Jolly Jester

Picking up a new language

2007-07-07T23:37:00.000+08:00

I am trying to pick up a new language, and its not your usual French/German/Bahasa Indonesia/Malay/Jap.

It is Math... or to be more specific, Mathematical Econs.

I think a year ago, or even just at the start of this yr (when I was looking at the module list), I would have not considered to learn much more math at all. Afterall Maths has always been sort of an necessary evil for me ever since secondary school days, right into JC - Never mind that I have been a part time A Maths tutor for these few years (Which I am quite grateful for in keeping my Math level to at least the O level standard).

So when I first decided to brush up my math, it was more of a necessary evil reason as well. A quick look at the current economics publications will indicate that any serious study of economics will definitely require a much higher level of math than my current level. In fact, it is the working language of economics.

Now I am halfway into Chiang's Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics (I got a really old book printed 1984, its older than me!), and guess what, it is quite enjoyable. It's just a preliminary read though, so I think I only actually understood 10-20% of what I read. A lot of the seemingly circular mathematical logics and proofs, as well as the mathematical grammar does go over my head very often.

Just bought a copy of Varian's Microeconomic Analysis for interest (haha and hopefully its going to be EC4101 text so that I don't need to buy another text), but its math is currently way above my level, so I think its only more accessible only after I master the Mathematical econs. It is interesting how this Microeconomic Analysis contrasts with his 'baby' text, "Intermediate Microeconomics" in the way it is written. The latter's arguments are almost all in words, with minimal math except simple algebra, and its elder brother's arguments are almost all in math. Consequently, the 'baby' text is much thicker than the 'adult' text. His sense of humour pervades throughout the both texts though.

A further few thoughts on this, the relative lack of mathematical foundation in NUS econs' compulsory curriculum does seem a bit worrying to me. I find that most other universities usually have at least one or two compulsory mathematical modules in their econs programme to cover all these basic tools needed for economic analysis. But in NUS's case, there is none, which means most likely a B.A (non honours) econs grad is not likely to be economic literature literate... which doesn't seem to be good... Furthermore, the optional Mathematical Econs I, II (There is none for the coming Acad yr), III are offered irregularly, with small classes(and enrollment as well, haha after all most people come to FASS to avoid sci and math).

Wish me luck on this... haha...

On the NETS fee hike

2007-06-13T11:32:00.000+08:00

Nets, or Network for Electronic Transfers, is raising its transaction fees for retailers in three batches starting July 1 - the timing of which has also come under fire because it coincides with the 2 per cent goods and services tax hike.

Now, isn't this smart? Raise the fees together with the GST increase and the resulting increase in prices can be 'hidden' or explained away as: its due to the GST! It's due to retail merchants profiteering on the GST!

Seriously, NETS is just another profiteering monopolist profiteering from the GST hike. And we are not talking about a small increase here, it is an up to 300% increase!

The rates will go up from the current 0.35 and 0.55 per cent of purchases to between 1.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent - this represents an up to three-fold increase in the amount merchants will have to pay for each transaction.

And in the land of competition of Singapore, where commercial viability is oft cited as justification of government, GLCs, private businesses, we see it in this issue again:

Chief executive officer Poh Mui Hoon said the system will be squeezed out of the market if it does not raise its rates: 'It is a tough but commercial decision that we have to make. We haven't raised rates for 22 years, it has to be done.'

But excuse me?! NETS is not charging a flat fee in the first place, but instead it is a percentage fee. We have always heard that companies cutting costs, cutting prices to maintain competitiveness and commercial viability, and calls for workers to accept lower wages to ensure our competitiveness with the cheaper China/India/SEA workers. But in the case of NETS it is a monopoly RAISING rates to prevent it being SQUEEZED out of the market???

What a way to turn competitiveness (This term was actually used in zaobao as justification for the hike) and commercial viability on its head.

And since they talk about the competition being strong, let's look at who is behind NETS and who are their competitors.

