How to steal and get caught?

Case 1

Plan - Two young men came up with the idea that they can walk into Corporate HQ, buy $500,000 worth of vouchers, pay for it with a cheque and use the vouchers to buy everything they want for a wonderful Christmas.

What are the things they did not think about?

1. Whose cheque should they use? Take one from your father's or my father's cheque book?
2. They will walk into Corporate HQ without any costume/disguise as nobody will remember their faces.
3. The maximum time window they have to use the $500,000 vouchers would be between 4pm today and 2pm on Wednesday assuming Corporate banks in the cheque on Tuesday and the Bank actually inform Corporate that their cheque has been dishonoured on Wed.
4. They do not have to plan on what are the things that are the most expensive and most portable to buy and carry to their car.
5. At $2,000 per laptop, they just need to buy 250 laptops from 10 supermarkets. At $100 per can of abalone, we just need to buy 5,000 cans. They don't care whether they have enough stock.
6. They also don't care about how to convert the merchandise in cash.
7. They don't have to worry about security cameras located at shopping malls filming their biggest crime of the month.
8. They will just wait at Hougang and Bukit Batok conveniently for the police to visit them.
9. They don't need to plan their escape by driving 250 laptops/5,000 cans across the Causeway or get a boat to ferry to them to don't know where.

Merry Christmas

Case 2

Plan - A serial shoplifter bought and collected two Hermes bags worth $67,500 from an online shop. She managed to convince the seller that she has banked in the money.

What are the things that the serial shoplifter did not consider?

1. The online shop could trace her from the basic information that she has given eg. email address or handphone number or location of delivery.
2. She could be traced to her IP address.
3. She just want to know how $67,500 Hermes bags feel like and did not know it is a crime.
4. Of course, she wasn't thinking about running anywhere.

Physical office is passe

The new term is "collaborative centre". So say Mr Neil Jackson, the Senior Director for Education of Microsoft Asia Pacific. Many years ago, I remembered IBM used the term "hot desking".

Microsoft is busy nowadays reconfiguring its offices. There will be no room for its senior managers no more. The rooms, if any, are configured for 3 persons or 15 people etc to use working intensively on specific projects. When he was in Sydney for several days recently, he just sat on any available chair then and interacted with people around him. The next day, he sat on another chair and interacted with another group of neighbours of the day.

The dynamic of interaction and possibility of collaboration change every day.

Another change in his office life - Previously he spent 70% of his time having physical face-to-face meeting and 30% on video conferencing. Nowadays it is the other way around.

Steven Levitt of Freakonomics, I hear you

$40 for 1.5 hours of Steven Levitt... definitely worth the money!

I will share a couple of stories he mentioned with such aplomb.

Firstly he discussed about a John Solagi, a tax officer with IRS many years ago. John is responsible for checking on tax relief claims. American taxpayers then only need to fill in the name of their children to get $300 relief for each child. John suggested to his supervisor to include the child's social security number (perhaps something like our I/C no.) when filing the tax return. His supervisor hesitated given the tedious bureaucratic process needed to amend the design of the form. After many years of hesitation, the idea was finally put in place. Almost overnight, 7 millions children somehow mysteriously disappeared from tax claims. Apparently, many American taxpayers have been cheating IRS with claims for non-existent children. At $300 per child, John's idea is valued at $2.1 billions a year!

Secondly, Steven said he idolises Alan Greenspan (the former Federal Reserve chairman) as every economist hopes to be a GREAT economist. An economist that is great is when their mistake would cause the financial crisis just like that of in 2007. (He is obviously taking a dig at Alan Greenspan.)

Thirdly, he was having a bit of fun about our casinos. He was told that Singapore citizens and PRs have to pay $100 to enter the casinos as part of Singapore govt's initiative to discourage gambling. He queried why the $100 when Singapore has been very effective in implementing capital punishments!! When he was told that the annual entry fee to casinos is $2,000/-, he remarked that it is certainly very strange for the govt to give a quantity discount for bulk purchase when the objective is to discourage gambling. He would be very interested to analyse the data on the people who actually put themselves on the "SELF EXCLUSION" scheme!!

