Is there any Humour in Singapore’s Politics?

Cartoonists touch nerves which political commentators cannot – often raw nerves.

They visualize situations which writers struggle to convey in words. Well crafted political satire makes subtle political insinuations that can shake the most hardened of authoritarian regimes.

In South East Asia cartoonists are a rare breed. The Malaysian Mohammad Nor Khalid or Lat, is possibly the best known cartoonist from this region.

His humorous depiction of life in Malaysia is incisive. It is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the complexities of Malaysian society and culture, including the relationship between the three main races (Malays, Chinese and Tamils) living in Malaysia.

Much of his work revolves around life in a kampong (village or hamlet in Malay). Reading his cartoons one is reminded of how quickly Singapore has transformed itself from a fishing village kampong into an urban metropolis. (Gratefully, not a concrete jungle like Hong Kong.)

The art of the political cartoon requires an enabling environment. Circumstances which encourage poking fun at authority in a deprecating manner coupled with a thriving media industry.

Is Singapore ready for political satire? ('Attack Iran' by Carlos Lutuff)

Singapore is stuck in the past – an 'obedient' citizenry has meant few questioned authority until recently. The local media industry is controlled entirely by the state and, at least to the naked eye, appears to operate under unwritten rules of self-censorship.

Times have changed. The arts scene is blossoming. Singaporeans are willing to indulge in political satire, at least online. Hopefully, it should not be too long before we start seeing political cartoons with local content in Singapore's daily newspapers.

If not in the newspapers then perhaps a daily cartoon website – there is an appetite for satirical humour which a talented artist can fill. Foreigners welcome?

PS  - If anyone knows of any good Singaporean (English language) cartoon websites I will be grateful if you can send me the link. Thanks!

Singapore: Sunshine’s Empire Spreads Only Rays of Gloom

Singapore's reputation as a 'police state' must certainly be under question as a result of the Sunshine Empire fiasco.

The trial of a trio charged with running a 'Ponzi' scheme in Singapore lays bare some weaknesses in the Singapore financial regulatory regime. Under the guise of a corporate business named 'Sunshine Empire' the trio was able to amass approximately SGD 180 million by promising high returns.

Not surprisingly, like any classic Ponzi scheme, the Sunshine Empire ultimately collapsed when new funds flow dried up. What is surprising is how openly and long Sunshine Empire was allowed to solicit funds in Singapore without being shut down or prosecuted by the authorities.

Ponzi schemes are supposed to happen in other countries – not Singapore.

Singapore is a reasonably compact financial environment. Information flows are effective within a homogenous financial community. It is difficult to believe that Sunshine Empire can solicit money for fifteen months in such an environment without coming to the attention of the authorities.

The internet is flush with videos of presentations being delivered by Sunshine Empire representatives offering high returns. The explanations for the source of the returns can be called flimsy, at best.

It is all too easy to prey upon the greed of retail investors. Ponzi schemes feed on greed. Hence the many laws to protect the general public from fraudulent activities and save greedy investors from themselves.

Many months ago, at the height of the 'epidemic' I was asked for my opinion about the scheme. I am a conservative investor by nature and believe in common sense investing.

Prudence suggests that if something is too good to be true then it is generally false. If nothing else, warning lights should come in and one should investigate the investment proposal thoroughly or consult experts.

The whole episode reeked of a scam from the moment I heard of it. Anyone familiar with financial transactions will have noticed the red flags immediately. The sea of red would have encouraged bulls from Pamplona to find their way to Singapore!

Where were the authorities during the fifteen months when Sunshine Empire was raising money openly? They surely must have received information about the company's seminars and marketing efforts during this time.

The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) ... safeguards Singapore's integrity as a world-class financial and commercial centre through vigilant and professional enforcement of the laws. It ... is an outfit with its own investigative and intelligence resources in the Singapore Police Force.

The Sunshine Empire saga is a serious lapse of enforcement and intelligence gathering by the CAD. The affair has affected many Singaporean lives. SGD 180 million is not a small sum. It is not clear how many individuals lost some or all of their savings but the number must be large.

The case is sub judice and the legal outcome is not yet known. However, what is known raises legitimate questions about the robustness of Singapore's financial enforcement mechanisms.

The law enforcement machinery has to answer not just for illegal littering and bicycling on pavements but also for the disappearance of millions by the Sunshine Empire business partners.

Trust is the bedrock of a successful financial system

A light sentence will send the wrong signal to financial market participants.

The legal framework provides the trust on which a financial centre rests. The Sunshine Empire episode has damaged the trust. A harsh punishment against the perpetrators of the fraud will go some way to restore trust.

Singapore’s Healthcare – Plastic Surgeons, Sedatives and Sheep

Singapore has aspirations to be a premier destination for medical tourism. It projects itself as a low cost though high quality alternative to other hopefuls, including Thailand and Malaysia.

Quality, of course, is an ongoing and subjective matter. Ethical practices and enforcement of the highest medical standards is important in creating a reputation of excellence.

A few recent incidents have brought to light the importance of maintaining medical standards.

A prominent plastic surgeon injected animal foetal cells into his patients (to retard the ageing process) in violation of Singapore Medical Council (SMC) rules. In another instance, three family doctors inappropriately prescribed potentially addictive medicines to their patients.

The plastic surgeon, Martin Huang, was fined SGD 5,000 for his lapse. He was also 'censured' but allowed to continue his practice unhindered.

A SGD 5,000 fine for a plastic surgeon catering to the region's rich and famous! Call me a sceptic but it seems a little on the light side? The surgeon will recoup the fine in one sitting.

The only thing the fine has achieved is give his business free publicity.

