Temasek & GIC suffers over US$10 billion paper loss on bank investments I read on Littlespeck.com that Temasek sold 50% of its holdings in Merrill Lynch at a nearly US$1.5 billion loss. Including unrealized losses on its holdings in UBS, Citigroup and Barclays, it would mean a massive total of US$10 billion of Singaporean taxpayers’ money gone down the drain… in a couple of years or so. That’s not including the loss of US$2 billion on its investment in Shin Corp, that eventually led to political chaos in Thailand as well. While it may be true that Temasek and GIC may have made some prudent investments in the past, and that this paper loss may be regained in time to come (since MM Lee said these are long term investments)… I think these are too risky investments to put taxpayers’ money into. US$12 billion amounts to about S$17 billion. Divided by 4.5 million citizens, we have about S$3,800 of loss per Singaporean. But that’s not the point really. The point is, in times of economic uncertainty, instead of making use of a little bit of Singapore’s humongous reserves to ease lower-income Singaporeans’ hardships, the Government instead chose to let Temasek & GIC put billions of dollars into these poorly judged investments. In a publicly-traded company, when executives make poor decisions that cost the company to suffer substantial losses, there would be pressure for those responsible to resign. Take for example Citibank’s previous chief executive who resigned prior to the announcement of losses amounting to around US$10 billion. It’s not the same in the case of our sovereign wealth funds. In the same way that no senior officer was sacked over the systematic failures that led to Mas Selamat’s escape, nobody in Temasek or GIC is going to step down or be given the sack for losing billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. So what if we have hundreds of billions of dollars to burn? At this rate, if the economy doesn’t recover any time soon, or in the worst case scenario where there is a worldwide recession and these banks collapse… ultimately it is the people’s money, and Singaporeans will suffer. ShareThis Why not having a by-election will hurt the PAP more In Singapore, the General Elections held once every 5 years is probably the only way (some) Singaporeans can display their (dis)satisfaction with the Government. This also means that it’s the only way for the ruling party to get a good idea of the general population’s support for them. The unfortunate demise of Bukit Batok’s MP Dr. Ong Chit Chung has thrown up opportunities for both the PAP and the opposition parties in Singapore, especially for J.B. Jeyaretnam’s newly formed Reform Party. This is of course besides the fact that holding a by-election is fundamental in order to uphold democracy (Dr Huang makes a good point of it) - the voters should get a person they voted for to represent them (to be fair, one can also argue that voters are still being represented by the party they voted for…). JBJ is well-known for his marginal victory in the 1981 Anson by-election, and this is a timely opportunity for him to attempt to make a comeback before the next GE, due in 2011. He is probably onto this idea already, as he has indicated to the press in recent days his request for the Government to hold a by-election For the PAP, this is an opportunity to prove to the world (or at least to Singaporeans) that the Government is still receiving as strong support from Singaporeans, as they are always confident about. This is a particularly significant test, as the recent economic downturn and worries of inflation have affected many Singaporeans, and the party’s popularity at this time will be a testament of how receptive voters are towards the Government’s policies to help cushion the economy’s negative impact on citizens. If a by-election is held and the PAP receives a strong majority of votes, it will be a strong testimonial of the party’s infallability even in times of economic uncertainty. This will certainly help boost the ruling party’s image as one that is strong regardless of economic conditions. If a by-election is held, and in the unfortunate event that the seat is lost to an opposition candidate, there can be a silver lining in the cloud - the party will then understand that, perhaps, some of its policies in recent times have lost touch with the electorate. With several years more to go before the next GE, there will be substantial time and opportunities to make positive changes that would benefit Singaporeans more, and ultimately, enhance the party’s portfolio for the next election. To shy away from the notion of holding a by-election by saying that “there’s no need to as it is not within Singapore’s law to hold a by-election”, or “the remaining MPs of the GRC will divide up the work proportionately to ensure residents’ needs are met” - can be seen by some as a sign of inconfidence. This is how not holding a by-election will instead hurt the PAP. I like to believe that it is better to lose 1 seat now (in the worst case scenario of holding a by-election), than to live in oblivion about any possible negative sentiments of the electorate… and potentially facing the prospect of suffering heavier damage in the next GE. Related post: Singapore’s policy makers living in the clouds ShareThis Singapore ranked 5th most expensive in Asia, 13th worldwide Singapore is ranked 5th in Asia, after Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Osaka in the Mercer 2008 Cost of Living survey. I would rather choose to live in Seoul, Tokyo or Osaka than Singapore or Hong Kong, as my impression of these cities are that they are much more comfortable places to live in (I can’t say the same about the stress levels in Japan and Korea, though) and thus worth the slightly higher costs, as compared to Singaproe. In worldwide rankings, Singapore is ranked 13th, after the above Asian cities, as well as Moscow, with European cities as the others above Singapore. When high costs of living != high quality of living Despite the high costs and stress levels of being Singaporeans, we don’t appear to have as high quality of living as people from other cities at the top of the cost of living list. We ranked 32nd worldwide in the 2008 Mercer survey on Quality of Living, while most of the European cities that ranked higher than Singapore in cost of living were well above us in this aspect. In