Further to Mad Dog, Lim Tean and other cybernuts are peddling fake news, BlackBox’s latest (December) Government Satisfaction Index fell 1 point to 79. The change over the last 12 months also fell 1 point. Looks like S’poreans are really satisfied despite what Mad Dog, Lim Tean, Meng Seng, and TOC’s M’sian Indian goons (Terry and his “bunch of Indians”) and other cybernuts are saying: that S’poreans are so unhappy that the PAP govt will be overthrown by the Spastics League?
Vote wisely.
A world without WiFi passwords. Cisco’s OpenRoaming initiative is trying to make moving through WiFi zones as seamless as mobile networks.
Telcos will not be happy. So I doubt we’d see this initiative tested here. Sad.
https://www.cbronline.com/news/openroaming-cisco-canary-wharf
In summary, the models expect recovering GDP growth, extremely low inflation, exceptionally low bond returns, and low but positive equity returns in 2020-22.
Gavyn Davies* talking about the global macro scene for 2020
I tot I would be selling out of my S-Reits in 1Q 2020. Guess I’ll hang around for a bit longer.
*He’s an FT columnist
Gavyn Davies is now chairman of Fulcrum Asset Management and co-founder of Prisma Capital Partners. He was the head of the global economics department at Goldman Sachs from 1987-2001, and was chairman of the BBC from 2001-2004. He has also served as an economic policy adviser in No 10 Downing Street, an external adviser to the British Treasury, and as a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.
FT
Recently, in Fact v opinion & “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”, I praised him, almost agreeing with him. Since then he said more sensible things:
Two dirty words – tweak and calibrate
A few years ago, it was common to see the words “tweak” and “calibrate”. The ministers used them almost every day. When they see any problem, they immediately think about how to “calibrate” and “tweak” the system to solve the problem.
It seemed that the only way to solve problems in Singapore is by “tweaking” and “calibrating”. I see their statements so often that I felt nauseous when I encounter them.
I know that the ministers are just parroting their puppet master. Guess who is the puppet master who just love “tweaking” and “calibrating”?
After I while, I got tired. I declared publicly in my Facebook and blog that these two words are “dirty words.”
I guess my strong words must have reached the ivory tower and must have caused some anguish among the occupants.
Today, we hardly see these words. They must have been abolished from the vocabulary of the ivory tower.
Although these words are hardly used nowadays, the bad practice still continues. Our government policies are tweaked and calibrated to suit different groups of people.
What is wrong with this approach? It leads to complications and unfair treatment of different groups of people. Some get the benefit, some do not. Some get more, others get less – depending on how the line is drawn. Now make a guess – who draw the line? The person who hold the drawing ruler probably has some vested interest.
I prefer a different approach – to give equal treatment to everybody. Except for one difference. When it comes to taxation, the higher income should pay more tax (as they can afford it), but they should enjoy the same benefit given to everybody.
Tan Kin Lian
Fortunately, I don’t have to change my low opinion of about him because very recently he posted this after the public tpt fare rise
He forget he has boasted he has rental income from his properties. Juz increase the rent by 5%.
He forgot he got rental income? Dementia? Like his PE manager Meng Seng, or Lim Tean
(Btw More evidence that being anti-PAP is bad for yr mental health)
Or is he trying to pretend that he wasn’t a PAP cadre (GCT’s branch secretary, no less)? What an ingrate.
Just as bad an opportunist as TJS:
TJS: Right attitude, wrong project? and Why TJS never got invited for tea and biscuits.
At least TJS has lowered his public profile. He sold his bungalow and now posts photos of his travels round the world on FB, a retired honourable warrior tells me.
Taiwan houses one of the world’s great art collections. The National Palace Museum in Taipei has more than 650,000 antiquities and works of art, mostly from the historic imperial collections in the Forbidden City in Beijing,
The collection spans some 8,000 years, from the Neolithic to the modern. And everything from painting and calligraphy to bronzes, jades, lacquerware, ceramics and textiles.
Remember that about 3,000 crates of treasures from the National Beijing Palace Museum swam over to Taiwan as the government and army of Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China retreated to Taiwan after their defeat by Mao Zedong’s Communists.
Maybe the Taiwanese should offer to return the treasures to Xi in return for him allowing Taiwan to declare its independence?
It’s a win, win for both sides. The treasures really belongs to the Forbidden City and Taiwan deserves to be a de jure independent liberal democratic (sort of because they use physical violence in parliament, not juz verbal violence) nation, giving the finger to our dearly departed Harry’s self serving comment that Chinese don’t do democracy.
The u/m news from the constructive, nation-building CNA reminded me of what Secret Squirrel told me on Christmas Day.
Singapore’s monthly manufacturing output decreased in November after seeing an uptick in the previous months, data from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) showed on Thursday (Dec 26).
Manufacturing output fell 9.3 per cent in November on a year-on-year basis. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, production went down 9.4 per cent.
The largest decrease in November was in the electronics cluster, which fell 20.9 per cent. The entire cluster saw a decline in output, except for infocomms and consumer electronics, which grew 29.8 per cent, and data storage segments, which grew 23.1 per cent.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore-manufacturing-output-november-edb-12212126
Secret Squirrel told me that the reason GE would be delayed until after the the Budget is that the ground is not sweet for a PAP victory of 65%+, without a lot more bribes goodies, using our own money. Reminder: Heng’s 4G team needs 65% of the popular vote: the pass mark for bragging rights that they have the people’s mandate.
Problems for the PAP govt
Economy: “Only cold spell coming, but not Winter”and S’pore: the canary in the coalmine/ Is the ground sweet for the PAP? But to be fair to the PAP: IMF affirms support for PAP policies.
The headwinds other than a lousy economy going into a GE:
— Another reason why ground is not sweet for the PAP.
— Why one-party rule sucks for Xi, Lee and Heng
—————————————
A GE late this year as expected by me in 2018 (Akan datang: GE in late 2019) even with vote losers like pending GST rises etc (PAP is like one armed swordsman) would have resulted in a PAP victory of around 62% (How the PAP can get 62% is explained in PAP fighting for every last vote).
