Dance like no one's watching

I originally wanted to take leave on my birthday (coming Mon) so I could enjoy a long weekend.  Main purpose was to just relax at home & indulge myself with hours & hours of watching TV/ DVD.

Unfortunately, all plans have fallen apart.  Ok.  That sounded a bit melodramatic but I have cancelled my leave because:

1) 3 colleagues have resigned (jumping ship together) and I need to accompany 1 of them to a meeting with an important client on Mon to ensure she doesn’t say anything detrimental to our company,

2) We’re currently tendering for a job and though the deadline is on Fri & I have done up the first draft of the report, I need to meet an underwriter to discuss some issues & he will only be in Singapore on Mon &

3) We’ll be interviewing a candidate on Mon.

With regard to the mass resignation, all I can say is people come, people go, and it’s how you conduct yourself that matters.  Some of them have disappointed in this aspect. 

Despite the increase in workload (I think I’m taking over about 2/3 of their workload), I don’t really think that will be an issue.  I don’t think anything could be worse than the working hours I was subjected to in my first job. 

I also see an upside to this because I’m now forced to learn whole turnover trade credit.  Not that it’s difficult or anything, but I’ve always been more interested in my side of the business – political risk, structured trade credit , bonds & crisis management… and so I was never motivated to learn the specifics of whole turnover trade credit.  With this mass resignation, however, I’m quite motivated to learn the tricks of the trade so that I can excel in this area too.  After all, only my boss knows all the different products that my department handles… and once I master whole t/o trade credit, I will be the next person who knows all the products.  I think that’s quite empowering.  Haha. 

I’m also pleased to see that Meeneon is taking this positively and is also looking forward to learning something new.  I’m confident we’ll tide this over, and we’ll come out as winners.

So bring it on!  I’ve read up & familiarised myself with the policy wordings of 2 insurers (there’re 5 main insurers for this line of biz).  I intend to finish another 2 tomorrow, and the last one during the week. 

I’m very excited.

I met a Nigerian Australian scammer today, whose plot was so paper thin, I felt it was real insult to my intelligence.  So this old man turns up without appointment at my office and said he was looking for an insurance bond.  Our receptionist sent a management trainee from our Business Development team to speak to him, and mgt trainee in turn called me to join them in the meeting room.

Mr Scammer showed me a letter that says he’s representing a public construction company from Australia, to look for a “good country overseas, with favourable tax laws & ‘of course it’s all legal’, to set up a new company so as to do many more projects and business”.  His search brought him to Singapore.  In order to raise capital for this new company, he would like to find a Standard & Poor’s rated ‘A’ or similar Moody’s rated insurance company, to issue a payment obligation guarantee, that this new company has the ability to repay USD200mil worth of financing, at the end of the 10-year bullet maturity date.

Focusing all my energies on not rolling my eyes at Mr Scammer, I told him that this structure was not possible because insurers can only issue performance bonds, and not financial guarantees.  Moreover, even if insurers could support this structure, there’s no way any one was going to issue this sort of bond for a company with no financials.

Mr Scammer would not give up.  Insisted that he’s done this sort of structure many times before with insurers such as Prudential in USA , Zurich in Switzerland, Lloyd’s in London, etc.  He said the only reason he is approaching us in Singapore is because he’s from Australia and he’s here in Singapore now and so he felt that this was good business for us to earn.  He even had the audacity to add that the credit standing of the company was “irrelevant”.

Irrelevant?  What the heck!  When you go to a bank to borrow money, is your credit worthiness “irrelevant”???

Once again, I reiterated that insurers do NOT issue financial guarantees.  Trying to find a more polite way to tell him to get lost, I asked if he has tried approaching the local banks to lend him money (which obviously would not be possible).  He said he did but they refused as they were “unable to think out of the box”.  So I repeated myself.  Insurers do not issue financial guarantees.  Gosh.  I must have said that line like 20 times.  I could sense his frustration but Mr Scammer would not leave!

He tried to take the high & mighty route and said that it’s a pity that this is good money but our insurers do not want to earn it.  He said he could not think why an insurer would not be willing to take the USD90 mil his company would pay, in exchange for a guarantee that they will be able to repay USD220 mil in 10 years.  Good grief.  I didn’t know to give him credit for re-working the Nigerian lottery scam story, or to feel even more insulted that he thinks I’m gullible enough to buy the story.

So I used this line that all insurers use when they want to decline a risk – “I’m sorry we could not be of more help”. 

I think I must have said that 5 times… and repeated the line about “insurers cannot issue financial guarantees” another 10 times… before Mr Scammer finally gave up & left our office.

After he left, the management trainee showed me his name card.  I only have one phrase in Hokkien to describe it – WAH LAU EH.

The name card was printed out this dull gold paper (the sort I used to use to make greeting cards with when I was in secondary school) and everything was typed in this cursive font:

“JTown Capital Limited

Mr J Molley

j.molley@gmail.com.au/ j.h.molley@yahoo.com.au”

Goodness gracious.  Couldn’t he at least spend some money to print a more presentable name card?  And “gmail.com.au”?  Aiyoh… since when got this domain name? 

