In Endings and Beginings

The year 2009 is about to come to an end I thought that I would drop my usual end of the year rants a day early before I get caught up in ...well activities to say that it's the end of the year and I feel perfectly fine.

This year was interesting. On the global-political front the Obama Administration took over from the Bush Administration and we saw some positive developments. Many Americans would disagree with me but there was some necessary steps taken to restore the image of the USA to what it was - a beacon of moral decency in the world. His bowing to Emperor Akhito of Japan and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia were signs of weakness but a symbolic gesture of the US's willingness to work with the world. It beats the shit out of Fag Boy's "You're ether with us or against us." The man also did the right thing by making moves to close Guantanamo Bay, a stain on America's good name. The Obama Administration should even be applauded for trying to reform healthcare, one of the big drains on America.

However, certain things remained depressingly familiar. In Israel, we had Bibi "The Used Car Salesman" Nethanyahu continuing to violate treaties with an ingenious aplomb. The World's Most Powerful Nation watched and even applauded him as he continued to allow illegal settlements to be built in the West Bank and Gaza only after he was told not to do it. As depressing as the situation is for the Palestinians who seem to get screwed at every turn, you have to admire the Israeli's for holding the USA by the balls. Napoleon didn't get it hundred percent when he said,"God is on the side of the big battalions," he should have said,"God is on the side of the guys who own the big battalions."

Of course, this was the year of economic recession and in many ways, it's nice to have Yellow Skin. While the developed economies of the West continue to struggle, the less developed nations, lead by China and to a certain extent India are leading the world recovery.

This brings me down to me. On the professional front this was an interesting year. I had Alcon to thank to keeping me in bread and butter for another year. I'm glad I had a role in helping Singapore's ophthalmologist make people more aware of the conditions that can make them go blind. Unfortunately Alcon Singapore's General Manager, Mr Kuntal Joshi moved onto greener pastures and I won't be working with Alcon again for the coming year. However, I am sure other opportunities will arise and I hope for the opportunity to make my living by doing good again.

Speaking of doing good, I had the experience of taking part in Singapore's largest disputes involving a civil society group - yes, the AWARE Saga. Although I didn't make money from taking part, it felt good to show up charlatans who abuse God's name for their own political purposes. It was also nice to work alongside many of my mother's old friends who have given me a helping hand in the past, ladies like Margie Thomas and Dana Lam are my aunties in every way except blood.

Financially I enjoyed a peak in August when my favourite boys from Chennai paid me and I also worked on my first litigation support job, working with Mr Mark Goh of Mark Goh & Co on the Zim Case. Mark has been generous in his support not only in financial terms but also in sharing ideas on how the world works. I hope our friendship will continue to develop in the Year of the Tiger.

Another highlight was arranging interviews for Mr Arun Jain, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Polaris Software Labs in September at SYBOS in China. Managed to get him interviewed in Hong Kong while staying in Singapore. Feels good to know that I can actually do things around the region - very healthy for the ego.

While the business remained fairly interesting, the most powerful developments for the year were personal. Han Li moved much of herself to Vietnam and the relationship is fading. I am slowly accepting that my contact with Thui, the first person to make me understand that life is more than just about you will kept to the few phone calls that her mother allows me to make as well as the odd birthday card. But at least I will carry the memories of those two happy months in my heart and the girls photos remain on this blog and on my Facebook profile.

With my relationship with Han Li fading, I found the worst and the best relationship of my life. Agnes Khim, also known as my Pretend Girlfriend with No Benefits was an emotional drain. In many ways you had to feel sorry for the woman trying to raise two lovely kids with not much money and trying to collect child support payments from an errant and uncaring husband. Yet what sympathy you felt was quickly evaporated when you had to listen to her brag about the rich men trying to bed her and how she had a metabolic age of 22 when her actual age of 43. I don't know what it was but this self-absorbed woman made me feel empty and lonely, especially for her children who, despite everything around them remain fairly decent and caring. Marcus, her youngest son is an adorable character as is his sister Nicolette.

On the other extreme, is my current relationship with a girl called Joyce and her three-year old boy called Yooga. I don't know what it is that brought her into my life but in the three months that Joyce and I have been together, I think I'm finally understanding that this thing called love is not a silly invention that women use to con men. Every time we are together, time stands still and I feel that my life suddenly has a purpose. I mean I'm physically there but when she's around, I feel that I am actually doing more than existing. It's almost unreal in as much as the characters who have touched her life echo the characters who have touched mine.

