Greatest wealth transfer in Singapore history

[newyorker88]

Foreigners come here push up prices of flats, sell for a fat profit, then leave Singaporeans with a huge debt burden (mortgage debt).

I tot it is the transfer of Reserves into GLC which is losing money?

 

[ivebert]

and in addition Sinkie peasants think that spending on the latest models of iphones, LED tvs, notebooks, gaming rigs, digital cams, home theater systems, korean cars and boozing at pubs are needs not wants...

You will be shocked to know how many car loans the banks give to those low income losers.

Sinkies want to lead a first class life with 3rd class skills and low educations.

Westerners use technology to reap more $$$ and be more productive in their daily work. Sinkie leh? They buy gadgets to just show off. Typical chinese behavior lah! The mass amount of piracy is also shocking. If they can steal, they will steal!

 

[Ramseth]

I'd suggest for a new flat, mininum two pink ICs where urrently, one pink one blue will do. For a resale flat, minimum one pink one blue where currently, two blues will do.

This will ensure more flats going to people to whom Singapore is home. It won't crash the market, just cushion and stabilise the foreign buying price pressure.

 

[LonewolfAlfa]

There's alot of negative vibes in Spore, I suspect it's a reaction to the PAP policies rather than xenophobia

What I see are the big boys, those with the connections to the elites who are profiting from the property bubble. Even an Indonesian company is involved in developing the area around Kim Seng Rd.

Gov't or rather PAP has never hesitated to use the "land acquisition act" to steal the property of "lesser mortals".

Instead of using "xenophobics", a better term might be to use the term "vicitms" of the PAP policy.

ok. let me rephrase -

the victims of the PAP policy will never accept the fact that - "to get in the game to later sell for profit, FT need to buy the resale units from Singaporeans" which is "a transfer of wealth to Singaporeans".

 

[ivebert]

I'd suggest for a new flat, mininum two pink ICs where urrently, one pink one blue will do. For a resale flat, minimum one pink one blue where currently, two blues will do.

This will ensure more flats going to people to whom Singapore is home. It won't crash the market, just cushion and stabilise the foreign buying price pressure.

Ramseth, stop proposing idiotic policies.

With housing policies like this, how do you attract the best talents from the rest of the world?

There is a need to accomodate the real immigrants as well.

 

[Ramseth]

There is a need to accomodate the real immigrants as well.

I'd define real immigrants as those converting to citizens.

 

[LonewolfAlfa]

You will be shocked to know how many car loans the banks give to those low income losers.

Sinkies want to lead a first class life with 3rd class skills and low educations.

Westerners use technology to reap more $$$ and be more productive in their daily work. Sinkie leh? They buy gadgets to just show off. Typical chinese behavior lah! The mass amount of piracy is also shocking. If they can steal, they will steal!

do u know why they 'need' the latest model iphone?

they need it to play games!

 

[ivebert]

I'd define real immigrants as those converting to citizens.

What nonsense.

Does it make sense to ask an American to drop their citizenship for a Sinkie one? Use your brains.

Our definition of immigrant is PR. It is practical and not obscenely idealistic like yours.

 

[newyorker88]

I'd suggest for a new flat, mininum two pink ICs where urrently, one pink one blue will do. For a resale flat, minimum one pink one blue where currently, two blues will do.

This will ensure more flats going to people to whom Singapore is home. It won't crash the market, just cushion and stabilise the foreign buying price pressure.

I agree fully. Time to protect the locals from FTs who are here to speculate and make off the money, like the Hongkees in the 90s. PAP never learn.

 

[newyorker88]

Ramseth, stop proposing idiotic policies.

With housing policies like this, how do you attract the best talents from the rest of the world?

There is a need to accomodate the real immigrants as well.

Real immigrants should take up PINK IC, not 2 blue ones can buy HDB. If they buy private condos, I am sure many dont bother, becos they bring in their money into singapore.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

a) when you invest $ in foreign banks, you own a piece of them don't you? plus you can sell you shares off to get back your original sum +- some amount. hence it is not a transfer but an investment with some risk

ONLY true if your intention is to invest for capital appreciation -- in GIC & TH's case they don't seem to be able to value companies correctly, when they invest it seems for political mileage rather than for returns, and lastly ..... the kind of horrible blunders they make especially when dealing with politically sensitive investments ....

when the motive, valuation methodology, etc is all wrong, its no longer investment, but merely using our reserves for political purposes which ultimately amounts to an expenditure and hence a burden on taxpayers ....

 

[Ramseth]

Does it make sense to ask an American to drop their citizenship for a Sinkie one? Use your brains.

Our definition of immigrant is PR. It is practical and not obscenely idealistic like yours.

It makes no sense. Not even on the Singapore side. Who wants Americans or Europeans to be citizens? The immigration policy is to maintain ethnic Chinese population proportion even at PR level. Go see how many Americans and Europeans can get citizenship or PR even if they want.

