Coffeeshop Talk - The Simple Things in Life

Today at my local coffeeshop, I saw the aunty preparing empty condensed milk cans for customers to take-away coffee or tea in. This was popular in the old days in Singapore up till the late 70s. After that, coffee stalls prefer to use plastic bags or polystyrene foam cups. The prepared cans certainly look quaint and nostalgic and so I took some photos of them. The aunty was surprised and remarked that only rich people can be fascinated by things like that.

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"Why is that so?" I asked.

"It is only when you are rich, stomach full and have nothing to worry about that you appreciate such simple things," she replied.

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"But one does not need to be rich to appreciate the simple things in life," I said.

"Yes, but people are not like that nowadays," she retorted.

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Then, she told me that her neighbours' children on their first salary (of mere SGD3,000/month) went off to buy a car, spend all their salary away every month, then ask their parents for money. How times have changed! In my time, with whatever little we have, we still give monthly allowance to our parents. Then, these neighbour's children gone on to have extravagant weddings in 5-star hotels, expensive photo shoots, honeymoon, luxury apartment, and got divorced after their second kid. Isn't it akin to running on treadmills?

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One doesn't need to be rich to appreciate the little simple things in life. Just looking at the tin cans reminded me of my childhood and the lifestyle of that time. It is a beautiful feeling, and hence the photos. Besides, I am not anywhere as rich as they think I am. So one can be financially poor to appreciate the simple things in life!

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Perhaps parents in Singapore are too busy working and making money instead of imparting values to their children. As a result, children grow up adoring money and material wealth. After some time, they think that material wealth is all that matters. It is said in jest that when a man is poor, he longs to find a wife and when he becomes rich, he divorces his wife!

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I told the coffeeshop aunty that my nieces and nephews are lucky as their mother stayed at home to bring them up and so they are inculcated with moral values from young. They love the family and gravitate towards home to be with everyone. If home is where love is, kids will gravitate towards it to find their serenity. Such serenity secures them and cushions them against the onslaught of the daily harsh materialism we commonly find in our societies.

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Then just before I left the coffeeshop, she marveled that I am well educated and therefore need not take into buying 4D (the weekly lottery). I couldn't believe what I heard at that instance, so I merely shook my head in reflection and left.

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Coffeeshop Talk

Today at the coffeeshop, I asked the auntie why she is glum and she retorted that she didn't strike 4D (lottery) and therefore there is no cause to smile. I asked if she had noticed if the people queuing up at 4D shops smile, but she didn't reply.

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It is common to see people looking glum in Singapore because they have not struck lottery. Compulsive gamblers become perpetually glum.

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I have two lady friends who have divorced their husband because of the latter's addiction to gambling. And these are educated men in respectable professions, one a teacher and the other a policeman, both fallen to the devil of greed.

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Recently, there is a rich man who lost 26 million dollars within 3 days in a casino in Singapore. It must have been a great pain and suffering for his family and him. It hurts me just thinking of it. More so in this case, as he is someone I know and went to the same kindergarten class in our early years.

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Gambling is a social ill. For one to win, many have to lose. Stay away from it.

Coffeeshop Talk

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At my neighbourhood coffeeshop today, the coffee auntie asked if I have been to the newly opened casino in Sentosa (Singapore). I told her that I haven't since I don't gamble. She was surprised since many others here love gambling to the extent of taking it almost like a religion.

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I told her that I believe in the teachings of Buddha, and that in gambling, for me to win, many have to lose. She was amazed and then confessed that she is a Buddhist, but couldn't get herself to understand some of the principles in Buddhism that encourages people to live a less materialistic life. She then related to me that her friend had just spent $18,000 to bring a Buddhist monk into Singapore ( I assumed it's for blessings), but still that had not got her anywhere (read 'made her rich').

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I explained that faith is in the heart and not in the matter of spending money to bring priests and monks to bless oneself and gain merits. She listened intently, but seem confused and then walked away.