short, as Singaporeans, we are not getting bang for our buck, as well as the requirement that we have (preferably unquestioning) faith in, and obedience to the uniquely Singapore system of governance. It must be noted, however, that the study was on ‘expatriate’ cost of living - so it most probably did not factor in government handouts and other benefits. The reason for Singapore being so way high up is probably attributable to costs of private housing, since expatriates are not entitled to subsidized housing. But I am sure people would agree with me that besides housing, there are so many other things in Singapore that make it an expensive place to live in (i.e. electricity, water bills, rising costs of everything, etc). Surprisingly, Vancouver (yes, I’m not attempting to hide my love for this city) ranked 64th - way down the list compared to Singapore, but in terms of quality of living it ranked 4th worldwide. Now, that’s what I call bang for buck! ShareThis Making a well-thought career plan Until recently, I’ve always had the ambition to ‘make it big’ in business one day - I couldn’t wait till the day when I finally graduate and can start my forage into the business world to begin building my own business empire. My idea of success in life was, I suppose, rather typical - several million dollars in assets by age 40, being able to afford all the luxuries in life, earning enough for me to not worry about health and survival issues (i.e. with plenty of money I can afford to eat well and spend on preventive health care, etc). I even thought that I had business acumen (in fact I still think I have some traits of an entreprenuer left in me, but I think I’ve lost the appetite for risk since a couple of years back). In the earlier half of the year that I spent in Vancouver, I had more time and space to think about things like what I want out of life, and what I should do with it, now that I’ve only got just about 1 more year of college to go. It was quite funny, actually. I was going back and forth in my thinking… for a while deciding that I would like to start a business right after graduation, then changing my mind and thinking instead, that I should go out and work for a couple of years to gain relevant industry experience first… then changing my mind again and again until I got sick and tired of my indecisiveness myself. Afterall, there are just so many uncertainties. I think so much because I don’t want to be like the majority of the population, who leave their careers to chance rather than plan meticulously - those people who start thinking about their careers only after graduation and would jump at the first job opportunity that pays a good starting salary. This mindset can be seen in today’s Straits Times’ Youthlink, where several undergraduates interviewed said that they think they deserve a high starting salary based on their qualifications. My idea is that as a polytechnic graduate, as well as a male Singaporean who wasted 2.5 years of my life serving a nation that cares about embracing foreign talent more than its own people, I’ve already wasted enough time. I do not want to waste any more time going in and out of jobs when I can plan sufficiently enough to avoid choosing a job that pays a good starting salary, but would not be a sustainable career for reasons such as lack of interest on my part, or having a job that is simply incompatible with me. I realized that the thinking that earning plenty of money to sustain a luxurious lifestyle equates to happiness is actually just a very convenient ‘default’ sort of thinking, conditioned into a significant proportion of the population due to our exposure to all the ’success stories’ about famous, rich people and their glamorous, high-class lifestyles. I’m not saying that having this particular mindset is wrong, but it may not be compatible for every individual. I think happiness is really a function of how compatible one’s circumstances (i.e. career, relationships, environment, etc) are with his personal values.  Having the thinking that “once I earn enough money I’ll start thinking about retirement and doing the things I like” just shows that a person haven’t thought enough about what he wants out of life. Through a process of research, critical thinking and weighing pros and cons of each possible career trajectory that I identified against my values and principles, I finally shortlisted a couple, and eventually zoomed in on a single choice. The two finalists were consulting and academic life. Both offered relatively high remuneration, challenges, ability to work independently, and opportunities to travel. I eventually decided to work towards an academic career after much struggle between the prospects of potentially earning more in consulting but having a more stressful life, or the inverse of that for an academic career. I find that after putting that much time and effort into seriously thinking about what I want out of life, I’m able to make a decision about what direction to move towards, and stick to it. At least, I’ve been sticking strongly to this decision for at least the past two months or so already (I seldom stick to a career idea for so long), and I do feel quite determined to work towards it too… and most importantly, I feel comfortable with the decision - comfortable enough to stay focused on it. Now, the challenge will be for me to do it - get into a good graduate school. There’s always the possibility that I might not succeed, but I always subscribe to the belief that if I really want to do something, I would strive to do it well. I tend to be skeptical most of the time and underestimate what I can achieve, but that always helps in propelling myself to work harder and I mostly get surprises whenever I look at the results I get, whether in studies or other endeavours. I find that being mildly skeptical is better than being overconfident. At least if and when I fail, I don’t get too much of a shock. Too much musing for today. Time to sleep! ShareThis Singapore’s policy makers living in the clouds Another article in today’s Straits Times was about Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong’s response to criticisms that the government has been too generous in allowing large numbers of foreign workers to invade our job market, directly competing with Singaporeans for jobs. On concerns about foreign workers depressing wages in the lower end of the