We Don’t Know What is Really Going on!

 

Especially when the facts are there in front of us.

You got to love the Israeli government’s ability to turn the Western World upside down and pervert every value espoused by the West into a joke. This is a shame because as much as colonialism and imperialism were detestable things, the West (defined as America and Western Europe) have actually led the world in trying to be a better place in the last 50-years. Things like rule of law, rules-based order and human rights were concepts championed by the West.

As a rule of thumb, Westerners (White People) are decent and see indecency better than dare I say, many Asians. In the last sixteen years of running this blog, I find myself getting more understanding from Westerners than Asians when I talk about things like foreign labour. I think of the Englishman who told me, “Your economy is run on slave labour,” and the French investor who talks about “The Slaves” whenever the topic of foreign labour comes up. In Singapore, the general attitude is “It’s better than where they’ve come from.”

There’s one exception that, comes in the case of Israel and its actions against the Palestinian people. In a way, I get it, when it comes from anyone in my parent’s generation. Israel sold itself like an old Western movie, where the cowboys were always the heroes and the Indians were the bad guys. However, this shouldn’t play out for my generation, where things like “international law” and “rules-based-order” were normal. It becomes painful to watch otherwise decent people start defending the indefensible.

We’ve heard the lines. “Israel has a right to defend itself,” and “Hamas shouldn’t have attacked on October 7 2023.” Whilst these arguments are often used, the one that really strikes is “We don’t know what is going on.”

How does one come up with the idea that we don’t know what is going on when things are being played out on TV? As one Irish guy I met said, “You can’t see those kids dying on TV and not feel anything.”

Yet, despite everything being played out on our TV screens, the line “We don’t know what is going on, “continues amongst those who would want us to believe that Israel is fighting a just war in a just manner. The most popular argument is that the media is biased and lies about everything.

Yet, the truth is that the media isn’t the only thing telling us a story of that’s going on. The United Nations, Human Rights’ Commission has stated that Israel is committing a genocide. This being the same body that condemned Russia for committing crimes against humanity, a concept which many Westerners accept as true:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds

Then there’s the issue of the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for the arrest of Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu for war crimes. In case one tries to argue that the ICC is riddled with Anti-Semitism and thus irrationally hates Israel, the fact remains the ICC has found both Hamas commanders and Israeli government officials guilty of crimes against humanity.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157286

 

 

 So, the logical train of thought here is that the ICC has found Hamas commanders to be guilty of criminally starting something and the Israeli government officials to be guilty of waging a war in a criminal fashion. Where exactly is the anti-Israel bias here? Given that America, the world’s preeminent power has sanctioned the ICC as a result of this verdict, the message seems to imply that bias is acceptable as long as its bias in favour of “chosen people.”

Yet, the “we don’t know what’s going on,” debate will ultimately argue that the ICC also doesn’t know what’s going on. So, what can we do?

The answer might be to look at Israel and Israeli organisations themselves. One of them, B’Tselem clearly states that what Israel is doing is called genocide:

 https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20250728_our_genocide

 

 Hard to call B’Tselem anti-Israeli or “antisemitic,” when it is an Israeli organisation. If that was not enough, Genocide Scholars, including Israeli ones are calling it such to an extent that Israel’s foreign ministry has condemned their findings as based on “Hamas Lies.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/genocide-scholars-say-idf-committing-genocide-in-gaza-israel-based-on-hamas-lies/

 

So, how is it such that people still argue “We don’t know what’s going on,” when events are well documented by a variety of globally recognised organisations? Perhaps it’s a case of people will believe what they want to believe regardless of facts. As such, one might say that universities should teach courses on how to make people believe what you want them to believe regardless of the facts.

Do We Actually Make a Difference?

 It’s been something of a surreal week. It started on Tuesday when I had the chance to meet Tom Wright, the investigative journalist who co-authored the book “Billion Dollar Whale,” about the 1MDB saga in Malaysia, which eventually lead to the historical defeat of Najib Razak and the BN coalition that had ruled Malaysia since independence.

 

 

 The week then ended when I received a call from the wife of one of my best friends to inform me that he had died. My friend was what you’d call a “decent” bloke in every sense of the word. Unlike me, he avoided the vices of drinking and women. His life was dedicated to ensuring that his mum, his wife and four kids got what they could out of life. Yet, his reward was a pacemaker in his forties and departure from life just as he entered his fifties.

I think of these two events because, during my meeting with Mr. Wright, he asked me and colleague who was with me, “Do we make a difference?” I think of this question because it’s the basic question of why do we do what we do? Is being a good guy worth it? My friend was a good guy who was devoted to his family yet he died at 51. I’ve known less honourable characters (the type who happily screw over their own kids) who are alive, healthy and doing quite nicely thank you very much.

