Wisdom on How to Live Life (Book 2)

From the author, Tommy Wong

Would you like to know:

(1) how to find out our interest and mission in life?

(2) why we should be careful with our thoughts?

(3) why we should not curse?

(4) what type of people is most dangerous?

(5) what is the real problem with attachments?

(6) what is the purpose of pain and suffering?

(7) how to choose a guru?

(8) what prevents us from having divine experiences?

(9) why meditation is important?

This book will be discussed by the Heartlands Book Club of Bukit Batok Public Library on Friday, 27 January 2012 from 5 to 7 pm. Further information can be found here.

The book can be ordered here.

Tommy Wong

Maternity leave for female employees

A young lady, recently married, told me that she had difficulty in getting a job. Employers are reluctant to recruit her as she is likely to have one or two babies and this will impose added cost to the employer to pay the salary during the two months of maternity leave. During the interview, this question was raised, and she did not get the job.

Sometime ago, another person complained to me that she was unfairly dismissed due to performance, when the real reason was that a baby was expected. She did not want to disclose the employer or take the matter to the Ministry.

I wonder if this is a common situation? I can understand that some employers, who are struggling to survive in business, does not want to have the added cost. Even the profitable companies want to avoid this cost, if they could, so that they can increase the bottom line profit. Perhaps, there is some hidden instructions to their HR department.

Please share your experience and views on this issue.

Collector shoe and shoe collector

A collector shoe is not a shoe collector. How humorous.
http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2012/01/another-day-another-dollar.html

The real cost of GST

Published in Straits Times Online Forum on 10 January 2012

MY SINGAPOREAN friend who travels regularly to Hong Kong told me that he stopped buying many electrical products from Singapore as he can get them 20 per cent cheaper in the territory.

What accounts for this difference? Singapore imposes a goods and services tax (GST) of 7 per cent, but what about the difference of 13 per cent?

Although commercial rentals have been escalating in Singapore, they have always been high in Hong Kong.

I suspect that the real cost of GST is more than 7 per cent. There is the heavy compliance cost, especially for small businesses, of keeping accounting records of GST input and output, and submitting quarterly returns to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.

There is also the multiplier effect of GST, as small businesses may not be able to get the full benefit of the refund from GST input. The higher cost of living faced by employees as a result of GST has to be reflected in their salaries, leading to a multiplier effect.

Businesses in Singapore also incur the cost and inefficiency of making and receiving most of their payments by cheques. There is also the high cost of complying with many regulations. Even the calculation of monthly Central Provident Fund contributions can be a headache, given the different rates of contribution for different employees.

Another friend, who has experience with manufacturing costs in many countries, told me that manufacturing in Singapore has become rather uncompetitive and can be sustained mainly by tax incentives and concessions given to some multinational companies. This is not a healthy trend for our long-term development.

I hope the Government will take urgent measures to address the underlying obstacles to our competitiveness and the causes behind high business costs.

Tan Kin Lian

Pay fine to URA

I have just received a parking fine for an expired parking coupon. The notice gave the URL to pay fine as www.ura.gov.sg/pf.

I went to this website, entered by car number and was shown the webpage below. Payment was quite straight forward. It was helpful of URA to direct me to the direct page with their URL.

If websites are designed properly, they can be helpful to the public. So, credit goes to URA for making it easy to pay a fine with a meaningful URL. I hope that other government agencies will apply their common sense to make life better for the public.

By the way, the last time that I paid a fine for URA was a few years ago. It was quite troublesome to find the right page to pay the fine. So, I suggested that they give the actual page with a ..../payfine. They have now implemented my suggestion, but they did not tell me about it. This is the bad culture in Singapore that has to change.

Online process of Ministry of Manpower

The Ministry of Manpower requires employers to use their online process to apply for work passes. Here is the FAQ on how to use the online process. http://www.mom.gov.sg/MOMDoc/ESubmission_FAQ.pdf

I hope that MOM realize that they are creating a lot of difficulty for employers. A better approach is for employers to submit their requests using a simpler online form, or even on physical forms. MOM should employ data entry staff to handle their complicated backend system, instead of expecting employers to fix their browser, scanners, etc.

MOM may save a few minutes of data entry time of their staff but imposes a large burden on employers. This is just one example of why business cost is so high in Singapore.

Finnish education system - focus on equality

My friend told me that he read an article to compare the difference in the goal of the education system in Finnland and of other countries. Finland decided to focus on "equality" rather than "excellence".

I strongly believe in the approach taken by Finnland. It is important for an education system in school to focus on "equality", i.e. to ensure that the students are educated in the right values and basic skills. The schools should NOT be a place to compete for excellence.

Just imagine what can be achieved with the approach taken in Finnland:

• Our children will enjoy school and their child-hood
• They will grow up with the right values, character and the basic skills to make a living
• They will respect people in all occupations and will be willing to take the service sector jobs
• There will be a smaller wage gap, which means that the cost of living will be lower for everyone
• We will not have to pay high fees to doctors or lawyers.

This system will still allow people to excel, but the competition should in the workplace, AND NOT IN THE SCHOOLS.

