MAS: “Response to feedback received – consultation on corporate governance, regulations and guidelines” published on 9Dec2010
Sharing and inviting comments on what I wrote to the Monetary Authority of Singapore on corporate governance, re: Proposed amendments to the Banking Act, and Proposed amendments to the Insurance Act. Please see the two letters below dated 19 April 2010.
I am glad MAS’s report “Response to feedback received – consultation on corporate governance, regulations and guidelines” published on 9Dec2010 has acknowledged me as a respondent to their feedback on how to improve on corporate governance in Singapore. There were a total of 20 respondents to their request for feedback.
———————
From: tan kok tim >
To: cg@mas.gov.sg
Cc: mof_qsm@mof.gov.sg; angelina@mas.gov.sg; psd_ps21@psd.gov.sg; johngollifer@sgx.com;
Sent: Mon, 19 April, 2010 18:37:30
Subject: Proposed amendments to the Banking Act
| 19 April 2010Dear Sirs,
I hope the proposed amendments to the Banking Act will take into consideration the following issues: a] How to prevent rogue executives in financial institutions [FIs] and public-listed companies [including their rogue auditors] from padding and trimming the figures to fool the public and the authorities? Enron, World.com and Arthur Andersen’s collapse should not be taken lightly and it should not be conveniently forgotten. The proposed amendments of the Banking Act [including the Companies' Act] should have provisions to make it compulsory for the FIs to disclose the transactions of PLCs [including their off-book transactions] to their external and internal auditors by email with copy extended to the external and internal auditors of the FIs. Independent directors b] Independent directors of Audit Committee, Risk Management Committee, etc. Are the directors truly independent? Do they meet without the top executives [Chairman, President, CEO, etc] present throughout the length of each and every of their meetings with them breathing down their necks at the committee’ meetings? The Banking Act [including the Companies' Act] should be amended to prohibit this practice [not to allow the executives to squat at each and every of the committee's meetings affecting the independence of the directors in carrying out their duties effectively and independently, and not to be subjected to be under the watchful eyes of the top executives], and make it compulsory for disclosure of real independence of committee’s meetings in the Annual Reports of the PLCs. Fine those directors who contravene the law on this prohibition. If this amendment is not enacted, it will make a joke of the ‘independence’ of directors of Audit Committee, Risk Management Committee, etc. in the PLCs. Cash and Corruption c] Cash transactions of FIs and PLCs. Cash transactions are the root cause of corruption and money laundering in the world. The Banking Act [including the Companies' Act] should be amended for the FIs and the PLCs to declare their total amount of cash transactions in their Annual Reports. This amendment will enhance Singapore’s image as a financial centre by taking the lead in requiring such disclosures. It will send a strong signal that Singapore will not condone the use of huge cash transactions by PLCs as it could lead to money laundering on its shores going easily undetected. Yours sincerely, |
=====================
From: tan kok tim >
To: cg@mas.gov.sg
Cc: mof_qsm@mof.gov.sg; angelina@mas.gov.sg; psd_ps21@psd.gov.sg;
Sent: Mon, 19 April, 2010 17:44:33
Subject: Proposed Amendments to the Insurance Act
| 19 April 2010Dear Sirs,
I refer to my emails below and my letter to the MAS in 2004, six years ago. I was glad when the MAS took action fast in 2005 and put in place the amendments to the Insurance Act in 2007 just in the nick of time before the AIG’s collapse in 2008/2009, and this was followed by a near-run on AIA Singapore when some policy holders pushed the panic buttons. It was a timely action taken by MAS in 2007 recognising the exposure that lots of CPF money [meant for old age] have been parked by CPF members in insurance-related investment policies, which are at risks and at stake. However, the questions still remain: a] how should the MAS protect the CPF funds in insurance-related investment policies [to keep it invested locally in Singapore] including the S$ insurance premium in long-term whole life policies, and not to allow the insurance companies to send the S$ overseas [e.g. invest in CDOs, etc] or to the coffers of their parent company overseas? There should be specific restrictions for this spelt out in the proposed amendments of the Insurance Act. Why is there hesitation to put these specific restrictions in place in the Insurance Act? b] what is capital adequacy of insurance companies? When AIG collapsed, it was not about capital adequacy that could give comfort to protect the insurance money held by them for policy holders. It is a fallacy [based on AIG's collapse as a good example as their capital base was completely wiped off] to rely on capital adequacy to protect the interests of policy holders. The requirement for full disclosure of the assets and liabilities [e.g. exposures to CDOs, etc] should be provided in the proposed amendments in the Insurance Act. Please make it compulsory for all items above $500 million each [or by category] be disclosed to the MAS. yours sincerely, — On Sun, 9/11/08, tan kok tim <tankoktim@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: From: tan kok tim
|
Temasek Holdings’ investments in a huge farm project in Jilin, China
Sharing and inviting comments on what I wrote to the government and the media on the subject matter.
Quote:
I refer to the media reports that Temasek Holdings will invest in a huge China farm project, which will be a proposed super farm of 1,450 sq km that will be named China-Singapore Jilin food zone with land twice the size of Singapore.
In my email of 25 July 2002 [see below], I suggested to the Singapore government to invest in overseas farms, forestry, etc., and not just in concrete and steel in office buildings, hotels, industrial estates, or in banks, businesses or telco companies, etc.
It is not too late for GIC and TH to look into more such investments by parking a few hundred millions of dollars here and there to invest in non-concrete projects.
