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San organized dinner for the lunch buddies on Thursday. Unfortunately it had to be at MBS because Dr Teo was having a seminar there.

San also likes teochew food and so the venue was at Imperial Treasure teochew restaurant.

It was good meeting them as a group again. We haven’t met for sometime. Much of the conversation centered on medical services in Singapore, especially the long waits at A and E at government hospitals here. For non heart related cases, someone was told the wait at A and E to see a doctor was 8 hours. This coupled with the fact that it is difficult to get a hospital bed once admitted. Another person told me they had to wait 48 hours to be moved from the waiting area in A and E to a ward. Strange how Singaporeans don’t seem to be bothered by this and discuss such issues. Until it affects them personally.

Anyway my biggest gripe that night was with the food. The food there sucks. It was so salty that we had to send 2 dishes back. And the other dishes were not much better. San was apologizing to us for a poor choice of restaurant. My second consecutive bad experience at Imperial Treasure.

I really do think restaurants here need to wake up. I, for one, think we getting very poor quality food with poor prices for the amount of money we end up paying. Malaysia is miles ahead in terms of better value/quality for food and service.

I will have absolutely no sympathy when eventually these places shut down because people prefer to take a train to JB to have their meals there. Just like what is happening to the restaurants in HK. People in HK are going to Shenzen to have their meals.

The restaurants in MBS, such as this one, are surviving because of the tourists, the gamblers and shoppers who clock up points on their expenditure there and need to redeem those points.

I have know of this Chinese car brand for some time. It is the oldest Chinese car manufacturer and it’s top end models have been used by the top CCP members for a long time and one such car was recently presented to the Malaysian King.

So I was very excited to learn last year that Eurokars would be bringing in the electric version of the E-HS9 to Singapore. The wait is now over and I test drove the car yesterday.

The Chinese version of this car is certainly far more luxurious than the Singapore one. This could be to keep the price of the car down here and so they tones down the trimmings. The rear passenger seats don’t have screens, unlike the Chinese model, the seat belts are a bit flimsy and the look of the car seats didn’t give me a luxurious feel of the interior at all. Also I didn’t like the white interior. So overall that’s really negative.

The drive was comfortable. Double glazed windows with a sun roof with 16 Bose speakers. Decent mileage on a single charge of about 540km.

Not a cheap car as well …Hmmm… Does my desire to own this car brand and it’s Rolls Royce look alike car overcome these negatives? I will need help to decide.

I just finished reading this book by Malcolm Gladwell on my kindle. This is another book that he wrote in the wake of white cops in the US shooting black people and racial profiling that happened to be prevalent during that period.

A short interesting read and I managed to finish it in 3 days. Glad that I was finally able to complete a book from cover to cover. I have so many half read books in my kindle, which is rather depressing to see.

A quick summary so that I will remember his key points.

Never assume that strangers are straightforward or that they are easy to figure out. A good lesson for anyone. What you see in a person can always be deceiving.

There is a “default to truth” principle, which is a built in bias in humans. This principle is essential for all human interactions and for normal societal functioning. We all assume that what we see and hear is the truth unless there is a strong trigger event that causes us to change that view. He gives a number of historical examples to show that we generally believe what we see and hear when dealing with strangers and it usually is a high trigger point to reverse this default principle.

Although he takes the position that this default to truth principle applies even with strangers, I was not sure that this is entirely correct. Even the examples he cited were interactions not between total strangers. They may not have met before, for example, Hitler and Chamberlain, but they knew of them by reputation and would have some idea of the type of person they were dealing with. So I am of the view that with people we know or whom we know off, we will generally assume that what they tell us is true.

But I don’t agree with him that this default to truth principle will apply as a default mode when dealing with a complete stranger, at least for myself. I will assume that for people I know well either through my own dealings with them or through reputation, what they say is generally true. But I will not apply this default position when I meet a stranger. My other biases may kick in to determine if I do or do not believe the stranger.

There is then a transparency illusion. What we see externally may not be an accurate reflection of the stranger’s inner state or personality or views. And therein lies the danger. Some people think they are very good at reading others by just a glance. This is false. Not everyone is transparent and even then there are shades of transparency. We may be able to fathom some things but not everything. We make more mistakes when we make determinations based on what we see and hear from a stranger as opposed to when we rely on hard documentary evidence before us.

This is a big problem when you have people like interviewers, police or judges who make decisions based on what they see and hear from the person in front of them, a stranger they have never seen before. Our own biases, such as their appearance, attractiveness, how they dress, the colour of their skin or even nationality may cause us to come to false conclusions about a person. We are much better off looking at documentary evidence rather than try to read a person.

Finally there is the coupling effect. This says that people’s behaviour is often tied to a specific context or environment. Unless you understand how the environment or context affects them, we won’t be able to understand their behaviour or how to react to them.

