Keong, Chee Kong, Zhi Qiang, though similarly written to mean to be able to stand on one’s own or independently, could mean different things when spoken in different dialects. Chee is often made fun of in a negative sense in various combinations. Then you can have Sai Chwee or Sai Tang, or Kah Chui etc etc. The individuals are often caught in a not very amusing situation. The convenient way is to give one another name for a social setting. Some would change their names officially. Many names were given today for more innocuous intent. Some may have a chip on their shoulder to want names to mean certain things, from aspiration to aloofness. Whatever the case names will evolve just like our taste for things and trends. I briefly look at the names of a few cute babies in the Sunday Times this morning and they were called Afeef Shahid, Theeksha Shivani Suhanthan, Athrin Gan, Tan Yu Qi Jaslyn and the more mundane Gerrard Lim Wen Han. The latter is a combo of Hokien and Mandarin. I think Tan Yu Qi is also of the same mix but I am not too certain as Tan can be totally different in Mandarin. We will have varieties in names as we are Uniquely Singapore. What goes to a name has a good reason or many reasons, right reason or wrong reason, or simply just a name.

Motor Insurance Taskforce Recommendations

After one year of in depth study, the Motor Insurance Taskforce has come out with a series of recommendations to arrest the runaway cost of motor insurance. I am not sure whether it will make any difference, but definitely not going to affect those who have to pay for this protection money this year. Anyway I couldn't wait, and luckily did not bother to wait, and have found my own solution. Hmmm, saving about 50% shouldn't be bad. Now I need not bother with all the shit that is going around.

Quality education doesn't come cheap

The quality of university education in Singapore has just gone up by 4% to 10%. The three state universities have just increased their fees by that amount for the Singaporean students in the next intake. If the quality goes up annually by 10% or bi annually, soon the quality will increase by 100%. I think a monkey could even become a Einstein at that rate of improvement. Singaporean students got one more thing to celebrate other than better quality education. They can feel comforted that their fees are subsidised to a tune of 50% or more compare to foreign students. I am not sure how to put it, a discount or a subsidy against market rate? One thing for sure, they are affordable. For you would not expect anyone demonstrating at the increase but grateful parents and students for the quality education that they are getting.

Temasek into technology companies

Below article is copied from Business.scotsman.com by Terry Murden Dotcoms set to bounce back out of the bubble ON THE tenth anniversary of the dotcom bubble bursting comes news from the East of a new appetite for technology. Temasek, the Singapore state investor, has a massive war chest ready to be plundered for a buying spree. Temasek is among a number of institutional investors now ready to splash the cash after turning bullish on a sector that has seen a lot of blood on the walls in recent years but is now undergoing a revaluation. Shares in some technology firms, including Intel, are now hitting record highs, and Temasek has not been slow in buying shares in blue chip companies such as Yahoo and Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry mobile device. It is now said to be looking to buy private firms which a view to listing them.... Other investors share Temasek's views. Henderson Global Investors and Franklin Templeton have turned positive on the sector with Henderson particularly bullish on e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com, and online advertising through Google and Baidu. It also likes online entertainment. It is a cross-section of contemporary technology businesses which differ from the old model by having sound fundamentals and real growth prospects. ------- I was worried when I first read the article. Then when I came to the para that said other investors share Temasek's views, including Global Investors and Franklin Templeton, I am now terribly frighten.

Another mad fortune teller

This mad fortune teller knew for sure that Kim Jong Il will not live past 2013. Actually he is better than a fortune teller, a doctor and god combined. It is reported in the ST, in an article by Associated Press and REUTER, that he has medical reports to prove his clairvoyance. And the mad fortune teller came by the name of Kurt Campbell. And he has a title called Assistant US Secretary of State. Actually the mad fortune tellers have been predicting Kim's death so frequently that it is next in numbers to those who predicted the end of the world since the time of Jesus.

The arrogance of power

The American senators wanted to punish China for not revaluing its Yuan. What rubbish! They wanted the Yuan to float so that they can manipulate it to their advantage. And they have roped in the World Bank and the IMF to sing their song. How atrocious can they be? The world's greatest manipulator of currency complaining about China who refused to let its currency to be manipulated as the manipulator. At least the UN, through UNCTAD, could see through the flawed and mischievious American argument and is calling on China not to float its Yuan. The peg on the Yuan has ensured stability in the financial world to facilitate growth by the developing countries. Floating the Yuan will allow the Americans to continue in their mischievious role in money speculation, price confusion and trade distortion which led to the global economic crisis. And there was this article in mypaper by another mad man called James Rickards. He claimed that 'it is the greatest bubble in history with the most massive misallocation of wealth.' And he was pointing his finger at China and Russia. Didn't he realised that the biggest bubble in history has just burst, in America? The greatest bubble had popped and he failed to see it and is blaming everyone for it. The greatest and massive misallocation of wealth is in America, where money were made in the billions, or robbed, by the most unproductive people in the finance industry. They did not produce any goods except pieces of papers which they sold to the world as worthless collaterals. The world shall stand by and watch the greatest failure of the 21st Century. Will it be America or China? And if the guru of liberal economics goes down the drain, the ardent followers and unthinking students will go down together.

Motor Insurance - The robbing must stop

The headline in ST, Insurance relief for motorists! What relief? They have increased the premium over the last few years by at least 40 to 50% and they said any rise this year will be marginal. What a hogwash. Look at the numbers given, record premium collected at $1.08b. Claims were $44.5m last year from $214m the year before. So where is the big losses incurred by the industry? What we are seeing are big profits. Who is responsible to stop the robbing of motorists by the insurers? Motor insurance is compulsory and motorists cannot say no but just pay grudgingly. Isn't there anyone or agency or ministry responsible to look after the interests of the motorists? Oh, a report is coming out today from the Motor Insurance Taskforce. And everyone knows that there is a big scam in motor insurance claims. And the buck was simply passed to the innocent motorists to pay. How convenient! How could this happen here? Let's see how much more will motor insurance premium be raised.