We should invest strategically by putting our eggs in more baskets and to widen our sources of food supplies in the long term.
The news of the Jilin investment last week is a long wait for me as my suggestion to the government went back not just 10 years but to as far back as October 1990. > >
============
MCDS Feedback > hoo.co.uk> > Unit/MCDS/SINGOV@SINGOV > > > > Subject: > More freedom, fewer safety nets, will help Singapore grow >
25 July 2002
> Dear Sirs, > >
I refer to “More freedom, fewer safety nets ‘will help Singapore grow’ ” (Straits Times, July 25th) and it reminds me that there is no absolute freedom in any aspects of the human life. Very few people understand this. > >
In the Remaking of Singapore, we want the Govt to leave no stone unturned, not even the CPF sacred cow. > > But when the Govt announced the coming changes in CPF, those affected voiced against it strongly.
It is all about on which side of the bread we want the butter to be applied. No one can have the cake and eat it. > >
Govt has made many policy changes over the years. Some they got it right but not all. They have to pull the brakes and change course completely for some. >
However, on the whole, the Govt has done well. To err is human. However, it is wise to listen carefully, consult and not lose touch with the ground. > >
In difficult times, the art of Govt is about how to bring down the costs of basic daily necessities. It will carry alot of political weight when such issues are addressed to calm nerves. > >
Many of us including some young MPs cannot remember the Welcome Club of the 1950s. We must not lose sight of that chapter of our history in nation building.
It is still relevant to affluent Singapore today if we wish to continue to grow well economically. >
> I am glad the AVA has provided Bintan and Baatam with technical support in agriculture. More should be done.
I wrote about this in Oct 1990 that we should invest in areas around our regions to ensure we have steady, cheap and reliable sources of supply for our basic food needs. We have invested in poultry, pig husbanding and pawn farming in many countries.
The Govt will say that this be best left to the private sector. However, there is a strategic factor in such investments and the Govt should not rely solely on the private sector, which has only one aim and that is to make profits. >
> It is still not late as I wish to bring forth again > what I recommended many years ago: >
> a) invest in rice, fish and vegetables farming to ensure such farming activities can thrive overseas as it is important to our own survival as we need a steady source of food supplies. >
> b) help by giving the needed capital for fertilisers, farming machines and research in improving crops quality and yields. A firm foundation in farming will help feed the host nation too, a win-win situation as there will be less instability in the region when the host nations are fed, and at the same time ensuring we provide them a steady market for their produce. Terrorism will not rear its ugly heads so often.
Investments in factories and buildings are important aspects, it is a norm a trend, but it will not feed a nation in a downturn like what we see in Indonesia today. There is social unrest when factories are empty affecting all.
We should not put too many eggs in one basket. Countries like Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, they are hungry for investments to upgrade their farms. The World Bank can only do that much. But we enter into such investments for different sets of reasons, and it is for the betterment of everyone. >
c) Invest in deep sea fishing. We consume thousands of tons of fish each year.
We may not have the expertise and a blue-ocean fishing fleet, but we can invest in fishing vessels, build them here if we can and equip them with sophisticated fishing gears and have them manned by foreign crew. We can provide them a ready market for the catch. > >
No one owes us a living. We may invest in high-tech industries but we should not lose sight of the traditional areas, which are required to ensure a steady supply of our basic food needs at the lowest cost possible. Both the private sector and the government should unite in joint investments, which would benefit us as well as the investee countries. >
> d) in addition we should balance and invest in some long term projects. Examples, joint ventures to open up land around the world to plant pine and teak forests, etc. It will help both the environment to stay green, and provide the needed material resources for future generations as trees will take years to mature.
It does not need much upkeep and maintenance of the trees, and the future value of money in such investments will be protected. The initial investments will not be in hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is wise to spread our investments for the sake of our survival as a nation and for future generations. >
>’Unquote”
A National Clean-up Day – my reply to NEA
2010 August 20
Posted by tankoktim
Sharing what I wrote in reply to the NEA’s letter of 20 Aug 2010.
==============
From: tan kok tim <
To: reach@reach.gov.sg
Cc:
Sent: Sun, 15 August, 2010 1:24:53
Subject: Let us have a National Cleanup Day
Dear Sirs,
I read in the news media with much sadness that many people left behind heaps of rubbish for the cleaners at the Padang after last Sunday’s National Day Parade.
Is this a perennial problem that we have no solution?
Come 11 Sept, thousands of volunteers in Singapore will again participate in the annual International Coastal Cleanup movement to remove rubbish from along all our shores and beaches; some could have been stuck there for more than a year.
Those who wish to know more about this international project can check it out at http://www.oceanconservancy.org/, which has been engaged in cleaning up coastal areas worldwide annually since 1986.
I have learned the secret on how to be one who will not wish to litter in public again. I am glad I do not need littering fines to put me in check not to litter or spit in public.
When we voluntarily make the efforts to pick rubbish in public like those who will be up early to be on our shores and beaches around Singapore on 11 Sept, it is less likely for them to have the desire or selfish habit to litter in public as and when they like for the rest of their lives.
This caring habit can be formed easily when one has the love for the environment and volunteer going out there to pick someone else’s filthy litter. even if it is just once a year.
To achieve this objective, perhaps Singapore should have a National Clean-up Day, which can be in August each year, on the Sunday before or after our National Day.
A check on the Internet showed that the first ever “Beach & Park Cleaning Day” held in Singapore’s East Coast Park on June 20, 2009 was in conjunction with World Environment Day.
