Did Singapore really start from nothing before growing into what she is now?

Zee Kin Tai

I had a ferocious argument with a friend, who started his conversation with "Why Singapore, an island country that started off with nothing, can be so strong and yet ....... (you can imagine that on your own)"

True. Singapore is an amazing example of what a successful society should strike to become like. High GDP, low cost of living, excellent public services and infrastructure, efficient business ambient, and united people.

I have to give it to Singapore and her Government to have attain advanced Nation status. They truly deserve it.

What I would like to correct my friend on, was the presumption that Singapore started from 'nothing', without 'resources'. This is not true.

Prior to independant, we were colonized by the British, according to our modern and contemporary history. We had defacto colonization in federated and non federated malay states through residents and advisers whom advices must be acted on, and also dejure colonization in the crown colonies of Straits Settlements (Melaka, Penang and Singapore), as well as North Borneo (Sabah).

During the British rule, both Financial/trade/economic and administrative hub were in Singapore. It was the "defacto" capital of British Colony of Malaya, Strait Settlements and Sabah, for decades.
The advantages of being the "Capital" is you get to enjoy the best of everything. Singapore, as a state was the face of Malaya, entrance point of the Peninsula, and also the conglomorate of the best talents in business, administration, professionals etc.

The first University of Malaya / King Edward College was set up not in Kuala Lumpur, but in Singapore. the best ports, best roads, best buildings, best talents were all in Singapore. It is the central of trading, finance, entreports, etc, and an encapsulation of wealth.

Singapore had a good start as a well resourced country. The best a country can ask for, is to have a best pool of talents running it's politics, business, and society. Singapore has it all. best professionals were trained and groomed in Singapore prior to independants. Business HQ were set up in the tiny island. Suffice to say, "Wealth" of the peninsula was concentrated in Singapore. Even the most recent Governor General of Straits Settlement did not stay in Melaka or Penang. He stays in Singapore.

I shall spare you from the nitty gritty and numbers which you can look up yourself in available history text books etc. What i wanted to say is that we should stop the notion/presumption that "Singapore started off with nothing". Not true.

Singapore starts by being the concentration of the Peninsula wealth, in the form of money, infrastructure, talents, and administration.

Sekian.

WHO MADE THE RINGGIT FELL? NAJIB OR YOU?

Fitch ratings upgraded our outlook from Negative to Stable last week. bursa and Ringgit reacted by going up at least 1%, which is good.

Today, Moody rating responded to queries by REUTERS , stating 1MDB doesn't post systematic risk to our country's financial well being. And I quote you the article here :-

"Moody's: Malaysia 1MDB does not pose systemic risk to government finances
ReutersMonday, Jul 06, 2015

HONG KONG - Malaysia's economy, its banking system and government finances are not under systemic risk from developments at state fund 1MDB, rating agency Moody's said on Monday.

Moody's said the rise in political friction has not affected the government's stance on fiscal reforms.

Moody's said in an emailed response to Reuters that developments related to 1MDB would affect the country's A3 rating only if they materially affected the trend of fiscal consolidation that supports its positive outlook.

The agency also added that last week's media reports were not specific with regards to their sources and "not much different from a lot of the developments related to 1MDB over the past year."

Suffice to say, two of the International Credit Ratings Agencies earnestly chided off allegations that 1MDB issues have any bearings to our economical and financial well being. As opposed to some Blogs, and also some news papers where sentiment and fear mongering were their modus operandi, International Credit Agencies adopt scientific measures to assess a country's financial well being. After their assessment done in due diligence, they were positive about Malaysia's wellbeing.

What then causes the Ringgit value to further deteriorates?

GREECE REFERENDUM

Malaysia is not the only one affected with currency drop, in light of Greece recent unfortunate Referendum Outcome which rejects IMF and EURO bail out packages without certainty in future policies endeavour. :-

http://www.breitbart.com/…/currency-markets-react-to-greek…/
The Euro lost 1.1 per cent to $1.0992 by 6:12 a.m. Tokyo time, its weakest level since 29 June, also slipping 1.7 per cent against the yen and 1 per cent versus the pound. The Aussie fell 0.9 per cent to 74.52 U.S. cents, the first time it’s broken 75 cents since 2009, and New Zealand’s dollar slipped 0.6 per cent.


U.S. INTEREST RATE ADJUSTMENT

“The hiking of (USA) Federal interest rates has a clear impact on emerging markets,” said Nizam Idris, Singapore-based head of foreign exchange and fixed-income strategy at Macquarie Bank Ltd. “As the Fed hikes rates,” the attraction of Malaysia’s yields will decrease, he said."
See more at: http://m.themalaymailonline.com/…/ringgit-drops-to-six-year…
In lay terms, as U.S. Fed adjusted their Interest rate upwards, cost of investment becomes higher oversea hence reduced, and demand for ringgit decreased driving our value down.

Those with strong financial background can assist in explaining the technicalities of this, and all you have to do is just to ask them.


CRUDE OIL PRICE DROP

like it our not, our country has a 29% dependency on Oil Revenue. Recent sharp drop in Crude Pricing will result in the weakening of ringgit :- price per barrel become so much cheaper and demand for ringgit to purchase or oil will be lower. This will cause our ringgit to fall too.


BAD DEPICTION OF OUR COUNTRY : POLITICAL INSTABILITY

Mind you, that your friendly neighborhood investors are not as passionate as you are in "changing your government" or "pulling down a regime". While you see these as progressive way of practicing your democratic right, hence posting negative statuses demeaning your country's leadership enthusiastically, they are busy consulting business management consultant who runs sentiment reading in sophisticated tools, telling them the utter state of instability that Malaysia is facing.

That is to say that you made them fear that investing in Malaysia will result in loss due to possible political changes/volatility (one like Thailand), thus encouraging them not to continue investing in our economy. As they pull out their money, they dump our ringgit and moved on, causing ringgit value to fall even further.


CONCLUSION

While our economic fundamentals are solid as per Fitch and Moody, the U.S. Interest rate hike, fall in crude price, Greece referendum, China's economic slowdown, and also your bad mouthing of your country contributed to the downfall of ringgit.

Unlike Tun Mahathir's time, no boogie man like Soros can be blamed this time, especially where it was the Rakyat ourselves who've contributed to it in a way.
For that, I congratulate you to create this self-fulfilling prophecy and successfully catalyzed the materializations of it.
 
Sekian.

Zee Kin Tai

Robot kills worker at Volkswagen factory in Germany

  
An assembly robot has killed an external contractor at a Volkswagen plant in Germany. According to reports, the technician was part of a team setting up the robot at the automaker’s Kassel plant when it reportedly struck him in the chest and crushed him against a metal plate. He later succumbed to his injuries.

Investigations as to how the accident occurred are underway, though initial findings indicate that human error was to blame for the mishap rather than a problem with the robot, which was operating behind the confines of a safety cage. Another technician was present but outside the cage, and was not harmed.

A spokesperson for the automaker said the robot was not a new-generation colloborative robot that works side-by-side with workers on a production line, adding that the unit – which grabs auto parts and manipulates them – had no known technical defect.

The reports added that German prosecutors were considering whether to bring charges, and if so, against whom.

Source