Fourth story is on his two daughters playing "scissor, paper, stone". He observed that Amanda wins more than 66% of the duels with Anna. So as a curious economist seeking truth in an observed phenomenon, he went and asked Amanda on her formula for success. Amanda said she observed that Anna never repeat her "scissor/paper/stone". Steven then asked Anna for her side of story. Anna said she didn't know she can repeat.

Key remark - He has built his career as an economist and author of Freakonomics on the fundamental need for one to always think and to think differently. He urged all of us to give ourselves some time to think.

www.AccountingWithEdgar.com@2011

Shell says, "Force majeure". What is that?

There was a Fire at Shell's refinery. Refinery damaged and shut down. Shell thus unable to deliver supplies to its customers as per contract. Shell declares, "Force majeure".

It means "greater power" in French where contracting parties seek to walk away from a contract without liabilities due to the occurrence of an event beyond control of both parties.

Can a party unilaterally declare "force majeure"? When is an event beyond control of both parties?

In this case, Shell's customers obviously could not have started the fire or part of the fire fighting team. Thus beyond the event is beyond Shell's customers control.

Shell, the supplier, is possibly claiming that the fire was started by the "greater power" in a multi-billion complex built by human with the greater power of machinery and equipment on a man-made island. Yes for many hours, the fire was beyond control of the fire fighting team.

In conclusion, the FIRE is thus an event beyond the control of both contracting parties and also everybody else on earth.

While I am at it.. can i continue my blabering..  Did the water used to fight the fire also drained uncontrollably into the ocean surrounding Sentosa Cove etc? Can you also seriously believe that the toxidity level of air remained unchanged? Why didn't BP hide behind the term "force majeure" when its underwater pump leaked in the middle of Gulf of Mexico for days? By declaring force majeure, Shell can't claim from its insurers too, right?

Do the numbers on Spore population figures

Dear friends,

Here are the population numbers published today.

a) Overall population increased from 5.08 million in 2010 to 5.18 million in 2011 ie. about 100,000 more people.

we still got seats here

Ed - Can our infrastructures cope with an increase of 100,000 people every year? Yes, MRT increased capacity by removing seats and increase standing capacity? We rent out our HDB flat (some do it illegally) and bunk in with our in-laws.. Traffic jams on our roads.. making a business out of providing accommodation to foreign workers etc etc (Yes.. they are tongue-in-cheek comments.)

b) No. of citizens increased from 3.23 million to 3.26 million ie. about 30,000 new citizen.

Opening balance - 3.23 million
Add - New births ?
Add - New citizens 17,950
Less - Deaths ?
Less - Ex-citizens ?
-------------------------------------
Closing balance - 3.26 million
====================

Ed - Assuming new births at 37,000 added to new citizen number, it would account for 55,000 gross inflow. Using 2010's figures from Singstat, with no. of deaths is 17,610, are we saying ex-citizens account for 7,000 outflow? How to explain this?

Ed - Assuming every Citizen is in Singapore right now, 37% of residents are non-Singaporeans.

c) No. of PRs down from 541,000 to 532,000 by 9,000.
National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) attributed the fall due to tightened PR policies. Dr Leong of NPTD also attributed the drop to other reasons eg. re-location of corporates, cancellation of "non-residing" PRs etc etc.

d) No. of foreigners who who are working, studying or living here without PR status increased by a massive 7% from 1.31 million to 1.39 million (ie. increase by 80,000)

Ed - Actually the headline should read "7% increase in non-PR residents!!". But we should NOT be surprised by this given the quarterly MOM figures which constantly report significant no. of new jobs created (far in excess of new births/citizens available).

Why is this happening?

super structures with declining human spirits?

Dear friends,

I am just catching up on my last few days' newspapers. I would like to share with you three stories, which in my opinion, share similar traits.

First story is about an incident between Ms Rachel Lim and a Caucasian man on a SBS bus. She made a phone call to her daughter. The Caucasian, who was seated across her, came over, tapped on her shoulder and told her to get lost for being noisy. Expletives are alleged to have been vocalised by Caucasian. She threatened to report to police and he encouraged her. On a double-decker bus, she went down to tell the driver. Driver, as per SBS's instruction, stopped the bus and kept the bus "locked" until police arrived. Caucasian was pissed that the bus has stopped (and perhaps getting anxious he could be in trouble) and started to prise open the door after pressing the bell repeatedly. Ms Lim, upon seeing that, put herself between him and the door, to prevent him from leaving. He SLAMMED his body into her. (I guess it would be like a rugby world cup.)