Although the event was jointly sponsored by National Parks Singapore, the National Environment Agency and the AMS’ Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS), it was not held nation-wide. I noted that prizes were even awarded to those who managed to find specially labelled bottles that read,”Please Pick MeUp” on that day.
NEA should go one step further than this and make it into an annual National Clean-up Day island wide.
NEA should organise and promote an annual National Clean-up Day with volunteers from civic groups, HDB councils, private estates, food courts, hawker centres, shops, educational institutions, private business organizations and public sector institutions. I hope they will give their ringing support to kick it off.
Let me make it clear that merely picking up rubbish around one’s surroundings is not the main purpose for us to have a National Clean-up Day. The difference on its effectiveness will rest on whether the person making the effort has a volunteering attitude.
More importantly, it is with the purpose to nurture the heart and attitude for one to love the environment even more, and to go one step further on how to co-exist with other living things.
Eventually, it is with the main aim to bring up the great feeling of altruistic fervour in our people at the national level to love our country even more.
It is also to help the closer bonding of our people in nation-building through the common purpose of achieving a cleaner and greener environment for all to live in comfort.
It can be achieved when it gradually gathers momentum year after year making it into a national movement with mass volunteer participation by all, young and old, rich or poor.
yours sincerely,
tan kok tim
==========
—– Forwarded Message —-
From: tan kok tim < >
To: Meng Hiong NG (NEA) <NG_Meng_Hiong@nea.gov.sg>
Cc:
Sent: Fri, 20 August, 2010 13:15:35
Subject: Re: Let us have a National Clean-up Day
Dear Mr Ng,
Many thanks Meng Hiong for taking time from your busy schedule to give me your reply on my suggestion.
The National Clean-up Day cannot be done by NEA alone. It was not my intention and I do not think you have that in mind too.
NEA will have to set up the National Clean-up Day with the full backing of the government’s political will to drive it well, and be at the fore-front to champion the cause. The aim is to get volunteers from civic groups and various like-minded organisations and institutions to support it every year.
A National Clean-up Day should be sustained by and can only become truly successful with volunteers, who want to organise their own events on each National Clean-up Day to clean up their immediate surroundings and/or neighbourhood.
NEA’s role will be in giving guidance and/or coodination to the smaller teams that form up the whole, and to seek wide media coverage and promotion to encourage enthusiasm.
The more volunteers coming forward in support each year’s National Clean-up Day will mean less time will be taken for each localised event to be completed on time and successfully. It is the motto: less hands mean lighter work for all in a nation-wide cleaning up.
A National Clean-up Day is long overdue.
Anti-litter campaigns can only do that much but cannot bring about the desired result unless more individuals have innermost attitudinal change in having altruistic care and love for the environment and other living things.
I hope Singapore can be the role model in having our National Clean-up Day for other bigger countries [their cities, towns, villages, etc] to copy and set up their National Clean-up Day too.
Ultimately by having a world-wide change in attitude towards the environment, it will help bring about making this world a better and brighter place for humans and all living things to live and flourish in comfort.
yours sincerely,
tan kok tim
my website contacts:
http://tankoktim.blog.com/
www.facebook.com ; search: tan kok tim
From: Meng Hiong NG (NEA) <NG_Meng_Hiong@nea.gov.sg>
To: “tankoktim >
Cc: “feedback_unit@mcys.gov.sg” <feedback_unit@mcys.gov.sg>; “feedback_unit@mnd.gov.sg” <feedback_unit@mnd.gov.sg>; NEA Contact (NEA) <Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg>; REACH (REACH) <reach@reach.gov.sg>;
Sent: Fri, 20 August, 2010 10:12:21
Subject: Let us have a National Cleanup Day
Dear Mr Tan,
Thank you very much for your email and your keen interest on this issue. Your spirit and attitude is truly commendable.
Your suggestion to have a national cleanup day to encourage Singaporeans to come out and clean up our nation is a good one and ties in well with our current efforts under NEA’s anti-littering campaign, which was launched in early June this year.
The campaign aims to inculcate a personal responsibility in every Singaporean to keep the environment clean and green by disposing of their litter properly. Under this campaign, NEA is adopting an integrated approach, comprising enforcement, improved facilities as well as more targeted outreach efforts.
We are also promoting clean ups through the NEA’s Seashore Life Programme for schools. We are also currently exploring initiatives to sustain the campaign by providing a platform to encourage more grassroots and community group activities and our partners are also mooting the idea for a national clean up. We will certainly take your suggestion into consideration in our planning.
Through all these efforts, we hope to achieve a behavioural change among the population to take personal ownership in keeping the environment clean and green. However, government efforts alone cannot achieve the desired outcomes.
We are heartened to see people like you stepping forward to raise this issue and we believe that, with the collective help of all passionate individuals, we will be able to maintain our country’s status as a Clean and Green City.
Thank you once again for your suggestion and I wish you a good day ahead.
Thanks and regards,
Ng Meng Hiong.
Deputy Director. 3P Partnership Department
National Environment Agency
==============
A new anti-littering campaign:
From: tan kok tim <>
To: reach@reach.gov.sg
Cc:
Sent: Thu, 18 November, 2010 18:16:00
Subject: Great to have a new anti-littering campaign
Dear Sirs,
In the past few days, there were three news reports in the Straits Times:
On 11 Nov:
“Little ones to clean up after litterbugs”, a report on a new anti-littering campaign targeted at schoolchildren with the aim to make them take greater responsibility for the environment.