Please share your views.

Japan last decades - a surprise!

Analysts have written about Japan's lost decades, after the collapse of the property and stock market bubbles in the early 1990s. The economy was supposed to be in the doldrums.

But some analysts are starting to realize that the so-called lost decades might have been a wrong description. Japan has been doing quite well, economically and socially, during these "lost decades". This is explained in the article here. http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC120109-0000010/The-myth-of-Japans-failure

This is a good lesson not only for America and Europe, but for Singapore as well. It is possible to have the bursting of the bubbles, and for the underlying economy to do well. The benefit of the burst asset bubbles is that the country will focus on the productive sectors of the economy, and that the top earners are not skimming the economic system to the detriment of the ordinary people in the street. The cost of living can be kept affordable.

It is indeed an important lesson for Singapore - as we are truly suffering from the high cost of living and the high business cost.

The Government has taken an important first step to reduce the pay of the ministers. They should take a similar step to reduce the astronomical pay of the chief executives and top professionals (i.e. lawyers, doctors and accountants). We need a higher tax rate for super millionaires.

Survey results - future elections in Singapore

30 people responded to the survey. Here are what they expect of the future elections in Singapore. The majority expect the President to be voted by the people. I personally think that this will be abolished and that the President will be elected by Parliament.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=609

Pay for performance does not work

For the last 20 years, the concept of pay for performance has been the key driving force for the free market system. I have always been skeptical of this concept - as it encourages greed and manipulation. I am glad that there are now evidence to back up my gut instinct. See this report:
http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC120106-0000003/Stop-tying-pay-to-performance

Financial Planning Tool

You can use this tool for your financial planning (provided by Tan Kin Lian). http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=570

Future election in Singapore

Do you expect the next President to be elected by the people, or will it be changed? Do you expect the GRC system to be discontinued? Take part in this survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SJTDRTN

Cut in Ministers' Salaries

The Ministers have accepted a 36% cut in their salaries. The cut was higher than what most Singaporeans had expected, based on the survey carried out by me earlier. 76% had expected no cut or a cut of less than 25%. The results of the survey can be found here.

We have to acknowledge that the Government had taken an important first step to address the concerns of the people and that the review committee had done a good job in drawing a fine balance between the difficult conflicting requirements. While the revised salaries are still high by international standards, they are not high by Singapore standards, where chief executives, lawyers and doctors are earning much more.

Our challenge is to reduce the cost of living for the ordinary citizens. Let us focus on this important task, and do not be too distracted by the salaries of our political leaders. Let us give them the support to address the key challenge.

High business cost in Singapore

I read that Nokia has decided to move its Asian headquarters from Singapore to Beijing, citing high operating cost and other reasons. Google choose Kuala Lumpur to be their regional base, instead of Singapore.

A friend, who was in charge of planning for a large multi-national company with wafer fab operations in various countries in Asia told me that it is too costly to manufacture in Singapore. He said that a factory in Singapore that requires spare parts pay 2 to 3 times of the price that a Taiwan factory pays to their local suppliers. Someone, the Singapore suppliers charge too much, even for spare parts that are imported from overseas.

A few people have told me that they can buy electronic products from Hong Kong at a price 20% lower than Singapore.

These are all signs of Singapore becoming too costly for business. I hope that our Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Finance are aware of these indicators. They are quite worrying.

The President's Salary

The review committee under Gerard Ee has recommended that the salary of the President of Singapore be cut by 51% and the revised salary is about $1.5 million.

Several readers of my blog have commented that this cut matches the 50% that I promised to donate to charity during the campaign for the Presidential election. I wish to make this clarification.

I had expected the salary to be cut by 50% and my promise to donate 50% is on the reduced salary. This meant that I would be happy with a net salary of around $750,000 (which is still a lot of money). There is still the bonus that will be added to bring it up closer to $1 million.

Anyway, all of this is now water down the bridge .....

Interesting political development in Myanmar

For over two decades, Myanmar was considered to be an undemocratic country ruled by a dictatorial  and corrupt military junta. The popular democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was placed under house arrest. Myanmar was shunned by the neighbouring countries and the democratic world.

During this time, the leader of Myanmar was Senior General Than Shwe, who was the supreme commander of the armed forces.

The political situation changed significantly in Myanmar since March 2011, when President Thein Sein came into power. My friend from Myanmar told me that many people were surprised that he implemented reforms and introduced democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi is now allowed to contest the next election. Furthermore, President Thein Sein and several members of his cabinet was regarded by the people to be free of corruption, and genuinely concerned about taking positive steps to improve the lives of the people.

What was more surprising, and is now being felt and realized by many people in Myanmar, was that the steps towards reform and democratic changes were planned by the former leader, Than Shwe. When he was in power, many people feared and perhaps hated him. It seemed that he might have a good leader after all.

Than Shwe supported Thein Sein's election as the President of Myanmar. In turn, Thein Sein has now earned the respect of the people of Myanmar and the democratic world through the positive leadership that he has provided.

