Damage caused to former employee

 The chief executive director of the Peoples’ Association (PA) has asked the public 

to give space to the former staff of the PA who was involved in “an intimate relationship” with 

a former Member of Parliament and had since resigned. The chief asked that she be allowed 

to continue with her life. (Today paper, 17 December)

It was not necessary for the PA to disclose her name in the first place. The reason given for 

the decision to disclose her name was not acceptable, in my view. Her relationship with the 

former MP was a private and personal matter, and (to my knowledge) did not affect her 

work performance or caused any conflict of interest.

By disclosing her name, the PA had caused distress to the former staff and made her 

a subject of ridicule and shame. I believe that the PA owed an apology to her and possibly, 

some compensation for her distress and financial loss.

I have deliberated omitted to mention her name in this letter, and I ask other people in 

Singapore to respect her privacy. If there are any blogs that were put up with her photos, can 

the creator remove them?

Tan Kin Lian

Restructure public transport operations

To achieve better economy of scale, efficiency and competition, all train services should come under SMRT and all bus services should come under SBS. 
The competition should be between travelling by train and by bus. I now opt to travel by bus, rather than train, where possible.
The current system, where SMRT and Delgro operate both trains and buses does not enhance competition, and lead to inefficiency. 
What are your views?

Governance of town councils

What are your views on the issues covered in this report?
http://www.todayonline.com/CommentaryandAnalysis/Commentary/EDC121220-0000039/Improving-the-governance-of-town-councils

I do not like the current system of tying up the management of town councils to the MPs who have been elected for the town. I prefer that they should be kept as separate issues. The residents deserve continuity and should not be disrupted with a change of their representatives in Parliament.

Issue of shares without a prospectus

Dear Mr Tan

I attended a presentation at Orchard Road.  It was an impressive presentation. It showed the company directors receiving awards for their individual achievements from government ministers and picture taken with a former President.

This company dealt with oil palm, fisheries and property development in Malaysia and Indonesia. The company is offering convertible preference shares. The minimum subscription is for 3,000 shares at $10 per share. The investor needs to deposit 10% and pay $499 for admin fees. 

The investment guarantees a return of 7% annually for 3 years. If the investor signs up on another day, the price  will be $12 per share and the return is reduced to 4% annually. They claimed to have approval from MAS, but did not give me any prospectus.

Is this a scam?

Thomas

REPLY

Under the securities law in Singapore, any offer of shares require the issue of a prospectus that has been registered and approved by the MAS. You should file a police report.

Disgraceful activity

I suspect that a few members of the internet brigade of a certain political party are active in my Facebook.

Their mode of operation is as follows:
a) They do not provide a photo or a fake photo. There are no personal details.
b) If they find any view that suggest that things are not doing well, they will give a counter attack by being defensive of the status quo.
c) They will make a personal attack or criticize my view, and even interpret my view in their way and then attack it.

When I make observations of developments in other countries that Singapore can emulate, they attack my suggestion.

I find it a disgraceful for a respected political party to have its brigade to conduct this type of negative activity. It is better for people to have an open discussion, rather than to blindly express views to support a political dogma. Their behavior remind me of the "dogs" that were raised by the dictator Napolean in the novel, "Animal Farm".

Time to do away with checks

Many consumers can pay regular bills to a few large companies, such as utility companies, using GIRO, AXS, SAM or similar channels.

However, they are not able to use these channels to make once-off payments to small companies. These payments have to be made by check. Small business also use checks for their payments.

I suggest the following changes be made to allow more payments to be made using electronic means to replace the use of checks:

a) allow payments to be made by quoting the bank account number and for the name of the receiving party to be displayed for confirmation

b) allow the payer to enter a number, e.g. the invoice number or customer number, to identify the payment, and for the identity of the payer to be shown to the receiving party

c) allow the receiving party to download details of these payments easily and on demand.

These changes may require some of the existing regulations of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to be changed, e.g. to disclose the name of the other party in the transaction. 

Most banks should be able to implement these changes to their existing systems quite easily and at a low cost. It will encourage more consumers and small business to use use electronic payments, instead of checks.

Do you agree?

Discover: Find the Hidden Code

The title of the book has now been changed to "Discover: Find the Hidden Code". A free sample book is available for download. The puzzles in the book are now checked to have unique answers. You can place an order for the book now.
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The benefit from the book - develop your skill in logic and problem solving. This is a skill that Singaporeans are weak at, especially the young ones, and should be strengthened.

Logic puzzles

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Pay bills through ATM

In Indonesia, many people pay their bills and insurance premiums through the ATM or bank transfer, instead of sending a cheque. I am quite impressed with their payment system. Many companies ask their customers to pay directly to their bank account using the ATM. There is a network connecting the ATM of most of the banks, so payment can be made from one bank to another.

