M’sians working here so poor meh?

Or juz cheapskate, law-breaking, entitled, lunch-stealing, freeloading criminals who think we scared of Tun?

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim Hassan was quoted by The Star as telling reporters that S’pore should  to discuss with M’sia,  S’pore’s move to deny entry to those with outstanding fines for vehicle-related offences from April 1

He said this would cause “a lot of inconvenience” to the thousands of Malaysians travelling daily to Singapore for work.

He said the action reflects poor bilateral relations between the two govts. So why not tell Tun to stop trying to bully and intimidate S’pore on water supply and territorial waters?

Amount involved is S$32m according to the S’pore govt.

Related posts:

M’sian minister thinks M’sian drivers tua kee

M’sia, S’pore are like …

M’sian minister talking thru his ass

When M’sia threatened war/ Gd day to sink a RMN vessel

Asia holds up Hermes

If Chinese, Japanese and other Asians stopped buying Hermes products …

PAP giving money to anti-PAP group

In creative hubs such as London and New York, contemporary art has been born in the underground and, eventually, syphoned from the top. “Singapore’s art scene is not organic,” criticised Lorenzo Rudolf, founder and president of Art Stage Singapore in an interview with Southeast Asia Globe. “A successfully sustainable, functioning art scene can only grow from the bottom up. Never in history have you seen an art scene which has been built from the top down functioning.”

So what? Artists are getting paid by the PAP govt, even if that group, usually defines itself as anti-PAP.

[T]here is evidence that emerging artists are benefiting from state-funded initiatives. In 2018, the National Arts Council launched the SG Arts Plan, as well as Orthodox, which was held during Singapore Art Week (SAW) in January – an exhibition focused on work inspired by issues surrounding faith and belief exclusive to 20-something artists. The seventh edition of the Singapore Art Week ran for nine days and staged events and openings across the island, from galleries and museums to art precincts, and independent art spaces. Alongside this came the announcement of a partnership between the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Frieze, which included S.E.A. Focus – an initiative set up by STPI Creative Workshops & Gallery as a platform for Southeast Asian artists to present their work in the pop-up spaces. There is also ART SG – a new art fair for Singapore and Southeast Asia debuting in November and coinciding with the Singapore Biennale which aims to spotlight young artists.

https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/43563/1/singapore-reality-growing-contemporary-art-scene-sarah-choo-su-en-wong-art-week

Money talks, BS walks.

PAP is really trying hard to get 65% of the popular vote: Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote.

Vote wisely. Remember that a GST rise is coming: How to ensure no GST rise.

Vote tactically (I tell how soon) because at worse PAP will still form govt:

But the cybernuts like bapak should not be raising their hopes of their hero Mad Dog forming a coalition govt of spastics. At the very least, the PAP will get only 60% of the popular vote (a 10 point fall) and retain a two-thirds majority and not win back Aljunied. No GRC will fall even to Team TCB.

Another reason why ground is not sweet for the PAP

 

Major tech IPOs since 1997

In 1997, Amazon did its IPO. “Peanuts”. Next big one was Google in 2004.

TRE: “Clueless Alternative Parties” & Thinking about VERS

Let me declare upfront that I am neither an Incumbent Party supporter or an Alternative Party supporter.  I will cast my vote to the party whom I have confidence will work for the betterment of Singapore at the ballot box. And I will try to be as discerning as possible.  There are Incumbent Party members who have work for the betterment of Singaporeans, just as there are those who have not.  Likewise, there are Alternative Party members who are likely to work for the betterment of Singaporeans, just as there are those who won’t.

There is one sombre message that I believe all Alternative Parties members need to bear in mind.  They cannot, should not and must not think that they can win the General Elections because the electorates dislike or no longer trust the Incumbent Party.  Rather, they have to showcase their abilities and capabilities, that is, what they can actually do for the people if they are elected into the Parliament.  Furthermore, they must act in a way to be above reproach at all times.

As of this moment, I can honestly say that I have lost almost all faith in the Incumbent Party and I am very much inclined to cast my vote to an Alternative Party.  However, some recent behaviours of the Alternative Parties leave much to be desired, so much so that I could not help wondering whether I would be making a wise decision.

I will describe an incident below which I hope will serve as wake-up calls for the Alternative Parties members.

Lack of Thinking and Planning

The first incident revolves around NSP, which apparently held a rally last weekend.  (Surprise!  Surprise!)  A friend of my boyfriend attended the rally and we were quite surprised as none of our other friends are aware of that rally.

However, the worst is to come.  NSP members started telling the small group of audience (apparently only about 20+ people!) during the rally that NSP deserved to be voted in because they will be the voice of Singaporeans and they will do whatever is necessary to improve the lives of Singaporeans.  One member of the audience asked the following 3 related questions and requested NSP to use them as an example to show how NSP intends to act for the betterment of Singaporeans.

1. Why are HDB flats priced so high despite having zero value at the end of the 99-year lease?
2. How is the Incumbent Party intending to resolve the problem of tenants when the lease of their flats expire?
3. What will NSP do differently to resolve the problem?

Our friend told us that apparently none of the NSP members have any clues on how to answer those questions. NSP members simply mumbled some incoherent responses and it became quite obvious after a while that they have never thought through the issue of the HDB 99-year lease at all.  Hence, the none of the NSP members have any ideas on how to resolve the problem of the tenants when the lease of their flats expire.

To be fair, I do not know how true is the above description since I was not physically there.  The only thing I can safely say is that our friend, despite being an Alternative Party supporter, was definitely not impressed by NSP. He left the rally feeling disappointed and disillusioned.

I found the above narration quite disturbing.  The HDB 99-year lease issue is a topmost issue affecting the lives of 80% of all Singaporeans and basically everybody knew about this issue for more than six months.  This is a most important and critical issue that has significant impacts on the lives of many Singaporeans.  If NSP is serious about being the voice of Singaporeans and it will do whatever is necessary to improve the lives of Singaporeans, how is it possible that nobody in NSP thinks through and works out some plans on how to resolve this critical issue?  If they are not concerned with such a critical issue, how exactly does NSP intend to be the voice of Singaporeans and to improve the lives of Singaporeans if they get elected into the Parliament?

To the credits of other Alternative Parties, both SDP (Chee Soon Juan) and PVP (Lim Tean) have clearly laid out their plans and thoughts on how this issue can be resolved.  This is what Singaporeans want and need from the Alternative Parties.  If these Alternative Parties members get elected into the Parliament, they have concrete plans to know what to do for the betterment of the lives of Singaporeans.  Of course, some plans may not be entirely feasible and need to be refined.  But it is at least a good start in the correct direction and it goes to show that these Alternative Parties are serious about improving the lives of Singaporeans if they are elected.  Indeed, prominent members like Pritam Singh/Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong/Lina Chiam, Tan Cheng Bock, Goh Meng Seng, Tan Jee Say, etc should also make known how they intend to resolve this issue if they get elected into the Parliament.

Incidentally, a recent post indicates a very plausible method on how the Incumbent Party intends to resolve this issue – to finance VERS using a combination of tax hikes and price increases.  And the article was apparently written by a supporter of the Incumbent Party!

http://www.tremeritus.net/2019/03/25/why-vers-will-work-but-it-is-still-a-bad-idea/

I have performed some analysis in the past which shows that the government needs to fork out at least 3 billion every year to finance VERS, even if the average payment is merely $250,000 per flat.  The more probable financing cost is likely to be in the range of 4 to 5 billion every year.

At that time, I was adamant that VERS cannot work simply because it is too huge a financial burden – remember that this is not a one-time payment but a recurring cost year after year.  However, the above article throws some light on how VERS is to be financed – the monies generated by the tax hikes and price increases are easily in the range of tens of billions every year and these are more than enough to finance VERS, as well as to cover up losses in Temasek Holdings and GIC (the latter point was contributed by other writers).

Alternative Parties need to showcase how they intend to resolve this particular issue (and many other issues) to allow all Singaporeans to compare their plans against the Incumbent Party’s plan of financing VERS through tax hikes and price increases.  Then Singaporeans can make informed choices at the voting booths during the General Elections.

The only thing that is worse than showing a plan to finance VERS through tax hikes and price increases is when an Alternative Party does not even bother to think through this issue and has no plans on how the issue is to be resolved.  In such a situation, how are Singaporeans expect to trust that such an Alternative Party to run the country to improve the lives of Singaporeans if it is elected into the Parliament?

Cheryl Gupta

Alternative Parties seriously need to get up to speed

Why Kee Chiu not PM material

Because when paper generals run a country, the economy underperforms the economies of neighbouring countries (Remember that Thai generals have no experience of combat operations, only coups, making money and politics. They can’t even “fix” elections.).

So S’poreans are really smart in not wanting Kee Chiu as PM? Already got experience of one paper general? After all PM was once known as BG Lee and was head of SAF.

And there’s the examples of paper generals at SMRT, NOL and SPH.

Heng will make S’pore great again.

Related posts:

SAF generals, not private sector CEOs make it to PAP cabinet

“Freak election” training manual for SAF’s paper generals? And us 40% S’poreans too?

