For small states, international law is not a luxury. It is a lifeline. Singapore lacks the vast territories, deep resources and overwhelming military might that allow great powers to bend the world to their will. Rules and norms are our shield; they anchor our prosperity, protect our shipping lanes and allow us to negotiate as…
Today is the first day of the Gregorian solar calendar. January 1st 2023. Although the vast majority of countries marks time according to this calendar, it’s not the only one. Until the 1500s, the western world used another solar calendar to mark time – the Julian calendar. Some countries that follow the Orthodox Church still…
Recently there has been much talk about HDB (and general property) prices, and suggestions on how to bring them down. Some have come from a well-intentioned, good friend who now wants to keep a low-profile, so I won’t mention names, in case I get him into more trouble. Politics is not only the art of…
QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 – DOING ONE’S DUTY A meme cartoon that has been going viral in the UK has the late Queen Elizabeth walking away, holding Paddington Bear’s hand. She says “I’ve done my duty.” If one is reading the obituaries in the British papers today, this is the enduring theme – that the Queen…
The Workers Party leadership has admitted they knew Raeesah Khan lied months before she confessed in Parliament. They claim that they gave her time to talk to her family, and wanted her to confess personally in Parliament. The problem is that the timeline of events does not add up. The WP has revealed that they…
GST INCREASE (2022-2025) I do not doubt that we would need more tax revenues in the near-future for two reasons. One, GST increase was already planned as we expect an increase in expenditure from an ageing population, amongst other reasons. It would be however nice if the Government could give some indication about the details…
An excerpt of a speech I made in Parliament about minimum wage. “Finally I turn my attention to the issue of minimum wage which no doubt will be much debated in these chambers today. I will not be-labour the arguments for and against minimum wage as even professional economists cannot agree. There are empirical studies…
A World Economic Forum report has forecast that machines will do half of all work tasks by 2025. The WEF has said a ‘robot revolution’ will create 97 million jobs worldwide, but will destroy just as many. Many of the jobs created cannot be filled by those whose jobs are destroyed. Routine and manual jobs…
I do not usually post about my business as I like to keep my socio-political commentary separate. Jobs are at stake, and some parties are proposing populist solutions. I would thus like to share my story. I am the co-Chairman of an educational technology company in China which I led to an IPO on the…
I am seeing a certain group of voters talking non-stop about taking down PAP’s supermajority. This is also the rallying call of some political parties, including the Worker’s Party. Quite a few of their new candidates are Western-educated. Their point is that the PAP’s supermajority has to be taken away so they cannot change the…
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