Tan Kin Lian's Blog

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Life insurance coverage for a young man

I give this practical advice to a young man on his life insurance coverage.

https://fisca.sg/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=1338

Sunday, July 23, 2023

A ceremonial or active president?

Do you prefer a ceremonial or an active president? Give your views in the article. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5756

Monday, July 17, 2023

Sing Pass

Sing Pass should be used for authentication only. The other functions should be passed to a separate app.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5755

Finder fee of 2%

How I dealt with a finder fee of 2%.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5754

Saturday, July 15, 2023

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Should the speaker resign from his post for uttering a bad language?
2. Is it proper to placed Iswaran under arrest at this time?
3. Minister Iswaran is placed under arrest for reasons that are not yet known to the public.

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Wisdom of the Crowd

Make your voice heard. Vote on these issues.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/active_issue.aspx

Friday, July 14, 2023

Wisdom of the Crowd

1. Will Iswaran's case develop into a serious matter?
2. Did Iswaran do a good job as trade and industry minister?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Levels of corruption

Here are the different levels of corruption.

I wonder which level applies in the CPIB investigation of Iswaran and Ong Beng Seng.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5753

If it is level 5, I think that it is not serious, and is creating a big issue out of a small matter.

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Should the president play a role in influencing government policies?
2. Which of these goals are most important for the people of Singapore
3. How can the president help to make life better for the people?
4. Should the president use his powers to ensure that the reserves are properly invested?
5. Should the president exercise his authority on the appointment of top civil servants?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

How to deal with hackers

If you understand how hackers work, you do not need to be so scared.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5752

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

TKL for President - Musing #2

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5751

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Give helpful feedback

When a person ask for my advice,

a) I look for what is right
b) I am supportive
c) I assume that that person had thought over the matter and is likely to be right

If I have to give a different perspective, I share my experience, so that he can see if it is relevant. I do not presume that I am right.

I avoid taking this posture
d) Think that I am smarter than he is
e) Look for worse case scenarios
f) Be a wet blanket.

Sadly, many people belong to the second category. I find them to be not helpful. After a while, I avoid them.

Tan Kin Lian

Paranoia over security arrangements

Singapore businesses are too paranoid about security. They overdo their security protocols. They create unnecessary steps. They make life difficult for their customers and the public.

The overloaded protocols also caused the platforms to behave erratically and to crash regularly. This has happened to our banks, commercial organizations and the government websites.

I have encountered problems with online transactions frequently.

In spite of these measures, the online scams are rampant in Singapore. My friend, who followed the statistics, said that Singapore has the highest rate of online scams among the countries in the world.

I think my friend probably exaggerate in making this statement. We may not have the highest, but I think the frequency is quite high.

Recently, I encountered difficulty in accessing my bank account as their 2FA protocol does not work. I fell back to input a manual PIN, that is generated from their app. They asked me to get a 8 digit "challenge" by SMS, and enter it into the app to get a 8 digit response. I had to do this entry a few times, because it is difficult to remember a 8 digit number, and I have to flip from one screen to another to complete the process.

I also encountered a problem with my stockbroker. I submitted an order and was told that it was rejected due to "exceed limit". I checked. It was within limit. Their system was haywire. I was asked to wait for it to be corrected.

Even making an online purchase is difficult. When I logged into the Lazada website, they expected me to enter the user code and password (which are necessary), but also to get a PIN sent by SMS for a second level authentication. This was unnecessary and troublesome. Worse, the SMS did not arrive immediately. I had to check a few times.

I make purchases with Lazada Malaysia. They did not require a SMS PIN authentication. Nobody hacked into my account to make purchases. It is quite safe.

I suspect that the use of 2FA authentication, even for online purchases, is mandated by the government. The people who make these rules do not appear to have a practical mind.

If we continue to impose unnecessary and complicated requirements, we will make it difficult for businesses to transform their processes to adopt digital processes. They will face a lot of problem and give up.

We need a more practical approach towards these problems.

Tan Kin Lian