Second story. Mr Ong Thiam Kwee stopped his car without signalling to let his daughter off. Dr Ho King Peng sounded his horn in response to the sudden stop without warning. Mr Ong got out of his car, walked to Dr Ho, gesticulated vigorously and culminating to Mr Ong smashing Dr Ho's windscreen with his right fist.

Third story. Mr Stefan Masuhr, a high-ranking RBS executive in his Bentley, who was alleged to have smashed the windscreen of a Mercedes-Benz, driven by a Mdm Wang, who was alleged to have cut into his lane suddenly and causing him to brake suddenly. Consequently, his 3 1/2 year-old daughter (apparently not wearing seat belt) hit her head on the seat in front of her.

What are the common traits observed in all these incidents?

• All incidents involved matured adults.
• All are relatively educated and feisty in letting the other parties know what each party stands for. (Not sure about Mdm Wang. Not much info on her.)
• The alleged violent parties have "lost it" at the spark of a moment.
• They all happened in Singapore (obviously.. given my biased sampling.. haha!), a country now noted to be getting crowded and compressed on buses, MRTs and roads.
• Each party in each incident has their respective concerns at the respective time of incidents. 

The Caucasian man in the bus maybe really trying to tell an annoying woman to respect other people's right to some peace instead of asking other people to listen to her phone conversation. Rachel was running late and could be trying to tame her children over the phone.

Mr Ong may have stopped suddenly as he could have been too preoccupied with finding a safe place to let her daughter alight and thus did not signalled. Dr Ho was possibly trying to remind Mr Ong to signal first before stopping.

Stefan was just enraged when his children got hurt by the sudden cutting of lane without signalling. Again nothing much about Mdm Wang.

Last words on this

I am just wondering whether the bus driver should have opened the bus doors if he/she could sense the situation boiling over. I am hoping that these incidents do not represent a deeper underlying problem that is waiting to escalate. Let's calm down.

the power of modern women

While queuing to recontract my mobile line, I overhead the conversation between an elderly couple and possibly their daughter. Old man and old were discussing as to which phone to buy as they joined the queue behind me.

Old man (to wife) - Sony phone not so good. We will consider Samsung or HTC. Anyway when you are not using, I can put in my SIM card and use.

Wife - But I have been using Sony.. I am thus comfortable using the functions on Sony phones

Old man - Sony not so good laa..

Wife - You are buying or I am buying? (pissed and walked away)

As the man of the household, he thought he won on the choice of the phone. A few moments later, the wife came back with their daughter (carrying her own child).

Daughter - Pa, if you put in and take out the SIM card to the phone too often, the phone will spoil la. (trying to be diplomatic by giving an excuse) Let Ma buy the phone that she wants and you buy your own phone.

Old man (trying to protest) - But Sony phone not so good...

Daughter (cutting him off) - It is ok, Pa. Mum is more comfortable with Sony. So let her choose.

Old man kept quiet after that.

I guess women in households of our previous generations are more subservient to men. To the extent that we do see women sticking faithfully to obviously lousy husbands for the sake of keeping the family together.

But the women of today are from a completely different orientation. The family dynamics have changed. Can we handle it?

P/S - I may not remember the exact words exchanged.

Tribute to Nurses

I was visiting my mum at Serdang Hospital recently. There was this lady in the next bed who kept wailing and yelling for attention, particularly to anyone walking by her bed. I was told she had an accident. Both her legs were broken or fractured and were thus in cast. We were also told she wants some water but not allowed to as she is under observation for something.

We drew the curtain between my mum's and her bed. But she  continued to create so much ruckus. A few moment later, the Malay lady, sitting opposite to my mum's bed, exclaimed to me to help the wailing lady. Nurses ran to her too. In the chaos, I noticed that half her body was off the bed. Apparently she was trying to get off the bed and stand on her casted legs. The Malay lady asked to help the nurses to move the wailing lady back into bed.