But 65%? No way without more dropping GST rise ( How PAP can win 65% plus of the vote) or more goodies. Well a GST rise is set in stone, so got to have more bribes goodies, all with our own money.
Btw, how a really dumb TRE cybernut die die insists that TRE not wrong when I wrote: TeamTRE doesn’t know when school holidays begin?/ How Wankers can hold Aljunied
Well CI technically possible.
Tis school technically closes on 14th October 2 days prior to official date and it is pTM and prize giving for class toppers.
So the nomination the campaign period 10 days might just take place from 9 th of November. and we can election on 17th November.
So I didn’t think TRE got it wrong.
Now a days the void decks are being used more than the school but I am sure the scheduled MOE volunteers will be excused early to attend to election formalities if need be.
Someone put these up on FB, asking if any one could recall the origin of the stickers?
Someone replied they were stickers were from 1984 GE.
If the PAP tried wrapping this flag wrapping today, TOC’s M’sian Indian goons, cybernuts and social media would be KPKBing.
“The problem isn’t buying online — it’s how the delivery is implemented and how packages come to our door,” BBC article.
This 
reminded me of u/m chart. Look at it and realise that it’s fake news that S’poreans (young and old) are worried about their retirement needs. Way down at number 24.
Time to POFMA TOC’s M’sian Indian goons (Terry and his “bunch of Indians”), the cartoonist and other TOC , and TRE cybernuts?
And Straits Times and StanChart Bank for this BS? https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/nearly-half-of-affluent-singaporeans-may-miss-the-mark-on-retirement-savings-goals
This is my constructive, nation-building X’mas present for our millionaire ministers and senior civil servants, wrapped in the form of a suggestion.
We know that in the coming Budget sure got incentives to make us less unhappy with 2 points GST rise.
Here’s an idea we can copy and paste from Japan both to lessen the impact of GST rise on consumer spending and, as a bonus, promote cashless payments. Remember Brownfacegate? Brownfacegate: Fake indignation? and Brownfacegate: The inside story?.
Its consumption tax (GST) was hiked by 2 points on October 1. Customers who transacted cashlessly in SMEs, are able to receive reward points to offset the tax increase.
The response by the SMEs, revealed the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Monday has been unexpectedly strong. Since May, when the scheme was first mooted, 940,000 shops, restaurants and other consumer-facing businesses have registered for the scheme — a process that forced many of them to bring cashless payment terminals into their stores for the first time.
FT
And Japan is not the only govt. From next year, the Italian govt plans to offer financial bonuses to those who use cards or other electronic payment systems.
Btw, FT also reported that a Nomura survey of why businesses were reluctant to introduce cashless payment terminals found that the answer was high fees. Hawkers were KPKBing here too when e-payments were trialled in a few hawkers’ centres. Any idea of what happened since then? I never patronised any of them.
In ang moh land, one of the Christmas traditions is the telling of ghost stories: think Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Here’s something from a TRE cybernut in that vein. Make sure you read my comments after the piece.
Bukit Batok is on the news again, for the wrong reasons.
Latest unfortunate mishap to happen in this jinx constituency: Discovery of a Tuberculosis patient in a Kindergarten.
This is something unthinkable in Singapore to find a TB patient in a kindergarten, of all places. It’s more shocking to note that MOH has given the green light to keep the kindergarten operational despite Parent’s deepest concern if any of their children already been infected with the deadly disease. Hope not !
Bukit Batok constituency became famous (actually infamous) when its PAP MP resigned on 12th Mar 2016 at the height of a “personal indiscretion” episode. By-election was held on 7 May 2016, with two horses in the race- Murali of PAP (aka Ah Mu) and Dr Chee of SDP.
During the election campaign, PAP brought in few heavy weight Ministers to counter Dr Chee. Then the unfortunate thing happened – Dr Chee alleged that he became a victim of character assignation when ugly gutter politics emerged from PAP camp, which Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam disagreed but however acknowledged that “ the ruling party has fallen short of its standards at times, and when this happens, action is taken against individuals who have let the party down”.
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pap-did-not-engage-gutter-politics-2016-bukit-batok-election-tharman
With all the above history forgotten by most Singaporeans, unfortunate incidents and mysterious mishaps started to happen in Bukit Batok SMC after the last bi-election, which Murali won unfairly. Here are some of them:
1) 1st Nov 19 – Woman dies in fire. This incident was complicated by fire hoses locked and finally when SCDF broke open them, there was no water. On Nov 15, MP Murali told residents that he was accountable to them as their elected representative and apologized for the lapses.
2) 15th Nov 19 – a Japanese Mother and son found dead on Bukit Batok Hill. Investigation is still in progress.
3) 20th Jul 19 – crane crashes into sheltered walkway in Bukit Batok, between Block 504 and 506 of Bukit Batok East Street 52.
4) 17th Jun 19 – Lorry crashes into walkway shelter at Bukit Batok, causing it to collapse on car. A sheltered walkway at Block 116 Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 collapsed after the crane boom of a lorry crashed into it.
5) 6th Feb 2017 – A new rat infestation has been discovered in Bukit Batok, raising fears that the infestations that were discovered in 2014 and 2016 might be making a comeback, as Rats can carry a variety of different disease causing agents, and these can be transmitted from the rats to humans. Rats are associated with the transmission of several important infections in humans, including leptospirosis and plague.
6) 3rd May 15 – Mystery bugs invade and plagued Bukit Batok residents, their sudden outbreak remains unclear. They then simply dropped dead, leaving huge piles of carcasses to clear.
7) 26th Sep 19 and 17th Oct 17 – Pipes burst at Bukit Batok West and Bukit Batok East respectively. Water spouts raised several storeys and caused localized flooding.
8) 12th Sep 17 – Five hurt in Bukit Batok industrial blast. The blast happened at ZTP Ginseng Bird nest’s factory on the 11th storey of Enterprise Centre, at 20 Bukit Batok Crescent. Five workers from the factory were injured.
9) May and Jun 2017 – Lifts installed by Sigma Elevator at Bukit Batok’s Skyline II estate had broken down about seven times.
