Singapore Angle: Comments

Comment on "A By-Election in Jurong GRC?"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:25:51 +0800

By winning one GRC, the opposition WILL not comes to power..... but will deter government from doing displeasure thing to the poor Singaporean...

- liubei

Comment on "Singapore General Election 2009 Likely?"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:07:25 +0800

So election 2009 is a realistic ? so how long we have to wait after they have start to nominate officer for election?

- liubei

Comment on "Back to the Future Enhancements"

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:07:26 +0800

If you've thought about the answers to your own first two questions, you might have reasoned that:

1. Wah, 62 still can pass IPPT? Bash jungle? Heli-rappel?
(The job can be dangerous, the hours are not pretty and you can be sent anywhere anytime.)

2. Retire at 50, hard to find job after, how to survive?
(Even people who are passionate about defending the country need to think about providing for their families in the long term.)

3. Hypothetical opportunity cost of relatively early retirement: (62-50) x $5,000 x 12 = $700,000 which is roughly the amount of the Saver payout according to ST's 15 May 2009 article 'Officers fret about lump sum payment' for an LTC retiring at 45.

Let's link this last point to your last question (which I mentioned in my post already wrt public sector pensions) - how many years does a MAJ/LTC have to work to make one year of Minister's pay?

- ringisei

Comment on "Back to the Future Enhancements"

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:31:48 +0800

With the extension of the retirement age of regular army officers to 50, it means that SAF will have to pay more money to these people. Why should army regulars be given a hugh retirement fund? So what their retirement age is younger, 50 compared to 62 in the civilian sector? Which private or public organisation offer its people a retirement fund other than SAF? More wastage of taxpayers money. Later, who knows might lead to higher GST, etc. More tax burdens on Singaporeans again.

- Ex-Soldier

Comment on "Back to the Future Enhancements"

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:42:40 +0800

Hi, I agree that the removal of the iron rice bowl mentality was an important and positive development. But I'm not sure that MDES represents the return of lifelong employment - it seems to me that it was motivated more by upper management needing to stem the exodus and retain skilled personnel rather than a response to a desire for engineering, nursing and intel pple for greater job security in the SAF. After all, these sectors are the ones that are most easily transferable to the private sector.

What I suspect MDES aims to fix is more of the problem of ROA - the dilemma of technical experts being managed by ops pple e.g. engineers by pilots, nurses by Inf/Gds/Cdo and intel (G2) by ops (G3). We'll probably have a better idea of the dynamics between the old style ranks and ROA when the details of MDES are released. It's also not a completely new thing - MDES could turn out to be a uniformed version of the DXO scheme.

- ringisei

Comment on "Back to the Future Enhancements"

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:17:13 +0800

Hi Ringisei

It comes full circle for the SAF. The wish to keep the army young was a nice one, and to cap the shelf life of officer lifers to 42-45. Especially with the (accurate?) stereotypes of the SAF and its civil servant cousins as jiakliaobee unproductive overstayers, the SAF managed to set the right tone that the military was no longer an iron rice bowl. Nevertheless, with the MDES, lifelong employment is back, but for some vocations only.

Lifelong employment is only for those lucky and smart enough to go into engineering, nursing and intelligence specialisations it seems. Intra-SAF and like in any human resource policy, there is bound to be resentment about this arbitrary lifeline to some vocations and not others. All depends now whether the SAF can package its apparently iron rice bowl MDES for those who perform and deliver i.e. using lifelong employment as an incentive particularly for those outside the MDES umbrella and to get onboard it in the later part of their career, one has to perform and perhaps must be prepared to be retrained in selected specialisations.

All sounds certainly good on paper, but so did the Saver scheme.

- Lau Ah Pek

Comment on "Mooch Ado About Something: Illegal Wireless Access"

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:35:28 +0800

Unless you're using your downstairs' wireless network to post another bomb hoax, I think piggybacking on another person's unsecured wireless, consciously or otherwise, should be fine.

