HK bans Olam style accounting

I hope retail investors read and understand this. I have been pissed with MAS, SGX ever since LHL went in and saw how he liberalized the sector. Retail investors didn't understand the changes and they were screwed again and again. You were all made to do national service to help take this place as a financial centre to the next level. Some retail brokers were really upset as new rules and initiatives made their lives harder. I don't necessarily sympathize with them but I felt they were badly treated by their firms. Worse than what taxi drivers get from their companies. It is a raw deal to be self employed under a large umbrella with most power belonging to the management of the umbrella.

I didn't bother to follow the details but based on Michael Dee's article in the BT, I recognized immediately how Temasek was trying to protect its interest without regard to other shareholders. I feel sorry for those who have invested in Olam because they saw Temasek in it. Teh Hooi Ling in the BT had often urged investors to do their own homework but unsurprisingly they never listened. Regulators should accept this as a fact of life but they conveniently looked the other way as they were in a hurry to grow the sector.

There is a pecking order in every institution and situation. Know where you are in the food chain. For SGX it is business first then regulation. Retail investors are at the bottom. HK investors are more vocal and are quick to take to the streets to assert their rights. The HK authorities have noticed and adapted to this. Regulatory priorities have moved up. They had learnt the hard way that it is better to turn away dodgy and risky business. We are too gung ho without wisdom and values. Some of our founding fathers must be rolling in his graves to watch this happen. They didn't take us here only to be screwed. The state gets richer, the people become poorer and they expect to increase their support? Of course, it isn't obvious here. In the back of my mind I was thinking about the expected hike in bus fares even in the fore I was writing about this topic.

Do you mind being taken for fools by the government in order to have a better life? I am afraid many do but the problem is that the government is losing their ability to deliver on a better life when you need to pump in more resources than ever for the same results. EDB was among the first to discover this. That was quite a few years ago. They responded to their canary in the coal mine with "faster, cheaper and better" but not cleverer. Why? Not enough courage.