Daily Discourse – Sink Hole Funds

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I wasn’t even aware of this until my friend wrote me an MSN message. He is probably livid on the other end.

Dr Teo says ‘be thankful’
Some residents upset; MP points out how funds have grown

Ong Dai Lin
dailin@mediacorp.com.sg

AS RESIDENTS of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council reacted to the news on Monday that their constituency’s funds were exposed to Lehman-linked structured products, its chairman Dr Teo Ho Pin had this message for them: Be thankful that the funds have grown under the Town Council’s watch.

Told of the rumblings on the ground about the high-risk investment, Dr Teo said the potential $8-million loss should be viewed in the context of the $24 million in investments generated over the past six years. If the Town Council had invested all its funds in low-risk investments, it would have earned only $5 million, he said.

“They (residents) should thank the Town Council for working hard to come up with a diversified portfolio to generate income so that residents do not have to fork out more money.”

Generally, residents in Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol whom Today spoke to had no issue about Town Councils growing their accounts through investment.

But the 20 of them insisted that Town Councils must, nonetheless, draw the line at high-risk investments. Another clear sentiment: The Town Councils should have been more upfront about their current investment situation.

Retiree Mdm Low Li Choo, who lives at Holland Avenue, said: “The Town Councils were not honest and sincere enough by not revealing the details of their investments right from the start.”

Restaurant manager Dhanie Herman, who lives at Pasir Ris, also said: “Town councils should reveal from the start so that we can have a clearer picture of their investments.”

Why didn’t the Town Councils keep residents in the loop?

According to Dr Teo, it was because Town Councils cannot reveal their investment strategies and, anyway, Town Councils abide by the proper financial reporting system.

Details of their Lehman-linked investments were revealed on Monday by Senior Minister of State (National Development) Grace Fu in response to a question in Parliament. Prior to that, letters had been written to the press after Dr Teo, the coordinating chairman for the 14 People’s Action Party Town Councils, had responded to media queries to say that these investments amount to “a couple of percentage” of funds.

Overall, they accounted for 0.6 percent of the Town Councils’ total funds available for investment. In Holland-Bukit Panjang’s case, it was 6.7 percent ($8 million) of its funds and for Pasir Ris-Punggol, $4 million (2.6 percent)

Yesterday, Tanjong Pagar Town Council, one of six other Town Councils with exposure to Lehman Brothers, said that $250,000 has been invested by its fund managers in the bankrupt institution’s bonds – or 0.14 percent of its total sinking funds.

Pasir Ris-Punggol MPs Teo Ser Luck and Penny Low said that residents’ sentiments were fair, but urged them to understand that the Town Councils did not foresee the financial tsunami and its impact on complex structured products.

On the timeliness of making information available, Mr Teo said that “we will definitely have to inform the residents as soon as possible at a timely time”, but “we need to first make assessments to know what has happened before making announcements”.

Both Mr Teo and Ms Low assured residents belonging to both Town Councils that upgrading and maintenance works in the estates will not be affected.

Customer service representative Nura Fadhlin, who lives at Pasir Ris Drive 6, said: “It is unfortunate that there is a financial crisis now and the Town Council lost money, they couldn’t have predicted it… but I’m concerned that we don’t know what they are doing with our money.”

And thus is the Gospel of Teo Ho Pin, that we should actually be grateful he didn’t lose everything because he would have made lesser had he not been greedy! On top of that, he seems to be saying he has a right to gamble with that money because, had he not done so we would actually be paying more!

When I first read this nonsense, this was what I said. (To listen, click the speaker icon and download this short sound clip: .)

It should be apparent by now – if it hasn’t been so a long time ago – that the Tali-PAP has forgotten that we put them there to work for us, and not to lord over us. Are they trying to hint that we are being ungrateful here by asking for some accountability? If so, it would almost seems like we citizens are being held in contempt simply by asking for that! Is it a wonder why Baby Lee recently tells us again why a two-party political system is bad for us yet again? No second party – no need for accountability. And all Singapore could do is sing this to the tune of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 – lan lan lan lan…

Let me also say this. Why stop at ensuring that we don’t have to pay more, Teo Ho Pin? Is that all you, being one of the top talents the Tali-PAP touted to us, is capable of? Let me tell you the conditions where I will be grateful to you! And that is when the reason why I don’t even need to pay a single cent for my conservancy charges is because of the returns of the town council’s investments! Now, don’t blame me for being unreasonable here because I wasn’t the one who brought up the matter of being grateful in the first place!

Anyway, we residents understand the need for a sinking fund, but really couldn’t fathom the justification to keep it growing. Having no limit on it makes it feels like throwing money into a deep hole where no one can see its bottom [深不見底]. I reiterate my call to put a cap on Town Council sinking funds and this cap should be revised every few years with respect to inflation and the economic conditions. It shall also be determined what is the minimum required to be done to preserve the value of this fund in the face of inflation. What good is having all that money when it is nothing but a figure – ‘good to see but bad to eat’ [好看不好吃]?

