Which Business I Consider Profited the Most from Lee Kuan Yew's Funeral

Florists are doing a roaring business with the demise of the old man with peasants buying flowers as tribute. However i don't think the florists profited the most because of the competition among florists.

The business that profited the most is one that i suspect many didn't take notice of. Before i reveal what i consider is the most profitable, let's first take a look at the BreadTalk bakery spam chain.

Make Sure their Bread Cannot Talk! Boycott!
The BreadTalk bakery spam chain got into hot soup from selling an overpriced bread (eat & shit out) commemorative of the old man. Many netizens consider BreadTalk to be a crony business because the boss support the hybrid regime's high salaries (see search results below). The boss like to hire pinoys as cheap workers instead of locals.

Sell overpriced bread + cheap workers = Laugh all the way to the bank

Personally i have never bought nor eaten any bread from that overpriced & pro-pinoy bakery spam chain. The spam chain open its outlets in shopping malls marketing itself as an upscale bakery business. When their bread business open in shopping malls, it disqualify itself from my wallet because i loathe paying for the killer rental component of an item.

Later on due to the hybrid regime's massive population influx, the boss hired many cheaper pinoys in his outlets which had led me & many others to detest the BreadTalk bakery spam chain even more.

Unfortunately, many gongkias(fools) still support the overpriced & pro pinoy spam chain else it would not have spam so many outlets islandwide. The likely reason i would use to explain is they love to show others they can afford to eat overpriced bread just like Starbucks coffee. To malaysians working here, they would certainly consider those sinkies buying overpriced bread as stupid which i will write about in another blogpost.

For others, they boycott. They vote with their wallets. Boycott the business & its associated business & the group will close shop.

Closed shop = those foreign workers can go back home countries.

Lesser foreign workers = Less crowded trains/space for populace.

Those who loathe BreadTalk spam chain would patronize those neighborhood bakery chains that hire locals & sell at a lower price, This is the right way to vote. In fact we vote practically everyday. No need to wait until the general election.


Barricade Fences Business Is Best During Lee Kuan Yew's Funeral
I first took notice of the company S-Lite during the Chingay at Heartlands. The last performance is supposed to be in the north but the old man passed away so the performance was canceled. However the profit is certainly not canceled due to the contract with the government.

Is highly likely that this barricade fence company, S-Lite is the contractor to go to for events like marathon, F1 since they are relied on for a big event like Chingay. As i cannot run a marathon nor attended F1, i never heard/notice this company until the Chingay at Clementi 2 weeks ago.

Why Being In a Boring Business/Industry Helps a Lot
Florists got many competitors but it seems to me this barricade fence company got very few. Such is the great thing about being in a business/work that is boring/unglamorous as very few people notice it. Keep a low profile & continue to rake in the profits - this is something Warren Buffett certainly likes about 'hidden gems'.

I reckon profits come from the distance or number of fences deployed so the more the merrier. It is labor intensive loading & unloading the barricade fences from the lorries. But hey it is a grand funeral for the founding prime minister so being pressed for time, the army boys activated to load, setup the barricades.

S-Lite boss delighted because:

• Charge higher price to govt(us taxpayers) due to very urgent & few competitors.
• Plenty of free labor from army boys to do the barricade fences.
• Sterling reputation being able to provide so many fences for massive operation.

Instead of that crony bakery spam chain boss that earn more detest from the hybrid regime's supporters, this barricade fence boss is in a much better position as very few notice his business.

Unprecedented Carpet Bombing of Propaganda in Singapore with Lee Kuan Yew's Death

Yesterday's funeral procession marked the end of a week of massive bombardment of the old man's greatness. Even though i don't watch tv, it is hard to avoid the propaganda when the tv at neighborhood coffeeshops are playing video clips of the old man.

On train stations, there's pictures of the old man on monitor screens. On buses, the bus numbers are partially obscured with a phrase dedicated to the old man. At libraries, a special table was setup with books by you guess it - the old man.

Even at POPStation which is a parcel self-collection kiosk which i passed by, the screen shows the old man.

Grassroot volunteers distributed papers of the funeral procession route & slipped it under the doors. My mum picked it up after waking up in the morning & naturally chucked it into the malaysian newspapers pile - she doesn't read propaganda & msian papers are cheaper. The funeral procession route is already pasted on the noticeboard near the elevators. Being kiasu(scared lose), the grassroots went further by slipping the leaflet under the doors hoping to gather more peasants to line the funeral route.

In order to gather more peasants to see the old man while lying in state at parliament house, civil serpents are given time off work to go pay their respects. You can bet there's peer pressure involved being in the civil service.

