Category: Singapore

ST: Singapore workers 'world's unhappiest'

May 30, 2011
Singapore workers ‘world’s unhappiest’
Survey of 14 countries finds local employees are also the least loyal
By Melissa Ho

HATE your work? Dread going in on Monday? Considering quitting your job?

Well, you are not alone. Most of the Singapore workforce is with you, according to one survey.

A poll of employee attitudes in 14 countries has ranked Singapore last in workplace happiness. Unsurprisingly, this correlates to loyalty to employers, where Singapore is again ranked at the rear.

Talent management company Lumesse polled about 4,000 employees from a wide variety of industries.

People were asked about how happy they were at work, whether they felt their skills were properly utilised, the career paths open to them, and the training and career development opportunities they had.

The results put Singapore last in three major areas – we least enjoy going to work, are the least loyal and have the least supportive workplaces.

Only 17 per cent of Singapore’s workforce see themselves staying with their current employer forever. The global average is 35 per cent.

‘Clearly, very few employees feel bonded to their companies. This is going to be a problem as companies are not getting the full potential of workers,’ said Mr Rolf Bezemer, Lumesse’s managing director for Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

At the same time, only 19 per cent of those polled in Singapore look forward to their work each day, compared to the global average of 30 per cent.

When it comes to positive and supportive workplaces, only a paltry 12 per cent vouch that they exist in Singapore. Globally, 20 per cent believe so.

Mr Bezemer attributes Singapore’s poor showing to the lack of transparency and consistency in workplaces here and an absence of stimulating jobs.

Ms Wong Su-Yen, senior partner and Asean managing director for human resources consultancy firm Mercer, said: ‘Strong economic growth in Singapore has led to increased job opportunities, so organisations must work harder than ever to attract and retain people.’

Mr Phillip Overmyer, chief executive at Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, agreed: ‘There are so many opportunities to be employed (in Singapore) that people don’t mind job hopping as they know they can always find something equally good, if not better, elsewhere.’

That might suggest that monetary incentives are the way forward but money does not always make the world go round.

The Lumesse survey found that Singapore performed well on pay, with 14 per cent commenting that their salaries have gone up by at least 20 per cent over five years. The global average is 9 per cent.

Yet people are still leaving.

Ms Majella Slevin, manager for secretarial and support division at human resources firm Robert Walters, added: ‘People stay in jobs also for a good work-life balance and clear career paths.’

They must also feel that they are valued employees, she added

Sales assistant Janice Lin, who turns 26 this year, ‘hopped’ five times before landing her current job.

‘It’s very common for young adults to try out different things for novelty’s sake. A lot of my friends do it,’ she said.

She estimates that an average working person like her will job-hop three times, staying in each place for about a year, before settling down.

In today’s talent-scarce society, perhaps this should be taken as only natural. Rather than fight it, embrace it.

Do not focus on seeking long-term employment from all employees, advises Mr Josh Goh, assistant director, corporate services, for HR firm The GMP Group.

Instead, he said: ‘Focus efforts on building a strong employer brand by harnessing the best from employees during their employment.’

On Thrift : MM Lee Kuan Yew

‘I see no reason why I should impress people by having a big car or changing my suits every now and again to keep up with the latest styles.’

MM Lee is known in Singapore for his simple, down-to-earth lifestyle. He lives in a house which has not been renovated for decades in Oxley Road, prime real estate in the city area. He wears the same worsted wool suits when travelling on planes to go overseas. He was, in a sense, an ecologically conscious consumer long before such a concept became fashionable. Never in favour of the disposable society, he believes in the value of thrift, not over-consuming resources. The day this interview took place, he was wearing a jacket so old, he confessed that the man who tailored it for him had died. His lifestyle is so spartan, he considers it an extravagance for the Prime Minister to wear a new shirt each year for the National Day Rally.

Do you try to recycle?

We haven’t got the system of different dustbins for different items. Our people have yet to understand and would not be able to do it: Bottles, tins, food go into different chutes and bags. We’ll get there sometime.

Another part of being environmentally conscious is not to consume so much, and you’re not particularly a great consumer?

No, I’m not. I eat less, I travel less. I wonder whether I’m right in buying my car. Even if I travelled by the best Mercedes-Benz taxi limousine, it’ll cost me less than what my Lexus is costing me every day. Except that I don’t know what time I’m going to wake up, and take the one kilometre to office, one kilometre back. My car is five years old and it’s only done 20,000km.

In photographs we can see that your wardrobe, your shirts, seem to have been kept for years, decades. You don’t throw away your stuff.

Why should I throw something away which I’m comfortable with? I’m not interested in impressing anybody.

I had a supervisor who taught me criminal law. He used to be a lecturer but, you know, he became old, so he only did supervisions and he had a fireplace that did not give out any smoke because he was gassed in the First World War, and he had a lung problem. He also had a large family. He had leather patches on his coat elbows, knees of his trousers. One student was bold enough to ask him, ‘Sir, are you lacking in clothing?’ He took it gracefully. He laughed and said, ‘That college porter at the gate has to be dressed well. He wears a top hat, always to look smart. I don’t have to dress to impress anybody.’

As I listened to that, I said, ‘It’s inverted snobbery.’ But it makes sense. I see no reason why I should impress people by having a big car or changing my suits every now and again to keep up with the latest styles.

The trouble is my wardrobe is now full up. I’ve got many new suits that are absolutely in good condition because I seldom wear them. I don’t go to office every day wearing a suit, except for formal functions or when I am abroad. They are of finest worsted wool. In fact, the older I get, the less willing I am to spend time putting on a suit and tie. I just have a blouson or a buttoned-up Chinese jacket, and it saves a lot of trouble. I have had them for many years and they are very comfortable.