It’s what you call the frustration of being in the investigation business, where you do a task that’s often dull and yet dangerous. While the criminals have “criminal loot,” the investigators (think people like investigative journalist, forensic accountants, public prosecutors and defenders, whistleblowers and so on), barely get a pat of the back when all is said and done.  

Take Mr. Wright as an example. His book, Billion Dollar Whale, exposed the scam at 1MDB and how a sitting Prime Minister was part of an embezzlement of the Malaysian people. That Prime Minister is now in jail and the party that supported him got thrown out of power but has corruption in Malaysia been lessened? The answer is probably a depressing no.

If you want to take things onto the global stage, there’s the example of Watergate. We celebrated the courage of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in bringing down a president. Yet, we continue to have things like Iran Contra under Regan, White Water under Clinton and now there’s Trump who blatantly oversaw the deaths of a multitude of Americans due to his incompetent handling of Covid.  

Like it or not, does appear that despite the efforts of the “good guys,” the bad guys continue and even thrive. It doesn’t help that the side with more money inevitably has the power to change the goal post.

So, why bother being a good guy when the bad guys seem so many steps ahead? Why bother fighting if you know you’ll end up losing right? Funnily enough I do get that allot from Singaporeans who think that things like protest are pointless (I had people who could not see why Burmese protested the Military Coup or things like Black Lives Matter. Many even tell me I should be grateful for Colonialism.).

The answer is inevitably this – rolling over and accepting bad things leads to worse outcomes. If you allow fraud to take place without trying to stop it, you are inevitably condoning it. If you don’t speak up about genocides against certain people, you are effectively condoning genocide. Now, you could argue that it doesn’t affect me – who cares?

However, as history has shown, a guy who cheats other people will one day cheat you. A guy who thinks of murdering one ethnic group is likely to turn around and start on yours. I go back to my Jewish friend’s observations of his family history and how many Jews in Europe through Hitler didn’t mean Jews like them. You hear allot of the same rhetoric in America from Hispanics who talk about ICE dragging people off the streets as “Its not people like us.” Hitler didn’t mean people like them – until he did.

So, why do we do what we do? I like to think that when we catch crooks and protest tyrants, we do our part to ensure that we don’t rot completely. Think of it as, I do my part to ensure it doesn’t happen to me, which is again, idealistic but the message is there. You are just an individual but you have the power to inspire others and a collective becomes very powerful. People who think, I’m just a nobody so why bother set themselves up to be steamrollered by the scum.  

How to Lessen the Pain?

 

The big news in the world of local eat outs is that the home-grown chain, “Twelve Cupcakes” has been placed under liquidation.

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/twelve-cupcakes-ceases-operations-after-being-placed-under-provisional-liquidation

 

 No reason was given as to the cause of the liquidation. The media reports describe it as “sudden and abrupt” and as with all liquidation scenarios, the workers got screwed. Neither workers nor their unions had any idea about the sacking – the workers got the news via a WhatsApp message. It goes without saying that the Ministry of Manpower has had to announce that it is investigating the matter and whether the company was in breach of the Employment Act.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/twelve-cupcakes-closure-worker-salaries-mom-cpf-investigating-5438191

 

The former staff have now taken social media to talk about their situation and its frankly heartbreaking to read about how people gave their blood, sweat and tears and then didn’t get paid. Wages unpaid means that people can’t pay bills, which means their financial situation gets screwed up.

 

So, with Singapore undoubtedly going to face harsher economic headwinds and more companies expected to go under, what does it mean for people looking facing possible job loss?

For a start, you got accept that “job-security” is something of a misnomer. However much employers will talk about “looking after you,” you have to accept that allot of the “promise” depends on the employer’s ability to actually pay. Even the most well meaning of bosses cannot pay wages if the business is simply not making money. When I waited tables at the Bistrot, I was clear that the business belonged to the boss who owed me a wage for work but I had a sense of responsibility to ensure that the boss’s business did well enough to be able to pay me. If you notice that the business is not selling stuff, you better start your job hunt.

Secondly, the “rules” between employee and employer change in a liquidation scenario. Whilst its nice to see the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) galvanized into “investigating” for any breaches of the “Employment Act,” there’s actually very little if anything that will happen. The fact of the matter is, the company is in liquidation, which means that there is no money. When it comes to getting money out of the what’s left of the Company, MOM will call up the liquidator for an update on the liquidation and ask if there’s any money to be paid out and if possible, when will the money be paid out. In this scenario, MOM’s powers are more symbolic in as much as the liquidator may feel obliged to work a bit faster knowing there’s a government agency watching.