I didn't inform my mum about the old man's passing away when i read about it online. She naturally found out as she went out. There is no sadness after having been through insufficient hospital beds at A&E(1 reason among others). Insufficient hospital beds amid a massive population influx situation which we are suffering now can be traced to the old man as he still rules behind the curtain. Unfortunately this fact has been forgotten as the regime hype his greatness to unprecedented levels.

How unprecedented is the carpet bombing online?

Just a small sample. The list could stretch on...

All govt ministries/stat boards - U guess it.

Many govt-linked companies - U guess it.

Among the govt-linked companies websites which i've checked not succumbing to the hype:

• S'pore Airlines, Tigerair Dun have
• Neptune Orient Lines Dun have
• Singtel Dun have

I consider the elevation of the old man's greatness to be overly done be it offline & online. He's considered to be a level 4 good leader according to Jim Collins' criteria in 'Good to Great'. Not yet a level 5 great as i've written in my earlier blogpost.

5 Levels of Leadership. Where Does Lee Kuan Yew Stand?

Too much credit is given to old man Lee Kuan Yew for building up the country. With his passing away, the media be it online or offline are presently filled with plenty of stories to shore up his legacy.

He has also written many books & while i have not read any book written by him from front to back, i would say his mind is still clear & sharp as i flipped & quick read a couple of pages of his 'One man's view of the world' published in 2013 at a bookstore. The only book i read in its entirely is an interview book done by Tom Plate.

How does Lee Kuan Yew rank as a leader?

According to Jim Collins, author of 'Good to Great', there are 5 levels of leadership.

Why Lee Kuan Yew Has Not Reached Level 5 Leadership
I consider him to be a level 4 leader. Why not level 5? Because there's no enduring greatness for the company/country as we can see in the problems of insufficient hospital beds, frequent train breakdowns, declining productivity level from the result of the current 3rd generation management.

If you look at the commitment/sense of belonging from the number of flags flown for national day last year- Record Low Flags Display in 2014 Before 50th Anniversary blogpost, it is dismal.

1st generation -- greatness in uplifting the masses lives.
2nd generation -- greatness wanes as greed among the leaders sets in.
3rd generation -- greatness bank account more or less empty.

Many peasants are brainwashed through the state controlled media that the old man is hugely responsible for building up the economy. A netizen used the example of the big budget overruns for the 1st Youth Olympic Games showing that the minister/scholars ain't got a clue. Likewise the old man ain't got a clue to running the economy at the beginning & scared the economy can't support the country's population & thus the 'Stop at 2 births' policy .

A Level 4 Leader He Is
His pursuit of his garden city vision is a legacy the peasants & tourists enjoy today.

On the economic front, economist Albert Winsemius provided advice on massive industrialization. In executing the advice, the old man is able to catalyze commitment from his 1st generation ministers & stimulates them to high performance standards.

There's a few historical signboards on the history of Jurong a few meters outside CashConverters at Jurong East Central. Have a look if you passed by the area.


Albert Winsemius provided advice for free for 25 years. How's that for his economic contribution to our country? Yet his valuable contribution is something that is not registered in the minds of most peasants who are brainwashed into thinking that the old man is hugely responsible for the country's economic development.

Certainly the old man is good at harnessing commitment & stimulating the ministers to high performance on acceptable salaries. The same cannot be said for the 2nd & 3rd generations despite highly paid & obscene salaries respectively.

Where got enduring greatness(level 5) when after relinquishing premiership, the country started to stagnate & then decline(not in gdp terms though)?

After getting used to the power of premiership, he was hardly willing to let go of the reigns. He stayed on in the advising roles of Senior Minister & Minister Mentor. Does greatness endure despite a change in premiership?

By Jim Collins's criteria, Lee Kuan Yew is a good leader who hasn't made the leap to great.

• A level 4 leader is often more bothered about his greatness than his company/country's greatness. 
• Level 5 leadership is attained when the company/country continues to be great even after its founder is absent/dead.
• Level 5 leaders expect their organizations to be even better after they leave. (he didn't even dare to leave.)
• A level 5 leader accomplish great things for their organizations but they seldom take credit (doesn't this resemble Albert Winsemius?)

A New Chapter Begins with the Death of Singapore's Strongman

The govt controlled mass media is doing a carpet bombing of propaganda with the passing away of the old man who died at age 91 at 3:18am today. One of its news media has audio automatically playing upon loading the website - hard to escape.

The hybrid regime has given ample time for its traditional news machinery to prepare articles as his condition deteriorates. There are still those old conservatives who are still deluded to the old man's past achievements despite the rot taking place over the last couple of years in the country.

