Thousand unhappy Peasants gathered at Speakers' Corner Saturday evening

Sunday, October 12, 2008

<!-- Begin .post --> Thousand unhappy Peasants gathered at Speakers' Corner Saturday evening

I must state that I only support peasants aggrieved by irresponsible adverts and lured by lucrative investment offers and misled into losses with naive mindsets, to voice up against these financial institutions, and bring awareness to public.

I am not supportive to calls for using public funds to bail-out any losses. I think this is most unfair because these losses are incurred by those who stood for financial gain with risks, this is their own gamble and their own consequences. They got gains and losses this is what they went in for. The public does not - not at all share their gains, and therefore should not be sharing their losses. These gamblers are not much more different from Casino gamblers, when they win they enjoy their profits without sharing with the public at all, they earned vacations; new cars; new houses etc all for themselves and not the public. When they lost no public funds should be abused to bail them out, they must learn from their own lessons and face their own consequences just as how they enjoyed their gains.

Public funds should not be used to bail out stock losers, just as public funds are not to be abused to bail out casino losers. Not even in the name of saving the economy. The member of public who did not took part in these gamble stand to gain nothing, and thus should not lose anything on behalf of these greed driven losers. The more you rescue these losers the more emboldened they got to take risk on behalf of the public, and the less they will learn from their lessons.

By the law of nature the losers are supposed to bear the consequences themselves without affecting other innocents who did not made any decision to take risk. Government should hold these innocent members of public entirely harmless instead of abusing funds from these innocent members of public to cover losses made by some who on their own decisions took risks to stand for personal gains without any benefit to the public.

When Temasek GIC made their huge losses it is already bonded unfairly by Singaporean tax payers, why must tax payers still further bear losses beyond the incompetence of famiLEE LEEgime / Temasek GIC?

Tax payers should stand up NOW and refuse to be suckers all the way!





posted by uncleyap at 1:33 AM

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="596"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="591"><tbody><tr><td class="newstitle" width="328">Singapore News</td> <td colspan="3" class="newstitle" align="right" valign="bottom" width="263"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="259"> <tbody><tr> <td align="right" width="143"> </td> <td width="99"> </td> <!--<td width="58"> </td>--> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="4" style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="596"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="3" height="26"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="5"> </td> <td colspan="2" valign="top" width="591">Upset investors turn up at Speakers' Corner
By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 11 October 2008 2310 hrs
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="260"> <tbody><tr> <td align="right" width="20"> </td> <td align="right" width="240"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="60" valign="top"> </td> <td class="update" height="60" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="138">Photos </td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="47">1 of 1</td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="18"><input disabled="disabled" id="btnPrev" value="<< Previous" onclick="Prev();" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_previous.gif" height="15" type="image" width="18"></td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="19"><input id="bntPlay" value="Play - Stop" onclick="Play()" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_stop.gif" height="15" type="image" width="19"></td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="18"><input disabled="disabled" id="btnNext" value=" Next >> " onclick="Next();" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_next.gif" height="15" type="image" width="18"></td> </tr> </tbody></table>
Tan Kin Lian</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td class="update"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> <table style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="240"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="100%"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <td> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="topic" align="left" valign="top">Related News </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#cccccc" valign="top"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="subheader" valign="top" width="4%">•</td> <td class="bodytext" width="96%">
</td><td class="bodytext" width="96%">75-year-old retiree loses S$400,000 with Lehman's collapse</td> </tr> </tbody></table></td> </tr> </tbody></table></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#cccccc" valign="top"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
SINGAPORE: More than 1,000 people, who lost hard-earned savings investing in structured products like Lehman Minibonds and DBS High Notes, turned up at the Speakers' Corner on Saturday evening.

They were there to listen to former CEO of NTUC Income, Mr Tan Kin Lian, who has submitted a petition to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to request for an investigation into the sale of credit-linked securities.

Many in attendance were upset investors who claimed they had lost their retirement savings through failed investments.

Mr Tan is asking the authorities to investigate if these products were sold according to the law, and to help investors claim compensation for losses caused by misconduct.

He said: "It's an opportunity for the investors of the Minibonds and the High Notes to get together and meet other investors. I hope they would be able to get together to see their Member of Parliament or even to appoint a lawyer, and see how to complain about the bank or investor who had sold them this product."

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I don't see what's the big fuss is about? You gambled and you lost. You gambled big and you lost big.Fair and square. What if you've won and got your 5%!!! You'll be laughing all the way to the bank!

Greed is the word to be used to describe all these "savvy" investors! 2 % returns they didn't want and they wanted 5%!!! That's greed! Now they complained!!!

Unless it's proven the investors were fooled, misled and cheated, then there'll be a case.Mr Tan stressed that investigations into "allleged misinformation" should be carried out.He did not accuse anybody of any wrong doing. Mr Tan is very careful with his words.So don't anyhow accuse Mr Tan of anything. He was in the establishment for a very long time and he knows where are the mines.