For once I have people happy for me that I am involved with someone. I think the usual reaction is for most people to cringe. One of my closest friends and my sister noticed a change in personality for the better. In 35-years I am actually happy with my life for all it's lack of material success and Joyce and Yooga are the reason for it. As turbulent as 2010 may look (Year of the Tiger is traditionally meant to be), I feel ready to face what I need to face with the two of them in my life.

A Christmas Worth Remembering

It was Christmas a few days ago, one of the few that I've spent in Singapore since I've come back. Somehow Christmas in this little tropical island does not seem the same as it is in Europe, where my mother makes a big deal of the occasion. Dad never celebrated it and my Aunt and Grandma treat the day like any other.

On the surface this year was pretty much like the ones I've spent in Singapore. Didn't go into the big tree thing and did not go into a huge present mode with people. I did send the usual greetings via sms and did go to the Christmas eve gathering of a friend but other than that Christmas remained quite un-Christmas like on the most superficial level.

However, it was a touching Christmas in as much as I got to spend it with Joyce and Yooga (her little boy). It was a quiet day spent at home. Joyce needed to sort a few things out and so I played with the little guy for a bit before we went out for dinner at Vivo City (one of the larger shopping malls in town). The Little Man the proceeded to run around the water body of the mall and when he was not content with that he dragged me into the water. Funny how complicated adults can get at times with the things that we want and try to aspire to. It takes a child to show you that doing something as simple as stomping your way through puddles can make you very happy.

After puddle stomping the Little Man ran down to play on a rocking horse ride that one of the shops was offering and then, when the ride was packing up, he decided that he had to help the shop pack up by ridding the horses back to the shop and that was before he decided that he had to strip down to his pampers and run around a playground.

Mummy and I took him back home and managed to put the happy boy back to bed and then spent our evening chatting away, well into the time when the birth of saviour moved into the day that commemorated the first martyr (St Stephen).

It was a good day for me. In so many ways Christmas has been all about the festival and the trappings of the festival. We need to have a large Christmas meal of certain goodies and we need to go through the ritual of giving and buying presents for each other. I am all for this but sometimes it seems that we lose sight of the real purpose of Christmas.

Speaking as a non-Christian, we need to remember that Christmas is celebrated because of the birth of Christ and whether you believe in the essential doctrine of Christianity, namely that Christ rose from the dead to save mankind, you have to accept that the birth of Christ is worth celebrating. Look at the message that Christ preached and you have to accept it as something so good and divine that you should celebrate it by being with the people that you love. Christ was about bringing God's love to all mankind and stopped essentially racist doctrines of "Chosen People."

Christianity at it's heart is the faith for the downtrodden. Christ himself was not exactly high on any social ladder. In the words of a former divinity teacher, "Jesus is the bastard son of a poor carpenter." I mean think about it, Mary was found to be pregnant before she was married and Joseph couldn't afford a better place for him to be born other than a stable. The modern equivalent is being born in the back of a mechanics garage.

Too often, particularly in materialistic societies like Singapore's, we get too caught up with certain ideas of success. By a certain age you need to own this and that to be someone and it's ironic that to a certain Church has become a bit of a business networking session. Seriously, we don't think enough of those who are downtrodden in society and instead of focusing on giving our stuff to those who don't have enough, we try and accumulate more junk than we actually need. We become bitterly unhappy because somehow we are told that if we don't have things, we are lesser people.

Again, this goes against the Christian message of being Child-like in our desires. We forget that simple things are often the things that make us happiest. I take my favourite Catholic litigator as an example of a guy who seems to have understood the message of Christ correctly. The man cycles to work and gives his time to giving free legal advice to the downtrodden. He tells me that although he's not rich he's comfortable but this has come from keeping his desires simple and giving back. He says, you have to call this "God's sense of humour." For every big case he gets, he does lots of work for the downtrodden.

A disparaging liquidator thought the man was indulging himself in a fantasy and not behaving like lawyer in a big firm. But when I look at the Catholic Liquidator's actions, I understand where he's coming from and why he's successful in every sense of the word. By doing God's work and following the Christian message of simplicity and charity, the litigator is not only commercially successful but has time for things like family.