No doubt he achieve spectacularly with the 1st generation ministers following the advice of dutch economist Albert Winsemius. They are a bunch of folks who care more about the welfare of the populace compared to the current bunch consumed with their obscene paychecks.

My mum said that the old man started off being good but turned bad & badder as power has corrupted him. Among his policies that my mum hate are the 'Stop at 2 kids' & graduate mothers give birth more. The stop at 2 kids disastrous policy is being felt today with massive importation of immigrants into this tiny island to shore up the demographics.

On 19 August 1977, a newspaper article on the old man:

• 'we must lower our birth rate in order to absorb foreign workers on a permanent basis'
• 'annual intake of many thousands...... expected to marry a singaporean & add to population'

Article screenshot from national library archives.

which originated from LKY's idea to replace us with foreigners on TRE

Some people call him a Sith Lord. To a young kid who has never watched Star Wars & he start watching from Episode I then II. He would think the chancellor(prime minister) is a good guy. In episode III, it was revealed that he is actually a bad guy -sith lord concentrating power in the Republic to himself.

Whatever respect i have for the old man's earlier achievements have been cancelled out by the policy mishaps of the current greedy bunch of his regime.

Neutral it is not(yoda style), for i hold negative view of the incumbent hybrid regime he controls. A reason why......

Tentages holding area & patients lying on trolley beds. This is something in 1^st world SG that the ministers are paid world's highest salaries because they are the best?

The greed of his political party has led to suffering among the peasants. I am not spared either especially when it comes to insufficient hospital beds. Patients have to wait 8-12 hours for a bed in the ward to be available as I have experienced.

My mum & dad suffered when they were hospitalized in 2013 & 2014. If the old man has to wait for a bed like the peasants he would already have died!

As for now, the hospital bed shortage is still ongoing. It is a deliberate attempt by his party to screw the peasants. I've written earlier using the water issue to make my point in Dredging of Sungei Ulu Pandan & Dry Spell blogpost.

Think about those patients suffering due to insufficient hospital beds...

those who lost their jobs to foreigners with fake qualifications...

those squeezing in crowded public transport with increasing breakdowns...

Yesterday(Sun) late afternoon had a strange weather phenomena. Prolong continuous thunder amid dark skies. Is as though Heaven is angry. And guess what? Several hours later, it is over for the old man.

It is the 1^st time this year such prolong thunder occurred. Normally heavy downpours are not accompanied with such prolonged continuous thunder.

While the old man is around, nobody in his party dares to defy him. He is the glue that holds the party together & the person controlling affairs from behind the curtain. Now the glue is gone.

With the performance of the current bunch of ministers lagging far behind the 1^st generation ministers, they are now ripe for defeat in the coming election.

Hence a new chapter begins... There's much work to be done to repair the damage done by the incumbent party. The current issue in the spotlight is the collapsing retail sector due to the regime's bloodsucking rents.

My Thoughts on Chingay Heartlands 2015 at Clementi

Chingay at Heartlands passed by clementi last night(sat). It was the 1st time the peasant residential areas got such procession & my 1st time viewing it live. Started on the 1st sat of this month & this coming sat will be the last with the procession taking place in the north.

Initially i thought the heartland procession had taken place before but the man beside me whom i struck up a conversation told me it is the 1st time. Indeed his claim is right as i google 'chingay heartlands'. I must have mistaken the heartland procession with the national day heartland procession which i can't be bothered with.

My digicam is crap when it comes to taking night pictures.

Vanguard of the floats. 'We Luv SG' - a prelude to hybrid regime's propaganda

Indeed the chingay procession which i initially thought to be a neutral event has become a propaganda tool for the hybrid regime as i heard the names of the regime's member of parliaments(MPs) for west coast district mentioned 2-3 times by the emcees.

I couldn't see the MPs as i was some distance away a few floors up at a nearby peasant block to get a better view. My eyes are focused on the floats & not on the damn bus which they are on.

Indeed, the MPs were on board the sightseeing bus behind the vanguard float. Look at the pictures below taken by the MP for my area whom i didn't vote for in the last election. The MP for my area can't be bothered with doing house visits which is a very tedious process. It is far simpler & easier to spend taxpayers $$$ to expand Chingay to the peasant heartlands as part of celebrating 50 years of independence & at the same time using the neutral event as a hybrid regime event.

If it weren't 50 years of independence + election coming, i doubt the hybrid regime would bother bringing Chingay to the peasant heartlands for the 1st time.

Spectators Less Than I Expected
You can see the spectators lining the roads from the MP's pictures above. However i consider the peasants turnout to be disappointing. Perhaps it has to do with the rain earlier but it has stopped & there's 30-45mins before the floats finally arrived.

