Bill: Private hospital treatment, public hospital fees

My mum was discharged from atas hospital last Saturday. Nine nights 5-star stay and treatment cost slightly less than $2,500 (excluding Medisave deduction). After Medisave deduction (“our money”), amount I paid via credit card was “peanuts”. (I don’t carry more than $50 cash).

And that’s not all. If there’s a MediShield payout, I will get a refund via my credit card.

All in all, the amount we paid amounted to about 17% of the itemised, detailed bill. And that’s before any MediShield payout.

It was a great deal for her.

What the cybernuts and alt media are missing (Because they all living overseas or have private healthcare plans?) is that for many S’poreans, the public healthcare system (treatment and cost) is good and affordable. There are big, problematic gaps if specialised treatment is needed or if the family is struggling financially. But for the majority of patients, these problems do not arise.

It’s right to highlight and complain about these failings, but that’s different from saying that entire system is not fit for purpose. The condemning by alt media and cybernuts of the entire system based on individual failings only helps the PAP when ordinary people use the system and find out that it works pretty well. They’ll realise that alt media and the cybernuts are propogating fake news. And they’ll vote for the PAP.

Related posts:

Private hospital treatment, public hospital fees

No surplus B2 and C beds in govt hospitals

Will Gleneagles sandwich cost me a fortune?

HDB not allowing WP GRC to turn into slum

From the constructive, nation-building ST (emphasis mine):

The HDB announced the Lift Enhancement Programme in 2016 to support town councils in equipping lifts with recommended components by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

The Government later said that the 10-year initiative, costing an estimated $450 million, will benefit more than 80 per cent or about 20,000 of the 24,000 lifts in HDB estates.

The programme is substantially funded by the HDB and extended to lifts which have not fulfilled all of the BCA’s recommendations and operated for less than 18 years from the start of the LEP.

…

Around 1,500 lifts managed by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council will undergo the same Lift Enhancement Programme in the next 10 years, with the first batch of 180 lifts slated for upgrading in the next 15 months, a spokesman said in response to media queries.

AHTC is also adopting BCA’s list of eight recommended safety features, he said.

Dr Chee, SDP 😱Don’t know whether to 😰 or 🤣

Walk the Talk, Mad Dog

Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan called on his supporters to leave behind the politics of old, which were based on “personal hatred, vindictiveness and destruction”.

Constructive, nation building media

So what about apologising to Mr Chiam for fixing him in 1993, for trying to steam roll him into rejoining the SDP in 2011, and for sliming him in 2016?

I’ll let Ravi Philemon (an honest, good man who just now happens to be working for Chiam’s foundation and is a member of the Chiams’ Party) tell the story of how Mad Dog has tried to rewrite history: http://theindependent.sg/chee-insincere-about-reconciliation-with-chiam/.

Read the piece and learn the truth about what happened in 1993 and why Ravi thinks he’s not changed the way he tries to manipulate people and the facts.

(My take: Dr Chee fixed Chiam in the 1990s)

I had a great laugh when I read

… Dr Chee also writes about his desire to reconcile with SDP founder Chiam See Tong – now secretary-general of the Singapore People’s Party – after a fall-out in 1996, revealing that he had tried to do so “in recent times”.

Constructive, nation building media

Do read http://theindependent.sg/chee-insincere-about-reconciliation-with-chiam/ and  Dr Chee fixed Chiam in the 1990s , and decide if  Mad Dog is lying thru his teeth, as usual.

I’m really disappointed in Mad Dog. I had tot he had changed for the better:

— Chee: Mad Dog morphs into Loong

— Salute these Oppo warriors

Still he got one thing right. Dr Chee in his 1990s articulated a vision of S’pore today that is closer to the reality than that of the PAP or mine (and I was a lot more pessimistic than the PAP): Tharman joking again? Or trying to BS us?

SDP got gd policies

It’s so sad and a waste because the SDP has good ideas on how to spend more of our own money on ourselves:

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/pap-listening-to-sdp/

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/back-to-the-future-lky-dr-chee-the-sdp-agree-on/

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/sdp-right-about-psle-streaming-what-works-in-education/

Too bad that it’s led by Mad Dog Chee. He should retire: he’s beaten LKY’s record of being a party leader: Only LKY beats Chee’s record/ Be optimistic Young Democrats

M’sian voters repenting?

But first: M’sians become so poor meh?

Two elderly women in Malaysia have died in a crush caused by a crowd jostling to get free food coupons.

Only 200 coupons were available but more than 1,000 people showed up at an indoor market in the Pudu district in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Monday.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47037657

Btw, they both Chinese.

FT reports voters are repenting (OK, OK, sort of)

Malaysia: Our Malaysian political sentiment index plummeted almost nine points, bringing the cumulative drop since Mahathir Mohamad’s surprise election victory last year to more than 27 points. Mr Mahathir’s government has struggled to deliver on the sweeping reforms promised, while consumers are becoming increasingly aware of infighting within the cabinet. That said, our index remains above the 50-point mark separating improvement from deterioration, in contrast to the deteriorating sentiment recorded throughout the previous government under Najib Razak.

Vote wisely.

Fixing Sabo King minister

I refer to my Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP (about the discrepancy between falling HDB resale prices, while private property prices keep inching up in an election yr) where I alsomumbled about how the PAP can make the ground sweeter.

This blog is a fan of of Lawrence Wong: Lawrence Wong: a PM-in-waiting.

But if the PM wants to make sure of a strong mandate for 4G leaders (Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote), in addition to promising not to increase GST by two points (How PAP can win 65% plus of the vote), he should publicly sack Lawrence Wong just before campaigning for next GE begins. This should give HDB resale flat owners peace of mind: Sers will cover all expiring leases.

I’ll let the constructive, nation-building media explain why:

In March 2017, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong cautioned home buyers not to assume that all old HDB flats would automatically be eligible for the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers).

“From what we hear from agents on the ground, in the past, when people buy older flats in a mature estate, the balance lease was not a top-of-the-mind concern,” said Ms Sun.

“But now, it seems like in almost every other deal, that would be the key question asked.”

Owners of old flats concerned about depreciation also tried to sell their apartments, leading to an increase in the supply of resale flats.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/hdb-resale-numbers-highest-2012-while-sales-private-homes-dive

No need yet

to promise big lease buyback amounts for old flats lorr. And allow more of the compensation to be withdrawable in cash apart from putting into CPF Life.

This would mean loosening the connection between LBS valuation and the ever-dropping actual market transactions.

Fat cat MD

Btw, cybernuts should realise that not coming from an elite school is no sign of competency: Lawrence Wong went to a neighbourhood school and then VJC, not even Hwa Chong or ACS.

 

 

Great decoration and drink for Chinese New Year

Have this on display and offer the drink to yr guests. Good conversation point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blueberry and Pomegranate bottles also make nice CNY decorations. Not seen the diet, Raspberry or lemon products in Cold Storage.

Tea is pretty sweet. My fav is the Blueberry White Tea.

Bottles on sale here are plastic, not glass.

An American product.

Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP

HDB resale prices go down, while private property prices go up.

Confirming flash estimates issued earlier this month*, the URA’s statistics showed that private home prices here soared 7.9 per cent last year as compared with an 1.1 per cent increase in 2017.

However, resale prices of HDB flats continued to dip, falling by 0.9 per cent last year, which was slightly lower than the 1.5 per cent decrease from 2017.

WHY THIS HAPPENED

Property experts pointed out that the disparity in price trends for HDB resale flats and private homes last year was an anomaly as prices for both tend to rise and fall in tandem.

They attributed this to collective sales fever heating up in late 2016 after the Government reduced supply in its biannual sales programme and land-hungry developers turned to en bloc projects to meet land demand.

Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at real estate firm OrangeTee & Tie, said that while en bloc fever typically triggers an upturn in the property market as a whole, the HDB market was not impacted “very much” last year largely due to increased awareness of the depreciating value of ageing HDB flats.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/hdb-resale-numbers-highest-2012-while-sales-private-homes-dive

So how to get strong mandate for 4G leaders (Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote)? Tell you tom.

——————————————————————

*Will resale flat owners still vote for PAP in next GE? contd

 

 

Why PAP is afraid of social media

They are scared that social media can quickly convince PAP voters that any Hard Truth (Example: “HDB flats are an appreciating asset” or “SAF cares for S’poreans who serve”) is BS.

Social change has sped up and social media is one of the main reasons why.

Some habit or behaviour is widely accepted. Then evidence emerges of the costs. Victims speak out, and organise a lobby to campaign for change. They get the ear, and heart, of those in power. Eventually public opinion shifts – and so legislators, and the law, follow.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46483557

Changi Airport: an int’l first

Changi Airport will be the world’s largest and most complex airport to adopt a next-generation control tower set-up:

Gone is the traditional wall of glass affording a 360-degree view of runways, taxiways and gleaming jets. In its place is a panoramic digital screen that the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore says provides a similar perspective. And the staff can see far more than they would with their own eyes. Advanced camera and video-stitching technologies allow tracking, panning, tilting and zooming in on a particular plane or area.

Nikkei Asian Review

More

For months, air traffic controllers and engineers have been holed up in a windowless room at Singapore’s Changi Airport. This is a prototype of the control “tower” of the future.

[…]

The team continues to test the system, which processes a range of digital data to promote efficient air traffic management. If all goes well, Changi will be the world’s largest and most complex airport to adopt this next-generation control tower set-up. The aviation authority is also turning to artificial intelligence to help the airport run smoothly.

PAP govt does S’pore proud

Alt media and the anti-PAP types on social media have nothing good to say about the PAP govt that 70% of voters voted for in the last GE. (Btw, I have never ever voted for the PAP, but that’s another story.)

So how will they spin this?

A group of 70 plus nations led by Australia, Japan and Singapore are releasing a joint statement on Friday, announcing their intention to restart the World Trade Organization’s talks around ecommerce rules and cross-border data flows.

FT

The US, China and the EU have signed the joint statement. China at the last minute.

The cybernuts will pretend that this has not happened. After all in Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media, TOC ignored what the regulators did in the 1MDB case and asked why they didn’t act.

Working with Australia and Japan to lead a global initiative involving 70+ countries is something that should make us S’poreans proud of our govt.

Only in America: Masters’ thesis is K-POP band

And it’s in an Ivy League uni.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46381997

No surplus B2 and C beds in govt hospitals

When Secret Squirrel visited my mum in hospital, he told me that we were really lucky that my mum had breathing problems during office hrs and that since there was a longish queue for B2 and C beds in the nearest govt hospital, the ambulance took her to an atas hospital: Private hospital treatment, public hospital fees.

He said the govt hospitals do not have spare C and B2 beds: they are juggling fluctuating demand with existing capacity. There are always patients going to be discharged and beds waiting to be made ready for new patients, and so while the supply and demand match over 24 hrs or as usual less, there’s always a waiting period for a bed: sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.

He told me that last weekend, a walk-in patient at the NUH A&E had to wait 10 hrs before getting a bed in a ward. Luckily, for him (Election yr?), there are now fully equipped rooms in govt hospital A&E departments that are effectively wards: transit wards. This helps give peace of mind to patients and their families, and avoids the bad PR of patients on stretchers in A&E corridors.

(Though I’m sure Alex Tan and other irresponsible anti-PAP people in alt media or social media will publish photos of patients on stretchers A&E corridors, saying that this is happening now. Doubtless Uncle Leong and friends will share such photos. And so there’ll be plenty to keep AG’s lawyers and ministers’ private lawyers busy.)

Contrary to what the cybernuts say, the PAP cares: at least to do enough to win 65% of the votes. The reason why: Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote.

Vote wisely.

There are many things to be unhappy about the PAP govt

— no balls to sink M’sian ships

— MRT still screwed up

— Pay And Pay policies on water and GST

— SAF training deaths

— arrogance etc etc.

And there are good oppo people out there like Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Dr Paul and other SDP activists, the Chiams, and the Wankers.

But there are the likes of Mad Dog, Goh Meng Seng and Lim Tean.

Soon I’ll blog on how AMK voters voted wisely in 2006 (PM only had 66% of the popular vote) and got extra goodies by the next GE. In 2011, voters were happy, and PM was happy with the result (70% of the popular vote, in an otherwise bad yr for the PAP: only 60% of the popular vote).

 

 

 

“The appeal of Singapore is zero tax”

The above is the headline of a side article from the FT on Dyson’s move to shift its HQ here, though the main reason for the move seems to be to

liberate the business from UK disclosure rules for privately-owned companies, which Sir James has previously criticised as giving too much away to foreign competitors.

Main FT article

The text of “The appeal of Singapore is zero tax” reads

One of Singapore’s strongest appeals for foreign companies is the potential to lower their tax rate to zero per cent.

The headline rate of corporate tax is 17 per cent, a level that the UK will match from 2020, down from 19 per cent at present.

However, a combination of incentive schemes, which include an international headquarters award, can bring the country’s rate down to nothing.

“It is very very rare, but it has happened in the past,” said Chris Woo, tax leader at PwC Singapore.

Another corporate tax expert said it was “not impossible” for Dyson to snatch the 0 per cent corporate tax rate given it produces high-end goods that would transfer technology to Singapore; it will probably increase capital expenditure and high-skilled headcount; and it would boost R&D activity in the country — all of which is of interest to Singapore.

Dyson on Tuesday said it would expand its Singapore Technology Centre and that “an increasing proportion” of Dyson’s executive team will be based in the south-east Asian nation given a growing majority of the company’s customers and manufacturing operations are based in Asia.

In addition, the Singapore Economic Development Board offers companies tax exemptions or concessionary tax rates of 5 or 10 per cent for up to five years, with the possibility of extension.

To qualify, companies must boost employment, generate investment that spills over to the local economy and commit to developing technology, knowhow and skills in the city state, according to the EDB.

“The EDB must have pulled out all the stops to convince Dyson to relocate its headquarters,” said Eugene Tan, law professor at Singapore Management University.

Kiren Kumar, assistant managing director at the EDB, said: “Singapore and Dyson have enjoyed a strong partnership for more than ten years.

“Dyson has grown from a small team developing motors to 1,100 employees undertaking a variety of functions including supply chain management, advanced manufacturing and R&D”.

Stefania Palma

Related posts: What ST & CNA not saying abt Dyson’s move of HQ to S’pore and Ang moh manufacturer employs more people here than in China and planning to employ a lot more.

 

What ST & CNA not saying abt Dyson’s move of HQ to S’pore

There’s a lot of news in the constructive, nation-building CNA and ST about Dyson moving its HQ here from Malmesbury in Wiltshire.

Big catch for S’pore?

Only two employees, Dyson’s chief financial officer and its chief legal officer, will move to Singapore, according to the FT and the BBC. Not that S’pore is not important to Dyson and vice versa.

Dyson has facilities (R&D and manufacturing) here and in October announced plans to build its new electric car in its new factory there: Ang moh manufacturer employs more people here than in China and planning to employ a lot more.

Dyson Ltd is a British technology company that designs and manufactures household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, hand dryers, bladeless fans, heaters and hair dryers. Most of its products are designed in the UK, but manufactured in Asia.

Vote wisely.

Don’t be taken in by BS and fake news both from the constructive, nation-building, “PAP knows best” MSM, and Terry’s Indian Goons, the Indians Idiots and other anti-PAP alt media publications.

The truth is out there, and is usually easily found by splitting the difference.