 

[eQuipment]

Ramseth, stop proposing idiotic policies.

With housing policies like this, how do you attract the best talents from the rest of the world?

There is a need to accomodate the real immigrants as well.

if those r truly foreign talents & not FALLEN talents, they would find the pte properties alot more viable than HDB

 

[ivebert]

if those r truly foreign talents & not FALLEN talents, they would find the pte properties alot more viable than HDB

Not true. FT doesnt mean he has to be very well-paid and put 1 million on a 99 year property. A good FT can be well skilled, work hard and still earn little but comfortable wages.

One example is FT engineers. There are some very good ones from India who earn less than $5K in IBM. Tell me how they can afford those private properties.

Guys, stop being xenophobic. We are living in a globalized world. Of course there are trashes but note that the companies are hiring them, not the government and some will leave, the good ones stay. It's a business decision so get real!

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

The first time someone suggested this is Viswa in his maiden speech and suggested that it was wealth leaking but his other remarks for which the old man came swinging.

Viswa came in with guns blazing but the moment he received a tongue lashing from LKY, he shrunk to the size of a churchmouse and up till today remains meek. A mere flash in the pan with no political consequence whatsoever.

 

[johnny333]

All Chinese are xenophobics.

If you have been to HK, Shanghai or Taipei, you will know what I mean.

Chinese can be materialistic because historically things have been hard for them. There were always people like a LKY ready to take advantage of them

HK & Shanghai are 3rd world countries & tough places to be civilised.

Have met many chinese born & bred in the 1st world and their attitudes are very 1st world, compare to 3rd world like Spore. They are concerned more with issues like global warming, global poverty, ....etc. Much different from the concerns of Sporeans, HK, PRC... who are looking for security of a home in the 1st world, material wealth, money,..

I've noticed that ex-Sporeans who have quitted Spore are more relaxed, less materialistic, happier,.. If you know people who have exchanged passports, you'll know what I mean

 

[jw5]

They will argue the first 2 points in their typical mocking fashion.

The first, they will claim, is to make Singapore richer, through potential capital appreciation of the country's long term investments.

The second, they will claim, is to make Singaporeans richer, through potential capital appreciation of their properties. Some people will have unrealised gains on their properties, some will realise their gains and buy another property. Of course, they will forget to mention that most people own only 1 property, and will never get to realise the gains since they have to live in that property.

The third is the most interesting. They will try to claim that rewarding these foreign born athletes is justified because they bring "glory" to Singapore and Singaporeans. Don't forget the proposed pension schemes. Someone should point out that the typical ordinary locally born citizen does not even realise that medals are being won. They are too busy making a living and some are even struggling to keep their heads above water.
Rewards and support for these foreign born athletes are actually to let the top tier leaders receive more accolades from their peers of other countries, and to further the individual ambitions of the lower tier of politicians.

 

[ivebert]

They will argue the first 2 points in their typical mocking fashion.

The first, they will claim, is to make Singapore richer, through potential capital appreciation of the country's long term investments.

The second, they will claim, is to make Singaporeans richer, through potential capital appreciation of their properties. Some people will have unrealised gains on their properties, some will realise their gains and buy another property. Of course, they will forget to mention that most people own only 1 property, and will never get to realise the gains since they have to live in that property.

The third is the most interesting. They will try to claim that rewarding these foreign born athletes is justified because they bring "glory" to Singapore and Singaporeans. Don't forget the proposed pension schemes. Someone should point out that the typical ordinary locally born citizen does not even realise that medals are being won. They are too busy making a living and some are even struggling to keep their heads above water.
Rewards and support for these foreign born athletes are actually to let the top tier leaders receive more accolades from their peers of other countries, and to further the individual ambitions of the lower tier of politicians.

The main problem is that
If Sinkies are so good, there is no need for FT.
The fact is less than 5% of old Sinkies has university education and 30% of youth has university degrees.
This is a reason why Sinkies are getting replaced.
Sinkie athletes can't make it. They only think about the $$$ because of the pigeonhole pressure from their parents and peers.

 

[borom]

Business Times - 27 Dec 2010
By MAK YUEN TEEN
THE recent news that New Lakeside has gone into judicial management marks the beginning of the end for what must be a contender for the worst listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), based on the sheer number of corporate governance issues that have plagued the company since its listing.......

New Lakeside Holdings is a producer and seller of apple juice with its operations based in China. It was incorporated in Singapore....listed on Sesdaq in March 2004.

Just months after it was listed, it reported an unexpected half-year net loss of 9.4 million yuan (S$1.84 million). ... reported that the losses were only discovered four days before the results. ...an early warning sign that the company did not have a proper internal reporting system in place, including the provision of timely management accounts to the board.