Paper generals: Don’t forget social media

 

Why ang mohs will vote for the PAP

[O]penness, multiculturalism and self-determination, as named by the Bicentennial Office – are exactly what many residents love about living here. “Singapore is a country with an identity of its own.

No I kid u not, BBC really said the above.

Now this is a lot better

Unlike in many other big cities, residents rarely worry about theft or violence. With one of the lowest crime rates in the world, even petty street crime is viewed as “a waste of time” said 11-year resident Bino Chua, who blogs at I Wander. “You can leave your car unlocked, your purse unattended,” said American Alison Ozawa Sanders, who has lived here for five years and is the co-author of The Expats’ Guide to Singapore. “As a woman, I can go out at night in any neighbourhood and not worry about my personal safety ever. As a parent, I don’t have the feeling that if I take my eyes off my kids for two seconds they’re going to be kidnapped.”

Singapore is also very clean and convenient to get around, with very few traffic jams, in part due to government restrictions on cars and the high price of vehicles here.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190317-the-three-values-that-shaped-singapore

Only two non ang mohs quoted and one’s an 11-yr old PAPpy running puppy of a blogger (Parents planning for him to be millionaire minster?); the rest quoted are ang mohs living here.

And going by the way they talk, they are not citizens, just guests of Hotel S’pore.

So Brad Bowyer (Remember him?) is not a real ang moh.  Real ang mohs support and appreciate what the PAP does.

Vote wisely. Vote tactically.

 

Merdeka Generation: PAP cares for u, really they do

(Part of an occasional series meant to burst the blood vessels of cybernuts like pork-eating, alcohol drinking “bapak” aka “Jihadist Joe”, and tax-dodging grave-dancer “Oxygen”).

Taxi driver Lim Ee Teh, 66, usually spends between S$10 and S$20 when he visits the polyclinic for his monthly diabetes check-up.

Mr Lim, who is eligible for the newly-announced Merdeka Generation Package, learnt on Sunday (March 24) that he could soon be paying less for this visit. This was after he attended a briefing organised by the Silver Generation Office (SGO) at the ComfortDelGro’s Cabbies’ Carnival.

---

What’s expensive, what’s cheap in diabetes treatment

If Mr Lim is seeing the polyclinic doctor monthly, his must be terok case. As the consultation fee is $12+, he’s only paying $7 for the blood test and medicine. But the blood test is pretty expensive: $13+ each time. So the numbers don’t add up: unless he’s seeing a nurse, where the consultation fee might be lower.

My friends’ monthly medicine bill for diabetes average between $4-5, they tell me. They see the doctor once every three or four months. They pay $12+ for the consultation, and $13+ for the blood test. Assuming, they see the doctor once every three months, their monthly cost is around $12.

Seeing the doctor and blood tests are the expensive bits.

—————————–

Whatever, this is what he (and me) are getting

Under the Merdeka Generation Package, which is eligible to all Singaporeans born between 1950 and 1959, beneficiaries will be entitled to Chas subsidies from November regardless of their household monthly income per person or the annual value of their homes.

Beneficiaries of the package will also receive an annual topup of S$200 into their Medisave account under the Central Provident Fund (CPF) until 2023. They will also receive an extra 25 per cent discount on their bills at polyclinics and specialist outpatient clinics, on top of prevailing subsidies.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/more-medisave-top-ups-merdeka-generations-wishlist

Wow. How not to vote for the PAP? Still prefer BS from Mad Dog, Lim Tean and Meng Seng, Jihadist  Joe aka Pious Joe?

And taz not all, from NTUC Fairprice, there’s this

And for a one-year period from July onwards, customers who belong to the Merdeka Generation will enjoy a 3 per cent discount on all purchases every Wednesday.

Merdeka Generation individuals are those who were born from 1950 to 1959 and obtained citizenship in or before 1996, as well as seniors who were born in or before 1949, became citizens in or before 1996 and did not receive the Pioneer Generation Package.

Mr Ng Chee Meng, the secretary-general of NTUC, said that this was done because of feedback from workers that they needed more help to cope with the cost of living.

“So NTUC, as a social enterprise, we were trying to see how we could help in meaningful ways. Essentially, what we wanted to do was help people cope with the rising costs, in ways we could afford,” he said.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/prices-ntuc-fairprice-house-brands-cut-remain-same-for-15-months

PAP is really trying hard to get 65% of the popular vote: Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote.

Vote wisely. Remember that a GST rise is coming: How to ensure no GST rise.

Vote tactically (I tell how soon) because at worse PAP will still form govt:

But the cybernuts like bapak should not be raising their hopes of their hero Mad Dog forming a coalition govt of spastics. At the very least, the PAP will get only 60% of the popular vote (a 10 point fall) and retain a two-thirds majority and not win back Aljunied. No GRC will fall even to Team TCB.

Another reason why ground is not sweet for the PAP

Where we ahead of UK in financial services

There’s a new bank in the UK: Bomad [the bank of Mum and Dad] to help finance house purchases.

S’pore has had this for ages (my dad had to take a loan from my grandmother, to help buy a house all those yrs ago). Bomad is still thriving. Friend telling me that daughter is hinting loudly that she and her husband-to-be need a loan. Problem is that she has siblings. So loan one, others will expect similar facilities. He didn’t stop at one because he hated (still hates) the PAP.

In the UK, an FT reader said Bomad should provide advisory services, not juz folk out the S’pore. S’porean parents have always provided such services as a mandatory addition to forking out the money for a HDB flat etc etc

Crying all the way to the bank by annoying the PAP

Fong Hoe Fang, who worked with and is a pal of Teo Soh Lung and Vincent Cheng. (Remember them?) recently struck Toto recently (OK, OK, he didn’t but it felt like he did)

[O]ne of its latest published non-fiction work is its best-ever-seller: This Is What Inequality Looks Like by sociologist Teo You Yenn.

They’ve already sold upwards of 24,000 copies, and are still going into more re-runs of the book. Public demand for it has not waned despite Teo’s arguments having been rebutted robustly at least twice by the establishment: once by Senior Minister of State Maliki Osman and another by veteran social worker Sudha Nair.

https://mothership.sg/2019/03/fong-hoe-fang-interview/?fbclid=IwAR1hP5OgfEnbWQ4j43LN-V0V0w-0vxxo27wENvVtQnO74-2dmSvCcljWoPg

Another brave publisher from RI and ST: Quiet activist looking at his bank statement and smiling

Hyflux forgot that Tuaspring is in S’pore

All governments are monopoly buyers, able to demand tough conditions: which is why smart companies prefer to do biz in countries like M’sia and China where the authourities can be persuaded not to demand tough conditions in a spirit of mutual benefits.

Motor-cycling, M’sian-born Oliver Lum forgot this was S’pore when she agreed to sell water (juz below cost, I think I read somewhere: if anyone can find me the reference or point out if I’m wrong, I’ll be grateful) under a 25-yr agreement to the govt, planning to make lots of money by selling electricity to said govt.

Well in early March, national water agency PUB issued a default notice to Hyflux subsidiary Tuaspring Pte Ltd (TPL), which owns Singapore’s second and largest desalination plant, to remedy defaults arising under a 25-year water purchase agreement between them.

The defects:

It is understood that the plant had been experiencing operational issues since early 2017 and Tuaspring was unable to replace the facility’s poor-performing membranes promptly, affecting the quality and quantity of its water. There were numerous occasions when Tuaspring was unable to supply PUB with the required 70 million gallons of desalinated water.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pub-take-over-hyfluxs-tuaspring-plant

Then PUB said on Thursday (Mar 21) it will terminate the water purchase agreement with Hyflux subsidiary Tuaspring Pte Ltd (TPL) and start taking over its desalination plant, if the company does not remedy its defaults by Apr 5.

Ms Lum also forgot govts can also blame suppliers when contracts go wrong: Will Oliver Lum and other Hyflux investors still vote for the PAP?

Never mind, the M’sian in her got Hyflux to pay her over S$60m (salary + dividends).

Another reason why ground is not sweet for the PAP

PMETs are the S’poreans most affected by retrenchments, and hence by FT influx.

According to the labour market report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recently, PMETs accounted for 79.3% of retrenched residents in 4Q18. Overall, 2510 people were retrenched in the 4th Quarter. So 1990 of those retrenched were PMETs. (Aside no wonder young professionals are joining the SDP: SDP can learn from Thai Oppo parties)

This is a year-on-year increase of about 30% from the 2017 number and is also the highest level since such data was first published by MOM in 2006.

Educated get retrenched, WTF! 58% had degrees while 20% held diplomas. A substantial portion of individuals who were retrenched were those aged between 40 and 49 (34%) and over 50 (33.6%).

According to people interviewed by the constructive, nation-building ST, PMETs are becoming vulnerable and more steps need to be taken to reduce the risk of them being displaced. I’m surprised ST was allowed to say this.

The link between retrenchments and FTs by the A380 cattle class: a DBS analyst suggested that firms should raise the minimum qualifying salary for Employment Pass holders and increasing the length of time firms must advertise jobs on the national jobs portal before they can apply to hire a foreign professional.

Vote wisely.

