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Eighty-four years and nine days ago, my father watched the sky over "Tua-po" turned crimson red. "Tua-po" means 'big town' ie Chinatown; "sio-po" was "small town" -- city hall to Tek-ka (Selegie Road area). That was 8 Dec 1941 when Japanese bombers first rained bombs on Singapore and continued for the next 60 days. Frightened city dwellers fled to the countryside. We had quite a lot of "countrysides" back then. The tales my father told me of the war years -- I regret that growing up I never took the time to extract more details from him. All I can recall are vague places and non-time specifics I heard as a kid. My parents, together with my eldest sister who was 2 or 3 years old then, my uncle and family, and my maternal grandma, took flight out of the city on foot, like so many others. I think they resided in the "Goo Chia Chwee" (Maxwell Road) vicinity. Where they were headed I had no idea. Gran...

On the sidelines of the annual Treasury Market Conference in New York on 12 Nov 2025, Federal Reserves Bank NY (FRBNY) met with representatives of banks who are primary dealers. That triggered off media reports of a "secret emergency" meeting that suggests a liquidity crisis is brewing, the fear being a liquidity crunch often precedes a financial meltdown, such as the one in 2008 Managing the U.S. financial system is like operating the world’s most complex water system — one that has to self-correct in real time, respond to local and global shocks, and never run dry or overflow. The financial market is complex and dynamic where imbalance in one part can trigger stresses elsewhere. Just like the water system where various valves and faucets have to be tweaked constantly for correct pressure, reserve levels, meeting dynamic demands, etc., someone has to do plumbing constantly to keep the flow of money steady. That responsibility falls on FRBNY, one of 12 regional Feder...

Recently a Facebook friend shared this meme of a Chinese woman who adopted a Malay girl, now a Phd scholar. I assume they are Malaysians from the source Asia Kini. I made a comment that "No Malay will adopt a child of another religion and not raise them as Muslim."   Taken without context it would seem that I was callous to make a racial/religious slight on what was an innocent humane story. The fact is the digital creator and I have a history of challenging each other's bias on religion and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  I made the comment as a matter-of-fact statement from worldly observation. As usual, it brought on an onslaught of the usual hysteria, ad hominems and whataboutism from many Muslim commenters. I simply asked of them to educate me what they know about adoption in their world, a question that has gone unanswered. I am surprised by the interest shown on this issue from so many comments the post generated.  It appears there is ...

This case sits at the intersection of business model innovation, accounting interpretation, securities law. and state policy and industrial strategy. It is a convergence where operational design directly influences financial and legal exposure. Practically every media worldwide carried this news because it is not everyday that a state sovereign wealth fund sues an investee company. In fact, this is actually the first instance. Local media BT, ST and CNA, and a few western media that I have seen, all ran mostly along similar lines. None provides a full picture that makes for a better understanding of the story. Battery swapping and Battery-As-A-Service (BaaS): In the early years, recharging of EV batteries was a big problem. A standard home AC charging takes like forever. A DC fast charger at a station may speed recharging up, but still took hours. Re-charging problem was the cause for the slow adoption of EVs. Batterg swapping is a way to get around the pro...