The three family physicians have been fined and suspended from practicing for between 3 and thirty months. I imagine the reasoning has to do with the nature and type of patients a general practitioner receives. SMC is right to deter doctors from improper practices, especially when the general public's welfare is at stake.

However, I can't help believing that there is some sort of a disconnect between the two punishments. It is unlikely that a SGD 5,000 fine on a successful plastic surgeon will act as any sort of a deterrent.

On the contrary, it sends the wrong signal to Huang and his colleagues in the industry.

Is the punishment so light because a plastic surgeon's patients are specialized and aware of the risks of such medication? I don't think even medical professionals know the long term implications of injecting sheep foetal cells into a human.

And where exactly does one even buy sheep foetal cells - I don't think they are available at the local Guardian outlet!

I am a firm believer in self-regulation, especially by professional associations. However, in this event, the SMC will do well to explain its 'punishment' of Martin Huang. A small fine for the premeditated breach of medical ethics seems too much like a nominal slap on the wrist.

Spend Nine Years in Singapore and Earn $3.5 Million Dollars!

An annual salary of SGD 390, 000 (USD 280,000) is a nice sum.

One need not worry about the top-up charge on the new subway fare cards or whether the prices for 'mass market' homes are in record territory or not. Such miniscule facts will not affect your quality of life.

Assume that you were given nine years salary in advance in return for 'giving up' the good part of the coming decade. Is the amount worth nine years of freedom – will SGD 3.5 million buy enough freedom for the 'post nine year' era?

That may be the exact calculation undertaken by Jerry Ee. The 36 year old former supervisor at a Cortina Watch outlet in Singapore walked off with watches and cufflinks worth SGD 8.2 million (USD 5.9 million) in December 2008.

Three months after committing the Christmas Day (2008) crime, Ee gave himself up to authorities in Thailand.

Since surrendering, Ee returned 230 watches and cash amounting to SGD 4.6 million. Approximately SGD 3.5 million still remains missing, probably stashed away somewhere waiting for his release in 2018.

Earlier this month, Ee was convicted to nine years in jail for his crime. Another bad guy pays his debt to society and the system wins again?

Singapore's Changi prison is not a Turkish prison (a la the Midnight Express). Dropping your soap in the shower is unlikely to be a life threatening experience at Changi. Who knows Ee might even be able to 'upgrade' his skill set by attending vocational and educational courses while in prison?

Undeniably, jail time must be a psychologically harrowing event. Not an ordinary occurrence for an average human. An experience which may leave lifetime scars on any person, even a person with a prior criminal record.

Ee has two earlier convictions, one for theft and another for abetting his father in defrauding an electronics retailer. (How Cortina does their hiring and conducts background checks on potential employees are questions which only Cortina's management can answer.)

While Ee may have SGD 3.6 million to look forward to in 2018, there are many a slip between the cup and the lips. Can he safely hide his stash of watches and / or cash, untouched for nine years? Can he trust anyone to keep the booty safe, unspent and away from the prying eyes of private detectives and the law?

Once out of jail, Ee will probably rush to Thailand to start a 'new' life with his hard earned retirement nest egg. He will get definitive answers to the two questions only then.

It is difficult to know what may be going through the mind of a criminal. Jail time is a tricky affair at best. But if someone offered me a Christmas gift of SGD 3.6 million, admittedly I will be tempted to give the terms of any proposal serious consideration.

Happy Deepavali to all Hindu Readers!

Outliving Elvis – Five More Tips

Outliving Elvis' 42 years is not really setting the bar very high. However, let's take each year one at a time. In eight years, at age 51, I can write about how to outlive Michael Jackson?

Five more of my secrets for surviving in today's dangerous world.

1.   Don't travel by Indonesian budget airlines, especially avoid flying in Soviet era passenger planes no matter which airline operates them;

2.   When writing about conflict zones (Swat) do so from the comfort of your own living room. Be an armchair general - real generals have thousands of troops to protect them in the Zone. I don't;

3.   Restrict your intake of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. It helps keep your cholesterol in check;

4.   Obey mundane traffic rules like speed limits and red lights, especially when living in Dubai. Dubai has one of the highest per capita traffic accident fatality rates in the world;

5.   Don't mess with Singapore's drug laws (or chewing gum restrictions)!

Humans have a tendency to try and measure stuff, including life, by quantifying. The 'quant' approach did not work in the world of finance – witness the mathematical risk management systems which failed the world's banks so spectacularly.

What are the odds a 'probable scenario' tactic will work in real life?

How to Outlive Elvis and Continue Blogging

I celebrated my 43^rd birthday a few days ago. Having gone through the psychological '40' barrier a few years ago the day itself was a non-event.

There were the congratulatory phone and email wishes from friends and family, even a few birthday cards I received via snail mail.

Death can strike humans at any time and far be it for me to question my departure time. Still, stay with me as I speculate based on probabilities and statistics.

A Singaporean male's life expectancy is 75 years while a Pakistani male is expected to live a decade less (65). Average the two and I have another 27 years to go – until I hit the ripe old age of 70.

It's a sobering thought to know that more than half my life is now behind me.

Elvis had been accused of satanic behaviour and helped change pop culture before he hit twenty. Napoleon's first attempt to take over France occurred before his 30^th birthday.

Yes, I can talk about some serious professional achievements during my twenty plus years of toiling and grovelling for the Gods of the corporate world. But do I want to be remembered for having led a team which launched the first Shariah compliant local currency bond or a Middle Eastern asset management business?

I really don't think so. But I can't claim to have changed pop culture or attempted to overthrow a government, at least not yet.

My aims are far more modest - being remembered as the 'Grand Moofti' will be rewarding enough for me!

PS - For those still look for an answer on how to outlive Elvis (who died at age 42) in 1977: don't overdose on prescription drugs while going to the toilet!