TR EMERITUS

American, European and British leaders continue to support Israel with endless supply of weapons and money. Israel's leaders continue to be cowards, refusing to admit the atrocities they commit and blaming others, telling lies after lies. The people of Palestine will not go down. They may be powerless but they will not let Israel get away this time. While my country's leaders continue to exert Israel's right to self defence and lend their support to Israel while refusing to let Singaporeans hold public protests against Israel even in the safest space of Hong Lim Park with cameras everywhere, I condemn Israel and stand by the Palestinians in this war.   Teo Soh Lung    Read More →

Israel's excuse and claims are merely bullshit, acting above the law. They must be brought to trial. Israel has totally ignored International Laws and Gaza is merely exercising their right to live.      Read More →

Minister Lawrence Wong (“Lawrence”) will not let that happen. He is aware of the stats. We have more millionaires (240,100), centi-millionaires (more than $100m; 329) and billionaires (27) than Asia’s richest cities in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Wealth migration brings about value migration. And Lawrence made this clear in a forum organised by an economic think tank, Milken Institute Asia, where some attendees were chauffeured in by luxury cars. “So these are our house rules. If you’d like to be here, please follow our norms, follow our rules. If you think they are not for you, that’s okay. You can take your money and you can go elsewhere. We won’t hold it against you.” That’s taking a stand, right? Apparently, we have house rules. And in balancing the twin goals of attracting wealth and addressing the widening income/social inequality, Lawrence reminded the rich about our values and way of life. He said: “We reach out to these groups, we tell them that Singapore is an inclusive society, we are a place with an informal and egalitarian ethos, where people can interact freely with one another comfortably as equals, where we frown on ostentatious display of wealth.” No doubt Lawrence is on the right track with his forewarning, issued out eyeball-to-eyeball with the rich. It does send a clear message out. Publicly, it is either you play by our rules or park your money elsewhere, no love lost. Lawrence is feeling the pulse of society, and this is in line with IPS survey 2018, which reports that “class, and not race or religion, had become the biggest divide in Singapore, with people being judged on where they live and the schools they went to.” (ST, Tham Yuen-C, “Tackling the visible social divide and responsibility of the rich.”). He said that to reconcile the disparity or gap, “it is more important that the rich contribute positively to Singapore, not just in terms of investment, which has less of a visual effect, but also in terms of donations to charity.” “Those who have done well in life should feel a sense of responsibility to help uplift their fellow citizens.” Incidentally, Andrew Carnegie, who published, The gospel of wealth, shared this sentiment and lived his life demonstrating it. In his book, he declared that “the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” Lesson? I think there’s nothing new under the sun. The ruling party has been fighting this for decades. It was a humble start, based on equality and meritocracy, amongst others. But soon, meritocracy mutated right under our nose into a form of modern day aristocracy, leaving equality far behind. We have heard this before, even before we were told to pursue the 5Cs - cash, car, credit card, condo and country club membership. Of late, we have moved on to the new 5Cs, focusing more on intangible success markers such as creativity, compassion and confidence. But, rearranging the deck chairs on the cruiser doesn’t mean that we are changing direction. And the berth to change for a large cruiser like ours is heavy and very wide. It really takes a steely resolve, running against the grain, to turn the ship around. We must not forget that the engine of wealth still powers our economy, and the top 1% holds the reins of power and influence in our society. A public reprimand, if it can be construed as that, does not necessarily mean a change of heart that has, for so long, been driven by capitalist dreams. To be rich is indeed glorious. While da house rules are clear, there seems to be another unspoken rule running ahead of it. It is the rule that is set by default, because of how our society has been hardwired. Unchecked meritocracy is one thing (at least they are born here, labouring for their wealth), but attracting the wealthy from foreign lands is another thing altogether. I don’t expect there to be patriotic strings attached, if any. Having said that, I want to be clear that the solution is not an extreme one, but one that conscientiously seek a mutually enriching balance between the twin goals, that is, managing inequality and attracting the ultra rich. But we have to be realistic, and avoid a Don Quixotic mindset - “seeking to right a wrong, but in an impractical or idealistic way.” Lawrence’s words will nevertheless set the tone for our society, going forward. Going back to the fundamentals of nation-building and keep society together will mean that we must always stand sentry to guard against anything that threatens that foundation. And they are sound (if not timeless) house rules that all who want to live in our society have to keep in mind, and at heart. We must thus keep the faith, and strive towards that goal, striking the right and robust balance.   Michael Han * The author was a Director at Han & Lu  Law Chambers and blogs on Facebook.      Read More →