As I was standing at the bedside looking at the half naked woman in adult diaper with bandages here and there, I did not know what to do. I wanted to pull her left hand to drag her heavy frame back into bed but hesitated that I may aggravate her injuries.

After checking with the nurses, I pulled her twice but her heavy frame just won't budge. I gave up helping. Why? I find it so so uncomfortable touching someone who is injured, scantily clad and concerned that I may aggravate her injuries. I walked away and leaving the two nurses to fend for themselves.

A few minutes later, peace reigned as the two nurses walked away. The wailing lady was back in bed and sedated. The two nurses have done her job!

I am thankful that I am not doing their job. But I am more thankful that someone is actually doing the nursing job. We were so impressed with the nursing standard at the Malaysian government hospital that we actually gave them a gift to express our appreciation.

It has been more than 20 years since I was last in a Malaysian government hospital for the last few moments of my father. Thank you for the money well spent on Malaysian healthcare. More importantly, thank you for the human angels working in the hospitals.

Rest in peace, mum.

How to increase revenue?

Here are my observations on how some clever people in the market are doing it.

1. Starhub - The crude and direct way - Just raise the price for each subscriber by a certain percentage and try to justify it by saying something like the costs of content have increased and btw, the last increase was back in 1965.. (just kidding la.. I can't remember the exact year)

2. Singtel - The so smooth way
Firstly, instead of apologising and cutting prices of its various broadband packages (ie. for not being to deliver upload/download speeds most of the time for the respective speed package we are paying for), they are now marketing "Priority Pass".
Secondly, a telemarketer from Singtel called and asked me to pay $1 more for SMS plus and "dun know wat name" services as I am already paying $5 CallerID.
Thirdly, when you sign for the broadband package, you have to sign up for the telephone line too.

3. SIA - Buy the biggest plane the market can provide and assign them to their busiest routes. The latest announced is SIN-LA routes.

4. Milo - add in "Fuze" and price the new thing higher and remove the old Milo.

5. Any other ways that you have observed or experienced?

Thai Teen vs SMRT for $3.4m

let's sit back and await the outcome

Background
Nitcharee came to Singapore for a holiday and to study English (which is which?). She fell onto the MRT track at Ang Mo Kio (AMK) station. She lost both her legs.

SMRT has offered $5,000 as compensation but was rejected. Nitcharee's family has instead sued SMRT for $3.4m. The basis of arriving at that figure is 20 pairs of prosthetic legs @$150,000 per pair (est.)

Intention
I wish all of us to consider the following. Please note that we do not have access to the details pertaining to the case. The intention here is to encourage us to open our mind as we speculate to consider all possibilities.

Firstly, let's consider whether SMRT is liable for the compensation.

• Did the train driver follow all operating procedures as it entered into AMK station? 
• At the correct speed? 
• Was the driver paying full attention to the track and passengers loitering along the platform as the train rolled into the station? 
• Did the driver has sufficient time to react when the Thai teen fell onto the track within reasonable man's assumption? Is there a camera on the driver in the driver's compartment? 
• Is there a "black box" installed on each train (similar to those installed on planes to record data from critical instruments of the plane)? 
• The details on the station's cameras would also be useful in determining causation.
• Was the train's equipment and instruments working as per specification (especially the brake)?
• What is the train driver's background, training records and performance reports to date?
• Are there supposed to have doors installed in above-ground MRT stations as per Bishan MRT station?

Next, we consider the Thai teen's position.

• So does the Thai teen has any right to make the claim from SMRT? 
• Did she faint and fell onto the MRT track as was initially reported? 
• If she had not fainted, who offered this "faint story" in the first place?
• SMRT would ask for her complete medical history. Assuming that she has a pre-existing medical condition that might give her occasional fainting spells, should she be travelling and travelling alone?
• If she did not faint and fell onto the track, then how and why is she on the track? 
• Was she accidentally bump onto the track by another passenger in a rush on a crowded platform? 
• Did she slip given the quality of her shoes?
• Was she carrying anything heavy? 
• Did she trip on a crack on the platform?
• Was she in an emotional stress before the incident? Did she wanted to hurt herself given her emotional state at that point in time?
• Does she know how to use the MRT? 
• How long was she in Singapore before the incident happened?
• Or perhaps, is it just an accident? And thus this is an attempt to look for someone who is a big corporate and can definitely afford to pay for some relief for the pain suffered and to allow the girl to lead as normal a life as possible with prosthetic legs?
• Or is the legal suit an attempt by the teen's family to find out the truth? The suit would compel SMRT to release all pertinent information.