 

 

 

 

LBS: Perspective of 75-yr old retired technician

In alt media and social media, the HDB buy-back scheme is dissed by people like Terry’s Indian goons and their fellow cybernuts.

Here’s the perspective of a 75-yr old singleton who was a PUB technician and who has a resale HDB three-room flat. He recently opted to lease back his flat to the HDB.

— He doesn’t have to move.

— He gets $20,000 in cash when the formalities of the lease-back are completed.

— Until he dies, he’ll get about $1,000 a month. Looks like the HDB buys him an annuity for life.

(Will try to explore this aspect further after Chinese New Year (Mum’s still “under observation” in atas hospital ward*) to see, if on the available info, the premium paid is reasonable. Actuarially it will be prudent, but is it reasonable? And not kia su like the CPF Life assumptions: Will PM, tonite, give peace of mind on CPF Life Standard?))

— In 20 yrs time, when the lease expires, he has the assurance that he’ll be found somewhere to live until he dies.

— He says if he dies in the next 20 yrs, his nominee will get something. More if he dies earlier, very little if he dies later.

He’s happy.

And he’ll vote PAP. One reason is to make sure that in 20-yrs time he’ll be found a place to live. He knows he can’t trust the likes of Mad Dog, Goh Meng Seng and Lim Tean, even though he knows that there are good oppo people out there like Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Dr Paul and other SDP activists, and the Wankers.

---

*Private hospital treatment, public hospital fees

 

 

 

HO Ho Ho: What Temasek forgot when it bot into StanChart

There’s an FT report that Temasek is putting pressure on StanChart to shape up. It’s tired of being reminded that under the current CEO, the share price has fallen 40%. Worse, share price is roughly at half of Temasek’s entry point 13 years ago.

 

Temasek forgot when it bot into  StanChart that StanChart did not and still does not have have a major, thriving, prosperous market that it dominates.

Although it’s smaller than the supertanker of HSBC, it doesn’t have the engine of Hong Kong that HSBC does, so it’s taking every bit as long, if not longer, to reform. But we’re still very supportive.

(Hugh Young, head of Asia Pacific at Aberdeen Standard Investments, which holds a stake of about 5 per cent in the bank talking to the FT)

It also does not a client like the Lis.

The story of how two Chinese gentlemen made Hongkong Bank great is told in HSBC, Superman and another Cina superhero.

 

CPF Life starts at 70: Alt media way behind the curve

So alt media has only realised that CPF Life payments begin at 70, unless one opts in to start at 65.

In June last yr (Trumpets for me please), I highlighted what they are now only KPKBing about now. My piece then

CPF Life: How withdrawal age “moved” to 70/ Silence of the activists

I was going to explain how the dastardly deed was done but when TRE republished

Red alert! Achtung! S’poreans approaching 65, a TRE reader gave the answer, saving me the need to explain.

Lye Khuen Way:

June 11, 2018 at 7:50 am  (Quote)

The CPF Board do send out letters to those approaching their cohort drawdown age.
For those borned in 1953, it’s their 64th Birthdays.

There after, I believe it is 65.

The sly way they put it, is to suggest that you could delay your drawdown and receive more per month.

That applies to both Minimum Sum Scheme or those who opted for CPF Life.

Those who instinctively do not want any delay might just chuck the letter and the forms aside.

That’s where the devils come in.
Tuck away in the middle of the FORM, is a line that tell you that if you didn’t indicate that you want to start your drawdown from age 64,or 65,the DEFAULT AGE is 70.

Yes, Age 70.

I happen to opt for the CPF Life and somehow my enhanced topup application had already stated I wanted my draw down to start from age 64.

If unsure, call, write or better still go down personally to any of the CPF offices. Note that the Main CPF Board office is closed on Saturdays.

(Emphasis)

In places like the UK, or US of A or Europe, this kind of action

Tuck away in the middle of the FORM, is a line that tell you that if you didn’t indicate that you want to start your drawdown from age 64,or 65,the DEFAULT AGE is 70.

is not acceptable. It’s not Christian, kosher or halal. It’s politically toxic, playing games this way.

Civil rights activists would be KPKBing and rightly so.

Here it’s par for the course.

Worse our ang moh tua kees don’t care. They don’t have to rely on CPF Life payouts. People like Kirsten Han got pa’s and ma’s money just like Harry’s children.

And juz as bad is the silence of the Oppo politicians. Nothing from the Wankers’ Party or from Goh Meng Seng (Silence of Goh Meng Seng) or Lim Tean (Where’s yr defamation video and jobs rally Lim Tean?) the two talk, sing song artistes.

All so rich. It’s a fact that Lim Tean rents a black and white bungalow costing $15,000 a month.

---

Last yr, I also predicted: Akan Datang: Why CPF Life payments will begin at 85

Related: More on 85 being the new CPF Life payout date

Even star TOC columnist thinks the PAP way

What’s the assumption behind this for Ghui, star columnist for TOC?

it is important to note that Heng will have a sharp learning curve. Unlike PM Lee and former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Heng has not spent years waiting in the wings. He only entered politics in 2011 and was made a minister immediately after his win at the general elections in 2011. With only 7 years or so under his belt and without the benefit of having spent years as a member of parliament (MP), does Heng have all the experience necessary to lead the country?

That’s right, she, like the PAP, believes that S’pore must have experienced leaders and political succession must be planned and managed. She seems to like the Chinese way, juz the the PAP.

---

“Why CCP’s fears are PAP’s fears”

Keeping power in a one-party state

———————————————————————————–

Bit strange this because going by her other articles, she’s a progressive (not an ang moh tua kee) that believes that S’pore should be a liberal democracy.

Well in the Western liberal democracies, it isn’t a given that the government is always led by experienced, tested leaders.

Look at the US: Obama and then Trump became presidents with no prior experience in government. Along the way, they beat people with plenty of experience of govt (think Hilary Clinton).

And there’s France’s Macron.

And the UK’s PM is a great example of an experienced minister proving to be a useless leader.

As to succession being planned and managed, the whole purpose of meaningful elections in a liberal democracy, is that the Opposition, can become the govt. Managed change? What managed change? Two of the most successful govts in the UK this century came only after long periods in opposition (Labour 1997-2010 and Conservative/ Lib Dem 2010- 2015). There were practically no ministers who had previous ministerial experience.

My point is that the PAP has been in power so long that their Hard Truths are accepted uncritically by their critics or opponents, even those, who like Ghui, think. The anti-PAP cybernuts like the alcohol drinking, pork-eating, religious “bapak” from TREland or Terry’s Indian goons are even bigger believers in Hard Truths. They only want to their snouts, not the PAP ministers in the troughs.

S’pore’s digital twin

“A digital twin is a virtual representation of physical buildings and assets but connected to all the data and information around those assets, so that machine learning and AI algorithms can be applied to them to help them operate more efficiently,” explains Michael Jansen, chief executive of Cityzenith, the firm behind the Smart World Pro simulation platform.

Take Singapore as an example.

This island state, sitting at the foot of the Malaysian peninsula with a population of six million people, has developed a virtual digital twin of the entire city using software developed by French firm Dassault Systemes.

“Virtual Singapore is a 3D digital twin of Singapore built on topographical as well as real-time, dynamic data,” explains George Loh, progammes director for the city’s National Research Foundation (NRF), a department within the prime minister’s office.

“It will be the country’s authoritative platform that can be used by urban planners to simulate the testing of innovative solutions in a virtual environment.”

In addition to the usual map and terrain data, the platform incorporates real-time traffic, demographic and climate information, says Mr Loh, giving planners the ability to engage in “virtual experimentation”.

“For example, we can plan barrier-free routes for disabled and elderly people,” he says.

Bernard Charles, Dassault Systemes’ chief executive, says the addition of real-time data from multiple sources facilitates joined-up, holistic thinking.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46880468

Go to the BBC link to see the images.

Did TOC report this?

