More on StanChart’s latest problem with the US

From NYT Dealbook Standard Chartered Under Investigation

Standard Chartered has been accused of potential wrongdoing by officials at an Indonesian power company in which it is an investor.

The United States Justice Department is looking into the accusations, a person briefed on the matter said. The investigation was related to accusations that officials at the company, MAXpower, had paid bribes to win contracts, according to The Wall Street Journal, which earlier reported the inquiry.

A recording of a conversation with the company’s chief executive, who used to work at Standard Chartered, featured discussions about illicit payments and joking references to soccer balls stuffed with cash, The Journal reports.

The situation is particularly tricky for the bank, which is based in London but does most of its business in Asia, because of the settlement it reached after an investigation into accusations that it had transferred money for countries affected by United States sanctions.

Misconduct could prompt prosecutors to re-evaluate whether to revoke the deferred-prosecution agreement and force the bank to plead guilty.

It’s also a blow to William T. Winters, the chief executive who has been trying to overhaul the bank.

What Trump and our Harry have in common

 

LKY didn’t want anything to be named after him, while Trump wants his name on anything  “big” like Trump Tower (see pix). The Republican foreign policy establishment said nice things about Harry, while they cry at Trump’s comments.

LKY had life-long marriage, Trump is into his third marriage.

You’d think that there would nothing that LKY and the Donald have in common or would agree on. But you’d be wrong.

Children

They have two sons and one daughter, though Trump’s daughter is married and by all accounts is a normal person even though she admires (not worships) her father. His children work for the family business.

Attended elite universities

LKY was a graduate of Cambridge. The Donald graduated from the Wharton Business School.

Super Salesmen

Trump talks about “truthful hyperbole”. Before Harry became lord and master of all he surveyed from his Oxley Road house (built on a hill), he had to persuade the British and the voters to trust him and the PAP.

Recovered from knockdowns

Some of Trump’s businesses went bankrupt and he lost serious money. But he reinvented himself as a reality tv star. Our Harry failed to persuade the Malayan Malay and Chinese elites of a “Malaysian Malaysia” with him in charge.

The result was independence for S’pore, something he had argued was bad for S’pore’s prosperity.

Well he had a good cry on tv, then did his best to ensure that he and S’pore could prosper.

Use or the threat of  litigation 

No need to say much about our Harry’s love of litigation. But did you know Trump also is litigious?

Five years ago, I was part of a discussion panel on the popular Morning Joe talk show in the US when the issue of Donald Trump came up. A rowdy debate erupted and I cheerfully joked that Trump was a great businessman “barring a few bankruptcies” — and blessed with charisma even “with that hairpiece”. A few minutes later, Trump telephoned the show and demanded an on-air apology. Apparently, he was not just upset about the bankruptcy quip (he wanted to clarify that he has never personally gone bankrupt but “only” seen some of his companies go bust); he was also angry about the hair joke.

So, as we sat around the table on the TV set, one of the show’s hosts read a straight-faced legal apology to camera. “He might sue,” a reporter later explained to me, as I squirmed with embarrassment and wondered whether to laugh or cry.

(Gillian Tett in an FT magazine article)

Finally,

Views about Muslims

The most neutral thing that can be said about their views on Muslims is that they seem suspicious of people who happen to be Muslims ie people who profess Islam.

Trump had said Muslims should be barred from the US. He later dropped the idea when it was pointed out that this was unconstitutional. He changed it to ban anyone from a country where terrorism was rampant. He calls for the profiling of Muslims in the US.

LKY’s views on Muslims are on record. But if anyone forgot what they were please read on.

LKY’s views on Muslims as documented

Wikileaks released a cable by the US Embassy in Singapore reporting on the visit of Senator Hillary Clinton to Singapore in Jul 2005. The cable claimed that in my meeting with Senator Clinton, I had “characterized Islam as a ‘venomous religion’”.

This is false. I looked up MFA’s filenote of the meeting. Nowhere does it record me describing Islam as “venomous”, nor did I say anything which could have given that impression.

I did talk about extremist terrorists like the Jemaah Islamiyah group, and the jihadist preachers who brainwashed them. They are implacable in wanting to put down all who do not agree with them. So their Islam is a perverted version, which the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Singapore do not subscribe to.

