TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent For those of you who are disgusted by the PAP MPs singing in unison in support of Budget 2010, let us recap the infamous quotes made by some of them 3 years back on Budget 2007, courtesy of Mr Brown: 10. Ms Irene Ng (Tampines GRC): “incredibly generous” 9. Mr Hri Kumar (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC): “Comprehensive and forward-looking” 8. Dr Ahmad Mohammed Magad (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC): “Inclusive and a landmark budget” 7. Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC): “(Workfare is) Pragmatic, innovative and exemplary” 6. Mr Wee Siew Kim (Ang Mo Kio GRC): called Budget 2007 “generous” and “forward-looking” 5. Dr Amy Khor (Hong Kah GRC): “Good intentioned” and “Made in Heaven” 4. Mr Ong Ah Heng (Nee Soon Central): Said that the generosity of the recent budget is possible under the stewardship of the ruling People’s Action Party. 3. Mr Inderjit Singh (Ang Mo Kio GRC): “This is one of the best, if not the best budgets, I have seen.” and “Wonderful” 2. Ms Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC): “Pang sai ka che jamban” (Want to take a dump then look for toilet). 1. Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC): “Let me share with her that nowhere else in the world can you get a Budget which includes love and compassion in abundance as this one.” Where are we now after the "generous", "wonderful", "inclusive" and "made in heaven" Budget of 2007? Are we better off now or are we still stuck in the same s**thole? While the median wages of Singapore workers have barely increased in the last three years, the cost of living has more than doubled, especially that of public housing, all thanks to the PAP's mismanagement of the economy. Till today, the PAP MPs are still ignorant of the crux of the problem and continue sing the same old tune. Singaporeans should wake up from the fact that there is nothing the PAP MPs can do for them in parliament. No matter how hard they argue or fight, they cannot go against the party's wishes because of the party whip. More than often not, the policies are formulated and implemented hastily by a core group of leaders (we know who they are) within the party. The PAP MPs are only allowed to "debate" in parliament to put a "wayang" for all to see, but they have no power to effect any fundamental changes in the policies. The liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies were implemented without due consideration or planning. Since when did we hear a debate in parliament on the matter? Singaporeans must vote wisely in the next election. We need a strong opposition in parliament to keep the PAP in check. We must have proper debate on all national policies before the bills are passed. We cannot give the PAP another blank cheque to govern the nation without any accountability, responsibility or transparency. For those of you who are still undecided, please recall Lee Kuan Yew's famous quote: “To be the prime minister, you don’t have to know every instrument, but you got to recognise, ah, he’s a good violinist, he’ll be the first violinist, he’ll be the double bass. He will play the viola, he will have the trumpet, he will do the drums. Then you coordinate them and then you have great music. And if you already have a great orchestra, you can put a dummy there and you still got great music.” [Source: Channel News Asia, 5 March 2008] Why cast your vote for a dummy MP who is simply there to fill the empty places? Is it worth taxpayers' monies to pay him/her $13,000 a month to sing in tune to his party's "orchestra"? Do you want to see the PAP MPs regurgitating the same rubbish three years later on Budget 2013 when your wages and standard of living continue to drop? You have only one last chance in the next election to make a real difference to your destiny: VOTE FOR CHANGE, VOTE OUT THE PAP!!!  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Even as the PAP is celebrating the end of the recession by giving its ministers and parliamentary secretaries a hefty 8.8 per cent pay rise this year, an economist at DBS Irving Seah has sounded the alarm bells that the picture is not so rosy after all way back in 2009 With the economy projected to grow by 4.5 to 6.5 percent this year, the PAP ministers will take home more pay since a certain percentage of it is pegged to GDP growth. The state media has been busy of late trying to convince Singaporeans that the worst is over, but chose to conveniently ignore Mr Seah's predictions made in Bloomberg on 25 February 2009 though it was mentioned in brief by CNA. In the article, Mr Seah wrote that "job losses this time will be worse than the previous two downturns in the aftermath of the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis and the 2001 bursting of the dotcom bubble". “With growth this weak, labour market conditions are expected to deteriorate further. Job losses and the unemployment rate will continue to rise as companies struggle to cope with the impact of the global downturn," he added. [Source: The Edge] Singapore's unemployment rate rose to 2.6 percent last quarter from 2.2 percent