Emcees did their best in keeping the atmosphere alive & attracting people living a bit further away. There are free finger food & 'light wands' distributed to spectators at the tentages. The 'batman beam lights' shining into the night sky & nearby blocks serve to announce that's activity going on. Before the floats arrive, there are performances from the community center.

If the fence barricading the people from the roads is any indication, there is certainly plenty of empty space where peasants could have lined up to see the procession in this overpopulated tiny island.

Last 2 Floats are China Related
Last float is Tianjin Eco-city float & the 2nd last is its breathen Suzhou Industrial Park. Both are joint ventures the hybrid regime did with China. The Suzhou Industrial Park is a humiliating experience for the hybrid regime as they got outplayed by the local chinese authorities.

What has these 2 china related floats got to do with SG50? My guess is their usage is use to garner votes from newly minted citizens from China.

Digicam crappy at night shots. You can barely see the spectators.

As the floats procession draw to a close, the ending part turned out to be an attempt by the hybrid regime to endear itself to new citizens.

Logistics & safety wise, it is very well executed. There's a tow truck at the rear with the usual police on motorbikes escorting the convoy. I would grade it 10/10.

Chopping Down Many Trees After Rat Infestation at Bukit Batok Hill

Cycled to West Mall's library to borrow an item. Haven't been there for at least 3 years. That area was in the headlines in december last year due to rat infestation on Bukit Batok hill.

The rat infestation was exposed & quickly ignited into a firestorm online by someone on the train platform taking a video of the rats running amok.

I'm aghast that the hill is becoming 'botak' due to so many trees being chopped down as i rode passed. Oh gosh to mother nature!

A 'stitched' photo.

Train station on the left.

A lorry(bottom left) is hauling away fallen trees with its boom extender arm.

I went to examine the perimeter fence & found that it is old & rusty. To double-checked, i enquired with a resident & she said that the perimeter fence surrounding much of the hill is already there before the rat infestation.

Pest busters on the slope beside the train station.

The rat infestation has been resolved by pest busters hired by the authorities at a rather hefty price per rat. How come still need to 'raze' the hill? Razing the hill to become barren to make it easier to spot rats should those pests reappear again?

Look at the lumberjacks & workers clearing the forest on the hill.

Leveling the Hill?
As the land is right beside the train station, it is a very valuable real estate worth hundreds of millions. Perhaps the hybrid regime intend to level the hill in order to sell it for development especially for a condominium as you can see one on the stitched photo above.

There is already a flurry of construction mania going on in this tiny island. The hybrid regime is selling as much as possible before it losses power & my guess is that this hill razing & leveling is another of their greed projects.

Down with the man-in-white in his ivory tower.

Remember the man-in-white wizard Saruman in Lord of the Rings? Too bad there's no Ents to protest against the deforestation & march against the man-in-white elites.

Dredging of Sungei Ulu Pandan & Dry Spell

Experienced a reprieve from the dry spell when there's rain for 3 consecutive days (Mon to Wed). This is the 2nd year where the dry spell has occurred after making its presence felt last year. The dry spell last year was particularly bad as grasses are wiltering. Evergreen tropical season become like autumn where grasses/flowers are dropping/dying.

I'm a believer of climate change. There are environmental limits to economic growth. All fishes from local fish farms are wiped out in this year's dry spell.

Field opposite Kranji mrt. Pictures taken in March(dry) & April (back to normal)

Such expanse of green fields are increasingly rare on this tiny island as the hybrid regime is obsessed with selling & developing the land to grow the gdp at all costs like cancer.

Last year the land vegetation is impacted more but this year the effects of the dry spell impacted the seawaters more as Plankton bloom causing mass fish deaths likely to recur

The hybrid regime is going to build a 3rd desalination plant at Tuas. When it comes to benefiting the elite's profits be it shopping malls, factories etc, they are quick to plan ahead. However for amenities like simple-to-build hawker centers to benefit the peasants, the building schedule can stretch for 10+ years. Even Bukit Panjang, a town built in the 1980s, still has no polyclinic for the peasants.

Before the recent announcement of the 3rd desalination plant this year, the hybrid regime is already planning ahead to increase water supply. We'll have to rewind back a bit to October 2013 with the example of the dredging of the canal in Clementi that leads to Pandan reservoir.

- Oct 2013 Dredging of Sungel Ulu Pandan.
- 1st Qtr 2014 Dry Spell hit land vegetation hard.
- 1st Qtr 2015 Dry spell wipe out fish farms due to algal boom.

Rewind to 2013.