10) And many more Incidents….
(source: Straits Times, CAN, Yahoo, Today..etc)
To our knowledge, Yishun town is notorious for such headline news, but Bukit Batok is catching up fast. Weirdly, Bukit Batok in English literally means “Coughing Hill”. Looks like some curse has befallen on Bukit Batok constituency after the bi-election, which was won ungentlemanly by PAP, as Dr Chee accused PAP Ministers of winning by character-assignation and gutter politics. Bad karma for the residents if a curse is in the working.
Curse is defined as any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object.
Although most of us don’t believe in curses, the incidents and mishaps in Bukit Batok just cannot be quashed away as pure coincidence, especially if they are continuously happening ever since the bi-election. Wondering what incident is going to happen next if this curse is true. Scary indeed.
Can this curse be broken by voting-in Dr Chee as the next MP for Bukit Batok SMC ?
A Resident
My take is Mad Dog Chee laid a curse on Bukit Batok residents for not making him their MP. After all he slimed the Chiams saying he lost because of their sliming: SDP: No adult supervision isit?
So yes the curse will be lifted
by voting-in Dr Chee as the next MP for Bukit Batok SMC.
But here’s a better solution: the SDP should replace him as their leader: Will the real SDP, Dr Chee pls stand up?.
My other pieces on the BB by-election.
Why Dr Chee should not stand in Bukit Batok
Bukit Batok: The tyranny of numbers
BB By-election: Relax S’poreans/ DNA of PAP and Dr Chee
SDP: No adult supervision isit? Why liddat?
They all show that Mad Dog is the kind of person who will lay a curse on others.
Doesn’t something look familiar?
let’s … focus on our so-called official mascot.
The Merlion.
Commissioned in 1964, it was designed by Alec Fraser Brunner who was a zoologist, as well as the curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium. The statue instead was sculpted by Lim Nang Seng, a prominent sculptor in those days. Origins of the half lion half fish symbolism have been loosely credited to the ‘singa’ of Singapura, as well as the (already proven to be grossly inaccurate) origins of our country as a fishing village. Somehow or rather, it’s left to be as vague as it can possibly be.
Which is why it was intriguing when I came across the coat of arms of the First East India Company, lo and behold, I’m suddenly staring at a pair of Merlions from the 17th century! It first appeared in the Grant of Arms to the East India Company Merchants, dated 4 February 1600. The same pair also appeared on the official seal of the HEIC in 1675, but now with its scary head facing us, staring into our souls. Unfortunately, its partner did not manage to survive the test of time.
This was something new to me, having only familiarized myself with the later day coat of arms of the EIC, no longer featuring confused half lions. It has been mentioned that it was the Queen herself who gave detailed instructions of the elements to be incorporated into the coat of arms. So was our Merlion symbol inspired from the EIC? If so, you could say that the true person behind the design was the Queen!
Jokes aside, that also means that we are subconsciously still subjugating ourselves to traces and elements of colonial rule.
But sea-lions in heraldry isn’t all that uncommon. You don’t even have to look far. In the Philippines, Manila’s coat of arms, the seal of the Navy, Department of Education, as well as the Presidential seal bears sea-lions. Even in Bulgaria, you can spot a sea-lion in the coat of arms of Burgas.
Still, it remains a mystery. Say what you will, love it or hate it. To me personally though, trying to unearth the stories behind such symbolisms is more rewarding 😉
Ahmad Bin Osman
No wonder ang moh tua kee even to the PAP: Even PAP govt thinks ang moh tua kee.
Happy feasting and drinking.
Btw, the East India Co’s coat of arms when it ruled India.
Regular regulars will know that I’m no fan of POFMA (Fake news is in the eyes of the beholder) even though Alex Tan, Brad Bowels and Lim Tean deserve to kanna POFMAed (The last two talk so much cock that even if the authorities wrongly POFMa them, the courts can still find that they deserve to kannna POFMAed for other BS). As to the SDP’s POFMA, if it kanna POFMA, so should the constructive, nation-building ST.
So I had a great laugh when this appeared in the Economist’s letters section: note the implied argument that POFMA is nothing more than “right of reply”. If so why not make “Right of reply” law apply to social media etc, not juz the media? Someone talking cock, me thimks.
Free speech in Singapore
Contrary to your report (“False alarm”, December 7th), our Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act should be looked at in the same context as our belief in the right of reply, which in our view enhances rather than reduces the quality of public discourse, and strengthens and safeguards proper public accountability that must necessarily underpin democracies. Online posts that have been corrected remain available in full, but with links to the government’s response appended. Readers can see both and decide for themselves which is the truth. How does twinning factual replies to falsehoods limit free speech?
You also misrepresented the falsehoods that the government corrected. One post not only accused the government of rigging elections and conspiring to convert Singapore into a Christian theocracy, but also made false claims that it had arrested specific critics. Another did not only question the “investment nous of Singapore’s sovereign-wealth funds”, but based this on false allegations of losses that never occurred. The Economist itself recognises how serious a problem online falsehoods are, for example in “Anglichanka strikes again” (April 21st 2018). Fake stories have influenced British politics, notably in the Brexit campaign. Legislatures around the world have been grappling with this problem.
Singapore, a small English-speaking, multiracial, multi-religious city-state open to the world, is more vulnerable than most to this threat. Having observed in Britain and elsewhere the cost of doing nothing, we decided to act. Singapore’s laws are designed to meet our own context and needs. We have no ambition to set any example for other countries, but neither do we make any apologies for defending our own interests.
Foo Chi Hsia
High commissioner for Singapore
London
Ah well, having to write letters like this is the price of a cushy life funded by us tax payers.
The letter reminds me of Race is BS or “post-truth” at work?
“They wanted facts. Facts! They demanded facts from him, as if facts could explain anything.”
―from LORD JIM (1900) by Joseph Conrad
Ms Foo’s other attempts at comedy and post-truths:
Christmas laughs from our comic lady in London
What next? Senior civil servant saying that those who don’t vote PAP don’t wish S’pore well?