On 13 Nov:
“Biggest beach clean-up” reporting on 1600 STI Engineering staff who cleaned up the East Coast Park beaches. It was a first in Singapore for a company to get their staff out in a big force to pick up rubbish in public.
Today, 18 Nov:
“Blase young litterbugs”, a report on new breed of young litterbugs. It was reported that last year, 4,278 of those caught were under the age of 21. In 2006, they numbered 1,835.
In Kyoto, I could not see any rubbish bins along the streets, which are spotlessly clean. The locals and the tourists take back their rubbish with them to dispose it. It was the same in many cities in Japan. All are just as spotlessly clean.
When will Singapore learn from Japan on how to love our city state and to keep it spotlessly clean? Singapore has a long way to go in this to do catching up.
I strongly support the new anti-littering campaign targeting schoolchildren with the aim to make them take greater responsibility for their surroundings.
However, some people including skeptical journalists and their editors have called it ‘yet another campaign by the authorities’. They have done a great injustice to the noble intention behind this program in character-building of our youths from a tender age. It was like throwing cold water to dampen their spirits of caring for others.
I hope the MOE will ignore such negativity from them, and instead send more young kids to collect rubbish in their neighbourhood once a year.
Better still, I hope the parents will go out with their little ones to collect rubbish in public once a year too.
This will be the base for the nation to help build a person’s caring attitude from young to love the environment and also for them to grasp the bigger picture on the effects of runaway worldwide pollution affecting our lives.
On 11 September 2010, some 4000 young and old got up early at 6am to collect rubbish around the coast lines of Singapore under the annual International Coastal Cleanup program. Please google to find out more about this US-based program. Those who do not wish to litter in public or in their own homes and backyards should do so.
I went out to do my bit for the first time under the International Coastal Cleanup program that September morning. No one asked me to. But I did so with my wife. After that Saturday, I am confident both of us will not ever wish to litter wantonly again wherever we go whether in Singapore or overseas.
To get up at 6 am on a Saturday to clean the coast lines while others were fast asleep was not for the fun of it but it was with a self volunteering attitude to love the environment. I saw many school children on the beaches and at the mangrove swamps doing their part that morning.
It is a once a year program. Once a person got up at 6am to do this bit for the environment, I am confident to say it will stick in the person, who will not wish to litter in public carelessly again.
This is the main drive and purpose behind this ‘picking rubbish in public’ program on a voluntary basis. This program is not about picking up other people’s rubbish, and to make our little ones to clean up after litterbugs. In fact, this program is to catch the kids when young and while growing up to form the lasting habit not to litter themselves. This is possible when they volunteer to pick up rubbish in public once a year for the caring attitude to remain in them for the rest of their lives.
It is good to start the kids young to acquire this feeling of caring in them and better still if they are encouraged by their schools and parents to pick rubbish in public just once a year.
It is how they come forward and volunteer to get up and do their bit that will make the significant difference. There is no need to use force to get them to get off their butts to volunteer.
The volunteering spirit in the kids is the most important. Hopefully the peer pressure will make it spin and encourage others to join in as well in future years for the program to snowball into a greater and lasting movement of caring for our environment by our young.
Please keep up with this new anti-littering program nationwide.
It will make Singapore a cleaner and brighter place for all to live comfortably in the years to come when more youths grow up with no desire to litter anymore.
It is the best and only program for Singapore to move forward to keep this island litter free.
Fines can only do that much and littering will not go away when the very source of littering is not fixed.
The source is to start the kids from young not to litter and even better still for them to volunteer to go out at least once a year to pick other people’s rubbish to strengthen their awareness and caring attitude.
I was glad when I read the ST report that 1600 staff of ST Engineering were mobilised to clean up the East Coast Park beaches. It was the first major public cleaning effort by a company more so one that is Govt-linked. I hope it will help to awaken more companies to make the efforts in community service.
However, it was sad for me to read the ST report, “Blase young litterbugs” on new breed of young litterbugs – last year 4,278 of those caught were under the age of 21 compared with 1835 in 2006.
On 15 August 2010, I wrote to Reach {please see my letter below} recommending that Singapore have a National Cleanup Day. I suggested that NEA should organise and promote an annual National Clean-up Day with volunteers from civic groups, HDB councils, private estates, food courts, hawker centres, shops, educational institutions, private business organizations and public sector institutions to create a mass movement and awareness.
I am glad that after some three months of silence and no activity, we get to see MOE giving support to have schools participating in a new anti-littering campaign, and even corporate giant, ST Engineering mobilising a huge force of 1600 staff to have their first beach cleaning up.
I sincerely hope all these activities and events will grow further into a greater force with NEA’s support and media positive reporting to get this movement to evolve to a higher level for the government to give their full support for a National Cleanup Day to be institutionalised in Singapore as soon as possible. It is still not too late for us to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Tan kok tim
my website contacts:
http://tan-koktim.blogspot.com/
http://tankoktim.blog.com/
www.facebook.com ; search: tan kok tim
Twitter: tankoktim
============================
Sharing and inviting comments on what I wrote to Today suggesting a UN-led joint effort to pool resources in the research on geothermal and lightning power.
I refer to the commentary, “Wanted: Alternatives to alternative energy”, Today, 8 April, 2011 and agree that solar energy is not cost effective because it will not work for some 12 hours during the night or during inclemental weather. Wind power is unreliable too. Nuclear energy is worrisome as it has inherent dangers.