in the previous three-month period, but the figures are misleading as it takes into account PRs as well and omits those who have given up looking for a job altogether. "About 58,000 workers in the manufacturing industry may lose their jobs, while more than 69,000 people in logistics, wholesale and retail trade services may be fired," Seah wrote. Though Singapore's growth figures have been impressive for the last few years, the gains from the growth are not shared equally among Singaporeans. It is popped up artificially by keeping labor costs down via the import of cheap foreign labor, thereby increasing the output and profits of companies and not through boosting productivity, innovation or research. As such, the wages of Singapore workers have barely risen while the cost of living has sky-rocketed, especially that of public housing. Not surprisingly, Singapore has the highest income gap between the poor and rich among the thirty most developed economies in the world after Hong Kong. Mr Seah gave an ominous warning of what is to come: “Companies that are not doing well will need to cut costs to remain viable or may be forced to wind down. As a result, higher employment and more job losses will be inevitable. The going will get tougher as the worst of the labor market cycle is yet to come.” Mr Seah's grim assessment is likely to fall on deaf ears as the PAP MPs and ministers continue to "scratch the backs" of one another for a "good job" done.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent According to a stunning report by Bloomberg yesterday, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corporation or GIC, is likely to take more than ten years to recoup its massive S$10 billion dollars investment in Swiss bank GIC. It was also revealed that GIC took only 3 days to make the decision to invest in UBS: "Marcel Ospel, then chairman of Zurich-based UBS, called GIC Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song, according to comments they made at the time. Talks began on Dec. 6, 2007, and by the evening of Dec. 9, GIC had committed to make its biggest single purchase at the time," Bloomberg reported. [Source: Bloomberg, 1 March 2010] For a multi-billion dollar investment, one should expect GIC to ponder over the implications carefully instead of making a hasty decision to invest which appeared so in this case. It is not known if Ng Kok Song was the one who made the decision or his superior PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew, a lawyer by training with no prior experience in the finance indusry. Better still, neither Ng Kok Song or any of his colleagues in GIC have to account for their actions after the disastrous loss. He said in GIC's annual report last year that he still has "confidence" in the "long-term prospects" of the UBS investment though he acknowledged that "recouping the money might take longer than initially expected." An experience fund manager at Siwsscanto Asset Management in Zurich told Bloomberg: “The game turned out not as easy as it may have seemed. It will take probably more like a decade than three years” for UBS shares to return to 2007 levels." GIC will receive 230.7 million UBS shares for its mandatory convertible notes on 5 March 2010 for 47.68 francs each. UBS shares closed yesterday at 14.98 francs which means that it is staring at a potential paper loss of more than S$10 billion dollars, or about 10 percent of Singapore's national reserves, estimated at $100 billion dollars. As expected, the article by Bloomberg was censored by the Singapore media to prevent further embarrassment to the ruling party and its minions. As early as the beginning of 2007, prominent U.S. fund manager Jim Rogers had been sounding the alarm bells and appearing on TV interviews to warn investors to stay clear of the finance market. “There was clearly outright fraud, as they were reporting earnings for years when they really had no idea whether they were making money — they were just making stuff up......Technically, it’s bankrupt, with gigantic off-balance-sheet derivatives positions whose value it cannot possibly know,” he said. [Source: MSN Money] After GIC made its disastrous investments in UBS and Citigroup, Jim Rogers predicted that it will lose a lot of money: "They’re making a big mistake; these banks have many more problems still ahead. They should wait until these companies are really on the ropes a few years from now . . . and trading at $5 a share." He minced no words in questioning the intelligence of GIC fund managers: "I know these people, and they have never given me the impression that they’re smarter than anyone else. They have gigantic amounts of money, but they’ve made a bad judgment in these cases.” Perhaps Jim Rogers was not aware of the fact that the people he was referring were investing using taxpayers' monies and not theirs. And the beauty of it all is that none of them will ever be called on to pay for their mistakes - they are still sitting on the GIC board. The unique Singapore "system" is based solely on "trust". It doesn't really matter if one is smart or competent so long he/she stands on the right side of the political divide.  Read More →