Nets, which is owned by DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank...

Banks, she said, have been aggressively promoting and issuing debit cards because they get more money each time these cards are used. Each transaction with a debit or credit card earns the bank between 1.15 and 1.69 per cent of the purchase price.

Now now, it seems that their 'competitors' are actually themselves, as the 3 major banks in singapore most probably have the largest debit/credit card market share here. Except in the case of debit/credit card, the international card company(VISA/Mastercard etc) takes a share of the fee.

Compare the NETS after hike rates of "between 1.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent" to the 1.15-1.69 percent of debit/credit cards... Now we really see what this competiveness/commercial 'viability' really means.

After this hike, NETS would most probably be just as expensive to use as credit/debit cards, and if this is the case, I see no point in using NETS anymore. NETS does not offer the consumer any reward points/discounts, it does a direct debit the moment the transaction takes place (as opposed to debit cards where the money is deducted a few days after), it has a lower charging limit (of $2000, if I remember correctly), and now it is more expensive.

So much for a cashless society, and not to mention the biggest group of people that will be ripped off are those older people who have no knowledge/access to debit/credit cards.

I do hope CASE's complaint does go through, but given the Singaporean system I am not optimistic.

Source: Case slams Nets fee hike as a 'great disservice'

Difficult exam papers and the absurdity of it

2007-05-28T11:42:00.000+08:00

Before my Maths Tutee took her Math exams, she was remarking to me that she was most likely going to fail the paper because it was rumored to be set at a very difficult level. And the reason for the difficult paper? It was to show other schools that her school has a high math standard.

And so she failed it terribly. Looking at her test paper, I could see why, for it was a really difficult paper. Needless to say, I think most of the other students in the school would have done disastrously for it as well(the school is a neighbourhood school)

But just what purposes are exam papers meant to serve? To wayang to other schools that they have a high standard for maths(when in actual fact their students are not even halfway there)? I think this is just absurd. Even if this was not the aim of the paper setter, I don't see the reason why they would need to set difficult papers. But sadly, I think this is the trend of the Singaporean education system: nevermind that the students can't really understand or handle the material, as long as we give them questions that are much more difficult than the O levels to 'practice', they will do well at O levels.

In my opinion, exam papers are meant to serve as 1) Practice/trial runs for the actual O level exams. 2) Evaluation and feedback about the student's grasp of the material 3) Training of exam taking skills like time management. Thus a good paper should be able to mirror the actual exam standards, and also be able to sort out the students' ability in the subject (ie differenciate those who are very poor, poor, average, above average, good, outstanding, in terms of marks). This means a balanced mix of very easy to difficult questions should be included.

This brings to mind my days at HCJC where most of the college was on this difficult papers system, where only a very small handful could get As and Bs for the internal exams while most struggled to pass. This, mind you, is in a top end college where if you threw a stone during A level results annoucement, there's a 50% chance that you will hit someone with 4As. Fortunately I was mostly not under this system as under the Humanities programme my tutors adopted a WYSIWYG(in line with A levels standard, albeit slightly harder, with none of those skewed bell curves of the rest of college).

The biggest victims of all these difficult papers in the end are going to be the students, especially the weaker to average ones. In our academic, grade focused education culture, failing paper after paper (not due to laziness/inability of students) is a great discouragement and source of stress. For those who see grades as an indicator of self worth(or have great pressure from parents to do well) a low self esteem, depression, high stress levels are all likely to result. On the other end of the spectrum, some just give up on their studies, for afterall there's no visible results/improvements from putting in the effort to study anyway, and everyone's scoring so badly (whether they studied or not).

Singapore 90 days T-Bill auction yields from 2006

2007-05-17T16:57:00.000+08:00

Here's something I did for fun since I was bored and was looking at renewing my T-bills:

Interest rates have dropped sharply across the board in Singapore since March, and all the savings accounts offering higher interest rates (like Stan Chart, Maybank) have lowered their rates. The same goes for many fixed deposits.