What will you resort to with the Integrated Resort? - Part 2

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He is doing it again! The landlord is asking for a higher rent. Last year, he asked for a 36% rise. We settled for 17%. This year he wants a whopping 81% rise on the new lease, from the already risen rent. Compounded from the two years, it is a 114% rise.
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This time, I have to move out. The agent claimed that she has not received my sms notice to her to extend the lease. I can't prove that I have sent the sms, and even if I could, I cannot prove that she has received it. So, this is futile. Besides, I cannot endure more of her persistent resort to the letter of contract saying that legally I must move out. He is now giving me about three weeks to move out. The alternative is eviction.
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I have just spoken directly to the landlord. He told me my lease has expired and that if I have no where to go, it is not his problem. He said that I knew my lease was ending and should have been proactive. But shouldn't the agent be proactive too as I am paying her to take care also of my interest? Apparently, both the landlord and her are turning a deaf ear to compassion and choose to take the legal route, which I have no grounds of winning. Even my appeal to extend for another two months so that I can find another flat to stay, on the current rent, was turned down.
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I will move out. My appeal has gone to uncaring ears. My landlord, an ex-Member of Parliament, probably knows his legal rights and moral wrongs better than I do.
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I wonder how many more people are experiencing this. There is no rent protection laws in Singapore. The Parliament has decided to leave it to market forces. But, what market forces? Property prices have risen, but surely not by 114% in the area where I live. So what justifies the phenomenal rent increase? It is still the same apartment I live in. In fact it has since aged by 4 years, with duller paint, squekier fixtures and the faded curtains.

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So, the property inflation is speculation. This will soon lead to a property bubble burst. We are accentuating the boom-bust cycles, which the majority will lose. (Watch the impending credit crunch that is coming up that will impact the market. See also, here.)
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This is the early effects of the announcement of the Integrated Resort (read casino). Speculations are rife. Apartment blocks as new as ten years old are torn down to build taller smaller units that sell for higher profits. Not very good for the environment as it is such a waste of resources. It's all about money!
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I have taken this as a calling. A calling that I will put up a blog post series documenting the effects of the integrated resorts. I believe more problems are coming. Already, we have family breakups due to the legalising of soccer bettings and their availability of doing that online. There will be more gambling related problems to come. Watch this space!

Corporate Social Responsibility

Please to know that ABN-AMRO Bank is exercising their social responsibilities of not financing the operations of casinos in Singapore. They will still be financing the construction of the casino though, as they view it as any other real estate development.

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Gambling - for one to win, many have to lose. :)

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ABN Amro says no to casino financing

Dutch bank among big firms with 'green' social conscience

Christie Loh, Today, Wednesday April 18 2007

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Unlike governments and companies increasingly lured by the lucrative casino business. ABN-Amro is saying not to the glitz and gains.

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The line that the Dutch bank will not cross: Financing the casino operators of Singapore's two upcoming integrated resorts (IRs). "That is against our social and ethical risk model, " said Mr David Wong, the bank's managing director and chief executive for South-East Asia.

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What is acceptable is the financing of the IR's construction, as it would be "like any real estate project", he said yesterday on the sidelines of a forum on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the environment.

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As the event participants heard, ABN Amro is part of a rising tide of global businesses guided not only by their social conscience, but by a "green" heart too.

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Last year, environmental concerns led the Dutch lender to turn down 4 out of 33 financing projects in Asia. The rejections - none of which were for Singapore proposals - were for sectors such as forestry, mining, oil and gas, and gambling, said Mr Wong. No money is loaned if a proposal fails to meet the Equator Principles, a set of business guidelines adopted by 40 global financial institutions since 2003.

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ABN Amro itself started sustainable development initiatives in 1998. It has, for instance, refused to lend money to an Indonesian miner until the bank has inspected and found the firm's nickel mining process eco-friendly, said Mr Wong.

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Admittedly, however, it is "not easy to reconcile commercial demands with sustainable needs", he added.

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This is a challenge facing businesses on the path to sustainable development.

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"There must be economic drivers for human behaviour to change," said Lee Tzu Yang, chairman of oil giant Shell Singapore.

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In his presentation during the forum, he recounted how the multi-national corporation effected a change in the public sector mindset. Shell had a project in southern China that involved uprooting an entire rural community.

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Instead of leaving the people to fend for themselves, Shell asked the province's government to find them homes and jobs, said Mr Lee. These are relocating issues that the officials would never have thought of without the oil giant's beckoning.

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In Singapore, it is a case of a lukewarm private sector, said Ms Claire Chiang, president of Singapore Compact, a non-government platform which promotes CSR. She cited the "very limited response from Singapore" for another "green" event here; the United Nations' first Global Business Summit for the Environment starting tomorrow.

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"Singaporeans don't pay to got to forums unless htey are being funded to do so by the Government, " said Ms Chiang. Until chief executives are convinced of the benefits of sending their employees for such conferences, public awareness will not grow, she said.

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