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It was just announced that Pope Francis, aged 88 died on Easter Monday.

This is sudden because the news recently was that he was recovering and he was seen in public on Easter Sunday in the Vatican giving blessings.

I am so grateful that I got to see him in September last year when he visited Singapore. He looked strong then and he undertook a fairly punishing schedule when he was here. I suspect now that he has passed on, Singapore may well have been the last country he visited.

Rest in Peace .

Today I read that Trump has prepared a draft executive order that drastically cuts down the size of the State Department. It proposes to cut down the many programs and initiatives it currently runs in many places and even the number of embassies around the world. It clearly looks like the US engagement with the world will be greatly reduced. With the reduction in engagement, its influence in the world and our region will certainly diminish.

For some time now, I could already sense many Singaporeans becoming anti US because of its position on China. This will when the US was targeting China and restricting high tech and chip exports to China. That was during a period when the US was actively engaging the world. Now with the negative reactions worldwide to the tariffs and to the punitive tariffs proposed against China and to the proposed diminished US engagement worldwide it cannot imagine what is going to happen.

I remember meeting the former US Ambassador Jonathan Kaplan and telling him on many occasions that the US should engage more with our young people to at least to explain to them their position on several issues and hear people out. Even then I could sense a lack of interest or drive in doing this. I myself cannot recall any occasion where they did any such sessions. Any engagement by them was only at the government level and its own US citizens.

I liked the Ambassador. Friendly and engaging with a smile always. But once Trump won the election, he resigned immediately. The post of ambassador is still vacant.

At the end of the next 4 years, I cannot imagine how the world and Singaporeans will view US. It is a bit frightening. We grew up with such a US centric view of the world. We watched their movies and tv shows growing up. Many have visited the US and studied there. We read and follow their media. We have seen them as the good guys in the world, going out and taking action against any negative forces out there. I thought that they will be a shield to any bullying or attack against Singapore.

That will all change. To what extent, I don’t know…

This morning I woke up to a wave of viral videos from China alleging that the bags from the top luxury brands including Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Chanel are made in China and then sent back to Europe to do the final packaging there. They claim that the manufacturing costs of these products are a fraction of the cost they are finally sold at.

With the number of these similar videos all coming out at the same time, this  does appear to be a coordinated move. Perhaps it is a response to the Trump tariffs to get overseas buyers to buy directly from them? Or perhaps it is to cast doubts on the claims by luxury brands that their products are made in France or Italy and then create volatility in that market?

I do own Hermes and Louis Vuitton bags. They cost a lot but to their credit, they do last a long time. I do not believe Hermes and Louis Vuitton make their products in China.

But the prices have also been increasing steadily over the years and with hefty rises since Covid. I think a Birkin has more than doubled over the last 15 years. I remember it used to cost about $7k for the Birkin if you bought it in Paris. I am sure the production cost has not increased by that much. The pricing now, I suspect, has more to do with the fact that to maintain a luxury image, the product has to be priced to keep it away from the masses and at a level to create a yearning to obtain it. Unaffordability seems to be key nowadays to maintaining a high end image. Of course making a healthy profit out of selling luxury doesn’t hurt.

A Hublot watch, when they first started becoming known to the market, then cost me $7k. Now it’s going for about $20k. Inflation?

Maybe the fault is that of the consumer. We have started becoming brand and image conscious and we buy brands without asking whether the asking price for the product makes sense. There are numerous quality products out there which are much more affordable but without a French or Italian brand name.

Perhaps the purpose of these Chinese videos is to educate you on the cost price for these products should be. What you are ultimately paying for in the stores is for the image and the marketing and packaging. Also by showcasing these products in their videos another subtle message may be that they can manufacture products as well as their French and Italian counterparts at a fraction of their price.

Its not a public holiday here unlike Singapore so it just another Friday here. As always I see more buzz here. Not that many tourists at this time of the year. But I understand the Chinese President’s visit here 2 days ago created massive jams around the Istana area, where the meetings were held.

I last visited this prata shop during Covid when travel was again possible. So must have been about 2021. KL was a bit of a ghost town then with many shops shuttered. I stayed near the Megamall and I visited this place for breakfast. I remember it being really good even then. Came here again today. Fortunately as good as I last remembered it!

Since I was at Megamall, I decided to try a Japanese restaurant called Kintsugi, at Japan Table in Isetan. I have never heard of this place and I just walked in. It’s by Chef Jeff Okada Ramsey. I had their bento set which was 158 RM. Good value!

I drove to KL this morning.

The last time I drove to KL must have been around 2008. From about 2001 to 2008, I used to drive regularly to KL. I will leave Singapore after work on a Friday at about 6pm. I will arrive in Kl before 10pm, park the car at the hotel car park and have supper at the Marriott Hotel. I used to do this once a month.

I remember staying in a hotel which used to be right in front of the Marriott (where the present day Pavilion Bukit Bintang now stands). I would spend the weekend there and watch an MPO concert. The MPO used to be top class those days. During each visit, I will always visit Sungei Wang Plaza and buy CDs, Vcds and DVDs.

On Sunday, I will leave KL about noon and arrive back in Singapore about 5pm. This routine stopped after the traffic jams got very bad on the Singapore side when the Mas Selamat incident happened. They started checking every car leaving and arriving at Singapore and it just didn’t make sense to drive after that.

So this morning, I left at about 540am. It was raining and I took the Tuas Second Link. Because of the rain, I drove slower.