Or did other alt media outlets? I don’t recall them telling us

[PM] said in a speech in August that many Singaporeans still feel their incomes aren’t sufficient to cope with higher costs, even though the economy is doing well, unemployment is relatively low and wages have increased. The government is planning to spend more on areas including health care and housing to ensure they remain affordable, he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-18/singapore-politician-who-wanted-to-be-president-to-challenge-lee?fbclid=IwAR2RTLWA_UAuQG_9SI5YJe570N0Mn8Pb-3a-syaeqaxjMTzElv9SSyt7InE

Do read the Bloomberg story as it is an antidote to both the reporting (or non -reporting) and analysis of the constructive, nation-building media, and alt media on Tan Cheng Bock’s plans.

Private hospital treatment, public hospital fees

In Will Gleneagles sandwich cost me a fortune?, I talked of my experience of going to Gleneagles for an eye op at SingHealth rates

Yesterday in the early afternoon, my ninety-something mother finally felt the results consequences of refusing for weeks to get her cold treated (She only very reluctantly agreed to go see a doctor before Christmas to treat her very persistent cold and cough and then got upset with the bill: “Subsidy? What subsidy” — she expected polyclinic rates) and of generally behaving like she was 50-something.

She suddenly had difficulty breathing and when the doctor saw her, she called for a ambulance, saying I should I have called from the ambulance from home.

Anyway, the ambulance came and took her to the nearest public hospital. Except It is no such thing.

It is a real atas place: marble and glass everywhere. When my mum recovered sufficiently, and heard from the nurse where she was and that she needed to be warded for observation, she asked me to get her into a “govt” hospital. I said I wasn’t going to move her, even if the doctors allowed it. The nurse told her “Pay public hospital rates Auntie”.

And it’s a great deal. Her ward is airconed and there are only three patients in a ward for eight. Only one ward was full. The rest, empty or half empty. A whole floor is available for patients like my mum.

And no I’m not naming the atas hospital lest I breach the Official Secrets Act and my mum loses her privileges if I name the hospital. My aunt’s doctor friend doesn’t know of this scheme. And I can’t find online the fact that this hospital is a “public hospital”  when it comes to ambulances operated by the govt.

Seriously, don’t believe Terry’s Indian goons and other alt media enemies of the PAP govt, and social media on why the S’pore public healthcare always sucks.

It works pretty well. Maybe Terry’s Indian goons etc are being paid to slime our public healthcare system by the enemy state that hacked our public health system?

What do u think?

M’sian minister talking thru his ass

Momentum of Malaysia’s relationship with Singapore ‘very positive’: Economic Minister Azmin Ali

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/malaysia-singapore-maritime-airspace-dispute-azmin-ali-11129654

Relations are going downhill and fast.

Update at 11.40:

Btw this is the guy Tun is using to try to ensure Anwar doesn’t succeed him as PM.But Anwar knows this, and has warned him: “A return of the Mahathir-Anwar leadership?” Really?.

More soon on how S’pore can make Tun cry “Tolong uncle”.

Spending too much time in TRELand is bad for one’s mental health

Here’s adding to More evidence that being anti-PAP is bad for yr mental health. When TRE reproduced something I wrote

“opposition dude” came out with this

Come come now Cynical, surely you haven’t forgotten 2011 when history was made? When a GRC was finally lost and with it 2 good for nothing ministers ended their political careers?

True, the PAP is still large and in charge but let us wait until the next election is over before seeing how well PAP has done shall we? No one dares say that PAP will get 70% or more of the vote because we all know it was the foolish gratitude voters that ended up giving PAP that percentage. Luck doesn’t run forever you know.

But the most important reason is still due to the majority being kiasee. Nothing more, nothing less. Lee Kayu’s death came at the right time when his party were in the midst of trying to sort out the unreliable train system so they basically got a free out of jail card.

Let us all see how many of PAP get kicked out of parliament in the next GE before we analyse things ok?

Well 2019 is not shaping out to be like 2011. For starters, S’poreans have had decent pay rises over the last few yrs.

And goodies have been promised.

Even Pritam Singh is worried that WP could be reduced to one seat.

 

 

 

TOC’s “Correspondent” shows that PAP govt really cares for S’poreans

In a story headlined

HDB extends LBS to 5-room and larger units as resale value of old flats continues to slide

TOC’s “Correspondent” inadvertently (He very anti-PAP and his mental health shows it: More evidence that being anti-PAP is bad for yr mental health) shows that PAP cares for those flat owners who have 5-roomers who don’t want to move if they need to downsize by extending the buy-back to five room flats.

In the media report, it quoted part-time security guard Tang Lum Sui, 68, a widower who lives alone in his Jalan Bahagia 5-room flat is all for the extended LBS.

“I don’t want to move out of Toa Payoh because I have lived here all my life, and I like that my son’s family (living in Qatar) can stay with me whenever they come back to Singapore,” he said. Mr Tang, whose flat has 67 years left on the lease, added, “As long as the terms are favourable, I will go for it.”

TOC’s writer (He is not one of the two Indian subversives propagating fake news: Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media) then goes further, implying that the leaseback could help if prices fall.

However, Mr Tang should be aware that the value of his 5-room flat is no longer as high as before.

But if he can use the buy-back scheme, why should he worry about falling prices? And even if prices fall so what? All depends on his entry price. As he’s 68, his entry price will be pretty low, assuming he BToed it.

Vote wisely.

 

 

 

 

Where software more efficient and moral than humans

Vanishing mass ranks

Concerns about malfunctioning autonomous military systems reminded me of this (probably apocryphal) story from several decades ago (Special report on the future of war, January 25th). I think it was America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or its British equivalent, that apparently tested software to find the optimum strategy for the commander of a naval escort shepherding a convoy through waters patrolled by enemy submarines.

When they simulated actual convoys from the second world war they found that the software achieved fewer losses and faster travel times than had actually happened. When they examined the results they realised that in each case the software had dispatched a destroyer to sink the slowest merchant ship, the vessel that had held the convoy back. The logic was faultless, potentially saving more ships and their crews, but is not something that most human commanders would contemplate.

TONY BUDD
Wickford, Essex

Letters to the Economist: Editor’s 2018

How PAP can win 65% plus of the vote

Further to Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote ,if the PAP really really wants to get more 65% or more of the popular vote, it should find an excuse to kick the promised 2 points increase in GST into the long grass. It should say “Thanks to PM’s wife and her team in Temasek, and the team in GIC, we got lots of money. So no need to increase GST until after 2025.

After all over the last 10 years, Singapore’s net investment returns (NIR) contribution (NIRC) to the Budget has more than doubled from S$7 billion in FY2009 to an estimated S$15.9 billion in FY2018.

NIRC consists of 50 per cent of the Net Investment Returns (NIR) on the net assets invested by GIC, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Temasek Holdings and 50 per cent of the Net Investment Income (NII) derived from past reserves from the remaining assets.

In other words, we spend 50 per cent of the estimated gains from investment, and put the remaining 50 per cent back into the reserves to preserve its growth for future use.

Associate Professor Randolph Tan is Director of the Centre for Applied Research at the Singapore University of Social Services, and a Nominated Member of Parliament.

Under PAP rule will S’pore become like UK or Venezuela?

Making this announcement has the added advantage that after making it, it can close TOC down, persecute prosecute more people for criminal defamation or illegal assembly, and 50-60% of S’poreans won’t get worked up about these “repressive” acts. They’ll think it’s a fair trade.

Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote

In 2006, in Lee Jnr’s first GE as PM , the PAP won 66.6% of the popular vote (Btw, in Goh Cock Chok Tong first GE as PM in1991, PAP only got 61%).

In GE 2011, the 60.1% share of the popular vote was a black eye for PM and the PAP and the PAP had to pull all the stops to get up to 69.9%.