Why the PAP should worry

Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP

Will Oliver Lum and other Hyflux investors still vote for the PAP?

Hyflux directors, mgt & auditors kooning from 2016 onwards?

I said there

PAP voters get shafted:

Retail perpetual and preference share holders will have their S$900 million in claims swapped for S$27 million in cash and S$69.2 million shares, assuming that the shares are valued at 3.4 cents apiece. That works out to a 10.7 per cent recovery rate on their principal.

And there’s the retail shareholders.

But the cybernuts like bapak should not be raising their hopes of their hero Mad Dog forming a coalition govt of spastics. At the very least, the PAP will get only 60% of the popular vote (a 10 point fall) and retain a two-thirds majority and not win back Aljunied. No GRC will fall even to Team TCB.

The reasons:

Why 37,000+ sure to vote for PAP (But balanced off by above 34,000+ retail investors in Hyflux who could lose 90% of their investments)

Why S’poreans continue voting for the PAP to have 2/3 of parly seats

6,400 senior citizens each get $312.50 hongpao from a TLC

Why Milliennals will vote for the PAP

 

 

 

 

Make MU Great Again

Or why MU, AC Milan and other ex-greats are no longer winning trophies.

A “bar chart race” video showing spending in world club football over the past 28 years.

Make MU Great Again: change Jewish owner and financial adviser (Rothschilds).  LOL

Silencing fake news and inconvenient voices: two sides of the same coin

TOC accused (rightly) The Indians Idiots Sg of unprofessional behaviour even though TOC should be careful of throwing stones since it’s living in a glass house: ST etc can make the same accusation (rightly also) against TOC: Tweedledum v Tweedledee or TOC v The Idiots Sg.

This row reminded me how the PAP govt can kill two birds (fake news and dissident views) with one stone.

This is how to screw alt media without appearing to be repressive: make use of the fear of fake news.

Egypt’s Supreme Council for the Administration of the Media was given the power to block websites and social media accounts with more than 5,000 followers if they publish “fake news” or incite people to break the law.

The watchdog will also be able to fine them up to 250,000 Egyptian pounds ($14,500; £10,900) without obtaining a court order.

BBC report

OK, OK, the Egyptian way is too crude. What do you expect of paper generals not real ones? The Egyptian army loses to desert nomads in the Sinai. Only good for coups.

Here’s the British way: according to a UK government report, technology groups should be forced by a new regulator to ensure their platforms distribute quality news.

Our ang moh tua kees cannot in all honesty oppose such a law because it comes from the UK: they lick ang moh’s liberal ass, thinking what comes out is manna from heaven.

Seriously, if this law is passed here, Terry’s Online Channel, The Indians Idiots, Goh Meng Seng etc can no longer appear on Facebook given the unreliability of their original reporting and plagiarising of the local MSM. They can’t even copy and paste accurately.

Especially Meng Seng. When he recently pontificated “I am only the supporter of truth based on facts”, I couldn’t help laughing. Surely, he must mean “I am only the supporter of lies based on mistaken, spurious, apocryphal, fanciful, mendacious, untruthful, fictitious, deceptive, concocted, fallacious, incorrect, inaccurate, wrong, sophistical, casuistic, Jesuitical, misleading, delusive, imaginary, illusive, erroneous, invalid, deceiving, misrepresentative, fraudulent, trumped-up, facts”? As evidence, I cite Meng Seng: fake news propogator and What Meng Seng and TOC don’t tell us about dispute with Tun.

Related posts:

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

TISG: “useful loudhailer” for PAP administration

“The Idiots — S’pore” keeps on promoting divisiveness?

Sad.

Tweedledum v Tweedledee or TOC v The Idiots Sg

 

What I find funny after reading Terry Xu’s Fb post (See below) is that I’m sure ST and other constructive, nation-building publications can say the same thing about TOC notwithstanding Terry’s holier than The Idiots attitude in his last paragraph.

Terry Xu should let sleeping dogs lie seeing that TOC cast the first stone (towards ST many yrs ago) a long time ago. Btw, I think I got grounds to KPKB yesterday to Terry about hypocrisy based on his comments about attribution. But as I know his writer and him, and respect what they are doing (most of the time) and because of the pressures that Terry faces in fighting the Dark Side , I’ll not talk further about the matter: let sleeping dogs lie etc etc.

Having said all this, The Indians Idiots are scumbags:

— TISG: “useful loudhailer” for PAP administration

— “The Idiots — S’pore” keeps on promoting divisiveness?

And this TOC writer (Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media) should move to The Idiots. He’s their kind of writer.

Anyway, Terry Xu posted on FB yesterday

After hearing complaints from my writers about how articles have been republished by The Independent SG with no attribution, I decided to take up my complaint with the publisher of the website.

Referring to the writer who has been doing that, I wrote, “It is fine if articles are written with reference to TOC’s site but if you refer to the months of postings, I have seen nothing of such. Can you please see that this behaviour stops?”

He replied, “Dear Terry, We have a ‘do-not-touch-TOC-content’ policy in place. Hence, I’m surprised that you are making such claims. In any case, all authors do declare their source for each piece they are working on and my editors do check for copyright infringement, attribution and accuracy. It may very well be the case of the newsmaker talking to two outlets at the same time. In which case, there is really no need to attribute to TOC.
In any case, if my writers do use your content. You can be rest assured that we’ll credit TOC for it. Chill my friend. We’re in the same space. Need to look out for each other.”

My response to that was to throw a series of articles.

http://theindependent.sg/in-what-capacity-did-ivy-ng-sign-…/

http://theindependent.sg/grassroots-leader-who-constructed…/

http://theindependent.sg/mothership-draws-flak-for-story-o…/

http://theindependent.sg/survey-shows-only-59-per-cent-of-…/

http://theindependent.sg/mainstream-media-speculates-that-…/

and noted that these articles are for just the month of March.

He then asked for the corresponding articles from TOC that were published.

Which I gave,

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/ivy-ng-signed-documents…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/grassroots-leader-who-c…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/mothership-highlights-l…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/survey-35-think-heng-ca…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/media-speculates-former…/

Note that all the articles from TISG is after TOC had published its, even the screenshots are using the ones that TOC had posted. I haven’t yet included the articles that are based on the video write ups posted on TOC’s Facebook page.

In response to the claims, the publisher has replied, “Dear Terry, after careful examination and consideration, we find your claims to be baseless and unfounded.”

UPDATE: The publisher even accused me of backdating the articles! Hello… I can’t backdate Google News, even if I want to.

So case closed it seems and business as usual. Nothing I can do about it, I suppose? And how can you be friends with such people?

Clarification: As I tell my staffers, there are a few type of articles.
– Opinion pieces
– Govt release
– News of events
– Public knowledge
– Exclusive investigative articles

We do not credit MSM for govt releases because it should be public knowledge in the first place and Govt don’t release them on their public site only after MSM has reported on it. News event, we sometimes don’t because we are pissed that only IMDA certified press are invited.

But if you do read our other posts, we mention clearly it is from the MSM that we are taking the quotes from and also we would correct when journalists from MSM write to us.

HoHoHo: StanChart CEO learning from our ministers

He also gets a free pass from Temasek.

FT reports that StanChart is facing an investor rebellion over its chief executive’s pay after the bank changed how it calculated his pension in a way that falls foul of UK corporate governance guidelines. This comes as executives at the UK’s largest listed banks are being subjected to rising pressure to reduce their pension payments so that they are in line with the majority of staff.

StanChart’s CEO will receive a pension allowance of £474,000, which is the highest of any chief executive of a large UK-listed bank.

But unlike UK investors, Temasek, StanChart’s biggest shareholder, a person close it said it did not share other investors’ concerns on pay at the bank.

Related post: HoHoHo: Time for StanChart’s CEO to go?

Comprehensive list of articles on what went wrong with this investment: HoHoHo: Temasek’s “rogue bank” kanna caught again

China’s emerging fintech giant

But first, why China is great again: Chinese insurer Ping An once had HSBC as a large shareholder but is now the largest shareholder in HSBC.

Besides insurance, it’s into banking, securities broking, asset management and has a trust biz.

In recent years Ping An has invested heavily in the development of new technologies including artificial intelligence, facial recognition and cloud computing.

So it’s becoming a tech co, like Goldman Sachs (At least that is what ex-CEO claimed that is what Goldie is).

Don’t anyhow accuse ministers of neglecting anything

Can kanna be sued for defamation, juz like sharing article can kanna be sued (and allegedly help make lawyer defending Uncle Leong, Lim Tean, laugh all the way to the bank: whatever Lim Tean has struck Toto it seems) .

Seriously, PAP ministers and MPs quick to sue, so will they follow what is happening in another country where British law is followed )somewhat) and where the ruling party is as sensitive as the PAP?

Bangladeshi authorities have arrested a senior member of football’s world governing body Fifa for allegedly defaming the country’s prime minister.

Mahfuza Akhter Kiron, a Fifa Council member, was detained after she had said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was neglecting football.

A defamation claim was then filed by a local sport official, alleging that the comments embarrassed the entire nation.

