Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Protecting citizens

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Protecting citizens

Mr Tan, I signed the online petition and was there yestderday. I want to thank you for taking your time and lead in our cause.

The Government can continue to ignore us and pay lip-service. But I am sure that a big group of people who vote otherwise in the next general election.

This whole saga has open my eyes - a hard-core supporter of the current government. I am no longer convince that the current government is best when it comes to protecting citizens.

Though my financial position has improve tremendously compare to the lowest point in the crisis, I will never forget how our elected establishment chose to side-step and ignore the very fact that the FIs had indeed sold some very complicated/toxic product that few, perhaps including the FIs, could understand.

The very fact that HK and Taiwan FIs settle the toxic products is a clear testimony and yet our financial regulator continues the wayang!

Let the coming General Election do the talking.

23 comments:

Singapore Short Stories said...: Hi Mr Tan,

Will you be contesting the next GE?; August 23, 2009 12:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Although it is wise that you have wise up but I think it is too late. For every minibond investor like you there are probably a hundred thousand new citizens who are very grateful to the current govt for providing them the opportunity to live it up in Singapore. The fact is these new citizens are unhappy and dissatisfied with their home country and found Singapore's govt to be what they want. Together with the goodie bags, paid from your taxes, and reciting the pledge, they are ever grateful and will trounce your vote 100K to 1. Decades ago people like JB Jeyaratnam and Lee Siew Choh had tried to warn Singaporeans but nobody paid any heed to them. Instead they chose to believe to the local mass media that they are insane, psychopathic, sore losers etc. Well, they are no longer here to champion your cause now. You are now by yourselves.; August 23, 2009 12:44 PM
Anonymous said...: I agree with the writer. While there are new citizens who may vote for current government, many like the writer and myself will no longer do so after how we have been treated. I diagree with 12:44pm that it is too late; August 23, 2009 2:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Singaporeans!! hope you will wake up from this nightmare!! The govt woundnt help citizens like us, they have already mention that you need to help yourself!! There are alot of hints given that Singaporeans have to help themselves.They pay alot of lip services, they know nuts about the citizens'needs and wants! Singaporeans, open your eyes and look for yourself, how many are sleeping on the streets now? Like yesterday, they news broadcast an interview a China man that he got a job in IR!!! What the fish is that? Arent Singaporeans supposed to be priority in getting the job? What kind of nonsence is this! Wake up please!!! This country is like a public toilet soon.......with all the foreign labours and new imigrants so called citizens....; August 23, 2009 4:37 PM
Anonymous said...: If you think carefully, 300 turn up is considered not bad.
For those who have compensated 10% - 30%, they thought the max they can get is 10 to 20% more, so they may not want to attend.
Some may be too busy.
Others may have other reasons.
So overall this number is not bad already.
Mostly those who have not been compensated would turn up.; August 23, 2009 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: By the time the next GE comes along, the stockmarket and property market will have doubled in value.

And we will all be shouting "More good years!", "Please don't rock the boat!"

Business is business. Nothing personal.; August 23, 2009 5:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Say what you do & do what you say. But sad to say during election, most people choose garmen people & not opposition. Give opposition a chance if the candidate they field in your ward is incredible, honest, dare to speak up to challenge the garmen. So vote with your head & not your heart. If not for this MB, HN5, PN, etc. saga, people will still vote for garmen people. Now that they felt the pain, short-changed, neglected, etc. that they finally woke up from their sleep. But this whole saga only applies to 9909 (0.2%) of investors out of 4.8 million people in S'pore so it is peanut to the garmen who can make up these numbers with new citizens' voters. Out of 7190 investors only 5551 lodged complains with F.Is, MAS, FIDREC, etc. The remaining 1639 investors must be either super-rich, highly educated, highly status, etc. who can afford to lose their money.; August 23, 2009 9:33 PM
Anonymous said...: I (and a number of investors who were compensated) were at the 22-Aug-09 rally to support the cause.

However I noticed that of the 700+ signatories who signed the petition, much fewer attended the rally. This is regrettable, considering the amount of work put in by TKL and his team in organising this rally after a long time. The least these investors could do is to show their physical support.

While I am prepared to support any future rallys, I wonder whether holding any more is worth the while? The local media has also found it non-newsworthy, as I did not see any reports in the Sunday Times.; August 24, 2009 12:27 AM
Anonymous said...: When a PAP supporter himself suddenly feel marginalised and become a victim of scam supported by the government, he will begin to see the foolishness of supporting a party blindly.

" The remaining 1639 investors must be either super-rich, highly educated, highly status, etc. who can afford to lose their money."

Maybe most of these investors work for the government. It is always say that no one get blamed for buying IBM products since they are the best, are they too mislead into thinking (due to quality and one-sided argument of shittytimes) that you will not go wrong following the GLC's recommendation.

I will not be surprised if many will not petiton for fear of losing their job.; August 24, 2009 2:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Singaporeans first have to be less self-centred, less money driven, be prepared to make sacrifices if they want to see a healthy change in political atmosphere. Now I understand why Chee Soon Juan need to look for foreign help to fight his political cause here. There are simply too few many unfair practices against the opposition parties here.; August 24, 2009 12:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Mr Tan, I enjoy reading your blog and Dr "Money" Larry Haverkamp of The New Paper on financial planning, and I find some of your posts very insightful. However, I am very puzzled about the Minibonds saga. If 10,000 people were affected in Singapore, why is it that only 350 (or 3.5%) of these investors gathered at Speakers’ Corner on Saturday? Is there any outstanding issue at all when it seems that the vast majority of 96.5% are ok with the outcome? I hope you can provide your view on this. Thank you.; August 24, 2009 2:58 PM
Anonymous said...: ""However, I am very puzzled about the Minibonds saga. Why is it only 350 (or 3.5%) of these investors interested?""
The response between sporean & HKers are so much different.
Initially when it was reported that some investors in HK may not be compensated, a number of "movie stars" came out to voice their unhappiness openly. They said these are also their hard earned money, why shd they be discriminated? Someone from SFC immediately came out to clarify that they are also eligible for compensation. And you know some of these "Movie stars" are super rich. They were very confident when making their requests.