So will be trying very hard not to get the 60-61% kind of result in the next GE because it wants a smooth transition to the 4G leaders: at 60-61% the message is that the voters don’t trust the 4G leaders

Nikkei Asian Review puts it this way:

If Mr Lee … can secure a smooth leadership transition, it would go a long way toward convincing voters that the party is capable of navigating an increasingly turbulent global environment.*

I’d put it this way: In the context of a 60- 61% share of the popular vote being mud in the eye for the PAP, anything less than 65% will be seen as less than a smooth transition by the PAP and the voters.

Hence the crackdown on some CB mouths and the other usual suspects, and the goodies we’ll be getting. CB is short form for an extremely vulgar Hokkien term that describes aptly people like Uncle Leong, the two Indians in TOC, and Oxygen who danced on the graves of children who died (TRE grave dancer doesn’t deny grave dancing), Bapak and the other cybernuts like Lim Tean and Goh Meng Seng.

————————————-

*The full piece

An early election in Singapore?

Singapore must hold its next general election by April 2021, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has hinted that it could come two years early.

Mr Lee seems to be weighing his timing carefully. The trade-reliant economy will probably see a slowdown in the next 12 months, according to a survey of economists by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. All 23 respondents cited intensifying trade friction as a risk to growth. Public discontent over this, as well as planned tax rises and the income gap, could provide ammunition for opposition parties.

The ruling People’s Action Party revamped its executive team in late November. This included Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat being named first assistant secretary-general, a move seen as a key step for him to succeed Mr Lee as prime minister.

If Mr Lee — the son of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew — can secure a smooth leadership transition, it would go a long way toward convincing voters that the party is capable of navigating an increasingly turbulent global environment.

Kentaro Iwamoto, Nikkei staff writer

HoHoHo: Ho’s rogue bank woes (Cont’d)

GST sure to go up leh. Jialat for PAP govt and us.

Ex-Standard Chartered banker prepares to plead guilty in Iran case
Emerging markets lender under investigation for alleged sanctions breaches

FT headline

Goes on

Although no formal charges have been brought, an internal Standard Chartered investigation found at least one of the bankers under scrutiny was receiving secret kickback payments, one of the people said.

If the ex-employee does plead guilty, it would be one of the few instances of an individual banker being successfully prosecuted in the US over sanctions abuses.

Depending on what the former employee says in any plea deal, an admission of guilt could put Standard Chartered in a weaker position in its negotiations with regulators and enforcement officials, who are seeking to impose fines of as much as $1.5bn on the bank, the people said.

So why GST sure to go up?

The potential fine could complicate the bank’s plan to return capital to investors for the first time in a generation, details of which the bank would like announce alongside its strategy update and full-year results at the end of February, according to people briefed on the proposal.

Ho Ho Ho.

Fyi, over the last 10 years, Singapore’s net investment returns (NIR) contribution (NIRC) to the Budget has more than doubled from S$7 billion in FY2009 to an estimated S$15.9 billion in FY2018.

NIRC consists of 50 per cent of the Net Investment Returns (NIR) on the net assets invested by GIC, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Temasek Holdings and 50 per cent of the Net Investment Income (NII) derived from past reserves from the remaining assets.

In other words, we spend 50 per cent of the estimated gains from investment, and put the remaining 50 per cent back into the reserves to preserve its growth for future use.

Associate Professor Randolph Tan is Director of the Centre for Applied Research at the Singapore University of Social Services, and a Nominated Member of Parliament.

Under PAP rule will S’pore become like UK or Venezuela?

——————————————————————————-

Repression? What repression? (Cont’d)

Further to Repression? What repression?/ Alt media cannot be trusted, we had our National Conversation after the PAP got only 60% of the popular vote.

---

From Wikipedia

Our Singapore Conversation is a national conversation initiative first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his 2012 National Day Message.

Heng Swee Keat, then Minister for Education of Singapore, was appointed to lead the committee that will participate in the conversations with Singaporeans to create “a home with hope and heart”.^[1]

The committee held the first of an estimated 30 dialogue sessions with Singaporeans on 13 October 2012, involving “about 60 people from all walks of life, including taxi drivers, professionals, full-time national servicemen, university undergraduates and retirees.” ^[2]

————————————————————————————————–

France is about to start its National Conversation after weeks of protests, some violent. There were deaths and central Paris boutique shops were set on fire.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said a national debate is due to kick off on 15 January in response to weeks of protests by the “gilets jaunes” – so-called because of the high-visibility jackets they wear.

It will be held publicly in town halls across France and on the internet, and will focus on four themes: taxes, green energy, institutional reform and citizenship.

BBC report

Sure as I’ve often said S’pore is a de facto one-party state (China is a de jure one party state), but this doesn’t mean that in a one-party state repression is a given.

Mkt can go either way this yr

The market appears to have reached a stage that entails staying defensive until a more difficult investment call is required. Should the current equity market correction deepen (talking before the recent rally), then the question is as follows:  “At that point, investors will need to decide whether the bear market has begun, or whether they have just been presented with one last great risk-on buying opportunity.”

So says Jim Paulsen of the Leuthold Group whicjh provides original analysis for the institutional marketplace the market talking of the US equity mkt.

Well I think notwithstanding the bounce, he’s right about defensive for now.

When Chinese go to the moon, what do they do?

They take selfies.

A Chinese rover and lander have taken images of each other on the far side of the Moon’s surface, the BBC reported.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46836047

More on why PAP IB and anti-PAP opponents have the same genes

Further to Qiou S’poreans,

here’s more on why Jason Chua and other IB PAPpies and TOC’s bunch of Indians (actually only two) and other TOC cybernuts, and all other anti-PAP cybernuts are all related.

They don’t know how to use humour to sow doubts about and discredit the enemy.

Humour and ridicule were a key part of Moscow’s response when the UK said it was “highly likely” that Russia was behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury.

Russian officials and media figures have since tried to turn the English phrase “highly likely” into a mocking catchphrase that implies Russia is being blamed for everything with the flimsiest of evidence.

[ …]

Roman Dobrokhotov, whose investigative website The Insider was involved in exposing one of the two poisoning suspects, Anatoliy Chepiga, says such mockery is a form of trolling designed to “deliberately lower the level of discussion”.

They can learn from the Russians:

How the strategy works

“They cannot respond in a serious fashion and to the point, so they start to play-act. This is an attempt to mock, to reduce everything to nothing,” Mr Dobrokhotov told the BBC

Along with conspiracy theories and misleading narratives, he argues, this kind of tactic aims to sow doubt.

The result is that many will watch TV and decide there is no way of really getting to the bottom of what happened. In other words, he says: “no-one is a saint, truth does not exist”.

Internet audiences are also a key target for this technique.

One social media hashtag – #IamFromGRUToo (#ЯтожеИзГРУ in Russian) – appeared to be inspired by the #MeToo movement. Pro-Kremlin Twitter-users mocked UK allegations against Russia’s GRU (now GU) military intelligence agency.

One spoof job advert joked that the GRU was “looking for employees for its cyber-attack department, chemical weapons department and election-meddling unit. There is no need to apply – we will find you ourselves”.

Ben Nimmo, an Atlantic Council researcher on Russian disinformation, told the BBC that attempts to create funny memes were part of the strategy as “disinformation for the information age”.

[…]

“It’s not a super-serious regime, they do things with a kind of smirk and sometimes just with a smile. It’s a system that allows for a certain amount of humour, it’s not po-faced all.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46567364

Secret sauce for investment

Borrow, borrow borrow.

Talking about hedgies, FT said (emphasis mine)

These include asset prices moving in long-running trends, cheap stocks performing better than expensive ones, stocks with stronger finances outperforming weaker ones and the ability to borrow cheaply and invest in higher-yielding assets.

