TR EMERITUS

Accused Ng Yu Zhi Given the fact that my main source of income comes from being a business development manager for a liquidations firm, that hopes to get work from the legal fraternity, this posting is probably an act of commercial suicide. However, the point that needs to be made is an important one and it needs to be made regardless of my narrow commercial interest – the point being the fact that Singapore appears to be run by a group of highly intelligent a**holes who seem to be very good at what they do but not much else. Its quite clear that the term “elite” has been misused in Singapore. It’s this simple, if you want to be respected for being better than other people, you really need to be better than others. It’s easier said than done because it involves constant work. I think of the elite of the British Army, the Special Air Services (SAS), which works on the principle that they are never fully trained soldiers because they are constantly updating and upgrading themselves to stay ahead of the pack. One cannot simply be “elite” by calling yourself that and then behaving in a way that is at best on par with the rest of us and worst ……well let’s not go into that. In all fairness to the system, there’s little to disagree with. We claim to be a meritocracy and success comes from ability rather than birthright, race or religion. You can’t argue against that. We have a “scholarship” system which nurtures bright young things for leadership roles in government and in the private sector. Again, as my European and American friends and family remind me, this is a good thing. You want the place to be run by people with brains. However, while there’s much to admire in the idea behind the system, the practice has been rather different. Instead of getting new recruits into the elite to challenge themselves, our system protects them. Ministry of Education scholars for example don’t go to schools filled with problem kids. They go to the schools where the kids are so bright, they’ll succeed whatever you do and the parents will ensure that the kid will never have a “lazy” moment. On more worrying concept, we promote our military scholars rapidly and ensure that they are kept as far away from anything resembling a war zone. We had two military men who gained international acclaim for being decent commanders – namely Major-General Tan Huck Gim, who was sent command a UN mission in Timor Leste and Rear Admiral Bernard Miranda who was sent to command anti-piracy forces in the Gulf of Aden. For proving they could to the job, the military promptly demoted them and sent them out to retire so that they would not come close to competing with military men who earned their battle spurs in the airconditioned office. There is an obsession with the “elite” sharing their brains. Our generals who earned their battle spurs playing computer games against an enemy that will never actually shoot at them are then sent out to cut their entrepreneurial teeth in monopoly businesses designed so that a monkey could print money. The track record has been rather lacking. The big success stories being Desmond Kwek, former Chief of Defense Force and CEO of SMRT who became a hero to the shareholders by selling the company to the shareholders and then there’s General Ng Yat Chung who had to sell a loss making company to someone else to make it profitable and then had to hive off a monopoly media business to non-profit that will be funded by the government. Apparently, that’s called sharing talent between the public and private sectors and that is somehow beneficial to us as stakeholders in society. Despite the evidence to the contrary, we are constantly reminded that we need the “elite” to give us the “good” life that we are used to. One of the most amusing ways in which is this is done was though an “international” survey which showed that Singapore topped the list for the “value-add” that the elites provided. The story can be found at: [LINK] Now, most of the public ire has been on former civil servants who have been sent to run private sector companies. However, if we look closely, the record of the “elite” who have been in the private sector all their working lives, isn’t much better either. This was exposed by the collapse of Envy Global Trading, a firm which managed to get members of our elite, specifically from the legal and investment communities to pump money into a firm that was not regulated by regulator to perform nickel trades that never took place. The story can be found at: [LINK] and [LINK] While “cheating” is rightfully illegal and morally wrong, this incident has exposed our elite as being rather drab. Let’s start with the scam. Like it or not, scams require work. One of the most incredible scams that I know of comes from India. The perpetrator spent years building up a reputation as a creditworthy customer before pulling the plug on the banks. The family ensured that documentation was in place and despite the best efforts of the Indian government to get them extradited from places like Singapore, the UK and UAE, they’ve failed miserably. Much to the frustration of the CBI in India, they’ve not been able to get a “red” notice from Interpol. Scams like this take planning and patience. The smart ones lay low and don’t get involved in anything flashy. The perpetrators are aware that the authorities will be all over them and so they keep their noses clean. It’s a case of everyone knows but can’t prove it. If you read the report, it is quite clear that Mr. Ng, who pulled off the scam did it in the most obvious way. He showed people he looked the part of a high roller and offered them wonderful sounding returns. It seems that the greatest claim to Mr. Ng’s brilliance at making money was the ability to afford a very lavish life, including the only Pagani Huayra hypercr in Singapore. More on Mr. Ng’s