In spore, some seem to have this attitide that "If you want to compensate us, then it is good. If you don't also can. It is ok with us."

There should be reasons for such great disparity in responses. Generally human nature are quite similar. In this case it is puzzling. It is hard to explain / understand.; August 24, 2009 8:17 PM
Anonymous said...: ""Most of these "Movie stars" are super rich. They were very confident when making their requests. ""

In spore, many feel shy to ask for a fairer compensation, e.g. 50% (still less than 60-70% HK are getting.)
It is a bit strange.; August 24, 2009 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: It is very simple. Singaporeans have been conditioned to respond like this. This is called bio-social engineering. They know what are your fears and motivations. Hong Kong movie stars can come out and say their piece because they are a democratic society. Nothing will happen to these movie stars, in fact, their popularity will go up as they are seen championing a just cause. Any mediacorp star do that and you won't hear from him again. No more show featuring him or her. It is that simple. Remember the journalist who dare upset the wise old man? What school you come from. Who is your superior? What happened to him now? People cannot even remember his name now.; August 24, 2009 10:24 PM
Anonymous said...: 350 gathered and will not vote for the incumbent govt. 3,500 gathered and get their new IC and will vote for the incumbent government. The 350 is there once in a blue moon. The 3,500 happened how many times in a year. So simple yet some still cannot understand.; August 24, 2009 10:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Why only 350? Simple, it is because Sporeans feel that our government is not going to help us non matter what we do! And why such a belief? Again simple, our government has not extended a helping hand so far!

Apart from those structured products that have collapsed, why not also FOCUS on those that are going to collapse such as Pinnacle Notes series 2,5,6 and 7 - residue value of about 1% or less!!!; August 24, 2009 11:22 PM
Anonymous said...: When I was younger, I don't understand why taxi drivers, older folks, opposition keep talking bad things about the govt. Then MINIBOMB imploded. Then Govt use the same solution. Sweep issue under the carpet, create a complain process but literally useless. When MAS did better then Hong Kong, they sing praises in dinner functions. Once Hong Kong did better, they shout up and went China.

Only TKL, who previously kept a low profile after helping us into our respective group, returned to help to update us and gave us an opportunity for CNBC and BBC interview.

The govt must understand that Malaysia is in this state because the ruling party has taken too many things for granted and for too long. In Sgp, Cabinet millionairs must realize that they are paid by the heartlanders' sweat & blood money and it is also this same money that has been cruelly swindled away by the 10 FIs. And it has been proven that this is true as GE returned 100% and HK SFC took lead to get it back 60%-70%.

In Sgp? Nothing. Not even a single speech in community centre or function after MAS report. They act as if life goes on as normal.

It is not normal.

How would you like to be the person who put all his retirement money from Civil Service Pension and now only have less than $5,000 cash. This is their retirement fund which RM have advised to convert it to income at 5% income. Then FIs said that they and RM not responsible as they are only "Execute Order Only".

It is not just the 350 will not vote for the govt, but many more. It is not a full stop after MAS report. This bad way of solving problem speaks very badly an uncaring millionairs.

Very, very disappointed. The only thing I can do is to support TKL and continue to move on in life. As of the opposition, I think they are no different.; August 25, 2009 11:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Eventhough Pinnacle Notes series 2,5,6 and 7 - have residue value of about 1% or less!!! it is still not confirmed that they will collapse. There must be more defaults for this to happend.; August 25, 2009 1:34 PM
Anonymous said...: The rest had swallowed the bitter pill and will live rest of their lives in contempt of the FIs and government; August 25, 2009 2:04 PM
Anonymous said...: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_421040.html

"New consumer watchdog"

Good work Mr. Tan. I will support and be a member. May more President role comes your way. Definitely better than the CASE or FIDREC.

Is there any target you wish to hit on the first year? As supporter and MB investor, I can help to promote this membership. Depending on FIs and MAS is a big no-no after what they have done to us.; August 25, 2009 2:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Now whenever I have a chance to meet up with friends or strangers I make it a point to tell them what kind of govt we have. Not surprising I always receive negative remarks from them about our govt during the conversations.; August 25, 2009 6:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Pinnacle Notes 2,5,6, and 7 are almost cetain to collapse since the residue is only 1% or less with a few more years before maturity - I believe all it takes is just one more credit event!

Prevention is better than cure, so why not try to save them before it is too late!!; August 25, 2009 9:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Uniquely spore. There are also uniquely sporeans.

The people who had acted not "corrrectly" or had acted "unprofessionally" (e.g. sec firms, IFA acting as introducer) did not feel guilty or bad at all. They feel good & happy, and can keep the money.

It is those who had lost their money who feel very shy to show their anger or unhappiness. They thought they are in the wrong. They want to show that they are the happy sporean.
They are the uniquely sporeans.; August 26, 2009 2:01 PM

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Protecting citizens

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