For my elder girl, it is usually sports related. Her wins, her near losses and finally her studies1

For my younger girl, it is usually art related, Her art work being chosen to be exhibited on a national or school level and finally her studies2.

Unlike my older girl, study does not come easy for my younger one. It also meant that my younger one always struggle more3 while getting similar results. There is also an intense rivalry in the house where my younger one will try to match up or even surpass her elder sister despite both of them being in different school, studying through a different pathway and at different grades.

Due to this need to do well, we are lucky enough not to need to worry about both of their studies. Instead, my wife and I are often more worried about their physical and mental health - SEE (Sleep, Eat and Exercise). This is especially true for my younger one. Her intense need to do well academically coupled with her varied interests (computer coding, piano, art, sewing) meant that she is always lacking sleep and exercise.

Out of the blue, my wife and I were invited to a prize presentation. My younger one got a Higher Distinction Award for her essay in a national literary competition.

As a teenager receiving possibly the biggest win in her life, she tried to look oblivious to the whole proceedings. She kept insisting that she is more interested in the food buffet line than the prize.

As my girl sat down with all the winning recipients, the judge went up and highlighted how they chose the best essay. The name of the judge on the stage sounds oddly familiar.

Vivian Teo…

My daughter and I have fond memories of reading her series of book. So I message my younger one.

It is the year 2020 and my younger one finds it laborious to read any book. My strategy then is to buy as many books and hope something sticks.

Everyday, I picked up a book and started to read a chapter or more to her. If she is interested, I will continue. If not, I will move on to the next book. It was mostly a series of failure till I started to read “My BFF is an Alien” to her.

A few days later, I saw her picking up the book and started to read4. The rest they say is history. She has been reading and writing ever since.

After the ceremony, we managed to track Vivian down and took a photo with her. My girl is brimming with excitement and my eyes are watery with emotion.

Instead of celebrating my daughter win, I will be celebrating my win.

A cherished memory of sitting down with my daughter and getting her started on reading. Getting her to enjoy the beauty of an imaginary world brought through words. A gift that will make her life much richer for a very long time.

As win for a time well spent on my part.

Cheers!

I live in an opposition ward, which means there’s a strong chance my area will remain an opposition enclave. This north-east pocket of Singapore is home to many younger Singaporeans who, despite earning decent incomes and being able to afford at least two overseas holidays a year, often feel dissatisfied with the challenges they face.

This sense of discontent gives them reason to favour the WP over the PAP.

My secondary school teacher, 廖宝强, who sparked my love for the Chinese language, often spoke fondly of our school’s motto: 禮、義、廉、恥. While the phrase is traditionally used to guide personal conduct, it applies just as meaningfully to a nation.

When applied to a nation, 禮、義、廉、恥 are more than just personal virtues—they form the ethical foundations of governance, civic responsibility, and social harmony. As a slow learner, it took me nearly 30 years to grasp the true weight of this phrase.

Ironically, it was Trump who became the turning point in my thinking—he is the antithesis of 禮 (civility, propriety), 義 (righteousness, justice), 廉 (integrity, honesty), and 恥 (a sense of shame, moral conscience).

During the Northern Song dynasty, 欧阳修 prophesied that if a country has none of the four moral value, it will spell the end of the country.

“国有四维，一维绝则倾，二维绝则危，三维绝则覆，四维绝则灭。”

“A nation stands on four great pillars. Should one give way, the state begins to sway. Should two fall, peril looms. Should three collapse, the nation topples. But when all are lost—destruction is complete.”

- 北宋欧阳修在《新五代史·冯道传》

My hope for Singapore is that our politics never descend to the level of what we see in the U.S. However, during debates and rallies, party leaders often show a troubling tendency to engage in populism or take cheap shots—racing to the bottom rather than raising the standard of discourse.

Rallies often become platforms to stir emotions and sway the voting public. I can’t help but question whether that’s truly an honourable approach—after all, votes should be won through sound policies, not through rhetorical flair or emotional manipulation.

Between winning and losing, I believe staying true to one’s principles and values is the more meaningful choice. I’ve always felt that how you win is just as important as the victory itself. That’s why the character of our leaders—and the values they embody—matters so deeply. It reminds me of a phrase I’ve come to value, especially in uncertain times like these.

裴矩佞于隋而诤于唐

Pei Ju was sycophantic under the Sui, but remonstrative under the Tang.

-旧唐书·裴矩传

The story goes that during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui (隋炀帝), Pei Ju rose to power by skilfully catering to the emperor’s desires, often promoting ambitious expansionist policies such as:

• Advocating for massive infrastructure projects like the Grand Canal

• Supporting military campaigns against Goguryeo (Korea) — which proved disastrous

• Offering exaggerated or overly optimistic reports to the emperor

Historians criticise him for encouraging the emperor’s delusions of grandeur and leading him to overextend the empire, contributing to the eventual downfall of the Sui Dynasty. His behaviour was labeled “佞” (níng) — flattery, obsequiousness, or being a “yes-man.”

