Singapore's Richest Top 40: a comment.

Singapore's richest have, despite the recession, managed to get richer. The aggregate wealth of the top 40 has risen from 32 billion US dollars, to 39 billion US dollars since last year.

Ng Teng Fong, 81, was named the richest man at 8 billion US dollars, who has managed to gain a billion dollars over the year. The greatest "riser", however, was Kuok Khoon Hong, 60, who rose 2.2 billion US dollars to 3.5 billion US dollars. Ex-remisier Peter Lim rose from 1.1 billion US dollars to 1.5 billion US dollars. He remains in seventh position. I have omitted the full detail because it is not available in the online sources I have seen - that was reserved for print editions of newspapers.

Anyway, it is telling that 19 of the top 40 gained wealth over the year, with only 13 out of 40 losing it. The others were presumably stable. To my mind this means that Singapore's rich have fared very well in the recession that has affected so many others rather badly.

So, the rich are still getting richer...my question is: are the poor getting poorer? A much more enlightening list would be a list of Singapore's bottom 40...as it were: the Top 40 Poorest People in Singapore. That is a list I would be much more interested in reading for it would be a list with a lot more to say about the REALITY of Singapore, today, for so many people.

It is a myth, for instance, that Singapore is a rich country. It is not. It has a few rich people in it...but almost all the wealth is concentrated in a tiny strata at the top of society...everyone else is struggling just to make a basic living. The government owned leased flats called HDB are filled with families with barely enough to live on. There is a lot of untold suffering in modern day Singapore. Largely, this is the result of such economic policies as no minimum wage, the import of cheap foreign labour to depress salaries across a wide range of jobs, over-inflated public housing that appears to be much more expensive than it should be (ie. it could be built for much less I am sure). There are many, many poor people in Singapore. There are, however, only a few rich ones. This is recognized in the Gini coefficient for Singapore being among the world's highest for a developed country - that is the disparity between the earnings of the rich, and the earnings of the poor is great.

I wish I had the information to hand, to be able to compile a list of the top 40 poorest people in Singapore. It would have a lot of interesting things to say about what is really going on in Singapore. For instance, would the poorest be from racial minorities? This is likely given the racial attitudes so prevalent in Singapore. How difficult would their daily lives be? Could they afford enough to eat - or would they be, like an old woman I saw once, foraging for leaves in a public space?

I have no doubt that the net worth of the poorest 40 people in Singapore would be negative. They would, literally, be people without money. The saddest thing about compiling such a list is that there would be SO much competition for spaces on it. There are really a huge number of effectively poor people in Singapore. Deciding just who was the poorest would be very difficult indeed. The rich list, on the other hand, is easily compiled since there are so few competitors. For the poor list, there would be hundreds of thousands of people vying for the titles (in a population of 4.8 million).

The top 40 richest people is a meaningless list. It says nothing about what is really going on in Singapore. Just because a handful of people are wealthy, it does not mean that the average person is well off. Indeed, of all the developed countries I have been to, I have never seen a country in which the AVERAGE person has such modest wealth. Singaporeans are not rich - they are just TOLD they are rich. In reality, it is a nation of relative paupers. Surveys of purchasing power, put Singaporeans very low down the list of nations. (Over three times less purchasing power than Switzerland, for instance...and about the same as the typical Malaysian).

If there is one idea I would like to dispel, today, it is the myth that Singaporeans are wealthy. The Singaporean state is wealthy, yes; the government ministers and MPs are wealthy, yes; a few tycoons are wealthy, yes - but the average person in Singapore is worse off than the average Russian (the same survey I saw referenced above).

The only problem with compiling a top 40 poorest person list is that the media in Singapore would never give it coverage - because the image of national financial success must be maintained at all costs. However, in some ways, it is not necessary. Anyone who has actually lived in Singapore and actually been to several other developed countries - and even many developing ones - cannot have failed to notice how little wealth (in real terms of what they are able to buy), average Singaporeans actually have. Why else would over 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in what, in other countries, would be viewed as slum dwellings? (HDB apartment blocks)

Singaporeans will never be truly well off, unless the whole economic philosophy of the country changes. Issues such as the ridiculously high Gini coefficient need to be addressed - perhaps with a minimum wage; it seems unwise, from a humanitarian point of view, to constantly depress wages with cheap foreign labour; the population should be held in check, because more people means less living space for everyone. There are so many things that need to change...I won't make a long critical list, for anyone who has lived here should be able to do so. One thing is clear, though: the present direction of the nation is towards a more unaffordable society, with greater wealth disparities, more overcrowded and less livable. In such a place, the proportion of effectively poor people will only grow. Is this the Singapore that people want?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The Uncharitable Charity Shops of Singapore.