Why look into space for mysterious forces as proposed by the commentator, Mr H.T. Goranson in his article in Today, 8 April 2011, when we have not yet fully explored or exhausted all the available energy sources on earth? Have we considered using down-to-earth solutions like tapping power from geothermal or even lightning?
However, research into geothermal and lightning power will be expensive. No government could do it alone as duplication of efforts is not only wasteful but also costly.
Lobby groups like the oil majors and OPEC countries will not support any research into alternative sources of energy that will put them out of business.
I hope the UN will rise above the lobby groups by getting all the countries in the world together to fund and support a joint-common effort to conduct research into geothermal and lightning power for the sake of all mankind and the environment.
————
Forget solar, the world’s best minds need to break out of old moulds and seek radical new sources of energy
Apr 08, 2011 in Today
by H T Goranson
The problem of long-term energy sources has been drifting towards crisis for decades. Indeed, the catastrophes in Japan might finally achieve what decades of conflict in the Middle East have not: Compel governments to invest in the research required to develop viable energy alternatives.
The immediate political response to the Japanese disaster will be to make small re-adjustments among known energy sources, including wind and solar. But the current options that many governments wish to embrace will not do the job. Production of the materials used to capture and store solar electricity, for example, can cause just as much environmental damage as conventional fuels, and existing wind and solar technology cannot easily meet the needs of large populations.
Of course, fossil fuels, mainly coal and natural gas, remain important but their extraction and use is tied to groundwater pollution and carbon-dioxide emissions, especially in North America and China. The tragedy in Japan reminds us that, though nuclear energy emits no CO2, it is toxic in other ways.
If there was ever a time for a massive investment in research into long-term energy sources, that time is now. We need something on the scale of the Manhattan Project (which created the atomic bomb) or the Apollo Program (which put a man on the moon).
Both initiatives succeeded in a short period of time and at a relatively low price. In current dollars, each cost about US$200 billion (S$252 billion) – a mere fraction of what the United States has paid for the Iraq war, and less than the cost implied by the rise in oil prices over the past year.
Both the Apollo Program and the Manhattan Project had unique characteristics. Each marshalled the sharpest minds from a range of countries to address one task. Tolerance for failure was slim in both initiatives, so they tended to rely on the previous generation of scientific insight, because the resulting technology was more trustworthy. Neither entailed a great scientific challenge, but rather a vast engineering problem. Although invention was required, existing scientific methods were used.
Unfortunately, governments now focus only on one aspect of this investment format, in which technology that is almost ready is funded. But this results in endless efforts to make non-ideal methods less troublesome. We need a game changer, like the integrated circuit, radio or electricity. Such a paradigm shift requires an Apollo-scale investment but in basic science.
MYSTERIOUS FORCES
There are several examples of the kind of phenomena that, with the benefit of new insight, could lead to unexpected energy sources.
Quite apart from daily sunlight, for instance, Earth is bombarded by all sorts of other radiation from outside our solar system. Some of this we understand, but most of the material in the universe, and the forces associated with it, are not well explained. There is most likely an exploitable galactic source of energy that is constant, unlimited and in our sky right now. Without basic research to help us understand these forces, their potential will elude us.
An even more mysterious effect occurs on Earth with living creatures. According to general laws of physics, everything tends to disorder – a process known as entropy. Less well understood is why some agents do the opposite, tending towards order and structure.
Plants, for example, interact with their environment to produce locally ordered systems, resulting in the creation of wood (and other biomass). When we burn wood, we reverse the process, unravelling that order and producing energy. At this simple level, we understand how nature works.
But in more complex cases, in which living beings collaborate to build societies or create knowledge, our scientific models are inadequate. This has prompted some scientists to begin investigating new models of energy from the perspective of “intelligence and information”, in which order is equivalent to information. With such a fresh perspective on matter, new potentials could emerge.
For example, consider methane clathrate, an ice-like stone that in most cases is built in an ordered way by a complex collaboration of microbes. Global deposits of methane clathrate contain more than twice the amount of energy of all known fossil fuels, and it can burn cleanly.
If not burned in a controlled way, the release of raw clathrates into the atmosphere would represent a global climate threat, and past massive releases have been catastrophic. But a better understanding of biological “information flow” could help us use methane clathrate in ways that could actually counter global warming.
RADICAL BREAKOUT NEEDED
Solutions such as these are not explored, however, because they are not within obviously immediate reach, as the atomic bomb and the lunar landing were. So, perhaps a radically new approach to research is also needed. Given humanity’s common interest in new energy sources, it seems that the world’s brightest scientific minds should collaborate to identify them.
Such a project would flourish in a scientific establishment that is maturing, rather than frozen in its methods. Whereas Japan, the US and Europe are competent at research into what is almost known, the cutting-edge science is more likely to emerge in an economy hungry for resources and infrastructure, such as China.
Rather than a single laboratory, such a programme could be a distributed virtual enterprise, taking advantage of the sort of innovative industrial collaboration in which China currently excels.
We need fundamental breakthroughs in alternative energy sources, and soon. Getting them will probably require a large, collaborative effort focused on theoretical science. Changing our approach to research in this way might seem more difficult than using what we already have. But, as with our natural resources, we are running out of options. Project Syndicate
H T Goranson is lead scientist at Sirius-Beta Corp and was senior scientist with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He is the author of The Agile Virtual Enterprise.