job market, he commented “I don’t think foreigners are to blame. By getting rid of foreigners, it does not mean the salaries of such workers will automatically increase if it doesn’t come with increases in productivity.” Actually, he is partially right. Foreigners should not be blamed for coming to Singapore to work - everyone are entitled to dream of better lives for themselves and take concrete steps towards it. If there’s anyone to blame, it should be the policy makers - for being too receptive to foreigners, and ignoring the calls of Singaporeans when they offer feedback about how foreigners are taking away their jobs or lowering wages. Going so far as to suggest that low wage earners should improve their productivity to deserve higher pay. It’s unfair competition in the first place - for these foreign workers live in dormitories or share rooms with dozens of their counterparts, live frugally, and most importantly - have few of the financial concerns that Singaporeans do - a foreign construction worker earning $600 a month does not have to worry about sending his kids to school in Singapore, buying/paying for a home in Singapore, paying for bills in Singapore currency. Certainly, he has to send money home as well as pay off his debtors for his air ticket and agency fees. But, things are comparatively cheap back home, and however little money in Singapore dollars he sends back to India or Blangadesh, is probably considered not bad there. I do not think that lower paid Singaporeans are expecting too much to ask for a salary that would allow them to live simply, as Singaporeans - having regular meals for themselves and their families, being able to afford to send their children to school, and continue to afford the same basic neccessities in life during times of trouble when inflation brings about price hikes in everything. If employers are paying Singaporeans any less than what is enough for these, I think its as good as violating human rights. Why do I say that our policy makers are living in the clouds? They, being high wage earners themselves, are too far away from the low-income earners to feel any of the pain and constraints they are facing in making a decent living. They meet their constituents once in a while, then claim that they understand their predicaments, but tell them that they should work harder and accept ‘market forces’ instead of asking for more. They make policies that are based straight out of economic textbooks without caring about feelings and sentiments on the group. They accuse low wage earners of being picky about jobs instead of considering why Singaporeans shun those jobs - is it about the work, or more about the indecent pay that is scarcely enough to pay for daily needs? Maybe the government should consider setting up dormitories for low-income Singaporeans to live like those foreign construction workers - this way, it would save them from having to deal with the harsh reality of being a regular Singaporean - paying off HDB loans for the better half of their lives, having to pay ever-increasing bus fares to go to work everyday, and of course, bills. ShareThis Singaporeans still not productive enough? Finance Minister Tharman is telling Singaporeans that pay rises are not the solution to inflation. Instead, lower income Singaporeans should be trained to improve their productivity so they can earn more. The question is, are lower income Singaporeans really not productive enough?  Or, should I put it this way instead - how much productivity is enough? And say if there is a way to objectively measure productivity levels - what is the breaking point for humans, and what will the government do to help low-income earners if there comes a day when they are working at maximum productivity and still can’t earn enough to cope with the rising costs of living? Singapore’s pace of life is already amongst the fastest in the world, and we are already well known for our people’s productivity (read: multitasking, one person taking on several persons’ job scopes - when we compare with our counterparts in ‘less productive’ economies). Just several weeks ago a survey showed that the lowest paid workers had on average, no wage increase in the past year. I am not convinced that employers cannot pay their low wage workers slightly more, given that they can afford to give executives substantial pay increments. Instead of urging our already stressed out and comparatively productive workforce to lower their expectations or to increase productivity, why can’t the government show some compassion for the marginalized population? ShareThis Busy days Here are the things I have to work on all at the same time these days: 1. Special term module - ending in early August, and I just failed the mid-term today =( I’ve never failed a single exam since secondary school days… this paper was just too ridiculously difficult, and I suspect many other students are in the same plight. 2. Honours Year Project - until next May. I’ve read more than 30 journal papers in the past few weeks, with more reading and work to come since the project is just beginning. 3. GMAT - I need to somehow find  time to study for this, and take the exam some time in September or October… and get at least a 95th percentile score. 4. Grad school application materials - Also need to find time to research on what schools to apply to, write application essays, etc 5. Regular modules - Starting in August, I’ll have 3 modules to work on, right up till December. 