Singapore is a funny place: even the charity shops are out to con you. I shall explain.

In the UK, there is a tradition of having charity shops on most major High Streets. These are shops which resell donated goods at very, very low prices. If curiosity has ever led you into one of these places, you cannot have failed to have been surprised at the quality of the goods on offer, and the low prices for which they are on sale.

There is, for instance, a charity shop in one London High Street, well known for having designer clothes on sale, for a few pounds each. These are clothes that would cost perhaps a hundred times that, if bought new. Yet, oddly, the clothes look new because they have been donated by people who had only worn them a few times before tiring of them. So, a lucky shopper in any such shop can end up with some very good bargains indeed.

Now, let us compare the UK situation with that in Singapore. There is a shop here called the Salvation Army store. It is built on the same model as the UK stores - it resells goods that are freely donated. Yet, there is a very big difference between the UK charity shops and the Singaporean ones. Here, in Singapore, the items are resold at pretty close to FULL price. There really is very little difference in price between buying the item new, in a conventional store, and secondhand in a charity store - at least, this is true for most goods, excluding books, which are very cheap (because they are usually in very bad condition). This judgement on pricing is made with reference to the differentials observed in the UK between charity shop goods and the original price and the same goods on sale in Singapore's "charity shops".

I found this situation rather startling when I first noticed it. You see, the Singaporean situation goes completely against the idea of a charity shop, as it was originally intended. In the UK such shops are intended to provide a service to people of lesser income so that they can access goods that they might not otherwise be able to afford. In Singapore, however, it is clear that the idea of a "charity shop" is to profit as much as possible from the freely given donations of the people. There is no sense of doing a service to the community - or, at least, the pricing of the goods in the Salvation Army store does not lead one to believe that service is their primary goal.

In a way, it is sad, for it indicates that the pursuit of the almighty dollar (the national obsession of Singapore) has corrupted even the charity sector. There is no real sense of wishing to do a service, here, to help the community: there is only the opportunism that comes from recognizing that goods freely donated have not been paid for, cost nothing and, therefore, if sold at close to the original price, will generate very good profits indeed. How sad.

I cannot recall seeing such uncharitable "charity shops" in any other nation, but Singapore. Perhaps, then, this is another "No.1" that Singapore can be proud of: No.1 in being as uncharitable and mercenary as possible.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Fintan's big cycling day.

This is a simple post of congratulations, so that, one day, my son Fintan, six, might know exactly, on which day, he learnt to cycle, properly.

Today, Fintan tried to cycle, on a bicycle without support wheels, for the very first time. He was advised by his brother, Ainan.

Fintan was most pleased to find that he could cycle, without any support rather quickly, so that, though it was his first attempt to do so, he was balancing well, without falling almost at once.

Well done Fintan!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

A nation of self-important people.

There seem to be quite a few self-important people, here, in Singapore. At least, that is my interpretation of a certain behaviour I have observed.

It has long irritated me that quite a few people, here, in education, in Singapore, just don't answer emails. That is, I write to them...and they don't write back - or they promise to do so, but then don't. This latter tactic was the one invariably used by the Compulsory Education Unit, (who deal with homeschooling permission) who were always promising to "revert shortly" - but who never did, of course.

My view on the multiple people who fail to write back is that they consider themselves too important to be seen to write back to a query from the parent of a child discussing the education of said child. It is either that, or that they consider such education, in itself, unimportant. Anyway, it comes across that they seem to think themselves above others, to such an extent that they shouldn't even bother to acknowledge them.

They never seem to consider the impression this makes, nor on the fact that word of their behaviour tends to be spread further afield, through the people I know (and the people others know, who have been similarly treated). It seems that they don't value the word of mouth that they are generating. Again, this seems to show a certain disdain for the "people".

What is funny about this is that, supposedly, the people I have been writing to are meant to "serve the people" - but it seems that, in actual fact, they serve nothing but their own egos. It is tiring, of course, having to deal with their tendency to silence...making it just one more indelible impression of modern Singapore. After a while, the overall impression is not so pretty...not as pretty as the PR for the state, would have us believe.

I have written to several people, in education, recently, and not received replies. After a while, it makes one realize that, perhaps, it is just not worth putting up with. There are alternative options, out there.

I will take the time to examine them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)