Isn’t it a virtue though?

No, it is not. You may say it’s a virtue, others think, why is this chap that thrifty? Watch other prime ministers. They always have new ties, new shirts and suits to look good on TV.

I mean, you look at our Prime Minister. He wears a new shirt every year for the National Day Rally. Look, I have no reason to want to impress anybody.

May I ask, how many years have you had your jacket?

This one? It’s a very comfortable jacket. The man who tailored it for me is dead.

How many years have you had it?

I can’t remember now. Nearly two decades or 15 years. And it’s very comfortable.

Across the World with the Singapore Girl

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has unveiled its “Across the World” campaign by creative agency TBWA Singapore. MEC is the media agency for the campaign. The iconic Singapore Girl is the protagonist of the TVC, interacting with people in four cities seamlessly flowing into each other. What appears to be a one-take shot is a product of location shoots in China, France, India and the United States, showing the diversity of SIA’s destinations.

“Contrary to popular belief, the Singapore Girl was never excluded from Singapore Airlines’ ads as we recognize the strong emotional connection our customers had with our brand as a result of the iconic image of the Singapore Girl,” said SIA. “Our new campaign showcases the Singapore Girl’s Asian hospitality and world-class service standards while bringing the romance of travel to life. By having the Singapore Girl front our latest campaign, we hope to remind our customers and the public of these attributes that sets us apart from other carriers – excellent onboard service that can only be provided by SIA.”

LHZB Interview with Chen Show Mao

The following is a translation of the report on Lianhe Zaobao on 3 April 2011. The first part is a translation from Lianhe Zaobao reporter, Yew Lun Tian’s Facebook page. The report is an exclusive interview the Chinese paper had with Workers’ Party potential candidate, Mr Chen Show Mao.

In the middle of last month, when news first broke in the media about corporate lawyer Chen Show Mao’s emergence as a possible Workers’ Party candidate in the coming elections, he swiftly became the focus of intense local media attention and was widely spoken about as Workers’ Party’s “trump card”.

In an exclusive interview with Lianhe Zaobao two days ago, he shed his secretive low-profile and broke his silence for the first time. Unused to media scrutiny, he displayed a certain degree of nervousness, but given his highly effective bi-lingual skills, he was able to articulate fluently and clearly his ideas in Chinese throughout the two hour interview. Breaking his silence for the first time, he spoke about his decision to come home, the reasons for joining opposition politics and also his decision to join the Workers’ Party.
Continue reading “LHZB Interview with Chen Show Mao” →

Singaporeans anxious over high home prices

Some city state residents blame influx of foreigners
Reuters Mar 30, 2011

Wendy Cheng has been trying to buy a home for over two years but without success.

Cheng and her American teacher husband cannot afford property on the open market where a government-built apartment can fetch as much as S$700,000 (HK$4.3 million), and they have been unsuccessful in balloting for flats available from the state at a lower price.

At her last attempt to buy an apartment directly from Singapore’s Housing Development Board (HDB), she was given a queue number of 1,983 for the 200 flats offered, which meant she could get one only if 1,783 of the people before her dropped out.

“It’s like trying to win the lottery,” she said of her efforts to buy her own place, a predicament shared by an increasing number of young Singaporeans who feel they can no longer afford homes, unlike their parents’ generation.

With general elections likely to be called soon, soaring property prices in Singapore pose not just an economic risk but a political issue that could erode support for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s ruling People’s Action Party.

Singapore private home prices rose 17.6 per cent last year despite government attempts to cool the market in February and August. Resale prices of HDB apartments that house more than 80 per cent of the population gained 14 per cent.

The city state’s median household income rose a much smaller 3.1 per cent, or 0.3 per cent after adjusting for inflation, to S$5,000 a month last year. Singapore, Asia’s second-largest financial centre after Hong Kong, has one of the world’s highest rate of home ownership at 87 per cent, thanks to a home-building programme to provide cheap housing for its citizens that began in the late 1960s.

But the HDB is building fewer flats and charging more for them. Prices of both resale HDB apartments and private property have also soared due to an influx of foreigners in recent years.

“The high property prices, especially for private homes, is a festering source of disappointment, unhappiness and perhaps anger among voters,” said Eugene Tan, a law lecturer at Singapore Management University. “Parents are also concerned with how their children are going to afford comparable homes in the future. The angst and anxieties are made worse by the view that foreigners are pushing up property prices.”

Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Singapore’s population of 5.1 million, up from around 20 per cent of 4 million people a decade earlier, after the government made it easier for foreigners to work in the country.

Besides the large foreign influx, many Singaporeans also blame higher property prices on the sharp drop in HDB construction after the government agency moved to a build-to-order policy several years ago.

Singapore’s lively internet community, more critical of the government than the city state’s newspapers, note the sharp rise in immigration coincided with a drop in new dwelling homes built by the HDB.

According to HDB data, the government agency completed an average of 3,600 apartments a year between 2006 and 2008 compared with more than 11,000 flats per annum in 2001 to 2005.

“Our pay hasn’t doubled but the prices of flats have more than doubled, even for new HDB flats,” said Cheng is a 32- year-old former teacher who switched to part-time work after she had a baby last year. Her family is living with her parents.

Kelvin Tay, chief investment strategist for Singapore at UBS’ private bank, said property prices were supported by low interest rates and the market could correct sharply if borrowing costs rose to more normal levels of around 3.5 per cent.

The city state’s banks at present pay less than 0.2 per cent annual interest on deposits, while homebuyers can get housing loans for as little as 0.8 per cent per annum for the first year and about 1.5 per cent thereafter. Inflation, meanwhile, is running at 5 per cent.