Oh, I get it… the reason why there is never a cap on it, is for Tali-PAP’s candidates to show off just how much more capable they are in managing the town compared to the opposition! Guess it backfired this time, didn’t it? Serves you right, just too bad we normal Singaporeans are paying for it. Damn you!

Frankly, it is rather ironical to call it sinking funds in the first place. It should be now more aptly be called sink hole funds, because this hole which you can never see the bottom may actually be bottomless pool [無底深潭] where whatever money you throw in gets swept away by some subteranean passages it connects to.

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Daily Discourse – War on Terror

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One of the greatest idiocy of the 21st Century must be the War on Terror.

Why do I say so? The reason being that it is a war that can never be won. After all, terrorism is but a tactic used by its perpetrators. Just how does one declare war on a tactic and expect to win? That is a question you must ask the dumbest U.S. President ever – George W. Bush – and his fumb duck administration regime.

This isn’t the same as declaring war on an political ideology – for e.g. communism – where you can exploit the flaws of of the system that is based on it. To declare war on terrorism is about the same as declaring war on Sun Tzu’s Art of War or von Clausewitz’s On War. Generally speaking, both of these works explore how to effectively conduct a war or fight battles and to win them. In other words, when you beat someone who used a tactic he learnt from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, does it mean you have defeated the book and the tactic itself? Will it stop that tactic from being used again?

It could simply mean that that tactic was badly applied or inappropriate for that situation. Above which, bringing the might of conventional forces upon the terrorists is simply forcing the terrorist to fight on your terms which thus allow you to beat / kill them. Does that really constitute a victory against the tactic called ‘terrorism’? Will killing the likes of Osama bin Laden, or his successors, bring an end to terrorism?

A M1 Tank ‘winning’ the ‘War on Terror’ – Priceless!

Simply put, to declare war on terrorism is nothing more than an ill conceived notion that it will come to an end once you killed enough of those who fight on the side of those who apply the tactic. That is terrorism in itself, and it says a lot about the idiots – including that of our government gahmen – which support this hare-brained war.

Even if terrorism had been a political system / ideology like Communism, was it defeated on the fields of battle? Look at North Korea and Vietnam – all of these engagements didn’t end in an American victory. But today everyone can see communism as a dead end in these countries and other than North Korea, just who practices Communism anymore?

So this is how Communism was really defeated in the end! It was only defeated when the people who once supported and lived under it no longer believed that it worked for them and make the necessary changes. Indeed, when we look at the ‘War on Terror’, it simply affirms the fact that when we looked at our history, we discovered that we never learn from it at all.

Frankly, the so-called ‘War on Terror’ has not made the world more stable or secure. In fact, it did the contrary. While enhanced security measures now makes it more difficult for acts of terror to be perpetrated, look at the disruption it has brought to our lives when we take flights, use our public transports and even something as simple as finding a rubbish bin to throw away a useless receipt.

However, we must thank the ‘War on Terror’. It is one of the many things that managed to terminate Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy’, an election strategy which brought an end to one generation of Democrat political dominance since Franklin Roosevelt. It is also an election strategy which for the past 36 years, put 4 Republican Presidents (Nixon, Reagan, Bush Senior and Junior) into the White house while the Democrats only managed to put in two (Carter and Clinton).

George W. Bush, has not only proven that he is the dumbest President in American history so far, he has also brought to an end a generation of Republican dominance in American politics. Once the Republican’s conservative stand has represented stability and security, George W. Bush and the current Republican party took matters too far and brought it to an end.

The idiotic ‘War on Terror’, among with the current economic crisis, are just one of the many things that brought many Americans to that realization. And if Obama manage to pull the American economy through this crisis, it will probably usher in a generation of political dominance by the Democrats. The Republicans will continue to be sidelined until some genius comes along and save that party.

Would a similar change come to Singapore? Perhaps, but it will not be the promise of change. It will only come when the people realised that the parties or candidates they traditionally support and voted for, can no longer provide the security and stability they have always represented.

In short, all that from Baby Lee about change coming to this country will not come from a two-party system but from renewal within the Tali-PAP… is nothing more but a load of horse dump.

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Uniquely Singapore #3 – Traffic Accidents

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Singaporean drivers, for some odd reasons, like to slow down whenever there are some vehicles stopped on the road. The vehicle could simply be stalled, having a punctured tyre or involved in a traffic accident.

So, there was a 2-vehicle accident between a van and a small lorry this morning. It caused a jam on both directions of the roads Jalan Boon Lay and Boon Lay way as early as 7:15am, and for a moment I thought the economic crisis is already hitting so hard that more people are moving off earlier in the morning to avoid the ERP charges. Then there was a slow down along the AYE all the way to Clementi Ave 2, because a trailer has broken down on the shoulder.