Of course Buffett doesn’t do this but he has the premiums from his insurance co to play with. Others have tried to play this game with distarious effects. Recent example is Anbang. Another long forgotten example is FAI. When I was a newbie in stock broking (in Oz), Larry Adler was a corporate raider using the float from his insurance co. After his death  in 1988, FAI got into very serious trouble, that could be traced back to his activities.

How PAP can make S’poreans happier

But won’t.

Because it’ll go against one of LKY’s Hardest Truths: S’pore should not have supportive social systems and institutions thereby making it easier for people who don’t or won’t work hard (But do you want cybernuts living off yr money and dissing you and the govt for not giving them more money?) to fall through the cracks.

But seriously Hard Truths seem to have forgotten about those who can’t work hard because they are too sick, too old or have to care for others.

So we only 34th globally. But PAP govt will point out we are top dog in the neighbourhood. Bit like having a bungalow house surrounded by slums.

 

The UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network ranking of the happiest countries in the world

suggest that happy societies are those with supportive social systems and institutions that make it harder for people to fall through the cracks.

Why is Finland so happy? | March 2018

In March 2018 Finland was named the happiest country in the world by the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Three Nordic cousins—Norway, Denmark and Iceland—took the next places. The UN report uses global polling data from Gallup to measure how pleased people feel with their lives, and tries to explain the differences in results using variables such as GDP per person, social support, healthy-life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. Its results suggest that happy societies are those with supportive social systems and institutions that make it harder for people to fall through the cracks.

(Emphasis mine)

 

Repression? What repression?/ Alt media cannot be trusted

Going by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, Kirsten Han, the Lee White than White  Horses, TOC, other alt media, and Lim Tean and his fellow cybernuts are fibbing when they claim that the PAP govt is getting more repressive.

S’pore’s Democracy score is improving

2018 — 6.38

2017 — 6.32

2016 — 6.38

2015 — 6.14 LKY died in March

2014 — 6.05

2013 — 5.92

2012 — 5.88

(2011 — LKY resigned from cabinet after GE)

2010 — 5.89

2008 — 5.89

2006 — 5.89

S’pore is classified, like the US, as a “Flawed Democracy”. To be fair to both nations, the US of A only joined S’pore in this category since Trump’s election as president. Before that it was a “Full Democracy”: juz on the right side (or wrong side, depending on one’s views) of the railway.

---

The Chinese Communist Party way is the The PAP way?

————————————————————————————-

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index. The index rates 167 countries by 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties. It is stricter than most similar indices: it concludes that just 4.5% of the world’s people live in a “full democracy”. However, the overall global score remained stable in 2018 for the first time in three years.

How Chinese borrowers and lenders think

Not the way S’porean borrowers and lenders think

The availability of P2P loans helps borrowers such as Li Boqiu, a 34-year-old Chongqing-based photographer. He waited less than a day for approval for an Rmb100,000 loan from Renrendai to buy equipment for his studio. Although a bank would have charged half of the annualised 24 per cent interest rate, Mr Li would also have had to wait as long as 10 days, with no guarantee of success. (Renrendai is still cheaper than borrowing from a private lending network, which could have cost up to 120 per cent.) “I urgently needed to buy the equipment and approval from a bank would be too slow,” he said. The average size of a Renrendai loan is Rmb79,200, lent out for no more than three years. Mr Cheung estimated 90 per cent of China’s small businesses fail within three years, but is nonetheless confident that a Renrendai borrower can make monthly payments of Rmb2,000 or Rmb3,000. “The business may go bankrupt, but the owner will start a new business or will find a job,” he said.

FT

 

Why our millionaire ministers don’t deserve their salaries

S’pore’s trade-reliant economy will see a slowdown in the next 12 months, according to a survey of economists by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. All 23 respondents cited intensifying trade friction as a risk to growth.

Economists … project that gross domestic product (GDP) growth could ease to 2.6% from an estimated 3.3% for 2018.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-economy-five-things-watch-2019-014107270.html

Look at where that will place us in the 2019 sweep stakes: around where the better developed countries will be.

For that we pay the best global rates for ministers? Even the constructive, nation-building media don’t deny that S’pore’s ministers top the global league for ministers but say they deserve their salaries.

Really?

They would say that, wouldn’t they?

Asian co earnings come from exports

Needless to say exports to China and US of A.

(Related post: “Asean’s potential”: What a load of BS)

Coldstore detainees really happy about Lee row

No secret to anyone also that they are shouting “God is Great”, “There’s justice in this world”, except the PAP IBs.

But do you know that some of of them are shouting “The bible is the word of God”? These shouting this are those who repented of being atheists and became Christians of the Taliban kind, not Methodists (Dr Goh was a Methodist and so is Hen.)

Morocco Mole (Secret Squirrel’s side-kick) tells me that some Coldstore detaineees turned born-again Christians are quoting the bible and gloating in a very unChristian way. But who can blame them?

The verses they are quoting:

The Lord …  visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7 = Deuteronomy 5:8-10)

And

And …  also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.(Leviticus 26:39)

 

“Asean’s potential”: What a load of BS

Our constructive, nation-building media says we got Asean to cushion us from China’s slow down.

Excuse me, China is Asean’s biggest export market. If China coughs, Asean gets a cold. If China slows down, Asean is down with the flu. If China really, really slows down to say 5%, Asean catches pneumonia.

Asean’s potential

Economists say Singapore needs to pivot more to Asean.

As a regional hub, the city-state can benefit from investors diversifying into Asean, but these gains will not manifest so soon.

CPTPP will come into effect on Dec 30 this year.

Mr Seah said there is too much focus on China in previous years.

Data from the Department of Statistics showed that the share of Singapore’s Nodx to China has increased from 1.1 per cent in 1990 to 18.2 per cent in 2017.

The share of Nodx to Singapore’s top three Asean trading partners — Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand — is comparable to China, but has shrunk from 20.3 per cent in 2003 to 17.5 per cent in 2017.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/look-ahead-2019-economy-headwinds-abound-economists-say-silver-lining-lies-asean

For the record: S’pore’s trade-reliant economy will see a slowdown in the next 12 months, according to a survey of economists by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. All 23 respondents cited intensifying trade friction as a risk to growth.

Economists … project that gross domestic product (GDP) growth could ease to 2.6% from an estimated 3.3% for 2018.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-economy-five-things-watch-2019-014107270.html

 

Lim Tean’s “Christmas surprise” was a load of bull

Yesterday was the Feast of Epiphany, the day the three kings visited the Christ child and gave him presents.

Well Lim Tean never delivered on his “Christmas surprise”.

A few hrs after the publication of Finally Lim Tean called to account on a “broken promise”, he finally broke over one year’s silence on the video by saying on Facebook that his defamation video (remember it was promised for Sept, then Nov last yr) was ready. He would release it next week.

We shall see. Better late than never.

Lim Tean that cock lawyer meh?/ Video to be released soon

If I were Uncle Leong, I’d be worried about having Lim Tean as my lawyer. I can imagine Lim Tean not attending court on the appointed day to represent Uncle Leong.

With enemies like Lim Tean, the PAP sure to get 70% of the popular vote.

Recession or not? Conflicting signals

Believe financial indicators or believe real-life data? The models from JP Morgan premised on these different signals give wildly differing results

Economists at J.P. Morgan have developed a model based only on the historical predictive power of the stockmarket, credit spreads and the yield curve; that implies the probability of a recession in America in 2019 is as high as 91%.

[…]

A different model built by J.P. Morgan analysts, this time based on short-term economic indicators such as car sales, building permits and the unemployment rate, put the probability of recession in 2019 much lower, at 26%.

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/01/05/what-the-market-turmoil-means-for-2019

Hongkies can’t spell/ 2018 was not a gd yr for Cathay

2018 was a bad year for Cathay, and not only financially.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45572275

The Donald’s dignified response when Muslim woman said F***

Not surprising this behaviour from a Muslim woman Democrat.