On Saturday, Ms Kiron was denied bail and sent to jail, her lawyer said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47604146

Whatever, I suggest that those who want to avoid the fate Leong Sze Hian, Roy Ngerng, JBJ etc avoid saying that PM etc are neglecting footie or anything sensitive

During a recent TV talk show, Ms Kiron said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was neglecting football in the cricket-mad Bangladesh.

This prompted local sport official Abul Hasan Chowdhury Prince to file a defamation claim.

“Mahfuza told the TV show that [the] PM maintains double standard for football and cricket. She rewards cricket for personal gain but ignores football,” Mr Hasan’s lawyer was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

The defamation claim alleges that such comments about the sports-loving prime minister embarrasses the entire nation.

Groceries: PAP cares for u, really they do

(Part of an occasional series meant to burst the blood vessels of cybernuts like pork-eating, alcohol drinking “bapak”, and tax-dodging grave-dancer “Oxygen”).

Yuppie, continued “peanut” prices for Fairprice’s baked beans, fried dacre, sardines, instant coffee (Robusta and Arabica: I use the cheapest brand available several times a week to strengthen my daily brew of coffee brewed for at least 24 hrs) and dog biscuits (actually Fairprice’s marie biscuits).

Btw, feel free to skip the following quote if u know what I was talking about and go direct to my comments below:

NTUC FairPrice has slashed the prices of 50 essential items under its house brands by up to 30 per cent, as part of moves to help customers cope with the cost of living.

The prices of these items, as well as 50 others under its house brands FairPrice, FairPrice Gold, Pasar and Home Proud, will also be held steady from Monday (March 18) until June 30 next year.

This means that regardless of inflation, the prices of these 100 items, which include daily essentials such as rice, oil, toiletries, batteries and household cleaners, will stay the same for the next 15 months.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, chief executive officer of FairPrice, said that these 100 items are “representative of what an average Singaporean household would need, and they are popular”.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/prices-ntuc-fairprice-house-brands-cut-remain-same-for-15-months

Elections must be coming to the world’s most expensive city, a ranking now shared with HK and Paris, much to the relief of the PAP.  OK, OK, I know it’s fake news that S’pore, HK and Paris are the world’s most expensive cities: unlike TOC, The Indians Idiots, Meng Seng’s FB page and other cybernut must-reads, I read the fine print.

Seriously, going by the time frame of the price freeze, the elections will be held by June next yr. I’ve always maintained that it’ll be held later this year. In 2018, I wrote Akan datang: GE in late 2019.

As for the dog biscuits, must be minister Shanmugam, dogs’ best friend in parly, that got Fairprice to freeze the price. If the pet dogs support the PAP, the owners will follow must be the reasoning. Every vote matters for the PAP.

Btw Fairprice’s special for French made butter are great value, make it affordable for me to have gourmet butter now and then.

Vote wisely.

Remember that only in S’pore does a govt (PAP of course) and trades union movement-related grocer sells French butter (albeit only now and then) at “cheap” pleb prices. Only slightly more expensive then its house brand ordinary butter.

Tun not happy with MayBank

No not because it financed Tuaspring helping S’pore give him the finger over water.

But because Maybank (“May” is short form of “Malayan”) is saying that M’sians are buying our banks because they are of better quality, and pay higher dividends, thanks to the M$ being up s**t creek.

Maybank Kim Eng is keeping “positive” on Singapore’s banking sector while noting significant interest among Malaysian investors in Singapore banks from a flight-to-quality angle, and for their high dividend yields as the SGD appreciates.

This comes post a meeting with 15 Malaysian investors from a mix of long-only, hedge and private-banking funds to discuss Singapore banks and Maybank’s stock calls on them – for which the research house says was very little pushback on its top picks DBS and UOB, both rated “buy” with the respective target prices of $29.56 and $29.71.

OCBC, on the other hand, has a “hold” rating and price target of $10.73.

https://www.theedgesingapore.com/singapore-banks-shine-despite-regional-macros-competition-fintechs-maybank

Note of all three banks, OCBC has the most exposure to M’sia because of its extensive branch network in Malaya and its life insurance biz via Great Eastern M’sia, 100% owned by Great Eastern.

Genius of the PAP

Why the PAP wins and wins.

It’s not repression. Nor is it looking after S’poreans very well. It’s making S’poreans treasure or aspire to what the PAP wants them to have: things like “affordable” public housing, and clean, crime-free and car-free streets.

And making S’poreans hate the things that the PAP doesn’t want them to have: think freedom of expression (Not that clowns like TRE’s “bapak”, Lim Tean, Meng Seng, and Kirsten Han are worth listening to) or standing up for their rights.

One of the PAP’s failures is the success of the Pink Dot movement. Gays are hip. But S’poreans’ ang moh tua kee attitude have something to do with this. If only S’poreans will ape Western liberal attitudes, the PAP sure to lose. But they don’t. PAP must have got shumething right, right?

Why were non-Chinese left out of mushroom study?

Eating mushrooms more than twice a week could prevent memory and language problems occurring in the over-60s, research from Singapore suggests.

A unique antioxidant present in mushrooms could have a protective effect on the brain, the study found.

The more mushrooms people ate, the better they performed in tests of thinking and processing.

But researchers said it was not possible to prove a direct link between the fungi and brain function.

The National University of Singapore study’s findings were based on 663 Chinese adults, aged over 60, whose diet and lifestyle were tracked from 2011 to 2017.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-47554966

(Emphasis mine)

Bet u the Tamil supremacists will KPKB that Tamils were unfairly excluded from the study. As will sensitive souls like P Ravi (he had a green card so he’s susceptible to being politically correct) wanting to know why was it that minorities were left out of the study. Multiracial society? What multiracial society?

The reasonable, but not conclusive, argument that a multi-racial study meant that analysing the data would be a lot more complicated than limiting it to one ethnic group will not wash in an election year. Juz wait for Mad Dog, Lim Tean or Meng Seng to stir the pot on the right of minorities to take part in a study on the effects of taking mushrooms. But then Lim Tean and Meng Seng* prefer to support M’sia rather than S’pore in the territorial dispute. at least SDP came out in support of S’pore.

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* He even faked the news: What Meng Seng and TOC don’t tell us about dispute with Tun

 

Fake news: social media is a primary cause of polarisation

Social media is NOT a primary cause of polarisation.

A common, and ostensibly common sense, assumption about the era we are living through is that social media is a primary cause of polarisation.

…

Most of the academic work in this area points to the complexity of that link, and resists a clear causal connection. Indeed, for the most part, it comes down against the idea that the online world is full of echo chambers.

…

The abstract for this commonly cited article in the journal Public Opinion Quarterly, by Seth Freeman, Sharad Goel and Justin M Rao, puts it succinctly:

“Social networks and search engines are associated with an increase in the mean ideological distance between individuals”, the authors write. “However, somewhat counter-intuitively, these same channels also are associated with an increase in an individual’s exposure to material from his or her less preferred side of the political spectrum”.

They go on: “The vast majority of online news consumption is accounted for by individuals simply visiting the home pages of their favourite, typically mainstream, news outlets, tempering the consequences – both positive and negative – of recent technological changes.”

Amol Rajan Media editor BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47447633

Pls read the article if interested in the topic.

Why are over-40 S’poreans like Hollywood stars?

They are no longer wanted or employable.

This TRE reader got it right

Over 40s being retrenched are common. The army also tell regulars to GTFO after they turned 40. Just observe those Hollywood stars – over 40 no more leading man or lady.

Sad.

SDP can learn from Thai Oppo parties

Anti-junta parties in Thailand are fighting for the votes of young Thais.

Given that young S’poreans have no first hand knowledge of what Mad Dog did to maim S’pore’s budding democratic movement in the early 1990s in the name of ideological purity (I’m not only talking of the back stabbing of Chiam but also about the successful attempts to get the voters not to re-elect the other two SDP MPs), the young are the natural target of the SDP. The many young, keen young SDP activists, many of them professionals is testament of this.

Well the Thais anti-junta parties are targeting first-time voters with policies meant to appeal to youth, including calls to abolish or scale back military conscription, to legalise cannabis, or give LGBT people equal marriage rights.

The SDP should come up with policies that appeal to young S’poreans and publicise them on platforms that the young use, and not juz on Facebook which is for oldies, not hipsters.

Mad Dog and Dr Paul should also study the use of social media by the anti-junta parties:

“This is a significant demographic segment, and they represent a new generation who access the system in a different way,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, associate professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University. “They don’t use traditional media of listening to the TV and radio; they use social media and are completely 21st century,” he added.

FT

Just to show, I’m not anti-Mad Dog, juz objective:

I give Dr Chee credit that in the 90s his vision of S’pore in 2016 was a lot more closer to the reality (Mad prophet?) than mine or the PAP. And for the alternative policies that the SDP has proposed. And I’ll give him credit for his actions in reinventing the SDP and himself. But there’s too much historical baggage,

Chee reinvented SDP after making it toxic

And there’s

— Will the real SDP, Dr Chee pls stand up?