I wish Mr Tan well. God Bless and Guide him in this perilous times.

Watch them on www.wayangparty.wordpress.com

And you will know why DBS Hong Kong promise to refund some or all of the HK investors affected by the Lehman losses while the DBS here is dragging its feet.

I say don't underestimate the simple folks. If they're pushed to the wall, they can be a very formidable force to be reckoned with.So I hope the relevant authorities will consider carefully should they want to pull in Mr Tan and his supporters. Things can be unpleasant. Mr Tan is an intelligent man.

Among 1,000 who turned up at Speakers' Corner are 2 who have been hit badly
'Like black hole in swimming pool'
By Elysa Chen

October 13, 2008


SPEAKING UP: Mr Tan Kin Lian addressing the crowd at the Speakers' Corner yesterday. TNP PICTURE: ADELINE ONG

THE injustice that she felt was so strong, she was trembling as she spoke.

Last year, her parents, both retirees, had invested $250,000 in three structured products.

The life savings of her father, 62, a former civil servant, and her mother, 60, a housewife, were wiped out when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

Over eight months, her father had put $150,000 in three structured products sold by a bank.

The long-time bank customer had first invested $50,000 in the Pinnacle Notes Series5B in March last year.

Two months after that, he made another $50,000 investment, this time in the Jubilee Notes Series3.

Last November, he put a further $50,000 of his life savings into another Pinnacle Notes product, the Series9.

Her mother had also invested $50,000 each in the Pinnacle Notes5B series and the Jubilee Notes Series3.

Their daughter, who wanted to be known only as Ms Koh, said: 'My parents still do not believe that their investments have been reduced to zero because they were told by the bank relationship manager that only their returns have been affected.'

She was at an event organised by former NTUC Income boss Tan Kin Lian at Hong Lim Park yesterday.

Whipping out a document released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore from her paper bag, Ms Koh said: 'It was written in black and white on this document that if a credit event happened, they (her parents) would still be able to get back their principal.

'My parents thought that the worst that could happen would be that they would lose their 5 per cent interest.'

Ms Koh had approached The New Paper on Sunday at the Speakers' Corner, where investors seeking recourse had gathered.

Frustrated after hearing how one of the speakers, Mr Leong Sze Hian, cautioned against putting all of one's eggs in the same basket, she said: 'My parents were told that these products were different from each other. They were told that these products were all different baskets.'

Now, Ms Koh is just trying to break the news gently to her parents and trying to recover as much of their investment as she can.

As the 'most highly educated' of three children, Ms Koh, an IT executive, is now going to hire a lawyer to prepare an affidavit for her parents so that, with other such investors, she can get the bank to take her complaint more seriously.

She had stayed up till 3.30am the previous night to prepare a letter of complaint she was going to send to the CEO of the bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The letter, which she showed The New Paper on Sunday, had details of how her parents ended up investing with the bank and included questions on why bank employees were allowed to 'mis-sell' the products.

She said: 'I do not blame the person who sold these products to my parents. It is the person who designed the product that is out to bluff laymen like us.

'How could they have not told us that we could have lost 100 per cent of our investment? My parents had bought the products thinking that their exposure was only 5 per cent at the most. What kind of (a) deal is this? You stand to gain only 5 per cent, but you could lose 100 per cent.

'My parents had jumped into the swimming pool thinking that the water would only come up to their feet. Now, it seems like there is a black hole in the swimming pool that is sucking everyone in and drowning them.'

theblackhole said:

I don't see what's the big fuss is about? You gambled and you lost. You gambled big and you lost big.Fair and square. What if you've won and got your 5%!!! You'll be laughing all the way to the bank!

Greed is the word to be used to describe all these "savvy" investors! 2 % returns they didn't want and they wanted 5%!!! That's greed! Now they complained!!!

Unless it's proven the investors were fooled, misled and cheated, then there'll be a case.Mr Tan stressed that investigations into "allleged misinformation" should be carried out.He did not accuse anybody of any wrong doing. Mr Tan is very careful with his words.So don't anyhow accuse Mr Tan of anything. He was in the establishment for a very long time and he knows where are the mines.

I wish Mr Tan well. God Bless and Guide him in this perilous times.

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i suspect he could be harboring the ambition of becoming elected president one day and he would definitely tread very carefully.

hor_LEE_ber said:

It is going to be bery Hor-Lee-Ber when the banks used funds from ordinary account holders' to patch the holes or bail out these angry losers. Banks will collapse and all the people's monies will be wiped out.

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MAS should never allow this "compensation" as they will open a whole pandora box of this ridiculousness when future investments go sour.

This will indeed prompt anyone in the future to cry father, cry mother, once their investments sour and they will cite, misleading, misrepresentation and the works and cite the minibond compensation as a reference !!

like gambling, sometimes you win sometimes you loss...............

jacobsgoh said:

like gambling, sometimes you win sometimes you loss...............

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Well, if one sees investing as a form of gambling, basically he is done for.