My father also pointed out something similar to me. He says that he spent his life working for other people like my mother, my stepmother, my brother and myself. Not only did my father support a family, he also made it a point of seeing that his brothers were taken care of. Two of his brothers earned a good living off him for many years.

Now, this admittedly not Bill Gates philanthropy, but it's basic living for something other than yourself. And as my old man says, just when things look dry someone comes and gives him a job. The Buddhist call this Karmic action, the Christians call it God's reward.

Funnily enough, my business prospects look surprisingly bright despite the global economic downturn. I don't know why but I think it a lot of the better fortune I've experienced in recent months comes from the moment I decided that Joyce and Yooga were people I would sacrifice and want to care for.

It's been a three short months with Joyce and Yooga but in that time they have become so much part of my life, it's hard to remember what life was like before them. A few friends have noted that I am now more "adult" in my outlook of life. Joyce was worried that she didn't have anything to give me but truth be told, I've just received more from her that either of us realised. The simple Christmas of 2009 is a Christmas worth remembering.

The Joys and Sorrow of Going Ex-Patria

It's the slow season now and not much new business is coming my way, so I thought, what the heck - might as well spend a bit of time trying to rant a bit. I get the feeling that I need to rant more because, well after I've gone the way of the dinosaur, my rantings may be the only left of me and the thoughts that I leave may be the only thing left to irritate people for generations to come.

Anyway, I noticed an article in the papers on how Singapore continues to be a favoured destination for the Expatriate community and I have to say my initial reaction was - Well, why shouldn't it be? If you're a Caucasian, Singapore is a tropical heaven where you get your colonial fetishes indulged by well educated people as opposed to menial workers in other colonies. For the Indian and other Asian professional, Singapore is a bastion of stability and peace - neatness and order when compared to home. Speaking as a Singaporean, there seems to be an official policy to make the place so good for the expat worker that sometimes one wonders why the citizen bothers being a citizen at all.

It's easy to be a rather pissed-off Singaporean when it comes to the topic of expats living here. First the gripe was about the White Man - "Bastards come here and think they can lord it over us...." and now similar gripes are being heard about the new expats from other parts of Asia - "What the F***, these guys are pricing us out of the market..." The expats will always be better paid and live in swankier accommodation. The only thing that we, the locals don't envy them for is when they pick up local women - I remember a Malay friend of mine saying, "I'm happy for the girls who meet Ang Moh guys....they are from POOR families."

But let's leave aside the government's policy on "foreign talent" and the swank lifestyle offered to expats and try and see if we can understand things from the expats point of view. Is expat lifestyle everything that it's cracked up to be. And although my blog may give the impression dislike expats, the truth is I don't dislike anyone in particular. I'm merely unusual in the sense that I don't find expats (Particularly the Caucasian variety) particularly interesting or stimulating for being expats and I'm not afraid to make my views public. Some of my favourite drinking buddies are Caucasian and my favourite business associates are more often than not Indian Nationals or Arabs.

Further more, my mother will remind me that I was once an expat kid. My stepfather, Lee, a high ranking creative director of what was then called Lintas but is now Lowe, had the type of job that moved the family around every two years. It was thanks to him that I ended up living in Spain and then Germany and then the UK. Thanks to his job moving him all over the place, I got to spend time in Milan and Dubai.

My childhood was an exceedingly comfortable one and I hung out with kids who were from equally comfortable backgrounds (I only started becoming a street prostitute once I left the nest so to speak). International schools were fun and the houses we lived in were exceedingly cozy.

But let's look beyond the material benefits of being an expat. Life as an expat can be lonely. It's not for everyone - you somehow have to get used to the idea that you need to move around every so often. Unfortunately, expat contracts are always designed to move you around just when you've settled in (2-5 years). Just when you think you have settled down into the community .....oooppps, it's time to get going.

For some adults, this is necessary. My stepfather was one of them. The man could not settle down and for him the constant moving helped keep his mind sharp..so much so that he was a 60-year old that was more productive than many 20 year-olds in his department. But some people cannot take the uncertainty of never knowing when you get home. Moving around is fun when you are young but once you settle it becomes tougher. Kids need to be moved and the wife who may have sacrificed a career for you needs to be pacified. I've known top-level bankers in Singapore who were from Citigroup who moved to the local banks (though in higher positions) because the upward ladder meant going international at Citi.