Having said that, the case of pursuing wages is not all lost. Liquidators are obliged to try and claw back money. The laws on insolvency state that employee’s salary claims are a priority, right after the expenses of the liquidation. So, once the liquidator pays off his or her expenses, they will then turn to settling salary claims. One should take note that this specifically pertains to salary claims. Things like leave pay, notice pay, medical claims and so on come later. If you get say 80 percent of your pay, you’re considered very lucky.

How do you go about making your claim? The answer is in filling out that is called a POD or Proof of Debt. This form is where you outline what you claiming the company owes you. Since the onus is on the debtor to prove their debt, you need to attach things like your pay slips, employment contract and anything else that shows you were an employee and didn’t get paid. The POD for a creditors’ voluntary winding up (case where the company is digging a bigger hole by continuing business) looks something like this:

 

The second aspect of a liquidation is a creditors’ meeting. In the case of a creditors winding up, the provisional liquidator is obliged to get his or her appointment approved by creditors at a creditors meeting. This meeting should take place after a month of being in provisional liquidation and in the post-Covid world, chances are this meeting will take place over Zoom.

The meeting will not give you money. However, its worth attending in as much as it will give you an idea of what happened and you can assess the likilood of getting paid or when you’re likely to get paid. In that respect, the most important document is the Statement of Affairs or SOA, which in the case of a voluntary winding up looks something like this:

 

 The SOA is signed by the director under oath and outlines what is collectable and who is owed what. Both SOA and POD samples can be found at the Ministry of Law’s site at:

https://io.mlaw.gov.sg/files/Forms%20-%20IRD%20(Voluntary%20Winding%20Up)%20Reg%202020.pdf

 

The forms should also be provided to you by the liquidator when they send out the notice of the creditors’ meeting. You should also check the Government Gazette and the Business Times section for notices of creditor meetings and if there’s a dividend to be paid out.

Liquidation for an employee is a distressing experience. However, whilst things may look bleak, its still worth putting in a claim to improve your chances of getting something out of a bleak situation. This is also the time when most employees fall a part (a case of every man for him or herself). However, this is when employees actually need to be most united, sharing knowledge of the liquidation scenario.

 

Who Would You Rather Hire?

 

When I first got my current job back in 2014, I was told that I should hold onto it for dear life. The reason was simple, I was turning 40, and given that it was my first time in an office in a full-time capacity, my first full time job was effectively my last. To put it crudely, ageism is probably the only ism that everyone finds acceptable and rife in Singapore. Anyone over 40 who loses their job can look forward to a career in entrepreneurship selling tissue paper.

I’ve actually experienced these phenomena. Kiddo once told me she found a job add for a restaurant claiming to be “desperate” for people. I wrote in with my date of birth and they politely told me they had enough people before reposting the same ad.

So, I got hired and I’ve spent the best part of my forties gainfully employed. Sure, I hadn’t planned on entering the industry but hey, I was steadily employed with no fear of losing my job when many of contemporaries were actually worried about losing theirs.

Life was ok. Paid my bills after struggling to do so after a decade of freelancing. Sometimes I overspent but there was a cheque end of the month. I could actually do what I loved to do – go out and drink, on a regular enough basis. However, since I was working two jobs for a long while, I didn’t really get into exercise. Walked at the Bistrot and tried to claim I was getting exercise from there. However, I never did any form of real exercise.

Didn’t notice it but I was beginning to balloon. Mum told me I was starting to look “gross” and stepmum told me that Dad was worried I’d get a stroke and wipe out his retirement funds. I nodded politely and continued as I was. Didn’t realise it until I looked at this photo from back then:

 

 A decade later, I’m in a different place. I only work one job but I move significantly more. I’m now 50, worried about being old, sick and broke. Doctors told me that my blood sugars were dangerously high and I’ve been doing what little I have been doing to ensure that I stay out of hospital. The two stays I’ve had were frustrating enough. So, lifestyle changes were easier than the prospect of having to spend what little I have on pills. This is me this morning:

 

 Since, we’re the age of AI, I asked an AI (Grok) to give its feedback on the comparison between the me of 2014 and the me of this morning. According to Grok, changing my lifestyle helped to age a decade younger. Chief amongst those lifestyle changes was cutting the booze (though admittedly I did backslide two weeks back when the conference organisers announced they were serving champagne) and moving more (hit work outs) and taking more protein.