Ang mohs told secret of why PAP wins and wins
Our London ambassador on why Reformasi here is for the deluded
PAP govt speaking? No ler North Korean minister
Economist piece on Amos etc: Dark Side cousin responds
Somehow I’m reminded of
Song of the Witches from Macbeth
Double, double toil and trouble;Fire burn and caldron bubble.Fillet of a fenny snake,In the caldron boil and bake;Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue of dog,Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,For a charm of powerful trouble,Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.Double, double toil and trouble;Fire burn and caldron bubble.Cool it with a baboon’s blood,Then the charm is firm and good.
When I skimmed thru the constructive, nation-building story
The Big Read: Bus contracting model has benefited drivers, commuters — but will the good times last?
I had to pause to read an interesting unconstructive, and certainly not nation-building segment that shows how inflexible, brainy, hardworking S’poreans are mentally when compared to lazy, stupid ang mohs who vote for welfare and Brexit:
Mr David Cutts, the regional managing director of British company Go-Ahead, said that one of the challenges it had faced in the initial stages was introducing the interlining model of running buses in Singapore.
Interlining is a concept which requires bus drivers to drive multiple routes during a shift, instead of just one.
For instance, after completing Route A, a driver may not be required to do another trip for 20 minutes. Within that time span, the same driver may drive another route (Route B), before returning to the interchange to ply Route A again.
While this is a concept that is practised widely in cities like London, it led to a spate of resignations among Go-Ahead’s drivers who could not cope with juggling multiple routes two weeks into commencing operations in September 2016, forcing the company to sub-contract drivers from SBST and SMRT.
Since that episode, Mr Cutts said, bus captains are no longer forced to take up interlining. While the concept remains in place, only 40 per cent of its bus captains work interlining routes and at a rate where they are comfortable with.
What’s the point of us and China (remember that many of our bus drivers are FTs from China) topping PISA ranking particularly in maths (East Asians to dominate maths Nobel Prize soon?) if we and the Chinese are mental ly spastic retards, incapable of mental flexibility.
Then there’s this: S’poreans really that cock despite topping PISA exams?
So maybe this isn’t fake news?
Before over 1500 delegates, Director General of the Ministry of Education, Mr Wong Siew Hoong, projected graphs depicting Singapore’s stellar PISA results. He then juxtaposed these to OECD data on student wellbeing, and also of innovation in the economy, revealing Singapore in the lowest quartile. His conclusion was stark: “we’ve been winning the wrong race”.
https://au.educationhq.com/news/41377/the-pisa-fallacy-in-singapore-insights-from-the-nie/
(Reported in What ST doesn’t tell us about our PISA ranking)
Recently, the constructive, nation-building ST has been dissing SGX
SGX takes a hit with listings lost to privatisation
and
More diverse risk appetite needed in investments as SGX takes a hit
going on to say
Singapore’s shrinking stock market, in some ways, best represents the structural and cyclical challenges that popped up through the decade that’s about to end.
(Related: SGX: Global sua kee)
Sounds like the PAP govt is not happy with the way SGX is going.
Here’s some more info that shows how useless the SGX is.
The FT recently reported that the SGX uses the London’s Stock Exchange’s trading technology.
Looks like I was right about SGX’s Indian IT Trashes
SGX’s IT: An all India FT affair?
SGX: Disk FT isit? Prime terrorist target?
I wasn’t racist as a TRE cybernut alleged.
[I]t is hard to identify, whether a given expression is a fact or an opinion, as they are quite commonly juxtaposed by the writers. Facts are always one step ahead of opinions as facts can be proved to be right or accurate, whereas opinion may also be right but they cannot be proved as true.
And
Harvard’s Claire Wardle [ ] says that “much of the debated content is not fake, but used out of context or manipulated, while polluted information also extends beyond news”.
What is “news”?/ “Fake news” is not “fake” says Harvard expert
(More on this point below)
Tan Kin Lian got it about right when he said
Wah. POFMA can now be used to handle “interpretations” and not only “facts”. Really? It is getting ridiculous.
Read this report in CNA:
PAP spends S$167 million on Grants & Bursaries for Singaporeans, but S$238 million on foreign students??” wrote Mr Lim, who is representing blogger Leong Sze Hian in a defamation case involving Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
This implies that MOE spends less on Singaporean students than on foreign students, which is “false and misleading”, states the Factually article.
The annual budget of MOE is S$13 billion, almost all of which is spent on Singapore citizens, and the S$167 million cited by Mr Lim refers only to bursaries for Singaporean tertiary students.
What Lim Tean said is factually correct. The two figures of $167 million and $238 million are factually correct. What the government objects is the “interpretation” of the facts.
Since when does POFMA law, as it is passed, apply to “interpretations”?
I disagree with the interpretation of the government in addressing the issue. It is clear to me that the government does spend more on the foreign scholars, compared to the local scholars.
I also disagree with the government’s approach to lump the full budget of MOE in the comparison. I think they are confusing the issue and misleading the public.
But, hey, this is just my opinion. Each person is entitled to his opinion.
POFMA is bad. And it has been abused against a few parties recently.
Tan Kin Lian
The spat between Talk Cock King Lim Tean and Ong Ye Kung’s MoE reminds of the saying “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”:
“Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is a phrase describing the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments. It is also sometimes colloquially used to doubt statistics used to prove an opponent’s point.
The phrase derives from the full sentence, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”; it was popularized in the United States by Mark Twain and others, who mistakenly attributed it to the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics#Books
In particular Lim Tean’s initial comments prove the point of Harvard’s Claire Wardle who
says that “much of the debated content is not fake, but used out of context or manipulated, while polluted information also extends beyond news”.
What is “news”?/ “Fake news” is not “fake” says Harvard expert
(Btw, last year, she made representations to the select committee on fake news.)
On Lim Tean BS artist
Look at Lim Tean’s record. Still no jobs rally after collecting money in 2017 for rally, and no picture, no sound after collecting money to sue CPF yrs ago: Finally Lim Tean called to account on a “broken promise”. To be fair, he did deliver on defamation video two years late. But it was BS.).
Can he be trusted to do anything but grab the money?
