TR EMERITUS

Micro-Mechanics is a relatively small MNC founded in the US but publicly listed here. It has an advanced engineering and manufacturing operation in Silicon Valley as well four plants in Asia, including Singapore, serving the semiconductor industry. By all accounts, it is doing very well with the quarter just ended on 31 March 2020 reporting a 48.1% rise in net profit year-on-year, has a healthy cash reserve and no bank borrowings. Its founder cum CEO expects business to be challenging in the short term but believes the “semiconductor industry is poised for a prolonged period of solid growth”. As the semiconductor industry is considered essential, it is allowed to continue operations albeit with the necessary precautions and yet it received a not insignificant amount of bailout - “Other income rose to S$674,000 from S$177,000 a year ago due mainly to government grants of S$389,000 that was given to businesses affected by Covid-19”. Bear in mind only the first tranche has been paid. It’s operations is not hampered, it will continue to support its staff regardless and it can well afford to forgo the bailout and yet taxpayers money is showered on it - this seems to me a blatant mis-use of their money. On another count, the bailout is meant to help citizens, but Micro-Mechanics is majority owned by the founder and his Trust and I believe he is not even Singaporean (I stand corrected). Don’t get me wrong, I believe Micro-Mechanics is a tight and well run company ably led by its founder, but bailout money showered on businesses and hoping that it will trickle to its worker is fundamentally wrong. What is there to stop a business from keeping a big portion for itself to pad up its bottom line and share price? Why doesn’t the government pay furloughed or retrenched Singaporeans directly? There are many foreign companies registered in Singapore. In fact, in terms of GDP, they dwarf local businesses. Even though they are mainly foreign owned, they are nonetheless eligible for the bailout, and their share may well be larger than that of Singapore companies. Where is the sense in that? Why are we using taxpayers money to bailout foreign companies? I wrote about SATS’ ill-advised decision to buy back its shares to reward management two days ago. In that same article, it was stated that SATS would likely face a cash crunch in the months ahead given their high overheads and “the likely absence of government support at its overseas associates”. Are we the only suckers paying foreign companies to “save jobs”? Bear in mind, the $60b spent will have to be ploughed back when this pandemic is over. There will be all manners of taxes on the table, and Singaporeans will have to pay.   Foong Swee Fong * The author blogs on Facebook.      Read More →

