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Out Of The Box
Create “Economic Recovery” jobs
Jun. 17 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Just pumping funds into the economy will not do. It is also important to curb unemployment, and Singapore can do this by creating new “Economic Recovery” jobs. Being an open economy, Singapore has been badly affected...
Is Animal Farm relevant to Singapore?
Jun. 10 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Are we seeing a modern Animal Farm happening in Singapore, where corruption and propaganda are used to control the populace? ANIMAL Farm is a novel written by George Orwell in 1945. I studied this book for Literature when I was...
Job satisfaction – inadequate measures to protect workers
May. 7 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist A Business Times report carried a survey made by a private research firm. It showed the job satisfaction rate of Singapore workers to be the second lowest in the world (the worst is Japan). Although the survey is made among workers...
Singaporeans need to overcome negative traits
Apr. 29 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist I received an e-mail from a young person aged 27. I extract a few paragraphs from his e-mail below: Hi Mr Tan, …. It pains me to see how incompetent the current government is. It’s no joke: whenever you seek help or answers,...
Protecting consumers
Apr. 22 | Tan Kin Lian Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia follow a similar legal system. Laws are passed to balance the rights of consumers and businesses. The aim is to provide an environment that businesses can innovate...
Will S’poreans speak up for others?
Apr. 15 | Tan Kin Lian I received two e-mails from a visitor to my blog, www.tankinlian.blogspot.com. First e-mail Hi Mr Tan I have been following with interest your blog on and off especially during the period of “minibonds”. I respect your sense...
Respect other people’s views – Tan Kin Lian
Feb. 20 | Tan Kin Lian Minister for Health Khaw Boon Wan suggested that some people can consider sending their elderly parents to a nursing home in Johor Bahru, where the cost is less than half of the cost in Singapore. This created a big uproar. It attracted more...
Educate the public through New Media, says Tan Kin Lian at opposition forum
Feb. 7 | About 100 people, young and old, attended the Singapore Democratic Party organized forum “Opposition – Where to?”. This is a dangerous world because people are not doing anything about the evils in this world. With that in mind, Mr...
What some Singaporeans think about Democracy
Feb. 3 | By Tan Kin Lian / Columnist A RETIRED school teacher, Mr. Ho Cheow Seng, sent me his views about democracy. I posted the article in my website (viewable here) and invited my visitors to participate in a survey. 50 people responded. The age distribution...
Life in Singapore
Jan. 22 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist How do Singaporeans feel about life in Singapore. I carried out a survey in my blog. 115 people replied. A breakdown by age and annual income is: Below 30 20% 31 to 50 52% Above 50 28% Below $50k 51% Above...
Keeping seniors at work
Jan. 9 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke at the Reinventing Retirement Asia Conference organised by the Council of The Third Age. He urged “no let up in keeping seniors at work”. He said that outmoded social attitudes and systems...
Helping Singaporeans cope with the recession
Dec. 26 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Introduction Singapore’s economy is in recession. It will get worse and may take one or two years to recover. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has advised people to continue spending, to keep the economy growing and avoid the...
Stop cheating
Dec. 10 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist In recent years, it seems that cheating is allowed. You only need to say “caveat emptor” or “registered” with the XYZ authority. What is cheating? According to Wikipedia, “Cheating is an act of lying, deception, fraud,...
“This thing will never die until it is settled”
Nov. 30 | Editor’s note: The title of this report has been changed for accuracy. Davin Choo / Tng Wen Quan Mr Tan Kin Lian spoke at Speaker’s Corner today for the sixth time on investments gone awry. While his speech mainly consisted of two portions –...
Coping with increase in motor insurance premiums
Nov. 13 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist The Straits Times reported on 13 November 2008, “Hard knocks for motor insurers which reported that insurance companies are suffering losses, worst in seven years due to rising claims.” A reader wrote to The Online Citizen...
Tan Kin Lian writes to the PM
Nov. 12 | The following is a letter sent to the Prime Minister by Mr Tan Kin Lian on Nov 10, 2008. 10 November 2008 Mr. Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister Republic of Singapore Dear Prime Minister, I appeal to you to look into the plight and financial losses suffered...
Should the Government guarantee bank deposits?
Oct. 29 | TOC EXCLUSIVE: Is Agnes Lin a spoilt brat or a Straits Times victim? TOC speaks to Ms Lin and ST reporter Nur Dianah Suhaimi. Coming next on TOC. Read the controversial Straits Times report here. Tan Kin Lian / Columnist The Singapore Government has guaranteed...
