myth 102

'Elites are not proud' I was reading Adrian Tan's thought about the uncaring elitist debate. After acknowledging that elites are found in all societies and that it is self deception to pretend that there is no elite, and admitting that he too is an elite, he came to the conclusion that the solution is a little pretence. I agree with him that the elites deserved to be where they are and to be proud of their achievements. And naturally whatever they do may be a little cocky or perceived to be cocky. And that blatant abuses of the plebians are a no no. Pardon my punt. There are many ways to make elites more acceptable and friendly and lovable. Give them more publicity, and even if they are punks or hoodlums like some of those excellent footballers or other celebrities, they will still be adored. Make their antics admirable and cool, like some were heard to have splashed their faeces on the ceiling of hotel suites etc. But if all else failed, as Adrian suggested, a little pretending to be humble, will go a long way. Anyway this world is full of pretences and hypocrisies. Just pretend to be nice, act nice, say some nice things and people will forget who they really are. It is so simple and easy for the elites to be nice. Not too much to try to be nice, or pretend to be nice.

There is no reasons for PRs to complain

The last few days have been quite trying for the PR community in Singapore given the announcement that PRs will now pay more for medical and school fees. Actually all these are unnecessary and can be avoided. There are many ways to skinning a cat. Oops, maybe I should use a more diplomatic phrase. There are many kinds of subsidies and discounts. What I thought would be a more pleasant and positive thing to do is to announce that all citizens and PRs will pay the same rate of medical fees and school fees. Now am I back tracking? No, not really. The second announcement is that all citizens will get a discount or subsidy for medical fees and the edusave for school children will be increased to pay for school fees. I know it is LPPL. Oh, the difference is that one option means more money to the govt's coffer while the other means money out from the govt's coffer. But the difference can be overcome by announcing that medical and school fees will be increased followed by another announcement for subsidies for citizens. There must be better ways to make things more pleasant. Maybe they should engage a PR agency for this. What is a couple of millions for better acceptability huh? Marina was well spent.

why fame arts school chooses singapore?

Why did renowned New York arts school, Tisch, chose Singapore against Japan, Korea and India? Simple, we have our comparative advantage. 1. Strong Govt vision to make Singapore a global school house 2. Impressive infrstructure and advanced technology 3. Multi ethnic makeup of the people 4. Strategic location 5. Extensive use of English And we have many other advantages other than these. And I can easily add in another 20 or 30 advantageous. There is no need to go down on our knees. We have values and these can be converted to price.

differentiation for average foreign talents

Myth 101 'The fallacy that we must compete for lowest wage or cost' I have posted this myth yesterday and explained that there is no need to bring everything to rock bottom especially in our competition with other countries. There is also no need to pit our workforce with the cheap labour of India and China. There is no need to go down on our knees to beg for foreign talents to come to our shores to compete with our local talents. Here we need our supertalents to find a solution to justify their worth and their exceptional remuneration. There are such things as niche market, market differentiation and product differentiation. This can best be seen in the prices of upmarket properties. While others are coming down, property prices in prime locations are shooting to the stars. And our medical fees can be priced higher than the regional hospitals, why? Then the taboo topic that I avoided to talk about. While the pay of most public and private sectors are going down, the pay of top govt officials are also shooting to the sky, like top end properties. The elite may complain that this is politics of envy. I am conscious of how the elite feel on this. But this point is raised from the angle of product differentiation or market differentiation. At the top end, like top class foreign talents, the market is different. The air in stratosphere is also different. Then there is the element of no competition. Back to the foreign talent market. At the middle, the bulge of the bell curve, there are millions of them available. They are not a talent that is so special or exclusive that we cannot do without. At this average level of talents, there is no difference whether the talent has a third class, second class or general degree, or whether he comes from a third grade or second grade university. The job he is going to do or doing does not require any exceptional talent that our locals did not have. At this level, they should be competing on a level playing field. Or, the locals shall have a slight advantage in the competition. That's is what privilege of citizenship is all about. Any foreign talent that thinks he is competing unfairly and does not like our terms, thank you, find a better place to go. There will be more hungrier foreign talents who will come happily to take up what is available. Yes. lets cut out the bullshit. There is no shortage of talent at the average talent level.

