Vote on these issues

A reminder. Vote on the current issues where.
https://wisdomofthecrowd.sg/active_issue.aspx

Get a certificate for completing the Business Simulation Game

The business simulation game allows you to practice pricing and marketing of your product and to decide on the amount of stock that you need to keep.

You are competing against other players in this game.

Click here to view a video showing how the game can be played.
http://tklcloud.com/BSG/video.aspx?ID=4

Click here to try your game. You can join an existing game or create a new game.
http://tklcloud.com/BSG/Join_game.aspx
After you have completed all the rounds, you will receive a certificate. (see below).

https://tankinlian.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=1504

WOTC - Stop fake news

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:
How can hate news be stopped from social media?

Here are the responses: (41 Votes)
54 % - Require all comments to be posed from authenticated accounts.
34 % - Ask the platform admin to delete the hate news.
12 % - Pass a law against hate news.
0 % - Ask the police to knock on the door.

See the pie chart at:
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1259

Investor (foreigner) asked about Hyflux

Dear Mr. Tan,

This is to thank you for your speech at Hong Lim Park. I watched it on YouTube yesterday.

I am a German national, who while residing in Singapore some years ago, bought some Hyflux perpetual bonds, which I am partly still holding.


Also myself was considering it to be a strategic company for Singapore.

Additional, the fact that it was a retail bond made me believe that it would be a general safe investment. Most bonds are not available for ordinary people, because of the high denominations of 250k.

How come the few bonds selected to be retail bonds then can be of “high risk” ? How are MAS regulations on this?

How can it be that “high risk” bonds are available via ATM, in a otherwise strict system where the banks require endless of paper to asses your risk profile?

Also I was very disappointed about the no bail out comment of the Minister, the other day.

Wasn’t it Singapore who was bailed out the Swiss bank UBS with 10 billion in 2007?

Wondering how many Singaporean retail investors had their investments at risk at UBS at that time. My guess is none.

Since I am a foreign national I will not participate in any dialog with the government, but this would had been the questions I would had liked to get an answer to.

Once again, thank you for speaking up on behalf of the investors.

Reduce the cost of litigation (2)

It is too costly to fight a case in court. The lawyer fees are too high. They can get out of control. Ordinary people cannot afford the high cost. They do not have access to justice.

I now give my suggestion to reduce the cost of litigation.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1318

WOTC - Non chinese PM for Singapore

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Is Singapore ready for a non Chinese prime minister?

Here are the responses: (46 Votes)

43 % - Yes. 
41 % - Yes, but PAP is not ready.
9 % - Not yet. Wait a few more years.
7 % - Never. We are racist.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1258

WOTC - Help retail investors of Hyflux

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

What should we do to help the Hyflux retail investors?

Here are the responses: (45 Votes)

42 % - The government agencies, PUB and EMA, should change some of the contractual terms which were unfair to Hyflux.
31 % - The government should bear a portion of the losses which were caused by government decisions.
18 % - We should stand in solidarity with them and help find a way to mitigate their loss.
9 % - The investors should take the loss as they were greedy for higher returns.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1257

Flat or increasing annuity?

Assumption:
a) You are now 65 years old
b) You can buy a life annuity to pay $600 a month. But this is a flat annuity.
c) You can buy an annuity that increases by 2% every year to cover inflation. However, your starting annuity is $500 a month.
d) Both annuity yield 4% p.a.
e) You are in good health and you do not need to leave a legacy for your children - or maybe you provided for them separately.
Which annuity do you choose?

Fixed annuity vs life annuity

Here are the assumptions:
a) You have $100,000 at age 65
b) You are in good health
c) You do not need to give any legacy to your children
d) You can buy a 20 year annuity to pay a monthly sum of $600 for 20 years (yield of 4% p.a.). If you die before 20 years, the balance is paid to your estate. If you live beyond 20 years, you get nothing.
e) Alternatively, you can buy a life annuity to provide $600 a month for a lifetime, which could be shorter or longer than 20 years.
f) The average life expectancy for a person at age 65 is 20 years.
Which type of annuity do you choose?

Paying the generators for electricity

I believe that the Energy Market Authority operates a complicated system to handle the supply of electricity to the national grid. This complicated system has led to distortions and unpredictable prices. It has caused serious losses to Hyflux.

I suggest a better way to handle the market. We do not need to have a complicated system of auctioning the supply of electricity. We can devise a fairly pricing mechanism.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1310

Vote on these issues in Wisdom of the Crowd

https://wisdomofthecrowd.sg/active_issue.aspx

WOTC - Increase our birth rate

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Should Singapore take measures to increase our birth rate?

Here are the responses: (39 Votes)

67 % - Yes. This will ensure that Singapore will continue to survive in the future.
26 % - Yes, it will generate domestic demand and lead to a vibrant economy.
8 % - No. Most people do not want to have children.
0 % - No. We can import foreigners and make them citizens.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1256

WOTC - Did PAP do a good job?

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Did the PAP do a good job in running Singapore during the past four years?

Here are the responses: (48 Votes)

52 % - They did a poor job.
31 % - They are a disaster.
17 % - They did a reasonably good job.
0 % - They did an excellent job.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1255

How to deal with the CPF mess

In this article, I describes the CPF mess and suggest the changes that are needed to fix the mess.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1305

How Aesop dealt with "fake news"

Do you remember the Aesop fable about the little boy who cry wolf?

He cried "wolf" out of mischief. The villagers stopped work and hurried to deal with the wolf. They realized that they were fooled.

The boy did it again. The villagers responded and found that they were fooled.

When the boy did it the third time, the villagers ignored him. They did not respond to his cry. And there was actually a wolf that attacked his sheep.

This fable showed how the people dealt with "fake news" in the olden days. They learn what is true and ignore the "fake news".

If Mr. Shanmugam was the adviser to the village head, he would have asked the head to pass a law to deal with fake news. And he would make it his role to decide what is fake and what is true.

Tan Kin Lian

Administrator for Fake News Law

I agree with the intent of the fake news law. We should stop people from deliberately creating and sharing fake news. If they do it unintentionally, they should be asked and allowed to make the correction.

Most people probably share the same view.

However, they seem to object to the approach taken in the implementation. The minister appears to be the person who decide of what is "fake news".

Here are my suggestions:
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1301

Vote on these issues

Vote these issues in the Wisdom of the Crowd

https://wisdomofthecrowd.sg/active_issue.aspx

WOTC - Vote at next general election

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Who will you vote for at the next general election

Here are the responses: (51 Votes)

55 % - Non PAP, with no precondition
29 % - Non PAP provided the candidate is credible
12 % - Non PAP provided that they are united under a coalition.
4 % - PAP

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1254

WOTC - How will UK leave the EU?

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

How will the UK leave the EU?

Here are the responses: (42 Votes)

36 % - The UK will conduct a new referendum and vote to remain in the EU
29 % - No deal exit
21 % - It will be delayed by another year.
14 % - The UK Parliament will approve the deal negotiated by the PM May.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1253

Clean up the HDB mess

Many people still do not realize that we have a "big HDB mess" and that the government is not able to find a solution.

I offer a solution, but it is not a perfect solution. The mess is so large that there is no perfect solution.

It is a fact that the HDB flat will have no value at the end of the lease.

Even though the owner paid a large sum for the flat, even though the owner has served national service, it does not change this legal fact.

Here are my thoughts.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1297


Here are my suggestions to clean up the HDB Mess.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1300