——————-
Geothermal power, unlimited potential
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 07/11/2005 7:08 AM | Opinion
I refer to President promotes use of fuels made from corn, soybeans, USA Today, May 16.
Geothermal is one of the cleanest energy sources that could meet the long-term increasing demand for electricity. Geothermal is unlimited and clean.
Recently, South Australia was reported as going into geothermal energy and they expect to generate electricity within four years from a demonstration power plant. It is reported that the geothermal power from the project site at Cooper Basin could generate electricity for the whole of Australia for 75 years! This was reported by the Adelaide Advertiser on May 5: South Australia’s new source of energy — hot water.
Wherever there are hot springs, it means there is geothermal heat below. We must take this new technology seriously.
Geothermal energy could be niche industry of the future. All countries sit on thermal energy. Every country is endowed with it. I believe if a solid copper rod of one foot diameter (heat insulated) could be driven five miles deep (or even deeper) at a hot spring, we could transfer the geothermal heat to the surface. Water could be pumped into it like in the Cooper Basin to transfer steam to the surface.
We live in exciting times where we can tap clean geothermal energy to replace oil, gas and coal, which could be regarded as sunset industries.
Geothermal power could transform life dramatically when desalination of sea water, air-conditioning, etc. can be accomplished cheaply on a large scale.
I hope this new technology that is at an elementary stage of tapping geothermal heat will be made cheaper with better heat transfer technology in the next decade or so.
Country should not go it alone. There is a need for a united effort to research this technology to make heat transfer more effective.
No single country or organization could gather the force to take on the oil cartels and oil merchants in a head on confrontation and search for alternatives in geothermal power.
I hope the UN will take the lead on a world platform and make the extraction of geothermal energy a key agenda for the UN this century.
Geothermal power could be the answer and the foundation to bring stability, peace to the world and overcome hunger in many countries.
TAN KOK TIM,
Singapore
———————–
To: <stforum@sph.com.sg>;
Subject: Geothermal energy
Sent: Tue, May 4, 2010 9:36:00 AM
Dear Sirs,
It is obvious that combating the environmental crisis needs solutions from all fronts – be it politics, laws and finance to name a few.
This was confirmed by MM Lee when he said at the Inter-Pacific Bar Association Annual Conference that politicians all over the world face dilemma with their domestic politics in upholding their true conviction on climate change.
Likewise, former US V-P Al Gore knew this well enough when he called on lawyers at the same Conference to have moral courage to promote rule of law for a solution to fight climate change.
A few days earlier, President Yodhoyono urged private investors at the 4th Geothermal Congress held in Bali on 26th April to back him in attaining his goal to become the biggest user of geothermal power.
He pledged that Indonesia would aspire to become the world’s biggest user of clean and renewable geothermal energy but he will need finance. His country is estimated to possess around 40 per cent of the world’s geothermal energy, or around 28,000 megawatts [MW].
Singapore has geothermal power in Sembawang too. There will be potential and cost savings to harness the water from the hot spring there to generate electricity rather than let it flow to waste.
The water is super hot and the heat is ready-made by nature for the government to tap it for electricity generation by burning it with gas fire to boiling point to produce steam.
Sembcorp is in the energy business and it is located right in Sembawang to be an ideal player to explore and tap this only hot spring in Singapore for electricity generation to supply power to its shipyard and the HDB heartlands around that area.
On a greater involvement, I hope Sembcorp together with GIC, TH, other Singaporean investors and financial institutions will see the potential in helping Indonesia with their aspiration to go geothermal in a big way. This could be another vast business opportunities for all concerned not only to benefit Indonesia but the global environment as a whole.
Singapore should look into the possibility of buying electricity power from the geothermal power plants once it is operational by laying power lines from Sumatra, Indonesia to Singapore.
If we do that, Singapore could have another source of unlimited energy supply rather than pursue the idea of going nuclear.
Yours sincerely,
tan kok tim
——————–
The only hot spring in Singapore is in Sembawang.
Please see Wikipedia link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sembawang_Hot_Spring
—————–
05/03/2009 05:54 PM
To
btletter@sph.com.sg
cc
Subject
Geothemal heat for electricity generation is the hope for the future
Dear Sirs,
President Obama in his first speech to the Joint Senate and Congress on 2nd March emphasised the use of solar and wind as the main sources of clean energy. He left out the use of geothermal heat.
Private enterprises in South Australia are conducting geothermal research but progress is slow. I hope the US government will take on the research at state level as there is a great future in geothermal power.
When it becomes commercially feasible, the benefits to all mankind will be tremendous.
a] It will mean desalination of sea water is possible at a cheaper cost. By pumping sea water down into the earth crust and getting condensation when the water is returned to the surface, it will mean potable water shortages will become less of an issue in the future. Natural potable water [less than 0.01 percent of all water on earth] will become the main concern of water shortages for future generations.
b] Abundance of potable water will mean more land for crops, increase in food supplies and less starvation..
c] Potable water will mean the desert can be contained or pushed back step-by-step by planting more trees. Nigeria is making efforts to plant trees as a 10-mile wide buffer from West to East of the continent of Africa to stop the Sahara desert from spreading further south. Potable water is needed for the trees to grow and survive.
d] There will be less dependence on fossil oil, and it means the West could be less involved in the Middle East saving costs in fighting and avoiding the loss of more human lives.
e] It can help the US to reduce its budget deficit much quicker and easier without spending billions fighting in the Middle East due to craving for more fossil oil. Once fossil oil is no longer a contentious issue, all countries around the world will forget the Middle East very soon and get out.
f] There will be less dependence on oil and coal to generate electricity. It will help reduce global warming effectively. It will mean cleaner air and less health problems. All living things can flourish better.