On Ong
I never was impressed by Ong Ye Kung (See Ong Ye Kung: A study in failure) and nothing since he became minister and a contender to be PM has changed my mind.
But anti-PAP paper warrior disagrees: Ong Ye Kung: “Is he the 4G leader with the killer instinct?”
More on “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”?: Mad Dog, Lim Tean and other cybernuts are peddling fake news
All the POFMA orders flying around before an expected GE next yr, reminded me that George Orwell
wrote that because totalitarian regimes insist that the leadership is infallible, history must be perpetually rewritten in order to eliminate evidence of past mistakes. Totalitarianism thus “demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth.” Orwell added darkly that “to be corrupted by totalitarianism one does not have to live in a totalitarian country”; one simply had to surrender to certain habits of thought.
https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/12/04/is-liberalism-really-kaput
We are not a totalitarian city-state. We are either an authoritarian one-party state (Would this happen in a one-party state?) or An illiberal democracy?, but the PAP’s attitude that the “PAP is never ever wrong” makes Orwell’s comments particular relevant especially with POFMA orders multiplying like maggots.
What with GST going up another 2 points soon, us coupon clippers got to find the difference so that we can continue eating Stilton, French butter, suckling pig etc.
The dividend yields on DBS, OCBC and UOB are 4%+. And so are the forecasted yields. Now for those of us who have second tier S-Reits up to our eyeballs, this is “peanuts”.
But instead of putting money into fixed deposits, maybe KS S’poreans should think of buying the shares of one of the local banks: remembering that you may not get back the amount invested if things go wrong. Equity premium risk leh.
And do remember: Using yr CPF OA as a savings account.
Why buy bank shares? Because PAP govt is friend of banks or so it seems: Why I hold Hongkong Bank and UOB shares
A Chinese inventor created Robo Fish – an electronic, plastic toy that moved in water – which Zuru manufactured. It pulled in $100m in annual sales.
Zuru was set up by three Kiwi siblings. They set up factories in China. Talking of carrying coals to Newcastle. Btw, the family are billionaires now. Btw2, inability to speak Mandarin was not a problem when they set up their first factory in China.
Another story of carrying coals to Newcastle: Bringing robot technology to Japan
S’poreans are not unhappy with the PAP govt. In fact, they are very happy with the PAP govt.
If you listen to what Mad Dog, Lim Tean, Meng Seng and other cybernuts say, you’d think that S’poreans are ready to vote out the PAP because they are unhappy with the PAP. But Blackbox data tells us otherwise.
Going more granular
18th century English philosopher, Edmund Burke, wrote:
“Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.”
Translated for the benefit of cybernuts, “Six noisy grasshoppers share the field with thousands of cattle. Do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.”
Vote wisely.
Btw, time to issue more POFMA orders?
S’poreans, in general, take the view, that Hongkies are wasting their time protesting against China’s attempts to make HK more like S’pore in terms of political governance: Two cities, two systems
They should juz push for a massive HDB programme (When home ownership is less than 50%?) and other economic goodles.
Well
The hope was that eventually a Mikhail Gorbachev-like figure would appear in China who would allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong, Mr Chan says. “We don’t want to fight on the street. Why do we come out? Because the institution is not workable.”
FT
Wish them well. And remember this story. Given time, things can change.
Many years ago in a far away country a wise old teacher was in trouble with his King. The King sentenced the teacher to death, but listened to the teacher’s appeal.
The teacher pleaded for the King to give him five years in which to teach the King’s horse to talk. The King liked to own unusual things and a talking horse would certainly be unusual and after considerable thought said “yes”.
A friend of the teacher said to the teacher “Why did you make such a rash promise? You know no one has ever taught a horse to talk.” The teacher said in reply: “Sometime before the end of five years:
1. The King might change his mind and pardon me.
2. The King might forget that he sentenced me to death.
3. The King might die.
4. I might die.
5. I might teach the horse to talk.
In any event, I gain five years.”
https://naomistanford.com/2009/02/09/teaching-the-horse-to-talk/
Note that in other versions of the story, the “wise old teacher” is a con-man or trickster.
If the WSJ is correct, the Catholic Church has misled Catholics round the world, and misused donated monies. Worse than Kong Hee and pals. And they went to jail.
There’s something known as Peter’s Pence:
At present, this collection is taken each year on the Sunday closest to 29 June, the Solemnity of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the liturgical calendar. As of 2012, the United States has donated the largest amounts, giving some 28% of the total, followed by Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Brazil and South Korea. US donations totaled $75.8 million in 2008, $82,529,417 in 2009, $67,704,416.41 in 2010 and $69,711,722.76 in 2011.
Wikipedia
This means the faithful donate millions of dollars to the Vatican. But only about 10% goes to charity according to the Wall Street Journal. The rest is used to finance the Vatican’s budget deficit.
Time to get the police to raid the offices of the Catholic Archbishop of S.pore? Not only does he tolerate Marxists in his office, he helps cheat the faithful: Archie goofed? Saboed? Tea cup storm ensues with credit to no one
Related post: Harry, 2 popes, Spectrum and Amos
Anti-PAP types are using the issue of “HDB lease decay” to try to get S’poreans upset with the PAP: home ownership is above 90% of the population because of HDB flats.
“HDB lease decay” is the term describing the situation where the value of the HDB flat is a big fat zero at the end of the 99 year lease with the value starting to drop very sharply after the remaining lease becomes less than 30 years: (Background reading for those who have not followed the problem with HDB leases of less than 60 years: HDB flats: 35 is a dangerous age) Related link: Older HDB flats: How much value is lost in under 2 yrs.
Tan Kin Lian, PAP cadre gone rogue, wannabe president (He lost his deposit) and the PAP’s useful idiot (He helped the PAP’s preferred candidate win just by standing), waded into the HDB lease decay debate recently. Surprisingly the PAP’s useful idiot said some sensible things.
He wrote that
The phenomenal growth in the value of the HDB flat during the past decades came from three sources:
a) The HDB flats sold prior to 1980 were indeed cheap. It was sold by HDB at subsidized prices, based largely on construction cost. The value of land was negligible then.
b) All property prices, HDB and private, has escalated during the past five decades to the high level today.
c) There was a large boost during the last 15 years due to the influx of foreigners. This has reached its limit.