lifestyle can be found at: [LINK] Now, if Mr. Ng’s victims were uneducated and fell for his scam, it would be perfectly understandable. If his victims were educated but didn’t have access to certain things, one might also be able to sympathise, especially if he or she recognised their role in getting scammed. However, this was clearly not the case. A good portion of his victims are the type of people who have an abundance of experience in investments and have the ability to find out anything with a single phone call. Take the example of Dr. Finian Tan, Chairman, Founder and Chairman of Vickers Ventures Partners, a firm that specializes in – making investments. As can be seen from Dr. Tan’s profile below, this is a firm that has been around for nearly 20-years. This isn’t a fly by night operation or a one-hit wonder firm. There is a record of consistent performance, which would imply that Dr. Tan has enough resources to know what he’s doing. However, Dr. Tan was taken in by Mr. Ng, which, given the most basic fact about the way in which Mr. Ng presented himself to investors, lead us to question Dr. Tan’s competence. Despite Dr. Tan’s celebrity like status, the question that many of his investors may well be asking is – would you trust your money to Dr. Tan and if he’s fallen for one shady deal, has he fallen for others? Let’s remember, Dr Tan is not your average Joe trying to invest based on tips found in cyberspace. He’s officially one of Singapore’s leading voices on investment with the resources to ensure he makes the best possible decisions. This isn’t a case of bad luck and the market going against him. This is falling for something based on very little solid evidence. [LINK] Would you trust him with your money if he can fall for an obvious scam? To be fair to Dr. Tan, there is a case of choice. You can choose whether to invest with Dr. Tan. The most worrying is the case of Ms. Pek Siok Lan, General Counsel to Temasek Holdings, a company which has a role in investing public money (money you the tax payer/ CPF contributor have paid). If you look at Ms. Pek’s profile on the Temasek Holdings, you’ll notice that she’s quite attractive. However, that shouldn’t be the main criteria for the job that she holds. Prior to joining Temasek, Ms. Pek was an in-house lawyer at ST Telemedia, a government linked company with responsibility for legal, regulatory and corporate secretarial affairs. One of the criteria for doing any form of regulatory and corporate secretarial affairs is “KYC” or “Know Your Customer.” You would imagine that someone with Ms. Pek’s experience in doing due diligence for a big firm, would have done something when it came to her money. In her position at Temasek, she’s got the ability to pick up the phone to get information at the highest of levels. Given the role that Temasek plays in safeguarding public money, one has to start asking questions about Ms. Pek. If she can approach using her personal money with a lack of due consideration, who Is to say that she’s approached conducting due diligence with public funds in a similar manner. [LINK] Investing Public Funds Requires Due Diligence – a Pretty Face will not suffice. Our legal system relies on people like lawyers fighting for laws and doing what’s right. One of the most prominent legal families that makes headlines is the Thio family, which has produced a number of “brilliant” lawyers. Whilst I am openly opposed to their stance on revoking Section 377A (the section that criminalises consensual anal sex between men), I do admit that the Thio family have contributed to the legal fraternity. However, one member’s investment does raise a question of whether the Thio’s have been book smart rather than actually smart. We have Mr. Thio Shen Yi, managing partner of TSMP Law, Senior Counsel, immediate past president of the law society and Master Bencher of the Middle Temple, an honorary elected position which has been conferred on only six members from Singapore in over seven hundred years of history. Thio Shen Yi Mr. Thio is without doubt a very clever lawyer. He may probably be one of the best in Singapore. You would expect someone like Mr. Thio to be able to smell a rat. Yet, despite this, Mr. Thio still found a reason to invest with Mr. Ng, despite the obvious give away. [LINK] A close relationship with the All Mighty Does Not Constitute Due Diligence. These are just three of the more prominent names that have been conned by Mr. Ng and one is already obliged to question the basics. Why should we trust Dr. Tan or Ms. Pek to look after our money? Why should we trust Mr. Thio to check on who he represents? Mr. Ng is a crook and should be punished. However, like former US President Donald Trump, he’s proven to be like chemotherapy. He’s done us a favour by exposing exactly how elite the elite is. It is clear that the class that describes itself as elite needs to be challenged more aggressively so that it can justify its status as elite.   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 →