Democrat Rashida Tlaib courted controversy when she used explicit language while calling for the president’s impeachment.

[…]

Michigan’s Ms Tlaib made the remark to supporters at a reception hours after she was sworn in on Thursday as one of the first two Muslim women members of Congress.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46764052

And better still for Trump, she had to be of Palestinian origin

Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib has been sworn into office while wearing a traditional garment stitched by her Palestinian-born mother.

Ms Tlaib had been expected to take her oath on a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson, but changed her mind, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Ms Tlaib and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar became the first-ever Muslim female members of Congress on Thursday.

What is surprising is that The Donald was so restraint in his reaction.

The Republican president called her comments “highly disrespectful” to the US in a news conference on Friday.

“I thought her comments were disgraceful. This is a person I don’t know, I assume she’s new,” he told reporters.

“I think she dishonoured herself and dishonoured her family using language like that in front of her son and whoever else was there.”

BBC

He could have thrown red meat at his fans by tweeting. “I’m right to want to exclude Muslims from US. MAGA.” and “Had to be Muslim, Palestinian and Democrat congresswoman. MAGA”.

 

“A return of the Mahathir-Anwar leadership?” Really?

Not if Anwar has learnt his lesson. The background

A return of the Mahathir-Anwar leadership?

Anwar Ibrahim enters 2019 in much the same position he was in some 20 years ago: in line to replace Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister of Malaysia.

The once close relationship between the two men turned sour in the late 1990s, during Mr Mahathir’s first stint as leader. The two clashed over the Asian financial crisis, and Mr Anwar was eventually jailed on sodomy charges that he says were fabricated for political reasons.

As part of an election-winning deal in 2018, however, Mr Mahathir has promised to hand over power to his one-time protégé “in a year or two.”

The focus now is on the two men’s relationship. One former minister recently proposed that they give the “1997 recipe” another try, with Mr Anwar becoming Mr Mahathir’s deputy ahead of the leadership handover.

Mr Anwar, however, seems to be playing his cards more carefully this time.

“I never push for [a succession deadline],” Mr Anwar told the Nikkei Asian Review in an interview in October.

But he also issued a warning to any would-be challengers.

“I have forgiven those who jailed, insulted and accused me,” Mr Anwar told party members in November. “I am nice and friendly with everyone, but don’t try to walk over me or I will take you on.”

CK Tan, Nikkei staff writer

His warning

“I am nice and friendly with everyone, but don’t try to walk over me or I will take you on.”

is directed at Azmin Ali, Malaysia’s economic affairs minister. Amin, his deputy in PKR also leads the anti-Anwar faction within the PKR.

It’s widely believed among people in the know in KL, that Tun is trying to get Azmin to depose Anwar so that Tun can say, “How to hand over power to Anwar, when his own party doesn’t want him?”. This is risky because if civil war breaks out in PKR, the coalition is at risk.

Whatever, Azmin and his gang

may slow, or add uncertainty to, Anwar’s accession to the premiership in the hope this buys Azmin time to position himself as Mahathir’s successor instead,” wrote Peter Mumford, Asia director at Eurasia Group, in a recent note. The rivalry could escalate if Mr Mahathir reshuffles Malaysia’s cabinet early this year and appoints Mr Azmin to a more powerful ministerial position. Wong Chen, a politician in Mr Anwar’s party, said many members of parliament were anxious about the political manoeuvring, but added: “The majority of us still believes the transition will happen where Anwar will assume the premiership at the end of 2019 or early 2020.”

FT

Either go Grab or Gojek

Southeast Asia’s apps-for-everything will dominate in 2019. Cash is being lavished on Grab and Go-Jek, as they dabble in everything from ride-hailing to groceries. It’s a Chinese approach to luring and keeping consumers who are moving online fast.

The region from Myanmar to Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest-growing internet markets, with cheap smartphones, low connection costs and improving data speeds. On average, according to a 2018 study by Google and Singapore’s Temasek, Thai users spent almost five hours online daily – more than three times their Japanese counterparts.

[…]

Part of the reason is the transformation of Grab and Go-Jek into apps-for-everything, along the model of China’s Meituan Dianping, is to keep consumers coming back for payments, rides, massages and takeouts, among other things.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-grab-gojek-breakingviews/breakingviews-superapps-will-starve-the-rest-in-southeast-asia-idUSKCN1OW02F

Will resale flat owners still vote for PAP in next GE? contd

Last yr, private home prices rose nearly 8%* while prices of resale flats fell 0.9%**. (Related post: Why S’pore is so shiok for private property investors)

How to get huge mandate for 4G leaders remembering that one of them, Lawrence Wong*** (Btw, he not from elite school or so-called elite school), is being blamed by alt media (and more importantly by many S’poreans) for being responsible for the collapse in the prices of older flats?

Resale value of older flats has been sliding down ever since National Development Minister Lawrence Wong let the cat out of the bag in Mar 2017 by disclosing that not all old HDB flats are eligible for SER. He added that for most HDB flats, their leases will eventually run out and the flats returned to HDB, which in turn surrenders the land the flats are on back to the State. In other words, the value of the flats will go to zero when their lease ends.

TOC****

Will this resale flat buyer vote for PAP in next GE?

Will resale flat owners still vote for PAP in next GE?

“Houses are for living in, not for speculation”

Exposed: Flaws in PM’s HDB spin

Big problem for PAP. So why is it a surprise in an election yr that Budget is earlier than usual? Really good goodies to try to help us forget that after GE, GST will go up by 2 points as promised.

One can only hope that TOC and other alt media will keep reminding voters of this fact and stop propagating fake news: Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media. But don’t hold yr breath.

---

*Private home prices in Singapore rose 7.9 per cent in 2018, compared with a 1.1 per cent rise the year before, according to flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Wednesday (Jan 2).

However, the rise appeared to have slowed significantly after the Government introduced more measures in July to cool the red-hot market.

Private home prices slowed to a 0.5 per cent increase in the third quarter of 2018, and fell 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, URA’s estimates showed.

Source: URA

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/private-home-prices-property-2018-ura-11078890

**Prices of resale flats in Singapore fell 0.9 per cent in 2018 compared to the year before, flash estimates released by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday (Jan 2) showed.

In the fourth quarter of 2018 alone, prices fell an estimated 0.2 per cent, according to HDB’s resale price index.

Source: HDB

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hdb-resale-prices-fell-2018-bto-new-flats-11078892

***Lawrence Wong: a PM-in-waiting

****TOC

[A]ccording to PropertyGuru, housing agents have been trying to sell 5-room units in block 30 at Jalan Bahagia for close to $600K:

But the value of the units transacted at this block has been observed to be sliding down rapidly in the last few years.

Data on PropertyGuru shows that units at the block were indeed transacting at $500 to $600K from 2014 to mid-2016. But the last 2 transactions which occurred in Mar 2018, however, shows that one was sold at $403,000 while the other at $322,888.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ang moh’s great insight on property mkt

Absolutely right

[The] government is quick to intervene and manipulate the market when prices start to climb.

(Related post: Akan datang: GE in late 2019)

What Sarah Vaulkhard, adviser on the overseas desk at Property Vision wrote for FT

Singapore’s real estate market was pretty buoyant in the first half of 2018, with levels of transactions up, backed by high demand and good economic growth. However, as always, the government is quick to intervene and manipulate the market when prices start to climb, and in July it increased the additional buyers’ stamp duty and tightened the loan-to-value ratio.

Singapore will also feel the effects of the trade war between China and the US, as its economy relies heavily on the health of global trade. Interest rates are also likely to go up due to the fall in the Singapore dollar against the US dollar. For 2018, I warned of high levels of supply and this continues to be a real concern. The bounceback in Singapore’s real estate was short-lived and is likely to remain pretty stagnant into 2019.