This is the view of an insider of Myanmar. It development was a surprise to me, as I had not been following Myanmar closely. I wonder if other people, who knows the situation in Myanmar, can share their perspective?

FROM WIKIPEDIA
Senior General Than Shwe (born 3 February 1933) is a Burmese military leader and politician who was chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) from 1992 to 2011. During the period, he held key positions of power including commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces and head of Union Solidarity and Development Association. In 2011, he officially resigned from his position as head of state, in favor of his hand-picked successor, Thein Sein.

Thein Sein (born 20 April 1945) is a Burmese politician and former military figure who has been president of Myanmar (Burma) since March 2011. Previously, he was Prime Minister from 2007 until 2011. He is generally considered to be a moderate and reformist in the new government.

Estate duty in Singapore

Here is an interesting question about why estate duty was abolished in Singapore. http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/01/06/do-you-really-know-politics/

Here are the details of this event, which occurred on 25 August 2008.
http://www.ifa-sg.com/abolishment-estate-duty/

The voice of netizens

Hi Mr Tan;
This is really hot reporting today on Yahoo Sg. In less than 2 hrs, there are more than 600 comments posted. 
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/minister%E2%80%99s-comments-on-pay-cuts-spark-public-debate.html
The comments are very alarming, the voice and power of Netizens.

Mr. Brown show - Minister pay cut

A minister shares his views on the pay cut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNfuyYsqRtM&feature=email

Committee to review Minister's Salary

Someone sent to me a brief summary of the committee's recommendation, as set out below. 

Ministerial salaries review committee proposes:Pension scheme to be removedPresident sees 51% cut and PM sees 36% cut;Minister’s salary to be cut by 37%Minister’s salary to start at $935,00www.reviewcommittee2011.sg

The final recommended salaries are quite close to my submission to the review committee at the start of the review. See this link. Sadly, as is the culture in Singapore, I will not get any credit for my humble suggestion.

Joint buying

I bought a case for iPad2 for $80 (including protective screen). Someone said that a similar cover cost about Amazon.com. I check and found that, if the mailing cost is included, the total cost would amount to $80. However, if 3 people were to buy at the same time, the cost would reduce to $60 as the high mailing cost would be shared. The problem is arranging the logistics for this service.

If there is a website to bring people together to buy collectively (say 3 or more pieces) of any product, it may be worth the trouble. One of the buyer could be the coordinator to contact and deal with the other people. They have to sort out the payment and collection arrangement, as the item would be delivered to one person. This arrangement has to work on trust, i.e. that the other buyers will pay for their share of the product when it is received.

Do you think that this type of arrangement can work, perhaps for items where the saving is worth the trouble? Perhaps, some students may wish to earn some money by providing this service for a fee? What are your views?

Malaysia implements free outpatient care for seniors

Read Lucky Tan;s views on this matter.
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/01/malaysia-implements-free-outpatient.html

Quote:
Singaporeans are always leery about such schemes implemented in Malaysia. Quality of care, for example, is an issue. However, for the many seniors whose ailments are common like high blood pressure, gout, arthritis, the access to free medication will relieve their financial burden. The PAP govt still makes the sick pay GST. They also collect GST on the amount you pay for medical insurance[Link]. The Singapore govt expenditure on health care is the lowest among developed countries as a percentage of GDP. This is done not achieved by being cost-effectiveness or efficient but by passing the rising cost of medical care to the sick and their family members. Not having a universal health care system in which everyone is covered and can go to hospital for treatment without family members having sleepless nights worrying about medical bills amplifies the effects of income inequality in a society with the largest income gap among developed countries. 
Unquote

Barking up the wrong tree

Latest: an edited version of this letter was published in the Straits Times Forum page on 4 January 2011. See
http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_751527.html

Editor

Forum Page

Straits Times

I wish to give a different angle to the points raised by Jimmy Koh ("Don't give in to pressure against new insurance test", ST 27 Dec).

Mr. Koh argued that the new test is necessary "to equip insurance gents ... to advice their clients properly and fairly on ... investment linked policies". I am afraid that, like the proverbial dog, the advocates of this approach are "barking up the wrong tree".

Most investment-linked policies have high charges that take away more than 40% of the accumulated savings from the consumers. Although this is disclosed in the benefit illustration, how many consumers know about it? How many insurance agents point this out to the consumer? Even if the consumer asks about the high charges, also known as "the effect of deduction", some dishonest agents might explain that this is the cost of the life insurance protection - when the true cost is only a small fraction of the total deduction. 

The truth is that a large part of the deduction goes to pay for the commission to the agent, the over-riding commission to the agency managers, high marketing expenses including the sales contests and incentive trips and the profit margin of the insurance company.

It it difficult for the insurance agent to give proper advice when they face this kind of conflict of interest. Do they look after the interest of the client and forego the attractive commission?  I am afraid that this type of ethical issues cannot be answered through a written test.

After trying to deal with a similar issue for a few decades, the regulatory authorities in the UK and Australia have concluded that the only way to avoid the abuse caused by the conflict of interest is to ban the payment of commission for the sale of life insurance type of investment products. I hope that the Monetary Authority of Singapore will implement a similar approach, to safeguard the financial future of consumers. 

