And today is Christmas

A handsome couple appear on the frontpage of the Straits Times, happily smiling and holding the Book of Baptism Rite. At first I thought the man was Goh Keng Swee. The resemblance was remarkable. And the story goes, about a grateful couple finding God and were full of joy on the day of their baptism. They were born again. It is Christmas and Christ was born on Christmas Day. George Soh and his wife Anne are now born on Christmas Day. It is a beautiful story to be told on Christmas. I feel like converting as well. Few days back the ST reported profusedly on the EID, the sacrifice of goat by Ibrahim to Allah, or Abraham to God. And the Muslims were equally joyous and Minister Yaacob even reported that the sacrifice will be doubled. Few weeks back the Lord Ganesha's Temple had a celebration and pictures of all the pious devotees were flashed across the pages of the ST. Soon the Chinese New Year Celebration and then Vesak Day. CNY is non religious but Vesak Day will be more meaningful to the Buddhists. It will be a day of compassion and no killings or taking of lives. We can expect pictures of devotees in Kong Meng San or Waterloo Streets carrying joss sticks for their worships. Our responsible and enlightened press has been reporting such religious activities fairly and sensitively and it is a sign of how well we managed interfaith relations in a multi religious society. Cheers to all the believers and devotees.

He took a bet

Goldman Sachs paid $100 million to its Chairman/CEO for turning in US$11.6b profits while competitors like Citigroup and Merrill Lynch suffered multi billion dollar losses. And he is duly rewarded. No doubt that he had done well. The enormous profit could be contributed by his decisions. But for the profit to be that huge is because the company was big. And he bet right. He could not make billions for the company if the company is small. What if he bet wrong and lost billions? At the most he will get a sack. But if the wrong was not too big, he still got to keep his job and pay. This is how the game of big corporation is being played. Bet big on other people's money. Win big and get big rewards. Lose big, just pack up and go. And often it could be a 50/50 chance of winning big. Is this kind of pay justifiable? It can be easily justified. It can also be easily flushed down the toilet hole.

Top talents - got or no got?

Bio-tech Suffers another blow Britain’s Dolly-creator is latest of three scientists to leave. Reuters. Dec16, 2007 By Daryl Loo British scientist Alan Colman, who helped clone Dolly the sheep, is leaving Singapore, dealing another blow to the city-state's biotech ambitions. Stem cell scientist Colman, who had been lured to the city-state with grants and research facilities, now heads a Singapore consortium in stem cell research.... The latest move follows news in September that two other top British scientists, David and Birgitte Lane, will also leave next year, giving weight to the World Bank's criticism that Singapore's biotech drive was overly reliant on "footloose" scientists who could leave at short notice.... Lee Wei Ling, a paediatrician who heads the National Neuroscience Institute, said that it was an inevitable that foreign researchers "will go where there's money available" as more Western universities raise funding for biomedical research.... The above is an extract of a Reuter article I copied from www.littlespeck.com. The tooth is the tooth. Foreign talents are 'footloose' and will go where the money is, especially the top talents. But what can we expect. Even our local talents who are good enough will go where the money is. Only those that cannot get a good offer will remain here and tell you they are worth millions. I am waiting for a top Singaporeans to head an American or European bank or MNCs. We can't even find any local good enough to head DBS after Jackson. The best Singapore can hope for is 'borrowed time.' Have them here for a while and learn as much as we can. We cannot have a FT like Jackson Tai here for so many years and still learn nothing and needs another FT to replace him. Or the tooth is that we don't have real talents locally?

The peanut fix

We used to buy a pack of peanuts while drinking our Anchor or Tsingtao beer in the kopitiam. That was a great way to live, a lifestyle for those with a few dollars to spend in the night. With growing prosperity, the simple peanut is no longer satisfying. Not because it is not tasty anymore. It is not expensive enough to fit into a new lifestyle called Rich and Famous. Now we have expensive wine and caviar. People's appetite grows with time and affluence. The more they have the more they want and the more they spend. The most revealing quote of Singapore's history is that $600k is peanut. At $600k, the peanut is still being sneered at, simply because those people have too much money. It is now more difficult to get a new high with a $600k peanut. The peanut needs to be worth more than that. Yesterday a $1m peanut may give a good kick. Tomorrow may be $5m and later maybe $100m. It is all relative and all drug addicts know how the dosage needs to be increased to feel the same way. There is no way out in the life of a drug addict. The only way to return value to the humble peanut is to find users that are used to a $2 pack and 2 bottles of Tiger beer. Start it at first base, just like the initiation of a new drug addict. A small dosage will be more than enough to get him high. Though the cycle will be repeated and eventually the new addicts will still be craving for $10m, it is still a reprieve and cheaper that way. Not all drug addicts start with morphine. Many grew up in the back lanes of yesterday running around barefooted. And the first stage to satisfy their desires is always the unassuming peanuts. When they are at the morphine stage, it is too late. The end is near.

Medal for model worker

I read about a post in Sammyboy of a bus driver 'arresting' a youth for cheating 20c. He stopped the bus, called for back up and the boy was taken away by the bus representative. All for 20c. This is the most honest, enthusiastic, dependable and conscientious bus driver that should be made into a model worker. Give him a medal on national day, make a bust of him and display it at Changi International Airport. Then write some stories about him and how he captured a commuter cheat singlehandedly and turn them in a Singapore legend. Cheating is a very serious offence. Bashing someone is not. A crime is a crime even if it is 20c. I think the bus driver is trying to make a statement on honesty and don't cheat the bus company's money

Time to feel generous and splurge

We all have a good year. Everything is looking so well, big pay rises and big bonuses. Time to give ourselves and our loved ones a treat. There is that expensive limited edition watch to pick up. Hmmm, a bit pricey but, what the heck! There is also the chocolate that costs $10 a bite, the abalone that may be even more chewy at $50 a chew. Ahh, the favourite bottle of red, $300, or $30 for a mouth wash. There are just too many good things in life that we should reward ourselves with for working so hard. And don't forget the little men and women sitting on the road sides or pedestrian mall. Spare them a couple of dollars as you pass by. Why am I feeling so guilty for doing that?

I don't feel safe in my neighbourhood anymore

This is what Tan Ting Ting said in her letter to the ST forum. Her neighbour was attacked after a late night party, bashed and robbed. She used to feel so pleased about the quiet and peaceful neighbourhood of Anchorage and Sengkang but these have turned into fear. Another woman was murdered at Holland Road and a Bangladeshi worker is being charged. Like I said, it is only the beginning. But thank god, statistically we are still looking very good. The crime numbers are still negligible. Then if you don't add people being assaulted as crime but personal and private problems between two people, then we can keep the numbers even lower. Fortunately or unfortunately the woman that was bashed was also robbed. Otherwise it would be another private matter for her to pursue with her lawyers. There must be regulations to limit and restrict the rental of HDB flats to foreign workers. Having a flat with 5 or more men, all hungry, burly and lonely is a recipe for trouble. Only the naive Singaporeans who have lived a life of peace and undisturbed existence will think that life will always be that way even with so many foreigners living next door. The day will come when the mothers, the wives and the daughters would not dare to walk alone in HDB void decks or corridors. That is the price to pay for our reckless disregard of social and environmental security. You only need one or two bad hats in a thousand to create pain and fear.