Why is WEP implemented in Wi-fi networks? To secure the network from unauthorized people. If you're smart enough to know how to connect to your own network, you should be smart enough to at least read your manual and configure WEP.

In Singapore, people are sensible enough to KNOW that password protection is available, and exists. The reason why people do not enforce it is because they see no need to. I mean, if you were really so concerned about someone leeching a tiny fragment of your network, the first thing you would do would be to set up WEP, not to mention all the other security features like non-broadcasting. As such, the fact that a person's wireless network is open for all is already extremely suggestive that the owner of the network understands that the anybody within range can connect to the network, and he is not bothered to take any action.

If a person knowingly leaves his house unlocked and goes off for work, he can only blame himself if his house was robbed, even though the robber was clearly wrong. Similarly, if a person does a whole bunch of credit card frauds using an unsecured wireless network and the police comes to the owner of the network, the owner can only blame himself, even though the person was clearly wrong. However, if someone simply goes in to use the toilet, and does nothing, then the person has done no harm, even if the story is highly suspicious. The owner of the house left the door open, so someone came in to use the toilet. Nothing wrong with that.

I feel that unless there was a clear malicious intent, a wireless piggy backer is not wrong. Rather, the owner of the network should take the responsibility to secure his own network if he is concerned over piggybacking.

- louietyj

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:42:09 +0800

I believe in Temasek. Overall, they did not fare too bad. Still made a bit in the 5 year cycle

- wheregotfree

Comment on "Values Education in Singapore - Tensions and Suggestions"

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:23:30 +0800

What's so special about singapore's educations?

- weixin

Comment on "Whither JBJ's re-entrance into politics?"

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:10:44 +0800

singapore should hv go the soft way or soft appraoch
when dealing with ppl issues , like many ctry practise even communist state like vietnam ....dun do that to their ppl , using threats scare tactics ,....etc ,,,.. this is only done in extreme communist state like mynmar do thats and some modern moderate communist dun even do that anymore, they should lets citizens w/ some form or respect , it is they who vote incumbents to power , many ctry like egypt , hong kong , japan dun do thats and hv rely on soft power or governmenist counts ,or they would not face the counter-effects of whats they hv to face today if not for those counter-product tactics and high handedness , they would hv better off chk how these ctry , do their norms , like softer control over citizens and citizenships or others would just pack their bags and go, and others discourage from taking up citizenships or memberships,,, the controlling body hv nobody but themselves to be blame for the high-handedness way is a sacred cow thats hv to be removed for the betterments of the society and positivity in order for it to be move on thereafter and for self-continuity and prosperity....and lets some ppl express abit , not to bottle up their emotions......i only hv tis much to say.......so forth and thanks you thats my comment

- boeng

Comment on "Values Education in Singapore - Tensions and Suggestions"

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:11:56 +0800

Hi
i am new to this site and i find it really amazing!
i'd like to say we should shoot for comprehensive sexUALITY education. Sex, reproductive organs, the sex act are part of a larger picture of the fact that we are sexual beings. How many of us live and walk around with neuroses over our sexuality? I think we can put it in the curriculum and also have fun ways to discuss the subject with our kids...we can talk about it biologically, through the framework of major religions, anecdotally with stories, and use multimedia.
the thing is we must help our kids find that they can land on several possible platforms and not just have some info thrown at them (which hallo they already know) which can be easily rationalised/forgotten to suit the moment.

okee this my take. thank you.

- jenjedih

Comment on "A Quick Email Interview with NMP Siew Kum Hong"

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:17:44 +0800

Dear kum hong,

Taxi Related Matters with LTA.