— Salute these Oppo warriors (I praise Mad Dog albeit when he was taking his anti-Mad Dog pills)

S’pore is parasite

Ong Hai Chuen posted on FB

Why is SINGAPORE the RICHEST country in ASIA? – VisualPolitik EN

Sonny Liew, yes he of The Art of Charlie Chan gave this totful response (Somewhat related post: “Bullshit is the glue that binds us as a nation” )

This analysis suffers from a common problem of failing to recognise Singapore as essentially a metropolitan area – as evinced by the presenter’s own constant switching from descriptions and comparisons using both the terms “city” and “country”.

The economic writer Joe Studwell in his intro to “How Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World’s Most Dynamic Region ” writes that his book “restricts itself to the developmental challenges facing what I would call ‘proper countries'”.

He goes on to say that he “ignores east Asia’s two main offshore financial centres – Hong Kong and Singapore”, along with the ” “micro oil state of Brunei” and “east Asia’s traditional gambling centre, Macau”, before describing comparisons of development between places like Singapore and Indonesia as a “pointless and deeply misleading debate”, since “Offshore centres are not normal states. Around the world, they compete by specialising in trade and financial services while enjoying lower structural overheads than other countries, which have larger, more dispersed populations, and agricultural sectors that drag on productivity… ”

“Offshore centre’s lower overheads mean that they also have a built-in fiscal advantage. Yet they can never exist in isolation – they are in a strict sense parasitic, because they have to have their host or hosts to feed on.”

It would make more sense to look at Singapore in City or Metropolitan Area terms when evaluating it’s policies and successes – so places like Hartford and San Jose would be in a similar league. These cities have small population sizes and may have comparable types of economies – Hartford’s economy is “strong in finance, especially insurance and benefits and is an important government center, as the capital of Connecticut”, while San Jose “is home to the larger part of the world’s leading technology center, suburban Silicon Valley.”

While good governance is still key to its success, failure to at least view Singapore partly through metropilitan area lenses may end up presenting a muddled picture…

Tun chickened out/ Two cheers for cowardly PAP govt

M’sia and S’pore are to return to their respective port limits before M’sia’s initial extension on Oct. 25, 2018 of its port limits off Johor. In response, S’pore extended its port limits off Tuas on Dec. 6.

Seems M’sia has backed down as S’pore had proposed a return to the status quo before 25 Oct earlier this yr, but got the finger.

Whatever, two cheers* for the PAP govt. We got what we wanted without sinking a M’sian vessel as I and others suggested: Why sink a M’sian vessel.

Morocco Mole (Secret Squirrel’s trusted sidekick) tells me that his second cousin removed in the M’sian coast guard tells him that the “accidental” ramming of an intruding M’sian vessel by a Maersk vessel, has the M’sian govt really worried. What would they do if another such accident sank a M’sian ship? For starters, they don’t have the resources to do a search-and-rescue operation, and would have to beg S’pore for help. And they couldn’t recover their sunken vessel without our help.

Related posts

What Meng Seng and TOC don’t tell us about dispute with Tun

How to squeeze Tun’s balls real hard

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*Note to cybernuts (in the event TRE uses this piece) who don’t know meaning of “two cheers” like “bapak” because they never went to an elite school or even lesser schools like Hwa Chong, only neighbourhood schools or vocational institutes: read https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/two-cheers-for

Secret behind DBS’s fintech success

DBS is now the ang moh investors’ favourite SE Asian bank. It has a successful digital strategy that has the both the buy and sides saying “Buy”. UOB or OCBC can’t match DBS’s fintech skills.

Well the dirty secret is that there are almost no S’poreans in its much  deservedly vaunted fintech team. They are mostly FTs from achar land or PRC land. Locals (top young STEM grads from NUS or NTU) feel lonely and that they are working in Bangalore, Mumbai, Beijing or Shanghai.

Interesting that Peenoys not smart enough to work there. but the Peenoy HR personnel team in DBS are working on getting their fellow Peenoys employed there.

Flowless recovery = Date cat bounce or joyless recovery?

Another gd day for mkts. So was last Thursday’s ECB whimp out really a catalyst. Well

A key aspect of the 2019 rebound for markets has been the absence of money chasing the action. True, emerging markets have pulled in cash, but for other key areas, investors are not chasing the recovery, they remain intent on getting out. So the present recovery still smells more like a short covering rally, where bearish bets have closed, leaving the market poised to jump a lot higher or follow the path currently indicated by slumbering government bond yields.

Société Générale has been focusing on the flows story for a while and here’s their latest update:

“Our research shows that, year-to-date, we have experienced a flowless recovery, equities have risen the most in decades, but outflows from the equities asset class have been significant, caused by last year’s damage to portfolios. Risk aversion is now very apparent and portfolios are already hedging for many risks. Cash positions have also become very sizeable indeed, as the prospect of a US recession in 2020 does not bode well for risky assets.”

FT columnist

Related post: Black Friday for equities

Hyflux directors, mgt & auditors kooning from 2016 onwards?

And will Hyflux retail investors still vote for the PAP? (Reference: Will Oliver Lum and other Hyflux investors still vote for the PAP?)

So

HYFLUX has taken a S$916 million impairment for the nine months ended Sept 30, to adjust for a fall in carrying value of the Tuaspring water and power plant and other write-downs.

This figure was released … after Hyflux submitted its latest statement of financial position to the High Court.

“The impairment loss . . . relates predominantly to the impairment loss arising from the assessment of the carrying value of Tuaspring and the impairment of receivables for previously completed projects,” …

Hyflux had asked a valuer to conduct an up-to-date valuation of the Tuaspring plant, but no exact figure was shared in the submission.

BT report in early March

But

When Hyflux was first awarded the Tuaspring project in 2011, based on the financial model which modeled the cashflow projections from the project, the power plant was expected to generate profits from day one. This financial model was audited by an external financial model auditor and furnished to the offtaker. In 2013 when Tuaspring was able to secure a non-recourse project financing loan, the lender commissioned an independent market study of the project which arrived at similar conclusions supporting the book value of approximately SGD1.4 billion.

Hyflux fiasco shows why “book value” is BS

And when it did its 6% Perpetuals in 2016, the book value attributed Tuaspring was around this value.

So in the light of the loss in 2017, it’s reasonable to ask why the book value of Tuaspring was not looked at again before the auditors blessed the 2017 accounts in March 2018,

When KPMG issued an unqualified opinion on the full year results for the Hyflux Group in March 2018, there were no events or conditions that individually or collectively, cast significant doubt on the going concern assumption as at the balance sheet date of 31 December 2017, or at the audit report date of 22 March 2018.

Hyflux on investor losses: “Not our fault, banksters at work”;

if not earlier in 2017 when signs of trouble may have become apparent. Unless of course maybe Hyflux’s finance and accounting departments were staffed by Wankers or their relatives and friends? See: Wankers’ Party still blur on audits and accounting and What the US army and WP have in common?.

OK, OK, juz joking.

I’ll end with more extracts from BT report to give an idea of how big the hole caused by the drop in book value of Tuaspring and how the banksters are getting their money back while PAP voters are being screwed (anti-PAP voters got no money according to TRE cybernuts):.

At the end of September 2018, the value of Hyflux’s held-for-sale assets was S$651 million, or S$824 million lower.

Hyflux said: “This valuation is based on the most recent market study conducted by K4K Training & Advisory SL, the same consultant who did a similar market study in 2016 (which supported the valuation then). The view taken in this most recent market study is significantly different from that in 2016 due to . . . the losses in the electricity market in the recent years and the projected lower spark spreads for the remaining concession period.”

Noting that the current valuation is “significantly lower” than that adopted in 2016, Hyflux said that it intends to commission a further valuation to be undertaken by a different valuer for the purposes of finalising the 2018 full-year financial results.

“As the carrying value is a reflection of the current depressed market, in the event that the Singapore power market recovers to provide generation companies with sufficient spark spread margins, the valuation might then be revised,” Hyflux said.

Banksters take their money and run:

However, if creditors consent to haircuts under its proposed restructuring scheme, Hyflux will return to a net asset position of S$1.1 billion, according to the group’s pro forma calculations. Mr Gerald said: “This means that the company may have positive value post restructuring.”

Post-restructuring, Hyflux’s pro-forma net tangible assets (NTA) per share would be 4.2 Singapore cents, based on an NTA of S$815.3 million distributed across an enlarged share base after an equity injection and various debt-for-equity swaps.

Indonesia’s Salim Group and Medco Group had earlier agreed to give Hyflux a S$400 million equity injection in exchange for a 60 per cent stake in the company post-restructuring. Effectively, Salim-Medco is buying into Hyflux at 3.4 Singapore cents a share.

If the Salim-Medco deal goes through, Hyflux’s debt securities holders and senior unsecured lenders will be cleaned off the balance sheet.

PAP voters get shafted:

Retail perpetual and preference share holders will have their S$900 million in claims swapped for S$27 million in cash and S$69.2 million shares, assuming that the shares are valued at 3.4 cents apiece. That works out to a 10.7 per cent recovery rate on their principal.

And there’s the retail shareholders.

Will they still vote for the PAP?  Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP.

Vote wisely. But the problem is Mad Dog, Lim Tean and Meng Seng. 

Sad.

