Can buy Johor?

Kiribati, an island between Hawaii and Australia, is the second island-nation after the Maldives that has floated the idea of buying land should their islands be swamped by rising seas and more powerful storms.

The sea level around Kiribati has been rising 5.1 millimetres a year since 1991, Australia's National Tidal Centre reported.

The immediate consequence effects - Higher tides in Kiribati's 33-island archipelago are making potable water for its 100,000 residents too salty to drink.

Now switch that thought to Singapore, an island nation too. We have created reservoirs from the sea. Most recently, the Marina reservoir. Could these reservoirs be one day claimed back by salty seawater? Do we have a contingency plan for rising sea level? Build dykes around Singapore? Maybe.

Or perhaps offer a price to Johor Sultan / Malaysia to buy over Johor state as insurance against rising tide? Or should we build a Noah's Ark instead?

Semua Boleh - A country of U-turns

atms-induced traffic jam at raffles place

A neighbouring country has been observed to have so many u-turns but not on the roads though; but in major political and investment decisions.

Examples of such u-turns:-

• to sell the national cancer centre to a private company, then reversed
• to build a s-shaped bridge, then stopped
• to build one of the largest dam in this region, then stopped
• to build an airport for budget flights, then reversed
• politicians going independent yesterday and back to their incumbent party today
• another gentleman said he will have enough support to take over the government on such such a day - the day came and gone
• to charge higher petrol prices on foreign cars going into the country and then nothing

Do you know of other example?

Huh? Like this also can meh? Selamat pagi :)

20cts more for a cup of coffee?

oops.. no CNY picture

Is it the same as $4 surcharge for a usual $6 haircut applicable two weeks before and after the Chinese New Year?

Or is it the same to pay $48 per kg of Lim Chee Guan's bak kwa after queuing from 4am when perhaps you pay half the price with no queue during normal days?

Are the above 3 situations the same?
To me, they are different and I would behave differently towards each.

Firstly, I am willing to pay 20cts more for the coffee. Why? The coffee was served by a Chinese. I am not being racist here. To be more precise, the Chineses who made and served the coffee have sacrificed their holidays and time with family to provide a service to me.

Second situation - No surcharge would be payable by me here. Why? She is the same hairdresser who cut my hair. The haircut is not done during the immediate holidays.

Third situation - Plain and simple no.
But some may rebuke me by saying what is Chinese New Year without bak kwa.
Then I would reply, "Without bak kwa or without Lim Chee Guan's bak kwa?"
Perhaps another would say, "What would Valentine Day be without flowers?"
Then I would reply, "For every day that we are together, .. blah .. blah blah"

The basic criteria - Is there an opportunity cost suffered by the provider of the product or service? If yes, I will compensate you. Do you agree?

Happy NIU Year, my dear friends.

The Lessons of Capt Sullenburger

What lessons can we draw from Capt Sullenburger's heroics? Remember he was the pilot who calmly steered the plane to land on Hudson River with little or no engine power after the engines were damaged by a big flock of big birds. He saved more than 150 lives including his.

In critical moments of our lives, we need to remain calm and stay focus on getting the job done.

Are training, practice and experience the key ingredients to that incident? Is it coincidental that the plane has such a pilot with all the necessary characteristics at that moment?

To the 150 plus people on board, they must be glad that he was at the cockpit.

Luckily he was not one of those people who is victim of many cost-minimising exercises in Corporate America where the older people, deemed more expensive, are being replaced by the cheaper younger pilots.

My concluding remark - Whether you are a young or more "matured" person, we must all strive to possess those characteristics. Let's all view each other as being useful one way or another.

Inspired by Edgar?

I regularly sent out emails to my ex-students enquiring about them.

I received a response from a Mr Tan K.T. sharing with me the changes in his life. The most important bit that really amused me was when he told me that he is now married and the couple has a new addition to the family, a boy. Great? Not yet.

The greatest thing is that they have unofficially (not in I/C) named the boy "EDGAR" !!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspired by Edgar indeed.

So Edgar Tan, welcome to this World but be careful of Edgar Wong :)

No news in ST Money?

I have noticed that there isn't much business news in ST Money particularly on Mondays.

Check today's ST ... there is so little news that the editorial team has to slot in book reviews "Overhyped Books".

Are all the business news in Business Times? Or are there really nothing happening in business?

To the extent that no news is actually good news? Smile...

Who is really learning? Teacher or student?

I have just this article trying to define what is learning. The authors', Ackoff and Greenberg, basic proposition is that you learn more when you are teaching. This is against the popular understanding that you can only learn from being taught.

I want to share with you the following series of exchanges between a professor and a student cited from the article which drive home the point into my deep skull.

(quote) After lecturing to undergraduates at a major university, I was accosted by a student who had attended the lecture. After some complimentary remarks, he asked, "How long ago did you teach your first class?"

I responded, "In September of 1941."

"Wow!" The student said. "You mean to say you have been teaching for more than 60 years?"

"Yes."

"When did you last teach a course in a subject that existed when you were a student?"