 

 

So, here’s the thing, I am fitter. Back then, I’d feel tiered enough in the day to sleep in the office when the boss wasn’t looking. Even started dozing off in meetings. Whilst I have dozed off in very cozy airconditioned rooms on occasion, I generally don’t. My energy levels are simply higher than they were.

Yet, the reality is this – the puffy 2014 version of me, was more likely to get hired. At 40, I was still employable and yes, I did get employed. The reality is that I am now 50. The first two digest of my NRIC give my age away and employers “desperate” for people will tell me they have an abundance of people. I stay where I am and accept that nobody is going to look at my CV because I am the age that I am.

This is despite the fact that the version of me today has more energy than the me of a decade ago. I have a more focused mindset than I had a decade ago. I am less likely to take sick leave than I was back then. The problem remains this, at 40, I was already “pushing it” in terms of getting employed. I am now 50. My actual energy levels were never the issue. My perceived energy is.  

 

I Didn’t Really Mean It

 Someone posted an article on Linkedin which featured Ms. Sarah Pochin, a Member of Parliament for the UK’s Reform Party complaining about how adverts were filled with black and Asian people but not with “white” people:

 

 

 The comments have drawn a load of criticism and Ms. Pochin has been accused of being a racist and she has since apologized for her unfortunate remarks. Her party leader, the ever questionable, Mr. Nigel Farage, has come out to say that whilst her comments were “Ugly” the intention was not “racist.”

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78z4eyvnx1o  

 

This sentiment seemed to be very familiar. Then, I realized that I had this conversation with a young lady I was serving at the Bistrot back in 2016. Trump had his infamous Mexicans are rapist” remarks and I actually meet a young lady of colour (sorry, ethnic Chinese are considered people of colour in the Western world, however much they may deny it), telling me “Oh, what he really meant was and he didn’t say it very well.”

So, this leads to one fundamental question – why are people so eager to give politicians campaigning on the worst human instincts a free pass. If history has shown us anything, it is the fact that politicians who target ethnic or religious groups tend to be very open about their intentions and they’re actually pretty darn good at communicating their message loud and clear.

I think of my favourite Jewish lawyer who tells me that he got lucky in that his family had the sense to get out of what was then Czechoslovakia before Hitler rolled in the tanks. However, as my friend tells me, plenty of their friends did not flee because they “didn’t think he meant Jews like them, who had been part of the mainstream as far as anyone could remember.”

Say what you like about Adolf Hitler and the horrible things that he did but public speaking was not one of his faults. Adolf Hitler was very clear about what he wanted to do and he was very good at communicating his message. Let us never forget that he was democratically elected fair and square.

So, whenever I listen to public figures make remarks about certain ethnic or religious groups, I panic and think, oh dear, this guy is bad news. Let’s bring things back to the current era – the last American election in 2024. Mr. Trump continued with his rhetoric about deporting black and brown people, accusing them of doing them of awful things, and guess what – his popularity amongst black and brown people soared. So, what did Mr. Trump do with all the support that he got from black and brown people? Well, to use a Trump phrase – “Promises man, promises kept.” He promised he’d drag brown and black people off the streets and guess what, he’s doing exactly what he said he’d do.

Here are two examples of people telling you what they’re going to do and actually doing them. The point in these examples is that the people who were to be their victims actually started giving these people a free pass. “No, they don’t really mean it,” or more frighteningly “they don’t mean….like us.”

We got to stop doing this and call out the public figures who go for certain groups. Ms. Pochin is only fortunate in that her views were about thinking there were too many Asians and Blacks on TV rather than what she thought was the solution. However, these views of her are worrying in that she was once a magistrate and one has to ask if she judged the black and brown people in the way she expressed her views about adverts?

Yes, we all have “ugly” opinions. I am guilty of having some ugly thoughts. However, I recognize my “ugliness” and try to kill it. I like to think that the people I chose to lead me, will not indulge in my ugliness and bring me to a better a place. So, when I choose (yes, voting is compulsory in Singapore), leaders, I become weary of those who encourage me to be ugly.

We need to hold our leaders and anyone seeking public office to higher standards because it’s the only way we become better. Making excuses is for losers and we don’t need to make losers out of our leaders.    

The Problem with Being a Dad

 

One of the most iconic women of my teenage years is an American actress called Kelly McGillis. Her most iconic role was Charlie Blackwood, the flight instructor in Top Gun, who was the love interest of Tom Cruise’s character, “Maverick.” The image of her golden locks on her fit body is imprinted on the minds of an entire generation. We all wanted to be Tom Cruise in that movie because he was the guy who got her (I mean what’s the point in being handsome unless you get the girl.) Ms. McGillis went on to star in many other things. Outside of Top Gun, her most iconic role was as “Rachel” the Amish mother in “Witness,” staring Harison Ford. The big thrill about watching Witness in England as opposed to Singapore, was that we got to see her breast.