For kids, this lifestyle can be particularly tough. You settle into a school and then you leave and you need to make a new set of friends. You tell yourself you'll keep in touch with old ones but in the pre-Facebook era, somehow things fade away. The moving was fun and it always made me a talking point at school because I was one of these weired people from elsewhere who had a life outside Hampshire. But on the flip side, I'm probably the only one who has never had a life before Public School. If you look through my Facebook profile, my earliest friends come from Public School era (11+) for the simple fact that I actually stayed at Public School beyond more than 2-years. By contrast, life at International Schools was all about moving every so often and losing touch with your friends.

Furthermore, you also change systems. When the family was in Spain, I was a British Prep-School. In Hamburg, I was at the International School (which had some of the best chicks) which was supposed to be a mixture of the Anglo-American system (Brit American not South African ;) It's not just the social life that gets screwed but you have to adapt to a different culture. After Public School, my next cultural adjustment was the army but I was over 18 by then and that's a different story from doing it at 10.

The there's the fact that the locals will never really like you. It's not just in Asia where they look at you as an outsider but even in Western Europe. It's easier in Europe in the sense that for the most part people are usually not at that much of an economic disadvantage but you still feel it. So, guess what, you got to work harder to make friends amongst the locals.

So there you have it. Life as an expat is not always what it's cracked up to be.

Say What You Like About Terrorist.......

The Other Half is fed up with living in Singapore. This morning she proclaimed, "I want to move back to China, where there is freedom of speech." To my Western or Western trained readers this might come as something of a surprise. China, despite the rapid economic growth and social advances of the last decade remains a communist dictatorship (the world's largest since the collapse of the Soviet Union) So given this fact, how can anyone describe China as having,"Freedom of Speech?" Leaving aside the fact that I'm talking about my other half, I believe the girl.

Leaving aside the Western expatriates and the Indian Nationals, one will find, more often than not, that Singaporeans are a fairly docile lot when compared to their brethren from Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and China. Things are changing, the AWARE saga was a case in point. However, chances are, if you read about protest these days, you'll find that it usually involves a group labourers from China protesting outside the Ministry of Manpower over unpaid wages. Singaporeans as a group don't do things like protest or set-up noodle stalls. Why is this so?

To be fair to Singaporeans, there's actually not too much need to think, protest or even speak. As a friend of mine often says to me,"Does it concern you? Why bother, the majority is happy and so leave it be?" He's right. Life in Singapore many not always be good but it's fairly comfortable. There's no need to think or to question why things are the way they are. Singapore is Confucius's wet dream, a place where the bureaucrat rules. The path to success is simple. Study hard, get good grades and a government scholarship to one of the world's best universities. Within ten-years you'll be without fail an exceedingly senior civil servant, paid an enviable amount of money to run the life of the nation. Of course, if you can't get a plum scholarship, at least get yourself into university and into a secure job in the civil service or a multinational company.

With the exception of street hookers like myself, everyone is exceedingly happy with the system. The people are happy because they are comfortable (no one starts a revolution of a full tummy.) The foreigners, particularly the Western Expatriates are happy - leaving aside company perks, they live in a society where the local population reveres them for being, well Western and therefore better (which to be fair, is true to a certain extent - they're allowed to do some thinking - which is in favour of the powers that be). The government likes it because the foreigners keep investing and the population remains docile. Like I've said, when you hear a Singaporean grumble about this and that, there will be a foreigner (ranging from the Bangladeshi construction worker to the well paid American Expatriate) to tell the Singaporean that they're sheltered and don't know how good life is in Singapore. As one US Navy boy said to me,"If Geylang is your worst area, wait till you see an American Inner City."

If you think about it, Singapore is the Celestial Kingdome in just about every way you can think of. If you don't like it, you can just bugger off - and guess what, there are those who bugger off but come back - I should know I was one of them. Why does anyone need to think or even speak out?

