A case of mistaken identity

Yesterday, I was in a news agent in Singapore. I was buying a few envelopes and a newspaper. The total was quite small and involved two one dollar notes, among other denominations.



I took the money from my wallet, identifying them by their colours, from above and placed them before the shop assistant at the till.



He took up one of the notes, but, oddly, left the other two on the table before him. He looked up at me then, expectantly, saying nothing with his voice, but everything with his eyes. His message was clear: "This is not right."



After about 30 seconds of him staring at me, in silence and I becoming gradually aware of his gaze, I looked down at the notes to see why he had left them there.



Both were 50 RM notes, not 1 RM notes. I had nearly overpaid by 98 RM!



"Thank you for your honesty.", I said, thankful indeed, because he could easily have taken the money and I wouldn't have noticed.



Now, you may be thinking me foolish to make such a mistake with money, but perhaps I should explain how easily this can occur in Malaysia, to a newcomer. You see a 1 RM (Ringgit) note is blue in colour - so it may seem easy to pick it out, in a wallet. However, the problem is a 50 RM note is ALSO blue in colour. This is really confusing, since they look rather similar. There are ways to distinguish them, but these can easily be overlooked: the 1 RM note is somewhat smaller than the 50 RM note (though this is not obvious to someone new to the money) and, of course, 1 and 50 are written on the notes, though not in a manner which stands out, at all. Basically, without close examination, they can easily be confused and used, for each other.

It is just a little suggestion, by an outsider to Malaysia - but would it not be better if ALL Malaysia's banknotes were of different colours, designs and sizes? Or at the very least, they should be coloured differently. Were this so, my mistake of yesterday would be unlikely to occur. As it is, I have to wonder how many visitors to Malaysia are, unknowingly, being very generous with their tips!

(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.

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A lesson in economics for a child.

My childhood was not like my son's is turning out to be. For a start his is in a different country and this makes more difference than I had thought it would.

Today is an example. At school a circular was sent around to all the children. It was a slip of paper, rather oddly, containing economic information. It told these primary school children that prices were to rise in the school food outlets, "owing to the rise in the price of flour". I found this stupefying. Not even children are immune to economic alarm. Here they were being told a) their food prices were going to rise and b) a reason and justification for why this was to be. Amazing. I don't remember my childhood being like that. We were completely insulated from economic information. Maybe that is why we didn't all grow up being obsessed by money-making at the expense of any other social or human value.

I can see, now, why so many Singaporeans grow up to be concerned with money and money alone. The indoctrination that money is everything begins in primary schools with such subtle lessons as an economics lesson masquerading as a slip of paper.

I have had a good look back at my own childhood and I don't remember a single corresponding incident. However, this may be because in government schools in my childhood the food was free to all. There were no price rises because there was no price in the first place. It was regarded as a social boon that every child, no matter from what background, or however poor they might be, would receive at least one "good" meal a day. I say "good" because the food was, of course, of institutional quality.

It has taken my son's experience with this financial notice, from his school, to awaken me to how sheltered children in Britain were in the seventies and eighties, from economic realities. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Well, it depends what you value. If you value a child's peace of mind and ability to relax and enjoy the only period of their life that could reasonably be free from worry (if only we would let them be)...then I think it is best that children are not troubled by economic understanding. It would only add to their worries. However, if you wish to create a nation of people who begin to be concerned with money at the earliest possible age and who will go on to make it their primary concern throughout life - then, by all means, send little price rise notices and explanations around the school for the children to become economically awakened.

This method seems to work. I had a conversation about economics today with Ainan. (A very unusual occurrence.) He was rather surprised at the contents of the slip of paper and felt a need to discuss it with me.

The economic awakening has begun. To where will it lead?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The value of Science in Singapore

Singapore is a materialist nation. Just how materialist became clear to me today.

We were attending a biomedical science lecture, with Ainan, 7, and after the lecture we were given a tour of the lab facilities. Outside one particular lab, the scientist in question asked the audience for their questions.

There was a pause while people collected their thoughts - and then the questions began. In the context of a science lecture and a science lab, I expected scientific questions - but that is not what came from the audience.

The first question was: "How much is the budget of this department?"

The scientist deflected the question.

The second question: "How much do these prosthetics cost?"

