TR EMERITUS

Whenever GST increase: More Budget surpluses despite the reason to raise GST because of expected increases in social spending? The primary reason for raising GST in 2007, 2004, 2003 and 1997 (introduced), has always been to increase revenue due to expected increases in social spending. So, I was curious and asked myself the question - what were the Budget outcomes whenever GST was raised? Well, strangely and arguably, surprisingly: 2007 5 to 7% - Budget surpluses $7.7b in 2007 (19-year high 1997 to 2015), $0.24b in 2008? 2004 4 to 5% - Budget surpluses $1.5b in 2005, $0.24b in 2006? 2003 3 to 4% - Budget surpluses -$0.11b (huge drop from $1.9b in the previous year 2003) in 2004, $1.5b in 2005? 1997 GST introduced - Budget surpluses $5.3b 1997, $0.3b 1998, $4.9b 1999, $4.0b 2000? [LINK] So, the above begs the question - why was there seemingly a trend of Budget surplus increases when GST was raised - shouldn't these Budget surpluses have been lower or become deficits with the supposedly expected increase in social spending?   Leong Sze Hian      Read More →

I’ve got about an hour to bash out my usual blog summary about the year 2021. This year, is the first year that I spent the better part of the eve at home. Didn’t have a restaurant gig to earn me a few extra bucks and there are no parties for me to go to. What I do have, however, is a comfortable home and I’m enjoying a glass of an apricot liquor that I took from the clearance of a Central Asian restaurant a few days back. So, when you consider that this year was pretty much dominated by various forms of Covid and various restrictions, I guess I should be thankful that I am in the position where I can sit at home and bash out a blog piece with a glass of liquor and Oreo cookies. Whilst towards the latter half of the year, I was limited to one source of income, I actually had a steady source of income, which is more than what many people had. I guess you could say that things on the global front improved a little with the arrival of an American President who actually treated the pandemic seriously. However, whilst Mr. Bidden has provided much needed sanity, the nation remains exceedingly divided and tribal. One has to ask; can a single 78-year-old heal the gap in less than four years? Furthermore, the other geopolitical elephant hasn’t done much better. Whilst its tempting to enjoy watching billionaires being taken down a peg in the name of “shared prosperity,” it’s been at a cost. Whatever growing freedoms Chinese citizens were starting to enjoy have been curtailed and the businessmen that the Chinese government has gone after were maverick innovators that the modern economy needs in order to move. Sure, China was showing that it was tackling inequality but are its methods going to make the problem worse? The world as comedian Bill Mahr argues is trapped between democracies that can’t get things done and autocracies that are downright nasty. The rest of us, can only look for a balance. Just as nations need to look for a geopolitical balance between democratic but ineffectual America and effective but nasty China, individuals also need to look for balance. For me, I’ve accepted that the “corporate career” I fantasised about was not meant for me. I’ve come to accept that I am not meant to be a major part of the “working professional” class. Yet, it’s a path I can’t quite abandon in as much as it pays me enough to get by and at the same time allows me the time to look for things to keep me occupied. So, I stay in my existence in the insolvency trade. I hate looking at files and documents and I avoid looking at anything remotely legalistic in nature. However, I do what I can to spend time with traders of assets. Always thought trading in scrap had a certain nobility to it. We live in a world where we are encouraged to waste and create rubbish, so what can be better than making a living from getting people to waste less. One of my great friends from this side of the business takes pride in the fact that he hasn’t bought a t-shirt for over a decade because he’s picked up his cloths from liquidation asset sales. The Evil Young Lady is still trying to find her feet and to get her life sorted. I’ve told her that I have two major tasks in life. One, I need to see that she’s secured onto a path or at least made the effort to look for what she wants out of life. The other, is to prepare for old age – not that I think I am particularly old but now that I am over 45 and rushing towards 50, I have to accept that certain things will be denied to me and I have to find some way of ensuring I head into the twilight in some comfort. Interestingly enough, the hero of the year, is the Vietnamese girl that I entered into a “life-partnership” with a decade ago. Huong took a friend’s shop and is now working hard to build up a business. I do what I can to help her out particularly in the area of managing government stakeholders and managing compliance issues. I’ve also managed to use her business to polish up copywriting skills as I help to edit her post on Facebook. This is a woman whom many would have said was “wrong” for me but then I decided to take the chance on something that might have been so wrong that it would actually turn out right. I am glad to say that her hunger and drive to make a better life for people around her have proved my bet to be thus far correct: A sample of what Sky H Beauty Singapore does – visit our Facebook page  or come down to be treated like royalty. In a few moments, this wet end of 2021 will be over and we will start 2022. I hope that what we experienced in 2021 will only get us ready for 2022 to be a better year in every sense of the word.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.      Read More →