The low mortgage rates have made prices affordable.

For example, after paying a minimum downpayment of 20 per cent for a S$1 million apartment in the suburbs, the going price for many newly launched flats, a person can borrow S$800,000 over 30 years and pay around S$2,500 a month, assuming a housing loan rate of 1 per cent per annum.

The monthly payments soar to around S$3,600 a month if the rate rises to 3.5 per cent per annum, according to an interest rate table provided by propertyguru.com.sg, a popular internet housing site.

The government is aware Singaporeans are concerned about high home prices, and has stepped up construction of HDB apartments and increased subsidies for first-time homebuyers in the lower-income groups.

It also introduced tough new measures on January 13 that included tougher borrowing limits and a hefty stamp duty of 16 per cent of the selling price for those who buy and sell within 12 months, aiming to clamp down on speculators. New private homes sales remained high at 1,101 flats in February compared with 1,209 in January.

Omertà

Omertà is a popular attitude and code of honor, common in areas of southern Italy, such as Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania, where criminal organizations like the Mafia, ‘Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita, and Camorra are strong. A common definition is the “code of silence”.

Omertà implies “the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime.” Even if somebody is convicted for a crime he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence without giving the police any information about the real criminal, even if that criminal has nothing to do with the Mafia himself.

Within Mafia culture, breaking omertà is punishable by death.

Omertà is an extreme form of loyalty and solidarity in the face of authority. One of its absolute tenets is that it is deeply demeaning and shameful to betray even one’s deadliest enemy to the authorities. Observers of the mafia debate whether omertà should best be understood as an expression of social consensus surrounding the mafia or whether it is instead a pragmatic response based primarily on fear. The point is succinctly made in a popular Sicilian proverb “Cu è surdu, orbu e taci, campa cent’anni ‘mpaci” (“He who is deaf, blind, and silent will live a hundred years in peace”).

IHT and NYT Interview Lee Kuan Yew

The following is the transcript of the interview Seth Mydans had with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The interview was held on 1 September 2010.

Mr Lee: “Thank you. When you are coming to 87, you are not very happy..”

Q: “Not. Well you should be glad that you’ve gotten way past where most of us will get.”

Mr Lee: “That is my trouble. So, when is the last leaf falling?”

Q: “Do you feel like that, do you feel like the leaves are coming off?”

Mr Lee: “Well, yes. I mean I can feel the gradual decline of energy and vitality and I mean generally every year when you know you are not on the same level as last year. But that is life.”

Q: “My mother used to say never get old.”

Mr Lee: “Well, there you will try never to think yourself old. I mean I keep fit, I swim, I cycle.”

Q: “And yoga, is that right? Meditation?”

Mr Lee: “Yes.”

Q: “Tell me about meditation?”
Continue reading “IHT and NYT Interview Lee Kuan Yew” →

Ng Teng Fong (1928 – 2010)

The king of Orchard Road
Legendary property tycoon was Singapore’s richest man

ngtengfong

MR SIMON Cheong remembers the day he was discussing the vagaries of the property market with real estate tycoon Ng Teng Fong a couple of decades ago.

‘I was a young banker then, and we were sitting in his office debating supply and demand. Mr Ng then said to me, ‘You sit there arguing with me but just look at my showroom. It is packed,” recalled the chief executive of property developer SC Global.

‘As a young banker, I was analysing things to death but he cut out all the jargon. He could see through noise and spot trends, true hallmarks of a real entrepreneur.’

Mr Cheong, 51, who is president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (Redas), added: ‘In land tender, he was a world leader. As a property player, he was world class. By any standard, he was clearly an icon.’

Indeed, Mr Ng – who died yesterday aged 82 after suffering a brain haemorrhage late last month – was one of the most astute property men Singapore has seen.

Ranked by Forbes for the last three years as the country’s richest man, with an estimated fortune of US$8 billion (S$11.3 billion), he founded Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private property developer.

Survived by his wife, two sons and six daughters, Mr Ng did not have much formal education, and was comfortable speaking mainly Hokkien and Mandarin.

That did not stop him from being nicknamed the King of Orchard Road, for his properties that sprouted one after the other in the shopping strip from the 1970s.

The oldest, Far East Shopping Centre, was followed by Lucky Plaza, Far East Plaza, Pacific Plaza. The newest, Orchard Central, opened just last year.

His hotels included the Orchard Parade Hotel as well as the Fullerton Hotel, which turned the old General Post Office into a grand new landmark on the Singapore River.

With subsidiary Sino Group, Mr Ng also became the largest overseas Chinese investor in the Hong Kong property market.

In all, his property empire spanned more than 1,000 hotels, malls and condominiums here and in Hong Kong.

Elder son Robert is in charge of his Hong Kong operations, while younger son Philip oversees Singapore.

In the mid 1990s, the late tycoon moved in to buy Yeo Hiap Seng, a household name for soft drinks and canned food, when the founding Yeo family became mired in factional squabbles.

Yeo Hiap Seng deputy chairman S. Chandra Das said Mr Ng belonged ‘to the pioneer group of Singapore businessmen who didn’t become rich overnight’.

‘He became a tycoon because of his foresight and vision,’ he said.

Mr Ng was born in a small village in Putian, in China’s Fujian province. The eldest of 11 children, he came to Singapore with his family when he was six. He had little formal education, and at an early age was helping at his father’s soya sauce factory and even worked as a bicycle repairman for a while.

Although the family hoped that he would take over the business, the young Ng dreamt of building and selling houses.