6. Web development work - Extra cash from 2 freelance projects… going on right now. Hopefully I’ll finish one by end of this month, and the other within the next 2 months. I’ll either need 48 hours a day, or I need to get mutated somehow that I’ll become a super geek and work twice as fast without affecting quality of work. ShareThis Are Singaporeans apathetic? I read an article in The New Paper about how 40 passerbys looked on while 3 youths were struggling to rescue a 66 year old handicapped man who fell into the sea near the Esplanade. This showed just how apathetic regular Singaporeans are - whipping out their camera phones to film the incident rather than lending a helping hand when faced with a situation where several lives are at risk. Deplorable behavior. Just what is going wrong with our society? In my earlier post I pointed out how Singaporeans responded without sympathy to a wheelchair user’s comment on Stomp about how able-bodied bus commuters should allow wheelchair users some space to get off the bus, by not standing too close to the designated space for wheelchair users, and here we have a situation where 100% of passerbys (presumably a majority of Singaporeans) rendered no assistance to a life threatening situation despite repeated calls for help - even nonchalantly viewing and recording the scene like they are watching a performance. The New Paper interviewed a psychiatrist, whose opinion was that Singaporeans are actually not heartless ‘when you see the amount of donations that they made in response to the crises in Myanmar, Sichuan and the Asian tsunami’. This is a fallacy. As the psychiatrist pointed out, people do not render assistance for various reasons… and that goes the same for donating money. People do not donate money just purely out of compassion, altruism, or community-spiritness. I suspect major motivators for monetary contributions include feelings of guilt, display of wealth, peer pressure and other non-altruistic reasons. It is also the most convenient way to prove to others that ‘I’ve already helped’. As one of the youths rightly pointed out, there could have been some people who could not swim, or as I like to think, most people (admitably, including myself) wouldn’t want to risk their own lives to save someone else - however, there was a guy on the banks who was holding onto a piece of canvas supporting the three people in the sea, who needed assistance in holding on… but nobody stepped forward despite the relatively low risk involved. By the process of elimination we can thereby prove that a significant number of Singaporeans are indeed apathetic, uncompassionate and unhelpful. Although there were only 40 people or so at the scene, they are a random sample of the population and thus I believe to some extent this statement can be generalized to the overall population. Bear in mind I’m not stereotyping all Singaporeans - I said a significant population, not all. I am aware of many people who do go out of their way to help people in need, but unfortunately they are a minority. I am also not comparing to other countries - it could be that the same trend can be seen in other places, but I suspect this is a bigger problem in developed countries than in poorer places where the sense of community-spirit is higher. I also admit that to a certain extent, I can be apathetic at times, too. But I think in a situation where there is relatively little risk to my own life or limb to help someone in a life threatening situation, I would not hesitate to help. Another thing to be ashamed about Singapore. ShareThis Disgusting Singaporeans on Stomp Just read an article on Stomp, sent in by a wheelchair user who wanted to let everyone know that he’s pleased with the wheelchair accessible SBS bus (link). He commented about how commuters should not stand too close to the designated wheelchair space on the bus especially during peak hours as it would cause difficulty for such users when they are alighting the bus. The comments left by some Stompers appalled me: “Even if I am wheelchair bound, I will not ask people to give way to me during PEAK hours cos I am a reasonable guy.” Here’s one accusing the wheelchair bound guy of being an attention seeker: “attention seeker. wakekeke u look more like a chee ko peh hahaha” And here’s one that is totally disgusting: “Peak hours and you are still inconveniencing ppl.” It seems that the majority of commenters had nothing positive to say. On the surface, this may appear to be a small matter. However, this reflects a serious underlying problem in our society - the mindset of many Singaporeans - selfish, unsympathetic and discriminating. This would never happen in Canada - at least, people would not be so daring as to make such statements in public, even if they do privately think that wheelchair users are obstructing ‘normal’ bus commuters. There, wheelchair users make use of public transportation all the time. Here in Singapore, I am sure if a wheelchair user wants to get on a bus, even during off-peak hours, many commuters would be unhappy about the couple minutes of delay in their journey to accommodate the wheelchair user getting on and alighting. Furthermore, as I have mentioned in my previous posts comparing Singapore to Canada, the number of buses equipped for wheelchair users are so pathetically few, wheelchair users must be really patient to wait for an equipped bus to come along even if they want to use it. I feel that it is only ‘for-show’… an accessible public transport system requires several conditions to become viable: a larger percentage of buses to be adequately equipped, commuters to cooperate (how to achieve this with the typical Singapore attitudes?), as well as accessible pavements and bus stops. What’s the use of having wheelchair accessible buses when our society lacks the moral support for handicapped people? Perhaps some readers would disagree with me, saying that many Singaporeans donate to charities. Well, I think having a general population that is willing to donate to charity but who cannot empathize with handicapped people in their day-to-day lives is a thing we should be ashamed about - it only brings out the hypocrites in this segment of Singaporeans. Throwing money around is the easiest and most visible way for these people to show off how ‘generous’ and ‘empathetic’ they are. Is this the kind of people Singapore is producing with its ‘world-class’ education system? What happened to basic courtesy, respect for others, morals and empathy? This is not the kind of place I want my future generations to live in. I feel very ashamed about being a Singaporean. ShareThis Updated price hike list Just added 2 items into my Singapore Price Hike 2008 page: 1. NUS canteen food prices up, 2. Impending fare hike for public transportation users in October. ShareThis New theme I just updated the site’s theme… not quite sure if this is suitable for a blog, though. Seems more for a web magazine style site. I’ll test this out for a few days and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll change it to something else. The old theme had been in use since I started this blog nearly 3 years ago. ShareThis Stupid complaining Singaporeans I’ve been browsing Stomp.sg these days out of boredom, and I find that most entries are complaints. While  many of