All this meant a 5 room HDB flat in Marine Parade that was sold for $35,000 in 1975 is now
with a remaining lease of 50 years, [has an] asking [price of] $850,000.
He goes on to say that the above three factors that contributed to the growth in value
is no longer available to the buyer of the HDB flat today. The buyer has to pay the current price, which reflects the high market price today. There is a small subsidy by the government, but not to the same extent as in the past.
The buyer cannot count on the huge growth in property prices in the future. The current prices are beyond the “affordability level”.
The reality is that the buyer of a HDB flat pays a high price for their flat and faces the prospect of the lease decay. It is no longer a good investment. It should be treated as paying advanced rental of the HDB flat for the remaining term of the lease.
He ends
Did the leaders “lie” when they said that HDB flat was a good investment? No, they did not. It was a good investment at that time. But times have changed. It is no longer a good investment today.
He’s right. But do remember that he was Goh Chok Tong’s Organising Secretary in Marine Parade in the 80s. Organising Secretary was and is a tua kee PAP appoitment.
My view has been that for the coming GE (I now think it’ll be in mid 2020. I”ll blog on this soon.), the issue of the ultimate worthlessness of an HDB flat doesn’t matter: Why Oppo cock to think that HDB issues will affect the vote.
It’ll only start mattering in the late 2020s: Why 30-year old HDB flats difficult to sell/ Why PAP rule will end in 2029.
I’ll end with shumething to ponder If LKY were alive, PAP govt wouldn’t publicly admit that HDB leases end worth nothing?
Further to Who is right? Singtel or Vodafone? here’s more trouble at SingTel’s associate:
A bug was found in India’s third-largest mobile network which could have exposed the personal data of more than 300 million users.
The flaw, discovered in the Application Program Interface (API) of Airtel’s mobile app, could have been used by hackers to access subscribers’ information using just their numbers.
That information included things like names, emails, birthdays and addresses.
The flaw was fixed after the BBC highlighted the issue to Airtel.
There be riots?
The high cost of housing in HK
Li [a taxi driver in HK] was amazed at how “cheap” apartments in Singapore are. He lives with his parents in a one-bedroom apartment that is worth HK$6.5 million (US$830,000). He cannot afford to move out and, with his fourteen-hour days, has neither the time nor money to date.
https://sudhirtv.com/2019/11/15/a-longform-on-hong-kong-vs-singapore/
mostly due to the lack of an HDB type building programme because the property tycoons have in the past successfully lobbied against massive public housing programmes in HK.
One cheer for the PAP’s housing policy?
Public housing: a brickbat, two cheers & constructive suggestions
Hong Kong to resume subsidising housing
means that home ownership has fallen below 50% of the population.
In Singapore, home ownership is above 90%.
“This was the plan which we had from the very beginning, to give everybody a home at cost or below cost and as development takes place, everybody gets a lift, all boats rise as the tide rises,” LKY
He believed that owning a home gave S’poreans a sense of equity, that they own a part of the city, making them care more for the community. He also felt that home ownership would give Singaporean families an asset and a means of wealth accumulation.
———————
Wealth accumulation? What wealth accumulation?
Why 30-year old HDB flats difficult to sell/ Why PAP rule will end in 2029.
Older HDB flats: How much value is lost in under 2 yrs
Now I.m not that stupid to think that the riots in HK could have been prevented by an HDB type policy and other economic measures aimed at reducing inequality. HK people are faced with a threat to their ang moh type freedoms: Honkies behaving like spoiled brats adopted by ang mohs (Cont’d)
But more public housing could have eased tensions: Bread and circuses.
Still not too late, if HK and Chinese govts are smart. But they don’t seem to be that smart. But maybe they are worried that a massive HDB type programme will cause unhappiness with those with mortgages to service? A massive HDB-type programme will result in lower values for existing private residential homes.
You might be interested in
Why our housing valuations look decent?
If LKY were alive, PAP govt wouldn’t publicly admit that HDB leases end worth nothing
The report that police are investigating after a report that a foreigner participated in a rally organised by Gilbert Goh reminded me of a recent BBC story
A protest art installation involving toys “holding” banners in the Bosnian city of Banja Luka has resulted in the arrest of one of the organisers.
Stefan Blagic, the leader of NGO ReStart Srpska, was detained by police after he refused to leave Krajina Square, according to the Buka news portal. He was released later that day.
ReStart Srpska describes itself on Facebook as an organisation which “unmasks the wrong and abnormal processes” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Only at Hong Lim Green, I suspect and if they are made in S’pore.
You might be interested in
Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right: Jogging alone wearing the “wrong” tee shirt could be illegal.
Recently SingTel doubled down on India.
It said it remained optimistic about prospects in India and said it is prepared to invest more money there, even as it reported a S$668m quarterly loss due to the problems faced by its Indian associate. It was forced to make a provision of S$1.4 billion to reflect its share of what Indian associate Bharti Airtel will have to pay the government following an adverse court ruling. Although underlying net profit rose 3% from a year ago to S$737 million,
Bharti recently this week that it planned to raise up to US$3bn through a mixture of equity and debt.
Vodafone sounds like it’s going to cut its losses.
Vodafone’s Indian joint venture will have to “shut shop” if the Indian govt does not intervene to stop a looming multibillion-dollar charge resulting from the same court ruling, the owner of Vodafone’s local partner warned.
Vodafone Idea, a partnership between the Aditya Birla Group and the UK-based operator, has three months to pay US$4bn in retrospective levies, penalties and interest.
ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) scores are becoming ever more important in the marketing of financial products that are sold to the masses. At least US$3trn of institutional assets now track ESG scores, and the share is rising quickly.
Pure BS to charge higher fees
Why did the ESG investor cross the road?
If you’ve spent any time around the sustainable investing world, you might have heard the old joke: “What’s the easiest way to improve your company’s ESG score? Change your rating agency.”