He answered it: "A piece this size is about 2,000 dollars."

The third question: "What is the value added here?"

Answer: "They sell for about 5,000 dollars."

No-one but us asked any questions that were scientific. We asked ones about the nature of research done - after the crowd had moved on.

Science in Singapore has, for most of the population, no value apart from the money it can make. I am not being critical of the people who asked these questions: I am just observing that their values are purely economic. They don't see value in science for science's sake. True scientists, of course, see value in science itself; value in the pursuit of knowledge, understanding and insight of the world. Yet, in Singapore, nothing, really has any value unless a dollar sign can be attached to it.

The adults in the audience were all parents of children who were interested in science. Yet, the parents' interest was purely and clearly: how much money will my child make if they go into science? The question about departmental budget was an indirect reference to how much money the scientists themselves are likely to make.

There was another question that I omitted to mention - one about turnover. "How many of these do you sell?" I took it to mean per year - and so did he.

He answered. There were no more questions. The audience had managed to assess the financial possibilities of this particular science department.

The exchange was, for me, the most unexpected of things to happen. It never occurred to me that the obsession over money extended so deeply into the local population that science, itself, had no value apart from the economic ones.

I grew up to believe in the value of science for science's sake. It is a value that I assumed all scientists to have. However, perhaps I should revise that opinion. Perhaps in some parts of the world, the only value of science, is in dollar terms.

The question then is, of course: if science is only valued in terms of dollars - would the resulting science - pursued for economic reasons alone - have any true value as science? It may be that pursuit of dollars, alone, might prevent the pursuit of higher, deeper truths. It may be that dollar-driven science might overlook everything that is of lasting importance in science. That danger has clearly not occurred to Singaporeans. The only scientific danger here is that it just might not pay as much as banking.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The Singaporean Way Of Life: Money

Everything in Singapore has a price tag. Perhaps that is the inevitable consequence of adopting free market principles in all areas. Everything is determined to have a value - and so everything ends up with a price.

I have been here so long that I have half forgotten what used to be free in London, when I lived there: healthcare, education, Museums (when I was younger), were just the beginning of it. Many things seemed to be rights for all, and not something to be bought only if you could afford it. In Singapore, nothing is free, not even government services - and don't ever get sick (the hospital bill will make you sicker).

I have got used to it, however. I have also come to see the benefit of putting a price to everything: although everything has a price, one thing is much, much lower: central taxation. Government taxation on income starts at...wait for it...3.75 %. That is not a typo. Tax is THREE POINT SEVEN-FIVE %, at the base rate. This doesn't kick in until 20,000 dollars: below that, tax is zero. It works its way up as income rises, to reach a peak of 21%, for incomes in excess of 320,000 dollars. Then there is indirect taxation: presently a 5 % Goods and Services Tax, soon to rise to 7 %. All in all, however, it is a low tax burden - and many Singaporeans pay no income tax, at all, once thresholds and reliefs are taken into account.

The low tax regime even extends to the "afterlife". This, as a father of three, and a long-term thinker, I find attractive. I want to be able to leave my estate, whatever it might be, intact to my descendants. Anyone who is thinking clearly, and has dependants, would like to be able to do that. In Singapore, the Death Duties are rather different to that in the US (up to 55 %, there, I understand), and other developed nations like the UK (40 %). In Singapore, the first eight million dollars of property in an estate is ZERO-RATED. You pay no death duty at all. After that there is a five per cent duty to be paid. This means that Singaporeans and foreign residents can leave their estates largely intact to the following generations. This is a big draw to long-term thinkers who want to build something for their family - and might be one of the reasons that wealthy foreigners are drawn here.

Company taxes are low, too, at 20%. There are lower tax regimes - the so-called "tax havens", worldwide - but as developed countries go, Singapore's tax structure is quite friendly - with obvious benefits to the nation of inward investment.

So, in Singapore, everything has a price - but you just might have more of your money in your pocket to spend on things. It is not such a bad system, after all. Most people would prefer to have more of their money to spend, as they choose, than taxed away, and spent by others, without any power to decide how it is used. Here, at least, that choice applies, largely speaking.

This post is just an occasional glimpse at Singapore, that I will give, in addition to my usual genius/prodigy/gifted/education posts. Thanks.