By 1962, he had saved enough money to develop a small housing estate behind Serangoon Gardens – 72 single-storey terrace houses which he sold at $20,000 apiece.

He never looked back.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has held him up as a role model for entrepreneurs.

‘Ng Teng Fong never went to university (but) I think he has a pretty powerful computer up there when figures are concerned,’ said Mr Lee in 1996.

GK Goh Holdings chairman Goh Geok Khim remembers Mr Ng as someone ‘who spent a lot of time just looking at properties in Singapore’.

‘He lived, breathed and dreamt property. Architects who expected to go for dinner after showing him plans…ha ha…no such thing. He would go over everything with them with a fine tooth comb,’ he said.

Tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of the Hong Leong Group, said he used to be active with Mr Ng in Redas in the 1980s.

‘He was a man who worked extremely hard, day and night,’ he said in a statement. ‘We used to study the property market together at his office while we were dealing with property matters.

‘More often than not, we would find that we were still deep in discussion long after the official Redas meetings were over and everyone else had left.’

In fact, Mr Ng was so passionate about his business that he not only worked 18 hours a day, but also reportedly would take a penlight along when he went to the occasional movie with his wife so that he could do his planning and calculations in the dark.

Fellow hotel and property developer Ong Beng Seng said that although Mr Ng lacked formal education, he made up for it with business acumen and gut feel.

‘He was a legend in property and real estate development and left behind a great legacy.’

Mr Cheong agreed. ‘He went into the Hong Kong property market in a big way in the 1970s when even Hong Kong players dared not.

‘They thought he was crazy. Today, just look at what he owns in Tsim Sha Tsui,’ he said referring to Sino Group’s string of properties in one of Hong Kong’s busiest tourist belts.

Mr Ng was a tycoon who guarded his privacy jealously, and never liked to have his picture taken. As he told The Straits Times in 1981: ‘I’m an ordinary working man. And I often take my $2 mee from the Newton hawker centre after work.

‘If my picture appears in the papers, people will know who I am. I am rich and someone may kidnap me.

‘If someone kidnaps me and I’m killed, all my companies will collapse. And what will happen to my family? I have my worries.’

He had a penchant for racehorses and Rolls-Royces, but he rarely granted interviews. When he did speak to reporters, he delivered piquant quotes.

In a 1996 interview with Apple Daily, the Hong Kong Chinese-language newspaper, he was asked to explain his unerring property picks.

His response: ‘If you want to be in the property business, it is not possible to invest in every region.

‘You open the map. If you can’t see the place (because it’s too small) but only the name, that’s the place to invest in…Singapore and Hong Kong are the best examples.’

On an earlier occasion, in 1984, he said he was not a risk-taker, but ‘a long-term entrepreneur’.

He said he did not believe in developing projects only when the property market was buoyant and laying off people when it was down.

‘It is like saying Singapore Airlines will fly to Hong Kong only when the weather is good, and won’t fly when the weather is bad,’ he said.

His son Philip gave an insight into his father in a speech at the Global Leadership Congress two years ago.

‘My father is a mentor, but a tough one. As you know the term, tough love,’ he said.

‘When I was younger, he’d always tell me, ‘I have to tell you, even if it hurts because only I can tell you. When you’re at the position you’re in, everybody’s going to say nice things to you.”

Sembawang Music Centre to close

CD shop chain filing for bankruptcy after succumbing to rising rents and poor business
By Shuli Sudderuddin

It has been a mainstay in the music retail industry here for more than 20 years, but Sembawang Music Centre will soon sing its swansong.

The plug is being pulled after the CD shop chain succumbed to rising rents and poor business.

Said owner and founder Dave Boo, 56: ‘We’ve liquidated the company and are filing for bankruptcy. Right now, all our energy is on clearing our stock and making as many sales as we can.’

He declined to say how much he owes creditors, adding only that it is very little.

Sembawang’s three outlets at Raffles City, Thomson Plaza and Plaza Singapura are holding sales touting 75 per cent savings.

The outlet at Plaza Singapura will be the last to close, in a few weeks’ time.

Mr Boo started the company in 1986 at age 33 as he was an avid music lover.

It was a small record store in Sembawang, patronised largely by soldiers from New Zealand who were stationed nearby.

Over time, the business grew. In 2004, Sembawang Music Centre was Singapore’s largest music retail chain, generating about $20 million in turnover.

That year, it became a listed company.

At its peak, it had 24 outlets.

Looking back, Mr Boo said: ‘We expanded too fast. In about 2005 or 2006, I bought the business back from the oil and gas company which owned it.’

The oil and gas firm had offered money for expansion and became a shareholder.

‘I started shutting down the outlets that were not doing so well,’ said Mr Boo after he regained control.

The strategy was not enough to save the chain.

‘Rents were too high. In Sembawang, I used to pay $4,000 to $6,000 for a 1,000 sq ft shop. For a 600 sq ft place in Raffles City, I now pay about $10,000 to $12,000 a month,’ he said.

And the industry is declining.

In April, The Sunday Times reported that sales at Sembawang Music Centre had shrunk by about 20 per cent every year since 2003.

Another music retailer, HMV, is moving to a smaller 12,000 sq ft store at 313@Somerset from its current 17,000 sq ft space at The Heeren.

Music giant Tower Records closed in 2006, leaving other brands like Gramophone and That CD Shop to fight for market share.

‘There are so many formats of media available now. People can just download music and movies and they don’t have to buy them any more. We couldn’t survive like that,’ Mr Boo said.

However, he credits his staff for maintaining their fighting spirit to the very end.

