TR EMERITUS

I make these suggestions to introduce "common prosperity" in Singapore. 1. Provide an adequate wage for every worker that is sufficient to meet the cost of living. The wage should be guided by national statistics of the supply, demand and average wage for each job category. The wages should not be depressed by unrestricted entry of foreign workers from low cost countries. 2. Keep the cost of living low, by removing levies, GST and price gouging by suppliers. 3. Make education, health care and housing affordable to the average income earners. 4. Encourage people to save for the future and provide them with suitable non-speculative investments that offer a fair rate of return. They should get a better return than that offered by private banks or asset managers (who take off a large part of the returns). 5. Adjust the working hours according to the economic cycle to minimize unemployment and allow those who are unemployed to withdraw their retirement savings or access low cost government loans. This is in lieu of providing unemployment benefit. 6. Create suitable employment opportunities for every person who is fit to work until an advanced age, say 75 years. Allow the older workers to work for fewer hours and in non-strenuous jobs. 7. Manage the supply of housing to keep the prices in line with increase in median income, and avoid the excessive prices due to speculation. 8. Encourage a free market for small business, but keep large businesses under public ownership, e.g. energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, public transport, schools and hospitals. The capital cost can be funded by national savings and the operating cost by user fees. 9. Have a fair tax regime to collect tax on high incomes and luxury purchases. I will elaborate more on this topic in separate articles.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

It’s now a matter of hours before 2022 comes to a close and we start on a New Year. Everyone is going to be singing Auld Lang Syne and making all sorts of New Year resolutions that will probably not be kept: After the singing and partying to welcome the new year, many people around the world are going to be worrying about the issues that came up in 2022 and are likely to carry on into 2023. Things like the rising cost of living and inflation are going to be issues that all of us need to deal with in addition to the fact that Covid has not gone. Since I work in the insolvency business, these pains that everyone else is facing, look like positive signs. Business should boom for us in the “scavenger” section of the global economy as government support for the global economy during the pandemic period dries up. In a way, this is what you call a necessary cleansing where you find out which companies were actually run properly and which ones were engaging in “interesting” practices to keep afloat. So, how would someone like me look at 2023 based on what happened in 2022? For me, the most hopeful signs for anything were from the world of sport, specifically the retirement of Roger Federer and the death of Pele. Both Mr. Federer and Pele were living examples of what greatness should be about. They were great artist in their fields and at the same time decent people who earned the admiration of competitors. They were honoured as people who made other people better. Why is this significant? The thing is, the years before 2022 were about “anger,” and people wanting to stick the proverbial middle finger at the world. We had leaders like Trump in the USA and Bolsonaro in Brazil who thrived on the politics of divisiveness. It was “cool” to blame someone else for your problems and wanting to put other people in their place had been a growing fashion. I think of people in Asia who actually liked Trump for being “tough on those black people” for rioting but being perfectly happy with the January 6 sacking of Capital Hill as the people wanting to stand up for their country. Well, while there’s plenty to be angry about, the politics of divisiveness have been not very good at solving problems and people do want to approach the future with some sense of optimism. Sure, there are signs of despair in the world. The Russians don’t seem likely to leave the Ukraine anytime soon. A right-wing government bent on stealing land has come to power in Israel. However, there are signs of optimism. In America, the “red wave” turned out to be a “red puddle” and many of the more extreme Maga candidates were rejected at the polls. The most optimistic sign was perhaps in Malaysia, where long time opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim finally became Malaysia’s Prime Minister. Whilst these are early days, Mr. Anwar has made man of the right noises about leading with honesty and integrity. As a Singaporean, I am actually praying for Malaysia to enter a good phase under Anwar. Call me naïve if you like but I’ve always believed that you can only achieve peace and stability when your neighbours achieve the same. A prosperous Malaysia governed by decency can only be good for Singapore. I grew up in the 1990s in Europe, where nobody was able to imagine a war breaking out in Western Europe and Western Europe had the highest standard of living in the world. However, a generation ago, nobody could conceive of peace in Western Europe. Sure, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked many Europeans out of the complacency that comfort and success brings. However, getting the French and Germans to work together for greater prosperity has ensured that any future world war will not start in the heart of Europe. So, if the Europeans can work together, why can’t we in Asia do the same. If Singapore can play a pivotal role in making Malaysia succeed, we will too will succeed. On an individual level, I look forward to looking for new horizons. I was fortunate enough to rekindle trying to build new connections that were placed on hold because of the pandemic. There are possibilities to play a small and insignificant role in making life for those who touch my life, a little better, which I believe can only be good for me.   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 →

PAP Gov has cultivated a group of Freaking Arrogant Elites who always think they know Best, even when they really know nothing. And worse, they would ignore ALL RED FLAGS and even shut all naysayers up because it would be a critical challenge to their Elite status if they admit grave mistakes have been made in their judgement and decisions. It happened back in 2008 when billions were poured into illing financial institutions with the Elitist assertions of "good bargain for long term investment" but they would just quietly bury their heads in silence when many of these investments were sold off with great losses just a couple of years later. Nope, they didn't have the "long term vision" nor good judgement. But they didn't learn anything from such billion dollars blunders. FTX and the Crypto Craze is another fine example. Red Flags were raised everywhere and we would expect these Elites to know Cryptocurrency is just a worthless high risk speculative hype. Yup, they profess they know and so didn't invest in the Cypto but the exchange! A totally unregulated exchange which is anything but Safe! Well, nevermind if these just fail, these Elites just brush it off, write it off with that Arrogant Quip "it's just 0.01% of our portfolio"! But that's NOT their money and it's $300 millons! Well, Investment can just be written off, that's "just only money", but when it comes to Vaccination (V)... Red Flags have been raised since the beginning and recently even more Red Flags are raised. UK, EU Parliament, DENMARK, SWEDEN, GERMANY, ISRAEL, AUSTRALIA.... etc. Some countries have stopped pushing the V, some even ban further V for younger age groups, many experts, doctors, politicians are demanding thorough investigation into "mysterious sudden death", Germany even have autopsies which confirmed 30% of sudden deaths examined are due to V but our PAP ELITIST EXPERTS think they are GOD and know best! They carry on to push for V regardless of age! They have turned blind and deaf to all these Red Flags, even to our very own data of Excess Deaths, brushing these off with all sorts of excuses... My predictions made last year is slowly coming true. I don't need excuses, I don't need to don the white coat of "Elitism" but just pure learning from the Real Experts out in the world. Excess Deaths. The situation would most probably continue and even turn worse for next year. Nothing to do with superstitious Chinese Zodiac year of Black Water Rabbit, but it's just Karma. They will reap what they sow. We will see how they could write off all these lives, when the whole narrative collapses in totality.   Goh Meng Seng      Read More →