I could go on and on.. I hope I have demonstrated that one should NOT jump at any conclusion as to who is right or wrong. Let's all await for more information.

democracy

I have answered many multiple choice questions as part of my profession in my life. There is one question that have eluded me so far ie. to put a "X" on a piece of paper at an election booth.

I went to visit one this morning. At least I can tell people that I have been to one election centre. Many were queueing up to vote. Even people in wheelchairs turned up for the 3-5 minute experience.

I have witnessed another election campaign. This election has definitely been different based on my living memory. The press has been more than fair in their coverage. Thanks goodness we don't see the scandals, rampant mud slingings, legal threats (for now, someone reminded me) and violence that usually accompany other democracies.

We got all kinds of people trying to convince you that they are worthy to represent you in the democratic process. Some are in their twenties without much significant achievement and experience accumulated yet. Probably trying to make a career in politics instead of trying a make it in the private sector. We heard Xia Xue commenting on her close encounter with a political figure. She gave me the impression that she has fallen head over heels over the political figure. Who said the ruling party cannot relate to Gen Y? But it would certainly take a lot of effort when you need to get a ministerial level political figure to sit down, to listen and to engage with 2 or 3 twenty somethings at a time. But as it shows that it worked with Xia Xue.. Perhaps Xia Xue would consider her candidacy in the next election..

My personal point - we as parents of Gen Z.. have to do the same to maintain a linkage to communicate.

I do so eager to be part of this 9-day of hurly burly with so many words said, so much tears flowed, so much emotions aroused, so much adrenalin generated.... but alas I am only a spectator awaiting for the final chapter to be unfold.

Reviewing my insurance portfolio

reckless tricycling

Last month, I briefly reviewed my portfolio of insurance policies. I was looking for information as to why Great Eastern kept asking me to upgrade and I actually agreed to pay more and more for additional protection which I am not sure whether I need.

An old friend of mine went through his review of insurance portfolios and shared with us his parameters for his decisions. Should I take an active effort to review and align them to my current protection needs?

Without including my children's portfolios, my protection is with 3 insurance companies (luckily) with no specific insurance agent to work with. Coupled with fact that I filed all my scanned insurance documents in a folder by chronological order, to review is a breeze. I even scanned the "sales / promo documents" to cite as evidence in case of dispute in the future on who said what and when. I never really trusted insurance agents (and property agents too) as our respective interests are not in alignment.

I will try to define my protection into these areas ie. health/medical and accident. Investment and savings are not under the definition of insurance.

Seriously Edgar, get your butt off the chair and review them urgently!!!

Tracking your networth

anyhow stop

Do you have a balance sheet of your personal assets and liabilities? Did you prepare your income statement for the year just ended?

I am not referring to the returns that you prepare for Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. That generally reflect your gross income but not expenses. How many of us actually track your expenditures too? My dear friends, it is important and I am doing it albeit not in as much details as before.

I watched a documentary of a Malay divorcee talking about her greater awareness and therefore control over her finances as she starts to keep track of her income and expenses. That would be the first step.

Next, we need you to work towards a balance sheet. Lorna Tan, the senior correspondent of ST, talked about her neglect in tracking her gains and losses of $300,000 worth of stocks in her portfolio. I have a portfolio too but definitely not of that magnitude. As I have been tracking my own portfolio, I simplified my holdings based on my new investment strategy after more than 20 years mugging around my money.

My simple advice to you my dear friends, get to know your finances soon with your very own balance sheet and P&L!!!!! Share with me your experience once you have done them!!

US Embassy in Singapore

On Oct 18, 2010, I parked at the Botanic Garden and walked to the Embassy. I was told there would be no parking space on location. As I had made an appointment for 8.30am for my VISA application, I was taking a nice morning walk towards the Embassy. To my amazement, appointed time is irrelevant. I was politely and firmly told to join the sitting queue behind 3 rows of people.