1. I refer to the above and in the S.T. Interview dated April 8 2009 articles telling us to stand up and speak out.

2. Yes I am looking forward to meet someone like you since I have this opportunity.

3. My subject is totally based on LTA with we Taxi
Drivers.

4. It seems to most of we taxi drivers that we are all
just like VICTIMS under Lta hands.

5. I have also heard many cries among we taxi drivers
over Lta matters especially on the Passengers
Complaints.

6. It's totally and mostly a one sided version
whenever there's a complaint.

7. The chances are very slim as I dare to say is 95%
of it will be penalize for sure with fine and
demerit points and with just maybe only 5% or less
will be either given a warning.

8. By the way here on behalf of All Taxi Drivers
concern which I did represent some of those taxi
drivers with penning some help to them even until
today free of charge with some of the followings
which hereby we would like to know further with
your humble assistance since you're one of the NMP
which I truly respect your courage to call us to
come out and stand up to speak up for Justice with
Facts & Righteousness of Conveying Clear and
Upright Messages among we taxi drivers whom I dare
to put it that most of them just talks, have no
courage, they Fear. But not me I am a person who
will fight to the end for Justice & Righteousness
even it has to cost me to the High Court.

9. Fyi, I have been writing to the LTA Chairman, Ceo,
Division Heads concerning some our Taxi related
matters requesting them to arrange for a TV Press
Media Conference for an interview with some of our
taxi representatives pertain to All our Taxi
related matters and to show and proof to us HOW
TRANSPARENT AND HONEST ARE YOU IN ALL THOSE FIELDS
THAT WE TAXIS ARE CONCERN.
They have yet until today to reply me on the above
request which I have made 6 request which they've
turned into a deaf ear.

10 We felt that we taxi drivers has been victimized
and harrassed by LTA whom has been using THREATS
and means of using the Subordinate Courts as their
back benches and support to put into their demand
notices to we taxi drivers if we fail to pay up the
compound fines by the due date.

11. Here I want you to put up this questions in your
this coming Parliament sitting or whichever way and
best methods that you can give we taxi drivers a
helping hand with your Clear Conscience Mind and to
put up the followings to the Parliament on our
behalf.

a. Are Lta Rules & Regulations has these 4 Credentials
that have not only been PASSED but also Approved,
Endorsed & Legislated by our Parliamemt Committees
in order to execute anyone in Court.

b. Those Lta are just merely Rules & Regulations which
I strongly believe that they don't have all the 4
credentials and yet they have been bringing we
motorist drivers to Courts just either because we
have some disagreement or disputes with them that
has force most of us to take this route by
attending to the Court. Can they do that ?

c. Can they prosecute us just like that when they're
just the Governing Body and when these are not
Criminal Laws and which are non criminal cases ?

12. Kum Hong, there are many more things that I wanted
to put up on behalf of our taxi drivers concern
which I will let you know in my later email.

13. Maybe we can meet up for a further meeting anytime
of your convenient time and location somewhere in
town and if possible I don't mind that you can also
arrange for some journalist to come forward for an
interview yet to be fix and arrange by you.

14. I take this opportunity to say THANK YOU KUM HONG
and hope to hear from you again and send to my
email address: scanlink (at) hotmail.com

God Bless.

Brother Sunny Jeremiah Ong
On Behalf of All Taxi Drivers Concern.

Dated 14th April 2009

- SUNNY JEREMIAH ONG .

Comment on "History, Nation, Singapore: Part 3"

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:24:37 +0800

Ideas like Raffles the founder, emphasis on economic history etc--these and others were here long before independent Singapore.

They were already taught way back in the late 1800s when mission schools were teaching Singapore history; our Singapore government merely replaced Straits Settlements history with Singapore history, when dealing with our colonial chapter.

Your sources are postwar. But these historical ideas have been around--check out Sir Song Ong Siang's book--how the educated Chinese in Singapore thought of Singapore's colonial rule, the role of the British.

- Andrew

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:48:41 +0800

The nation's largest banks are so close to collapse and the world economy is coming unglued so rapidly, a major Wall Street meltdown is now imminent.

Specifically, it's now increasingly likely that virtually all of our forecasts of recent months could come to pass in a very short period of time, including ...