Nevertheless, T-bills still offer decent rates for small amounts (lowest denominations is 1k), and the rates is still much better than most Fixed deposits (Unless you happen to have large sums like above 50k and 'threaten' to deposit your money elsewhere) . Stan Chart's Esaver (1.5%) is still excellent given its no conditions on withdrawals, and Maybank should be similar too, although I do not know the exact rate.

However, the biggest drawback to T-bills is the hassle of having to go on a Friday and wait at the bank(and its a long wait, as it is the same queue as those buying investment products). The Phillips electronic T-bill portal is more convenient, but at the cost of losing around 0.05% due to the spread.

Blogger seems okay now

2007-05-16T17:26:00.000+08:00

Now this is weird, it seems that the blogger interface is okay on my desktop after i logged in using my laptop.....

Some problems with blogger

2007-05-16T14:30:00.000+08:00

Thought of posting something recently (after all its the holidays), but it seems that there is some problem with my desktop's browsers that causes the edit/post screen to be totally screwed up. It seems fine on other computers though. I wonder what is the problem.

Duckpox

2006-04-20T09:31:00.000+08:00

Background: Biscuit monster is worried that it might have contracted chicken pox here goes part of the conversation with Rubber Duckie.

Biscuit monster(BM): what is the duck doing?

BM: hmm... I wonder if it's possible to get duckpox

Rubber Duckie(RD): duckpox?

BM: yes

BM: i wonder how duckpox feels like

RD: quackish

RD: maybe can only be cured by quack doctor

The most memorable TV advertistment

2006-03-17T23:27:00.000+08:00

Guess what's my pick for the most memorable TV ad that's showing on TV nowadays?

*Timpani rolls softly........................*

*Add in the drums........... softly...............*

*Add in the cymbals.............................*

*All crescendo...................*

ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP
ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP
ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP
ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP
ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP
ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP

Ok. For those who watch TV and saw the ad, I think you will know what I am talking about.
Its so memorable that I wouldn't want to see it a second time. Once is enough.
NowI wonder if they air it on RADIO.....................................................................

Screwed up formatting

2006-03-17T23:17:00.000+08:00

Sorry about the screwed up formatting for the quoted article, but it seems that blogger's "easy to use, microsoft word like" interface produces weird results. Nothing the technically computer inept me can do at the moment to it. Until the day I actually go and open some book/website on basic html tags... the formatting shall remain buggy...

Maid bosses' greatest fear ...

2006-03-17T22:00:00.000+08:00

I read this letter on today online today, and I am rather disgusted with it, not to mention the illogicality of the arguments. My comments are after the end of the letter.

MAID BOSSES' GREATEST FEAR ...

Friday March 17, 2006

If helpers get pregnant, employers will have to forfeit $5,000 bond

Letter from Theresa Ee

I wonder if readers who are disappointed with domestic maids not being
given official backing for rest days have ever been emotionally and
financially abused by them.

In his letter, Heng Cho Choon ("Caring for elderly needs special
training", March 16) commented that the practice by some employers to
forbid their domestic workers from talking to other maids is akin to
solitary confinement.

He goes on to say that by the same token, we might as well confine our
children too if we don't want them to pick up wayward ways in school. I
would like to point out that, as parents, we are able to discipline our
children. However with maids, we run the possibilities of them taking
revenge by polluting our food and water, abusing our children, requesting
for transfers or simply crying rape/abuse and putting us behind bars.

The Government imposes a $5,000 bond on employers to ensure the well-being
of our maids.

Most employers' greatest fear is their maids getting pregnant, in which
case they will have to repatriate them and forfeit the $5,000 bond.
Besides throwing away good money for someone's irresponsible behaviour,
routines will be inconvenienced.

Recently, I visited my gynaecologist at a medical centre. To my shock, I
was asked if I could allow several maids waiting for their abortion
procedures to go first as their employers would be returning home soon. So
much about granting them freedom!