Of the 10 documents needed, the most intriguing was the updated bank book or last 3 months' bank statement. So if you can't show that you are sufficiently "loaded", they could turn you down. The application fees of USD150 must be paid in Cashier's Order.

The waiting time for an Embassy is within tolerable range but the waiting conditions that we, the applicants, were subject to were very far from ideal for a first world's embassy. Imagine sitting for more than an hour with fans and then standing in the morning sun for more than 30 mins. I was lucky to have some newspapers to cover my head.

I overheard the conversation between a few SQ trainees getting their VISAs for their maiden flight.

One SQ girl asking another who have just come out, "How come you took so long?"
The other SQ girl replied, "We were putting on our make up in the ladies.."

Ha.. these girls have been well instructed before their arrival today. As your make up would have melted under 30 degrees morning sun, it would be wise to manage the make up part after submission.

Before entering the fortress, we have to empty our pockets at the security. No mobile phone and no thumbdrive attached to the car keys allowed.

Once in the fortress, things moved pretty fast. The interview process was a breeze. I was expecting a tough session. The session ended with a serious note, "Mr Wong, we hereby approve and grant you a visa to enter the United States of America." Something as formal as that.

===============================================

Dear good people at the embassy,

Please treat us as customers and not as suspects. I was applying for a VISA to visit and definitely spend some money in your country. The money, although may not be a lot, would still be useful to the economy.

I generally enjoyed my visit to US recently and was glad the situation at the airports were much better than expected.

Till next time, best wishes to USA.

How do tour agencies make money nowadays?

Dear friends,

Here are some ideas based on my observations in my recent tour.

1. By advertising the tour as "12 Days Exhilarating West America" when it is actually only 10 days. Check my photos to confirm that.
2. Provide one or two or no meal a day for tourists who usually consume 3 meals a days. Basically get the tourists to carry half the costs of meal or wait for SIA to feed them.
3. Insert one or two FREE days into "12-Day Exhilarating West America" on a very good punchline ie. "We give you a chance for you to pursue your specific interest. Shopping, rock climbing or perhaps just catch up on your sleep."
4. Ask tourists to pay for a particular programme that is too important not to do in the first place. "We give you the option to decide." was the punch line used. Example - We were ask to decide whether to pay USD$30 per person for a 3-hour night tour of "old" Las Vegas and major attractions of hotels along The Strip. We thought we are paying for someone else to do it. Guess what ... it is conducted by the same sweet Tour Manager! Another USD$120 out of my pocket.
5. Get the tourists to partially pay their outsourced contractors eg. tour guide/bus drivers. How? The tour agency actually put it down in their briefing notes the appropriate amount to "TIP" these contractors.

Here is the list given to me with the appropriate disclaimer:-

"The below listed are only guidelines and it varies by the season."

Coach driver                                   USD$2 x 10 days = $20
Grand Canyon Shuttle                     USD$1 x 1 day = $1
Tour Manager (not tour guide hor)   USD$3 x 11 days = $33

Total tips per tourist is USD$54. I paid USD$216 for my family as per GUIDELINE..

Good night.

6 nights with Holiday Inn in US

I have a rather unpleasant experience during my holidays staying in Holiday Inn. Particularly I wish to focus my comments on two ie. Palm Springs, Nevada and Civic Centre, San Francisco.

Holiday Inn, Palm Springs Resort
Incident 1
The hotel is a 3-storey (I think) square building with swimming in the middle. Let us call the 4 corners, A, B, C and D. The main reception is a corner A but the lifts are only available at corner B and D.

So in order to facilitate tourists like ourselves travelling with a lot of luggages, our tour manager has arranged to let us alight at corner B (as instructed by the staff on duty) to be nearest to our rooms. Can you imagine the hassles of moving our luggages over 2 long corridors to reach our rooms instead of entering through the lift at corner D? Question - Was the staff on duty familiar with the floor plan of its hotel?

Incident 2
Upon reaching our room, I was not able to open the door with the electronic card in the picture. Remember that we just arrived at the hotel and obviously not familiar with the layout and trying to look for someone to help us. I almost have to walk the four corners before seeing the bright lights of front reception. The staff on duty said it is quite amazing that I managed to find the reception.