The truth is, this happy situation won't last forever. The day of large cohesive structures like governments and multinational corporations coming in and giving prosperity to the obedient masses is long over. Just look at the world's geopolitical situation today. In the old days, there were two big superpowers (USA and USSR) and everyone belonged to one camp or the other. Today, you have a big hyperpower that is bigger, stronger and richer than everyone else (USA) versus terrorist who are for the most part a group of individuals with nothing in common except an ideology. In the good old days, there were pitched battles with two opposing armies. These days, you can bomb a country to oblivion only to have one nut case stroll into your country and cause the same damage in one of your cities.

What's happened on the battle field is taking place in the business world. You have a big corporation that "owns" the market. Suddenly a few loan individuals from the big corporation leave and do their own thing and before you know it, the "big" corporation is facing extinction because the market it thought it owned is either obsolete or it turned out to be bigger than the single corporation. Remember, the computer market was all about IBM and it's hard wear. Today, IBM has sold off the hardware to Lenovo from China and is trying to compete in IT services.

Let's return to the ideology of terrorist versus soldiers. Singapore is a nation of conventional soldiers. We await for "Opps Orders" from our HQ and then we execute as we have been trained to do. We've been drilled into doing things in certain ways and that's how we'll do them. You don't question because, well that's how it's always been.

A terrorist on the other hand is a lone individual linked to a group of other individuals. The only thing uniting the people is an ideology. A terrorist gets an objective from HQ but the execution is up to him or her. He or she has to get creative to get past highly advanced security systems, while the person in question has limited resources. Much to the horror of law enforcement agencies throughout the world, terrorist are amongst the most effective users of the internet for their purposes. Like it or not, the effective terrorist are quite ingenious in their execution of their activities.

Now apply the terrorist analogy to the entrepreneur and you get the situation that you do in the USA and dare I say Communist China. In America the ideal is not to become an established politician or keg in corporate America. Americans have always worshiped the loan individual taking on the big boys and winning. The same thing is happening in China - hence the irony that the most capitalistic nation today is in fact a communist dictatorship. America is actually quite messy and China is worse but individual Americans and Chinese are highly effective thinkers. The Chinese government is quickly understanding that it can no longer control individual Chinese like it once used to. The people have tasted a certain way of life and removing it will cause a revolution. The Communist Party is searching for an ideology that it can share with the people.

Say what you like of terrorist groups but they've proven to be very effective at doing what they do. The Israeli Army crushed the combined might of several Arab armies in the 60s. Today, a more highly trained IDF has problems taking on groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. The organisation structure of these groups allows them to activate resources at the most unusual of times and it's hard to cripple them. Bomb this place and they'll pop up at that place. It takes brains to come up with such a structure and it takes emotional intelligence to get people to gladly do something that will get them killed.

Now apply that to business. Loan individuals and companies can only do so much. But when they unite and form alliances the results are amazing. You can do multinational business without spending a multinational's budget. The Chinese diaspora in South East Asia has prospered precisely because of this system. You help your clansmen and they help you. Wealth is shared and everyone benefits.

An effective businessman needs to think and that's the same for artist and scientist. Brilliant artist and scientist are constantly thinking about their objectives and thinking about how to create.

In Singapore we are very comfortable. There is no need to think, which is why we can only operate in Singapore and we can only go abroad if it's under the umbrella of the government or a multinational. Hong Kong Chinese by contrast can travel and settle overseas and thrive. Why? In Hong Kong, thinking is a necessary part of life. Communist China produces internationally sell able writers in English, a langue China is not known for being proficient in. Singapore has yet to produce a writer Singaporeans find readable.

Does this matter? Well, let's put it this way, more and more of us need to go overseas to seek a living let alone become a winner in life. The rules of the game change when you don't have big brother to think for you and throw resources your way whenever you just call for it. Then look at what happens at home. You lose to either an Indian or Caucasian at the higher end of the market or to China born labourer at the other. Why do we end up losing at home? The answer is simple - the other guy thinks and can see things we are drilled not to see. The other acts, we don't because we've been drilled into understanding that acting without permission is bad for you.

Yes, I get irritated with foreigners coming into Singapore and somehow getting jobs just like that. A lot of them are shit people. But instead of asking for a government - lead solution, let's look at why these guys can beat us on our own ground and let's see if we can work together as lone individuals united by shared ideas and a willingness to cooperate when we need to. My favourite litigator, has done something for the small law firm community in Singapore. He's set up something called Open Law, where Singapore's 600 plus small law firms can share resources and expertise to take larger cases. The idea is based on the analogy of bee-hive where small bees and can gather together and make a bear run. So, 600 plus lawyers can unite accordingly and share cases that were traditionally only available to the big boys. Everyone wins.