So, please stop accusing employers who are reluctant to grant domestic
workers that rest day as being inhuman. We are protecting their interests
in the long run.

Target the small minority who abuse the system, not the majority of us who
believe in human rights.
Firstly I do agree with Heng Cho Choon that forbiding a maid from talking to other maids is akin to solitary confinement. I can't imagine working all alone by myself in a foreign land, and denied of any relaxation time on my own, denied of my familiar social circle even though they are just around me all the time(which in my opinion is crucial to a person's mental well being, especially in situations where you have little control over your own life).
I haven't read Heng's original letter, but the analogy with disciplining our children seems apt.

Now for Theresa's rebuttal: "I would like to point out that, as parents, we are able to discipline our children. However with maids, we run the possibilities of them taking
revenge by polluting our food and water, abusing our children, requesting
for transfers or simply crying rape/abuse and putting us behind bars."

Actually as a matter of fact I would think with children we will run the same possibility of that happening as well. Can't your child pollute your food and water? A child can also cry rape/abuse. As a disclaimer, for 'child' I am referring to a wider age group of like from 10-21, where they are very much capable of the same thing, *if* the parents treat them in the same manner they treat the maid. After all we have heard of stories of teenagers injuring/killing parents, stealing money, etc etc.
And as the 'curfew' for teenagers is a hot topic out there for discussion, does confining your children at home all the time, having absolute control over who they talk to, where they go, whatever they do, directing their lives all the time ensure the 'well being' of your children?

Now for what I think is the crux of Theresa's argument: "The Government imposes a $5,000 bond on employers to ensure the well-being of our maids." And what does this 'well being' means? Basically anything that does not causes your $5000 bond to be confiscated and its through none of the employer's fault but rather the maid's "irresponsible behaviour," And as the logic goes, by barring the maid from going out and interacting with other maids and MALES, "we are protecting their interests in the long run", for they won't get into any trouble(as defined by the $5000).

Even more astounding is the final statement "Target the small minority who abuse the system, not the majority of us who believe in human rights.". I wonder if Theresa believes in human rights? Maybe she does, as long as the human rights does not incur a cost of $5000 SGD.

By the way, I wonder who came up with the sub header for the letter. I doubt its Theresa herself hahaha.....

Brand/logo Music

2006-03-04T20:19:00.000+08:00

Just something interesting that I observed while watching TV ads. It seems that quite a number of big brands are attaching a short tune/sound together with their logo. Examples that I can think of include Marigold(was watching that ad when it crossed my mind), Intel, KFC, Pizza hut, King Coil.
I bet there are many others out there as well....

I guess this sort of advertisting strategy is part of a company's logo strategy. Instead of having your logo in just a visual form, its more impactful to have it in multimedia form with audio as well, giving your brand/logo a more concrete impression. And in media like radio where there's no visual element in the ads, the logo tune/sound is able to take the place of the visual logo instead of having your brand just being spoken in words, lost in the sea of other words used in radio ads. However I would definitely consider the King Coil 'spring sound' is used too many times in a single ad that it gets really irritating. Boing Boing Boing all over the place...

Comments

2006-02-26T22:42:00.000+08:00

To all readers of my blog(well is there anyone?), here's a friendly invitation for you to leave comments on my blog. If there is enough demand for a tagboard I might decide not to be lazy and actually put one.(which i am clueless as to how to put it, given how hopeless I am at web publishing)

Have a good day everyone!

Adulthood in SG is 22 years old

2006-02-20T21:47:00.000+08:00

A semi rant here...

The supposed legal age for adulthood in Singapore is 21 years old, and I am supposed to be an adult now(my 21st birthday was in Jan). While most institutions(like banks, cinemas) will recognise it, our government who sets the legal age DOES NOT!