The unfathomable depth of intelligence

The whole world is so foolish. Why are they so afraid of inflation? Why are they so afraid of high property prices and property bubble? And the Americans too are getting silly, trying to curb speculations in derivatives and hedge funds activities and more stringent regulations on their brilliant bankers. And what is so wrong with huge income gap between the rich and poor? The bigger the gap, the better. They should come down to paradise and take a lesson or two on how good inflation is, how good high property prices is, how good deregulations and hedge fund activities and derivative tradings are. And they would surely be impressed by our world class number one income gap between the rich and poor. We are the best, with the unfathomable depth of intelligent beans, everything is just fine. Oops, my mistake, I mean demigods and immortals.

What arrogance of strength?

China had many embarrassing and humiliating experiences with arrogance of strength in the past. The British sold the Chinese opium only to be confiscated and burnt by the Chinese. They declared war on that ground, raided China, demanded indemnity for war raparation and the opium, including seizure of Hongkong. That was arrogance of the British Empire. The Americans followed by demanding that 5 ports be opened as free ports. Another arrogance of strength. Then the rest of the wolf pack consisting mainly Europeans powers, plus Russia and Japan followed to designate Chinese territories as their territories. That was arrogance of strength. Today, the American signed a defence treaty with a renegade defeated political party in Taiwan and insisted that they have now a legal right to arm and defend Taiwan. This is arrogance of strength in modern day. And the Americans and British cooked up the threats of WMD to invade Iraq and murdered its President, turned the country into a war zone, and getting away free without anyone daring to whisper a word about war crimes. And better still, dragging all its weak allies to help in the killings of the Iraqis. This is arrogance of strength. Is China exhibiting an arrogance of weakness? In the first place it was not even arrogance but standing up to the number one bully. You call that arrogance? Bloody fool! And China is weak? The whole of Europe can join forces and do a 8 Nations attack on Beijing today, like they did before, and see if China is weak. The US can also try to test how weak China is today. Between the two, I must admit that China is very much weaker. But it is not that weak for the US to attempt to be adventurous.

The fictitious American War against China

The Americans are accusing China of everything under the sky. The latest is currency manipulation. Who owns the major hedge funds manipulating currencies around the world? Or perhaps the Americans are angry because they could not manipulate the Yuan as it is pegged at a fixed rate against the dollar? Unpegging it and letting it free will be fertile ground for the American hedge funds to do untold damages to the Yuan and Chinese economy. I think this is likely to be the real reason. Oh, the Chinese are causing job losses in America, and unemployment problems. Why? Did the Chinese put a gun at the American companies to shift their production lines to China? And when these companies moved to China, they are making profits for who, for the Chinese or Americans? And China is the world's number one polluters of the environment. Their factories are pumping up all the gases into the sky. By the way, who owns these factories or the products and manufacturing processes? Isn't it true that the Americans didn't want them to pollute their own environment and the convenient place is to park them in China to do the polluting? In turn the Chinese are sweating it out in the factories to make the products for pittance and only to sell them cheaply to the American families. How atrocious can the Chinese be? Working so very hard to earn a bowl of rice on the table to enable the Americans to pay cheaply for their hard work. It is sinful! And the Chinese are hoarding trillions of Treasury Bills. Did they robbed them from the Americans? Whose faults, the Chinese of course. Put up more tariffs and taxes, maybe sanctions against the China. Or go to war with China.

The western hang ups

Why is it so difficult for Asians to have independent thoughts, to see the world from the Asian perspective instead of parroting the agenda of the West? We have CNA, probably the only credible media that speaks Asian other than Al Jazeera and China Daily. I read an article in the ST titled 'China arrogant? Maybe, but that's not the point'. I thought I was reading an article written by some western journalists. The views and contents were similar, everywhere in the western media, whacking China for standing up to the bullying of the US and calling China arrogant is the politically correct thing to do. Is China arrogant or just standing up to the bully? From the Asian perspective, I would say, show the Americans the middle finger. The US have been accusing and threatening and bullying every country other than its major allies. It is time a new power tells the US to shut up. It has nothing to do with being arrogant but refusing to be pushed around. What's wrong with that? I couldn't imagine that the writer is an Asian, by the name of William Choong. And he went on to explain that China was reacting from a sense of insecurity. A weak power fumbling around trying to make a defensive stand from a position of weakness. And he even talked this cock about 'face' as if the West do not have a face to worry about. The Chinese are sensitive to face. Obama gate crashed a meeting in Copenhagen when he was not invited. It was not about face but about American pride. How could they not give the American President face by not inviting him to a meeting? Then he went on blabbing about China's weak arrogance being troubling and maybe waiting to be kicked by the number one super power. American arrogance like George Bush's triumphant claim during the Iraq War is good. Weak arrogance like China is bad. And China is an irresponsible power not pulling its weight to protect the existing balance of power. Maybe it would be better for China to help the Americans to kill the Arabs and Afghans, then China could be welcomed as a responsible power. Maybe China should also join the US to threaten any country that it does not like, threaten them with sanctions to make the US feel better. Is that what is meant by being responsible? Attack another country, killed its leader, under the pretext of WMD. That must be a very responsible way to act as a big power. Now what is the point? China an arrogant irresponsible power? Let's give this writer a Congressional Medal or an OBE.

Issues that are not forgotten

There were many issues raised before, and nothing happens. I have to renew my motor insurance and to my horror, I have to pay even more after another 10% of NCB. The premium is now nearly $1,300 despite the NCB. Three years ago I paid less than $800. And the reason, more accident claims so premium must go up. What has that got to do with my premium when I have not made a single claim? Where is the statistics to show that there are more accidents and claims? I thought someone is looking into this fleecing of the motorists by a cartel of crooks. After one whole year, nothing heard. Like loan sharks, very difficult to catch. So the innocent public has to pay for it. Maybe no one is complaining so they think everyone has resigned to the fate that they have to pay more insurance premiums. Legitimate daylight robbery! See, if the people don't kpkb, don't raise problems, then it is taken as no problem.

Is the property market hot?

Fiona Chan of ST asked when is a property market consider hot. Of course this is another statement like affordability. I can simply answer by saying that it is only hot when god feels the heat. Today's news is still screaming that despite the high property prices, the rush to buy is still very strong. All the launches were successful and many are fetching more than $1,000 psf. This is good news to the developers and speculators and also those who own numerous properties. They must be quietly congratulating themselves for making the right decisions to buy so many properties and sitting on a mountain of wealth. Now who dares talk down the market or wish that the market will fall? The rich property owners will come smashing with everything they got. It is only right and normal and good for the property prices to go up. And our economic fundamentals also demand that property prices must go up. It is just a natural and good thing for all property owners, including the 80% of HDB owners. So who is complaining or why should people be complaining? Yesterday, for the first time, two senior professionals from the real estate industry were warning about a property bubble forming. Who cares, as long as people are queuing and rushing in to buy. Let it rise, let it rise. It is good. Everyone can feel rich. Down here, people compare the prices of the lodging you live in. In other places, they compare how big is the space available. So a 500 sq ft unit at $2m is better than a 10,000 sq ft unit costing $500k somewhere on earth. The thing is to feel rich, living in a $2m kennel, or home.