I have just turned 95 and living on borrowed time waiting to be called home by the Lord. There are some misrepresentations about me that I have to resolve before I go. I was a victim of a very grave injustice by the late Lee Kuan Yew when he was prime minister. In his iniquitous way he created a vicious myth about my lack of loyalty and integrity as a civil servant. It is very important that I clear away such myths before my departure. The CIA adventure in 1961 to recruit me as their intelligence agent is well documented by now. The break up of the operation with the arrest of the three CIA officers involved in the recruitment was world shattering at that time which boomeranged right up to the White House and severely shocked the American President. Lee Kuan Yew portrayed it to group of world newspaper leaders who were interviewing him as a James Bond style adventure with few parallel. He had no compunction in capitalising the incident to such a great extent that it dazzled the American President John Kennedy and his aides with the President almost succumbing to his inordinate blustering although he was a toughie himself. Eventually the Americans were able to recompose themselves to parry off Lee Kuan Yew with their ingenuity. The late Francis Seow Francis Seow was a top class formidable Deputy Public Prosecutor whose court performance struck fear on criminals and other like individuals. Lee Kuan Yew saw his talent and used him to good effect to demolish the artificial facades of security risk Chinese merchants who clandestinely financially aided Chinese High School student activists in their violent agitation against the government. Lee was so impressed by his performance that he awarded Seow with a Gold Administration Medal. But then he was also in fear of Francis Seow when he left the service to set up his private practice. His biggest fear was for Francis Seow to win an election to join the opposition in Parliament. However to make the story short he was livid that I was closely associated with Francis Seow as were many other senior administrative and police officers but why he targeted me was enigmatic. This may have been one of the reasons that he used me to denigrate Francis Seow who was being examined by him in Parliament House in a Committee of Inquiry appointed by him to dislodge Francis from his post of President of the Law Society. How that had crossed his sickly mind was beyond comprehension. But he denounced me by concocting a blatant lie that I had been used by Francis Seow to dismiss five detectives who had been accused of pilfering Francis' property while investigating a case of house breaking. He said I was dismissed from service as a result of this.This was telecast live to Singapore and the world from Parliament House. It was a blatant lie because it needed no proof to show that it was a lie. The case was investigated by CPIB helmed by me but the investigation paper after completion of investigation was forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner of Police for him to decide. Of course he studied the paper and decided to dismiss the detectives. After my stint as Head of CPIB, I was appointed by Lee Kuan Yew as Director of ISD. His mind must have been deranged to say that I was dismissed. I was shocked by his denunciation and consulted a lawyer with a view to suing Lee Kuan Yew in court for defamation. But after what the lawyer advised me I had no choice but to desist from taking him to court. The lawyer was not keen to take the case because no Singapore judge had the courage to convict Lee and there was a high cost to pay. Why wasn't his prodigal son be asked to make a public apology? You think it's possible to detect any humility in these million-dollar charlatans? My tenure as Director ISD was tarnished by a plethora of intrigues by Tay Seow Huah who was my permanent secretary superior, who had the ear of Lee Luan Yew to his underhand falsehoods against me. There was a personal grudge between us arising out of a favour he asked of me to advance the position of one of his sidekicks. Anyway my positon, despite strong support from George Bogaars behind me, had gradually become untenable and I had to leave. I was posted to the Singapore Commission in Hongkong for one year and on my return I retired from service on a poverty-level pension. I started a website later which I named Singapore Recalcitrant to do a public service by updating the public on political issues affecting them from my official experience. Whether we think that we are an egalitarian society the status quo will stay and may not see any improvement without divine intervention.   Yoong Siew Wah * The author was the Director of Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) from 1971 to 1974. He was Director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in the 1960s, and had a distinguished career in the Singapore Special Branch in the 1950s.      Read More →