An interesting post at Proprietary Trader about Singapore: Rethink Singapore Economic Growth Model. I agree with the spirit of most of the text highlighted in red. However with some caveats and a pre-requisites which I feel weren’t addressed by Prof Lim.

For one, it’s a pity the article starts with “Singapore should..”, this is like the code for government speak when trying to coax people into a certain mindset/action, for example: “Singaporeans should speak proper English instead of Singlish” or “Singaporeans should make more babies”, it immediately creates a dissonance, well at least for me.

Secondly, in order for “releasing capital and talent to local entrepreneurs” to be effective you need the right kind of infrastructure and environment in place, and I’m not talking about communications hardware or low cost business registration fees and online facilities, it goes much deeper than that.

Third, making big bets on few projects has worked reasonably well for Singapore over the long run. Sure there were some hiccups with over investments in hard disks, wafer fabs etc. and maybe now in the financial sector but it’s not possible to get it right 100%, under any kind of model. I do agree though that there should be a more balanced approach and less reliance on just those big bets.

Fourth, the sentence “a national government, for example, should not use domestic savings to create employment disproportionately for foreigners simply in order to claim success in establishing a particular sector of its choosing that may not be validated by underlying market forces.” sounds a bit populistic to me. I think Sg’s flexibility in attracting foreign workers while still maintaining control over long term immigration is a strength rather than a weakness, but I may be biased :-) Also “claiming success” isn’t, I believe, the top priority of policy makers, rather it’s increasing the size of the pie for everyone.

As for the last part: “‘Don’t think of yourself as an outpost of a declining empire, or a
second Shanghai or a second Boston. Why not be a first Singapore?’” I think there’s already a shift away from that mindset and there are attempts to develop a more unique Sg. Ironically, one of the best ways to do that is through the actions Prof Lim criticises, i.e. government initiatives, making several big bets and seeing what sticks and how they develop.

Just read this interesting story What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey (via Maoxian). Those sellers targeting tourists are masters in this art of influencing people. I’ve come across many of them in my travels in Asia, the best ones I met were in India. Anyway I thought I’d compile my list of rules that helped me in the past: how NOT to buy a rug in Turkey, or an artwork in India or gemstones in Thailand, etc.

Rule number 1: Never, ever, respond to a conversation or any kind of interaction with those shills or sellers unless you’re already well educated in the area you’re considering a purchase in and are ready to buy right now. Preferably, I try to even avoid any eye contact as this minimizes those “where are you from?” questions.

Rule number 2: refer to rule number 1, can’t be reiterated enough. If you do nothing else then just observing the above will get you out of most trouble. For “advanced” users, I’m already quite immune to those shills so sometimes I do crack a joke with them, often in such a way that makes them realize I’m not going to buy anything from them and gets (some of) them off my back.

Rule number 3: Never, ever, buy in the first shop you get into. If by design or by breaking rule number 1 (tsk tsk) you do get into a shop and start discussing an item, even if you like something and the price seems right, do not buy yet. Why? You can almost always come back later, it’s very rare that only one seller has this item, stepping away puts you in control and the shop owner is more likely to reveal their lowest selling price.

Rule number 4: Plan in advance for any pruchase worth more than just pocket money. Do your research, start with online shops – almost anything is sold online too these days, with friends who’ve been to the place, travel forums, hotel stafff (depending no what kind of hotel you’re in this is sometimes not a great idea) and multiple shops in the destination. When checking prices it’s best to check in different kinds of shops including those that seem expensive like in shopping malls, main street, and then markets. Will give you some good reference points.

Rule number 5: Coordinate with travel partner(s). Discuss in advance with your travel partner(s) on what stage you’re in: checking things out or ready to buy and what items and prices you’re aiming for. It also helps if no one goes into a shop saying: “yes I really love it, it’s the best item I’ve ever seen and we’ll surely never find anything better and cheaper anywhere else” ;-)

Rule number 6: Negotiate. It’s impossible to teach negotiation in a blog post. Nevertheless knowing how to neogtiate helps tremendously of course. If you’ve done your homework in steps 4 and 5 you should know what sort of prices to expect and everyone should be on the same page with regards to how to approach the seller. When I don’t feel comfortable in my research of step 4 then if the item is expensive I won’t buy yet but negotiate to find out prices, if it isn’t expensive and/or worth the time then I go for rule of thumb of cutting the price in half and seeing how that goes.

P.S. I actually did buy a beautiful rug in the past, in Nepal. Let’s just say I didn’t pay $1,100 for it, or even a tenth of that price.

P.S.S. Two books I recommend if you want to up your game in this area are the classics: You Can Negotiate Anything and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

If readers have any other suggestions then feel free to add them in the comments.

Thailand is one place where the abundance of petrodollars of oil rich Arab countries won’t buy everything. Seems like ex-PM Thaksin went a little too far in wanting to augment his billions. I estimate, conservatively, that 99.9999% of Thais will fiercely oppose any such plans to sell land, particularily large rice farming land, to foreigners – at any price. And that’s something worth respecting.

Bangkok Post : Saudi investment in rice sector opposed

According to Mr Prapat, the proposed investment involves a joint farming project with Thai farmers, renting farmland, and a joint rice export venture.Mr Somsak said the ministry would definitely reject any plans that ignored the importance of the agricultural sector and threatened the farmers’ way of life.

”Rice farming is an occupation that is reserved for Thai nationals only according to the foreign business law. So, don’t look at it only as a business or for profits and don’t put your own interests first,” the minister said.

”How have they initiated such an idea to hire academics and farmers to grow rice for a 5,000 baht per rai wage? They couldn’t care less about farmers.”

”This kind of idea is tantamount to selling off the nation, aiming to take farmers away from their motherland,” he said. Mr Somsak added, however, that he did not know whose idea it was.