them are valid, some are just plain ridiculous and reflect Singaporeans’ tendency to complain about everything under the sun. Hmmm, perhaps it is because Singapore has such a warm, humid weather that predisposes our people to being hot tempered. Take for example, this post by a parent on how a doctor is being ‘money-minded’ just because the clinic he went to wouldn’t see him prescription medication without the doctor seeing his son first. I wonder if he ever thought about the consequences if the clinic sells him the medicine, then something happens to his son (i.e. allergic reaction or something worse)… then it would be the doctor’s fault. In fact, this man’s logic is skewed - the doctor would be ‘money-minded’ if he/she sells medicine without seeing patients first, not the other way round. The two most common type of complaints seem to be those about poor parking etiquette and people who refuse to give up their seats on MRTs. Well, valid points were made about how Singapore would be a very slightly better place without such poor behaviour, but Stomp seems to be publishing too many similar, repetitive complaints. Someone left a comment on one of the Stomp pages about “Everyday got problem on mrt no better news lah .Damn this nation is getting pretty bored day by day.”. I actually agree… seems like Singaporeans either too bored, or, as I prefer to think - too repressed to be complaining about such small little things all the time. Having said that, I do think that Stomp is doing a great job in allowing Singaporeans to air their views, and hopefully through reading about the bad experience of others, readers will become more conscious of their own behavior too. ShareThis Price hikes everywhere The first thing I noticed about Singapore when I came back slightly over a month ago, was the price hikes in everything - I had only been away for less than half a year, but everything has become more expensive. Food prices are up as a result of rising costs of rice, cooking oil and energy costs. In fact, in the few months, rice prices had more than doubled! Suddenly, hawkers everywhere have either raised their prices, or cut down on portions, or worse, both. In NUS canteens, I think there is an impending price hike - apparently some food stalls’ price boards have already been updated to reflect the new prices. Also, I cannot afford to have the occasional cappuccino from Spinelli’s or Olio Dome on campus anymore - prices have gone up about 50%! I felt like going on a short trip with the SO to Thailand but realized that the amount of taxes and fuel surcharges today, excluding the air tickets’ cost, exceed the total price I paid for all-inclusive tickets 2 years ago. A couple of weeks ago I went on a short weekend trip to KL, and had to pay increased fuel surcharges (an increase to the tune of $11 for a $50 two-way coach ticket!) due to the removal of fuel subsidies in Malaysia. I also read that fuel surcharges for ferries to Batam and Bintan have also gone up by $10 in the past month - bringing the total price of a 2-way ferry ticket to Batam to $48 (Tickets cost just $20, surcharges, taxes and fees came up to $28!). Every other day in the newspapers, I read about price hikes. The last few days I think it was about private transport operators and premium bus services fares going up from $3 to $4, a 33% hike. I think very soon, or at the first possible chance, public transport operators will propose fare hikes again. From next week, electricity tariffs will go up, again. And petrol costs have skyrocketed too, of course… which is practically the cause of most other price increases. The hardest hit people are middle and lower income earners. Many small little hikes add up to plenty of money. A Straits Times report earlier this week showed that the lowest wage earners had no wage increase in the past year, while the remaining people had an average increase of 5.9%. That is, if one believes in statistics. I personally take them with a pinch of salt - what, a cleaner earning on average $1,246 a month? Not very realistic, I think. I have created a page to record all the price hikes I know of, and readers are welcome to contribute via the comments form. In my spare time, I will attempt to search for information on price hikes in Singapore from Jan 2008 onwards. ShareThis Singapore Government’s comfort with new media From today’s Straits Times. “There is no dirty little secret which the PAP is trying to hide from its people and that’s why the Government is actually very comfortable with new media.” I feel uncomfortable after reading this statement. It suggests that, in theory, the Government would be uncomfortable with new media if there comes a day when the party has something to hide. Under such circumstances, the Government would appear to be working for the benefit of the dominant political party, rather than the other way round. ShareThis Singapore Power’s less-than-stellar billing track record I used the term ‘less-than-stellar’ instead of ‘poor’ only because there is no definitive benchmark for ‘poor’ - in the unlikely circumstance that SP decides to take issue and nitpick on my comments… Channel NewsAsia reported that some consumers complained of a 50% spike in their electricity bills for the month of June. When contacted, Singapore Power attributed it to higher consumption due to the hot weather, when air-conditioners ‘work harder’ to maintain the same cooling level. I am utterly not convinced. My household electricity bill for June went up by about 50% as well. However, I use the air-conditioner very infrequently - say, several nights a month. I am not convinced that the few nights of use can result in that much of a diifference in the bill even if the air-conditioner used more electricity on hot days. Here is the official response from Singapore Power: “There is no glitch in the billing system, which has been in operation since the year 2000,” said an SP Services spokesperson. Consumption is usually higher from April to September due to the hotter months, she noted. “When the weather is hot, consumers tend to use more water and air-conditioning, which lead to higher energy use. Moreover, during the hotter months, air-conditioning consumes more power to maintain the same temperature as compared to cooler months.” I attempt to prove that this statement is flawed: Having a billing system that has been in operation since 8 years ago does