First it was the ineligibilty to vote in the upcoming elections(well if there is a opposition contesting in my GRC, and I won't know what constituency/GRC my family would fall under until the boundaries are decided upon), and now its the PROGRESS package.
To quote the release: "Individuals must be 21 years or above as of 31 December last year to get the Growth Dividends, and at least 50 years old to qualify for the CPF top-ups."
Which means if you are born in 1985 even though you may be celebrating(or have celebrated) your 21st bday, there's nothing to celebrate about for the new and upcoming budget's PROGRESS.

It's rather ironical that many guys my age are almost through with the army, having gone through what 'separates the men from the boys', handling firearms, leading men(in the case of officers and specs),making decisions that really matter to(like whether to charge/defend their men(who are usually older) for AWOL/drug abuse etc, and yet are still not considered adult.

Quote on economics

2006-02-11T18:07:00.000+08:00

Here's a quote concerning economics which I agree very much with(must be Banard's influence).

I have never been able to grasp how one can understand any ideas without knowing where it came from, how it evolved out of previous ideas. ... Great theories, in economics as in other subjects, are path dependent ... that is, it is not possible to explain their occurence without considering the corpus of received ideas which led to the development of that particular new theory; had the body of received ideas been different we would have arrived at a different theory at the culmination of that development. In other words, without the history of economics, economics theories just drop from the sky; you have to take them on faith. The moment you wish to judge a theory, you have to ask how they came to be produced in the first place and that is a question that can only be answered by the history of ideas. (Blaug, 1994c)

I especially agree with the part on "without the history of economics, economics theories just drop from the sky", which is in my opinion, sadly, the state of affairs of economics teaching and learning(and a lot of other subjects for that matter) in the Singaporean education system. Unlike perhaps the physical sciences, economics (and any other social science/humanities as well) cannot be treated as gospel(if only the world was that simple). The historical perspective definitely makes economics much more understandable than just pure theory. It would also aid in the understanding of the limitations of the various models and assumptions in economics(it appals me to see people advocating and applying economic concepts like free trade, taxes, subsidy blindly using textbook analysis smugly, thinking that they can't go wrong.)

What an incoherent rant.

Happy Chinese New Year! on NAPI and RAPI

2006-01-30T10:45:00.000+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year, 新年快乐!

And here's something new yearish I thought of while counting my ang pow money(which says a lot about my marital status) which is econs related. Firstly, the concept of INFLATION... how much can your ang pow money buy you this compared to your previous years? My guess is that for most people(esp lower income groups), your ang pow is most likely lesser relative to the amount of things you can buy with the money.

Which brings me to the next stroke of brilliance(well, as if), maybe the dept of economics statistics of Singapore can use ang pow $$$ a supplementary indicator to WAGE RISES and WAGE RISES with respect to INFLATION. I mean well the ~~govt~~ papers have been publishing good news about how the Singapore economy is growing, that wage increases have outpaced the CPI(Consumer price index, basically Singapore's inflation indicator for consumbers), leading to the conclusion that Singaporeans of all levels are doing well... which my empirical observations with angpow money this year seems to disagree.

My ang pow money this year per ang pow has generally either shrinked in nominal terms(like instead of mostly $6 dollars, now there's an increase in the $4 ones) or stayed stagnant. As for increases...... ermm... what increases? So for my family there's a fall in the "Nominal Ang Pow Index"... haha lets name it "NAPI"

Factoring in price inflation of what the money can buy, the situation looks even worse... as everybody knows the price of everything has been increasing, so the same amount of money can buy lesser than the year before, so my "Real Ang Pow Index"(RAPI) has a even greater fall than NAPI. Oh my.... this doesn't sound good for my family and relatives...... and me of course!

So my friends... how has your RAPI and NAPI moved?
Enjoy your new year!

A plea; from a medic with regards to medical (board)

2006-01-25T23:04:00.000+08:00

Having heard many accounts and stories of medical centres and medical boards( due to friends who unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately suffer from medical conditions and needed to downgrade/fail recourse FFI etc), here's one from the other perspective from some medic at the medical centre handling medical boards.

