It all started when the local leaders were eyeing at those top salaries for those top coporate leaders, bankers who took huge risk managing their companies, they spoke of avoiding corruption as a main excuse to pay that kind of astronomical top world class salary even the world most powerful nations dare not dream of. Even the top civil servants enjoy that kind of perks unseen in Singapore history! From thence on the corporate world in Singapore took a counter offensive in aping what the politicians have done to enrich themselves. Most CEOs, company directors were seen aping it in a very subtle way initially. They spoke about profit sharing, then stock options and even outright shares allocation by the millions! Now they help themselves to even 12 months bonus, not out of the company's earning, even from the poor men's contribution! More SGX listed company's top management teams were seen taking home more money which the company could earn! Those companies' stock prices are around 10 cents or below! The more pathetic ones were seen inflating or overstating their company's earning even they are running it at huge losses, the main aim is of course to fool the naive investors so that they could vote them in during the coming AGM and they could continue to enjoy the world class salary! Many have even started to have some 'CREATIVE ACCOUNTING' to make the company's earning looks good so that they too could perpetuate their status.Who are responsible for all the apes in the corporate world?
Top leaders blame the widening gap of the earning of Singaporeans on SARS, this may be a very naive finger pointing act! In real life, it is either they pretent not to see and know it or they are relaxing in their castles and forget what is happening on the ground.First let me touch on the flexi wages system. Since NWC allows companies in Singapore to implement flexi wages, more comapanies(whether they earn tons of profit or loss making ones) are taking advantage and paying employees less even the companies are prospering!Worst still even the most profitable companies are taking advantage in trimming its work force in good time in order to maximise their profit as the govt encourages it!The ministers had their pay cuts restored long long ago but many poor employees are still waiting for that day to happen! That smart minister who pioneered 'outsourcing' has creating more monkeys lurking around the heartland! More companies are closing their local operations or tender out their jobs overseas to take advantage of the cheap cost overseas resulting in more unemployment! More companies are employing cheap foreign talents to replace their local "fallen talents", do you want to blame it on the strong S$? Those hopefuls who have ungraded to landed property or higher end property during the boom years have landed themselves in a fix when they could not even service their loans when their CPF contributions were cut or when they are out of job! So the vicious cycle just earth bound! Many desperate and irrational ones were seen taking their credit cards roaming around the world for the last time and come back to declare themselves bankrupt, that's why the number of bankrupts has increased tremendously! The middle class is trying to look up but most of their dreams are hampered by the 5% GST, the high petrol tax and the high cost of oil prices, increasing ERP, transpotation fares increases, PUB increases, property tax increases...........for every dollar you spent, the govt has a share in it! The money has made a definate U-turn back to the govt coffer, the multiplier effect has gone zero,Temasek went shoping around the world,Singaporean heartlanders squeeze their last dollar out to do a bit of charity, hoping it will help their more unfortunate fellowmen but it was hijacked by an orang utan and his gang! Who really benefited the most during all these onslaughts? Who are reponsible for the growing population of monkeys in the heartland? Are they going to re-implement the Stop-at-two policy to fix the monkeying problems? Read of more millionaires in the paper? Yes, indeed there are more millionaires in Singapore, they are more GRC, there are more ministers, there are more CEOs, company directors, there are more ex-politicians sitting on more than one company drawing astronomical fees, there are more top civil servants..............and least of all there are more apes and orang utans which add to this list! All in all to the politicians and other top guns, the economy is doing very well indeed and they are waiting most probably for the next pay rise, while the monkeys on the heartland are lurking around looking for the smallest peanuts on the ground to survive!
Those apes which imitate well are doing well in this concrete jungle. Ah Meng and his gang has enjoyed the most luxurious life style choosing the fruits he wants in the zoo and enjoying all the perks that all the orang utans round the world envied, whereas the monkeys in the heartland were suffering due to the diminishing wild fruits and foliages on the ever changing Singapore landscape!