not suggest that there can be no glitch in it. A system glitch can be caused by human error, and in fact, I suspect there are not many information systems with totally zero error rates in this world. SP’s billing system is not particularly known for its reliability. From time to time there are letters in the ST Forum from consumers who discovered billing discrepancies… If I remember correctly there had also been incidents in the past when bills were sent to the wrong households? In November 2003, SP Services also sued its ex-vendor for a faulty billing system that affected tens of thousands of home users in 2000. A household was even billed more than $39,000 due to the glitch. How can SP insinuate that there are no glitches in their system “in use since 2000″, when it is the same system that was the center of a major billing glitch in 2000? Granted, steps should have been taken to rectify the faults since the errors were discovered, but this does not mean that there will not be any more issues with the system. It should also be noted that SP eventually reached an out-of-court settlement with its ex-vendor, which counter-sued SP, charging that it was “SP Services’ own failings” that resulted in the problems. To be fair, since it was an out-of-court settlement there is no way to know whose failing it was. However, consumers should never bear the brunt for any service provider’s own management problems. In the same CNA article, the SP spokesperson also mentioned that “… spikes in some bills could be due to adjustments made to make up for “under-billing” the month before.” On 6 May 2008, a reply to the ST Forum by SP (in response to a complaint) also suggested that “(the manual intervention of billing) approach is costly and error-prone”. This implies that errors can likely happen as a result of manual (I suppose, human) intervention in the billing system. This contradicts SP’s own statement that its billing system is glitch-less. Additionally, I also know of somebody who had an electricity bill of just $1 once - for some unknown reason. If it was not a glitch, then what happened? The question is, who can verify whether SP Services’ billing system is indeed flawless? I suppose audit checks can reveal any problems, but based on what I understand about information systems auditing, problems can go undiscovered - especially when problems arise from manual intervention in automated system processes, and auditing only tests the integrity of systems. Next question - whose responsibility is it to ensure that consumers are not disadvantaged when it comes to billing matters? Besides internal audit and the customary annual external audit, what does the Government do to regulate service providers such as SP? Lastly, based on a search of past newspaper reports, it seems that meter faults are the most common reasons cited for billing disrepancies - given the incidence of reported (and possibly many non-reported) cases of meter faults, why is SP still billing customers based on bi-monthly meter checks? Furthermore, are there any processes in place to ensure that all electricity meters are checked at regular intervals to ensure they are functioning normally? ShareThis Quotable quotes Masterpiece of sarcasm From The Straits Times: Get China girl instead (ST Life, 14 June) Miss Shenise Wong’s dress is bad enough but her hairdo is even worse. Although she is 26, she looks old for her age. She stands no chance against the other younger contestants. I would suggest that, next time, the organizer should get a young, pretty girl from China, give her Singapore citizenship and let her represent the Republic. After all, getting help from “foreign talent” is part of Singapore’s culture. Masterpiece of understatement From Wikipedia: British Airways Flight 9 Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress. ShareThis Helplessness and uselessness - which is the lesser evil? ShareThis Blank sheet of paper Until recently I’d been deceiving myself for years, believing that since I succeeded in doing business before I can repeat my success again. Unfortunately, it took me this many years to realize that I am just a blank sheet of paper now. I came to a realization that the skills I relied on to succeed in the past are now nothing compared to what many others are doing now. Perhaps at the time when I started my previous business we were considered one of the pioneers and early entrants into online retail in Singapore, but now the entry barrier has been raised - customers are more demanding, and there is much, much more competition in every market and product. It’s just like falling down, breaking a leg and then realizing that you have to learn how to walk all over again. A very humbling experience. I don’t think I should wallow in self-pity anymore about what happened in the past, then try to console myself by saying things like “if I could do it last time, I can do it again”. It’s just not going to happen. While I was down and out, the earth was still spinning, people were progressing and now I have to admit that I’m probably no better than any other recent graduate - the only difference is that I have a longer resume, but all the conquests were of years ago. So many regrets - if only I picked myself up much earlier… but that’s irrelevant now. I ain’t going to look back now. It’s time to move forward and eat humble pie, get the ego out of the way and start by learning how to walk again. ShareThis Las Vegas & The Grand Canyon (Days 119 - 121) My fight from New York to Las Vegas was really comfortable… I had more space than business class passengers as the seats for flight crew were in front of me and not occupied! It was my first Delta flight (hopefully more to come in future), as well as my first on a Boeing 757! It was a rather new aircraft – still smelling of fresh interiors and looking bright and clean… unlike the WestJet flight I had on a stinky, old 737. It was evening by the time my ~ 5 hours flight arrived in Las Vegas. The view from the plane as we were flying into LV was spectacular - lots and lots of specks of lights! The Las Vegas airport was really interesting, as it had rows and rows of slot machines where gambling addicts can play while waiting for their flight departures! Las Vegas hotels are really affordable. I booked a room at the Excalibur Hotel as it was even cheaper than staying in a hostel! The room was not very nice, but