This system seems to be quite advanced. In Singapore, our payment system is quite fragmented. Even eNETS is hardly used, and is quite complicated. We are still using archaic methods to make payments, i.e. cheques.

Singapore is using too many cheques

According  to this report, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8414341.stm), the United Kingdom processed 350 million cheques for a population of 60 million, or an average of 6 cheques per person. The number of cheques used in the UK declined by more than 50% over the past 10 years.


Singapore processes 78 million cheques a year, or an average of 16 cheques per person based on a population of 5 million. The usage of cheques in Singapore is 2 1/2 times of the UK. This shows the level of inefficiency that is found in Singapore.

I do not not if the usage of cheques in Singapore has declined during the past ten years. I suspect thta it has not.

There is a plan in the UK to phase out the use of cheques entirely by 2018, recognising that this form of payment is the most expensive to handle. It is time for Singapore to set a similar goal.

Can you solve this master mind puzzle? The answer can be found here: http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=711&IID=716

Comparing Yaw and Palmer

In an article in The Online Citizen, Joseph Chiang said that Yaw Sin Leong did not respond to the rumors because he wanted to protect the identity of the women. I agree with this view.

In Michael Palmer's case, he said that the girl was named and shamed. This was unfair to he

r. I also agree.

It should be noted that Palmer did not name the girl. Her name was released by her employer, and as a result infringed her privacy.

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/12/palmer-the-honorable-vs-shin-leong-the-coward-a-different-perspective/

Cheques to be phased out by 2018 in UK

I am encouraged by the decision of the Payment Council in the UK to phase out cheque payments by 2018. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8414341.stm

The number of cheques processed in the UK declined from 800 million to 350 million over a period of 10 years for a population of 60 million. On average, each person uses 6 cheques a year.

Singapore still process 80 million cheques a year, for a population of 5 million. On average, each person uses
16 cheques a year, or almost 3 times of the UK. Singapore has become quite inefficient over the years.

A more challenging job for PM Lee

When Mr. Lee Kuan Yew became Prime Minister of Singapore in 1959, he managed a country with a population of 1.6 million people and a relatively small economy. He and his team did an impressive job in developing the country over the next 25 years.

When Mr. Lee Hsien Loong became Prime Minister in 2006, the population had grown 2.5 times and the economy is 8 times bigger (my estimate).

Many people did not like the direction of Singapore since 2006, with rising cost of living, high cost of housing over-crowding and many social problems. But we have to realize that the problems faced by PM Lee is more complex and challenging.

Do you agree?

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DISCOVER the hidden letters

I have now uploaded a new sample book containing 24 puzzles, based on the Master Mind format. Try the new book here.
http://tankinlian.com/Admin/File.aspx?ID=711&Frame=1

The new puzzles contain more clues to remove the duplicate solutions (hopefully).

Dispense with immigration card

10 December 2012 (not published in Today)

Editor, Voices

Today Paper

A few countries had discontinued the need by visitors to submit an immigration 

or disembarkation card to enter their country. This is unnecessary as most of 

the information on visitors could be obtained from the passport that is scanned

into their computer system. 

Malaysia introduced this new system a few months ago.

Singapore is still using the disembarkation card. I do not know what use is

being made of this card, which must be quite a hassle for visitors. It did ask

for some tourist statistics, which could probably have been better collected

through some other means.

I hope that Singapore can discontinue the need for this outmoded requirement, and

gain the moral authority to urge other countries in ASEAN to dispense with it. This 

will make it easy for Singaporeans to travel to these nearby countries and avoid

the hassle of writing the cards.

Tan Kin Lian

You can download a free sample copy of the book at 
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=711&IID=716

A heavy price for a private affair

When Domiinic Strauss-Khan gave up his job as head of IMF, he was accused of molesting and raping the maid in the hotel room.

Michael Palmer, ex-Speaker of Parliament, had a private, relationship with the then staff of the People's Association. It was consensual on both parties.

I wish to point out the difference in both situations.

I know that many people in Singapore have high expectations of their political leaders. I think that this expectation is unrealistic.

I share the views of a few other people that private matters should be private, and should not be confused with public duties.

I know that in many countries, this type of private relationship do not affect the career of public figures or political leaders.

It is likely that this type of private affairs is fairly common in Singapore, so we should not be hypocrites in expecting our political leaders to be angels.

I am sad that Michael Palmer and his family had to suffer such a heavy price.  I would have preferred that this matter be dealt with by his family as their private matter.