I also pointed out that our Muslim leaders are rational, and that the ultimate solution to extremist terrorism was to give moderate Muslims the courage to stand up and speak out against radicals who have hijacked Islam to recruit volunteers for their violent ends.

(TOC)

And

Singapore’s presiding genius, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, on the failure of Muslim integration:

In the book, Mr Lee, when asked to assess the progress of multiracialism in Singapore, said: “I have to speak candidly to be of value, but I do not wish to offend the Muslim community.“I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came, and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration – friends, intermarriages and so on, Indians with Chinese, Chinese with Indians – than Muslims. That’s the result of the surge from the Arab states.”He added: ”I would say today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam.”He also said: “I think the Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate.”(Can’t remember the source of this quote)

But to be fair he then

issued a statement last night and said he stands corrected on how well-integrated Malay-Muslims are in Singapore, according to a Straits Times report.

He referred to the comments he made in the new book, Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going.

He said: “Hard Truths was a book based on 32 hours of interviews over a period of two years.

“I made this one comment on the Muslims integrating with other communities probably two or three years ago. Ministers and MPs, both Malay and non-Malay, have since told me that Singapore Malays have indeed made special efforts to integrate with the other communities, especially since 9/11, and that my call is out of date.

“I stand corrected. I hope that this trend will continue in the future.”

Since the book was published, reactions from some Muslim groups were negative. Some said his remarks were unfounded while others called for him to apologise.

But Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that his perspective differed from MM Lee’s, which were the latter’s personal opinions.

During a breakfast session at the Yio Chu Kang Community Club on Jan 30, PM Lee said: “Muslims are a valued and respected community, who have done a good deal to strengthen our harmony and social cohesion.”

PM Lee added that his own views were that of the Government’s.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110308-267055.html

Btw saw this http://singapore.coconuts.co/2015/03/27/outrage-ensues-muslim-community-over-praise-lee-kuan-yew-during-friday-sermons.

 

 

More about Autism

SGDaily has a real life story about an autistic person. I Tot I’d add some more background to autism.

Autism became a trending topic in S’pore’s social media a few years ago because of Amos the Infamous.

At the time I wrote

Reading TRE, one would think that he has already been diagnosed with autism, and that autism is a mental illness. Cybernuts are living in the wrong century, not only the wrong country. The real world has moved on from the 19th century, when autistic people were considered lunatics, and were locked up in lunatic asylums.

He hasn’t been diagnosed with autism yet, despite mother Mary saying he has Asperger*, a “high class” form of autism, and SDP member and former ISD detainee Teo Soh Lung saying she has heard from Amos’s sympathisers that he is autistic.

Autism is not a mental illness like M Ravi’s bi-polarism**.

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Different brain chemistry

Autistic people may have a mental illness but autism, by itself, is not a mental illness. Their brain chemistry is different from that of “normal” people: for example “normal” tranquilisers may not work on them: they may make them more hyper.

And there are times when the chemistry goes berserk resulting in them doing bizarre things like self-harm.

I know all this because I know a couple who has a child with severe autism, She’s in her 30s but the law considers her incapable of being behaving like an adult. But mentally ill, she isn’t.

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While the UK’s Nation Health Service website says says that “autism is not a learning disability or a mental health problem”, it goes on to say that “some people with autism have an accompanying learning disability, learning difficulty or mental health problem”. http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Autism/Pages/Autismoverview.aspx

What is autism?

The NHS website describes autism thus:

Autism is a serious and lifelong developmental disability

…

Autism is a spectrum condition. This means that while all people with autism share certain difficulties, the condition affects each person differently.

…

While some people with autism live independent lives, others may need a lifetime of specialist support. Autism can have a profound and sometimes devastating effect on individuals and families. However, getting the right support makes a substantial difference to the person who is diagnosed and their loved ones.

 

The SGDaily article shows the truth of the above paragraph.

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*Something she, the cybernuts and the ang-moh tua-kees have conveniently forgotten. A leading wannabe-be politican is rumoured to have this form of autism. There is speculation that Abraham Lincoln and Einstein may have had it.

**Cybernuts who claim Amos is being fixed cannot explain why the same doctor that said Amos may be suffering from autism is also M Ravi’s personally chosen doctor treating him for his bi-polar condition https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/psychiatrist-behind-amos-report/.