损失血汗钱
Oct. 23 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist (Chinese translation by Teng Jing Wei) For the benefit of our Chinese-speaking readers, we have translated Tan Kin Lian’s earlier article titled “Loss of hard-earned money”. 10月20日的国会，提出好些和雷曼兄弟有关的结构性产品的亏损的问题。财政次长林勋强的答复如下：...
Loss of hard earned savings
Oct. 21 | Tan Kin Lian responds to Minister Lim Hng Kiang’s remarks in Parliament Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Several questions were asked in Parliament on 20 October 2008 about the failure of the structured products linked to Lehman Brothers. In his reply, the...
Even Cupid has to adapt
Oct. 15 | CONGRATULATIONS! Everyone here at The Online Citizen would like to congratulate Gerald and Elena Giam on the birth of their beautiful baby girl. Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Alice’s boyfriend ended their relationship after three years. Alice was devastated....
Protecting the small investors
Sep. 22 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008. Together with the problems faced by Merill Lynch and AIG, this event caused a sharp drop and turmoil in the global stock markets. Many conservative investors in Singapore...
A child is a child
Sep. 19 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist I find the incentives implemented during the past years to encourage procreation (i.e. Singaporeans to have more children) to be unnecessarily complicated and discriminatory. Each time that the Government implemented a new package...
PTW: From third world to first
Sep. 10 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist A few years ago, the Land Transport Authority set a goal to have a world class transport system in Singapore. During the past two years, this slogan has been quietly set aside. The transport system has been severely strained...
Beware of scams
Sep. 4 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Someone sent me a link to an article in an English newspaper about scams recently. I looked through the article and found that some of these scams are common in Singapore. They include the following: Phony jobs This is usually...
One country, two systems
Aug. 27 | Note: Look out for TOC’s first media release at 3pm today, Wednesday, August 27. Tan Kin Lian / Columnist The concept of “One Country, Two Systems” was created by Deng Xiaoping to accommodate the absorption of capitalist Hong Kong into communist...
Poor return on life insurance policies
Aug. 20 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist QUOTE Dear Mr. Tan, May I ask if the non-guaranteed reversionary bonuses are determined by individual insurance company? Are these bonuses declarations subject to MAS regulatory control or are they depend on the mood of the insurance...
For a sustainable Singapore
Aug. 14 | Tan Kin Lian / Senior Writer I wish to contribute my suggestions towards the development of a “Sustainable Singapore, Lively and Liveable City”. I believe that the quality of life for Singaporeans can be improved by reducing the need for commuting,...
We, the citizens
Aug. 10 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist Our national flag contains five stars, representing the values of democracy, peace, progress, equality and justice. These national values have been creatively arranged into our national pledge, which is taught to every student...
Business ethics – honesty while making profits
Aug. 6 | Tan Kin Lian / Columnist In the absence of adequate regulation, we have to cultivate a strong sense of business ethics. In Ancient China, there was a hierarchic social class structure developed by scholars as far back as 1000 years BC. In descending order,...
A charitable cause
Jul. 23 | Tan Kin Lian / Senior Writer During the past two years, several high profile charities in Singapore have come under the spotlight. They were involved in financial and administrative irregularities. These notable cases are the National Kidney Foundation,...
An express alternative
Jul. 17 | Tan Kin Lian / Senior Writer The Ministry of Transport is introducing a new fare system for public transport that is based on distance rather than the number of transfers. This will reduce one obstacle in the use of public transport, namely the high...
Human organs for sale
Jul. 9 | Tan Kin Lian While the economic prospects remain dim for the poor people in this economic system, society should allow and help them to have a good price for their remaining few “personal assets”. A Singapore tycoon suffering from kidney failure...
Important to build a gracious society
Jul. 2 | Tan Kin Lian We may have to re-think some of the policies that have shaped Singapore successfully in past years, but have become disadvantageous today. Liu I-Chun wrote a letter that was published in the Today paper recently. It was titled, “I will...
Give adequate wages to low income workers
Jun. 25 | Tan Kin Lian For many years, the Government has advocated a pro-business environment in Singapore. This is aimed at attracting foreign investors to set up businesses here and create more jobs for Singaporeans. This strategy has been successful. Singapore...
Suggestions are not welcomed
Jun. 18 | Tan Kin Lian During the past years, I have submitted many suggestions to Government agencies and commercial organisations in making simple improvements that cost little to implement and can add a lot of value to the public and customers. However, I get...