Thinking and cooperating individuals are good for society. Sometimes thinking individuals get out-spoken but surely this is worth nurturing if the society is means that society can prosper?

What Exactly is Governance?

Singapore's Law Minister mentioned in a speech to Harvard Alumni that "Good Governance" had helped Singapore weather the economic storm and would provide for an optimistic future for Singapore. That got me thinking - what exactly did the Law Minister mean when he talked about good governance?

Say what you like about the Singapore government but it's exceedingly efficient and for the most part effective at doing it's job. You have to give credit where credit is due. Singapore is not just an economic miracle but a social one too. The streets are clean, the atmosphere is green and you can walk along streets that are mercifully free of beggars. Most of the population lives in decent accommodation and you can do very un-third world like things like drink from the tap. Singapore does not feel like the Isle of Weight with four million people - it feels more like a pleasant suburb of London or New York. Ironically, Singapore seems to be the only place I've lived in where the foreigners are happier than the locals. We, the local population are constantly grumbling about this and that. It's the foreigners who tell us that there's no reason to complain, life is pretty darn good here as compared to elsewhere - and I'm talking about Bangladeshi construction workers, highly paid senior executives from the US and Europe are the ones expressing these sentiments.

Infrastructure is not the only thing the government gets right. By and large, you can do a lot of government transactions online. You cannot just bribe officials and the government acts pretty quickly during crisis. During the SARS period, the government had an emergency plan, which it unfolded when H1N1 came into play. It was also quick to announce a host of measures to ensure the vulnerable were able to bear the worst of the economic crisis. I agree with the basic idea the government has when it comes to helping people - helping them help themselves rather than giving out right cash donations.

Having said all of that, I'm still wondering what exactly the Law Minister meant when he talked about governance. Yes, the government of the day runs exceedingly well, baring that incident of not having a basic window grill to keep number one terrorist in jail. However, one has to ask if he's implying that this government is going to be hanging around for all eternity?

Let's live in the real world here. The government of the day will only last as long as it's ministers and civil servants are somewhat capable. This will not be forever and although the system is seemingly so well designed to get people of a similar calibre into parliament, there is no guarantee that the governments of the future will be as capable as the one we have today. So the question remains, can Singapore deal with an "incompetent," let alone "rogue" government?

In this respect, the answer would have to be a depressing no. Singaporeans are dependent on government decisions to get moving. The civil service is a large employer as are the Temasek Linked companies. You get young Singaporeans like my favourite Young Politician who says,"You need the government to PLAN the economy." - He's not wrong. Singapore's government actually gets involved in selecting "economic winners" for the economy. The situation has been a case of so far so good. But what happens if the government were ever to make a mistake?

There is a frightening lack of checks on government power. The Elected President in theory has the ability to say no when it comes to unlocking the reserves but the theory falls short when the Elected President is a consistently unopposed government servant who does as he is told. Furthermore, the government always has the option of going to the people should the President say no (government has a machinery, the point of having the elected President is that he does not).

The less said about the press to act as an independent watch dog on government power, the better. Editors for the most part are political appointees and part of their function is "knowing" what is "acceptable" news about the powers that be.

Once again, this situation is acceptable as long as the government gets at least eighty percent of things right. But then again, is it getting as much of it right as we like to assume. I mean so far things work so why should complain right? I mean does it really affect me if the top terrorist in Singapore waltzes out of jail and the government's main holding company loses money in dubious investments?

Well, perhaps these things don't matter in as much as they have yet to hit the pocket of the average Joe? However, one has to look at the government's response to these events and if you look at them carefully, there are worrying signs of arrogance and complacency? During the Mas Selamat incident, there was actually a feeling that the Home Affairs Minister should have offered his resignation as a sign of accountability from the top. He didn't and funnily enough the tax paying and voting public got scolded for being complacent for expecting the government to do a job it was elected and paid to do. Then when it comes to the performance of our Soverign Wealth Funds, you find the Finance Minister coming up with spectacular accounting ideas on how the funds actually made money even though a primary school kid can calculate the value of the shares when the government bought into the companies and the shares today.