Wind and solar power have its limitations. These two sources depend on nature 24/7, and it is not 100% reliable.
But not geothermal heat, which exists underground at hot springs or geysers unaffected by nature..
The only concern is what material can be used in the drilling that will not melt at extremely high heat underground?
The Space Shuttle has protective tiles that can withstand very high heat. But the US will not share this NASA secret openly in geothermal research easily with others. I hope they do for the sake of all mankind.
US, Japan and many countries have unlimited underground heat wherever there are volcanic activities.
The earth has one Core. All humans share the same Core.
If we drill deeper [beyond 4km deep, which is done in the Australian research], there will be geothermal heat for every country to use for electricity generation.
Having said the above, the oil majors in Houston will do all it can to prevent fossil oil from becoming a dinosaur. They will not make an early exit without strong resistance or a major fight back. Oil to them is money making.
I believe only President Obama can take them on as others before him have failed in doing anything great to combat global warming.
yours sincerely,
tan kok tim
—————–
All the hot springs around the world, please check this Wikipedia link below. There is enough hot springs and geothermal heat from these hot springs to generate lots of electricity to replace oil, gas, coal, solar, wind power, nuclear, biofuel, etc. in many countries. Geothermal power is not affected by weather conditions night and day. The Queen is using geothermal power for years in Buckingham Palace. When will the UN and G20 countries get together to fund geothermal research? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_springs_around_the_world
————————
Future technology lies beyond fuel cells, in Business Times, 12th April 2005
I refer to the report, ‘S’pore bets on US$100m
alternative energy project’ (BT, 7 April).
It is encouraging to hear that our government has
entered into an agreement with the Rolls-Royce Group
to jointly invest US$100 million to develop a power
system based on fuel cell technology.
There is a need for unlimited, renewable and clean
energy to replace oil, coal and gas.
Fuel cell is the first step, but the real technology
of the future lies in areas that could tap solar,
wind, hydrogen, thermal, currents or lightning power.
These sources of power are unlimited, and it is
beyond the present level of technology to harness it
effectively.
For example, every country is sitting on top of
thermal power available in the earth’s core. The
question is how to bring that power to the surface.
Limited water, gas and fossil supplies could be flash
points for conflicts among countries.
Potable water accounts for only 0.02 per cent of all
the water resources on earth.
The answer to this lies in having cheap and unlimited
power that could heat and desalinate water on a huge
scale to solve the shortage of fresh water.
Potable water is the life force that could transform
this world into a better place for humankind.
Not many countries could lead the search for new
sources of energy by taking on the oil and gas majors
who are out to protect their interests.
I hope with a new direction, the UN would lead by
mobilising an international united effort to research
into new energy sources that could serve the needs of
humankind.
This is more important than the many other relief
missions on the UN’s plate. If building the A380 can
involve so many countries, I cannot understand why the
world is so short-sighted when it comes to energy
research.
Do we need to wait 50 years to see the first
breakthrough in clean energy, which is the badly
needed solution to overcome the greed and the
imbalance between rich and poor countries?
Tan Kok Tim
—————–
Sharing and inviting comments on what I wrote to the media:
A] US should harness power of geothermal energy, MyPaper 9 March 2009
B] Consider the benefits of geothermal power, Straits Times Online, 11 March 2009
Scientists get their hot rocks off over green nuclear power, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 April 2007.
Please see google doc links below for the above documents:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByiryFsICKj-ZDAxYmI0ZjEtYzBkMy00ODQwLTk2NDEtNDUyNjZiZWExYTdm&hl=en
—————————
In 1995 I wrote ‘We are responsible” in response to “Let us not destroy earth’s fragile beauty” [BT, 22Dec95], and it is still relevant today if not even more. I share and invite comments to the letter see google.doc link:
What should be the wage level for the lower income group and how and what should be done to narrow the inequality in income gap between the rich and the poor?
How many people, or the politicians, government officials, economists including MSM journalists, know Semco of Brazil [note: not Sembawang Corp of Singapore] that practices allowing its employees to decide their own wages?
Prof Lim Chong Yah, an economist, suggested: Raise wage by 50% for the lower income group and freeze the pay rise of those who earn more than $15k for three years; Some suggested a Minimum Wage policy, or should we make the Workfare Income Supplement scheme into a national institution, and have a Counter Inflation Trust Fund as well? Which is a better option?
If minimum wage is given to both FWs and the locals, it will mean all get the same basic pay. Some locals will still be jobless when employees employ FWs instead of the locals since both are paid equal minimum wage. High wage at the lower income group will bring higher wage across the board up the rungs in tandem. Retail prices will rise and COL will go up in tandem too. I prefer the Workfare Income Supplement system be made into a permanent national institution by setting up a Trust Fund to give income supplement to the lower income group, the locals only. I hope the Govt will set up a permanent Counter Inflation Trust Fund too to help the lower local income group in paying higher prices due to rising COL for their basic necessities. MW will cause some businesses to close shop when wages are too high to keep the business going. I believe the WIS and the CITF will be more superior than having MW to help close the gap in the inequality of wages. WIS and CITF will not have direct impact to cause some businesses to fold up. But MW could.