Ever wondered why medical boards take so long to be arranged? Read about it here

How MNCs minimise taxation

2006-01-21T16:30:00.000+08:00

Ever wonder why a lot of large companies are incorporated in obscure countries like Canary Island, Bermudas, etc, when their main offices/markets/production sites are far away in every other corner of the world?

The answer lies in taxation....

Came across this interesting example of how Microsoft minimises their tax on profits, and in this case its Ireland.

"Round Island One Ltd., has a thin roster of employees but controls more than $16 billion in Microsoft assets. Virtually unknown in Ireland, on paper it has quickly become one of the country's biggest companies, with gross profits of nearly $9 billion in 2004.

Ireland's citizens may not have heard of Round Island One, but they benefit greatly from its presence. Last year the unit handed the government of this small country of four million citizens more than $300 million in taxes ... Microsoft routes the license sales through Ireland and Round Island pays a total of just under $17 million in taxes to about 20 other governments that represent more than 300 million people.

(This is not my comment, but the comment from the blog I am quoting from)But Microsoft does some real stuff in Ireland, so at least you can drive by one of their facilities and see the buzz of activity at Round Island? Errr.. No:

Round Island's legal address is in the headquarters of a Dublin law firm, Matheson Ormsby Prentice, that advertises its expertise in helping multinational companies use Ireland to shelter income from taxes. It represents other U.S. technology companies including Google Inc., which recently set up an Irish operations center that the firm credits in its SEC filings with reducing its tax rate. A Google spokesman said the company set up in Ireland to be close to its European customers. "Because that business is done outside of the U.S. it is taxed according to international law," he said. "

You better watch out

2006-01-17T20:53:00.000+08:00

You better watch out

You better watch out
You better not try
You better not flout
I’m telling you why
ICA is checking you now
(sung to the tune of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’)

Well if you are wondering where this 'song' comes from, the source is none other than ICA(Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, SINGAPORE) mentioned in the lyrics. Now who says all civil servants must be strait-laced, no nonsense. Kudos to the person/team writing the press releases, it makes the press releases a much more captivating read while sending the message too. The press release continues below:

Yes, Christmas may be over and the malls stopped playing Christmas songs, but would-be smugglers have better take heed of the new ICA ditty. Two smugglers would probably remember this song for a long time, as they found out that ICA officers at the checkpoints remain vigilant during the peak festive season as well. At Woodlands checkpoint on 28 Dec 05, ICA foiled an attempt to bring in 450 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and another attempt to smuggle controlled drugs into Singapore.

You can read the whole press release here, and the index of press releases here.
Just to name a few other interesting headlines: "Something buldging at the front of part of his trousers", "I know what you did last December".

Low Cost Terminal Naming Contest

2006-01-14T00:00:00.000+08:00

The judges for this contest must have been through such a tough decision making process in awarding the $2000 and 3G mobile phone...

Singapore's first low-cost terminal named and ready for take-off in March

SINGAPORE'S first budget terminal has been named — what else? — the Budget Terminal.

Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong presented the winner of the "Low Cost Terminal Naming Contest" — 15-year-old Jonathan Sng of St Andrew's Secondary School — with a StarHub-sponsored cash prize of $2,000 and a 3G mobile phone, during a site inspection of the completed airport yesterday.

While 44 of the 12,000 or so entries had suggested "Budget Terminal", it was Jonathan's justification for the name — "short, easy to remember and representative of what the terminal is" — that clinched him the award, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

Other suggestions submitted during the three-month contest period included "Funport", "Seabreeze Terminal", "Oasis Terminal" and "Orchid Air Terminal".

Naming the no-frills airport was a no-brainer for Jonathan, who told Today he thought of it over a few minutes during recess.

Read the rest of the article from TODAY here (It's real!)

PC in oil, anyone?

2006-01-13T10:34:00.000+08:00

Here's an interesting DIY that the guys over at Tom's Hardware did, a DIY fanless oil cooled system! (Click on the pic to go to the article) Now that's a lot of deep fried chips(lame)!