As the cab I am on drove past the 2 ‘troubled spots’, I realised the reasons for most of these jams or slow downs is not because the vehicle-of-attraction has become an obstacle blocking part of the road and thus required some careful driving, but because of a lot of these nosy people are taking a look at what has happened. I seriously couldn’t fathom why in the universe they need to do that. As a result of their curiosity, it can cause slow traffic that could go on for several kilometers, and even those who are not interested ‘paid’ for their curiosity in the form of an unnecessary delay.

The usual explanation for their curiosity is that they wanted to take note of the license plate number so they can punt on 4D. And if that is true then there are several ways to deal with that.

  1. By having the numbers displayed on those huge LTA displays. Instead of displaying information like: Accident vehicle on Lane 1 or Vehicle breakdown on shoulder, it should display, Vehicle(s) xxx xxxx x brokedown on shoulder, or Vehicle(s) xxx xxxx x in accident.

  2. Have a subscription service provided by a GLC or maybe the Telcos. Whoever loves these information can always pay $10 a month (just about 35 cents a day) and numbers of all accident vehicles on the Expressway will be sent via sms to them. They will even get the numbers on roads they are not on!

  3. Have the numbers automatically forwarded to Singapore Pools and the Singapore Turf Club to be marked so no one can place a bet on them. In short, give no reasons for the nosy-parkers to even look the numbers.

  4. Adjust ERP rates on the fly to $5 in the gantry ahead within 10 minutes so everyone gets the ‘incentive’ to move faster instead of looking at the accident / broke down vehicles.

And see? You don’t even pay me 3-million to come up with these lousy ideas.

正义总是迟到，但是早晚会到！

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正义总是迟到，但是早晚会到！ – 这是电影 《黑金》 里，记者凌飞写在一张字条上的句子。是赠给刑警方国辉，目的是让他不要气馁。

看到陈水扁这贼人上了手铐的照片，真是大快人心，也让我再次记起了这一句话。这是否代表迟到的正义真的到来了，让那些有罪的人得到他们应得的报应？

什么时间也顺道逮捕他那 “A 钱时龙精虎猛，出庭就百病缠身” 的妻子呢？误了台湾两千多万人整整八年，搜刮了那么多的财富，就算是判他全家死刑也是死有余辜。本人认为，只有没收他家族所有的财产，让他们余生在街边讨饭，过一过求助无门的日子，还勉强算得上是罪有应得！

我想也只有如此，才能泄大伙们的心头之愤。

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Daily Discourse – STARiS

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TODAY [November 8 2008]
– Leong Wee Keat

Can’t hear the name of the station when arriving at the next stop? Wondering whether thedoors will open on the right or left side? Soon, commuters can use a new onboard rail travel information system to find the answers.

SMRT, which operates the North-South and East-West lines, put the system – which includes a new route map and information system – on trial on one train on Friday.

Unlike the existing static route maps in trains, the new map mounted above all train doors will indicate the direction of travel with a series of lights. A red light will show the current station, while a blinking red light will indicate the next station.

A series of green lights will indicate which line the train is travelling on, and the direction of travel. The route map will also have a “door opening” indicator, to show which side of the train the doors will open. Information about terminal and interchange stations will also be shown.

In addition, a fluorescent unit – similar to those seen in 21 trains here – will be mounted on train ceilings, displaying multi-language text synchronised with in-train audio announcements.

The system, called STARIS, was developed by SMRT over two months. It will be installed on all 106 SMRT trains after the trial ends in January. The entire installation would cost the train operator around $12.72 million, and should be completed by 2010.

SMRT deputy president and chief operating officer Yeo Meng Hin said costs would not be passed on to commuters: “It is a service issue and not a fare issue.”

Commuters on the trial train gave their thumbs up. Frenchman Franklin Huber, 26, said: “It helps to tell where you are going. The trains can be quite noisy so we may not hear the announcements.”

Finally! It would have been well done and a pat on the back but what took you fellows so long? After all, the trains have been running since 1987. Thus, SMRT COO Yeo is right to say that this is a service issue and not a fare issue because this should have been implemented for ages.

But there’s something puzzling here. Why is there the need to develop the system when STARiS looked just exactly like what I saw on the Hong Kong MTR trains when I was there in August? Did Singapore once again reinvent the wheel, just like they did with our EzLinkItchyLink card when Hong Kong already have a similar system in place – the Octupus [八達通]?

Furthermore, will this be shared with Comfort Delgro, which is operating the N-E Line and have them pay for part of the development costs so they don’t have to re-re-invent the wheel again? Just why spend money to reinvent a technology that is already available when you can pay the money to obtain it? It makes one wonder what cost analysis was done on this matter to come to the conclusion that developing it is cheaper than obtaining it from overseas.

Either way, I have not much faith in believe that this cost won’t be passed to commuters. After all, if it’s not energy prices, then the justification would be operating costs – which will cover wages, maintenance of the trains (including STARiS), the tracks and replacement of the trains. Just how SMRT justify that it isn’t passed on to the commuters at all will be hard to verify. Above which, even if this was taken from part of the previous record profits SMRT has made to cover this… it simply means the cost has already been passed to commuters.

Oh well…

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