nevertheless it was still a nice change from the hostel beds without any privacy. By the end of my first night in Las Vegas I gambled away $75 and downed about half a dozen $1 Corona beers. Drinks are free in casinos (even cocktails!) but one is expected to tip the server about a dollar each time. Not wanting to gamble away my remaining trip expenses, I reluctantly pulled myself away from the craps table. Las Vegas is very different from other places, not only for its casinos but also for as one of the few places in the States where there are things like legal prostitution (there are people handing out flyers everywhere - well, the brothels are operating outside of Las Vegas itself… but the flyers advertise ‘escort services’… ), and legal consumption of alcoholic beverages on the street. My second day in Las Vegas was spent walking down the Strip… the weather there was hot and dry, it would have been easier to take the bus down but I wanted to pop into all the Strip hotels and casinos to look around so I went on foot. Vegas is full of imitation architecture - there is New York New York, where the hotel is made up of several imitations of iconic NYC buildings (i.e. the Empire State Building) and Paris (that had a fake the Eiffel Tower). The most amazing attraction in my opinion is the lion enclosure at the MGM Grand. Apparently the hotel owns a pack of lions in a ranch somewhere outside of Las Vegas, and someone would groom a few of them each morning and they would be transported to the hotel’s enclosure which comes complete with a man-made waterfall and pond, if I remember correctly. The interesting thing is that their lions are all pretty active, unlike those at the Singapore  Zoo that are always sleeping. I spent the later half of the day at the Las Vegas Premium Outlet where I bought another handbag for the SO. I had most of my meals at the Excalibur hotel’s buffet restaurant as I had plenty of dining credits that came with my hotel room… the food there sucked big time though. I would have paid the $20+ to try one of those legendary buffets in Vegas (I heard a lot about those huge Alaskan crab legs!) if not for those credits I had to finish… well, maybe next time. And the third day I went on a day tour to the Grand Canyon… the view was amazing, but unfortunately being on a day tour meant I had just about 3 hours at the South Rim itself. It would have been more enjoyable to stay over for a full day at the Rim, but there were no viable/affordable transportation options. ShareThis Trip Report continues… After several weeks of procrastination, I’m continuing with my trip report… I stopped blogging at NYC, and so the report continues from there… Not that I’ve got many readers eager to know about my unexciting life, but this also serves as a record of the thoughts and experiences I’ve had on my trip. I’ve got an awful memory and this will be nice to read years from now when I’m reminiscing about my journey in N. America. NYC - Las Vegas I’m writing this in the food court at JFK Terminal 3, where there is no free WiFi access. I got moved from my original seat at the back of the plane to near the front, at the emergency exit row – yay! More leg space for my 5 hours flight to the Sin City. Delta planes at JFK Excess legroom in front of seat A1 on a relatively new Boeing jet I’m missing Vancouver already, with its pleasant weather, fresh air, friendly people and relaxing pace of life. And of course my roommates who are really awesome and easy to get along with. And oh, I got my grades yesterday – I got 3 A- and an A. Oh my, guess what… the A was not for any of the courses in my major, but for Wine Science! All my homework and revision (drinking wine!) have paid off! Wine is a pretty fun and interesting subject… I am actually contemplating to look for a part time job at a wine bar or shop when I get back to Singapore, just because I like the subject … not because I like working part time (I don’t like to work for others, and I certainly don’t like to face snobby customers). Maybe I can gain some experience along the way and can learn how to start my own wine distribution business or wine bar! ShareThis Comment on Singaporeans have to be given ‘Family Day Out’ to enjoy family life by SK Thoroughly agree. Worse is when the company organise dinner for employees only (no family) on this particular day itself!!! Some are doing that. Comment on Singapore = a game of numbers by Anonymous Many walkovers and a strong mandate from voters at every election. And will be so for many years to come because of very weak or no opposition. Why need to care about feelings when these have no impact on their hold on power, right? Comment on Danish citizen responds to MM Lee’s “mediocre government” comment by windowbo http://www.topwomen.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=26898 Comment on More reasons for leaving Singapore by 40s Racist? I think Singapore chinese is on of the most racist about Indians and Malays. I’m currently planning to immigrate to Australia, but due to my age, unlikely I will meet the minimum required points. I wish I’ve done this when I was in my early 30s, at least I know I would have enough points to make it and if things didn’t go well I can always come back to Siingy again. I also heard many Singapore came back after immigrating to Aust or NZ, but at least they’ve tried Now seem to be too late for me. Try if you can, you may not able to do so once you reach 40s. Comment on More reasons for leaving Singapore by SGDaily Roundup: Week 20 « The Singapore Daily […] takes a fall - InsanePoly: “Mediocre” Governments, Happiest Nations - this lush garden within: More reasons for leaving Singapore - Simply Gab: More Govt Lapses [Thanks […] Singapore = a game of numbers A commentor on my previous post mentioned - “Actually.. it may be a little extreme in wanting the government to implement every policy the citizens want by saying its a democratic country.” It is indeed extreme. I don’t mean that the government should implement every whim and fancy the citizens want… just that sometimes, the government should think about the citizens’ FEELINGS, rather than just plain looking at numbers. Do you realise that in Singapore we are just a set of numbers? From the moment you are born, you are an NRIC number. When you go into the army, your NRIC number is your second name. In university, your matric number is what you are to