Holiday Inn, Civic Center, San Francisco
Our family of four was given adjoining rooms. We were pretty happy with the arrangement till we opened the doors to our respective rooms. Imagine our horrors.. one room is neat and tidy and the other room was still in a mess.

Already pretty pissed with the last experience at Palm Springs, I confronted the front desk.

How could the front desk release rooms that are still in a mess to guests checking in? Some how this chap in the picture was making some uncompromising comments instead of trying to mitigate the situation. So I ask for the feedback form and ask for his name. His name tag said "Mark".

I asked, "Mark what? What is your surname?" I repeated the question a few times.
Finally he said in a cheeky manner, "Mark SMITH".
And I told my name is "WONG".
And he said, "Yea right" in a sarcastic manner.

And when I want to take a picture of him, he blocked my camera with some papers.

During the exchange of words, he implied that we should be "thankful" that we are given the rooms early as the official check in time is 4pm.

Instead of backing down, he was taunting me to complaint. Towards the end of exchange, he even wished me a good day and that I will definitely get my apology letter in a sarcastic tone, of course.

About half an hour after the incident, I returned to the front office to retrieve the feedback form and close the matter. Mark was not around and the other staff on duty could not locate the form and suggested that Mark might have taken it.

This staff said to me that throughout more than 20 years in this line, he has not seen such thing before and offer to look after my needs as long as he is on duty.

I found out from my tour mates later that they too have had some incidents too. Another family too got a room that is not done yet. Another family with two rooms have to share one toilet. Another family could not lock their door. While waiting in the lobby, I overheard an Ang Moh guest requesting the front office to look into the heater in his room.

Is this the standard of Holiday Inn?

There is no power point at the writing table. There is no free outlet in the whole room except in the toilet. This is the first time in my life that I have to charge my laptop and handphone in the toilet. Come on, is Holiday Inn operating in stone age or did I pay too little for my tour package to get this type of crap hotels?

Is this the standard of Holiday Inn?

Day 1 16 hours later

Dear friends,

I am using this channel to briefly note down the notables during our US West Coast trip. So bear with me :)

I went on any family trip with a lot of hesitation about safety and expected tiring travelling sessions of travelling. So I am obviously going to complain a little bit about the 16-hour flight from Singapore to LA through Narita. By the end of the flight, on board entertainment has been exhausted in a suffocatingly warm environment of SQ12. In the past, passengers would be "frozen" at 22 degrees but on this flight, I was actually fanning myself with a pillow.

I actually and finally learn how to play SUDOKU. I worked in a company for a few years where the CEO was pretty "mad" about the game but I never really tried the game till now. Get to watch movies I really don't have time for during my "normal" time. I sound like a "suaku" but I really don't have time to do the normal things like going to a movie during my normal hours in Singapore.

My first foot step in Japan is a sterile half an hour standing around transfer back on the plane. My first purchase in US is to buy a Starbuck's hot chocolate.

I would really love to fall into a deep sleep. Perhaps will get a drink later. :)

Can you choose not to exist online TOTALLY?

before

I am very curious to know whether one could successfully choose not to exist at all in the online world of blogging, msn, websites, twitter, youtube, flicker, picassa etc etc.

I am talking about a person who is one at the prime of his or her life, economically, socially and sexually active. I am not referring to a hermit in the mountain/cave somewhere. If you are a person, alive, working in Singapore, has colleagues, friends, family and relatives, can you choose to remain non existence in the online world?

At your friend's wedding, if the camera man takes a picture of you and other guests at your table and subsequently uploaded and tagged it, can you tell your friend to remove that picture and untagged you ie. telling your friend not to share its joyous occasion?

I just think it is plain too difficult unless you have nothing much else to do everyday except to just diligently and earnestly googling/binging about yourself online and closing down all traces of you in the online world.

Or perhaps you are no longer among us. Sigh. Can you leave me a fingerprint?

Good night.

Create your own Moon Shots!!

Dear friends,

Before my class started yesterday, I happened to come across this must read article by Thomas Friedman entitled "Their Moon Shot and ours" in Today page 19.

What is a "Moon Shot"?
Well it is not a tequila shot. It is big multi-billion dollar, 25-year horizon, game-changing investments.