Surely as a member of the public I have every right to expect honest answers from the government that I help elect and pay for? If the government does not think that it has an obligation to be honest to it's voting public, what does that it say about the government - do they have something to hide and if they do have something to hide can it be a sign of competence? If this how the competent and honest government of the day behaves when it comes to accountability, who knows how future governments will behave, particularly they have the current role model.

Then you have the obvious fact that governments cannot control everything. This is the day and age of the internet. Technology has made top-down, we know it all systems obsolete. It was former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tony Tan who said it best, "Our choice was liberalise or die." Back in the 60, it was easy to build economic prosperity. All one had to do was to create the conditions for multinationals to set up shop and employ the masses.

But these days, Singapore is fighting in a different market. China will always be able to make things cheaper and India will always do the outsourcing work better. So what is there left for places like Singapore? Even the edge of physical infrastructure is not what it used to be. Cross to Causeway and you may find, contrary to what the Singapore media may tell you, a place that is fairly modern and slick too. I have never felt unsafe in Johor.

Is there a top-down solution to all of this? I think the best top-down approach is to prepare the people to think for themselves. Singaporeans live relatively well because there are decent enough paying jobs from the government and multinationals - all you have to do is to accept a foreigner as your superior. We accept foreigners here because they seem to have the skills we don't have. But then again, why don't we have the skills necessary for the modern economy? It's a question that good governance needs to answer for.

The Problem with Hype

This is probably a very strange posting for a PR consultant, particularly a Singaporean one, to post but I believe that the last few weeks have given us an important lesson in the value of hype. As usual, the source of the post has something to do with a discussion I had with the other half on the value of hiring Wank Stains from the West to work in Asia and then there was also the question of Dubai World asking for a moratorium on it's debts.

Let's put it this way, we live in a world where "Image" counts. Like it or not, doing the business and being good at doing the business is not enough to get ahead these days. One has to project an image of being able to do the business. I remember being told by Monica Alsagoff, CEO of Communications DNA, "It's not about the best person for the job, but the person who sells him or herself best."

It's important to have an image and it is important to create impressions and that's not just something the PR people made up to stay in a job. What's the point in being good if nobody knows you? As a small one-man PR consultancy, it's important for me to constantly toot my own horn and ensure that people know me for all the wonderful things I can do for them. If nobody knows me, I don't get hired and so I end up living on the breadline. It's the same for my clients. I sell the image they want to project that helps bring in the sales and drives their business. Of course, I can't claim all the credit - a lot of it has to go to the chaps in the advertising and marketing agencies too. But you get my point, we need sell images to drive business.

Image and aggressively selling your image is particularly important when you are a small player. Everyone knows the "big" boys and the things they can do. So why should the customer go to the small guy? The answer is because the small boy sells an image of certain advantages that the big boy's don't have. Avis and Pepsi were proud users of the image of, "We're Number 2, so we work much harder for you."

Small countries have taken the importance of branding and image selling to heart. Singapore has spent years shouting to the world that it's a secure little red dot in a sea of insecurity. It's become second nature for us to shout to the world every time we buy a new piece of military hardware or security system - "It's to keep your money safe, Mr Foreign Investor." We also cannot help bragging about how rich and successful we are despite our lack of natural resources. It's not true to say that Singapore is a Little Red Dot - it is a Red Dot with an over-sized megaphone. The world loves Singapore because somehow, they've managed to believe everything we've told them about ourselves. -We're small but secure and rich and filled with people willing to make you rich. We have the best airport and the best airline and the best port and the best food and the best women and the best ding dongs this side of the South China Sea.

Dubai has learn t from us. Prior to the collapse of the global financial system two years ago, Dubai was "The" place to be in the Middle East. Dubai's propaganda machine followed Singapore's into over drive. The rest of the GCC was supposedly old fashioned, boring, dependent on oil, closed to every modern idea known to man and generally not a place you want to put your money let alone live in. Dubai by contrast was fun, free and wide open for business. Before you knew it, Dubai's airline was competing with Singapore's for the title of World's best and the airport was "The" duty free shop of the world. A host spectacular building projects were announced and anyone who was anyone had to be seen in Dubai. The hype machine worked so well that when I worked for Aramco, the poor Saudi's kept getting asked, "Which part of Dubai are you from?" The poor Saudi's could only ask me if, "Geography is taught in Singapore."

