TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent A thread started by a forumer using the moniker of "Sinostar" about a scene he witnessed at Ang Mo Kio Central hawker center on Channel News Asia forum has attracted over 3,000 views so far! He wrote that as he was queuing up at the Pontian Wanton Mee stall last Wednesday, he witnessed the three PRC lady stallholders scolding a Singapore elderly man who is employed by the hawker centre cleaning contractor. They scolded him for being too slow, never clearing plates fast, and never wiping their stall trays clean as well as a host of other complaints. The forumer said that though he was unsure who was in the wrong, it pains him to see a local being scolded by foreigners. "Imagine if he is your old man! And why is he still working at this age and suffer daily....to earn a living? pay flats? heathcare? and support the family?" he wrote.  He also claimed he had witnessed parents of foreigners who wandered in HDB estates to compete with locals "for cardboards and other stuff to sell to garang guni." The thread attracted a torrent of responses most of which are critical of the government. Lean wrote sarcastically: "Soon our grandparents and parents who are not so educated have to work for PRC bosses in cleaning, washing dishes, delivery and store keeping. Happy Golden Years, best work until dead." Liubei added: "In PRC. at this old age the old people are enjoying life not work.......this is pathetic for Singaporeans" His views were corroborated by coolwater: "you are correct. My PRC friend told me, their parents at China home town is enjoying life. The old folk here is still working. Sad. And this is not life. We really need to work till our last day. What the *censored* they holding our cpf for. When we can't stand already than give us? For *censored*, brother also can't stand lo." Starlene shared her experience with PRC workers: "Witnessed at most food courts-daytime are staffed with younger workers-male and female from PRCs while at time the shift job,the poor old locals takeover because the PRCs find other works-now most HDB flats are rented out to PRCs and they in turn sublet again-most of them gather garbage to sell to rag and bone man. Never rent yr properties to PRCs-they always sublet to recover their cost,give reasons distant relatives stay with them for the night-slow in collecting rentals,then most suddenly disappear overnight with your electrical items too."   Molvis is clear where the root of the problem lies: "This is what happen when the top men enjoy high salary, they are so high up there that they can't even see the lower realm of problem...those that are not in the masses are usually the ones suffer in silence, because govt only look at those represened in bigger groups. In deed, our elderly should be enjoying their life now, and not slog till they died.....is this what a 1st world country should be or Singapore is still a 3rd world country? If anyone has a link to any website or intend to set up one to blacklist all these stalls, do share out so that we can help to boycott them...." Singapore's population has just crossed the 5 million-mark which is largely due to the government's liberal immigration policies to encourage foreigners especially those from China and India to settle in Singapore. The relentless influx of foreigners had led to the depressing of wages for the lower income workers and sky-rocketing of prices of HDB flats. The disgruntlement on the ground against the government's policies was reflected in the public furore over a Singapore PR and Chinese national Zhang Yuanyuan who proclaimed her loyalty to China publicly on Chinese TV. While the mainstream media and PAP MPs are quick to jump to her defence by highlighting the fact that she is only a Singapore PR and not a citizen, netizens question why she even qualified for PR in the first place. Ms Zhang, who had only a diploma from an unknown institution in China, came to Singapore in 2003 on a student's pass to study English after which she found work as a Chinese teacher. She obtained her PR within 2 months of application. Neither the Home Affairs Ministry of the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority have explained why Ms Zhang was granted a PR in double-quick time though she is not considered a skilled worker. Previously, only skilled workers and qualified professionals are offered to take up Singapore PRs and citizenships, but nowadays it appears that semi-skilled and even unskilled workers can obtain PRs with relative ease. It will not come as a surprise if the three PRC hawkers who were alleged to be bullying the Singapore elderly cleaner turned out to be PRs too!   Comments source: CNA Forum   Related articles: >> State media: citizens have more rights over PRs >> Zhang Yuanyuan got her Singapore PR in only 2 months >> Official reply from government on the Zhang Yuanyuan fiasco >> Singapore PRC PR proclaimed loyalty to China publicly >> PRC resident hung China flag to celebrate its National Day >> PRC student in Singapore wants more scholarships for foreigners >> PRC prostitutes solicit for customers on Singapore’s cyberspace >> ERA: 40 per cent of resale flats buyers are PRs   EDITORS’ NOTE: If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you! 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By Celine Sung from South China Morning Post The Hong Kong government is facing mounting calls from political parties and residents to resume regular land auctions and Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flat construction to deal with surging housing prices.Among the voices were those of about 100 pan-democratic party members and ordinary residents, who marched from Chater Garden to Government House in Central yesterday to express their discontent. The protestors said property prices had gone up by 30 to 40 per cent this year, while their income had remained unchanged or even fallen amid the economic downturn. Former medical sector legislator Dr Kwok Ka-ki, one of the organisers, criticised the government for failing to respond to the needs of low and medium-income families wanting to own their own flats. “People’s discontent is growing,” he said. “If the government keeps ignoring this problem, it’s like a bomb that will explode one day.” Also at the protest were Democratic legislators Lee Wing-tat and Emily Lau Wai-hing, social welfare legislator Peter Cheung Kwok-che and Confederation of Trade Unions legislator Lee Cheuk-yan. They insisted the government increase the land supply for low and medium-price residential buildings, and resume HOS flat construction. The HOS, suspended in 2002 to help stabilise the property market, allows households too poor to afford private housing, to buy flats at subsidised prices. Yesterday the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong also urged the government to resume building HOS flats. Party chairman Tam Yiu-chung said: “We believe this will not have a big impact on the private property market, because there is an income cap on buyers, and not everyone is allowed to buy HOS flats.” Read rest of the article on East Asia Review  Read More →