I found some of the points in this book useful. Fortunately he doesn’t offer any general principle for dealing with strangers. In any event, that would have been impossible. So I accept the default to truth principle applies when dealing with people I know or know off. I don’t accept its full application to a total stranger. I accept that we are generally not good at making value judgments based on what we simply see and hear. It is much better to go on pure documentary evidence or a combination of both. As for myself, I have to learn how to deal with strangers. The difficulty would be to overcome my own sense of hubris of good I am at judging people and my own biases.

This was supposed to be a routine election. Everyone I had spoken with assumed that the DMK will once again form the government. This was despite a new political party in the fray, formed by a popular actor Vijay some two years ago. He formed his party and within a short time period was contesting all the available seats in parliament.

I heard that was gaining a lot of traction on the ground and in social media. The young people were very excited about him. When I heard that the turnout for the election was a record 85%, I did think that if this was a young people wave turning up to vote, it will be bad doe the established parties. But the people I spoke with, even as late as yesterday morning, were of the view that, at best, he would pull some votes away from the other 2 established parties and would at most end up with about 20 seats out of the 234 seats in parliament.

Shockingly his party , the TVK, yesterday secured the most number of seats. His party has taken 108 seats so far. He will not have a outright majority but almost certainly he will be the new Chief Minister.

A new chapter in the history of Tamil Nadu. After the initial Congress years, the state has always alternated between DMK and AIADMK. But they now have a new party in power, untested and without any experience in governing.

The initial euphoria amongst the people, celebrating his victory, will be tampered soon by the realities of running a state and daily life.

It is nevertheless a phenomenon that has to be studied carefully. A new party, charismatic young leader, no experience in government, good on social media, popular amongst young people, lots of promises on providing free services, a feeling of tiredness amongst the people for more of the same and anti incumbency.

It is not just in Tamil Nadu but this is happening in a number of places. The New York mayor race, the Ukrainian presidential election some years back and more recently in Poland. Lessons ha e to be learnt from this new phenomenon.

This movie first came out in 1977. It made such a big impact on me. I still remember watching it on the big screen and being mesmerized during the opening scene when the huge imperial spacecraft, chasing the rebel craft, took up the entire screen. The special effects were so far ahead of anything else that was out there during that time. And of course, the amazing music. I listened to the music so much and we even tried to play it, not successfully, in the school band. I bought the book and read it from cover to cover and knew everything about the story.

So I was excited when the MPO announced a concert where the orchestra would play the music while the movie was screened. I have seen such productions before and I have always liked them.

I saw this on Saturday but I was disappointed. Not with the orchestra, which did its part well, but the screening of the movie. The picture quality wasn’t sharp and the sound quality was poor. I couldn’t hear the dialogue.

Whilst watching it I kept thinking how dated the movie appears now, especially when the quality of the picture and sound was poor. I didn’t enjoy it and couldn’t appreciate the wonderful score at all.

Such a pity. A big let down for an event I was so looking forward to.

Last week I received a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. With some reluctance I picked up the call. It was an elderly man and he asked for me by name. He asked me if I remembered buying a painting by Li Shuji from him some 13 years ago and if I still had it.

I immediately remembered him and the occasion I bought the piece.

I have always liked works by Li Shuji after seeing his works at my Indonesian clients’ office in 2003. His works are large, colourful and the characters he portrays are full of life and appear realistic. I remember spending so much time looking at his artworks in their office. He is one of the top Indonesian artists and very well regarded. But for some reason he is not popular and I could never find his works at any auction or gallery. Until 2011 or 2012.

I found out that there was a gallery in Liang Court having an exhibition of Li Shuji’s works and the artist would be present there as well.

I visited the exhibition, met the gallery owner and the artist. Unfortunately the artist couldn’t speak English so I couldn’t communicate with him. There were fifteen or so paintings there that day, I picked one of the largest pieces which was very colourful and it portrayed a group of women carrying offerings and walking. Such a beautiful and realistic piece.

I ended up buying that piece, a big one, for $60k. I took pictures with the artist that day. I finally had my own Li Shuji.

Just as an unfortunate aside, after that I went down to the basement of Liang Court to have a meal and I lost my phone together with all the photos I took. That was in the era before they had cloud storage.

The painting went straight from his gallery to my storage and it has remained there ever since and I have never seen it since that day. It is a big piece and I could never find a place where I could show off the piece. Such a pity.

So when Johnny from the Dynasties Antiques and Art Gallery called to ask if I still had the piece with me I was curious why he was calling me after all these years. He told me that someone had visited his gallery and saw that piece in a catalogue and asked for it. I immediately arranged to visit Johnny last Friday.

The gallery is now at Tradehub21. He moved out of Liang Court towards the end of 2012.

His gallery has so many art pieces and catalogues. I have never seen so many art pieces at a single gallery before. Most of them are stacked up and stored away. I was blown away by the variety of artists and art pieces he has. And these pieces are not even on consignment. He has purchased all of them.

I spent a couple of hours talking to him and looking at his artworks. I have arranged to see him again this coming Sunday.