Is it funny? That’s debatable. Is it cynical? Possibly. But is it rooted in truth? Absolutely.
FT
Don’t believe?
esg scores are poorly correlated with each other. esg-rating firms disagree about which companies are good or bad. The Economist has compared the scores of two big esg-rating systems, updating an analysis done by the imf earlier this year (see chart). It shows at best a loose link between the two measurement systems. The same lack of correlation holds even when the e, s and g scores are considered separately, according to the imf. Small wonder, then, that it found no consistent difference between the performance of esg funds and that of conventional ones.
Economist
The result
Tobacco and alcohol companies feature near the top of many esg rankings. And many funds marketed on their green credentials invest in Big Oil.
Economist
Browzzin’s a S’pore-based company fashion-tech start-up. The FT says of it, “it is either genius or too clever by half” after its soft-launch in the UK.
It enables millennials who post Instagram photos of themselves to monetise their narcissism — if someone clicks on the photo, they can buy the outfit, or a similar one chosen by AI. For each purchase, the millennial gets a rake-off between 2 per cent and 30 per cent for some luxury offerings.
FT
“If you love my photo, you can shop my photo. It’s almost like running your own store,” said 29-year-old co-founder Zean Vo.
Lim Tean talked cock about that the nation anthem.
He told us everything about it was going to be changed. He said this because he read that on Sunday (1 Dec), Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu announced that the National Anthem Majulah Singapura will be updated as part of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of Singapore’s national symbols.
No other details were disclosed except that the new version will be a rendition by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It will be broadcast across all Mediacorp, Singapore Press Holdings and Safra radio stations at 11.20am tomorrow (3 Dec), 60 years after the national symbols were first unveiled.
Listen and let me know if Lim Tean was telling the truth. I used the version of the anthem on TOC’s website because it has an English translation.
Only minor tweaks.
What a liar Lim Tean is
Look at Lim Tean’s record. Still no jobs rally after collecting money in 2017 for rally, and no picture, no sound after collecting money to sue CPF yrs ago: Finally Lim Tean called to account on a “broken promise”. To be fair, he did deliver on defamation video two years late. But it was BS.).
Can he be trusted to do anything but grab the money?
But maybe he’s not a money face but has dementia making him forget that he took money from the public.
Btw, I used TOC’s video because it includes an English translation of the lyrics. A TRE commenter has a good point about the lyrics that many S’poreans may not realise.
Majulah Singapura:
December 3, 2019 at 12:08 am (Quote)
The “Majulah Singapura” is symbolic of the country’s history and independence. The lyrics express the new spirit and aspiration of a people in their newly found independence. It is a call to progress, happiness, success and unity which are as relevant today as it was 55 years ago. To replace the country’s national anthem is to erase a significant piece in the history of our independence. The lyrics in Malay may not be understood and appreciated by non-Malay speakers, but they are simple and beautiful. This part of the Malay heritage in the nation’s multi-cultural history will be lost.TRE
OK, OK, I know that there’s no maths Nobel Prize. But the Fields Medal is regarded as the Nobel Prize in maths.
A Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian have won it, but Americans, French, Russians and Brits dominate the list of prize winners.
But going by u/m expect the yellow people will dominate the list soon. Indians will be upset.
This time on job market.
Queen of sex in small spaces was recently reported as saying
Current downturn unlike previous crises, as job market still holding up
Constructive, nation-building MediaCorp’s freesheet.
The piece went on
The ongoing economic downturn is unlike previous crises that Singapore has gone through — the job market is not as badly affected and there are still good job opportunities in certain sectors, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said.
Problem with her comments is that under the headline
Singapore property market faces risks from unsold units, uncertain economy: MAS
the equally constructive, nation-building CNA reported
“Ongoing uncertainties in the economic outlook and a softening labour market could negatively affect households’ incomes and their demand for property,” MAS wrote.
Already, hiring sentiment has turned cautious amid the growth slowdown, with fewer job vacancies than unemployed persons. It also noted that the number of workers placed on short work-week or temporary layoff has trended upwards, even as retrenchments remained low.
“Amid the possibility of an extended period of sluggish GDP growth, wage increases are expected to ease, which could weaken households’ debt servicing ability,” MAS said.
Sounds like the central bank disagrees with Queen Jos.
And there’s even worse news for those mortgaged up to their eyeballs fearful of losing their jobs or suffering pay cuts: falling property prices and negative equity
There is also further housing supply coming on stream, even as the stock of launched but unsold units builds up.
Figures from the report showed unsold units from launched projects, excluding executive condominiums, doubled to 4,377 units in the third quarter. This compares with 2,172 units the same period a year ago.
This increase is likely be exacerbated in the medium term, MAS said, as developers redevelop and launch projects on the flurry of en bloc sites sold between 2017 and 2018.
The central bank warned that having more unsold inventory “could place downward pressure on prices in the medium term, if unaccompanied by a corresponding rise in demand”.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/mas-financial-stability-review-property-risks-unsold-homes-12133586
But as I said in TRE cybernuts and central bank singing from the same song sheet the solution is simple:
[J]ust remove Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) and prices will cheong.
Vote wisely. But the problem is
“Is a coalition that includes Mad Dog, Lim Tean and Meng Seng a better alternative to the 4G?”
Look at Lim Tean’s record. Still no jobs rally after collecting money in 2017 for rally, and no picture, no sound after collecting money to sue CPF yrs ago: Finally Lim Tean called to account on a “broken promise”. To be fair, he did deliver on defamation video two years late. But it was BS.).
Singapore’s tourism receipts declined 3.0% in the first half of 2019 despite a 1.3% increase in the number of international visitors. I note that China’s tourist receipts were down 10% despite visitor arrivals being up 7% in Q219.
Are the PRC tourists sleeping rough, in the streets? Because accommodation spending was the main drag in Tourism Receipts, with the sector suffering a 13% decline in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.
Whatever, we seem to be attracting the low quality Chinese tourists, not those who shop for LVMH, Richemont (owns Cartier) or Kering (owner of Gucci) products. And who don’t even patronise the slot machines at the casinos.
They all go to Geylang to patronise other PRCs?