The ultimate test of leadership - Thaksin

A few hundred red shirt protestors are on the streets of Bangkok in support of their democratically elected leader who was robbed of his titled as the PM of Thailand. Several years after being ousted, in exile, found guilty in court, half of his fortune confiscated, Thaksin is still the leader of the rural Thais. Can anyone doubt that he is a leader of the people, by the people and for the people of Thailand? And it looks like he is going to ride back to power with the people's power behind him. Ahbisit is now hiding in an army barrack, protected by the military. Would there be a clash between the soldiers and the farmers? Would other farmers and ordinary Thais stand up and take sides, join hands with the farmers? Would the soldiers unite or split and some take sides with Thaksin? Would Thailand be splitted as a result of the surge of popular support for a leader cut down by the Thai elite and soldiers in Bangkok? Like him or be against him, Thaksin is sure a formidable leader of the Thai people, to be able to command their support and loyalty to challenge the establishment in Bangkok against all odds. It is a mark of true leaderhip.

Say a big thank you to Mah Bow Tan

In the programme Talking Point, he gave the impression that he had done a damn good job in housing and probably expected the people to give him a pat on the back, and say thank you. He forgot that the good job was done by his predecessors, and in his case he messed it up. He still thinks that his BTO, his control of supply, and his market pricing policies are the next best thing that could happen to Singapore after PAP. He still cannot see the damages and hardship he had caused to many young people seeking to buy their first home. Even the taxi drivers are complaining as Lim Wee Kiat said. With the income of driving a taxi, they could buy a 5 rm flat. Their graduate children could barely afford a 4 rm flat, on two incomes. Is this a problem? Has this tell something about affordability? I would like to give a pass to this by not posting about the issue. But if everyones does that, the smart alecs will say, see, no one is complaining anymore. The people are happy with our policies.

Why didn’t Singapore think of it?

For years, the only way to get to Sentosa was by ferries or hanging on a piece of wire from Mount Faber. The latter, hmmm, they find it more amusing and interesting, never if it takes longer, to drive up a mountain before being flung into the island by the sheer force of gravity. Getting to Sentosa was never easy, and to move masses in a short span of time will need an ingenious mind to carefully think it over. And they came to the conclusion that causeways, one and latter two, will be the most efficient way to do so. And one is now running and collecting tolls and paying for itself. My thought, why didn’t they think of a more efficient way, like a bridge, and then another bridge? And in this case, there is no need to spend dismantling a causeway, just build the bridges anywhere they want. It was clean and tidy, and no extra cost, no need to change mindset on how to get to the island. And a bridge will make walking across near impossible, thus ensuring that more tolls can be collected. And they didn’t even consider the water on both sides of the causeway that will get stagnant and foul. And the ships cannot sail from one side of the causeway to the other, from Pasir Panjang to Tanjong Pagar. And shipping is a major revenue earner for the island and facilitating trade. Are we making things difficult for ourselves? And the pleasure craft cannot take a short cut from Keppel Marina to the South China Sea. We have done it all wrong! Imagine how beautiful and functional it will be to have bridges to Sentosa instead of causeways. Or is it a case of pride, that copying other people’s great idea would make us look second best?

The roaring business of infidelity

While we have refrained from joining the mob in tearing up the parties in the recent case of infidelity, the case has been receiving more than warm attention. All the tabloids and media have allocated significant space and resources to it. In cyberspace, some blogs have dedicated themselves to it with gusto, constant updates and youtube clips. It is a roaring business and everyone is happy enjoying every little bits of the news. It it showbiz all the way. With such news all over the pages, what else is news or interesting news for the masses? I wonder what will happen to the General Election should a piece of such infidelity appears concerning some big time celebrities. Maybe they will have to call off the election. For good business and a decent bottom line, the one and only major newspaper would do well to produce a tabloid of its own to cover such matters of the hearts. Sure to sell very well. We have enough celebrities to produce materials on a daily basis, and a hungry mob of imitation paparazi that have nothing better to write about and want a little attention of their own. The advent of the casinos and liberation of lifestyle, many juicy things are there waiting to be reported. Then we have the new age felines that believe, with some truth, that kiss and tell will pay. And telling such stories is like wearing a badge of recognition and instant fame. They did not invent the word infamous or infamy for nothing. Fame and success are attainable in many ways and there is no right or wrong ways. Our society is maturing, getting more like Hollywood, more glittering. Someday any attention seeker would be inventing hit/her own juicy stories to tell and to appear on the front pages of the media for that bit of fame.

High quality debate in Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament, Abdullah Tarmugi, thanked the MPs and Ministers for their high quality contributions and debate in the House. He said it was the best session he had seen in his 26 years in Parliament. Chua Mui Hoong in her article in the ST this morning lamented that if the MPs and Ministers would just speak instead of reading from scripted pieces of papers, Parliament seatings will be that much more livelier and interesting. Our Parliament has been turned into an exercise of reading essays. The questions were written and submitted in advance for the Ministers to reply. They will then be read out in Parliament and the Ministers will then read out their replies. Was there any debate at all? Maybe thanks should also be given to the ghost writers for their contributions to the quality of the essays. I wonder how many of the essays read out in Parliament were written by the ghost writers. I think I can offer my ghost writing services too, with full confidentiality of course, at a small fee.