I forgot to mention that the letter he showed me was also typed in this super old English.  Totally not a writing style of this century.

While recounting the incident to Iceman, a thought came to me – maybe this guy is some old-time scammer who was just released from prison after 20 years or so.  Hence his old style of writing, crappy presentation & obvious lack of IT knowledge.

Whatever the case, I really think he needs to work on his con job skills.  He definitely won’t be seeing USD220 mil from any one at this rate!

I wanted to blog about this earlier but somehow didn’t get down to it. I’ve been a PAP supporter by and large but I’ve never really studied their policies in an in-depth manner. I never really bothered before cos their policies made sense to me so I was too lazy to give deeper thought to it. I guess you can say I was politically apathetic.

During the recent elections, however, people online seemed to be slamming the party left, right, centre, to the extent that the PAP started appearing like an underdog to me. That got be curious. Were they really that bad? Were they really the arrogant scums people made them out to be? I had comments on my facebook saying things like, “PAP disgusts me”.

These sort of unsubstantiated comments ignited my curiosity. So I started researching into the accusations thrown at them and the more I read up, the more baseless I found accusations to be. That made me a firmer supporter of the party and I’m glad I went through the process cos when I put that cross on my ballot paper, it was with full confidence in them.

I’m thinking of doing more reading on apologetics now. I feel it’s only when we seek put answers to naysayers that our faith will grow. 🙂

I still don’t understand why people would rather vote for security guards than good policy makers.

Let’s put this into perspective.

Singapore rush hour MRT:

Japan Rush Hour Train:

Hong Kong Rush Hour MTR:

Singapore Public Housing:

Japan Public Housing:

Hong Kong Public Housing:

Photo Credits:

http://blogging4myself.blogspot.com/2011/02/crowded-mrt.html

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/laws/1/1290097226/inside-the-mrt-at-rush-hour.jpg/tpod.html

http://www.ebcak.com/archives/296

http://www.ianhschan.com/blog/10-shot-challenge

http://www.profimedia.si/picture/tokyo-suburbs/0089006183/

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=543884

I understand that different people will have different beliefs and will therefore vote for different parties.  What upsets me is when people tell me things like they want to vote for the opposition ‘cos of “gut feel”.  When asked what don’t they like about the incumbent, they say they don’t know, have not read up, and some don’t even know who is the opposition party contesting in their ward, yet, they still want to vote for the opposition due to “gut feel”.  I think voting is something that should be done responsibly.  When someone says something, don’t just believe blindly.  Please do your own investigation & research.  Things should be read in context and any proposed amendments to our policies should be considered carefully in view of the big picture.  For example, Ms Glenda Han from Workers’ Party says she wants to remove the industry requirement that prevents certain SMEs from getting grants.  What bullshit.  There is no such requirement in the eligibility criteria to get grants!

Then you have some ex-government scholars who say they want to prevent foreigners from snatching jobs from Singaporeans by imposing this S$4k minimum salary requirement (i.e. to stop hiring foreigners whose pay package is below S$4k).  Do you know that by doing this, a lot of young & talented foreigners who can contribute effectively to Singapore will be turned away?  For years, the Singapore government has welcomed Asean scholars to come to Singapore to study.  These brightest students from neighbouring countries come in their teens & usually stay on till they complete their university studies in Singapore.  Fresh grads generally get around S$2.5k – 3k a month these days.  If we were to implement this minimum S$4k rule, this pool of talent will be lost.  A lot of these scholars, having spent half their life in Singapore, end up taking up permanent residency and eventually citizenship.  We can spend money to offer more enrichment schemes to Singaporeans to ensure that our locals do not fall behind.  But we must never be afraid of being better for that will drag us down.

Another opposition leader also recently suggested taking out S$10bil from our reserves & distribute the cash in amounts of $1mil handouts to individuals to start companies.  He says we may one day establish our own Facebook & Google this way.  S$10bil of taxpayers’ money freely given out.  Does this sound sensible to you?

I could seriously go on & on & on about why I am get so annoyed whenever I read about propositions made by the opposition.  I really hope all Singaporeans will vote in a positive & affirmative manner.  Vote for a party you have done your homework on & whom you genuinely believe can see Singapore through the next 5, 10 years.  Don’t vote in a negative way, i.e. to cast the vote for an inferior party, only because you have some gripes with the better party.

Glenda Han (WP candidate in East Coast GRC) said, "Government grants for small and medium-sized enterprises should not be available only for areas where the Government wants to grow."

I really want to ask her which grant she’s referring to. There are 3 govt schemes in place to help SMEs & NONE have any industry criterion.  Miss Han.. how to vote for you when you don’t even know what you’re talking about?