He said wistfully: ‘Right now, we are trying to sell all we can. I can’t think of anything beyond this, but once the last shop closes, hopefully someone will hire me as an employee.’

Certainly, buyers like Mr Daniel Ong, 29, a research scientist, will miss Sembawang.

‘I find that it’s cheaper than the bigger chains and it also carries more Chinese and Japanese music than other stores,’ he said.

‘There are so many formats of media available now. People can just download music and movies and they don’t have to buy them any more. We couldn’t survive like that.’

MR DAVE BOO, owner and founder of Sembawang Music Centre

Yes, that's my grandpa buried under the pavement


EARLIER this year, joggers at Mount Faber would gawk at Mr Henry Koh as he prayed and scattered joss paper in the middle of a paved walkway leading to Henderson Waves.
By Crystal Chan
10 August 2009

EARLIER this year, joggers at Mount Faber would gawk at Mr Henry Koh as he prayed and scattered joss paper in the middle of a paved walkway leading to Henderson Waves.

His grandfather was buried under the pavement, he insisted.

But NParks had said in April that a survey of the area had turned up no graves before the construction of the pavement.

It turned out Mr Koh was right – his grandfather’s remains were indeed buried in the vicinity of the pavement.

The remains were exhumed on 29 Jul.

On Wednesday, the Kohs gathered on a chartered bumboat and scattered the carbonised remains of Mr Koh’s grandfather, Koh Eng Chang, into the sea off Changi Point Ferry Terminal.

Dressed in a Taoist prayer costume, Mr Koh, 46, a sales executive, told The New Paper on Sunday: ‘At last, we can close this matter and my grandfather can rest in peace.’

With him was his cousin, Mrs Diana See, a hawker in her 40s, and two of his sisters.

The New Paper on Sunday reported on 26 Apr that Mr Koh had been haphazardly buried near his home in Mount Faber after he was shot dead by invading Japanese troops in February 1942.

His descendants made offerings at his tomb almost every year until 2005, when the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) closed off the surrounding area to develop Henderson Waves, a 1.6km elevated walkway above Henderson Road.

It is part of a series of pedestrian links that make up the 9km Southern Ridges, stretching from Mount Faber to Kent Ridge.

It was only when the bridges were completed in April last year that the family decided to visit the site again.

And that was when they discovered that their grandfather’s tomb was missing from its original spot at the start of the Southern Ridges.

Mr Koh said: ‘We consulted a gravedigger, but he said he couldn’t do anything as the land belongs to the Government and we need the relevant authorities to help us.’

The Kohs continued to burn joss paper at the spot where Mr Koh’s grandfather was supposedly buried, but felt they could not let his remains stay under the concrete pavement permanently.

A sign

Mr Koh said: ‘We often dreamt of our grandfather and he kept telling us that people were walking all over him in the park. We took the dream as a sign that we had to act on his last rites.’

When The New Paper on Sunday approached NParks in April to comment on Mr Koh’s situation, an official had said that it could not confirm his claims as ‘a pre-construction survey was carried out before building the bridge and there were no graves in the area’.

In late April, the Kohs wrote to NParks, which manages the Southern Ridges, seeking permission to exhume the spot.

On 28 Jun, NParks told Mr Koh that it had no objection to the exhumation as long as the trees and shrubs in the park were not damaged.

The digging would also have to be done manually as machines would not be allowed in the park, said NParks.

The statutory board also said the size of the hoardings used to close up the spot should be limited to 3m by 3m as the pavement is 8m wide. This would allow park users to continue access to the area.

The Kohs consulted a geomancer who told them that it would be auspicious to do the exhumation between 3am and 6am on 29 Jul.

The geomancer also told the family that the remains had to be disposed of within three days of being recovered.

On 8 Jul, the family applied to the National Environment Agency for an exhumation permit and it was granted.

The family hired a granite constructor to do the excavation, which was supervised by NEA officers.

After using shovels to dig more than 2m into the ground, the remains were uncovered and inspected by NEA officers, who told the Kohs they could proceed to scatter these into the sea.

NParks didn’t say why the previous pre-construction survey missed the grave.

Mr Henry Koh said: ‘We dreamt about our grandfather on previous occasions and he told us that if we ever dig up his remains, we were to scatter these into the sea.’

Law amended to make it easier for returning lawyers to practise

18 August 2009 2107 hrs (SST)
CNA

SINGAPORE: Parliament has passed amendments to the Legal Profession Act to make it easier for returning lawyers to practise in Singapore. The changes will also ensure Singapore continue to grow as a legal hub.

A law graduate currently has to undergo pupillage at a law firm before being admitted to the Bar in Singapore. But some pupils may have little direct contact with their pupil masters.

Hence, a new Training Contract will replace the pupillage to ensure that trainees have a structured learning programme for six months. It will also ensure the law firms take greater responsibility in the pupil’s training.

Law Minister K Shanmugam said: “The current system doesn’t train pupils adequately and you need to impose that obligation on the law firms. If they are not resourced to train their pupils, we will try and find a way in which they can arrange with other law firms to go and get their pupils trained.

“But the pupils’ interests and the profession’s interest on the whole must not suffer. People should take on pupils with the clear idea that the pupillage period, the entire pupillage period, should be used to train the pupils (and) not to use them as additional labour.

“It is no answer really to say that the law firms may not be in a position to train the pupils. It is not fair to the pupils – which is why we now say we will provide the framework.”

Another change to the Legal Profession Act is the doing away with the existing overlapping powers between the Board of Legal Education and the Law Minister. This is in preparation for the establishment of the proposed Institute of Legal Education next year.

The change will give the Law Minister single exemption power and allow him to exempt lawyers from certain practice training requirements based on their experience and standing. This will shorten the training period and encourage more graduates to return.