Tan Kin Lian

Pressure on the kids

Hi Mr Tan,
I read this report with concern, is this going to get worse?
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1174482/1/.html

Many Sporeans tend to complain and complain yet they are mostly nothing but complain without action. They talk alot about voting for opposition, but many still vote for the PAP. They said one thing but when challenged or questioned in the open, they tend to avoid reality and become inaction.

Sporean parents are pressurising themselves and their children for various reasons. Majority do not want their children to be left out and so tuition and enrichment become part and parcel of the education/curriculum. There is no turning back and our next generation are going into the race without even knowing what is appropriate for them in future. They will only continue to compete and compete and unsure if they are competing for the right path in life! Very sad indeed, it is more than a pressure cooker.

In the article it reported that "......an Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Intan Mokhtar, who also lectures at the National Institute of Education (NIE), added that these enrichment centres play on parents' fears that their children would lose out if they are not stretched from a young age......"

In the first place, is our education system meant to stretch children from a young age? If so, then who is to blame who? OMG, very pathetic yet confusing. I do feel for these children but not the parents! When these kids grow up in future, they will likely adopt and impose the same practices and demands (as hope) on their kids instead..... onto the next generation....on and on, there is no turning back, perhaps until some drastic changes take place in this little island.

Troublesome to pay by check

Do you realize how much trouble is taken to make a payment by check? You have to write the words and amount, the name of payee, the date and cross the check. You should also have a covering letter or write the details of the payment at the back of the check. You should also write the address of the payee on the envelope, put a stamp and mail the check.

If you factor the cost of the time taken by the admin staff to handle the payment, it could easily amount to $5 to $10. The party that receives the cheque also has to do a lot of work to clear the check. If they are automated, the cost may be lower, but still quite significant.

You should not make any small mistake as the bank will happily bounced your check, and you have to incur the cost all over again. The bank may even impose a hefty penalty on you for the rejected check. See the photo before for the work that is required to pay the check and to make sure that there is no mistake.

It is inefficient and costly for small businesses to make and receive payments by checks - but they do not have any alternative! I have urged our banks in Singapore to introduce an electronic payment system which includes a notification service. 

My letter on this matter was published in Today newspaper and reprinted in this blog. I have also written to two banks, to the IDA and the Association of Banks on this matter. I hope that more people will come forward to express their support.

Wisdom on how to live life (book 1)

Would you like to know:

(1) what are the purposes of life?

(2) how to achieve freedom in life?

(3) how to live with morality?

(4) how to decide whether to get married?

(5) how to select friends?

(6) how to live in peace and equanimity?

(7) which type of attachment can bring bliss?

(8) how to appraise world leaders?

(9) why it is important to get the “right” beliefs?

The book can be ordered here.

Hacking and identity theft

Many people do not realize that it is a crime to hack into another person's account or to impersonate another person (i.e. identity theft) through the internet. In the absence of specific legislation, the legal practice in Singapore follow the UK. Read this report about the action taken by the Police to investigate illegal hacking. http://www.todayonline.com/World/Worldinbrief/EDC120103-0000062/Hackers-targeted-Gordon-Browns-emails--Report

As the use of Internet is an important part of our life, it is important for the law makers in Singapore (i.e. our Parliament) to pass the law to make it clear that hacking and identity theft are crime, punishable as a crime according to the laws of Singapore. It should also be made clear that the Police will take complaints and the necessary steps to investigate the complaints. This important issue cannot be left vague. This is the job of Parliament!

Protests against investment scams

The people in China are prepared to show a strong protest against investment scams, according to this report. http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC120103-0000055/Investment-scams-push-Chinese-to-rally

This type of cheating activity is happening in many places. The authority should act early, instead of letting the problem become so bad - a lesson for Singapore!

Need to offer a competitive price

A Singapore composer offered to create some music clips for my mobile apps. She quote a price of $750 for the music clips for one app (and it is restricted to only that app), and said that it will be for my exclusive use. This was too costly for me - and I do not need exclusive rights - but she was not prepared to reduce the price.

Later, I found a source in the Internet where I could get the suitable music clip for $10 and it is not restricted to one app. I need to pay a total of $50 for several music clips to be used for all of my apps. I decided to use the music clips from this source.

I introduced the Internet website to the music composer, so that she can upload her music clips and sell them at a lower price on a non-exclusive basis to the world market. I hope that she can make a business by offering a competitive price to her customers.

Note: Our businesses are now used to charging exorbitant prices that they are out of touch with the world market! I do not blame these businesses, because they have to incur high operating costs in Singapore, but this type of business model is bad for Singapore.

Practical training on Android and iPhone platforms

If you wish to have practical training on Android and iPhone platforms, you can send an e-mail to inbox@tankinlian.com.

You are required to have attended a course or have read and understood a book on the platform. Your training will be at any time during 10 am to 6 pm on Mondays to Saturdays. A PC and working desk will be available for your use. You will be given a project to modify and will have access to an experienced developer.