The lure of hot money and big funds

We welcome hot money and big funds into our market. In fact the mention of such items will send saliva dripping down the corners of our mouths. Hot money and big funds mean a lot of money to be made and a more vibrant economy. Why then are countries getting the shivers when there are too much hot money and big funds pouring in? Why then is IMF talking about change and applying more controls on such hot money and the activities of big funds? There are two sides of the coin. The hot money and big funds will benefit the developers and speculators in properties and in stocks. In the case of properties, they will buy up everything they could for profits of course. Who pays for their profits? Anyone loses out? When someone is making tons of money, someone else must be paying for it. The whole thing will spiral down to the little guys who will find the roof over their heads getting costlier and beyond their reach. The big guys will all be laughing to the banks and having their parties. In the case of stocks, the big funds are making millions and billions at the expense of the small guys. Yes 1 or 2 may make some money, but the big picture is a sorry state of affairs. Just like listing of foreign stocks, when they grabbed the money and run, leaving a shell for the local investors. The Stock Exchange may be happy earning the $600 clearing fee per trade and add a few millions to its bottom line. Contrast this to the billions of profits that the big funds are wiping from the market and sending the small investors to the laundry. The net sum gain or loss is frightening and negative to the country as a whole. Is it worth it? Earning a few penny and losing billions in the process? Would anyone bother to look at the big picture? Would a few privilege ones making a few millions be enough justification for the majority losing their billions? The hot money and big funds are here to make a quick buck from the locals, and leave the carnage behind when they depart. Maybe the IMF is crazy. Maybe those countries that shunned hot money and big funds are stupid. Maybe we are smarter

Another China bashing article

China Business Mar 12, 2010 China lassoes its neighbors By Walden Bello Asia Times With the Doha Round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization in limbo, the heavy hitters of international trade have been engaged in a race to sew up trade agreements with smaller partners. China has been among the most aggressive in this game, a fact underlined on January 1, when the China-ASEAN Free-Trade Area (CAFTA) went into effect. Touted as the world's biggest free-trade area, CAFTA will bring together 1.7 million consumers with a combined gross domestic product of US$5.9 trillion and total trade of $1.3 trillion. Under the agreement, trade between China and Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore has become duty-free for more than 7,000 products. By 2015, the newer members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar - will join the zero-tariff arrangement. The propaganda mills, especially in Beijing, have been trumpeting the free-trade agreement as bringing "mutual benefits" to China and ASEAN. In contrast, there has been an absence of triumphal rhetoric from ASEAN. In 2002, the year the agreement was signed, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hailed the emergence of a "formidable regional grouping" that would rival the United States and the European Union. ASEAN's leaders, it seems, have probably begun to realize the consequences of what they agreed to: that in this FTA, most of the advantages will probably flow to China.... The above are the opening paras of Walden's article. The writer took the position that the Asean leaders were all dummies and did not know what they were going into, and the peasant Chinamen were first class conmen. I think the Chinamen cannot beat the conmen that caused the SWFs to lose hundreds of billions within a few months. Those, in my view, were either real first class conmen or the victims were really dumb asses. If one were to remember the early years when the empires put a gun at the heads of native headmen and forced them to sign away their countries and national wealth, perfectly fair deals. Today all the trade agreements signed between China and any country, no matter how small, were negotiated by the countries best brains on a willing buyer willing seller basis. No guns on their heads for sure. The western propaganda machine is still in full swin to attack and discredit China in all ways, but how many would believe in them today?

Looking at Parliament

Yesterday's In Parliament was showing quite a full house, maybe 50 MPs were present. Not bad attendance when they are only paid an allowance. Over the last few sessions what impresses me most is the slate of our Malay MPs. I think there are a few doctors and several doctorates. Impressive. But what is more impressive is the way they present themselves, very professional, articulate and cool. The Malays need not look any further to find the role model for modern and sophisticated and well educated Malays. Just look at the who's who in Parliament. No need to wear head gears of robes to look like Arabs. The Singaporean Malays have progressed in leaps and bounds and they look very very different from our neighbouring Malays. They are world's apart. They don't remind you of village chiefs and the days of Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat anymore. So too are our Indian and Chinese descendants of indentured labours and coolies. They all, including the Malays, look more like the English aristocrats and gentries, and a bit of American Hollywood. Suave and very international. But once in a while, when irritated, a little of the crudeness of their forefathers still resurfaced. Maybe in another generation all the traits of humble origins would no longer be there. CNA should have longer takes of In Parliament and beamed it across Asia. Maybe the Arabs, the Indians and the Chinese will all look towards their Singaporean counterparts as the role model of the future, successful and smart looking. And so will the rest of Asia. The Singaporeans will set the trend for others to follow instead of following and imitating others. The Singaporean Style!

Who the f@#% does he think he is?

CPF Life will be compulsory for those with $60k in their retirement accounts at the age of 65. They missed them when they got the bulk of their money out at 55. Now the net closes in and they are going for those who slipped out to be caught again at 65. Who does he think he is? It is the people's money. Don't touch, you have no right to confiscate the people's money at your whims and fancy. You are no god, boy. 'Such was the level of interest in CPF Life that it was opened up last Sept to Singaporeeans and permanent residents aged 55 and older. Since then, some 37,000 people have signed up, committing a total of $1.7 billion.' Why such a great and popular scheme only had 37,000 members? If it is so great, people will all be rushing into it. And why the need for compulsion? Is the govt so short of fund that it has to resort to locking up the people's money in all kinds of scheme? Boon Wan is waiting to transfer more money into Medisave. The people who are not happy with a govt that thinks it can do anything with their money must vote for the return of their money in the next GE. They must assert their rights to their own money and tell whichever joker to lay his hands off their money. I will definitely vote for the right to my money.

A system of crooks

Jonathan Weil wrote an article for Bloomberg in New York and is reposted in mypaper today. His main gist is that the robber bankers are blaming short selling for the ruins in the financial system and banks under their charge. Actually he said it is more than just short selling. He added, 'Neither short sellers nor rumours spread by speculators were to blame for any of these companies' collapses. Bogus balance sheets and incompetent regulators were, along with the panic that ensued once investors decided that they couldn't deny the reality any longer.' I want to add that it is the whole financial and trading systems developed by the geniuses trained by the best American Unis that is at fault. The Americans are awared now that derivatives is a deadly instrument and must be curbed. The SEC Chairman is asking for more measures to control derivative tradings and undisclosed deals. Her feelings are echoed in the big cities of Europe. Derivative tradings, short sellings, programme tradings, big fund and big muscles, are all part of a flawed system that is out there to cheat the small investors. And with regulators closing an eye, deregulations, or becoming participants to the scam, indulging in dark trades and providing a system that facilitates the big funds to rob the small investors, what can one expect? The financial crisis is only the tip of an iceberg and an early warning. The collapse of the world financial system is imminent if nothing is done to stop the robbers from what they are doing. Just ask, who is running all these banking and financial institutions into ruins, turning them into a big casino and con game? The Americans are pulling the rug from the feet of the robbers. But the silly Asian bourses are still dancing to the tune as if nothing has happened and nothing will happen. The derivatives and default swap deals and dark deals may be banned from the US and maybe Europe soon. But they will be welcomed blindly by their Asian counterparts. And the crooks will be welcomed with open arms to do what they were doing best in Asia, once they are banned from the US and Europe. Actually their tentacles are already in Asia and robber the investors of every penny they got left.