This difficult question required some thought. After a pause, I said, "September of 1951."

"Wow! You mean to say that everything you have taught in more than 50 years was not taught to you; you had to learn on your own?"

"Right."

"You must be a pretty good learner."

I modestly agreed. (unquote)

In conclusion - Oscar Wilde remindered us that "nothing that is worth learning can be taught". We have got to want to learn it.

Source - Knowledge @ Wharton

A stupid offer!

In the midst of my day, a call came in from Singtel's marketing agent.

She duly informed me of Singtel's latest "promotion". What is the Offer?

"Commit to a 2-year contract in return for longer "free" talk time and increase in "free" sms from 500 to 1,000"

Initially I could not understand the offer and asked her to repeat again. It then dawned upon me that Singtel is trying to buy my 2-year loyalty for NOTHING!!!!!!

Singtel must have analysed their customers' data on talk time/sms utilisation. Perhaps a smart alec came up with the idea that why don't Singtel give these customers something they don't really need in return for tying them down for 2 years....

Please treat your customers with respect too.

My pain with NTUC Income Motor Insurance

car and you

I have recently renewed my motor insurance with a 41% increase in premium.

For 2008, I paid $613.
And for the coming year, I have paid $864.86.
I have made no claim all these years and the above is after 50% No Claim Discount.
So I wrote to NTUC Income for an explanation.
The following is their response.

"Dear Mr Wong,

Thank you for your email.

We wish to take this opportunity to explain that we have recently revised our Motor Insurance rates with effect from 15 October 2007. The increase is not confined to your goodself but the revision affects all our Private Car policyholders. The revision is due to escalating claim costs among private cars and was necessary so as to keep our plans sustainable.

The increase in premium for our policyholder vary depending on the risk factors such as vehicle model, vehicle capacity, age, driving experience, occupation and claim experience etc. While it is not possible to increase the premium only on policyholders who make claims, policyholders who were involved in accidents and directly contributed to the losses have their premium increased much more.

The premium quoted is the best premium that we can offer. We apologise if we cannot meet up to your expectations and seek your kind understanding on the matter. If we may be of further assistance, please contact us by email to csquery@income.com.sg or phone us at 67881122."

So is the increase and quantum of increase fair? What is your experience?

The Singapore Flyer

Yes, it is a good wake up call that unexpected things can and do happen.

But more importantly - When things do happen, what do we do?

I am talking about the Singapore Flyer. I was lying on the sofa reading BBC on my cell phone at 2am. "Singapore Flyer" made headline on BBC??? Luckily nobody gets hurt.

Yes questions need to be asked and answered to avoid recurrence of this incident. But can we ask and answer them faster without compromising on the quality of the investigation. Why faster?

Singapore cannot disappoint the many tourists (albeit much less coming to Singapore) who have travelled thousands of miles to be here just for the ride. Not good for Singapore reputation.

Businesses there are so badly affected. Rent and salary still need to be paid. It is painful. So let us not give a chance for the business owners to cut heads to save costs. And contribute further to unemployment situation.

When the wheel stops, part of Singapore stop too.

This is not the financial crisis of any significant scale. So can a few good men and women in Singapore come together and help to put Singapore Flyer back together again, QUICKLY for Singapore sake.

P/S - I am not a stakeholder of the Flyer in anyway. Btw, can take care of the rat running around I saw while I was there?

Court 48

I was in Court 48. Why am I there? Not important la.

But what did I observe?
It was a busy afternoon with many people accused of offences under URA, HDB and ACRA.

There was this guy who is accused of 20 counts of illegal hawking. So he owes HDB/URA for fines outstanding.

A court officer explained the charges to him. The lady judge then proceeded to explain to him his options. The judge said she could grant an extension for him to plead and pay HDB/URA subject to someone bailing him out.

The man said he wanted to plead guilty. The judge patiently explained to him that by pleading guilty to the charges, it does not void the need to pay the fines.

He insisted that he wanted to plead guilty and he couldn't find anyone to bail him out. The judge subsequently delivered the sentence. After a few moment of punching her calculator, the man is liable to pay the Court $500 per count of illegal hawking or go to jail. This is in addition to the owings to HDB/URA.

I am puzzled by the man's strategy. Perhaps he is the fall guy who is ready to go bankrupt after jail term to avoid paying the outstanding fines.

Sad. He will be in prison while the rest of us celebrate Christmas.

P/S - Some info garbled to protect the identities.

Chew Tai Lu

the van literally parked in the bus bay with no care for the world

He is 56 and vice president of product innovation at SIA.

He was involved in a car accident which caused injury to 3 pedestrains and another car. From what I read in the paper today, he seems to have acted responsibly by staying around to help the injured, visited them at hospital, offered compensation etc.

He was fined $2,000 for causing accident.

So far nothing fantastic. But towards the end of the article, it reported that Mr Chew could lose his job and about $250,000 worth of share options given the conviction.

Is it true, SIA?

Don't cry..

If your boss come to you today and tell you there is no year end bonus, no increment but got pay cut and force to take compulsory annual leave, don't cry.

