I'm a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That's why I've never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism.
I'm quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions.
The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don't work.
The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I'm a liberal.
I'm not sure what the middle think of me. I don't think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore.
I'm a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I'm not Eurasian.
I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean.
While we can all condemn Amy Cheong for the unthinking racism of her remarks, we should wonder whether they just reflect the tone of institutional racism that is projected from […]
A thought experiment imagining that the government is a bank (or more accurately a long only hedge fund). This is not far-fetched given the highly leveraged balance sheet shown in the annual Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
I decide to look at the background of the members of the board of Temasek Holdings to see how many are truly independent. I also compare Temasek’s governance framework with the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund to see how far we are following what could legitimately be called 'best practice'.
In a debate one tactic which often works is to ascribe to your opponent a position that he does not hold, which is easy to refute, and then demolish that. […]
As most of us are aware the government controls the media both directly, through Temasek’s ownership of MediaCorp, and indirectly, by its power to appoint the senior management and the […]
A “Roach Motel”, originally a term used to describe a cockroach trap, has become a metaphor used by hedge fund managers to describe an investment that is too large in […]
I thought a comment from someone calling themselves “Sotongmee” raised enough interesting points to merit reproduction in full in the blog together with my response. This person addresses me as “sir”. […]
Recently one of my articles, “Where Have Our Reserves Gone” (http://sonofadud.com/2012/09/07/where-have-our-reserves-gone/) was taken down by TOC without explanation. When I pushed Mr. Pillai for an explanation he said that they […]
Dear TOC, Last Thursday, I was contacted by several readers who asked me why my article “Where have our reserves gone?” had disappeared from TOC. This alone was alarming and […]
After I published this piece it was brought to my attention that the IMF have revised their figures for Singapore’s general government surplus once again for the years 2003-2010. In […]
The Ricebowl Singapore (TRS) 