On deposit accounts

2006-01-10T22:36:00.000+08:00

In my previous post I blogged about the amazingly "high" interest rates of POSB savings account, and in this post I shall blog about the alternatives.

Here's a site that I found: Ask Dr Money; and it compares the various deposit accounts out there in the Singapore market, weighing their pros and cons, ranking them.

I will list a few of the outstanding/interesting ones here....

Your standard savings account(POSB/DBS): 0.25% p.a. credited annually
Standard Chartered e$aver/e$saver kids: 1.88% p.a. 2.45% p.a. for deposit above $50,000, no lock in period, no fees, no minimum balance. $5 surcharge for counter withdrawals
Maybank Isavvy: 2.88%, 1 yr lock in $25,000 minimum
Fundsupermart: 2.45% (The rate is actually calculated daily from the Singapore interbank lending rate minus 0.5%, minus 0.25% annual management fees, as it is actually a fund buying portal, so this will be the first to receive high interest rates if the interbank rates move up) This one is interesting
Most of the banks' fixed deposits are at around 2.8% but this is for large sums like minimum 20k- 50k

In my opinion, for a poor guy like me, the Standard Chartered e$aver is the way to go, since it has much higher rates than even fixed deposits for small sums), its flexible with no conditions attached, the internet banking only facility is of no trouble to me. Now that there's the kids e$aver even those below 21 can have an account, provided you have a parent with you.

The bottom line, do not let your $$ rot in your POSB saving accounts, stash those savings somewhere else and leave enough for your normal usage and to maintain the minimum balance needed before the surcharge kicks in. Your $$$ can't even catch up with inflation with a measly 0.25%

POSB pays interest rate of 4+%!!

2006-01-02T22:06:00.000+08:00

Just checked my POSB(now DBS) saving accounts and to my surprise, there's a new entry for interest of $4.47. Given my balance over the new year of a bit below $100.00 its a whooping 4+% p.a.
DBS is so kind to poor people like me to give me such high rates(I have heard rumours that they paid only 0.125% or 0.25% p.a.)

Standard Chartered's 1.88% p.a. and Maybank's 2+% no frills e saving accounts stand aside!

In case you think I am that naive, I do know why I got my apparent 4+%. Its just a simple exercise in statistics manipulation...
I have included a brief explanation for this phenomenon in the comments.

2005-12-31T00:34:00.000+08:00

In my opinion this is an excellent summary of the NKF saga so far. Taken from Singapore Window, and you can visit the writer's site at Littlespeck.

NKF issue raising questions
on long-standing policies
Star, Malaysia
December 25, 2005

Insight Down South By Seah Chiang Nee

AFTER months of investigation during which erased computer data was recovered and files guarded to prevent being removed, the report on Singapore’s biggest scandal in years is finally out.

It showed things were worse than at first believed.

The 332-page KPMG Report on the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) unveiled an unethical and lavish use of public charity money – possibly even criminal offences – by its CEO T.T. Durai.

(He and the whole board of directors had resigned en masse and a new team has taken over.)

The details shocked the people, who had long been led to believe that such practices might happen in other countries but not in squeaky-clean Singapore.

After all, the biggest charity body had operated public-donated funds in excess of S$200m (RM444.9mil) raised with government patronage to perform a national function.

Mrs Goh Chock Tong was the Patron and political leaders helped in the fundraising so, people reasoned, how could their money not be safe.

The revelation has shaken the fabric of public confidence on official transparency. Government ministers and other ruling party figures had, until very recently, endorsed and praised Durai’s ability to raise so much money.

Most of the anger is directed at Durai and several executives and the board, which had given him a free hand to do as he liked.

Because of the link, the crisis had rubbed off on the government, which is blamed for poor judgment and dereliction of duty as a watchdog of a body that handles so much public money.