the university. There is hardly any regard for citizens’ feelings in the way Singapore government form policies. Everything is done for the sake of boosting numbers - improving GDP, improving growth rates, improving population numbers, improving birth rates. How about the intangible stuff that cannot be counted - such as happiness, satisfaction, pace of life, community values, etc? I don’t say this without backup. When NUS wanted to raise tuition fees, did they consult the students first? They didn’t, and that ended up in dissatisfaction among students, but the school didn’t care and proceeded with the hike anyway. Same thing with last year’s S/U fiasco - implemented, then backed down after a strong backlash from the student population. You see it now? They consider our feelings AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT… not in the first place. The same thing happens in the way our country is governed. Propose to raise GST. Citizens unhappy. Government raises GST anyway, and try to ’soften’ the blow by giving some handouts as an afterthought. But the GST rate is there to stay, and very likely will go up again in future. Same thing with the FT issue. Do we have any say in it at all? They tell us we can provide feedback… sure we can! We can send emails, send letters to the ST Forum, write letters to our MPs, etc. But who cares? They read, they acknowledge, they give a canned (or poorly thought out) answer, and that’s it. Yes sir, they accept feedback, but they never say they’ll ever consider your suggestions or feelings. No. Singapore has now come to a point where its top brains are leaving for greener pastures because of the intangible things in life that Singapore is unable to provide - the government knows this problem is there, and their answer to this is to import more FT from India and China… and publicly acknowledging this strategy - again, a blatant disregard for citizens’ feelings. Making us feel as though we are not valued. They can just bring in more talents to replace the numbers lost. Again, it is a game of numbers. Comment on More reasons for leaving Singapore by mrbiao familyman mentions about how the bottom 20% will give up and go on the dole… but what dole? Singapore doesn’t provide much handouts in the firstplace… besides the controversial $260 or so that is hardly enough to survive on. There is no easy way out in Singapore - one has to work hard to make a living and that is what our society has become of because of a system that pushes everyone to be more ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’ than ever, meaning each person has to work in multiple roles, work OT, etc in order to achieve ‘cost-efficiency’ for their employers. People can say I like to whine about how the grass is greener on the other side when its not… its alright… its just a matter of different values in life each of us have… I always respect others’ opinions and it is always healthy to open oneself to opposing views… And its been nice so far to hear so many varying views… so keep them coming. Comment on More reasons for leaving Singapore by mrbiao free summarized it nicely - exactly what I think - its a matter of choice/preference - some people prefer the way Singapore is, that’s fine… others like myself prefer a slower pace of life, better lifestyle and culture… look elsewhere, and there’s nothing wrong - its just a matter of looking in the right place for what you want in the short decades of life you have. And yes, when we move elsewhere we may be subject to racism and people who dislike FT as much as some people do in Singapore - but, don’t forget there are places in this world that are more diverse and welcoming to immigrants and at the same time able to offer (in my opinion) a better life than in Singapore. Places like Vancouver, San Francisco, Toronto are some of the nicer places for Asians. And probably some parts of Australia too. And free mentioned about how westerners tend to look less at ‘what you drive and how you dress’… which is true and in my opinion again is a better culture than in Asia where face is important… your status and reputation largely depends on how you dress and kiss ass… and the manifestation in the workplace where one can seldom challenge/question his superior because he will get into trouble for making the latter lose face. Comment on More reasons for leaving Singapore by free To be frank, guess we see alot of singporean coming back after emigration to another country, but alot of singaporean stil have the singapore “kiasu’kiasi” mentality lor. Face value is important, but the Ang Moh dun care about what you drive, what you wear or how rich you are. They still treat you as a normal person. At work you can actually challenge the manage and more open door. I have been workiing with Australian since I moved, so far all the Ang moh bosses are good. Everyone looks at their objectives in life differently and I strongly agree that this whole world is a musical chair, some foreigners like singapore because safe to work at nite, educations system is far better, especially some of my Ang Moh friends like singapore because they got Maid, here in Australia no maid, but not the education system, that is why they have Australia international school in Spore Guess life is short, make full use of it, if those people think spore is good for them, then stay on. but those who want to exchange for lifestyle , then should look into elsewhere, we have many singaporean friends emigrated to UK, Canada , and no regrets. me and my family - also no regret leaving. If you think that is Ang Moh racist , i think we sporean also racist about Indians and Malays. So if are humble and dun show off, i think you can live better elsewhere. Comment on More reasons for leaving Singapore by vinyarb Actually.. it may be a little extreme in wanting the government to implement every policy the citizens want by saying its a democratic country. You said “Our economy may not perform as well if we choose not to allow that many foreign talent to come in, however, if we made that choice, we will be responsible for the consequences”. You may well agree to this point, but if this really happens, i’d be willing to bet that half the country will say “If the govt knew it was a bad choice, they shouldn’t have implemented it and let us suffer the consequence.. isn’t that what a government is for? to govern the country?” Then how?