* Stock market crash: A swift plunge in stocks to about 5000 on the Dow, 500 on the S&P 500 and 900 on the Nasdaq ... or lower. (For our reasons, see "Stocks to fall AT LEAST another 40%!")

* Corporate bankruptcies: A chain reaction of Chapter 11 filings or federal takeovers, including not only General Motors and Chrysler, but also Ann Taylor, Best Buy, Jet Blue, Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears, Toys "R" Us, U.S. Airways and even giants like Ford or General Electric.

* Megabank failures: Bankruptcies or nationalization not only of Citigroup and Bank of America, but also JPMorgan Chase and HSBC. (See my January issue, "Megabanks Could Fail Despite Federal Aid.")

* Nationwide epidemic of small and medium-sized bank failures: Outright FDIC takeovers, with little prospect of nationalization. (I'll give you a link to our free guide with a more extensive list in a moment.)

* Insurance failures: State takeovers of companies like Ambac Assurance, Bankers Life and Casualty, Conseco, FGIC, Medical Liability Mutual, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance, Nuclear Electric Insurance, PMI Mortgage, Standard Life of Indiana and many others. (Our free guide also contains a more extensive list of insurers.)

* Cities and states: An epidemic of defaults by thousands of cities, states and other issuers of tax-exempt municipal bonds.

* Stock market shutdowns: Trading halts on major, big-cap stocks ... plus on-again, off-again exchange shutdowns, making it increasingly difficult for investors to liquidate their holdings at any price.

* Credit market deep freeze: A virtual shutdown in all debt markets except U.S. Treasuries. An avalanche of selling -- and virtually no buyers -- for corporate bonds, commercial paper, asset-backed securities, municipal bonds and all forms of bank loans.

* Government bond collapse: A steep decline in the price of medium-and long-term government securities, as the U.S. Treasury bids aggressively for scarce funds to finance a ballooning budget deficit.

Shocking? Perhaps. Avoidable? No.

Nor am I alone in anticipating this rapid unraveling of the economy and financial markets. This past Friday, at a Columbia University dinner reported by Reuters ...

* George Soros said the financial system has effectively disintegrated, with the turbulence more severe than during the Great Depression and with the decline comparable to the fall of the Soviet Union, while ...

* Paul Volcker said he could not remember any time, even in the Great Depression, when things went down so fast and quite so uniformly around the world.

Both recognize that we're in a new era of chaos. What's the landmark event that separates us from the past era of relative stability?

According to Soros, it's precisely the same event we forecast in 2007 and the same event we have repeatedly highlighted here in Money and Markets: The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. (See "Dangerously Close to a Money Panic," December 3, 2007 and "Closer to a Financial Meltdown," March 17, 2008.)

That was the final straw that punctured the already imploding bubble. And it was the first major domino that set off the chain reaction of events now careening out of control: The collapse of consumer credit markets ... surging unemployment ... and now, a new set of even larger financial failures looming.

The Raging Debate Right Now Is How To Prevent
A Banking Collapse: To Nationalize Or Not To
Nationalize. But It's A Moot Point.

Based on the analysis we presented here in August 2008 ("The Next Big Failures") ...

Based on the frank recognition of the catastrophe by Soros and Volcker on Friday ...

And based on the trillions in government bailout funds already spent, lent or guaranteed ("The Obama Stimulus: Truth and Consequences") ...

The fact is that the banking collapse has already occurred!

So the relevant question is not "How can we prevent it?" Instead, it's "How can you protect yourself from the inevitable fallout?"

Washington and Wall Street, however, are either too cowered or too confused to give you the answers you need.

They won't tell you which banks are the most likely to fail or which ones are the most likely to survive.

They won't offer you alternative safe havens for your money.

They won't even guide you to publicly available information provided by the U.S. Treasury Department itself.