On completion of your training, you will have the chance to work on projects and earn an additional income.

ADDITIONAL NOTE
Please provide information on the following:
1. Your name, email address, telephone, age and occupation
2. Have you attended any course or read any book in Android or iPhone platforms?
3. Do you have any experience or knowledge of Java, C++ or other platforms?

I expect the trainee to have some prior knowledge of the Android or iPhone platform, as I will be providing the practical training (and not the basic training on these platforms).

Adverse reactions to PM Lee's speech

A Singaporean, who migrated to New Zealand, sent this e-mail to me.

Hi Mr Tan,Interesting start of the year 2012 with some interesting reports and appetizing comments following it;http://sg.news.yahoo.com/strengthen-values-of-tolerance--respect--empathy--pm-lee.htmlhttp://sg.news.yahoo.com/-comprehensive-perspective-needed-for-discussions-on-population-.htmlHope you have read those reports and more interestingly are the comments following the articles.

The reaction in Yahoo News to PM Lee's speech is overwhelming negative.

Singapore is too expensive

My Singaporean friend who travels to Hong Kong regularly in his regional marketing job, told me that he has stopped buying electrical products in Singapore as he could get them at least 20% cheaper in Hong Kong including controlled products like iPad and iPhone. I asked him to send me specific examples about the difference in prices.

His observation has confirmed my gut feel that Singapore has become very expensive in recent years due to high property prices, high rentals, GST, and high operating cost and inefficiency.

A few months ago, I wanted to buy a device to run my PowerPoint presentation remotely on my laptop.  The shop in Thomson Plaza offered me the device for $120. I refused to pay this high price. Later, I found a good quality alternative (not the same brand) for less than $20 (including mailing) through the Internet.

Unwanted mail

Here are the unwanted mail that I received in my physical mailbox for the past two weeks, including the following:

• Over 1 dozen invitation to property launches
• Marketing flyers for various types of products
• Magazines for my family members (and they do not read them)
• Annual reports of companies (can be made available in a website)

I do not know how to stop the wanton waste. It would be nice to have a government sponsored website where the public can register their request to stop the unwanted mail. Let us do our part to save the environment. I hope that the IDA will take up this suggestion.

A simple online form

Many online forms in Singapore websites are too complicated. They ask for more than 10 fields of information (most of which are irrelevant) and produce so little space to enter the question.

A good online form just ask for the essential information. Here is an example of a good online form. They even provide an email address!

Do we need more or less regulation?

Should we have more regulations or less regulations? It is not a matter of quantity but of quality. We need more of the necessary regulations and less of the unnecessary regulations. We need more regulation to stop people from cheating other people, but we need less regulation that make life difficult for people, without achieving any purpose. The trouble is ... our leaders do not know the difference! Do you agree?

2011 - a year of awakening

Read this article by Lucky Tan:  http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-year-of-awakening.html

I agree with all of his views, as they are quite close to my own views. Lucky Tan also said that there is a need to raise productivity in Singapore, rather than depend on cheap imported labor. I wish to give my own perspective on this issue, based on my past three years experience in running a small company in Singapore.

Our government agencies have added unnecessary costs to businesses from their impractical measures. Their websites are complicated and their online processes are painful to use. By trying to save a few minutes of their staff's time, they add several hours to the time of the public. We still make a lot of payments using physical checks and send a lot of mails and notification using physical mail. We are quite backward in these areas, compared to many first world countries. These inefficiencies increase the cost of running a business in Singapore! 

Singapore has a lot of challenges ahead. They cannot be solved if our leaders continue to act in the old ways.  Only best hope is that the leaders realize the extent of the problem and are prepared to face them.

More people will fall into the same trap

I received a desperate plea for help from an widow who lost a lot of money on failed investments made on the advice of the relationship manager of a bank. The victim was advised to invest in dual currency and other linked products on the assurance that they were "safe". The bad advice was given in spite of her constant reminder to the relationship manager that she did not want to take risk!

I gave this reply to her.

I have come across many cases that are similar to yours. It is indeed very sad that our Government allowed this type of environment to continue for so long and does not step in to check the abuse.
The only way for a victim to get justice is to take the case to court. Here the odds are overwhelming. It is costly to fight against the big legal firms engaged by the bank. Furthermore, the court tend to apply the law rigidly and hold the victim responsible for signing away their rights in the forms that were given to them by the bank.
Another avenue is to write to the newspaper, but many victims prefer to be anonymous.
Due to these reasons, these cases are not publicized and more people fall into the trap over the years .
Are you willing to consider what needs to be done, i.e. to take the case to court or to write to the newspaper?

I wish to write this word of advice to all readers of my blog. Do not invest in complex financial products, especially those that are being sold to you by financial advisers or relationship managers. Many of these advisers might be ignorant of the risks of these products themselves, so they may be honest in telling you that they are safe (and they are mistaken!). They work for the banks that you have trusted for many years, but regrettably, the bank does not wish to take the responsibility for the bad advice and failed investments.

Please help to pass this message to your friends, so that they can avoid making the same mistake.