Indian graduate school as good as American's best

Singaporeans not good enough: Temasek offered 110k – 130k USD per annum to fresh Indian IIM-B graduates All 270 students from the 2010 batch of the post-graduate programme (PGP) of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) have been placed in just five days since the opening of the process. IIM-B also claims to have completed the final placements ahead of all other IIMs.As many as 120 reputable firms from and outside the country – from both the traditional and emerging sectors like healthcare and energy – visited the institute during the placement period.Fifteen new companies took part in the placements this year, recording a 41 per cent increase from last year.Prominent among the new entrants were: AT Kearney, Alvarez & Marsal, Bain & Co, Booz & Co, Diamond Consulting, Nomura and Temasek Holdings.Nomura is reported to have made the highest offer of Rs80 lakh per annum for the role of vice president finance in an international location. Temasek Holdings offered Rs50-60 lakh per annum. The students have accepted as many as 15 international offers from companies including Nomura, Temasek, P&G, Enzen, Arvin Meritor and UAE Exchange. About 45 women in the batch accepted offers in sectors, like investment banking, consulting and PE. In the lateral placements held for students with two years of work experience, 30 companies made recruitments. A total of 66 offers were received by the students in lateral placement as compared to 50 offers last year. The above article was copied from Transitioning.org. I am pleasantly surprised to see an Asian graduate school commanding such high respect from around the world. Good for India. Singaporean post grad students should enrol in the school instead of American Univ or our local Univ. Then they can be courted and be paid better salaries than our local post grads. I just hope it is not another case of unthinking blind followers following the crowd like queueing for MacDonald toys.

Meet Yotaro, the hottest baby in town

Yotaro has blue eyes, cute cheeks, cuddly, can smile, cry, throw tantrums, everything a baby can do. It is going to be the latest craze and will be selling like hot cakes. The Japanese has developed this Robobaby to train parents in parenting and how to take care of babies. The best part about this toy is that it can be switched off when the owners got tired of it. This is the greatest advantage over a real baby. And it will never grow up and does not have the problems, sickness and troubles that real babies will bring. I think this product will be a must have, just like internet baby craze where two young parents neglected their own baby to feed and look after an internet baby. Move aside, real babies. You are not needed nor wanted any more. What is this world turning into? Real babies nobody wants. Instead they will buy cute Robobabies, toys, dogs and pets as subsitutes to be showered with love and tender loving care.

To talk or not to talk

Following the revelation of Pastor Rony Tan in his Youtube testimony I posted this thread in redbeanforum.com and mysingaporenews. A hearty discussion followed but subsequently stopped when the defenders of Rony heeded his call and disengaged. The sensitive issue of race and religion was raised by Vivian Balakrishnan in Parliament and the question is always about drawing the line to prevent any discussion from getting overheated. Two articles in the ST Editorial today continued with this debate calling for more public discussion instead of just leaving everything to the religious council to deal with behind closed doors. Could the public handle such discussion sensibly and rationally? Did we? There was some heat as many were emotionally and spiritually attached and empowered to defend their positions against those who would also have very strong feelings about the subject. I think we had done well to keep the discussion under control. Maybe if Rony had not restrained his followers, things may get more heady. This brings us back to the same question, are we mature enough, sensible enough, to talk about such issues publicly? Or we should pretend that there is no problem or just sweep the problems under the carpet and forever live in blind ignorance, or never grow up? This is the 21st Century of enlightenment or are we still in the Dark Ages?

Faces of Chingay 2010

These are a few of the photos I took with my friends at the Chingay 2010.

Day of reckoning

In 50 years or 30 years time, if you are still alive, many Singaporeans will start to cry. Because in that time frame, many of the HDB properties will have less than 50 years of lease left. And some may have lesser. And the million dollar properties will not be worth a million anymore, and may not even be worth half of it. That is the reality when the day of reckoning comes. There is no running away from it. Today, many are trying to make hay while the sun shines. Profit can be made by short term flipping. In the long term, the HDB properties are going to worth nothing. Yes, $0! Don’t be mad to plough in your millions. At $500k, with interest of 30 years, it is going to cost $1m for nothing at the end of the story. And this applies to all 99 year leasehold properties. The $1m condo is going to cost $2m and will come to nothing too. It cannot keep going up. It must come down to ground zero! Only freehold or 999 years properties will retain their values.

Year 2010 - Sayanging the footballers

We were supposed to be in the finals of the World Cup this year. I read that the coach is going to submit a nasty report on the behaviour and discipline of our professional players who were booted out of the Asian Cup in Amman. Aren't they playing the in World Cup Final? Maybe that's the reason why they felt so disheartened and depressed. The coach should forgive them, for oversleeping, for smoking, for not attending training sessions. He forgot to sayang them I think. And he thought that they were too big for their shoes! What's happening? These are our first class talents, our Dream Team for the World Cup.

Buffer stock for HDB

Today's ST editorial suggested that HDB build a buffer stock to meet contigency demands of flat buyers. I hope no one is going to reply that once there was a 30,000 stock of unsold flats and very costly. And I hope that no one would comment that last year they sold so few flats and sufferred a deficit of $2b, so if sell more and build buffer stocks, the deficit will be even greater. The idea of a small buffer stock is elementary, and no one needs to teach super talents about this. It is only whether there is an intent to want to do it. Who doesn't know that having a small surplus will shorten the waiting time and become very handy and expedient for those who need flats urgently? Like I said earlier, there are many things that can be done to help the people who need flats urgently. The current system is shitty at best.