- Martin D. Weiss

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:12:01 +0800

I just wish to ask a very simple and straight question of the laison officer of the brotherhood.

(a) Why has nothing so far been written by the BP about the mega losses suffered by both Temasek and GIC?

(b) What about the new setting of the strategy for Temasek.

(d) Will I ever get a question for a,b,c? As I didn't seem to have any luck when Darkness was around.

Many tanks

- Xana

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:14:06 +0800

Thanks again for the insightful comments.

singaporedaddy

Right on. The full extent of the damage will be known when Temasek issues its coffee table book annual report. Also, it is very difficult to make it seem that Temasek, with its unabashed affinity to the government, is actually a MNC rather than a SWF. Digressing slightly, from the subprime crisis, an MNC is just as, of not more, dangerous than a SWF in upsetting and taking hostage of economies. But packaging is still important however cosmetic. A product that has better packaging, all things equal, usually sells better. My sense is that a Goodyear Temasek is the fluffy ribbon on top of the wrapper in the Temasek package.

Bernard:

True, I'm no expert but bank M&A does seem taboo now. Perhaps Chip might breath new life into Temasek with a commodity focus although that market had its run already and just might, might, be where to park money into quickly as it is bottoming out, if any analyst can be believed nowadays.

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page67?oid=78218&sn=Detail

- The Void Deck

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:38:15 +0800

TVD,

Nice article. For the current investment climate, the private equity market in the realm of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), IPO or capital will not be an area where Temasek will seek to improve their earnings. The few routes which some investors are moving towards are the resources and commodities market in the emerging markets (the third and fourth tier cities in China, South America and Africa). One industry where an investment can make returns within 1-3 years is the mining industry, where people are prospecting and open up mines. Hence it is not strange why they picked someone like Chip to run Temasek. In any case, a change of strategy is required. Temasek, as a SWF, will be able to hold out on their equity market investments since they have a rather diversified portfolio. They also have stakes in traditional industries in banking and shipping, so one can also view the company as a conglomerate, and this is the best time for them to buy weak and distressed assets.

- Bernard Leong

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:13:33 +0800

SD:

Links, or it didn't happen.

- Han

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:01:15 +0800

"On the topic of perspective, I totally agree with you that many (deliberately) fail to see that it is all about cyclical paper gains and losses, in the grand scheme of long term state interests."

No this is NOT a "no brainer" - that would ONLY remain palpably true; if you subscribed to the belief: there is only ONE way to generate wealth.

I think the central question is NOT how much was lost; but rather was the strategy for wealth creation EVEN sustainable in the first place? Why were all the eggs put in one basket? Were there any risk mitigation strategies? How was risk hedged across the full spectrum of opportunity and cost?

This is a question that the MSM seems to conveniently elide in one masterful stroke by deliberately juxtaposing these losses against comparatives with other SWF's to perforce the idea, there remains ONLY one reliable way of wealth creation.

It would seem if get your news exclusively from the MSM, every firm in on this planet has lost out; that I am afraid is both a misrepresentation of fact and a travesty of rational logic.

Truth remains MANY firms and funds todate; both private and public have not only managed to weather this storm, but they have even emerged stronger from it, as they crafted good strategies and you must ask yourself why did Temasek not do the same?

That is the question. The rest is mere commentary.

- Singaporedaddy

Comment on "Temasek's Rebranding"

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:03:45 +0800

On the topic of perspective, I totally agree with you that many (deliberately) fail to see that it is all about cyclical paper gains and losses, in the grand scheme of long term state interests.

It's quite a no-brainer. Seems that people don't understand (or deliberate fail to understand) that most of Temasek's holdings are in stock?

Look at how much the stock markets have tanked. If Temasek is holding an "market portfolio", the loss in value would have been exactly the same as the losses for the index. If the KTM remembers correctly, the STI has fallen like 40% in the last six months alone. In this light, even a 31% loss may even look good! Hiaz. :-P

- Kway Teow Man