The move, however, raised concerns among some members of the House. Ellen Lee, MP for Sembawang GRC, asked: “Why should the minister be the only authority to so decide without consulting the other relevant bodies? What KPIs are in place to measure the quality of applicants’ contributions?”

Mr Shanmugam said: “It’s a government policy. What sort of criteria can we waive? How many lawyers do we need? Should we expand the criteria? These are issues that the minister should decide and be answerable in Parliament here.

“And bearing in mind, currently the minister has and does exercise substantive powers of exemption. So, it’s not a new development.”

Mr Shanmugam said that many Singapore lawyers are sought after by international firms as they are well-educated and have a reputation for hard work.

In view of the fact that Singapore firms are also short of lawyers, it is important to ensure that those trained overseas can come home and practise here, without too many hurdles.

On increasing the intake of law students here to meet aspirations, Mr Shanmugam said that the National University of Singapore (NUS) has almost reached its optimal level. The Singapore Management University (SMU) has also expressed that it wants to keep the cohort small.

Dirigisme

Dirigisme is an economic term designating an economy where the government exerts strong directive influence.

While the term has occasionally been applied to centrally planned economies, where the government effectively controls production and allocation of resources (in particular, to certain socialist economies where the national government owns the means of production), it originally had neither of these meanings when applied to France, and generally designates a mainly capitalist economy with strong economic participation by government. Most modern economies can be characterized as dirigisme to some degree – for instance, governmental action may be exercised through subsidizing research and developing new technologies, or through government procurement, especially military (i.e. a form of mixed economy).

Singapore devalues after shock GDP drop

Apr 15, 2009
Singapore devalued its currency yesterday after its economy shrank far more than expected.

The city state’s gross domestic product shrank an annualised 19.7 per cent in the first three months of the year – more than twice the 9.6 per cent drop analysts had forecast and worse than the 16.4 per cent rate at which it contracted between October and December. The fall was the biggest since at least 1975.

Singapore-based banks DBS and UOB adjusted their GDP forecasts, predicting the economy would shrink at least 7.5 per cent this year.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore shifted the centre of the secret trade-weighted band for the Singapore dollar down to the market level of the exchange rate basket, effectively a devaluation.

“The re-centring translates to roughly a 1.7 per cent devaluation of the Singapore dollar on a trade-weighted basis,” said Wai Ho Leong, a regional economist at Barclays Capital in Singapore. It was the first effective lowering of the currency band since July 2003, he said.

“The situation is really dire and the central bank’s policy will improve sentiment and help the economy,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Forecast Singapore. The move “gives them the flexibility to weaken the currency now and steer it to strengthen when things get better”.

Reuters, Bloomberg

SCMP Forum

Singapore is far better than Hong Kong
Updated on Mar 22, 2009

I refer to the article “Singapore beats HK in survey of Asian expats”, March 12.

That “Singapore appears to have finally achieved its dream of being better than Hong Kong” was a highly laughable comment. Singapore has achieved the same status at the top for the past 10 years.

I am a European expat who stayed (or, more rightly, suffered) in Hong Kong for close to five years but chose to move to Singapore and obtained permanent resident status there (though I need to adjust my highly lucrative Hong Kong expat package in exchange).

My family and I are now enjoying the comforts, stability, safety and cleaner air of Singapore (plus the many more nice places and resorts that we can travel to in less than two hours, and the much more advanced and lively dining and entertainment options). This contrasts with the dirty and mundane, yet much more expensive Hong Kong.

But most important is the ease and efficiency of getting things done in a language I am more comfortable with, English. In fact, Singapore is so much more attractive than Hong Kong that I have the in-principle approval from our global headquarters to shut our office in Hong Kong and move it to Singapore, while maintaining a stronger presence in Shanghai.

Singapore beats Hong Kong in so many areas. Many friends are now making plans to move to Singapore after realising their misconceptions about the city.

Singaporeans may not be upfront with their thoughts and appear to be reserved, but I have made more local friends than I did in Hong Kong. At least, they are not like most arrogant but ignorant Hongkongers who think they know it all, and criticise and comment on almost everything and anything.

I can’t help but find most Hongkongers just a bunch of empty vessels, and definitely NATO (no action, talk only idiots – that’s how Singaporeans would describe Hongkongers).

Simon Morliere, Singapore

 

Singaporeans have a high regard for Hong Kong and its citizens

I refer to the letter by Simon Morliere (‘Singapore is far better than Hong Kong in every way’, March 22).

I assume that Mr Morliere is just expressing his personal opinion and not the opinion of the thousands of expatriates, including Singaporeans, living and working in Hong Kong nor Singaporeans in general. It is rather sad that he chooses to see Hongkongers in this manner.

I have lived in Hong Kong for the past 11 years and I find Hongkongers intelligent, hardworking, enterprising, open-minded, innovative, charitable and, most importantly, very tolerant towards non-Hongkongers.

Hong Kong is probably one of the safest places to bring up a family, with its efficient police and security forces, very high standards of education that provide a multilingual medium of instruction and also a multi-ethnic living environment.

As a member of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong), I am fortunate to have the opportunity to interact with Hong Kong people from different walks of life and I personally feel that Hongkongers are one of the friendliest and most caring people in the world.

They are fast and efficient in their work, and, as far as I know, Singaporeans do not have the impression that Hongkongers are people who talk only and take no action.

Singaporeans living in Hong Kong are very appreciative of the inclusive society that Hong Kong is, where visitors and residents originating from other countries are invariably treated well by Hongkongers.