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) Steve Jobs, Apple’s legendary founder, is reported to have said on his death bed that he felt that his life had been an absolute waste even though he was judged to be an absolute success by every metric society used. His reasoning was simple, he had spent his time pursuing wealth and “success” which was at the cost of the time he could have spent with his loved ones. He said, “There’s no point being the richest man in the cemetery.” I think of this at a time when earning a living has become exceedingly tough. If you’re like me, working on contract or part-time basis, its especially tough. The guys who used to give you lots of work can no longer do so in as much as they don’t have the business to give you the work. My blue-collar existence vanished because restaurants are no longer allowed to have dine-in customers, hence there’s no need for service staff. My income from the white-collar existence is curtailed because nobody wants to meet, so I can’t “sell” the services. The media is also not interested in anything beyond the outbreak of infections in worker’s dormitories, hence there’s also not much prospect of drumming up publicity work. If I was to take a job as an “essential” worker in say, a hospital, the wife and kid would shoot me for putting them at risk. In the meantime, bills need to be paid. While the banks are supposed to be more sympathetic, they still demand loan installment payments and so on. So, what can one do? In my case, it is a case of living very simply, staying in touch with the people who may be in the position to give you work so that they’ll remember to give you work once they can and also looking for other things that might earn you a few bucks. I’m blogging more than I used to. While what I earn of advertising revenue barely buys me a cup of cheap coffee, I keep the brain active and stop myself from rotting. So, I am actually sympathetic to people who have been protesting against lockdowns and stay at home orders. I think of people who are demanding to go back to work. The desire to earn money isn’t just limited to “ruthless” billionaires who want more money. Worrying about money is a very common thing and I am living the frustrations of people who see their financial resources being depleted and the bills continuing to pile up. However, I’m reminded of what Steve Jobs said. There’s a reason why businesses are not opening and why stay at home orders have been issued. With the exception of perhaps North Korea, countries around the world loosened up the restriction of movement of people because this brought prosperity and by extension more revenue for governments. So, when revenue hungry governments shutdown the movement of people and start dolling out cash, there has to be a good reason. As Steven Jobs said, “There is no point being the richest man in the cemetery” and if you apply that to a state or national level, there’s no point having a roaring economy if you have a virus that cripples people. Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni has described the current situation as being akin to being in a war, where you should be glad you focus only on the basics of survival. He’s right, the coronavirus has maimed and killed people and the only proven way that the virus has been kept in check has been through social isolation methods. The statistics are very telling. In the USA, there are now 49,845 deaths as a result of the covid-19, that was in a matter three months. By comparison, the US lost 54,246 lives in the Korean War over a period of three years. Who is to say that the figures won’t rise further? The best part of the coronavirus is that it’s a silent killer and you never know who might have it and who can give it to you. I remember discussing this topic with a Belgium fellow who felt that people were overreacting. My line to him was “How do you know I’m not infected and can’t pass it to you?” In such situations, a dose a paranoia is healthy survival. Furthermore, its not just a case of “my body – my choice.” You might be healthy and fit but the fellow next to you may not be. If you get the virus, you may be able to survive but if you pass it onto other people, they may not be able to. Unwittingly, you became a case of death. Then there are those who complain that Covid-19 kills less than the flue. Well, that may be true but then again death isn’t always the worst outcome. Studies have shown that those who have recovered end up getting infected again and being weakened – not exactly the best thing to keep the economy thriving. Yes, stay at home orders are bad, especially when you have bills to pay. The alternative is worse. So, what do you do, except wait out the period and figure out how to tide things over? Losing patience could lead to losing more.   Tang Li *The author blogs at http://beautifullyincoherent.blogspot.com/      Read More →

I am sorry but this article by TODAY, to be honest, is just plain ridiculous. It is nothing more than a PR article written to excuse the govt's failures. For example, the article has this sentence inserted, referring to the govt's actions regarding the dormitories: "[Other] experts said that without the benefit of hindsight, the answer to whether the Government should have stepped in sooner is not clear-cut." This is such utter rubbish. Not clear-cut? Then the so-called "experts" are numbskulls. Remember that the government had already closed schools, disallowed religious organisations from holding mass services, told employers to let workers work from home, and generally discouraged social gatherings of groups. So, it WAS clear-cut that the government knew that large groups of people were risks and sources of transmissions. You mean, despite all the ban on other groups, the govt did not know the dormitories of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers crammed into them was a transmission risk? Really? I mean, you serious? What is the difference with migrant workers groups in dormitories? Let me rephrase that: What is the difference with hundreds of thousands of migrant workers packed into gated dormitories and who live in crammed rooms of 12 to 20 persons each? To anyone with half a brain, it is a no brainer. Is there really a difference between a church holding a mass or service for followers inside a church, and hundreds of workers crammed into the same building? At least the church go-ers could go home after the service, but the migrant workers eat, sleep and do much everything else there all day, in the same room. So, when you disallow church or religious gatherings, YOU ALREADY KNEW this was because such gatherings were a risk. So what is the difference? No benefit of hindsight? What B.S. is this? The Manpower Minister took her eye off the ball. Period. And the task force as well. All of them were more concerned with Singaporeans, and PRs, and returning Singaporeans. ALL of them, obviously, took their eyes off the ball on the dormitories, an obvious threat which was warned by migrant welfare NGOs. So, no. It is not "without the benefit of hindsight" blah blah blah. Hindsight was already available - FROM THE DECADES OF WARNINGS GIVEN BY ACTIVISTS AND NGOs! It is the disregard of insight, foresight and even hindsight which the govt is guilty of - because it thought it knew better. So please. Take some responsibility, accept the responsibility, admit the failure, and then ask how you can do better, work with the NGOs, and STOP making excuses. You failed. Period. And we are not talking from "the benefit of hindsight". The activists and NGOs have been telling you so FOR YEARS! And, who are these "experts" who are making excuses for the govt and ministers? Horrible.   Andrew Loh      Read More →