By Damon Yeo, Business Correspondent Earlier this year, a joke conjured up by some twisted economists became popular online. It goes something like, “What is the difference between Iceland and Ireland? An alphabet and about six months.” This joke surfaced just months after the entire Icelandic economy and banking system collapsed on the weight of the financial crisis. With the power of hindsight, it can be said that while Ireland’s collapse was never as spectacular as Iceland’s, the Irish economy is still one of the worst hit in Europe. This article is not going to identify the differences between the Icelandic and Irish economy, rather, it will attempt to retrace the Irish path to disaster and highlight the similarities between current state of the Singapore’s economy and that of Ireland just before its crash to ground. A Spitting Image Historically, Ireland and Singapore both share a British colonial past. Both were equally important to the British at the height of her empire. Ireland was key because of her close proximity to the British Isles, while Singapore was important as a trading port and as a symbol of British might in the Far East. The economic miracle of the Republic of Ireland began in sometime during the 1990s. A period of unprecedented growth during the decade earned Ireland the nickname “Celtic Tiger”. The nation suffered a slight blip in terms of economic growth in 2001 as it felt the pain of the internet dotcom burst. Recovery was brisk for the tiny republic of 4.46million as growth rates returned to an average of 5% up till 2006. It adopted the Euro in 1999 and the currency soared against all major currencies, appreciating almost 41% to reach €1 to US$1.58 in April last year. Without the abundance of natural resources, the growth of the Irish economy was by and large driven by the high-tech and services sector. With development funds from the European Union and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the government invested heavily in education and the nation pride herself as one of the most highly educated in Europe. By 2006, GDP per capita was US$41,000 in Ireland, making her one of the richest nations in the world. Despite the meteoric economic bloom, the rich-poor divide in the country widened dramatically. The Gini co-efficient reached 30.4, just slightly lower than the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group average. The economic miracle of the Republic of Singapore began sometime during the 1980s. A period of unprecedented growth during the decade earned Singapore the nickname as one of the four “Asian Tigers”. The nation suffered a slight blip in terms of economic growth in 1998 as it felt the pain of the Asian Financial Crisis. Recovery was brisk for the tiny republic of 4.98million as growth rates returned to an average of 5% up till 2008. The Singapore Dollar soared against all major currencies, appreciating almost 21% to reach S$1.36 to US$1 in April last year. Without the abundance of natural resources, the growth of the Singapore economy was by and large driven by the high-tech and services sector. With budget surplus and FDI, the government invested heavily in education and the nation pride herself as one of the most highly educated in Asia. By 2008, GDP per capita was $52,000, making her one of the richest nations in the world. Despite the meteoric economic bloom, the rich-poor divide in the country widened dramatically. The Gini co-efficient reached 48.4, just slightly higher than the global average. The Irish Boom As Ireland rode on its newfound prosperity, trouble was brewing in the background but no one could care less. A property bubble had been building up in Dublin and no one felt the need to apply the brakes. Between 1993 and 2007, residential property prices increased year-on-year. Between 2000 and 2006, house prices in Dublin actually tripled. There are many schools of thought on what actually drove these surge in house prices. One of most undisputed theories was the “feel good factor”. The fact that property valuations were steadily increasing tended to create a systematic feedback loop, where rising prices affected the psychology of market participants, causing further increases in prices. Over this period of time, the Irish also government implemented a competitive pay structure for all civil servants, benchmarking their pay to the private sector. This only added to the feel good factor as more entered the property market with wads of cash and ready to splurge. Windfall earned by Irish citizens through selling of property prices at record prices enabled more of them to participate again in the property market, snapping up new properties in hope of making quick profits. As early as 2000, the IMF had noted that Irish properties were wildly overvalued. Leading economists and even the Irish officials admitted that the housing boom was probably unsustainable, but the Irish government did almost nothing to curb this trend, as they depended on the large amounts of the property tax for revenue. The Irish Aftermath Of course, it all came crashing down for the Irish in mid-2007. House prices first showed signs of reaching a plateau, before experiencing a monthly dip of 0.3% in March 2007. The house price index in Ireland has not recovered since and by the first quarter of 2009, property prices had slipped by 23% and loan approvals for home-buyers had fallen by 73%. Like every recorded asset bubble burst, this has far-reaching effects on the economy. Unemployment shot up to 11.4% by mid-2009 as many construction projects froze. Several leading Irish banks ran into liquidity and solvency problems as many start to default on house loans granted to them just a couple of years back. This eventually forced the Irish government to provide state guarantees to many of their banks to restore confidence in the banking system. Overall, the economy contracted by an alarming 8.5% in Q1 2009. Recovery is likely to be slower and more painful for the Irish compared to her counterparts in the Eurozone. Budget deficit in 2009 rose to 10% of GDP as the government struggles to match its expenditure and revenue. In mid-June, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Ireland to AA in debt rating – down two notches from its AAA-rating in less than a year. The similarities between the Ireland just before the asset bubble burst and the current situation in Singapore need no further elaboration. Without government intervention, the difference between Ireland and Singapore will be the spelling of the countries’ names and about six months. (All information sourced from Wikipedia) Other articles by Damon Yeo: >> The new Kallang Sports hub: To built or not to be built >> Formula One: A gold mine or a gold-digger? >> DBS and a series of ‘unfortunate events’ >>  Sale of Chartered – An anatomy About the Author: Damon is a proud graduate of Nanyang Technological University in 2004 with a degree in Accountancy. He is currently working in the finance department of a UK Bank. He is also a regular contributor at redsports.sg.  Read More →