Happy New Year 2012

A pro-active regulator acting on behalf of consumers

Verizon (a telephone operator in the US) wanted to charge a "convenience fee" of $2 to its customers making a payment through the telephone. It drew protest from consumers. The regulator, i.e. the Federal Communication Commission, felt that it was their duty to look into this fee "on behalf of consumers" to see if any regulation has been infringed.  Verizon changed its mind and decided to withdraw this fee.

Read this report "Verizon scraps $2 fee" http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/30/technology/verizon_fee_canceled/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

The approach of the regulator in America seem to be quite different from the regulator in Singapore. The US regulator felt that it was their duty to look after the interest of the people. The Singapore regulator would probably say that this is a commercial decision, and that consumers could go to another service provider.

I prefer the US approach.

Today Voices: Automatic notification for Payment

Editor, Voices, Today


I CONGRATULATE the Singapore Land Authority for introducing an electronic system to allow lawyers to notify the banks of details of payments paid into conveyancing accounts, instead of using hard copy forms. This is a useful step to reduce paperwork and improve productivity.

I notice however, that this is an initiative taken by an agency to cover only a small section of the transactions. It still requires the payer to take a separate step to send a notification to the payee.

I urge our banks in Singapore to introduce a common system for electronic payment and notification. This system can ride on the existing security infrastructure of the banks to validate the payers and allow them to make electronic payments through a common payment gateway to the payee accounts. The process should include an electronic notification to be sent to the payees. 

This type of arrangement has been in force for several years for payments through PayPal. It is time to update our antiquated payment process to match the best in practice in other countries, and to reduce the large volume of cheque payments and notification letters that still flood our mailboxes.

I hope that the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore will take the lead to make this long-overdue change.


Tan Kin Lian

Managing personal risks

Here are some tips on when you should buy insurance and when you should self-insure (i.e. retain) the risk.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=445

Electronic payment and notification

The Singapore Land Authority has introduced a useful system to allow lawyers to notify banks of payments through an electronic notification, instead of manual forms. More details here:
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/Singaporeinbrief/EDC111230-0000022/Conveyancing-through-ePI-for-property-lawyers

However, this still requires a separate exercise for the payer to notify the payee. A better system is to allow the payments to be notified automatically - similar to payment through Pay Pal. The banks in Singapore should adopt a common system to allow all payments to be transferred electronically and notified automatically. This system should cover all types of payments, and should not required any agency, such as the SLA, to set up a separate system for the notification.

Legal responsibilities in the Internet

Many people do not realize that hacking is a crime and that defamation through the internet can be prosecuted as a civil suit. Read this article to get a better understanding of your legal responsibilities. http://www.todayonline.com/TechandDigital/Digital/EDC111230-0000020/Social-media--Do-you-know-the-legal-lines?

Stop taxis from cruising the road - a suggestion from Mr. Lee WL

Please share your views to this idea contributed by Mr. Lee WL


My idea:
- Taxi companies to build big carparks in different parts of Singapore to house all the taxis.
- Taxi drivers can take a rest, surf internet and interact with one another in rest areas.
- Each driver will take queue up for taxi booking calls from customers
- They will drive to the customer's location only when they get a booking
- They will drive back to one of these "big taxi carparks" to queue for customers again


Benefits:
- Reduces fuel wastage (substantially). No taxis cruising on the roads. Environmentally-friendly.
- Reduces fuel costs for taxi drivers (substantially).
- Less road congestion. Empty cruising taxis on roads are not using the space they occupy on public roads "productively".
- More rest for taxi drivers. They need not cruise around Singapore to look for customers. Probably will reduce accident rates too.
- More productive use of time. They can use the queuing time at rest centres to rest, surf internet, self-study, interact with other drivers and do other more productive things.
- Possibily cheaper taxi rides. Because of substantial reduction in costs.
- More people may be more open to becoming taxi drivers because of better working conditions and higher pay (is it possibe?)


Disadvantages:
- Longer taxi waiting time for commuters. Taxis need time to travel from these "big taxi centres". Possible solution: when commuters get used to this new system, they will call to book taxi before they leave their homes. This reduces the waiting time. When this system is in place, it will also mean that commuters need not waste time trying to flag for taxis along roads. They know that the only way they can get a taxi is through booking calls.


In conclusion, empty taxis cruising on public roads is:
1. Waste of the drivers' time
2. Unproductive use of space on public roads
3. Not environmentally-friendly
4. Increases costs of operating taxis


Mr. Lee WL

An app for the elderly

This is a useful app to trace the location of elderly people and children. http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC111229-0000032/An-app-for-the-elderly

A fair compensation for infringement of copyright

About six years ago, a website owner sued more than a hundred companies and government bodies for the unauthorized use of the digital maps provided in their website. The amount claimed was over $3,000 per map. The amount claimed was clearly exorbitant, as the loss of revenue suffered by the website or the cost of producing the map was nowhere near the amount claimed.

It was likely that nearly all of these parties were not aware that they were infringing the copyright. Some of these used parties had used more than 10 maps, so the total amount claimed was quite substantial.

