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Six possible scenarios as to what could happen to Hadi’s private member’s bill motion in the 25-day budget Parliament

There are six possible scenarios as to what could happen to the PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill motion in the 25-day Budget Parliament beginning on Monday, viz:

1. Hadi’s private member’s bill motion comes up for debate in the first week of Parliament, whether on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and passed with simple majority support.

2. Hadi’s private member’s bill motion debated in the first week of Parliament and rejected with simple majority vote.

3. Hadi’s private member’s bill motion not debated in the first week of Parliament and deferred until after the 2017 Budget’s debate and passage in the last week of Parliamentary meeting from Nov. 21-24.

4. Hadi’s private member’s bill motion debated in Parliament’s last week and passed by simple majority.

5. Hadi’s private member’s bill motion debated in Parliament’s last week and rejected by simple majority.

6. Hadi’s private member’s bill motion not debated and deferred to next year’s Parliamentary meeting.

I am quite perplexed by the statements which the MCA President and the MCA Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, had been making in the past two days about the possibility of Hadi’s private member’s bill motion coming up for debate and vote in next week’s Parliament. Continue reading “Six possible scenarios as to what could happen to Hadi’s private member’s bill motion in the 25-day budget Parliament”

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Singapore Mustn’t Spare the Rod

By Andy Mukherjee
Bloomberg
Oct 12, 2016

A slap on the wrist of a licensed, regulated intermediary must satisfy three conditions. One, the errant party must feel remorse before relief. Two, all other players ought to be put on notice. Three, society should feel avenged on behalf of its often faceless victims.

The punishment meted out by Singapore to banks as part of its ongoing investigation into the 1MDB scandal looks to have achieved little success in meeting the first aim. It has done better in hitting the second goal, but largely missed the third.

Start with the first objective. A S$1 million ($725,000) fine on homegrown DBS and a S$1.3 million penalty on UBS elicited just the kind of contrition one can expect from organizations brimming with talented public relations professionals. UBS said it was “disappointed” it didn’t do more to detect and report suspicious transactions earlier; DBS said it should have taken more “rigorous action.” Both have promised to go after miscreant bankers, and forgo profit from their lapses. UBS would support industry-wide anti-money-laundering initiatives, while DBS would donate to a worthy cause.

These are all fine words, but peering through them is a palpable sense of relief. While nobody quite expected pragmatic Singapore to score an own goal by aggressively punishing shareholders of lending institutions for egregious behavior by their executives, the fines appear way too small in a city where being in possession of chips outside of a casino attracts a S$150,000 penalty. Continue reading “Singapore Mustn’t Spare the Rod”