For some reason, nobody thought of producing a sequel to Top Gun, despite its commercial success. It was only 36-years later, in 2022 when we got the sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.” Many of the old characters returned, played by the same acters. The most noticeable difference was that Ms. McGillis never returned to the series and they found a new character to play “Maverick’s” love interest. Many reasons were given for this. Yet, despite all the reasons that were coming out, there was one glaring fact that all of us could not help noticing – Ms. McGillis was now in her 60s, she was no longer the beautiful blonde of our teenage years:

https://www.facebook.com/MemoryLane80s/posts/happy-68th-birthday-to-actress-kelly-mcgillis-kelly-mcgillis-had-a-prominent-pre/1144881434346929/

 

I bring up this topic of Ms. McGillis’s aging because it reflects a harsh truth – our perceptions of beauty, particularly female beauty, are inherently centered around youth (though admittedly women are being more confident about expressing a desire for younger flesh too). My late Uncle Richard (Dad’s older brother), would tell me “Make sure your next wife is half your age – it’s unfair but there’s no such thing as a good-looking woman over 25 whereas men get better with age.” As much as many of us may not like to think about it – we tend to agree.

I look back to the 2012 sex scandal involving prominent businessman, Howard Shaw. There were enough of the male species who were actually sympathetic in a “come on, between a hot young thing and an old one, “kind of way. Let’s look at the current monarch on the British throne. Part of his image problem came from the fact that he was “a man who had a beautiful blonde in his bed and kicked out and replaced her with an old hag.”

As with much of my life, I’ve been a bit of an outlier. As I was growing up, I officially liked my women a bit older. The hottest woman in my life for much of my early years in the UK, was my friend, Charlotte, niece of Aunty Jane, Mum’s best friend. Yes, we were “Just friends,” but her looks were such that it tested the boundaries of whether men and women could actually be “just friends.” Charlotte was 14 at the time, whilst I was turning 12. So, my beauty icon for many years was inevitably older. Then came my return to Singapore where the person I’d end up playing tonsil hockey with, was Pam, who was 12-years older. I was 19 going on 20 – she was 32. To me, this felt like a jackpot (helped that she is black and given that I had come back from the West, where Asian men are not seen as sex symbols but black dudes are, it was a thrill to be an Asian guy with a black girl).

Pam and I would unite many years later. This time I was 30 and she was 42. Whilst we still got on, the age difference no longer held a cache for me. I had previously vowed that it would be nobody older than my mum and no body younger than my sister (who is five years younger).

However, I ended up meeting Huong, who is seven years younger (I was 32 and she was 25 when we met). She was by far and away the sexiest I had met and been with (she remains by far and away the best looking – even compared to significantly younger women). So, I finally accepted that it was OK to be with someone younger than my sister.

So, I accepted that it was OK for me to be attracted to and be with a younger woman. Given that I was in PR at the time, I was surrounded by young hot things that I liked looking at. To an extent, I find myself being a little more attractive as I get older.

However, Huong came with Kiddo, who grew from a cute little seven-year-old, into a nubile 25-year-old. Whilst I never planned on being a dad to a girl, Kiddo was sort of a strange awakening. It started out when an older dude we knew started asking her for her phone number when she was 13. I was visibly upset and when she tried to assure me that he wasn’t a stranger, I told her that it wasn’t the point and also made the point that I am well aware that the penalty for ending someone’s life is hanging and I’d proudly go to the gallows if anyone thought of touching her.

So, I guess you could say that this natural that I’d take the dad role in her life. She, keeps me in check. She once asked me when talking about a houseguest, “You really want to f**** her don’t you?” When I said that the houseguest looked nice, her reply was “Whether she looks nice or not is none of your business – you’re born 197o something, she’s born 1990 something – old enough to be your daughter, you disgusting old man”

So, here it is – I’m normal dude with the usual set of functioning hormones. I would be lying if I said that the trouser snake is totally subservient to the grey matter. I like looking at nubile young things as much as the next guy. I’m also not the type of guy who thinks morality is equivalent to the bedroom as long two consenting adults are involved.

However, I took on the role of being a dad to a young woman and that tends to cloud how I see issues relating to the opposite sex. Met one of Kiddo’s friends once and I noticed that she had what I like physically (nice breast etc). Had to stop myself and remind myself that this was someone old enough to be my kid. Didn’t want the poor girl to think that I was the old guy into molesting young girls – ik factor.