To my knowledge, most of the infringing parties settled the claims out of court by paying the website owner close to the amount claimed, perhaps after a small discount. It was quite sad that the leaders of these large companies and government bodies were not prepared to fight in court against an excessive and unconscionable claim, and were prepared to pay a hefty sum of money (using the monies of their shareholders and taxpayers) just to avoid the negative publicity about being sued.

The website owner must have collected several million dollars of settlement from these parties. The legal claims were handled by a lawyer that specialized in making these legal claims. The lawyer firm must have collected a large amount of legal fees from these cases.

I personally knew about a company that was sued. The staff had used more than 10 digital maps a few years earlier and was not aware that he was infringing the copyright. That company refused to pay the exorbitant claim but offered an amount representing their estimate of the cost of producing the maps. The website owner took the case to court but finally dropped the case. Details of the out of court settlement was not disclosed. This was perhaps the only case that went to court.

I heard another story (but not verified) that a local university had paid more than one million dollars to settle a copyright claim where a student had uploaded a video, without permission, into the university's website. I was shocked at the purported amount of the settlement over a trivial matter, especially as the payment was probably made out of public funds. I could not image any justification for the video clip owner to receive such a large payment,which is tantamount to an extortion! This could be just a rumour.

Nevertheless, I wish to call on our Ministry of Law to pass a law to clarify the principles to determine the amount of compensation that should be paid for the use of copyright materials. The lack of clarity has led to an unsatisfactory situation where legal firms, which specialize in making these types of claims, could claim exorbitant amounts, and the sued parties were forced to make exorbitant payments due to the lack of clarity.

ST Online Forum: Consider a semi-regulated taxi system

Published in Straits Times Online Forum:

AFTER deregulation, the taxi service has become progressively worse over the years and there is much public unhappiness ('Cab fares: Deregulation hasn't improved service' by Mr Liew Chin Wen; 'Takings down, but...' by Ms Koh Lee Suan; and 'Fare confusion' by Dr Gil Simon Schneider; all last Saturday).

Taxi fares have become more complicated, confusing and expensive over the years. Taxis are not available at certain times of the day, not because of high demand but because of an artificially created shortage.

It is time to recognise the failure of deregulation and to move to a semi-regulated system.

I suggest that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) introduce a regulated basic taxi service that operates as follows:

- All taxis picking up passengers on the road or at taxi stands should have regulated fares.

- The regulated fares could be based on a fixed flag-down rate plus a fare based on distance, or a higher fare based on the trip time, to compensate the taxi driver for traffic congestion, for example 60 cents a km or 40 cents a minute, whichever is higher. Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges can continue to be added.

- There is no need for peak-hour surcharges, as the taxi driver is already compensated for time spent in slow-moving traffic.

- A centralised taxi booking system can be operated by a service provider appointed by the LTA to match taxi drivers and customers for a flat fee of $1.

- The fares can be reviewed at six-monthly intervals by a fare-setting body with the aim of matching supply and demand.

- Individual taxi drivers, as well as taxi companies, can apply for a licence to participate in this basic taxi service.

The taxi companies can continue to operate their special services, based on their terms, conditions and fares, but they would have to take bookings through telephone calls from customers who are aware that they are paying a higher rate for the non-basic service.

A mixed system with a regulated basic service, complemented by deregulated special services can best serve the needs of commuters and taxi drivers, and bring some order and simplicity to the current chaotic situation.

Tan Kin Lian

Copyright and the free flow of information

There is an article in Today paper written by William Patry, who is an author of a book on copyright and the senior legal counsel of Google. The arguments given in the article entitiled "Promote creativity? Encourage copying" are convincing. Although Google has a strong interest to promote the free flow of information, I support their stand. I believe that right of the copyright owner to claim for payment should be restricted to the amount that  can claim for actual loss due to the copying activity.

Read the full article here: http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/EDC111229-0000015/Promote-creativity?-Encourage-copying

Who's in charge of bird nuisance

Read this CNA report about the bird nuisance and the uncertainty on which agency is in charge of the problem.
This type of problem and is typical of Singapore and is part of our culture to push responsibility from one party to another.

The answer to this problem is straight forward. We have only one Government. The problem can be taken by any government agency and is then passed internally to the right agency to handle the problem. The uncertainty should not even be known to the public. 

Here are the survey results

Political salaries
Regulated taxi service

Smart Alec and the dubious investment products

Some Smart Alec still hold the view, similar to our PAP leaders, that the ordinary people should be more carefully about their investments and deserve to be cheated if they venture into unfamiliar areas. These people overlook the following points:

•  Some of the investment products are downright scams; other products are dubious and take advantage of the less savvy
• The unwary investors were forced to consider other investments as the interest rate on bank deposits had fallen to nearly zero!
• These dubious products are created by "talented" people who have no qualms about ripping off the unwary
• The people who sell the products to their friends might even have been unaware about the toxic nature of these products
• The dubious products are being sold under the banner of the financial institutions that they had trusted for decades.

