BEYOND SG

Steve Jobs - How to live before you die

The Hurt Locker or Why We Do What We Do

I have been wanting to catch this movie for a long time. Way before it won 6 Oscars, and beat James Cameron's Avatar hands down at the ceremony, the movie has been doing a limited release in Singapore. It was more like an indie movie than a blockbuster. But the movie's premise is stunningly unforgettable - what if you work in the bomb disposal unit in Iraq? What if you cannot make an error in your job? And why are you in Iraq anyway?

In the movie, I love the way the actors portray the Iraq people - they stared coldly and dispassionately as the Americans went about maintaining peace and order in their fractured lands. It is like the Iraqi locals were watching a curious circus act breezing to town except that the American soldiers were fighting for their own lives and at the same time, paradoxically, protecting the lives of the Iraqi. And the message was stark - what is the point of disarming this bomb when they would figure building something nastier tomorrow? What's the point of it all?

Yet the movie has little melodrama. It has no psychotic sergeants, no Rambo-ish grunts and no double-crossing generals/politicians. They are professional soldiers doing their jobs as best as they can except that the war is almost unwinable if you classify building a bomb using Radio Shack parts as a war in the first place.

The movie started with the quotation "war is a drug". The protagonist was only truly alive when he was disarming bombs. And I found a lot of resonance there especially my money hunter deal making buddies. Many had asked me - why don't you get a normal job? Normal as in a 9 to 5 job, suck up to your bosses and associates, write some meaningless fanciful "action" minutes of the meeting or business development reports in which nobody reads but someone has to write, attend a conference in which you want to know everyone important in your field and everyone there feels likewise, be caught in a traffic jam like a million others and breathe a sign of relief when you arrive before the boss, to sing badly and clap enthusiastically as your customers/directors/bosses finish their songs - what's the point of it all?

We don't disarm bombs. We probably don't do well in a real battlefield. But a normal job is horrendously tame. And that's why we do deals, specifically listing companies and M&A. We feel alive dealing with the complexity of a due diligence process, the long ungodly hours at pouring thru documentation, analyzing spreadsheets, solving problems, the endless negotiations with auditors, lawyers, bankers and the authorities. And the smell of fear. That things will be totally wiped out if you don't pull thru. That all your months of work will go up in smoke. That all your best contingency plans will fail. But when everything clicks in place - it is like a complex symphonic piece played to perfection despite the surrounding sea of chaos and changing demands. And you hold the baton- that is pricelessly addictive.

Harold Fock

Ng Teng Fong - a great pioneer of Singapore

My wife and I paid our last respect to Ng Teng Fong this evening.  He was one of Singapore's most successful real estate developers. I met him twice over a meal to talk about the Singapore economy when I was in MTI, he speaking mostly in Hokkien and I in Teochew.  He was penniless when he came with his father from Xinghua in Fujian Province at the age of nine and became one of Singapore's richest men. His ability to read trends in the property market reflected his understanding of politics and economics.  He saw before most people did that Singapore was going to grow and prosper. He started buying land along Orchard Road.  When he developed Lucky Plaza, few thought it would succeed.  It made him a lot of money.  So too those who bought his properties.

 

He concentrated his energies and investments on Singapore and Hongkong.

When his eldest son, Robert, was only 22, Ng Teng Fong sent him to Hongkong where he learnt quickly to hold his own against the big Hongkong players and built up Sino Land.  I asked Robert whether it was difficult for his father to convince him to go.  Robert looked at me a little surprised and replied that it never crossed his mind that he had a choice.  I remember Ng Teng Fong telling me that while land in Singapore and Hongkong was always limited and would go up in value, in bigger countries, including China, that was not always the case.  When a project succeeded, more land would be supplied limiting the upside.  When I visited Hongkong in early 1990, the people there were still despondent from June 4th.  Robert however was bullish.  I knew that also reflected Ng Teng Fong's reading of the situation.  True enough, within a year, the Pearl River Delta saw explosive economic growth.

 

Despite his wealth, Ng Teng Fong led a frugal life himself.  He lived and breathed real estate. He was also a philanthropist and 'allowed' his children to do all kinds of national service.

 

 I know both his sons, Robert and Philip, well.  Robert flies the Singapore flag high in Hongkong and helped us establish the Singapore School and the Singapore Chamber. Philip was the Chairman of Sentosa when I was in MTI and led a quiet revolution on the resort island, the results of which we see today.  Later he became our Non Resident Ambassador to Chile and Argentina.

 

Ng Teng Fong was the product of an era and played a big role in the remarkable transformation of Singapore.  He is a great Singapore pioneer.

George Yeo

The late Mr Ng Teng Fong

Hiking around Lake Davos

Managed to squeeze out an hour to get our of meeting rooms and restaurants to hike around Lake Davos for an hour.  It was not too cold; the temp must have been around -5 deg C.  The snowbound landscape was breathtaking.

 

George Yeo

 

 

New Moon

My wife and I decided we should follow two of our sons to watch New Moon
last Sunday even though we were not sure we would enjoy it.  Twilight had
turned out better than expected.  I must say New Moon was also quite
enjoyable. It might seem rather funny that Bella should have been caught
between the affections of a Vampire and a Werewolf but one gets quickly
immersed in the story.  Good and evil, finding unity in diversity - these
are eternal struggles.  The landscape of the Pacific Northwest was
stunning, the overcast weather created a melancholic mood, the music
blended.  I was fascinated by the CGI treatment of werewolfs fighting.