Then, you look at sex scandals. If you look at the Epstein case, you’ll notice that the one “powerful” man that’s faced any form of heat is Prince Andrew, who recently was pushed to relinquish use of his royal titles. It’s clear from available reports that it’s the Prince and Princess of Wales who are pushing him out:

 https://sg.news.yahoo.com/kate-middleton-not-thrilled-prince-123300778.html

 

 It should be pointed out that the Prince and Princess of Wales are parents to a young daughter. What is probably going through their minds is that the things Prince Andrew is accused of doing to other young girls, are things that could easily happen to their little girl. Yes, there’s an argument of who wouldn’t choose a sweet young thing over frumpy 60-year-old Fergie. However, that should be subordinate to the thought of, somebody could be doing this to my kid. How does a parent accept doing things that they wouldn’t allow someone to do their kid.

Kiddo has been a consenting adult for a while. My current girlfriend is 13-years younger. I still enjoy the view of beautiful bodies that are around the places I hang out. Yet what governs my thinking is pretty much, would I accept someone doing this with my kid.  

 

 

 

 

Drawbridges – Never Assume Your Own Kind has Your Interest

 

I spent my formative years as an ethnic minority. Whilst I never really encountered “racism” at its worst (I did into a punch up over being called a “Chink” and I did kick some kid in the ribs a couple of times for continuing with Mr. Miyagi jokes when I told him to stop), I was always aware that I wasn’t part of mainstream Anglo-Saxon society. Those formative years made me a proud ethnic minority and dare I say, very “pro-migrant.” I looked at Chinatown with pride, because in my mind, “my people” were going to a foreign land with nothing, in many cases not being able to speak the language, and still survived, whereas the Westerners could only come to “my country” because we spoke their language and accepted them as part of a multinational corporation.

So, when I came back to Singapore, I had a shock because I was no longer an ethnic minority. I was now part of the majority and by extension, I was part of the mainstream. One of my biggest shocks was seeing how friends from minority groups who were in so many ways desperate to be part of the majority. I think the number of Tamil chaps who speak several Chinese dialects fluently and can’t speak a word of Tamil. More amusingly, I think of little Malay boys imitating “skinheads” and somehow not realizing that “skinhead” gangs in the Western world would proudly turn them into mincemeat for merely being a darker shade of pink.

This desire to be part of the majority even extends to the point where ethnic minorities actively justify discrimination against their own, I remember an Indian security guard at my dad’s condo telling me that management had a policy of not hiring Indians, except him. Then, when I said that it was a very racist and offensive thing, the Indian security guard proceeded to tell me why Indians should never be hired in any job.

So, it becomes quite funny when you come across the “racist” parts of the internet, where you have white folk in the West going on about how their country is going to hell because someone darker than them just got elected. I think of the time when John McCain had to explain to his voters that Barak Obama was actually an American. I think of someone who called up a radio station worried that Rishi Sunak wasn’t white. These days the favourite target is Shabana Mahmood, the UK’s home secretary. If you believe the online critics, Ms. Mahmood is on a mission to impose Sharia Law on the UK and replace the existing population with Pakistan’s:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aAo6JYtVbs

 

  

This paranoia against the “brown” and “black” politicians is quite funny because the biggest ally to anyone worried about the “darkening” of the population are actually brown and black politicians.

Let’s look at the record of brown and black politicians, when it comes to keeping society free of migrants – specifically darker ones. Under the Conservative government, you found that the home secretaries who came up with the most stringent immigration laws were ladies of colour – namely Priti Patel and Suella Braverman. Ms. Patel went as far as to admit that her own parents would not have been allowed into the UK under the rules she imposed.

Would Ms. Mahmood be any different from Ms. Patel and Ms. Braverman. Well, she’s been a little more subtle but the evidence suggests that certain groups have had to tell her that her focus on migrants is overreaching into the realms of silly:

 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/29/stop-blaming-migrants-and-tackle-uks-real-problems-100-charities-tell-home-secretary

 

 

 It’s not just on immigration too. Ms. Mahmood even went as far as to call people protesting the Israeli bombardment of Gaza as “Un-British.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/03/home-secretary-shabana-mahmood-says-pro-palestine-protests-in-wake-of-manchester-attack-are-un-british

 

So where is the “Anti-White,” “Pro-Sharia” law stance in Ms. Mahmood’s actions? If anything, Ms. Mahmood, just like her predecessors, Ms. Braverman and Ms. Patel, has been tough of immigration – specifically the brown Muslim kind.