 

Watain ban: playing the easily offended game can backfire

Easily offended Muslims are paying the price for being easily offended and making police reports etc, and getting other S’poreans into trouble. Their actions have had consequences. When social media took after here, all those years ago, some easily offended Muslims were forever making police reports or complaining loudly publicly about posts they found offensive. Well easily offended Taliban Christians (minority here thankfully) were watching and listening, and learning.

The govt said Watain targeted the Christian religion specifically and hence the ban. Fair point given that if the band insulted Muslims, it’d have been banned because the authorities didn’t want easily offended Muslims to be upset, and making known their unhappiness.

But because “Christians don’t riot” (BG Yeo said this when he was a minister: remember him?) some civil servant tot it fine to let them in to perform? I’m glad the govt is being even-handed in its illiberal attitude*, which I personally disagree with.

I note the band also targets Jews.

But they don’t insult or diss Islam or Muslims. Why, despite Islam being an Abrahamic faith too? I can only suppose because jihadists even in Sweden kill or threaten to kill those who mock Islam or Muslims. Christians and Jews in Sweden ain’t so violent against those who insult their religion, I suppose.

This is another reason to ban them: for having only the balls to insult those who they know won’t kill or threaten to kill them for the insults. Christians don’t riot remember? Ditto Jews? The Jews only file law suits.

And I agree with the Minister with responsibility for the welfare of pets, among other duties, who warned the Muslim community that it has responsibility to show that it lives in a multi-cultural society and must be aware of others’ sensitivities, just as it expects others to be sensitive to its sensitivities.

“You have a group of Malay young men, showing the one-finger sign, supporting the group,” CNA quoted the minister.

“If a group of Chinese went and showed the finger sign and said that we should allow it – how would you all have felt? It is the same.” Very true. Something for the Malay community to think about.

As the photo has gone viral “across the Christian community”, Shanmugam said that it was crucial to show that the picture does not represent what the Muslim community thinks. “They won’t realize that this a small group of Malays, but they may think, is this what Muslims think of us? So now we have to send the message that this is not what the Muslim community thinks. These are black metal group supporters, they are not the mainstream community.”

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*Minister Shanmugan said, “The Christian preachers, when they talk to me, say ‘you are very, very strict when it comes to anti-Muslim, anti-Islamic messages…They said: ‘You treat the Muslim community differently than the Christian community.’ I looked at it and I thought that there is some truth to what they say, I won’t say that it is completely true but it is an approach.”

Added 21 hrs after first publication.

 

 

 

Black Friday for equities

Juz that no-one noticed it. LOL

The Dow Jones Transportation Average — one of Wall Street’s favourite barometers of economic activity — has fallen for a record 11 consecutive sessions. Many investors, self included, regard its performance as a predictor of growth because it’s made up of of railroad operators, shipping companies and airlines that ship physical goods around the world. On Thursday, it fell for a record-equalling 10th straight session.

And indices including the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and FTSE All World all closed below their 200-day moving averages, seen by traders as long-term support levels.

That’s not all: the strength of dollar despite Fed turning chicken on interest rates shows that the other major economies look sick. And strong US dollar is bad for emerging markets.

The gd news is that S&P 5000 fell every day last week for a cumulative drop of about 2.4%  That would rank as its worst weekly performance since December 21, just before the market bottomed.

 

Streaming and the SDP

Looks like someone in the SDP (Mad Dog most likely?) didn’t understand its own streaming policy paper or didn’t read read the PAP’s minister’s proposal before dashing out this piece of turd: Ong Ye Kung Adopts SDP’s Proposal to Abolish Streaming.

Let me explain.

Further to No more streaming? Really? What a load of BS, where I reported Roy Ngerng’s analysis that the PAP’s “abolition” of streaming results in a more refined way of streaming, I can’t help but think that Mad Dog double confirms that he’s a howling Mad Dog.

The SDP (actually Dr Chee,  Morocco Mole assures me) was quick to say that the PAP followed their 2014 recommendation to abolish streaming: Ong Ye Kung Adopts SDP’s Proposal to Abolish Streaming.

Well I wanted to know did the SDP propose what the PAP govt is proposing to do that Roy says (I agree with him) is really streaming in another guise?

Take the hypothetical situation that students take 3 subjects for their ‘O’ Levels at Secondary 4, with the different G-subject combinations and grades according to the following:

[1] G3 (A grade), G3 (A), G3 (A).
[2] G3 (A), G3 (A), G2 (A)
[3] G3 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[4] G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[5] G2 (A), G2 (A), G1 (A)
[6] G2 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)
[7] G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)

Instead of 3 streams, now do we have 7 streams?

An extended version with 4 subjects would look like this:

[1] G3 (A grade), G3 (A), G3 (A), G3 (A)
[2] G3 (A), G3 (A), G3 (A), G2 (A)
[3] G3 (A), G3 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[4] G3 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[5] G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[6] G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A), G1 (A)
[7] G2 (A), G2 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)
[8] G2 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)
[9] G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)

Does this now make 9 streams?

Now, take this and multiply by the number of subjects students have to actually take (6 to 8, at least), and then by the more refined grading (A1, A2, B3, B4, etc.).

As such, the ‘Express’, ‘Normal (Academic)’ and ‘Normal (Technical)’ streams have been removed in name, but have they only been replaced by a more refined way of streaming, as outlined in [1] to [7 or 9, or more] above?

Roy Ngerng

I’ve not read the SDP policy paper but I’ve been assured by Secret Squirrel that the paper advocates a complete abolition of streaming including no more elite schools. No streaming by another name as per PAP govt plan which retains RI, MGS and St Nick and the so-called other elite schools. And a SDP sua kee (only Mad Dog is tua kee in the SDP) is muttering on FB that until elite schools are abolished, there still is streaming.

So why did SDP issue Ong Ye Kung Adopts SDP’s Proposal to Abolish Streaming?

All this means that Mad Dog did not understand the SDP’s policy paper, or forgot its contents, or did not read or analyse the minister’s comments before coming out with his claim that the PAP “borrowed” its recommendation: Ong Ye Kung Adopts SDP’s Proposal to Abolish Streaming.

With enemies like Dr Chee, the PAP doesn’t need friends. Sad.

The SDP now has a lot of good people nowadays especially as grass-root activists. And a SDP team of responsible adults, endorsed by Dr Tan Cheng Bock, can give the PAP a run for its money in any GRC contest.

Put down Mad Dog or at least triple his medicine, RI doctors in SDP. Please. Pretty please.

 

No more streaming? Really? What a load of BS

Going by alt media reports, the cybernuts have bot into the SDP’s message that the PAP followed the SDP’s recommendation to abolish streaming. But has the PAP really abolished streaming as the SDP claims.

I think not. The PAP govt has actually refined streaming, while saying it has abolished streaming. Stupid SDP, stupid cybernuts. But what to expect from the best enablers the PAP have: with enemies like these, it doesn’t need real friends.

Roy Ngerng is absolutely right. Extract from: PAP’s changes on the education system is nothing but a cosmetic joke

Under the new system, G1 subjects correspond to the Normal (Technical) standard, Ong Ye Kung said. G2 subjects correspond to the Normal (Academic) standard and G3 subjects correspond to the Express standard.

Take the hypothetical situation that students take 3 subjects for their ‘O’ Levels at Secondary 4, with the different G-subject combinations and grades according to the following:

[1] G3 (A grade), G3 (A), G3 (A).
[2] G3 (A), G3 (A), G2 (A)
[3] G3 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[4] G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[5] G2 (A), G2 (A), G1 (A)
[6] G2 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)
[7] G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)

Instead of 3 streams, now do we have 7 streams?

An extended version with 4 subjects would look like this:

[1] G3 (A grade), G3 (A), G3 (A), G3 (A)
[2] G3 (A), G3 (A), G3 (A), G2 (A)
[3] G3 (A), G3 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[4] G3 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[5] G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A)
[6] G2 (A), G2 (A), G2 (A), G1 (A)
[7] G2 (A), G2 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)
[8] G2 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)
[9] G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A), G1 (A)

Does this now make 9 streams?

Now, take this and multiply by the number of subjects students have to actually take (6 to 8, at least), and then by the more refined grading (A1, A2, B3, B4, etc.).

As such, the ‘Express’, ‘Normal (Academic)’ and ‘Normal (Technical)’ streams have been removed in name, but have they only been replaced by a more refined way of streaming, as outlined in [1] to [7 or 9, or more] above?

Strange, no, why the PAP government announced that streaming will be “removed” but did not say how students will be streamed into the junior colleges, polytechnics and ITEs?

I suppose the good thing now is that students will not have to live with the label of being from certain streams, but will it only be replaced? I was from 8 G3s, or I am from 5 G3s and 3 G2s?

There were two perceptive comments among the usual rants

It will likely work like current JC to University, where there are basic subject prerequisites to take up a subject or course combination.

The impact is that students will likely have to decide career paths much earlier than in the past and pick the G3, G2 subjects early working on their areas of strengths.
The divergent will happen later, students will go to JCs, poly or ITE based on the level and choice of subjects.