Mas Selamat The Singapore Terrorism Threat Assessment Report 2021 (the Report) was released by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 23 June 2021.  [LINK] This 24 page report does not tell us much. It fudges on numbers and details. It does not tell us anything about the ISA prisoners now detained for decades and years. It doesn’t even disclose the number ISA prisoners now detained in our high security Changi Prison. I am concerned with the wasted lives in Changi Prison. What has happened to Mas Selamat bin Kastari? He escaped from the Whitley High Security Prison on 27 Feb 2008. He was arrested by the Malaysian police and handed over to Singapore on 24 Sep 2010. Since then, he has been in jail and we do not have any news of him. His son, Mashadi Mas Selamat who was arrested in Oct 2013 is also in prison under the ISA. The Ministry of Home Affairs had accused Mas Selamat of having terrorist connections outside Singapore. Have these organisations made any attempt to rescue him or bomb Changi Prison or the defunct Whitley Prison? We hear nothing of such incidents. Indeed, the Report notes and I quote: “There is currently no specific nor credible intelligence of an imminent terrorist attack against Singapore.” Mas Selamat is not the only long serving ISA prisoner. There are three others – Haji Ibrahim bin Haji Maidin (imprisoned since December 2001), Alahuddeen bin Abdullah (imprisoned since October 2002) and Mohd Aslam bin Yar Ali Khan (imprisoned since Dec 2002). These are the 9/11 prisoners, when America’s Twin Towers were crashed to ground zero. They are our Guantanamo prisoners. Why are these individuals still being detained? Were they part of the 9/11 plot. If they were, their handlers have obviously forsaken them. The Singapore government needs to tell us why these prisoners and others are still being detained. If these men are really so dangerous and have links with terrorist organisations outside Singapore, show us the evidence. Don’t just keep renewing their detention orders every two years. The length of their imprisonment will soon surpass Operation Coldstore prisoners - Dr Lim Hock Siew, Ho Piao, Said Zahari, Lee Tee Tong and Dr Poh Soo Kai. Are they going to smash the record of Dr Chia Thye Poh who was detained for 26 years followed by six years of severe restrictions? The Report claims that the greatest threat facing Singapore today is “self-radicalised Singaporeans and foreigners.” Several youths and a child are being detained for allegedly being self-radicalised. If this is Singapore’s present security problem, the long term prisoners should no longer pose a threat and should be released. What is self-radicalisation? It is absurd to think that any government in the world can prevent terrorism by locking up these individuals indefinitely. As long as the internet is available, people will search the web to satisfy their curiosity. The government can call it self-radicalisation but to the individual, it is seeking knowledge. It is a wrong to arrest and detain people who harbour thoughts of working for organisations involved in causes in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Israel or China as several of the detainees have been accused of. They are not threats to our national security though the government may suspect that they may one day cause harm to Singapore and must be “nipped in the bud”. The Report made much of a 20 year old national serviceman who allegedly intended to attack Jews and a 16 year old Protestant Christian child who allegedly wanted to attack two mosques because he is influenced by “right wing ideologies”. The evidence disclosed are flimsy. I do not deny that individuals can cause extensive harm and damage. But the frequent use of the “nipped in the bud” excuse by the Singapore government has given the impression that it is just a convenient excuse to arrest and detain individuals. I suspect the purpose is to instil fear in people and to justify the myriad of laws that have been and are being enacted to control every aspect of the lives of people. The ISD claims that the youths are detained for rehabilitation purposes. But what kind of rehabilitation programmes do they undergo? If people who have been detained for 20 years cannot be released because they have not been rehabilitated, can we be sure that these young people will be successfully rehabilitated in a few months? Incidentally, they have already been imprisoned for more than six months as of today. It is unacceptable that our super police force with high tech equipment, drones and sophisticated weapons, aided by cameras everywhere and 90,000 cctvs in HDB housing estates and town centres as well as Covid-19 tokens and ERP gantries cannot ensure the safety of Singapore without resorting to the use of the ISA. Added to that, Singaporeans are exceedingly law abiding. The Report does not disclose that almost all detainees who have been issued with detention orders have been gazetted as terrorists under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act. What is the purpose of gazetting ISA detainees as terrorists? Finally, as in the past, the number of individuals investigated under the ISA is under reported. It does not include people who were detained for investigation for 30 days or less. Since 2015, the number of individuals dealt with under the ISA should therefore be about 104 and not 54 as stated in the Report.   Teo Soh Lung      Read More →

Singapore has an ethnic integration policy (EIP) in place for several decades. It aims to promote the integration of the main ethnic groups and avoid the formation of conclaves of the minority groups. A lawmaker raised this policy in the social media and pointed out that it had the unintended consequence of disadvantaging the minority owner of a HDB flat. The owner is not able to get a good price for the sale of the flat due to this policy. [LINK] However, this lawmaker overlooked the fact that the buyer of the HDB flat has to come from the same minority group. The buyer benefits by paying a lower price for the flat. This makes the flat more affordable to the buyer. The EIP policy has its benefits and disadvantages. Should this policy be scrapped? Should it be modified? I suggest a modified approach. In each block of flat, a certain percentage can be set aside for the minority group. It can be offered at a small discount. The buyer from the minority group can have the choice of buying a normal price flat, that comes with no EIP restriction or buying the discounted flat (which have to be sold to a buyer from the minority group). This approach might achieve the goal of social integration and be accepted as "fairer". Tan Kin Lian      Read More →