First time driving an electric car in Malaysia and I managed to get to KL without any stops or charging the car! Arrived at 1005 am with 18% of the battery still left! Actually with an EV car, it is quite cheap getting here cos I save a bit on not having to pump petrol.

Good start. Now to see how the return journey turns out.

Today I watched snippets of the testimony by Sarah Wynn Williams before the Senate Judiciary Committee given on 9 April 2025.

I have not been following this story at all and when I first saw this, I was quite shocked with when I heard.

Apparently Mark Zuckerberg and his people have told the Senate several times over the years under oath that they have no business dealings in China and the Chinese government has no control over what Facebook does in HK and Taiwan or have any access to its data.

It now appears that all this may have been untrue . For years Facebook has been quietly doing business in China and to break into this market he has worked with China and allowed them to do surveillance and have access to data of Chinese, HK and Taiwan account holders. They were also doing the censoring on behalf of the Chinese government. In addition, they were sharing details of their latest technology developments such as data centers, facial recognition and AI models as they were being developed with China. The evidence given was that Deepseek, the Chinese AI, was built based on the Llama model by Facebook.

Also in addition to building their security apparatus and systems together with the Chinese government and sharing all its details with them, they have at the request of the Chinese government, blocked the Facebook account of a Chinese dissident based in the US. And lied about this previously to the Senate.

Wow. This is scary. If this is true, he is going to be in very serious trouble. This coming at a time of heightened trade tensions between the US and China and the US crackdown on tech going to China. If Facebook did help China develop AI, then the crackdown on Facebook is going to be huge. I need to follow up on this.

I am also going to read her book entitled “Careless People” which was was about her time in Facebook.

Today I had lunch with Shapoor Mistry, together with a dear friend, Prasoon Mukherjee.

Shapoor is the current Chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. This is a 160 year old Indian conglomerate. It is a very well known diversified family group dealing with infrastructure construction, real estate and oil and gas both in India and worldwide. They are also a significant 18.4% shareholder in the Tata group.

The Shapoorji Pallonji family are Parsis. Parsis were originally from Persia, which is modern day Iran. They are Zoroastrians, which is an ancient religion. They faced persecution in Persia after the Arab Muslims invaded there and as a result they started moving out in waves to India from about 800CE. They settled in India and were successful business people. The Parsis are great believers in philanthropy. Though they have been in India for a long time, they still retain their strong cultural and religious ties as Parsis. The Tata group is an example of successful Parsi business in India.

We had a simple lunch at Hyatt. He is lovely unassuming gentleman. He started off by telling me that their family name Mistry means carpenter in Parsi, which I thought was an apt description since they started off in business by doing construction. He explained to me their family businesses. He also talked about the history of Parsis and Zoroastrianism and about the Tata group. Am so glad to have met him.

I only found out today that George Foreman had died sometime in late March this year. He was 76.

In 1974, he was the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion and that year, he fought with Muhammad Ali in Zaire. The event was called the Rumble in the Jungle. I was in Primary 6 then.

When I was growing up Muhammad Ali was a legend. He was very popular and even my parents knew about him. He had won the Olympics gold medal in boxing in 1960 and became the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1964 after defeating Sonny Liston. He was just so beautiful to watch. Graceful, fast and powerful and he talked a lot both before and during a fight. His title was taken away from him in 1967 after he had converted to Islam and refused to be drafted to fight the Vietnam war. He was only allowed to fight again in 1970 after he had taken the matter to the Supreme Court. But by then, he was not the same. He had lost his speed, energy and power. So he lost the opportunity to fight and defend his title in his prime years.

George Foreman was a formidable champion. Strong and powerful with a power packed punch. In 1974 Foreman was in his prime and Ali had already passed his prime. No one liked Foreman much then. He never smiled. And everyone, me included, was rooting for Ali that year. And Ali won.

That fight was how I got to know who George Foreman was.

Later Foreman became a Christian minister, won the title again in his 40s and became good friends with Ali. When you see photos of him in his later years, he always has a beautiful smile and looks peaceful.

Rest in peace George.

Today is Tamil New Year. It is the first day of the Tamil solar calendar and is the start of the Chittirai month. This time around, the New Year starts at 6am Singapore time. Auspiciously, this morning, the moon was huge and beautiful as I was driving out.

The Gregorian calendar starts the year on January 1, but for the many people who follow the solar calendar, today is the start of their new year for eg the Sri Lankans, Cambodians also have today as the start of their New Year.

As a start to a new year, it is the start of a new beginning and the day is traditionally celebrated by a visit to the temple and eating vegetarian food. Tamils will cook ponggal today and when I was growing up, that was something I also looked forward to!

Last night Trump blinked again. Realising that the prices of everyday electronic goods in the US will skyrocket, he has exempted tariffs on most electronic goods and components from China (except for the existing 20%). This is about a quarter of the goods the US imports from China.

Smartphones, computers, chips and other electronic goods and components such as flat panel displays, semi conductors, solar cells, flas cards, memory cards and solid state devices from China are now exempted. Simply because the US is wholly dependent on China for all these products as none of them are made in the US.

Clearly this is another indication that he had no idea what he was doing when he announced his sky high tariffs against China. Either ill advised or he thought China will capitulate and he will then brag about how he negotiated a great deal with China.

Since China did not budge and consumer confidence in the US collapsed on Friday to one of its lowest levels, he had to back down.

At this point in time he is just looking silly. And I don’t think this will be the end. With no endgame in sight, embarking on a tariff war was just plain stupid. He will be a laughing stock of talk show hosts this weekend for sure!