Read with interest the latest saga over Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate, Vincent Wijeysinga, and how he was touted at a gay forum to be a potential “first gay MP” rallying for more rights for homosexuals.  The People’s Action Party (PAP) asked SDP to clarify its position on the matter and SDP came out to clarify that they are not pursuing the gay agenda and none of their MPs will.

I think the issue goes beyond “pushing political agendas”.  I believe the choices/ stance/ position that a person takes is intrinsically linked to his beliefs & values.  For example, many Christian MPs spoke out against having casinos in Singapore and this was based on their religious beliefs.  Another example might be if there is an MP who is very concerned about shark conservation, should any bills be tabled about banning the import of sharks’ fin, the MP is then highly likely to support this.  In the same vein, even if a homosexual MP doesn’t actively pursue gay rights in parliament, I think it’s only logical that this MP will make decisions based on his belief/ values.

This may be good for people in support of gay rights, and not so good for people who want things to remain status quo.  My point is, voting for a candidate is not just about what “political agenda” they say they have, or don’t have.  It’s also about voting for a candidate who shares the same beliefs & values as you.  Since it is often said that an MP is the people’s voice in parliament, then we should remember that “out of an overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks”.

I had a really interesting discussion over Facebook’s private messages with a friend who supports the Opposition.  Some of the points she brought up… and my view of these points:

1. Ministers’ Salaries

Her point: One sign of PAP’s corruption is that they pay themselves the highest salaries in the world, and they do it because they can.  For e.g. Lee Hsien Loong earns approximately USD 2.8mil annually whereas the US President US$400,000 annually, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 non-taxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment

My view: it’s our ministers who get paid well, not PAP. Should the opposition parties one day show that they are capable of running Singapore, they will be entitled to the high pay too. Sure, politicians in other countries, e.g. US, are paid lower than in Singapore. But the non-cash perks they have (housing, security, private jets, etc) are way more than what our ministers are paid.  For e.g., it costs a whopping US$181,757 per hour to operate Air Force One!!  Given the amount of travelling the US President does a year, do you know how much that works out to?

I thus don’t think it’s fair to just use salaries as a basis of comparison. I think we should look into the overall amount it costs taxpayers to support a politician.

Perhaps more importantly, a lot of overseas politicians do not stay to serve the country longterm. They come in for a term or two, then they move back to the private sector knowing that that short pay "sacrifice" while they are in public office will be easily recouped once they rejoin the private sector with all their political connections.  I don’t think this sort of high turnover is beneficial to the country.

2. Casinos

Her point: Allowing casinos to be built has ruined PAP’s moral standing.  She personally knows 3 people who have been financially ruined by gambling.

My view: I believe an individual must take responsibility for his own actions. Many people are also ruined from playing the stock market. Should we then remove SGX? And I’m not saying this from a bystander point of view. My dad has lost over a million in shares in the past. But my dad just worked harder to make back the money. It may be tough, but definitely possible.

3. Not Upgrading Non-PAP Wards

Her point: Not upgrading non-PAP wards is morally wrong as these people also serve NS, pay taxes, and this would never happen in other developed democracies.

My view: I think we have to be clear that PAP didn’t say their flats would never get upgraded. But there’s a queue for all the flats to be upgraded and so they were placed at the end of the queue. From a PAP voter point of view, I think that’s fair. U can’t have your cake & eat it. If I supported the ruling party at the last elections, then I expect to have certain "priority" when it comes to things like HDB upgrading. I would certainly be annoyed if a non-PAP ward got upgraded before a PAP ward.

4. Workfare Bonus

Her point: Workfare bonus goes into CPF & not our pockets so it’s all for show.

My view: CPF pays a much higher interest rate than banks so this sort of forced savings for retirement is not a bad idea. It provides a basic safety net for the masses when they retire. The financially savvy would know that they should not put all their eggs in one basket.  I think the last global financial crisis has shown you never know what may go wrong. So why shouldn’t a diversified portfolio include CPF (together with stocks, fixed deposits, unit trusts, etc)? For those who are not financially savvy, all the more they need more $$ in their CPF when they retire.

We finally agreed to disagree…politics is like religion – you can never convince or persuade someone to come round to your point of view, but I certainly enjoy an exchange of views. 

Spent the last 3 days reading an information memorandum on an infrastructure project in Ghana.  Also did a bit of reading online about Ghana and I must say my opinion of Ghana has improved from all my reading.  To me, Ghana is so far away from Singapore that I can scarcely imagine what life is like there.  I do know someone from Ghana though!!  He was my senior & my block representative when I was staying in NTU Hall 11.  He was a few years older than the rest of us, and came to Singapore on a Standchart Ghana scholarship.  Really good guy – good character, responsible, humble & efficient.  I met him only once after leaving uni – a couple of years ago when he came to Singapore on a biz trip.  He was still with Standchart and doing very well.  I really hope the infrastructure project I’m reading about will go through.  It will definitely help the lives of the people living in rural areas.  Wonder how my old hall friend’s doing too.  Maybe I should do a search for him on Facebook…