The disappearing Act

I wonder how many of you watch the clips on Parliament shown on TV. I have a hard time trying to spot my favourite MPs as it flashed quite rapidly and often only showed a small section of the floor. It is very rare that one has the chance to see the whole house and all the MPs. And also, on a daily basis, the same few faces would appear again and again What happens to those that don't appear at all? There are some MPs that appear to be on perpetual leave, or the camera just refused to look at them. Blame it on the camera man huh.

Another silly article to ridicule China

There is another China bashing article in mypaper today by a Ben Blanchard. He asserted that China's military might is only good on paper and questioned whether they are real or can work. He suggested that most of them would not work especially the missile system but then contradicted himself by quoting how China shot down its own dysfunctional satellite in space. And he laughed at how China handled the Sichuan earthquake as bad in joint operations. He forgot to compare it with how well the Americans handled the Katrina flood. A piece of exemplary joint operations! And he boasted about the US being battled hardened and experienced as they were engaged in two massive military operations in Iraq aand Afghanistan while China had not been in full battle for three decades. The last time was, he claimed, a bloodied nose from Vietnam. He forgot that the Vietnamese drove the mighty and experienced Americans out of their country while the Chinese drove them back from their borders to Hanoi. Who got bashed? To be sure China is still far off in comparative strength from the Americans. And he questioned China's ability to threaten the Americans. But that is not the intent of China. China does not seek to threaten the US. Only the US seeks to threaten everyone, including China, and use war as a means to seek control and supremacy over other nations. What China seeks is simply to deter the aggressive intent of the Americans and to ensure that should any war breaks out between the two, there will be many American boys and girls going home in black plastic bags. Yes, a full blown war will see the US blowing China into pieces a 100 times over. But China needs only to blow the US into pieces, one time over. That is good enough. China had fought the US before, and triumphed. They drove the US soldiers from the Yalu River to the 38th parallel with outdated rifles while the Americans were using air power and heavy weapons. China need not have the same high tech and leading edge weapons to defeat the US in a conventional war. It has proven it could do it, in Korea and in a proxy war in Vietnam. Would the US dare to take on China believing that China's military is all paper only?

Khaw Boon Wan is a good man

Khaw Boon Wan acknowledged in Parliament that the Medisave is our money. And he is there to guard and protect our money. I say very good. Just guard the money and make sure it is safe. But don't have any more designs to take more money from the people to guard. It is too huge a sum and too big a responsibility. Don't ask for more. there is enough money for him to guard already. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars in prison. Also, good man don't keep thinking of taking other people's money without their consent, and to keep it away from the people till death do they part.

Cost of living in Cloud Nine

Temasek Review, TOC and several blogs have reported that the budget provided for a 8.8% increase in ministerial salary. The hint is that this is outrageous given that the workers are being asked to be cheaper, better and faster. Superficial impression will make many to agree with such a perception. How could the ministers still be thinking of raising their sky high salaries? Then think again. The workers need not have to have any salary increases, or the increases need not be too high as property prices, I mean public housing, are very affordable. Compare to the prices of private properties, each costing $5m to $10m, it is tough to buy such properties. And 8.8% increase of a $1m salary is only $88k, $2m salary is $196k and $3m salary is only $264k. It will take several years of savings to buy a private property with this kind of small increases. It is thus unfair to frown upon the 8.8% increases as we cannot compare apple with oranges. The cost of living in high society is very high. Properties are expensive and so are luxury cars and overseas holidays. Even the meals are costing that much more. I can't remember how much it cost for cooking class in France. The increases should be comparable with the increases in the cost of living and property prices in the stratosphere. Only then will it be fair. It will be more appropriate to provide for a bigger raise in order to minimise their hardship. Without a pay hike, life can be very tough with a $1m or $2m or even a $3m income. The people should not complain and should count their blessings. At least they need not have to keep on worrying about where and how to get those millions to pay for the high cost of living.

Myth 218 – The market forces determine the prices of public housing

Who believes in this shit? Can repeatedly telling this will make it another fictional truth like affordability? Who controls the supply of land sales? Who controls the minimum price of land sales through reserved price? If not equal or above the reserved price, don’t sell. Who controls the building of public housing, how many, when, where and sizes, ie the supply? Who sets or determines the price of public housing? No, sorry, it is the market that determines the price of HDB built flats. Just like the Pinnacles, the market or buyers decided to pay $200k more for the same flats in the same estate. It is all due to the magical market forces. Adabracadabra…., Ladies and gentlemen, the price of public housing is...., according to market forces....

Has PAP lost Tampines?

Did he break? No, he didn't. Yes he did. Watching Mah Bow Tan defending his housing policy in Parliament, this question kept popping up. Under the spotlight, subject to criticisms from many quarters, he stood tall in Parliament, telling the house that his policy is the best, his BTO scheme is the best, his land sale system is the best, and there are enough supply of flats for everyone. He also dismissed all the complaints as myths. It seems that the whole wide world is telling myths and he is telling the truth. He forgot to smile to the camera last night. Public housing has been the strongest pillar of support for the PAP. The people were happily housed in affordable and good quality housing. Why is it that there are so many people crying and complaining about the housing policy today? No, no one is complaining. The complainants are making a mountain out of a mole hill. There are plenty of public housing available. There are also enough supply of private housing, if you have the money. There are two possibilities. The complaints are genuine and the complaints are false. If Mah Bow Tan is right, then the complaints are mere noises and nothing to worry about. If the complaints are genuine, they may have already lost Tampines GRC before the election is called. How could the PAP lead if it refuses to listen? There are public outcries and it is turning on a deaf ear. Can PAP rely on the motto of a deaf frog to lead the people? The deaf frog could reach the top of the mountain, but alone. His team mates could have left him long ago. Or they could be trembling and shivering in their pants or skirts while watching the gungho deaf frog charging fearlessly up the mountain, alone. Maybe this is a new kind of leadership, the leadership of a deaf frog.

A little window dressing not going to work

The few changes in housing policy are not going to make any difference. The target of 30% of the buyers household income is fixed and viewed as affordable and reasonable to take. No need to bother about cost of construction, no need to bother about the risk that the buyers will be exposed to. In such cases, the bigger the income the bigger the stone mill hanging on the neck. And when a crisis comes, the bigger the income/stone mill, the bigger the losses and pain. We have got through that many times. Preventing people from buying what the people think is affordable to them, and dictating what is affordable to the people is another mean policy like the mean testing in hospital admissions. The govt decides on what the people should spend as reasonable and affordable. The people cannot decide what is prudent for themselves. And like the deaf frog, no need to listen, just move on, bring it higher for the good of the people.