Very 'Energetic' when Elite's Self-Interest at Stake
Very proactive in deepening the canal so as to hold more water as well as to mitigate sudden flash floods. There are no separate water pipes for the elites so of course the elites are proactive.

The elites have:

• separate hospital beds (can afford 'A' class)
• their cars (no squeeze with peasants on public transport)
• their high class eateries (book separate room for privacy)

But 'Switched-off' when it comes to peasants
Meanwhile instead of being proactive the elites adopt a fuck care attitude toward the peasants in regards to insufficient hospitals beds, public transport & hawker centers. On the issue of public housing, the hybrid regime deliberately build very little so as to make the prices shoot up sky-high. Sky-high public housing prices provide the elites a perfect opportunity to suck dry the retirement accounts of peasants.

Small boat attaching rope to pull dredged soil/mud to ......

Scooping up the soil/mud to the dump trucks to be transported away.

When joggers, cyclists see the machines in action or docked by the canal banks, how many will ask themselves "How come so proactive in water issue but when it comes to peasant issue, i'm fucked by the elites?"

To get an idea of the water level before the dredging, look at the drainage leading to the canal. There are 2 colors - dark & lighter tone at the hole. The exposure of the muddy bank also indicate the drop in water level.

Water level in the canal leading to the reservoir has actually dropped quite an amount due to increased population consumption. Dredging it make it drop even lower. The support column of the bridge has a brownish taint which indicate the water level before the population explosion & then dredging take its toll.


Again, the evidence is out there for people to see. There is no water shortage despite population explosion + dry spell. Is a matter of how many peasants bother to ask themselves:

"How come so proactive in water issue but when it comes to peasant issue, i'm fucked by the elites?"

Why Accepting Lowest Bid Blindly Often Lead to More Problems

Productivity & retirement funds (CPF) are the talk of town lately. With the hybrid regime practicing state capitalism, the mentality of choosing the lowest bid infects the govt-linked companies as well other than just the govt agencies.

Govt-linked companies(GLCs) = Pretty much the Govt. Thus mentality pretty much the same which is to play safe, don't make mistakes (risky) & collect their somewhat iron ricebowl $$$ for the top echelons. Middle & low level peasants working in GLCs playing safe & don't take risk is as good as waiting to be replaced by cheaper, younger foreign workers who excel in obedience nevermind their hidden costs.

The german economic model with their dominance of small & medium enterprises is a better route for us to emulate than the govt-linked companies dominance which resemble monopolies. SMEs are generally more open to innovative approaches than the big lumbering giants.

In order for state capitalism PAP style to end, the incumbent regime needs to take a severe beating at the polls. There is far too much conflict of interests be it parachuting its cronies like paper generals to top positions/directors & making profits high in priority than providing a reliable public good/service(eg public transport).

Like what the writer wrote, many of those civil serpents are pretty braindead - just choose cheapest without looking at overall value and/or hidden costs. I like his suggestion of incorporating key performance indicators of business process improvements to 'move' those serpents. His point of net customer satisfaction is something i can relate to. No point choosing the cheapest vendor for a product if it ends up the customer ends up wasting time with an unfriendly interface.

How Andrew Higgins Increase Profits with Change-Resistant US Coastguard
Speaking of civil serpents, i was reminded of Andrew Higgins in how he deal with those civil serpents. He is the man credited for making the D-Day landings on Normandy possible with his beach assault landing craft carrying the soldiers.

10min video. If you are impatient then watch 3:28 - 4:00 for how he increase sales/profits.

• sell fast boat to US coastguard.
• sell faster boat to smugglers. Hahaha
• sell fastest boat to scared shitless US coastguard.

If those civil serpents don't buy the fastest boat to catch the smugglers, they would lose their jobs. Being scared shitless, that is a strong enough reason so they can continue to have their jobs. Double-headed snake entrepreneur. Have to admit he is damn good. Is advisable to watch the whole video for his contributions to the war effort.

Another case of cheapest will do nevermind the hidden costs of poor communications with customers. Such scenarios are rampant in the service industry(bus drivers, nurses, waiters etc). Short-term cost savings but damage to long-term profitability.

A response was triggered in which LTA countered that they list out the project's requirements & they weed out companies unable to meet them. Then they go on to choose among the vendors who have passed the requirements. Your guess is as good as mine in how they choose in the 2nd stage.

Despite LTA's rebuttal that Lowest bid doesn't mean highest risk in how govt & govt-linked companies select vendors, my recent experience at the museum(govt agency)'s SG history exhibition which is riddled with typos tell me otherwise - Hidden Cost of Cheapest - Bad Advertising to Tourists & Locals.