TR EMERITUS

This is totally unacceptable! How can the PAP MP made use of children from Kindergarten for his own propaganda?! Did he seek consent from the parents of all the students put up here? Shake head. They are so desperate nowadays. They can't show what exactly they have done for their constituents or what great questions they have brought up in Parliamentary debates. They could only attempt to gain brownie points over K2 students' graduation?   Goh Meng Seng    Read More →

I was out with the boss yesterday when I noticed a rather unusual sight. We were walking along the river Thames when we noticed a group of Indians in the distance who were waving the Indian National flag. As far as I knew, there was no major event going on in India. Then, I noticed that the flag that was being waved around was the flag of the BJP, the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Then I realized that this is the year of elections for India and the United Kingdom has a significant number of what you call “Non-Resident Indians” (NRI) who have the power to vote in Indian elections. Given that the BJP was waving its flag in the UK, its clear that the NRI population in the UK is a significant voting block for political parties in India. Mentioned this to my brother when we met at night and he mentioned that India was not the only place where political parties looked for votes outside their own borders. Turkish President Erdogan went to canvas for votes amongst the Turks living in Germany. These two incidents are telling us something. It’s telling us that people who leave a country and chose to find work elsewhere are becoming more valuable to their countries of origin. The Western powers, or more specifically the British were the first pioneers of this. The Hongs in Hong Kong were started by Scotsmen who left Scotland and the “homeland” to make their fortune in the China trade. They built fortunes in the East and also contributed the fortunes to their homes. The Chinese have also done this. Say what you like about Communist China and the CCP but for years, it did what it needed to do to ensure that people of Chinese descent, whether they were in Hong Kong or Taiwan or South East Asia would find investment opportunities “back home.” Taiwan’s businessmen lead the charge to invest and build up China despite the fact that China and Taiwan are nominally enemies on the political stage. After the madness of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping was quick to understand that people of Chinese ancestry outside China were an asset that could be utilized. Something similar happened in India. Prior to the 1990s and the opening of the economy, the NRI community were portrayed by the Indian Government as losers who couldn’t hack in in their native lands. They were known as “Not Required Indians.” However, as the economy loosened up in the 1990s, the image of NRI’s within India changed. Suddenly they were the people who had knowledge of the outside world and could bring back world standards to India. Where India has often lagged in the past, especially when compared to China has been in the area of utilizing its diaspora. Talk to enough Chinamen and they’ll talk about returning to China after their studies or work outside of China. Talk to the Indians who leave, and plenty of them will tell you that India is the last place on the planet they want to be. As Wion news argued – Indians celebrate when one of their own CEO of a large multinational without realizing that the CEO’s loyalty is to his (usually are) shareholders often based elsewhere rather than to their country of origin. I think of the way Indian media had to be told that Rishi Sunak was becoming Prime Minister of the UK and not India. The Chinese by contrast head back to China to build unicorns in China. Could this be changing? Mr. Modi clearly believes that the NRI community is an important base for him and in just about every foreign trip he makes, he makes it a point to meet with leaders of the local NRI community. This makes sense – who else would India and its opportunities than the people who were brought there. I believe its healthy that people leave their homeland once in a while. It helps broaden horizons and improve skills. Too often we get stuck in notions of loyalty and sticking in one place. However, the reality is that we live in a world where people are increasingly mobile and are able to access opportunities from all over the world. I think of Olam, which, while listed in Singapore, makes all its revenue overseas. How does a single operator work in this day and age. To quote Odin from the Thor movies “Asgard Isn’t a place – it’s a people.” So, instead of looking at China, solely as the People’s Republic, what unifies Chinese people regardless of the passport they hold and where they live. The same is true of Indians. Lock into a community and you get a broader range of the market you are looking to tap into. This is not to say nation states will lose their importance. Places will always be there. However, countries are no longer blocks belonging to a particular ethnicity and we need to understand that mobility creates opportunities.   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 →

The dust has not yet settled. Is Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong the greatest or merely one of the greatest hypocrites? He is retiring from his exalted position of premiership after 20 years, having amassed a colossal amount of wealth at the public’s expense—a situation that boggles the mind, considering he is supposed to be a representative of the people. For those who have forgotten, PM Lee approved the increase in ministerial pay in 2007, resulting in his pay increased to S$3.1 million. Although it subsequently dropped to S$2.2 million following public outcry and a poor showing in the General Election of 2011, he still remains the highest-paid prime minister in the world. Additionally, let’s also not forget that his wife, Ho Ching, was the CEO of the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek from 2004 to 2021, and likely received a substantial salary. And now, he is shedding crocodile tears for his wrongdoing. In his moment of compunction, if any, he regales the public with tales of his so-called past life-saving services to the deprived and downtrodden. Not a day passes without his moaning. Indeed, these so-called underprivileged citizens have benefited in some way from his largesse, but his body language reveals a glimmer of doubt—was this all in the form of altruism or merely a cover-up for avarice? This will require serious and insightful stimulation of the people’s minds. No doubt, he is trying to leave a legacy of human kindness. Can there be a more comical joker than Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean? People know he is subservient to PM Lee Hsien Loong for obvious reasons. For him to come out at this time to praise the character of PM Lee sky-high is something as rare as a black swan. What is he trying to prove? In what capacity does he consider himself a proper person to comment on PM Lee Hsien Loong’s hostile relationship with his siblings? Lawrence Wong is a Hobson’s choice for the prime ministership. Can you imagine Lawrence Wong playing the guitar when Singapore is in crisis? Singapore is blessed to have him as our next prime minister, and we now have to make the best of it. What is the prognosis for Singapore’s foreseeable future? There is hardly any potential talent in the opposition now or even in the future, and the continuity of the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) governance, though not palatable, seems to be an unbelievably foregone conclusion. God bless Singapore.   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. He runs a blog, Singapore Recalcitrant.    Read More →