If the argument of these Smart Alec were to be followed, then there is no need for the Government to test pharmaceutical products. The public should be careful about buying the products that are being sold to them. If they are not familiar with these pharmaceutical products, they should not consume them. 

We know that the argument does not hold in the case of pharmaceutical products, and that the Ministry of Health takes the responsibility to test and approve the products. They do not expect the doctors to take this responsibility.

One day, the victims of these dubious investment products will be the family members of these Smart Alec. Then they will realize what harm they have been causing to their loved ones.

Re-structure the economy - reduce the financial industry

During the past two decades, too many talented people entered the finance industry. Wall Street attracted the top graduates from the best business schools. These firms, with their talented people, created financial products that built up asset bubbles and encouraged speculation. The excesses had been damaging and nearly caused the collapse of the global economy.

The financial firms are now cutting down on their payroll. The top graduates could not find jobs in these financial firms any more. They have to look for opportunities elsewhere. This new trend, away from the financial industry, will be good for the economy.

We faced the same challenges in Singapore. In past years, the top graduates have opted to join the large banks - which were able to pay top salaries due to the profits that they made through the sale of dubious financial products and through unproductive speculative trading. Even the people who do not quality to be top graduates opted to be property or insurance agents, to earn high commission.

If too many people enter into these industries, which are the non-productive sectors of the economy, there will be less people available to do the productive work - to build products, to provide personal services or to prevent crime and upkeep the law.

The high cost incurred in the financial sector, i.e. the high salaries and commissions, could be justified if the value of the assets keep going up in a bubble. However, when the bubble burst, the damage could be severe for the economy and the losses have to be borne by the ordinary people - through loss of jobs and drop in their asset values.

America has found it difficult to re-structure their economy. Although the political leaders now realize what need to be done, the vested interest in the financial industry are fighting hard against change.

Singapore is still in the dream world of glorifying the financial industry and still aims to be a financial hub. It will be more difficult for our leaders to realize the harm that is being caused by the excesses of the financial industry and have the courage to make the change.

The flaw in the concept of Value at Risk.
Morgan Stanley cuts jobs.

National Service for Permanent Residents

According to this article in The Online Citizen, one in three permanent residents renounced their citizenship to avoid serving National Service. There is a suspicion that these renouncers might have subsequently been given favourable treatment in getting a place in our universities. If this suspicion is found to be true, it would make a mockery of the sacrifice that is being made by our male citizens in serving the country.

I understand the difficulty faced by the Government in this difficult situation. They are keen to have more people become citizens or even to remain as permanent residents, rather than to lose them due to National Service. Regretfully, this difficult situation has been created by the Government due to its own inconsistent policies.

A better approach would have been to make it a privilege to serve National Service. Many who had served National Service have said that the experience was beneficial to them in improving their character and maturity. The disadvantage was financial.

It would have been better if the Government had paid a generous allowance for people who served full time National Service - an allowance that is comparable to what they would have earned if they had been working in the private sector. Alternatively, the Government could have given them a housing grant of (say) $30,000 for their 24 months of National Service, which would have helped them to afford a HDB flat. The Government is already giving a housing grant to many people, as the HDB flat would have been unaffordable without the grant. It would have been better for the grant to be tied to the completion of full time National Service.

If such a scheme had been in place, it would have been a win-win situation for most people. Many of the permanent residents would have opted to serve National Service for the generous housing grant and the benefit of character development. Singapore would not have lost so many permanent residents that it would have wished to keep.

I know that the Government would have another difficult question of how to deal with past generations of people who served National Service in earlier years. It would not be difficult to find a fair solution - although I do not have any ready answer. When there is a will, there is a way.

What are your views?

Survey results - basic taxi service

Here are the views of 40 people concerning the quality of taxi service in Singapore and suggestions for changes to the system. http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=608

Survey on Taxi Service

Please take part in this survey on Taxi Service in Singapore
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BTTFHVJ

To all readers of my blog

Survey results - political salaries

Find out what the respondents felt should be the appropriate cut in the Prime Minister's salary and what they think will be recommended by Gerard Ee's committee. There is a big gap.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=607

Survey - recommendation on Minister's salary

Gerard Ee's committee is expected to hand over its report by 31 December. Guess what will be their recommendation. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPM37GN

VBox from SingPost

Shaun Lee introduced the VBox from SingPost. Any body used this service before? What is your experience? Is it useful? http://www.vpost.com.sg/vpost/images/public/vbox/faq.html

Two perspectives - Sim Ann and Lucky Tan

Lucky Tan makes two interesting points that challenges the prevailing PAP point of view:

• Some people abuse welfare, so we have to make it difficult for people to abuse the system (Lucky Tan said that this makes it more difficult for genuine cases to get help).
• Europe has fallen due to its welfare stage (Lucky Tan said that the problem in Ireland and Spain is due to the bursting of the property bubble).

I agree with Lucky Tan on both points. We have to be careful that Singapore is also riding on a property bubble. While it is still going up, we may feel happy. But, we cannot escape the fate that has happened in many countries.

Read more in the article by Lucky Tan. And share your views here.