Image counts. Small city states like Singapore and Dubai push the image and the investors come and create an economic boom. Small companies do the same as do many people. Richard Branson makes a fortune selling "Image" particularly his own - the moment you see "Virgin," plastered onto anything, you think of this wild, hip, environmentally chap who is so rich that he can flap around in a balloon while you're slogging at the office - and he's not like the "old foggie" billionaire too. So, you buy his coke, cds etc and fly his airline cause you want to get a piece of him.

Branson plays the image of a small boy trying to have fun so well that when British Airways tried to sue him for poaching passengers, he somehow positioned it as him being bullied by the sour grapes at BA and before you knew it, British Airways were the ones paying him and everyone though BA were so mean to little Richard.

Hype works and it's good to have an image. Being known for things gets products and services sold! As Donald Trump, another one man publicist says, "Toot your own horn."

All that is all very true and well. However, hype without substance is actually down right dangerous for the seller and the buyer. I mean it is important to get known for something but you need to REALLY good that something everyone knows you for. Although Richard Branson and Donald Trump are known for their business acumen thanks to the publicity they attract, non of them have ever ran a listed company. Being listed is not necessarily a sign of business talent too but listed companies have a way of enduring in ways that one men shows do not. Part of that reason is because the management of a listed company has to be answer questions from shareholders as well as the media - The underlying business of a listed company MUST BE REAL in order to face the scrutiny of people like analyst. Richard Branson is famously evasive about the profits of the group (Our model lets us think LONG TERM) while Donald Trump makes such a song and dance about spectacular buildings without telling you about the mortgage he took out.

Dubai is now discovering that being the best known destination in the GCC as it's downside. All was well when "Hot" money flew in but now that Dubai World can't make a timely payment, questions about the integrity of the system are being raised. By contrast, nobody is pulling out of the "Economic Cities," that the Saudi's are building. The reality on the ground is that Saudi Arabia has a "Real" economy with real consumers. Yes, the Saudi economy is still very much dependent on oil and high oil prices have helped keep the Saudi economy afloat. However, Saudi Arabia's efforts to move away from oil dependence are real too and not just based on property speculation. Saudi Basic Industries Ltd (SABIC) really does make petro-chemicals and does a good job of it. As a matter of face SABIC did buy GE's petro-chemical unit.

The importance of having substance to back up the hype also applies to Singapore. Think of how "secure" Singapore is and what do you think of but Mas Selamat limping out of a secure facility and swimming to Johor and lying out there for a year while the Minister of Home Affairs kept insisting that our intelligence (best in the region) told him he was still in Singapore. So despite all the ads about how great the boys at the Ministry of Home Affairs are, most of us just snigger when you discuss security in Singapore. As a friend of mine said, "When the casino's get built and the crooks move in, do you think the Singapore Police Force can handle it, -they haven't actually fired their pistols outside the range."

The government is probably aware of this, which is why it continues to sell Singapore to Indonesian tourist. Singapore has wonderful medical facilities but if you go to any of our private hospitals, chances are you'll see a lot of Chinese chit-chatting away in Bahasa. A private banker friend of mine had to camp in Jakarta rather than stay in Singapore - the people with real money are simply not here.

By all means, hype yourself up but make sure you can back it up because once it's shown that you can't, it's a big job trying to repair the damage.

Let me end with a confession. Today, one of my most loyal customers is Polaris Software Labs Limited, an Indian IT company listed in Mumbai. My relationship with Polaris started when they gave me a job I was sure would end in failure but somehow the project succeeded. Ever since then, I've been honest with Polaris about what I can deliver and delivered and they've continued to stick with me.

My largest failure was actually Remey Martin, where I told the client I had managed to do allot of stuff. I didn't deliver other than a mention in an article that I wrote for the trade press. The client was not impressed and insisted I return the deposit.

Both these events took place in the same year and that underlined one important lesson to me - under promise and over deliver. Hype may get you noticed and may get people excited about working with you. But when delivery is not imminent, it becomes obvious and sooner or later when you don't deliver people walk away from you. It was a lesson I learned the hard way and so when people come to me, I make it a point to keep their expectations real.