Second para more accurate than the the headline and accompanying piece in constructive, nation-building CNA (Sometimes ang moh deserve to be tua kee)

Don’t expect Singapore’s private home prices to match growth of 2018: Experts

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/private-home-prices-2019-outlook-growth-2018-11079606

 

Tun’s greatest achievement and real Kiling unhappy

In 2018, M’sia became the biggest importer of UK rubbish after China banned most rubbish imports from the rest of the world. M’sia boleh.

So will Kirsten Han and PJ Thum want other SE Asians countries to follow and be the dumping ground of the world’s rubbish? Still urging Tun to take leadership in SE Asia; PJ, Kirsten?

PJ and Ms Han should note that Kiling kay poh (another ang moh tua kee) not happy

Since China’s ban, Malaysia has seen a big surge in the amount of plastic it has received from abroad, including from the UK.

“Malaysia is not able to process all of the imported waste, there are limited plastic waste factories”, says Mageswari Sangaralingam who works for the Consumers’ Association of Penang and for Friends of the Earth, Malaysia.

According to Ms Sangaralingam, not only is Malaysia receiving more plastic than it can properly dispose of, some of it is low-grade which ends up as landfill. There are also some rogue recyclers who, she says, burn plastic in the open – leading to environmental harm.

The Malaysian government has announced stricter conditions on the import of plastic and says it wants to phase it out over the next three years – but Ms Sangaralingam wants an immediate outright ban.

“Malaysia is not a dumping ground and hence should stop importing plastic waste,” she says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46566795

Bitcoin in 2019

FT reports that San Francisco-based Pantera Capital in early 2018 predicted the price of bitcoin could reach US $50,000 by 2019. Now at US$3,800.

Now telling its clients to believe in fairies i.e. keep the faith.

Qiou S’poreans

In Hard truths about elite schools, I called cybernuts and their PAP IB cousins Qiou.

[Q]iou, a made-up character that is an amalgamation of three others: tu, qiong and chou. It is used to mean dirt-poor and ugly. Qiou is hard to write using Chinese-language software, which tends to struggle with characters not found in dictionaries—the face in our illustration incorporates the qiou character. (Even its romanisation is an invention, reflecting the word’s portmanteau origins: qiu is the conventional form for a character pronounced this way.)

https://www.economist.com/china/2018/12/22/china-picks-the-most-popular-terms-of-the-year

Think cybernuts and their PAP IB cousins. Same genetic makeup except that one group has pro-PAP genes and the other anti-PAP genes.

Hard truths about elite schools

I refer to

Lower- and middle-income students at independent schools to receive more financial aid: Ong Ye Kung

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/lower-middle-income-students-independent-schools-financial-aid-11067398

It’s a waste of tax-payers’ money as I’ll explain below. Another bribe giveaway to help PAP achieve 65% of the popular vote.

And for the same reason, Minister and MoE not BSing about “Every School A Good School”.

Mr Pathak and his co-authors have compared pupils who only just made it into elite public schools with others who only just missed out, rather as Ms Dell compared villages on either side of the Pentagon’s bombing thresholds. The study showed that the top schools achieve top-tier results by the simple contrivance of admitting the best students, not necessarily by providing the best education. Ms Dell and her co-author showed that bombing stiffened villages’ resistance rather than breaking their resolve.

https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2018/12/18/our-pick-of-the-decades-eight-best-young-economists

(My emphasis)

Explanation for the cha tows like TRE and TOC cybernuts and their PAP cousins like Jason Chua and gang

Academically bright kids make schools elite, not the other way round.

Understand that or not Qiou?

Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media

He’s regularly propagating fake news, or fabricated news.

This was very apparent in a story about our financial sector, an important driver of the economy, thus supporting the govt’s argument on the need to regulate fake news:

Senior Minister of State for Law Edwin Tong has hinted at the tabling of a Bill aimed at curbing the spread of deliberate online falsehoods in the coming months after numerous consultations and debates among legislators and members of the public surrounding the potential anti-“fake news” laws.

TOC

The fake news is that the S’pore govt was and is not doing anything about S’pore-based banks role in laundering 1MDB funds. This could affect our financial sector, and hence our economy.

Danisha Hakeem ended a TOC piece headlined “Singapore figured very highly as a place from which money laundering occurred”: Veteran business journalist on 1MDB fiasco

Given the stringent approach often adopted by Singapore authorities –– particularly relevant to this case is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) –– in dealing with legal misconduct, it certainly raises some questions as to why potentially illegal financial movements on such a scale did not seem to have raised any red flags for the authorities at the time the activities were carried out.

In reaching this conclusion, Danisha Hakeem conveniently omitted in the piece the following facts which even my Vocational Institute educated dog knows:

— the banks found to be at fault didn’t report these transactions as suspicious as they were or are supposed to;

— there was an official investigation;

— offending banks (including UOB and StanChart) were fined;

— one bank was closed down;

— and bank executives prosecuted and jailed.

Some links to give the lie to the fake news that the S’pore govt did not do anything about the 1MDB scandal.

— https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/29/singapores-central-bank-fines-credit-suisse-and-uob-for-1mdb-related-transactions.html

— http://fortune.com/2016/10/11/1mdb-singapore-dbs-ubs-falcon-bank/

— https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-scandal-bsi/singapore-sentences-ex-bsi-banker-to-more-jail-time-in-1mdb-linked-case-idUSKBN19X0MC

— https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/1mdb-probe-former-bsi-bank-director-yvonne-seah-sentenced-to-2-w-7670980

He’s like the infamous Alex Tan in fabricating false news.

Also  by fabricating the news, Danisha Hakeem undermines TOC’s claim on why we need independent media: The need for alt media

For the record, I don’t think Terry deserves to be charged for criminal defamation because he took down the offending article when the authorities told him they were unhappy. But given the fake news propagated by Danisha Hakeem in his articles (too many to recount and rebut), one can understand the desire to rough up Terry.

Jokes’ aside, legally there is good reason to suspect that Danisha Hakeem’s trying very hard in this artcle

to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government

Sedition Act: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/SA1948

And given TOC’s track record, ill intent on his part is easy to prove. Not that the prosecution has to prove intent in any of the following offences.

4.—(1)  Any person who —

(a)	does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act which has or which would, if done, have a seditious tendency;

(b) utters any seditious words;

(c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication; or

[…]

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction for a first offence to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both, and, for a subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years; and any seditious publication found in the possession of that person or used in evidence at his trial shall be forfeited and may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the court directs.

Or maybe he’s trying to defame the central bank, hoping that the chairman or MD sues him for defamation that that the AG prosecutes him for criminal defamation.

But maybe he really wasn’t trying to propagate fake news or subvert the govt or defame the central bank, but was smoking ganja or ingesting other illegal substance when he wrote the piece?  Or is he a visitor from an alternative S’pore where the Men in White are the Men in Black?

(Related posts

PM visiting from Bizarro S’pore?

Tharman also from Bizarro S’pore?)

Whatever with Danisha Hakeem churning out articles for TOC (I’ll denounce another one of his pieces soon), the PAP govt doesn’t need to worry. Using TOC as a platform, he discredits all those rational, fair-minded S’poreans (self included) who oppose PAP hegemony. But then maybe that’s his real agenda? He gets thirty pieces of silver?

Boy sperm swim better but gal sperm smarter

Gal sperm outlive boy sperm.

One popular theory is that the odds of having a girl increase by having sex several days before ovulation and then abstaining so that the female sperm, which live longer, but swim more slowly than male sperm, outlast their counterparts.

Conversely, if sex happens closer to ovulation or after it, the best swimmers get to the egg first and boys are produced.

Parents may swear by these techniques, but scientists say there is little evidence they make any difference.

There is also some research which suggests parental stress could lead to the birth of more girls, while living through wars and conflicts may give rise to more male conceptions.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46597323