Gopalan Nair can be arrested

Gopalan Nair wrote an article yesterday claiming that LKY sufferred a massive heart attack and was warded in SGH. He also posted about demonstrations which gave the impression of civil unrest in the island. He has admitted today that it was a hoax created by him. Gopalan should not play with such rumours as it can get many people killed. Just imagine if his article comes out this morning and the stock market reacted negatively to it with fearful investors unloading and causing many to lose their little fortunes in the market? It is utterly irresponsibile for Gopalan to post such vicious rumours in the net. It only destroy the credibility of himself and other bloggers. I hope no bloggers will think this is funny and exciting and follow what he did. Be responsible and post rationally. Do not stoop to spreading vicious rumours.

Myth 217 - Govt that listens to the people is good

This statement is now a myth. Good govt does not need to listen to the people. This is especially true when the govt is manned by the country's top talents and knows best what is good for the people. The high price housing policy is an excellent example of a govt that does not need to listen to the people. It is very sure that the policy is right and the best. So, despite the people's cry that public housing is unaffordable, the govt just insists that it is affordable, and moves on. In the long run, the people will learn to appreciate this high price public housing policy. And the wisdom of a govt not listening to the untalented people and just do what is right is best encripted in the story of the deaf frog that climbed to the top of the mountain. No one asks why the frog would want to go to the top of the mountain when it is more comfortable in the ponds below the mountain. Deaf frog or undeaf frog, I will vote for a frog or a donkey that listens to the people than a deaf frog that is too smart and not willing to listen to the people. For those who want to vote for deaf frogs, this is democracy and they are free to do so.

Sunday, March 07, 2010 Temasek's recruiting spree at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IMM-C). This article is posted in Singapore News Alternative. And there is another article there by Seah Chiang Nee, More Grads join jobless queue, published in The Star. Putting the two articles side by side, what can one make out of it?

The badge of pride and pedigree

The princelings of China are emerging everywhere, and very successful. Their pedigree background is a badge of honour and also a badge to a smoother path to material success. It gives hint to an age old culture when princes and royal ties were equated with power and status. This is a big contrast to the days of communism when poverty and peasant background were brandished as a badge, as a true red communist. And in the days of the flower people of the 60s, rich kids rejected their affluent trappings to smoke pots and donned filthy and tattered clothes, living in the parks, as the way of life. Rejection of society and wealth was the in thing. Scions of the rich left their homes and families to look poor and smelly. This reminds me of a confrontation between the Soviet leader Khruschev and China's Zhou En Lai. Khruschev came from humble and peasant background and was very proud of it. His badge of pride and pedigree. Zhou En Lai's background was from the gentry and landlord class. And both became communist leaders. Khruschev used to sneer at Zhou En Lai for his rich background and proclaimed to everyone that his was of poverty and peasantry. We were both communist, but from different classes. Zhou En Lai agreed, yes we were both communist, I was rich and you were poor. And we have both betrayed our class. And they toasted to that.

High pay who pays

The Diary of a Singaporean Mind has a pretty meaty article on the issue of high pay by the bank robbers in America and did a little correlations with the high pay in the Singapore context. I quoted a small extract of his quote: Kenneth Feinberg[Link] is Obama's "pay czar". After the US govt bailed out major banks, Fienberg was appointed to make sure bankers don't go back to their old bad habits of paying themselves tens of millions given the outrage among the general public for the bailout. Yesterday Fienberg appeared on CNBC because Maria Bartiromo was doing a segment on Wells Fargo executives wanting to double their own pay. Because Wells Fargo had already returned the TARP money, Feinberg has no juristriction over them and can't do anything about it - all he could do was give his opinion on the matter. This was what he said. Very often bankers would come to him to authorise fat bonuses or pay hikes saying that the executive is "especially talented" or he might be poached up by a foreign bank. He would ask for proof this "talent" and in every single case he found the person replaceable without loss to the company. It was mostly, in his own words,"spin" - bankers over the years have been very creative at manufacturing justifications for their high salaries even as they were about to cause a lot of economic pain to the rest of the population through their careless lending. Buffett asked why the CEO pay has gone from 50 times the lowest paid worker in the company in the 1950s to 500 then to 5000 times - is the CEO today 100 times more productive today? Not possible. The low down people must never ignore this issue of high pay. It comes from everyone's pocket. The banks are not paying the bankers. It is the ordinary folks. The high pay checks of the banks must come from more profits and this will be squeezed all the way down to the people in the street who thought they have nothing to do with it. But they do. Everything will be more costly, services and goods, to keep the robbers fed. Banks cannot feed the robbers with 1 or 2% interest rates. They must schemed all kinds of toxic instruments to muster enough money to pay themselves. At the worst, they will cook the books, hide the losses until it cannot be hidden anymore. It is so easy to churn the books from loss making to profit making, like Greeece. And oh, most of the major banks were in the same boat. That's how they got busted and needed public fund to write off their debts. The immediate turnaround to profitability in the hundreds of billions is fiction. Something fishy must be going on inside those bank books.

What if HDB bungled?

According to Mah Bow Tan, the following are myths. 1. There are not enough HDB flats to meet demand 2. HDB flats are unaffordable 3. PRs push prices 4. Private property owners push up prices 5. Subletting of HDB flats is rampant. The above are reported in the ST today. And he gave his reasons to dismiss them as myths. So I will add them into my column as myths of Singapore. The following facts are either quoted from official sources or are well knowned, or maybe perceived wrongly. 1. In 2008, there were 79,200 new PRs and 20,500 new citizens. 2. In 2009, the numbers were 59,500 and 19,900 respectively. 3. Our population has increased by more than a millionn in the last decade. 4. Property prices are shooting to the sky with HDB flats tripling their values in less than the recent 10 years. 5. Mah Bow Tan said he was caught by surprise of the strong demand in properties. 6. HDB is scurrying to build more flats with 13,500 last year and another 12,000 this year. All these will take another 3 or 4 years to be ready. How many flats did HDB built in the last 5 years? Has HDB bungled in the supply and demand of public housing for the people in the last 10 years? I think the official answer is no. Then why the unhappiness especially among young and new home owners? Myth? During the tight supply of flats and surging demand caused by high population growth, have there been young people who failed to get their flats over these years and were booted out of the public housing system because their combined income went past the $8,000 ceiling imposed by HDB? If there are, is it their fault or HDB's fault? These young people are now caught in a dilemma, disqualified from HDB and not rich enough to pay for private properties. So how? Would they be pissed off with the HDB and the govt? The answer will come in the next General Election if their housing needs are not solved by then. Maybe their needs are just a myth and all will still be voting happily for the PAP. Maybe not. Only the result will tell the true story. In the meantime Mah Bow Tan can stick to his position and fight his election in Tampines, and win.