Examples of moon shots by China:-

• building a network of ultra modern airports;
• a web of high speed trains connecting its cities
• buying and using 128 DNA sequencers (one of the world largest collections of such equipment)

The author contrasted that with an example in US ie. a consultant trying to sell its firm's intellectual knowledge on tackling terrorism to US government. He said we should be in race with China and not with Al-Qaeda. I am sure it is not all doom and gloom in US but perhaps we can see our future by looking at US now. While Asia could still be in its economic prime for many years to come, it is not forever.

Singapore too has been quietly and surely building its own moon shots eg. reducing its reliance of imported water by investing in purification plants and network of sewage systems to recycle waste water.

While personally I am not in the league of multi-billion game changing moves for my own career, nonetheless it is important for each of us to invest in ourselves for our ST and LT future. We need to see beyond the horizon and make ourselves relevant to that horizon beyond this horizon.

Create your own moon shots!!!

Why Woman's Charter?

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) proposed a series of changes to the Women's Charter. The Charter was last revised in 1996. The profile of society has changed so much and the laws have to keep up.

A summary of the recommended changes are as follows:-

1. Maintenance / Alimony

• MEN ie. divorcees, who are thinking of remarrying (Edgar - which I wonder why after the first horrifying marriage/divorce) will be required to declare their maintenance debts to their prospective spouses. [Edgar - For the prospective spouses, it would serve as a strong indicator of the type of man she is marrying.]

• The court will be empowered to order a defaulter to post a banker's guarantee against future defaults. The guarantee will be valid for up to three years from the date of the order for up to three months of maintenance.

• To enforce maintenance payments, the Family Court will be authorised to issue attachment of earnings orders more frequently, where direct deductions will be made from the defaulters' wages. [Edgar - I fully agree as this will really make the collection process efficient. Will your employer become aware of your tardiness/mess in your personal life as thus affect your career?]

• The defaulters are also required to undergo financial counselling and serve a 40-hour community service order under certain conditions.

• Claimants will also be allowed to report to credit bureaus unpaid maintenance arrears, which are monetary debts that can be reflected in a person's credit report for assessment of credit worthiness. [Edgar - Many may not realise such negative reports on their credit history have a long and expensive repercussions on their property loans, car loans, credit cards applications and even business loans. I often advise debtors to pay up especially for relatively small outstanding.]

Edgar - I do agree with the need for such measures. I have seen the ex-husband of my friend driving around a car in the 6-figure price range but has been very tardy in keeping up with the alimony to maintain wife and son. My friend had to take leave from work to attend Court trying to enforce collection while her ex-husband can't even be bothered to turn up.

Another suggestion - The alimony should also be pegged to some inflation indicators.

2. Preventive Measures
To mitigate the divorce problem in Singapore particularly among couples who are minors and those who had been divorced previously, the government will require these couples to attend marriage preparation courses before issuing a marriage licence or a special marriage licence.

Edgar - I recently read in the paper about this newly-wed couple sleeping in separate rooms for reason that one can't sleep with air-con and the other can only sleep without air-con/fan. Of course, during the lovey-dovey period of courtship, you may try to live with the idiosyncrocies of partner. And as marriage is a long term contract, small irritants, gnawing at you daily, could eventually be the sparks for divorce.

3. Children

Children, being the most innocent party of any divorces, compulsory counselling and mediation to address child-related questions are also required for all divorces involving children below 21 years, in order to safeguard children's interests. [Edgar - I strongly agree.]

4. Inter-national marriages
With rising globalisation and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, new measures are proposed to facilitate marriages of overseas Singaporeans and Singapore PR couples ie. waiving a 15-day residence requirement for these couples who wish to marry in Singapore. But that requirement will continue to apply to couples where at least one party isn't a Singaporean or Singapore PR.

Concluding remark - In this modern age where women ask to be treated equally and that modern women have actually achieved a matching standing with men, should there be a set of laws to protect a particular sex?

There is also an increasing phenomenon of men being house-husbands. These group of men actually accept the idea that the best person should do the respective job of either of being a bread-winner or home-minder. So if a man is good at minding the home and children while the woman excels in her career, shouldn't the law protects these men too.

It should not just be called Woman's Charter but Human's Charter!!