But instead we should pray that those guys in power, better get it right QUICKLY.

In the mean time, the many millions of Chinese workers will pray that the factory they are working for would still be around and re-open for business after the Chinese New Year break.

For us here in Singapore, let us hope that the tourists will find some monies under their bed and come and spend them in Singapore, people will continue to buy our electronic chips, pharmaceuticals, financial services (these represents the biggest contributors to Singapore economy).

For those in contruction business, let us hope you will still have something to build (big buildings to even long drains) and more importantly, get paid by the main contractors and developers.

But don't forget to pray for the environment and the mother Earth.
Keep them healthy for our future.

One year Anniversary

a drink

It has been slightly more than a year since I embark on my second entrepreneur stint.

In my first stint ie. towards the end of 1998 financial crisis, I took on a service business that the market here was not familiar. That stint was effectively ended by the dotcom bust. My expatriate customer base was being "reassigned" home. Coincidentally I was offered a deal to walk away financially unscathed and I took it.

My business model was weak and Edgar didn't know that many people in Singapore then. I was pretty much flying around the region. Singapore was not a familiar terrain.

This time round I feel I am much better equipped after my experience of working in a large local GLC and took the opportunity of "reinventing" myself from a general degree holder to a qualified professional.

Do I regret leaving a regular paycheck job? No. In fact, I enjoy the freedom, thrills and tribulations of making a living.

It is not easy but it has been fun... but I miss "you".

To friends and staff who have given me your support, I sincerely thank you.

My best wishes to you as 2008 draws to an end. Cheers

Thanksgiving Day

odd but happy couple

I want to thank you for everything and everyone that I have.

Over prata on Monday night, in between my friend's son quibbling about a cheese prata with "free" egg, it reminded me of a friend I have not met for a while now, who yearns for cheese prata occassionally.

Anyway the point tonight is that everyone of us has a lot to be thankful for. Appreciate the positives in our life.

"We are still here and having a simple meal," my old friend said.

The financial crisis will pass. This is man-made and man can certainly correct this.

Just sit tight, pray and give strength to those who need it more for the moment.

Dear cheese prata friend, I still speak to u.

Taksins to divorce

Dear, I wish to discuss with you something.

Yes dear?

I just got off the phone with the lawyers. Thr Brits are cancelling our visas next week. And we will be given 24 hours to leave the country. Tentatively we go Beijing for a couple of weeks.

All right.. I go tell the children. And do some packing..

Dear... hang on..

Yes dear?

This situation cannot continue. I cannot put you and the children through this again and again. Jeff, our lawyer, has actually come with the idea that we should be officially unrelated ie. through a divorce. After which, he could seek the Brits to issue visa to you and the children on sympathetic grounds. Some of the money and assets be distributed to you and the children.

Then how about you, dear?

Don't worry about me for now.. Maybe I will hang around Bermuda or Christmas Island till we can formalise something... So is it ok that I ask the lawyers to do the paperwork?

If you think it is for the best ...

All right then. We will swing by to visit Arat at our Hong Kong consulate to formalise the divorce...

The above is purely fictional.

Mr Lim is angry

Why? Apparently the union was not involved to the prior the announcement of retrenchment of 900.

How come? Why the haste?
Or has someone conveniently forgotten the due process / protocol in managing a retrenchment exercise in this national and multi national company?

The 900 includes people who had approved the distribution of those ill fated financial products?

The adjectives of "a PR disaster" were being used on national radio this morning.

Dr Ng Shwu Yong

the Flyer

When I was reading the article entitled "Obstetrician suspended for tax offences" in ST today, I was thinking of drawing some learning points on tax for my tax blog.

I changed my mind as there was not much tax issue except for the well summarised conclusion on Dr Ng issued by Singapore Medical Association (SMA).

SMA has decided to suspend Dr Ng, of Esther Ng Clinic and Surgery, from practice given her multiple IRAS violations and convictions. They implied a "defect in character which made her unfit for the medical profession".

In 2001 and 2004, she was convicted for repeatedly failing to produce accounts for her clinic, failing to show up in court and ignoring warrant of arrest.

In another incident reflecting her obstinate streak - She left her PORSCHE at the workshop for 5 years after a dispute!!!

Well she has obviously made her money. She may probably be a good doctor too. But she is stubborn.

In positive light, one could refer to her as a principled person. Negatively, she could just be foolish. Perhaps one should know when to fold.

900 jobs for the price of Hi 5 Notes?

Somebody got to pay for it... but who?

So are the same relationtion managers, who cried when they broke the bad news to their clients, are "crying" now for losing their jobs with one month for every year of service?

"Sing to the dawn"

who will then sit on the same chair after that dog?
the two human beings dare not look at me when i took the picture

After the leap year thingy, now we are being bombarded with singing to the dawn.

Can you remember a movie being talked over news over 2 different days over 2 different weeks?

Well this is the one...

My children have long since been convinced not to pay $10 per ticket to watch cartoon. Ha!!