Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Concern about disorderly behaviour

Monday, October 13, 2008

Concern about disorderly behaviour

Dear Mr Tan,

I appreciate that you are trying to help those people who were at Hong Lim Park on Saturday. As a great amount of money is involved, and from what I gathered at the park, there were many people who had possibly lost their life savings, emotions will indeed run high as some people will inevitably be in desperate positions.

I do want to caution you as a concerned citizen that I am indeed worried about some of the group leaders encouraging the people to gather at the banks at a scheduled day and time. I had no intention of prying into the matter but I cannot help overhearing the plan to crowd the banks. I am not so sure that it is safe for the public to have a big group of unhappy investors gathered in a public place at the same time. The people were even advised to pretend not to know each other.

I am not so sure that the group leaders will be able to keep order if the group of unhappy people do not get what they want and react emotionally that could lead to disorder.

I respect that you are a former CEO of a big company like NTUC Income and that with your in-depth knowledge of the financial matters, you might be able to provide some guidance to many people who are apparently feeling very helpless. May God bless you.

I had wanted to speak to you about this on Saturday but I did not get the chance. I just feel that there must be other ways of addressing this problem. As you mentioned that you are in communication with SM Goh, perhaps you can ask him to arrange a proper venue and get all the banks involved in addressing this matter.

I wish you God’s speed and wisdom.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: In Singapore we never have angry or violent demo so far. But who knows, given the pent-up frustrations of the people and the type of response so far from the authorities, it may reach breaking point for the first time to jolt the authorities into action and not to take them for granted. The effect will be more than the sufferings of those misled investors.; October 14, 2008 12:39 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Letter Writer,

If the government is indeed worried about your safety from potentially angry crowds, then they would have done their best to order MAS to investigate the mis-selling and mis-representation of risky structured products. Clearly, the government did not take in account of your safety.

Best regards
Daniel Tan; October 14, 2008 7:02 AM
Anonymous said...: The police will be called upon by the banks and action will be taken. No one is above the law.; October 14, 2008 9:08 AM
Anonymous said...: >>>>The police will be called upon by the banks and action will be taken. No one is above the law.

Is the "LAW" here to protect institutions which prabably have misled old uncles and aunties who, as a result, have lost their life savings?.... what kind of "LAW" we have?; October 14, 2008 11:39 AM
Anonymous said...: Hello,

what makes you think that "old uncles and old aunties" are so easily misled?? I was at the Speakers' Corner last Saturday and I onlty saw a handful of "old uncles and old aunites", most of the people there are actually educated enough to play stocks & shares! I have a primary school educated 76-yr-old mother and a 82 yr-old paternal aunt and they have never been cheated by any bankers before despite making many trips to the local branch to do their banking chores; October 14, 2008 5:03 PM
Anonymous said...: To Anonymous 5:03PM

It is clear you did not do your homework before making such comments. We all know that share and stocks are risky but in this case, we were misled by the FIs to believe that these investment products were low risks. In layman's words, this amounts to cheating.

Many "old uncles and old aunties" were not at Speakers' Corners last Sat. because many are not even aware that their investments have gone bust as they are not informed. Many are uneducated and do not read the news or surf the internet.

Your 76-yr old mother must have been very smart to escape the sly and foxy bankers, how come her child did not inherit her high IQ and can make such stupid statements ?; October 16, 2008 9:29 PM
Anonymous said...: These investments are the first-to-default type, which means the probability of loosing money is tied to the company with the highest chance of bankrupting.; October 17, 2008 5:39 PM