Last Saturday, the “Future Of Singapore” launched its housing policy reforms proposal, with speakers talking about proposed reforms to the Hard Truth that HDB leases are worth zero at the end of 99 years.
This reminded me of something interesting I read recently by someone’s whose views I respect (and better still, enjoy reading) and the title of this piece seems to be something he infers.
But first, let me talk about some related matters before introducing you to the writer and his thoughts.
Our cybernuts love to quote our dearly loved and departed Harry that the value of their HDB “will never go down”. They then KPKB that HDB leases will end worth nothing to the owners at the end of 99 years. They think he the 9th Immortal isit? Can suka suka change the law isit?
They also say that the HDB problem will be a game changer in the coming GE. The PAP will lose a lot of votes and the Coalition of Spastics win win with this: Election manifesto of Spastics League.
My view has been that for the coming GE (I now think it’ll be in mid 2020. I”ll blog on this soon.), the issue of the ultimate worthlessness of an HDB flat doesn’t matter: Why Oppo cock to think that HDB issues will affect the vote.
It’ll only start mattering in the late 2020s: Why 30-year old HDB flats difficult to sell/ Why PAP rule will end in 2029.
And as Dr Paul Thamby (Mad Dog’s minder and Chairman of the SDP) rightly says, if the PAP govt wants to fix the problem, it’s only an administrative matter. He seems to think somewhere along the line, the PAP govt will extend the leases and in return extract money from the plebs.
———————-
Related post: Older HDB flats: How much value is lost in under 2 yrs
————————-
Coming back to the title of this piece and the second paragraph, I enjoy reading Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh even if he tends to go on and on.
In a recent piece comparing S’pore to HK, he has an interesting thought that chimes with the cybernuts views on the HDB problem. He hints that the PAP govt only talked openly about the HDB leases ending worth nothing to the owners at the end of 99 years after Harry’s death because LKY had said of HDB flats:
that their value “will never go down”.
This is what he wrote
Many Singaporeans, meanwhile, may come to believe that their own government—like in Hong Kong, the biggest landowner—has misled their investment decisions. Since independence in 1965 the government has sold public housing with restricted 99-year leases, repeatedly promising, in the words of Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister, that their value “will never go down”.
Most assumed the government would reacquire them at fair value. Only recently, following Lee’s death, has it flip-flopped to confirm what some feared: the properties will be worth nothing at the end of their leases. (At which point the government can redevelop the land.)
Put another way, for almost ninety per cent of Singapore’s population, their largest assets and nest eggs, some worth over S$1m (US$740,000), will start to shrink relentlessly to zero at some point during their (or their heirs’) lifetimes.
He then goes on
By contrast those in the upper ten odd per cent, including most politicians and senior civil servants, have wisely purchased freehold homes, many now worth tens of millions of dollars. Their assets will presumably keep appreciating long after their descendants have inherited them (with no estate duties). Singapore appears to have created an intergenerational time bomb of Pikketyan proportions.
https://sudhirtv.com/2019/11/15/a-longform-on-hong-kong-vs-singapore/
Hold yr horses Tommo. Don’t be a cybernut. And anyway, TRE’s cybernut-in-chief thinks S’pore property prices will crash. But Oxygen’s been saying that since he left S’pore decades ago fearing detention. He left S’pore but can’t get S’pore off his mind. He still has a CPF account that he uses to dodge Aussie tax. Talk of being an ingrate. Smart of the PAP to get rid this trash from S’pore.
Seriously, if Tommo is right if Harry were still alive, Larry Wong wouldn’t have dared open his month in 2017. See Fixing Sabo King minister.
And maybe Harry when he was alive, was in private, demanding a technical fix? So that he would not be wrong to say of HDB flats:
that their value “will never go down”.
What do you think?
Final tot: LHY instead of KPKBing that his Tai Kor’s PAP is not their grandfather’s PAP should share with S’poreans what Harry wanted done on the HDB problem: if LKY had any tots on the matter that LHY knows about.
When TRE reported that there would be a new rendition of our nation anthem, there was this great comment (slightly edited)
NotMyProblem:
I would suggest change our pledge instead.
Remove the words – equality, democracy, race, justice from the pledge so that PAP can honour it easier.
The citizens would like to honour the pledge but the PAP is unable to do it, so for the benefit of the PAP, change it!
He’s got a point: since its all aspirational according to Harry.
The new pledge would read:
“We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless ofrace, languageorreligion,
to build ademocraticsociety
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity
and progress for our nation.”
It’s all about money. Hmm really reflects our Pap And Pap society.
(Following added minutes after publication)
Related posts:
Fake News: S’pore is Pay And Pay/ Truth: Plenty of gd, free stuff
Got to Pay and Pay for personal safety
Why Pay And Pay Party has a point about scroungers
CPF changes: Rob Peter to Pay Paul and worse
But to be fair: Where we don’t Pay and Pay
So far my attitude to the PAP’s govt use of POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) chimes with that of one Adrian Tan who posted on FB
Based on the Mindef law suit, I was sceptical about what ministers say in parly when passing laws. But so far POFMA couldn’t have been used on nicer people. 🤪 Restoring my faith in what ministers say. 🤣
(Note he was referring to the law suit against, Dr Ting Choon Meng and TOC brought under Protection from Harassment Act (POHA) which a minister had assured us, when it was a bill, that it vwas meant to be a remedy for the little people. Ultimately the courts decided that Mindef could not use the law to harass Dr Tan and TOC.)
But
Critics say the law threatens freedom of expression. Amnesty International said it would “give authorities unchecked powers to clamp down on online views of which it disapproves”.
BBC
But AI is no friend of the PAP govt. In fact, its motto seems to be “Die, die must say bad things about the PAP govt.” They sound like our very own cybernuts.
Seriously, even we in S’pore live in a post-truth age (Race is BS or “post-truth” at work?) even though the PAP govt has passed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.
Btw, one Paul Johnson a towering right wing intellectual in his book Modern Times blamed Albert Einstein for making the truth relative.
Whatever, there’s no truth out there to seek out because
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 