The investors in Singapore cannot protest against the injustice suffered by them, due to the following reasons:
- all protests are disallowed under the law and are dealt with sternly
- the regulator and legislators in Singapore are not prepared to protect the rights of consumers and prefer to follow the "open eyes" ruling given by our top leader
To be fair, the regulator did work out some settlement for the mini-bond investors, but they left the other investors without any recourse - pinnacle notes, high notes, jubilee notes.
I doubt you could get fair settlement in Singapore. The only place you could get your money back is through court but that incurs money and time and there is no guarantee.
ReplyDeleteI can only sigh in despair when I see Governments elsewheres help honest investors get back their money.
MAS should be more forceful like what the Hong Kong counterparts are doing. Clearly our investors had been conned & swindled. Even our Town Councils had suffered a $16 million fiasco!
ReplyDeleteToday CNA reported that DBS HK agreed to compensate 641 millions for Lehmen related notes. How about S'pore DBS ? Why is there a "Double" standards ? To Our Gahment, dun think we are all fools !
ReplyDeleteSingapore is considered as one of the financial hubs in the world. Everything is more favorable to the bankers rather than investors.
ReplyDeleteThis has to be changed if Singapore wants to stay in competition with Hong Kong.
"Pragmatism" seems to be the value behind all these decisions making. However, "Pragmatism" is a "value system" of "no value". That is why you may find that the solution seems moral-lacking, injust, unfair etc. In the end, "practical ends justifies means".
ReplyDeleteAre you still a followers of "Pragmatism"? I have no answer. I am having soul-searching too! From Cashew Nut
Sgp Govt has a reputation to keep i.e. pro-business, pro-foreign talents/workers and screwed the citizens. Citizens are ignorant and complaint too much. The only good thing about them is easy to convince to vote for them in every election.
ReplyDeleteFreedom? What freedom? Cannot protest, cannot walk in a group. SPH is Govt owned,
DBS is Govt owned,
Judicial system is Govt owned,
MRT is Govt owned,
Mediacorp is Govt owned,
ComfortDelco is Govt owned,
NTUC is Govt owned,
So what if DBS HK compensate HK people? Over here, Govt decide. Citizen responsibility is to vote them in during next election and get con again and again with costly HDB, costly transport, costly food, costly utilities with PEANUT salary while Ministers get $130,000 a month.
Well, just have to sit and wait to die poor and hungry.
People who are not happy because they feel that DBS has double standards or our own regulatory authority did not do as much as the HK regulators to achieve a fair settlement for ALL investors of Minibond, Pinnacle Notes, please give feedback through YOUR VOTES.
ReplyDeleteHow to VOTE agt them, as many are walkover ? Those areas likely to gain more votes, our Gahment will classify them as GRC .... sigh. No justice in S'pore !
ReplyDeleteYou see, with so many constituencies, so much deposit required to contest, and so many rules regarding and about minority representations, the day will come when even those that have a chance to vote today, may not have that opportunity in future.
ReplyDeleteAnd even if voters wish to donate to help candidates, they also face hurdles that make them shy away from doing so.
I say, we are done for already. Too late to regret.
Reference
ReplyDeleteANON: July 15, 2010 10:00 AM posting:
"Singapore is considered as one of the financial hubs in the world. Everything is more favorable to the bankers rather than investors.
This has to be changed if Singapore wants to stay in competition with Hong Kong."
You still don't get it.
Because Singapore is favourable to the bankers, that is why Singapore is ALREADY MORE COMPETITIVE than Hong Kong.
Bankers make the investment decisions to make Singapore the financial hub. Not small time savings account holders.
The only time small savings account holders matter is during GENERAL ELECTIONS. That is when your MP will visit you at home.
After Elections, your MP got visit you or not?
- Got ta pau chicken rice to eat with your family or not?
NOW, do you finally get it?
Ref: ANON July 15, 2010 10:00 AM.
ReplyDelete"Singapore is considered as one of the financial hubs in the world. Everything is more favorable to the bankers rather than investors.
This has to be changed if Singapore wants to stay in competition with Hong Kong."
You still don't get it.
Singapore is already MORE COMPETITIVE than Hong Kong because Singapore protects the bankers.
Bankers make the investment decisions to make Singapore a financial hub. NOT small time savings account holders.
The only time small savings account holders matter is during General Elections.
+ that is why your MP visits you during this time to say hello
After Elections, your MP got visit you or not?
+ got ta pau chicken rice to share with your family or not?
NOW, do you finally get it???
S$116 millions paid to DBS Hong Kong customers as compensation and how much DBS pay victims in Singapore? A clear case of bully the helpless. We do not have strong backing of authority so DBS only paid token sum as they wish.
ReplyDeleteIn Hong Kong, the role of the government is to govern. It does not get involved in the commercial business through GLCs and the integrity of political system is thus not compromised. The conflict of interest never arise. The government is not disadvantaged by any considerations for taking care of its own interest. Therefore, any disputes between the investing public and the party-involved (in this case is the banking industries) are straight-forward by nature. Many people have been crying loud on the government's involvement in the business (except in the areas of defence and education are acceptable) that create unfair practices in the past years. Singaporeans realise now that they are starting paying the price by keeping silence on the subject. In fact, the issue was brought up by many quarters (both business and opposite leaders) since 1980. To hope for a fair and quick settlement, one has to understand the problem in the proper perspective by tackling the root cause of it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed very sad to see other foreign governments taking a stronger stand in helping their people while our own Government is not. As a Singapore citizen, I am truly disappointed at our own government's action (or more accurately, non-action).
ReplyDeleteBeside asking Govt to help, we as consumers should also show our protest to companies like Morgan Stanley by boycotting all products/services linked to this company for the time being. They should know that a good company, beside making money, should also be mindful of social responsibility. They should not create products that would harm people in the society.