Vincent Chow, honorary executive director, Singapore Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong)

 

Expat friends made the right choice

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my expat friends for having the wisdom and maturity to choose Hong Kong over Singapore.

Thank you for appreciating Hong Kong’s diversity and seeing sterility for what it is, for making the effort to find out more about the local culture and for enjoying all the services and amenities on offer. Thanks for being aware that a lack of local language ability will, of necessity, limit a foreigner’s exposure, in terms of both social milieu and intellectual stimulation.

And finally, to those with the good fortune to get perks that afford an expatriate lifestyle – as well as those who enjoy this to a more modest degree – thank you for being able to relate to locals who are suffering so much uncertainty and/or unemployment.

Some of you have also been affected by the economic downturn, but those qualities will stand you in good stead to make a quick recovery. Singapore’s heavy reliance on foreign businesspeople like Mr Morliere has led it to experience its worst gross domestic product slump.

Let’s hope Hong Kong’s government continues to show wisdom and maturity by investing in and fortifying the diversity and community spirit that will be key to maintaining the city’s resilience.

Angela Tam, Mid-Levels

 

Both cities have a lot going for them

After reading Simon Morliere’s anti-Hong Kong diatribe (‘Singapore is far better than Hong Kong in every way’, March 22), I felt that the sensible reaction was momentary contempt, and then to move on. Mr Morliere’s ill-considered scorn was simply not worthy of response – except that he included insults, which do need a response.

What is it about expatriates who move from Hong Kong to Singapore and then, having experienced the many fine pleasures of Singapore, feel constrained to trash Hong Kong in comparison, simultaneously and seamlessly morphing personal experience into general conclusions?

If Mr Morliere ‘suffered’ here for five years (despite his ‘highly lucrative . . . expat package’) one wonders about his ability to make dispassionate observations.

For example, to describe dining in Hong Kong as much less advanced and lively than in Singapore is, at best, crass.

Hong Kong deservedly has a reputation for fine and varied dining matched by few other places.

Singapore also has great eating, which raises the question – why this compulsion to make negative comparisons?

Singapore and Hong Kong, like anywhere else, have their pluses and minuses.

Hong Kong does indeed have awful air and water pollution and the government still has to get to grips with it.

Singapore is something of a nanny state, with a controlled press, but in both cities the pluses far outweigh the minuses.

Both are safe, efficient, have generally very capable civil services, great transport infrastructure, the best airlines in the world, a thriving cultural life and lots of interesting places to visit nearby, to name a few positive attributes.

Neil M.D. Russell, Discovery Bay

Singapore acts to lure overseas-trained lawyers back home

Singapore acts to lure overseas-trained lawyers back home
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 13 February 2009 1755 hrs
CNA

SINGAPORE: Major changes are on the cards for Singapore’s legal education system.

The changes are aimed to ensure Singapore has an adequate supply of local lawyers who can compete against global competition and to strengthen Singapore’s position as a key regional legal education hub.

Law Minister Law Minister K Shanmugam announced the changes in Parliament on Friday.

In hoping to attract overseas-trained Singapore lawyers to come back and practise law at home, the Law Ministry will abolish the one-year-long Diploma in Singapore Law course.

Mr K Shanmugam noted that the course, which is a requirement for all returning lawyers, has proven to be a disadvantage as lawyers feel they can pick up most of what’s taught during practice.

Hence, from June this year, such students will be offered an optional three-month conversion course.

To enhance legal training, measures include:

– revamping the Practice Law Course;

– replacing the pupillage system with training contracts, with the intention of putting the onus on law firms to ensure that trainees have a constructive and structured learning programme;

– the possibility of making continuing legal education mandatory to ensure practising lawyers are up to date on any changes to the law and are familiar with emerging areas of law.

To ensure a steady supply of lawyers, graduates with a Second Class (Lower) degree from approved universities will be admitted to the Singapore Bar without the two-year minimum legal experience requirement.

Adding to this, the Singapore Management University’s Law School will put in place additional measures to add to the pool of lawyers.

The first batch of graduates from SMU will join the industry in 2011.

The NUS Law Faculty will also increase its intake from 220 to 250 students a year.

Together, Mr K Shanmugam said, these moves will result in an almost 70 per cent increase in the number of local law graduates in a few years’ time – from 220 to 370 annually.

He added the incoming Qualifying Foreign Law Practices (QFLPs) will also bring in more lawyers as they consolidate their regional offshore work here.

To oversee the legal education in Singapore, a new statutory board – tentatively called the Institute for Legal Education – will be set up.

Mr K Shanmugam said: “Most essential for a vibrant legal sector are good quality lawyers. Therefore ensuring that legal education and training is top notch is extremely important”.

The minister also gave an update on moves to free up legal services in Singapore.

The Law Ministry notes that despite the current economic crisis, there is potential in the medium term for the legal sector to expand in certain areas.

One example is arbitration as Singapore is fast becoming an arbitration venue of choice.

By mid-2009, Singapore will have the Maxwell Chambers to house arbitration hearings under one roof.

Mr K Shanmugam said: “Our advantage is our connectivity and world class infrastructure, our judicial philosophy in respect to arbitration and being accessible at a much lower expense than some of the other popular arbitration centres.”

Another good sign is that international law firms have been setting up new offices in Singapore in recent months.

In the past four months alone, four new firms opened up offices here, one of them among the Global Top 40.

Another two firms have already registered with the Attorney-General’s Chambers and have announced plans to open new offices in Singapore.