The independent directors ordered a special audit that reportedly discovered irregularities relating to revenue, costs of goods and receivables, suggesting poor internal controls, which affected financial reporting. ....(MD) and ..(CFO) were terminated, but the MD was later reinstated and a joint-MD was appointed. Both MDs were substantial shareholders and controlled the company, so the independent directors were really in no position to overrule them.

Profit warnings became regular affairs....in July 2005, January 2006 and July 2006 in anticipation of ..... losses. ....no reliance can be placed on the reported results because of the poor internal controls and the lack of clean external auditors' reports during its entire period of listing. .....

Qualified opinions
The auditors stated that the trade debtors had been reduced to 4.4 million yuan at the date of the auditors' report. However, in April 2006, the new auditors, TeoFoongWongLCLoong, stated that no receipts had in fact been received from specific trade debtors and, therefore, the directors had made provision......also qualified their opinion for FY2005, ....inability to form an opinion on the existence of inventories which were written off, write-off of freight charges and validity and treatment of certain expenses.

In April 2007, Baker Tilly also qualified their opinion, citing.....inability to verify unaudited management accounts of subsidiaries, which had been disposed of .... its next set of accounts issued in October 2008 were again qualified.....citing their inability to verify financial guarantees given by a subsidiary and the recoverability of sundry receivables......

In October 2009, the company reported a net loss of 84.9 million yuan. This time, the external auditors' opinion contained ....'material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about ability to continue as going concern'.

...., in September 2010, LTC informed the audit committee chairman that fraudulent representations may have been made in the course of the 2009 audit and therefore their audit opinion for 2009 could no longer be relied upon. LTC also made a report to the Minister of Finance.

In December 2010, the company announced that a special audit by Stone Forest Corporate Advisory found serious lapses and deficiencies in internal controls and corporate governance that, among other things, led to a failure to comply with SGX listing rules, improper accounting treatments and non-compliance with the Companies Act provisions in relation to accounting standards and the presentation of a true and fair view.

Some of the findings in the special audit were particularly serious, including alleged cover-up of certain liabilities. Based on the history of the company, the findings of the special auditor were hardly surprising.

The New Lakeside case raises a number of issues relating to regulation in Singapore and the actions (or lack thereof) of regulators, external auditors and directors....

... can the company be said to have complied with the Companies Act, notwithstanding the statement in the auditors' reports that the accounting and other records required to be kept are properly kept in accordance with the provisions of the Act?........

....there is a need to consider more timely regulatory intervention when audit opinions are qualified, especially when they involve significant internal control and accounting-related issues.

It seems counterintuitive that we have a regime that legally mandates compliance with accounting standards, yet a company is allowed to have a qualified auditors' opinion relating to significant accounting-related issues without the company being expected to address these issues in a timely fashion - let alone three successive qualified auditors' opinions.

While the SGX listing rules require an immediate announcement if the auditors' opinion of an issuer includes any qualification or emphasis of matter, they do not include specific requirements to address the issues raised by the auditors. In contrast, under Bursa Malaysia's listing rules, issuers that receive an adverse or disclaimer opinion from the auditors, or a modified opinion with an emphasis on the issuer's going concern and where consolidated shareholders' equity of the issuer is 50 per cent or less of its issued and paid-up capital, must undertake a regularisation plan to resolve the problems and announce such a plan. Failure to meet the requirements prescribed by Bursa Malaysia may result in suspension or delisting, or both (readers interested in further details can refer to paragraph 8.04 and practice note 17 available on Bursa Malaysia's website).

.....Unfortunately, the company stopped disclosing audit fees after it changed auditors, and therefore it was not possible to know how much audit fees it 'saved'.

This raises a general question for auditors: Is there always a 'clearing price' where there would be a willing buyer (company) and seller (auditor) for external audit services, even though there are strict professional and ethical standards for auditors? While I have seen questionable companies changing auditors - sometimes rather regularly - I have never seen one that is unable to find a replacement auditor......

Board inaction

However, one must question how the board could allow poor internal controls and accounting-related issues to persist over such a prolonged period.......

I believe that there are many lessons that regulators, auditors and directors can learn from the New Lakeside case.

The writer is associate professor of accounting at NUS Business School, where he teaches corporate governance and ethics

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/storyprintfriendly/0,4582,419126,00.html?

There's even more that Singaporeans voters can learn from this case.
Who was responsible for inviting all these Ah Tiong companies to come and rip us off?

 

[scroobal]

Completely agree. To make it worse, our friend is busy getting together the Malayalee community together to prove Old man wrong about the community being disunited. He does not realise that his NMP pay is to represent the whole of Singapore and not the Malayalee community.

Viswa came in with guns blazing but the moment he received a tongue lashing from LKY, he shrunk to the size of a churchmouse and up till today remains meek. A mere flash in the pan with no political consequence whatsoever.