Prasit Boonchuey, president of the Thai Farmers Association, said the proposed investment would not benefit Thai farmers.

”If the government lets foreigners invest in rice farming in our country, the occupation of farming will become extinct, leaving only hired hands and Thais will then have to buy rice from foreigners,” said the farmers’ leader.

Got back to Bangkok last night after a delayed flight. I had a really nice time in Singapore meeting friends and going out for drinks and food at our usual places. Just like the last time I went back to Singapore in November, Singapore has both changed and remained the same. Three related change themes emerged this trip:

1. Everything is even more expensive than before, prices increased across the board for everything. Surprisingly though people aren’t talking or complaining about it too much. I think there’s a bit of a boiling the frog effect going on, the gradual increase doesn’t cause much outcry but if you step away like I did for half a year and return then things seem different.

2. It’s more crowded. Everywhere you go you see lots of people all the time. A lot more than before. There are several government initiatives to increase the population of Singapore dramatically by a couple of million people and like in most areas, the Singapore government is showing results. The main downside I see to their strategy though is that they’re targeting very high quality immigration. This sounds like a good idea and indeed those new immigrants contribute to the economy from the get-go but it also carries high risks. Highly competent and skilled immigrants become transient again when the economy takes a down turn or better opportunities come along. A lot of efforts are being made by the government to recruit Aussies for example, I doubt though that many Aussies will settle down in Singapore forever.

3. Related to the above, everywhere I went and had to deal with some official business (telecom, banking etc.) instead of the usual request to see my Employment Pass or Passport I was always asked to show my Singapore Identity Card. That was very new to me. It seems Singaporeans are getting more and more used to seeing foreigners are locals.

Overall it’s always nice to go back there. A kind of home away from home no matter where I live.

More funny stuff coming out of Singapore these days. Apparently the government in Singapore thinks Singaporeans are not only ‘blur’ on sex and need to be told how to do it but also require official government lessons on how to flirt and create relationships. I highlighted the parts I found interesting. I thought the SDU was shut down btw? Any Singaporean can confirm this?

Singapore students get lessons in love – Reuters.com

In an effort to boost the city-state’s low birth rate, Singapore’s Ngee Ann Polytechnic has launched a government-backed course teaching students about flirting and relationships. Subjects include love song analysis, speed-dating and online chatting. “My teacher said if a guy looks into my eyes for more than five seconds, it could mean that he is attracted to me and I stand a chance,” 18-year-old student Isabel Seet was quoted as saying by the local Straits Times newspaper.

The course, “Understanding Relationships: Love and Sexuality”, is taught by an official from the Social Development Unit, the government’s match-making agency. It has become so popular since its inception in October last year that the school has had to recruit another trainer, the polytechnic’s spokeswoman told Reuters.

The course is intended to provide an “understanding of the fundamentals of human relationships” and is one of two offered by Singapore’s polytechnics to encourage young Singaporeans to get married, the newspaper said. Fearing that an ageing population will hurt economic growth, Singapore’s government has been trying for years to encourage educated young people in particular to have children, with incentives ranging from tax breaks to “baby bonuses”.

There has also been more hands-on encouragement for university students in the form of parties and trips organised by the Social Development Unit. “By learning the dynamics and intricacies of diverse relations, they can effectively apply strategies and techniques to cultivate fulfilling lifelong relationships,” the spokeswoman said.

The course is modelled along general elective classes that students from all faculties can take. Student Kamal Prakash told the Straits Times that while his relationship with his parents has improved since taking the course, he is still single. “I think most people who take the course would find it easier to get a girlfriend,” Prakash was quoted as saying. “But I’m not really looking for a girlfriend now as I want to concentrate on my studies.”

Pictures from Thailand: Thaksin kisses Thai soil

Ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra ended 17 months of exile abroad by falling to his knees and kissing Thai ground at Suvarnabhumi airport. Thousands greeted him with banners and signs but Mr Thaksin said he wanted to be an “ordinary citizen.” (The Manager/Bangkok Post)

I think this is how most Thai people feel about their country.

Will be interesting to see how his case develops, especially in light of the recent elections and the new government here, a factor which no doubt played a role in his decision to return.

I *FINALLY* managed to switch ISP’s. I’m now with Pacific Internet, a Singapore based company with a Thai subsidiary. Instead of the old crappy “3Mbps” I had with (false) True “HiSpeed” I now have a 1Mbps SME package with Pacnet. I actually wanted and was willing to pay for more than 1Mbps but was told by Pacnet that the max they offered on the existing copper wire infrastructure is 1M/512k.

So far the line quality seems much better based on tests done via dslreports.com and trace routes. I have just 1 hop to a Singapore hub and then straight from there to the West Coast for a total of only 5 hops and ~260ms latency which is outstanding for Asia. The East Coast stats are a bit lower as I get routed via the Thai CAT infrastructure (bummer) which means 2-5% packet loss, 10 hops and ~320ms latency. Still, quite a bit better than before. Price-wise, it’s almost 3 times more than what I paid on the old plan but still under $100 per month which means it’s worth every single cent. The real test though will be tomorrow at peak hour when the markets open. Fingers crossed it’ll hold up ok as it did so far in tests.

Just to put things in perspective, anyone who’s using the net for web surfing, chatting, email or even light video-streaming would be fine on the standard Thai True/TOT/Whatever connection (a cheap 1M would be fine). But those doing latency sensitive work or play would most likely be  better off on a higher end *corporate* package. Why didn’t I switch before? Long story but in short, the only way to get something going was to cancel the previous connection and tell the prospective ISP’s customer service/sales person: “I want to sign up right now, here are my details, start processing my order”. Anything short of that, like checking availability in my area/lead time/prices/options etc. was just a waste of time.