How to choose good durian

Here is a short durian tutorial by Mr Wong who runs a small boutique durian stall at 231 East Coast Road (Opp Jago Close) Singapore. You can contact him for your durian needs by calling 97514828. At the time of blogging, his Mao Shan Wang was selling for $16 per kg. Having been in the durian trade for 20 years, he has established a good relationship with his suppliers who would pre-select all his durians so that his customers can look forward to a really good durian experience.

Source: http://ieatishootipost.sg/2008/07/durian-tutorial-made-possible-with-my.html

Only an A-Team will do: MM Lee

IS THERE a need for a new type of leadership to steer Singapore into the future? Or will what has worked in the past continue to work in the future?

These questions flitted through 41-year-old Jonas Ang’s mind as he sat through a dialogue at the Human Capital Summit with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.

The human resource director decided to pose them to the man most responsible for building modern Singapore.

Mr Lee’s immediate response: ‘That’s a very pertinent and deep question which I’ve asked myself.’

He said the Singaporeans of today have higher aspirations and are better educated than in the past, but that has also led some to believe that they know better than the Cabinet ministers.

‘You can see it in the letters to the press, which isn’t a bad thing provided they understand that they may not be right, because the ministers aren’t stupid,’ he said.

Changing times notwithstanding, Singapore must continue to have an A-Team of leaders in place, he added.

He said: ‘If we field a B-Team, we are in trouble. We’ve got to have an A-Team. I don’t care whether it’s the PAP (People’s Action Party) or any other party.

‘You need first-class people with good minds, a sense of obligation to do a good job for the people and the ability to execute. That’s an A-Team.’

How is an A-Team picked? MM Lee gave a peek into the process.

First, potential leaders undergo rigorous selection tests. They are then put through at least two five-year terms before they get to higher office, he said. ‘So we know that they got what it takes.’

A type of leader that Singaporeans must guard against is the glib speaker who cannot perform.

Said MM Lee: ‘That you can talk plausibly doesn’t mean you can perform effectively. They’re two different qualities. A good politician must be able to do both.’

One reason for the stringent criteria for future Singaporean leaders is the competition the country faces from up-and-coming economies like China and India, he said.

Still, there is something very much on the side of future Singapore leaders.

This is the Singapore system, characterised by traits like the rule of law, transparency, fair play and meritocracy, he said.

India and China will take at least 20 to 50 years to catch up with Singapore in this aspect, he believes.

Canadian and Singapore PR Edouard Merette, who has lived here for 12 years, agreed with MM Lee.

The peaceful, safe and efficient environment here is one reason why his company, Aon Consulting, decided to set up its regional headquarters and a research centre here.

Said Mr Merette, Aon Consulting’s CEO for Asia-Pacific: ‘Singapore is a modern society in a Third World area. You can give compliments only to Mr Lee’s leadership.’

Foreign law firms good for S'pore

ST Aug 27, 2008
Young lawyers get to practise with global firms and gain exposure
By Selina Lum

CHANGES to the Legal Profession Act passed in Parliament yesterday will now open up the hitherto protected legal sector to allow foreign firms more leeway to operate here.

The presence of strong local and foreign law firms will strengthen Singapore’s reputation as the region’s legal services centre, said Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

Young and talented Singaporean lawyers too stand to gain as they will now have more opportunities to practise in big international firms and gain international exposure, he said.

The amendments to the Act follow recommendations made last September by a committee, headed by Justice V. K. Rajah, tasked with developing the legal sector.

They come nine years after the Government first sent signals that the sector should be liberalised.

Three key changes will result from yesterday’s legislative amendment:

Come October, five foreign law firms will be allowed to hire Singapore-qualified lawyers to practise Singapore law in certain areas, namely high-end work in corporate and banking sectors.

Second, an existing scheme in which a local firm ties up with a foreign one has been enhanced, among other things, allowing the foreign part of the venture to share up to 49 per cent of the local constituent’s profits.

Third, the scope of work that foreign firms can carry out in international commercial arbitration involving Singapore law has been widened.

Four of the five parliamentarians who spoke on the issue yesterday were practising lawyers. To a man, the latter expressed concern about the impact of the liberalisation on local law firms. They also had reservations about whether the moves would really benefit Singapore as envisioned.

Mr Shanmugam said he understood their concerns about competition but pointed out that a number of areas would continue to be ‘ring-fenced’ beyond the reach of foreign firms.

These include constitutional and administrative law, conveyancing, criminal law, family law, succession law, trust law for individuals and litigation.

Local firms also stood to benefit if the economy as a whole prospered. ‘We must remember that the decision to liberalise was taken because we believe that it is in the overall economic interest of Singapore. It should also benefit the legal services sector as a whole,’ he said.

Explaining a key driver behind the moves, Mr Shanmugam noted that financial-sector representatives had asked ‘very strongly’ for the legal market to be liberalised.

‘We survive as an economic entity by reason of being open, by reason of being economically competitive. The financial services sector is one of the key pillars of our economy and we have to listen to the feedback from that sector,’ he said.

He later addressed a point made by Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines GRC), who was concerned that top local firms could become ‘footnotes in our history books’.

Mr Shanmugam, a partner in Allen & Gledhill until he became Law Minister earlier this year, said he would be the last person to disagree with the point that the major law firms contribute significantly to the legal heritage and legal culture in Singapore.

But when dealing with policy issues, one had to look at things in terms of the benefit to the public, he said.

Singapore’s interest was best served by allowing competition, enabling more choices for young lawyers and creating a more vibrant economic legal market.

‘When that calculation comes through, it cannot be dominated by emotion,’ he said.

To Nominated MP and accountant Gautam Banerjee, who asked for even more liberalisation, he said: ‘We start at five (foreign firms). I think it’s better for us to proceed cautiously and make sure we get it right.’