It isn’t limited to the UK. Think of the USA where we have Vivek Ramaswamy, who was one of Mr. Trump’s greatest cheerleaders. Mr. Ramaswamy is a good “coconut,” who is not only culturally white – he is as white establishment as it gets (Wall Street). The only difference between Mr. Ramaswamy and Ms. Mahmood is that Mr. Ramaswamy recently got a dose of what the group he so desperately wants to pander to him actually thinks of him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4liErm6uEFk

 

So, the last thing anyone worried about immigration should worry about is having a someone of a different skin tone in charge of immigration. That person is likely to be the most enthusiastic executioner of policies against their own.

You look at the last election in the USA where Trump did well amongst Latino voters, even though he was very explicit about what he planned to do. The common refrain was “he doesn’t mean Latino’s like us.” Incidentally, a Jewish friend of mine who is tracing his family history tells me that in 1930s, lots of Jews ended up being killed because they thought Hitler did not mean “Jews like them.”

In an ideal world, things like race and religion shouldn’t matter. However, we don’t live in an ideal world. One will ultimately deal with people who don’t like you simply for being who you are. One should always be friends with “nice” people “regardless of race, language or religion.” In many ways, we gravitate towards people who look like us, speak like us etc.

However, we should always be careful not to make certain assumptions. Never assume that the guy who looks like you have your interest at heart. Sometimes your own kind are the happiest to kill you off because you look like you are encroaching on their place in the majority. I think of the times I traveled to the US. In the years of going to the US, I’ve only had two problematic encounters. Both times were with ethnic Chinese (the first guy gleefully told us could take away our Green Cards – I was 16 at the time and tempted to tell him to shove it). You will be surprised as to how quickly people can turn on their own.

Women’s Day

 Kiddo calls me up last night (20 October) asking if I knew what day it was? Her hook was simple, it was National Woman’s Day in Vietnam and she wanted Daddy to contribute to her partying. I told her that although I’m a bit of a soft touch, trying to pull another woman’s day on me was stretching it a bit too far – International Woman’s Day is March 8. Anyway, got away with not contributing to the party but Kiddo is correct. Vietnam stands out as a place that celebrates women not once but twice. There’s the International Day of Women and the National Day for Women in October – and well Vietnam should celebrate its women.

In the 13-years I was married to a Vietnamese girl, I made about five trips back to visit. I saw Hanoi (twice), Ho Chi Minh (twice) and Hai Phong (once). What becomes clear is that women are essential to economy. Walk on the streets of the three cities I’ve mentioned and you will notice that it’s the women who have turned every corner and every hole in the street into an enterprise of sorts (mainly selling food).

 

This wasn’t just my observation. A nephew by marriage at the time mentioned that the bank he worked for once hired a girl and a couple of guys. At the end of the month, they had to fire the guys and they kept the girl – she was the one who showed up consistently.

In South East Asia, Vietnam has the second highest rate of women participating in the work force, even ahead of Singapore, which is famous for its high level of female participation in the work force:

https://seasia.co/infographic/women-workforce-rates-in-southeast-asia-2023

 

 This isn’t just in the region. Vietnam’s rates of women participating in the workforce are comparable to many advanced economies, including the USA and UK.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.FE.ZS

 

 What does this all mean? Well, for a start, if you look at the data provided by the World Bank, you’ll notice that the places that complain about too many people coming in (the advanced economies of the US and Western Europe), also happen to be places with a relatively high portion of women in the workforce. By contrast, places where people are running away from (places where Donald Trump called “s***holes), tend to be places where the participation of women in the workforce is low.

Given that I could be a person of limited intelligence, I can’t tell you why the correlation between development and female participation in the workforce exists but I will point out to the James Bond movie “Die Another Day” when an Admiral tells M, played by Judy Dench “You haven’t got the balls for this” and M replies “I don’t think with them.”

This quip from a movie, is reflected in Covid statistics. If you look at the Covid statistics, you’ll find that the three countries where the most people died from Covid were at the time led by the “wannabe macho men,” namely Donald Trump of the USA, Narendra Modi of India and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil. By contrast, places led by women did better. Germany, led by Angela Merkel at the time, had a similar number of reported cases to Brazil (both around 38,000) but significantly less deaths (183,000 vs 711,000).

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 Simply put, the men at the moment of crisis led by ego and emotion. The women did not. So, I guess you could argue that having a higher level of female participation in the workforce actually takes out allot of ego and emotion in decision making.