George Yeo

Tao Te Ching and How to Cure Cough

My friend Chee Meng sent me this:

"The Secret of Health is to be sick of sickness -- 71st verse of Tao Te Ching"

 

Upon reflection, I wrote the following:

 

I used to be the coughing kid while I was working in MAS. My chronic cough happened twice a year and lasted about 50 days! And Tao Te Ching is right - I got so sick of being sick, i declared war against my bad cough. The following are my holistic treatment (Exclusion Clause: I am not a quack, don't do this at home without medical consultation with your doctor but this works for me!)

1. Read up everything I know about cough on the net and found the root cause- I have rhinitis - meaning that lots of mucus is produced excesuavely when there are dust particles around me. Installed a high powered ar filter with UV light in office and at home to minimise dust mites accumulation

2. I found a great doctor at Chinatown plaza who specialised in curing cough. My family members now see him whenever the itch in the throat starts.

3. We need sunlight to produce vitamin D, which is vital in fighting viral infection. So I run in the forest under the hot sun and get a bit of solar radiation. When all else fail, I go to the sun tanning studio to get artificial sunlight especially during rainy seasons. Moderate exposure to artificial sunlight is unlikely to get skin cancer. The keyword is moderation.

 

4. I am treated by an osteopathy specialist (a western medical approach that treats you holistically). I used to take multi-vitamins thinking that it is a vitamin buffet for the kiasu. Unfortunately, it did not help much. It turns out that ionic magnesium and folic acid in liquid form are good for me. Yup, I know doctors prescibe folic acid for pregnant ladies but its benefits are numerous.

5. Go to the outdoors! I now run 3 times a week at MacRitchie Reservoir or th Botanical Gardens. I think the ions from the trees do you a lot of good.

6. Find the right job and find your happy niche. Less stress means less weakening of your immune system.

7. Do something new and fun.

8. Play with your kids and be a kid.

Harold Fock

Rompin-Endau National Park

My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary deep in the Malaysian forest without any telephone connection. The road there from Kahang turned out to be much worse than we expected, potholed all the way once we transited from oil palm plantations to jungle. It was pitch darkness until we arrived at about 8.30pm. The small cluster of chalets which welcomed us was a spot of civilization in the vast wilderness. We had a good dinner of Malay food and very good durians which a group of Kulim planters generously shared with us. We slept well even though the giant geckos crawling on the walls outside made frequent noises. A symphony of bird calls woke us up in the morning. When we entered the toilet to wash, gecko droppings were everywhere even though we did not see even one throughout our stay there.

After a breakfast of nasi lemak and pratha, we took a boat ride on a nearby river. It was shallow. In flood, the river gets much wider. Floods during the monsoons in the last two years had washed away most of the bridges and scoured the road surfaces. The pristine forests on both sides, with their abundance of vegetation, were magnificent. We were tiny creatures on a bark intruding into Mother Nature.

After the boat ride, my two younger sons and I were brought on a trek, along a loggers' trail to the bank of a river. My wife and her parents wisely opted out because it turned out to be quite a strenuous hike. On the dry boulders of a waterfall, we had our lunch of nasi minyak, fried chicken and sambal udang. We then forded a stream to see the habitat of a protected species of fish, the ikan kelar. Leeches were everywhere, on land and in the water. They clamber on to our legs and go about their meals silently. I wasn't bitten but my driver Hassan discovered one that was an inch long and a quarter inch fat on his ankle. He poured salt on it which caused the parasite to disgorge the blood that it had sucked, a disgusting sight which we all watched with the greatest fascination.

Throughout our day's adventure, our guide Francis from the National Park Authority pointed out all kinds of wonderful things to us, from the tracks of wild animals to patterns of plant growth, to rock formations. We also learnt much about animals that we were happy not to see like tigers and snakes. We ended our trek by rafting back to our starting point. As hardly any rain had fallen in the previous weeks, the river carried little water and we had to do some hard paddling.

George Yeo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inline skating

I had a pair of unused inline skates in the storeroom and I decided to try it out and to my utter surprise, it fitted relatively well. I always get the names wrong - I thought the sport is known as rollerblading when "rollerblade" is an inline skates' brand name owned by Nordica, an Italian group, not the sport's name.

Last week, i put the skates to test at East Coast. The only lesson i had is a manufacturer's website virtual clips. It is truly e-learning at its best. I followed the video clips' instructions to the letter and I managed to skate without even falling once. As you can see in the photo, I am adequately protected and looked like some robotic Borg but it was cool to be able to even travel a short distance shakily on my first attempt. My lawyers call this "bragfest"!

Subsequently, I did some online research and realised a qualified coach would accelerate the learning process. I bought a new pair of inline skates from a coach's store, codenamed SEBA FR2 which is sleek black (my fengshui colors haha) and looked like some Transformer's boots with wheels. It is supposedly one of the best value shalom and beginner inline skate. I speak with complete ignorance here and I dont wish to get into any branding war here (like BMW versus Audi, Star Wars versus Star Trek.)Time will tell.

Well.. one small step for Harold.. one big step towards speed and fun.

Will keep my readers posted if I survive all the falls...

Harold Fock

Best Wishes to All

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to all Muslim friends and Happy Rosh Hashanah to all Jewish friends!

George Yeo

2nd Anniversary

I was reminded by Ephraim that today is the second anniversary of my first blog posting two years ago. It seemed such a long time ago. Blogging and Facebook have become a part of my routine now. They help me communicate with members of a younger generation whom I don't often meet at house-to-house visits or neighbourood get-togethers.

Writing blogs forces me to organise my thoughts into a few short paragraphs. The blogs also serve as a kind of diary. I am grateful to Ephraim and Harold for having me post on their sites. It saves me the trouble of having to maintain my own blogsite.

Facebook is an interesting new phenomenon. The interactivity gives it a certain intimacy. For those who only read, FB must function also as a kind of reality TV.

George Yeo