To sell or not to sell? Should I continue keeping it? But why, when I have not even seen or enjoyed the piece even once. I think if it will be seen and enjoyed by others, then it deserves a new owner who will show it to the world.

Yesterday Tracy was married to Timothy, at the new Singapore Edition hotel.

It was a nice and cosy lunch event. A small but intimate setting with long tables in a well decorated ballroom. Guests were mainly family, friends and colleagues. The menu for lunch was carefully selected and the food was good. I was seated with my colleagues and was therefore a nice catch up session as well!

The couple managed to keep the proceedings simple and meaningful and on time, unlike some weddings which go on forever with endless speeches and video montages. The speeches were short and to the point and they had a lovely video presentation where the couple talked about how they got together. All of it was well put together.

I have known Tracy since she joined the firm as a pupil some 7 years back and I have also worked with her on a number of files. I like her. She’s simple,quiet and pleasant and am happy to have been a part of one of the most important days in her life.

Here’s wishing her and her husband a long and wonderful married life.

I watched this play yesterday at the Ngee Ann Kongsi theater. I was a bit apprehensive after Harish’s rather negative comments from his visit last week. He wasn’t impressed and found it depressing.

Fortunately after watching it, I did not have a negative view about the play. It was just right in terms of length. Lasted an hour and a half without any intermission. The acting was well above average and the acoustics were good. I could catch all the dialogue without the need for glancing at the close captioning.

The entire premise of the play is about a pastor who suddenly comes to the realisation that the logical conclusion of what Christians believe, ie that anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus must go to hell and that all who believe will go to heaven is flawed. He concludes that there cannot be a hell because there are people who never would have had the opportunity to even hear about Jesus but are nevertheless good people. Surely, he decides, they cannot be condemned to hell And he therefore takes the position from certain passages in the Bible that everyone will go to heaven. This leads to a clash with the junior pastor who takes the view that only those who believe in Jesus will be saved and go to heaven and the rest will go to hell. Because of this new position taken on by the pastor, his congregation is fractured and leaves and eventually his own wife leaves him.

The play doesn’t attempt to answer these differing opinions and doesn’t attempt to answer them.

Anyway the realization that the pastor reaches is the fundamental problem that I have always had with Christianity. It condemns all good people who don’t believe in Jesus.

The other problem is that Christians think that if they believe in Jesus , for that reason alone, they will be in heaven for eternity. That has always struck me as wrong. Many Christians are not even good people. Why should they be in heaven just because they have said they believe in Jesus even though they were horrible on Earth?

But if you accept the proposition that whether you have a good afterlife or not depends purely on your deeds whilst you are living, then believing in Jesus becomes irrelevant. Good deeds is the only clincher.

I suspect that is the problem. To sell a religion one must promise something to the preached so that they believe and continue to practise the religion. Selling a good afterlife is the safest bet.

Last night was our final meeting of the current 3 year term for this standing committee.

It has been a term of many changes. We were initially focused on promoting lifelong learning amongst our people and promoting upgrading and skills in certain sectors that had a demand for employees. That has been the focus of this committee since 2016 when this whole skillsfuture movement took off. And we had a fairly small team with a smallish budget conducting these workshops.

Then this whole new area of finding nearby jobs for people came about last year. This has been timely because of the advent of AI taking away entry level jobs and a slowing economy. This whole new area was also then parked under our committee,

That has entailed a large increase in headcount, a much bigger budget and more papers for each meeting since the two teams are doing quite different things.

This was the first meeting where both teams presented their papers and their work progress and inevitably there were many teething issues with the way the reports are set out and presented. Hopefully they are now ironed out and the work progresses.

Quite apart from ensuring that we do something meaningful for our people that will make a lasting impact in their lives as opposed to simply hitting a kpi that has been set out for them, I do hope the two teams finds ways to cooperate and synergise and provide meaningful service. There must be ways in which lifelong learning workshops can be tailored based on the demand for jobs and the likewise people who are looking for jobs at the same time can attend the workshops can be attended to by the jobs team.

Last night I had dinner with Jonathan Tan, a good friend whom I was fortunate to know from my CDC days. He was then close to Dr Teo and was helping out in NWCDC and in Bukit Panjang. I probably met him sometime in 2017 at one of our events.

I remember traveling to Russia with him on a group tour in 2019, together with some other community leaders, just before Covid. Glad for that trip because with the ongoing Ukraine war, travel to Russia looks like a very long shot.

Our dinner was at Woolomooloo at Raffles City. His choice as he loves meat. The food and steaks were good. The view from the restaurant is nice. One complaint I have is that it was noisy inside the restaurant. It could be because it was packed yesterday or that there were exceptionally noisy people around last night. It made good conversation difficult. Still we spent a good hour and a half talking about politics and people in Singapore. He is a bright chap so it is always interesting to carry on a conversation with him.

Good for him now that he is focussing on bringing up his family business to the next level.