Women, also tend to be a little more law abiding. I make this argument as someone who has crossed the Causeway on a number of occasions. Once in a while, Singaporeans get shaken down for bribes. It’s inevitably the men who shake you down – never the women.

What does this mean for Vietnam? Well, it would indicate that while Vietnam faces many challenges in the area of physical and legal infrastructure, it’s got the most basic element of development in place – namely the type of culture where most people are not afraid to go out and making a living for themselves. Then, there’s the case to be made that when women earn the money, it gets spent on things like education, which in turn uplifts family incomes and on the national level, it means the quality of future workers improves.

Vietnam is a country that has made huge progress. Vietnam only moved into its current economic development phase in 1986 and today is in the top 15 of Asia’s largest economies, making it larger than even Malaysia, which has had the advantage of a longer development period and rule under British Common Law:

https://vietnamlawmagazine.vn/vietnam-among-asias-15-largest-economies-73213.html 

A good part of this success comes from a culture that allows women to play a very active role in making things happen.

It’s Not Your Kid

 

Call it a coincidence if you will but after attending the Singapore Insolvency Conference hosted in the ParkRoyal Collection MarinaBay, an old friend of mine, whom I had once worked for, called me up to ask about liquidating a business of his.

 

 What struck me about this conversation was the fact that this friend of mine seemed relatively at ease with what he wanted to get done. If anything, talking about liquidation seemed like a relief. His once successful enterprise had been bleeding and he pumped in his own personal funds into the business to keep things afloat and he had reached the point of no return. Enough was enough.

I described this entire conversation with my friend as being “unusual” because I’ve found that in the last decade of being in the insolvency trade; I’ve found that many business owners tend to leave closing down a business to late and liquidation is forced upon them.

I’ve noticed that it’s usually the Asian business owners, specifically the Chinese ones in the old-fashioned business-like retail and construction who tend to leave it late. I guess a good part of the reason for this is cultural. For the traditional Chinese businessman, the business is inevitably more than a vehicle to make money – its part of the family legacy. Hence, liquidation is a taboo topic because you’re not talking about ending an entity but your very existence in the community. I still remember Gina’s father being upset with me for taking the PPO against her for the simple reason that the court sent someone to serve her and when he opened the door it was “people think I owe money.”

So, I get the reason why people fight tooth and nail to keep things afloat even when the signs are clearly obvious. However, the sad reality that economic waters are increasingly choppy. Despite the “rosy” image of entrepreneurship that gets sold to every young person these days, the statistics for being successful and staying successful as an entrepreneur are pretty grim. According to Clarify Capital, some 80 percent of businesses fail within 20 years:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Chances+of+succeeding+in+business

 

 This basic fact is before you take into account the current geopolitical climate where governments go out of their way to make things difficult for businesses to function, let alone make money.

Everyone loves venture capitalist. They threw glamorous parties and everyone sucks up to them in the belief that they hold the keys to a glorious future. By contrast, insolvency practitioners (IP) tend to stick to their own kind, mixing occasionally with insolvency lawyers. Let’s just look at the medical analogy of gynecologists (my stepfather being one) being more socially acceptable than morticians.

Yet beneath the glitz of new business launches, the truth is more nuanced. The rough statistic is that venture capitalist lose money in nine of ten ventures backed – it’s just that the one that succeeds does so in a manner that covers the losses of the other nine and ensures the venture capitalists success. The IPs whilst occupying a less glamorous space have a more consistent flow of work.

If you take the statistics about business failure, the one key element of a successful entrepreneur is inevitably one who can accept failure. Successful entrepreneurs view failure as part of the learning curve and will look at the IP as a source of knowledge rather than a person to be avoided. The very nature of being in the insolvency trade means one is going to see a lot of business failure and develop certain insights that most would not have. Its one of the reasons why prominent characters in our judicial system are being invited to speak at insolvency conferences:

 

 One of the key insights that the average IP should have, is that the business is not your baby. It’s merely the vehicle from which you operate. Allot of business owners get attached to the company like it’s a family member. It’s not, it’s something you use. Think of the company and the business like a car. It gets you to where you want to go.

Its this simple, when things turn south and look like they’re never going to get better, it’s best to cut one’s losses.

Firstly, there are laws against insolvent trading. In layman terms, when the hole is getting deeper – stop digging. This is something that few if any outside the insolvency business will be aware of. However, just because one isn’t aware, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Secondly, there’s the fact that I’ve often said to a few bankrupts – you still have your brains and contacts. Business failure provides one with the opportunity to understand one’s weaknesses. Hence, the adage that one not starts from nothing but from experience. Letting go of an old business gives one more time to work on starting again.