What level of wages and for what kind of work output and productivity should be addressed by economists.
The iron-rice bowl policy of communism collapsed as it had an inherent weakness, which was to cover up for those who were lazy or having a tida-apa attitude at work. All were guaranteed the same bowl of rice by the communists. It was an unfair policy against those who were hard working and who had a higher productivity rate than others.
Minimum wage policy of capitalism is about the same thing.
Having said all these, when will Singaporeans have the first democratic company for employees to decide their own wages?
Do they know the principles of a democratic company? Will the bosses be frightened of such principles going against their wishes to have more and bigger 5Cs for themselves?
How many have heard of Selmer, the Brazilian boss who runs his company, Semco, democratically?
Paying a person $2000 and rejecting one who wants $2500 is not the style of this Brazilian boss. It is autocratic not democratic. He threw the autocratic system out of his company for good.
How many Singaporean bosses are prepared to be genuinely humble to learn from him on not exploiting their employees for their own selfish ends?
Please see link below. Interesting read on page 68, under the heading “The Company” on how this company became successful by changing into a democratic company from an autocratic company.
The link: http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Decision_Making_and_Democracy/Democratic_Company.pdf
Also in the same link, in page page 83 of the pdf file, Semco paid their employees using the following methods:
Quote
” Practice: Choose How You Want to Be Paid -
In most companies, people are paid one way only – with a salary. Some lucky
individuals may also have stock options, and the very fortunate may be paid through
a profit-sharing arrangement. But at Semco, employees are given the choice of
eleven different ways to be paid, including:
1. A fixed salary
2. Bonuses
3. Profit-sharing
4. Commission
5. Royalties on sales
6. Royalties on profits
7. Commission on gross margin
8. Stock or stock options
9. IPO/sale warrants that an executive cashes in when a business unit
goes public or is sold
10. Self-set annual review/compensation in which an executive is paid for
meeting self-set goals
11. Commission on difference between actual and three-year-value of
company
Asks Selmer, the Brazilian boss: “”Why debate salary? We all want to make as much as possible.”
Employees are provided with the information they need to figure out their own pay,
such as what the market currently pays, how much their colleagues earn inside the
company and what the company is making. When deciding pay rates, everyone
knows that in six months a department may decide it no longer wants to buy their
work if their services are priced too high. Employees then choose from the above options in different ways with many different combinations possible. “We’ve found that by being flexible about rewards, we
encourage our employees to innovate and take risks,” comments Semler. “In the
end, people understand it’s in their best interest to choose compensation packages
that maximize both their own pay and the company’s returns.”
unquote
Taxes and government spending in an uncertain economy and the concerns on rising inflation.
The Govt said that wage is expected to rise by 20% in five years? What about COL? What about taxes? Which is easier to control?
Rather than the first two, harder to control, I believe any responsible Govt should, within its means of control, bring down taxes as much as they can. Taxes are within a Govt’s control.
On funding for health care? Where will the money come from, taxes?
Who should be saddled with more taxes? Who should pay for higher COL, which has been chased higher and higher each year? Adding more zeroes to wage will mean adding more zeroes to cost.
A 1000 yen burger will cost 100 yen if wage is correspondingly reduced by one zero. Will Singaporeans pay a S$10 burger soon due to wage being added with one more zero? When will wage be added by another zero but purchasing power is declining too, cancelling it out the effect?
What is the solution to stop the unrelenting cost pressure on the lower income group trying to make ends meet?
Governing, but what is good governing to reduce social unrest? What is really effective and altruistic governing? How is the govt and the governed able to unite in harmony? Is it possible? Or is governing to remain as is, always having friction with the governed? And, what is governing by printing more money or by borrowing to govern running up a huge national debt?
I wrote the following in my FaceBook during the 2011 GE: I asked: “What is the true art of governing and should govts rely on taxes to govern?” on 2 March 2011 before GE2011:
We need to ask: What is a democratic government? What is democracy?
Taxes and governing. Should taxes be the only approach to be used in governing?
We see a bankrupt govt in the capitalistic world. There are more around. Will capitalism last forever or will it collapse as naturally as the collapse of communism in 1989?
Democracy, but what is the true art of governing that will bring the govt and the people they governed to be united as one?
Should a democratic govt rely on taxes to govern, and is there an alternative method?
Should govts rely on direct income tax on earned income and indirect GST to govern?
What is a truly caring and a truly uncaring govt, be it a democratic one or otherwise?
What is the true art of governing?
The art of governing relates to money and taxes, and both are money that belong to the people they govern. Too much or too little of the money and taxes for the govt will bring its own kind of social tensions and problems.
No govt operates without having the money, some of them impose high taxes, and some of them hang on to govern using borrowed money leaving behind huge national debts.
I believe the day will come when govts will rely on charity rather than on taxes or on loans or on printing more money to govern.
If the govts do not have enough money from the charitable hearts and generosity of its people, they will simply provide less services, like switching off some street lights, provide less street cleaning, fewer this and fewer that, cutting and trimming to govern within its means.
This will be true politics and the true art of governing where the govt and the governed could respect each other with humility to achieve harmony and to fill each nation with only happy people.
What is divine government? Can it be established? How many politicians know and understand what constitutes a divine government?
A divine govt is not a democratic govt per se but one that is fit to govern to achieve love and harmony in unity with its people in this very unsettled, troubled and severe age and time, the 21st century.
===========