Two out of every three Singaporeans have contributed to NKF, including many lowly-paid workers who pledge monthly contributions from their pay.

They’ve become bitter and distrusting because they’ve just learned that only 10 cents of every S$1 (RM2.22) of their donations was spent on the patients, not 51% as Durai had told them.

The number of beneficiaries and amount of their subsidies were inflated.

Durai last earned an annual salary of S$300,000 (RM667,300) but was also raking in a large fortune during his tenure by regularly paying himself, through creative accounting, overtime pay, converted leave and bonuses – backdated. In 16 months before leaving, he had made 16 overseas trips on first class tickets.

His executives, especially two lady directors, came in for special treatment. One of them had several pay increases a year, barely one or two months after the previous one.

The KPGM Report is so voluminous that it would take weeks for Singaporeans to digest everything but as the details spread, so did the bitterness.

Some grassroots workers fear the repercussion may have a negative impact on the ruling People’s Action Party during the coming elections, widely expected in the first quarter of next year.

A day after the KPMG report, Minister of Health Khaw Boon Wan held a press conference to give the government’s response.

The authorities were investigating to decide if anyone could be charged in court, he said, pledging the full extent of the law with no cover-up.

The actions of Durai and the board were ‘disappointing’, he added. “We now know that we all have been misled.”

Unsmiling and sombre-looking, Khaw admitted the government “had failed” to perform its watchdog role and stop the rot despite receiving informal and anonymous complaints over the years.

The straightforward, no holds-barred revelation of the Report had regained some of the government's standing with the public. It required political courage. It could have been released after the polls.

One writer commented, “Khaw spoke with sincerity and honesty. He addressed the issue straight in the face and not evade it. Salute!”

The people are far from being placated. Whether the NKF saga would have lasting damage would depend on whether the perpetrators are prosecuted.

“If after all this no one is punished, justice will suffer. People will always think that offenders are protected,” a forummer exclaimed. “If everyone goes free, no one will contribute to charity again.”

How many other NKFs are there, and what is being done to expose them? Khaw said the government watchdog role would be strengthened by legislative amendments.

Predictably, the issue has also raised questions on a couple of longstanding policies.

One involves the absence of an independent check and balance structure, which exists in other developed countries in the forms of a strong opposition and an independent media, not available here.

The PAP has always said Singapore doesn’t need either of them to play the role. It says an honest government is its best watchdog against wrongdoing. The NKF fiasco questions how effective this can work over the long term.

Secondly, it calls into question Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s argument that high government salaries would prevent corruption. His rationale is that if a person is very well paid, he will not be tempted by greed.
While Durai has not been charged with corruption, his high pay had not kept him away from acquiring more even if it’s from the charity basket.

There's trouble brewing, guys

2005-12-30T15:08:00.000+08:00

From the same humor site as the previous post: www.horsman.co.nz

Funny ads

2005-12-30T14:57:00.000+08:00

Came upon it while reading mr brown's blog...

And here's the link for more of them: http://www.horsman.co.nz/story.do?id=67

On English language

2005-12-26T19:03:00.000+08:00

Was reading the book "Cryptography: A very short introduction" and came upon a few interesting points.

According to the book, the most common letter is the letter "E" with 12.7% Other common ones includes T: 9%, A: 8.2%, I: 7%, O:7.5%.
The really rare ones include J, Q, V, Y, Z, all at 0.1%. The most common 3 letter word in the english language is "THE".

However these are only statistical results, for "we note that there is a 200-page novel that does not use the letter E(Gilbert Adair's transaltion of A Void by Georges Perec)"
I really wonder how the novel is like to not use the letter E at all......

Welcome!

2005-12-25T16:16:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone! First post here and it will take quite some time for me to know how to navigate around blogger, use HTML codes, hyperlinking, etc etc. Having no talent in design whatsoever, expect poached images, and if there's a new design/layout its most likely going to be done by my sister rather than me.

That said, here's seasons greetings to everyone out there: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Ho ho ho....