So there was a letter sent to the $traits Times Forum questioning the motives of
Mr Tan Kin Lian's supposedly enthusiasm in helping the minibombs victims when the latter himself was not affected at all.
Mr Chua Sheng Yang's raise a valid point but perhaps his delivery leaves something to be desired.
"Too many people are taking advantage of the situation to get back money from what they knew was a risky investment."
I think I know where Mr Chua was going with that quote and I agree to a certain extent. Yes, NOT everyone of the minibombs investors are uneducated Ah Peks and Ah Sohs. Yes, there will be people who ACTUALLY understood these products and risks. Thus, should not be compensated when value of their investments goes to zero. These people must bare the full loss.
We shall call them the "Knowledgeables" as opposed to the "Vulnerables" who are 62 years old and above and less then an "O"-Levels education.
Perhaps, it was right to identify the "Vulnerables" who are definitely unaware of what they are investing and hence be the first to be compensated without question.
The delay hence, will come to the rest of the group whom the banks will need to sieve out the "knowledgeables" from the "genuinely mis-sold".
Problem is, what has the banks done so far? It has been many weeks since this matter first broke to the surface and yet the banks have hardly said or done anything to the satisfaction of the people. It is almost as if the banks are dragging and stalling in the hope that these people will give up the pursuit of this matter on their own?
Has anyone from the "vulnerable" group been fully compensated thus far?
"The Online Citizen, a website which is well known to have an anti-government stance?"
I do not think that The Online Citizen is a anti-gahmen website even though one of the editors there has links to the Opposition Party. I would like to think the website not as anti-gahmen, but as Pro-Singapore. It's Country > People > Gahmen as far as the rungs of hierarchy are concerned. Perhaps I need to remind Mr Chua here that the Gahmen works for the people and not the other way round.
Yes, granted that the articles on TOC on late have been critical of the Gahmen but seriously let me ask you this, what has the Gahmen done of late to earn our praises? TOC does raise many valid questions and that if the Gahmen is able to respond to them and convince the people satisfactorily, I think it would have benefited the Gahmen more than they would expect i.e. TOC is giving the Gahmen a chance to justify that their decision were correct. Seriously, I do not see a downside to that.
Sadly, it appears that the Gahmen chose to forgo all these opportunities. Guilty by silence admission or just deem the people not worthy of dealing eye-to-eye with or some other reason?
"Why did Mr Tan not tell his agents to practise more ethics then, when he was CEO?"
I do not think Mr Chua thought it through when he made the above statement. That was just asking to be sued. I do hope that
Mr Tan Kin Lian is kind enough to just let that slide as it was obviously a
gush-of-shit-to-the-brain moment.
"And why is he protesting against local banks and the Monetary Authority of Singapore and not taking his fight to Morgan Stanley?"
I do not think that all the meetings at Hong Lim Park were protests. They were rallies to urge the Gahmen to investigate wrong doings by the banks. To me, I believe that this is the correct and most civilised way of engaging the banks. If we were to, as Mr Chua has put it, protest the banks directly, then surely it is as if we have taken the laws into our own hands and totally discrediting the judiciary system that the country has in place?
Think about it. Who would the banks listen to more? The 10,000 investors or our Gahmen and the relevant authorities?
And so back to the original question that was raised earlier. Was there a hidden agenda as to why Mr Tan Kin Lian is being to enthusiastically helpful? Is he eyeing the Elected President's job or is he looking to score a seat in Parliament in the next coming election?
Regardless of the answer which would be totally speculative, the bottom line is that at least he stepped up and did something. What has our MPs (ruling and opposition parties) done so far, to show for?
I would like to attend the next rally to wave the proverbial pom pom for these folks. Who is with me?
Image Credit: http://cache.daylife.com
- Voxeros