Category: Singapore
Ng Teng Fong (1928 – 2010)
The king of Orchard Road
Legendary property tycoon was Singapore’s richest man
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.”
Drew days
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.’
Interview between JBJ and FEER
Interview between JB Jeyaretnam and FEER editor Hugo Restall in 2008 before his death.
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