And commenting on the above comment

bro, there is a difference between removing streaming and refining streaming.

what the clown pap ong Lj has done is NOT remove but refine.

unless he is so ffffing stupid he cannot say remove streaming when he can only say refine streaming.

under g1 g2 g3 there will still be many in g1 who zero chance right off the bat from poly or U. so actually even without S$m paid to us we know g1 is for ITE and g2 is for poly and g3 is for U.

America is Great Again but no thanks to Trump

Thank Texas, New Mexico and geology. And America’s God?

By 2024 Exxon and Chevron now expect to be pumping almost 2m barrels a day combined from the Permian, which straddles Texas and New Mexico. That is 60 per cent more than previously forecast.

The Permian as a whole will already produce about 4m b/d this year, meaning that this one region — if it were an Opec country — would be the third-largest producer in the cartel, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

FT report

One in the eye for Allah and his prophet Mohammed?

Mammon of America got a lot more power.

Why 37,000+ sure to vote for PAP

I refer to Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP where I talked of falling resale prices causing a problem for the PAP with those who bot resale flats. But this is not an issue for those received this special government grant for buying a home to live with or near their parents or children. A friend drew my attention to (emphasis mine):

The number of households that received a government grant for buying a home to live with or near their parents or children has nearly doubled, said the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Friday (Feb 8).

Since the launch of the Proximity Housing Grant in 2015, about 20,100 households have benefited from the scheme as of end-2018. This compares to the 11,000 households that received the grant between 2015 and 2017.

The grant was increased in February 2018 to encourage more families to live near each other.

In total, S$377 million has been disbursed under the scheme. An additional 300 families will receive their grants once their resale transactions are completed.

Under the scheme, all Singaporean citizen families who buy a resale flat to live with their parents or children enjoy a grant of S$30,000. Those buying a resale flat to live near their parents or children receive S$20,000.

Eligible singles who buy a resale flat to live with their parents receive S$15,000, while singles who buy a resale flat near their parents receive S$10,000.
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The proximity condition of “near” is defined as within 4km.

All Singaporeans are eligible for the Proximity Housing Grant once, regardless of their household income, ownership of private property or whether they have enjoyed housing subsidies before.

Those who own private properties will have to dispose of them within six months of the resale flat purchase.

As of Dec 31, 2018, about 20,400 households have applied for the grant. Of these, 53 per cent did not qualify for other housing grants, HDB said.

Families made up 83 per cent of the applications, while the remainder were singles.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hdb-proximity-grant-number-doubled-live-near-parents-children-11222086

why will they not thank the PAP govt by voting for the PAP?

FYI, I got the headline number based on “Families made up 83 per cent of the applications, while the remainder were singles.” and “An additional 300 families will receive their grants once their resale transactions are completed.”

Every vote matters for the PAP.

Vote wisely.

The loneliness of a TRE cybernut

A TRE cybernut was really lonely during the Chinese New Years hols: with no kaki to spend time with, he had to go online to kill time. LOL.

Recently, someone told me that when TRE used M’sian minister thinks M’sian drivers tua kee, a cybernut called rukidding kept posting comments attacking me etc. His various posts taken together were longer then my post which was mainly a “copy and paste” job from a CNA article, juz adding my usual insight, sardonic insight. I was really in a hurry because guests were coming on the first day of CNY.

What was really pathetic is that he was posting comments on the second day of CNY (the day TRE used the piece). Got no one to visit him? Or no-one to visit? Or worse he ethnic minority without any Chinese pals to visit? Or he too uncouth for them to invite him. Meanwhile “bapak” was boozing and eating pork.

Whatever rukidding can only go online isit?

He needs loneliness pill? Akan datang: Pill for loneliness.

Or time for him to get a dog. Doubtless, he’ll soon be charged for cruelty: dog has to eat what he has to eat.

With enemies like him, the PAP will rule forever and a day.

 

Shrinking commodity inventories

Is the CEO of Glencore, the miner and hard commodities trader, talking his book or does he really have a point that commodities are a cheong.

“If you look . . . around the world, we’re at record low levels for a lot of commodities,” he said in late February. “In copper we have 13 days’ supply sitting in inventories. You have zinc down at record levels of eight days’ supply and nickel at 34 days.”

Since then the prices of these have rallied but, then so has most markets.

In trouble: Must be Bill Ng’s footie club again LOL

Hougang United Football Club, one of nine clubs in the professional football league, has filed a police report against an employee after losing S$278,200 from its coffers.

A female administrative staff member, Tean Tai Tee, allegedly misappropriated the sales revenue from the clubhouse between Nov 29 and Dec 11 last year. Tean, 25, was subsequently arrested by the police and charged in court on Dec 16 with criminal breach of trust.

MSM late last week

Chairman of the club is one Bill Ng. Who he? The wannabe saviour of S’pore footie (Bill’s Game Changers trying to avoid 41 – 3 thrashing) who was arrested and is out on bail.

Sport Singapore filing a police report against National Football League side TBFC for suspected misuse of club funds and a purported attempt by a senior club official to obstruct the completing of audits of the league’s sit-out clubs.

TBFC and Hougang chairman Bill Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong, former FAS general secretary Winston Lee and former FAS president Zainudin Nordin were subsequently arrested.

Details that emerged from the case also shocked members of the fraternity, as TBFC was found to have earned S$37 million from its clubhouse operations while spending just S$169,000 on its football team.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/s250000-missing-hougang-united-football-club-staff-arrested#cxrecs_s

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Bill Ng: S’pore footie’s ang pow king

Bill the “donation” king/ A friend in need is not a friend indeed?

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As he, his wife, ex-FAS senior official and ex-MP have yet to be charged, or the cases dropped by the police, maybe it’s time for human rights activists to KPKB about persecution etc? They were arrested and released on bail almost a yr ago: Bill Ng, wife, ex-FAS president and FAS gen sec arrested.

That’s a long time ago. In the normal course of events, they should be charged or cleared.

Fat chance of ang moh tua kees KPKBing on their behalf. Human rights activists (think Maruah) don’t do rich people or alleged terrorists, only drug traffickers (or alleged ones), middle class ang moh tua kees like themselves, or FTs: Human rights kay pohs don’t do “fixers” and “jihadists”.

———————————————–

Amos’s lament about ang moh tua kees who “Talk the cock but don’t walk the cock”: Amos: Only mum is still a fan.

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I’ll end by asking for some help. Could someone who has access to ST’s premium service, copy and past the u/m article in the comments section to this article (Scan article also can do). Need to confirm what I think the article said. There’s another Bill Ng story in the writing, if I get access to the article.

Football: Albirex Niigata go down to Chinatown People’s Park, Football News & Top Stories – The Straits Times The controversial clubhouse at the centre of last year’s Football Association of Singapore (FAS) election donation saga will reopen today under the new ownership of Singapore Premier League (SPL … www.straitstimes.com

https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/albirex-go-down-to-peoples-park

Why S’poreans continue voting for the PAP to have 2/3 of parly seats

Interesting graphic that shows that S’pore scores well on well-being axis.

Explains why despite Terry’s Indian Goons, Correspondent or Ghui, all from TOC,  and the cybernuts ranters from TRE, The Indians Idiots, other alt media outlets and FB, 60- 70% S’poreans keep on supporting the PAP.

Rather than juz KPKB maybe these anti-PAP types should try explaining how S’pore “fixes” its high score on the Well Being axis.

Chart from https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/01/28/culture-as-the-menacing-force-behind-todays-crazy-politics.

Vote wisely. And I don’t mean Mad Dog, Lim Tean or Meng Seng. But pls remember the SDP is more than Mad Dog.

Related post: Great IB riposte to Mad Dog and P Ravi etc

Jolovan’s latest problem shows Sylvia Lim’s and my prescience

 

And that Terry Xu has a good point on the police and constructive, nation-building media.”

Many moons ago, I asked:

“Jogging alone can be illegal?

‘If wearing the wrong tee-shirt or singlet?”

Well something like it has happened here.

Social worker and activist Jolovan Wham is being investigated for protesting outside State Courts without a valid permit, police said on Saturday (Mar 2)*.

Seriously, Auntie Sylvia was absolutely right in 2007 and 2009 when she spoke out publicly:

“The change in definition of “assembly” and “procession” is more disturbing. As the Explanatory Statement to the Bill says, these words are no longer restricted to gatherings of 5 persons or more. This means even ONE person alone can constitute illegal assembly, thus giving the State complete control over an individual citizen’s freedoms.

‘First, to say that 1 person constitutes an assembly is certainly an abuse of the word. Secondly, is the government making the change because there had been incidents involving less than 5 persons which had disrupted public life? Unless there is compelling evidence to prove to us that expanding the definition of assembly and procession is needed, this expansion does not deserve our support,”  Sylvia Lim in parly in 2009.

Earlier, in 2007, she had said:

“This refers to clauses 29 and 30 of the Bill. By clause 29 of the Bill, we are removing the heading “Offences Against Public Tranquility” and replacing it with “Offences relating to Unlawful Assembly”. By Clause 30, we will be deleting “mischief or trespass or other offence” and replacing it with “to commit any offence”.