myth 101

'The fallacy that we must compete for lowest wage or cost' A report in the Today paper showed the medical cost of some operations in the US, India, Thailand and Singapore. The US is undeniably the most expensive and India the cheapest. We are about 20-30% more expensive than Bangkok. What the comparison tells is that there is a market at every level. It is like our own job market. Not all sectors have to compete for lowest wage. In some sectors we are the most expensive in the world. Similarly, when we are competing for foreign talents, in some areas we have to literally pay through our nose. But in some areas, we pay them below market or less than if we were to employ our own citizens. It is actually a whole range of jobs and expectations. What I am trying to say is that we should price what we think we is comfortable and attract those that find our price acceptable. We can't make a price to fit the whole market range. And the new policy on citizen first may drive some foreign talents away but will attract some new foreign talents. Those who are affected and are moving are not the really indispensable talents that we cannot afford to lose. Thus there is no need to bend backwards to accommodate those who want to leave. There is no point in trying to keep those who are not happy here. It is more important for the govt to make the citizens, the stakeholders, happier. And a 10% difference in subsidies is not going to do that much.

myth 100

Myth 100 'The third generation will squander the inheritance away' This is a famous Chinese myth. Frances Ong Hock Lin writes about it again in the Today paper, fearing that Singapore now under the third generation leadership, will squander away what the first two generations of leaders have built. From the way things are going, he can rest very assured that it will not happen. The myth will not apply to Singapore. I am not saying this because our third generation of leaders are the brightest of the three generations of leaders. There are many things that say otherwise. First we have accumulated so much wealth, and still accumulating, that unless there is an earthquake under our feet, we will get richer by the days. And these generations of leaders are so much richer than the first two generation of leaders. Don't try to compare their richness. It will blow your minds away. But that is not the point. The important thing is that they are maintaining the same policy of spending with surplus budget or other people's money. Look at the two IRs that we are building. Not only it is the operators paying for them, the govt is even making a handsome profit from land sales and later all the services like water and electricity and taxes from the profits. And now when the govt is trying to help the poor, it is the people's money again, the 2% GST, that will be used for this purpose, probably with extra for the govt's coffer. So don't worry, this myth will never come true. We can only grow richer. Only external events or a natural calamity can bring us down. Sleep well.

what to do with 2% gst?

What to do with the 2% GST? I was planning what I want to do with my little fortune that the govt is going to give out to help me tie over this difficult period when my income is going down and down while others are going up and up. You see, I also suffer from this widening of income gap and is feeling the pinch just like the 80% of Singaporeans. So I thought if only the govt can give me $3000...you know what I will do with it? I will buy an annual IR membership. Look, this $3000 entrance fee is only applicable to Singaporeans. I think this is uniquely Singapore and the IR owners will be laughing all the way to the bank and not knowing what to do with this windfall. They have to return the money to the people in some ways. What I think they might do is that with this membership, the member will be allow to eat all the food they want from the resort, not necessarily from the casinos. So the member can feed himself with breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, hi tea, dinner, supper, pre breakfast breakfast, 24 hours a day. He could literally live there and food all taken care of. And that is what I would want to do. $3000 is less than $300 a month, which I reckon will be the pocket money my children will give me to spend. Now if the govt can use the GST to buy every Singaporean an IR membership ticket, it is like providing them with free meals throughout the year, and very good food too. And no need to sweat in the hawker centres. Now this will be the best meal ticket the govt can give to the people. Ok the IR may be 3 to 5 years down the road. Better still, the govt can accumulate this money for the people and put it in their CPF temporarily. And then make it a life time meal ticket for all Singaporeans, every year. And Singaporeans should not complain that the govt will keep the money for another few years. After all they are used to their CPF money being kept for them till 55 and then 62. But this one is money from the taxes, not from their salary. I somehow started to believe that I am a gee..nius! Now you see why I call this GST a Wonder Drug! Think of all the advantageous, IR packed with Singaporeans and a $6 billion revenue. Could be slightly lower if rates for children can be halved or free. And all Singaporeans well fed and spending their holidays everyday in the IR. It will really become a paradise for Singaporeans.