The tragedy of being old and lazy

It is a tragedy to become old and lazy in paradise. When one is old is already bad. Old and lazy!...tsk. tsk. In the past, being old, one can look forward to a well earned retirement. Today, one cannot afford to grow old and retire. One needs to work till death. And if one is old and lazy some more, no one is going to help you. Wake up lazy Singaporeans. But for those who cannot grow old, then it is a different story. They can continue to dismiss the old Singaporeans, especially the old and lazy ones, as useless rubbish. Can anyone recommend me on how to stay young forever?

America tightening the ropes on credit card robbery

The Fed is proposing to limit the excessive late fees imposed by credit card companies on their card holders. An example of the change is that 'a person cannot be made to pay more than the sum he is owing for late fees. So if one is owing $20, the card company cannot charge the bugger for $60 as late fee. Holycow, I thought this is only a decent thing to do. You mean they have been allowing such robbery to go on for so long and just work up to it? And there are several other commonsensical changes to limit the credit card companies from robbing their cardholders, like suka suka imposing higher interest rate, or the number of days that the payment was late before penalty can be imposed. But regulators complained that the Fed forget to lower the absurdly high interest rate of 2% monthly, which is quite similar to what loan sharks are charging. But I think the Fed's hands are tied. The bankers and credit card companies need the huge interest and profits to pay themselves billions in bonuses, and this must come from somewhere. Talking about robbers, I was robbed by a local bank of several hundred dollars in a dormant account which I had forgotten because of the $2 monthly fee charge for anything less than $1,500 left in the account. Some people are reviving this complain, that people's bank must also take care of the small people. But the message is that if you cannot have $1,500 in your account, please don't 'kar chow' the big banks. They got no time for small people. And since we are the admirers and blind followers of the American system and anything American is good, would the credit card changes in America be followed here?

The great market forces at work in Sengkang

The Sengkang executive condo site was awarded to the top bidder at $315 psf. And the likely selling price will be over $650 psf. So no one should complain about the high sale price. It is all determined in an open and fairly bidded exercise. And the price final price will be determined by the highest bidder. Oops, no, by market forces. No one shall be blamed for the surging prices for public flats even if the developer bid it to $1000 psf. It is just market forces. Demand and supply. What kind of demand is there on limited land available? Last year, there were 59,500 new PRs and 19,900 new citizens. How are these numbers to be translated into demand for housing? Beats me. Very difficult to compute or guess. Even the professionals would not know.

Are the grievances real?

There seems to be a lot of criticisms against the govt policies, and people felt that they are disadvantaged. How true are these? Are they just noises from a small unhappy minorities or are they genuine? Read the main media everything seems so rosy and good. Everyone seems to be very happy making their millions, buying expensive cars, going for holidays, and still jamming up at property launches. I think the PAP has nothing to fear. Grousing and kpkb by small groups of unhappy people will not be enough to swing the votes against them. They will still ride to power with comfortable majority.

New immigrants for Civil Defence

40 years ago, when I walked the streets of London, I could pick up a newspaper and threw 2 shillings into a box and walked away. No one was there to guard the money. Today, I don't think we can leave newspapers on our streets and expect people to drop money into it and the money still remains there for the rightful owner at the end of the day. We are affluent and may not think too much of a couple of dollars. Would any newspaper vendor dare to do this? Would anyone dare to ask foreign workers to look after their homes when they are away on holiday? There could be some exceptions and pre conditions. I would not. I would not even invite them to my home to familiarise themselves with what is inside my home, with extremely rare exceptions of course. If we can farm the guarding of our homes and country to foreigners, we don't need citizen soldiers. I cannot imagine if security guard agencies are still hiring ex convicts or people with criminal records to be guards.

The best speaker in Parliament

Guess who? It hit me straight away when I tuned in to the 9.30pm news on Channel 5. Lim Swee Sway was propounding his Theory of Productivity in Parliament and the audience was dumbfounded. The camera panned across the House and the MPs and NMPs were wide eyed, mouth opened, and written on their faces was the sign of shock disbelief. They listened to him intensely and probably thinking to themselves how come they did not know of such a great Theory. Ok, I shall not put words into the Minister mouth. He did not call it the Theory of Productivity. I will rate this 'Theory of Productivity' in the same category as the Theory of Relativity in its profound and impactful implications. Let me put it briefly, 1% increase in productivity of 3m workers equals 30,000 workers (I can understand this part) and this can be translated into something like 50% of something, or call it output. He went on so fast, with so many numbers that I could not grasp what they were. I scoured the papers this morning to confirm the numbers Swee Say quoted, but those buggers did not think it newsworthy to be printed. Nothing was reported. I can't believe it My lesser brain could not understand the implications of 2% or 3% productivity growth. Now I understand. If 1% productivity growth can lead to 50% of whatever growth or output, 2% will give 100% of whatever! This is simply phenomenal. Forgive me for not knowing what this 50% is all about. But I will try to trace this amazing speech and theory and correct this post when I find it. Whatever, Swee Say was able to captivate the attention of all the Parliamentarians when no one could. PS. I appeal to the Straits Times to print Swee Say's speech in full.

Selling snake oil to gullible Asians

British insurer Prudential is tapping sovereign wealth funds in China and Singapore to help finance its 35.5 billion dollar buyout of US insurance giant AIG's Asian arm, a report said Tuesday. It said the Singaporean and Chinese sovereign wealth funds had not made a final decision but their response was positive...From Sydney Morning Herald I hope we have learnt our lesson and stop buying more snake oil products when nobody dares to touch. All the oranges bought so far are lehmons. If we ever commit to another lehmon and lose another few billions, it is like begging to be screwed.