S 141 has been amended to bring it in line with a recent Court of Appeal case: PP v Tan Meng Khin [1995] 2 SLR 505. Now, an assembly will be unlawful if people intend to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment of 6 mths or more, even if it is peaceful and does not disturb public tranquillity. Under our law, a person who organizes a procession or assembly after the police rejection of a permit can be punished with max 6 months jail under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Hence 5 or more people who gather to do so will become members of an unlawful assembly.

As our society continues to evolve, the time is surely ripe for us to allow peaceful outdoor protests as a form of expression. By all means, we can have rules about how, where and when such processions may be held, but wider law reform is needed. S 141 should be restricted to offences which threaten the public peace, and other laws such as the Miscellaneous Offences Act which require permits for peaceful assemblies should be modified.”

Jogging alone can be illegal?

Terry Xu wrote on FB yesterday

[T]he shocking part for me, is that the Police had provided information to the media to create an impression that Wham willfully committed an offence on 13 Dec despite being warned.

This is even before any charge is being made against Wham and established that a protest was being held in front of the state court. What is factually established is Wham took a photo in front of the state court with a piece of paper that had some wordings. He was not being approached by any officers nor arrested for his act, which would imply it was either too insignificant or too short of a time period to be noticed by the guards.

Also, the act of taking a photo should not be considered an offence as photographers from the media take photos of suspects on a regular basis. Unless there is a blatant double standard by the Police.

Yet the Police and the media frame it up as an act which justifies the investigation launched upon Wham.

It’s not shocking to me, or I’m sure, Auntie.

As I wrote many moons ago, try walking or jogging alone wearing a “Free our CPF” singlet: remember that any public assembly of more than one person needs police permission.

But what about wearing a tee shirt with a Oppo party logo, drinking teh tarik as social media celebrities Ravi and Jeannette Chong used to do when they were NSP tua kees? Nothing happened to them.

Seems anything the PAP administration or the SPF doesn’t like can be an illegal assembly.

Sad. Because discretionary, or vaguely worded powers can one day be turned against you, the upright, civic, PAP-voting S’porean; not juz against the usual suspects like Jolovan Wham.

Vote wisely.

Related posts:

PAP uses Lawfare against its opponents?

Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right

Jolovan Wham: Nothing wrong in asking Tun M to intervene in S’porean affairs

Why Jolovan Wham’s vigil singled out?

---

*CNA report goes on

Wham had posted a photo on Dec 13 on social media channels, which showed him standing outside the court complex while holding up a piece of paper that read: “Drop the charges against Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa.”

The protest happened the same day Terry Xu, the editor of socio-political website The Online Citizen, and Daniel De Costa were charged for publishing an article that alleged corruption among the Singapore Government’s highest officers.

In response to Channel NewsAsia’s queries, police said that Wham had written to the police earlier in November to apply for a permit to stage a protest outside the State Courts. His application was not approved.

“The State Courts is gazetted as a Prohibited Area under the Public Order Act, with stricter security protocols,” police said.

“He was well aware that a police permit was required for such an event. Still, he went ahead to protest outside the State Courts on Dec 13, 2018.”

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/police-investigating-activist-jolovan-wham-protest-state-courts-11305502

 

 

 

Welcome to S’pore: Mall BSing on data protection law

(Part of an occasional series on uniquely S’porean behaviour, attitudes, customs etc)

The TOC article reported in Welcome to S’pore: Punish public-spirited S’porean is priority, got this considered FB response from a lawyer:

The article says that the management of the mall issued a statement that said, “We have mentioned that firms actions will be taken with regards to the video leak. To further clarify, the point of issue is on the filming of the CCTV footage, which is a breach of PDPA rules and regulations as well as security protocol.“

The statement seems a little confused. If the issue is on the “filming of the CCTV footage” (the collection of personal data) then the fact that there could have been signs informing the public of the existence of CCTV cameras capturing footage and hence personal data would be sufficient notice if the signs informed of the collection and the purposes of collection and the channels of disclosure of the personal data collected. In any event as the place was a public space, the collection of personal data in a public space – in this case the filming – could have been done without consent because the data was in this case “publicly available”. However the guidelines do encourage the good practice of putting up signs that inform that CCTV cameras are in use and the purposes for such collection of personal data.

On the other point of the “leak” (disclosure of the relevant personal data) and who is responsible rather depends on whether the leak was occasioned by an employee of the mall or an external service provider. If it was an employee, then the mall would still be the organisation responsible and the enquiry would revolve around whether the mall had taken all reasonable action to prevent such disclosure. If it was by an external service provider like a security company who was engaged by the mall, then the security company would be the subject of the Commission’s enquiry.

But ultimately someone was hurt. For the statement issued by the mall to centre on a possible PDPA breach rather than on what they would do to take care of a fellow human being is, in my opinion, inappropriate.

(Samuel Seow via TOC)

Welcome to S’pore: Punish public-spirited S’porean is priority

(Part of an occasional series on uniquely S’porean behaviour, attitudes, customs etc)

It was recently reported in the media that a lady was hit by a falling glass door at the Alexandra Central Mall on Sunday (24 Feb).

As a result, she suffered multiple serious injuries, including head and liver injuries. She also had multiple fractures along her legs and pelvic bone, which means she will have to undergo surgery to help support and stabilize her spine.

She has been warded at National University Hospital. According to the victim’s sister, the victim would “cry out in agony” every time the painkiller wears off.

Meanwhile, the management of Alexandra Central Mall is reportedly on the hunt for the person who leaked the CCTV footage online. The footage captured the entire episode showing how the glass door fell on the lady.

TOC

Seems that mgt is claiming that the leak is in breach of data protection laws so he has to be caught.

Shouldn’t the mgt of Alexandra Central Mall be more interested in ensuring that no-one else gets hurt?

But TOC may offer an explanation

[F]ormer Chief of Navy and Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew joined Chip Eng Seng’s Board of Directors in 2016, after he stepped down from politics in 2015. He did not want to run for elections anymore.

(Chip Eng Seng, a listc, owns the mall)

Remember an ex-soldier told MRT commuter that people must die before SMRT train can be damaged: SMRT SVP is great believer in shareholder value?.

OK, OK, I exaggerate, the PR head of SMRT said yrs ago

If you are stuck inside a train, never smash the windows or force the doors open. Stay calm and wait for help.

My response:

But what if passengers are in great discomfort or suffocating to death in the dark because the back-up system that was supposed to activate emergency lights within the carriages and provide ventilation was not working? And passengers don’t know when help is arriving because the driver is not authorised to tell them, or he doesn’t know?

Still no smash windows to breath fresher air, Mr Goh?

The reasonable implication of what Mr Goh says is that SMRT (remember he is SVP) prefers S’poreans to suffer great discomfort or die rather than damage SMRT property.

Shareholders will be pleased that they have someone, like Mr Goh managing SMRT, who is so concerned about shareholder value that he would rather people die than damage SMRT property.

I’ll go buy some SMRT shares tomorrow. With managers like him, nothing for shareholders to worry about neh?

That was a great buy. Sad didn’t buy enough.

Terry and his Correspondent taking wrong pills again

In Cybernuts can relax: TOC resumes normal anti-PAP service, I reported that the reason why TOC had been writing pro PAP pieces like TOC now part of constructive, nation-building media? and Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt, was because Terry and the Correspondent had been taking pro-PAP pills (“PAP govt is always right”) daily instead of the usual “PAP govt is always wrong” pills. Either they were fixed or they made an honest mistake.

Whatever, they are at it again

Filipino: Singapore makes my jaw drop every time I visit the place

[Ethan James Coronel] said he then began to appreciate the “wonders” of Singapore and would compare it with the Philippines, his country.

“I became a huge admirer of Singapore to the point that I bought Lee Kuan Yew’s From Third World To First just to learn about how Singapore became what it is now,” he said.

He said that the Singapore’s SMRT, for example, is something he admired and “enjoyed deeply”.

“Such a convenience most Singaporeans take for granted is a luxury to Filipinos like me because we don’t have an extensive subway system. You either need a car or have a hefty transportation budget for Grab to travel safely and comfortably in Manila; in Singapore owning a car is merely optional,” he explained.

“I often complained how abysmally maintained our infrastructure is.”

Another is the cleanliness which he said is “another thing worthy of praise”.

“Streets are almost always spotless and its waterways too. In Manila, garbage piles are found everywhere. Our rivers, tributaries and creeks emit a putrid smell and are sometimes completely covered with garbage,” he complained.

“And lastly, who wouldn’t marvel at the sight of Marina Bay Sands and Gardens By The Bay? They still make me do every time,” he added.

“There are more things worthy of mention but, man, nothing makes my jaw drop more than the ones I mentioned above every time I visit the place. Those and how delicious Old Chang Kee’s curry puffs are.”

Vote wisely.

Articles to help you vote wisely:

Merdeka Package shows how smart scholars are

Great IB riposte to Mad Dog and P Ravi etc

6,400 senior citizens each get $312.50 hongpao from a TLC

Will Oliver Lum and other Hyflux investors still vote for the PAP?

Did u know S’pore graduated to “Flawed democracy”?

Why Milliennals will vote for the PAP

Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP

Keeping power in a one-party state