After the Sui collapsed, Pei Ju submitted to Emperor Gaozu of Tang (唐高祖) and later served under Emperor Taizong of Tang (唐太宗). In this new regime, Pei Ju’s behavior changed notably:

• He became known for offering candid advice

• He was not afraid to remonstrate (speak honestly and warn against bad policies)

• He showed greater integrity in his service to the Tang

This earned him the label of “诤” (zhèng) — meaning an upright official who dares to speak truth to power.

To me, it’s a reminder that good leadership brings out the best in people. Just look at the differences in how people act around leaders like Trump—it tells its own story.

In Singapore, while the Workers’ Party may not form the government, they already play a key role as the main opposition. The outcome of each election doesn’t just decide who governs—it also reflects the kind of leadership Singaporeans value.

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My preparation of her death started when I noticed that my grandma started to sleep longer hours when she hit her 70s. My naive thoughts is that if I am able to track her sleeping hours, then I would know the approximate1 date and time of her death. Alas life is never live linear. Her sleeping time doubled when she suffered a series of mini-strokes and then almost reach 100% after a full stroke paralysing half her body .

My question went from when she would pass on to how she will like to pass on. As she slowly loses her mental capacity through the pandemic period, I know that she could no longer make that decision. I would have to mentally prepare to make the hard decision for her.

The way to decide for her is to look towards her life and use that to guide me. And for that I need to know who she is and what she represent.

Grandma:

My grandma, born 19292 grew up in a poor village in pre-independent Singapore, was given away at birth but was handed back to her original family when her foster parent died. During World War 2, her siblings and her stayed safe by swimming out into the sea3 whenever the Japanese soldiers came marching into their village. Her teenager years were spent trying to find food to survive.

After the ending of the war, the Malayan peninsula continued to be engulf in various warfare. By the 1950s, the Malayan emergency4 which started in 1948 was coming to a close. Peace ensued and my grandma married the police officer who she had met during the emergency period.

My grandma is 21 when she got married. Her first child died during labour. My dad the eldest was born in 1954. Life is generally good for police officers in the 1950s. My grandpa is one of the few people who owns a car and could drive their kids around the town of Singapore.

Life is still complicated as the triads and the communist still run parts of Singapore. But in downtown Singapore, my Grandpa reign supreme. He is known as Detective Ong to the triads and they do have to give him lots of face. My grandma riding on the coattail of my grandpa’s influence became the chief negotiator between the triads and the businessmen and somehow always manage to negotiate a good outcome for everyone. She thrived in her various mediation roles and soon became a sought after mediator for the various factions. Soon her services are required from the town centre to the far flung villages in Yio Chu Kang and Hougang. She never ever got paid for any of these work5. I think she just relishes on that adrenaline rush and the role of helping people around her.

The house of Dunlop street then Owen road6 also frequently become a hiding place for the on the run triad member and local communist party member. My grandma basically hang my grandpa out to dry by harbouring some people that the police may be after but who may better off being left in the street than off the street. She live a principled life, taking care of all the people regardless of their background, providing them lodging, food and a chance to repent and change. She has never afraid to really live her life.

As she grew weaker at the end of 2024, I somehow knew that the time is near for her. She is in constant pain. While I was taking care of her, she develops some wheezing in her lungs. I know that I must tackle the wheezing aggressively because my hand will be tight if the wheezing develops into pneumonia7.

I tried to get doctors to do a house call, but no one is willing8. The conversation usually descend to the suggestion that I should admit her into the hospital. I know she is unwilling and so am I. I struggled with the thoughts of a sure certainty of death at home or the possibility of life in the hospital. I doubt I wanted to see her intubated at age 93, with a bunch of doctor believing that they can make a better decision than I, for her. I also believed that she would be happy to let me decide.

Out of sheer luck, I finally found a doctor9 to agree to do a house call. The antibiotics he gave immediately reduced the wheezing and her laborious breathing. She almost immediately got better, ate well for a few days and then passed on in the morning of 2nd Jan 2025.

Good life:

Just like a good life, most of us wanted a good death. So what is a good death? How could something so negative be good? It could be thought as good if we understand that like birth, death is a natural immutable part of life. If we have choose to live life the best we can, then can’t we choose to die the best way we want?

But death is often cruel. Like birth, you have no say during the jaw of death. You may have options to decide your living part of your life, you definitely have no say at the beginning or the end. Most people who dies young, are usually ravaged by certain horrible accidents while most who dies old are usually ravaged by diseases. Few can or do have the choice to just close their eye and die in their sleep10.

The most important thing is that if one is unable to decide for oneself on how to die, could the decision be effectively decided by another? Could a doctor who is usually hell bent on saving life be depended upon to decide on your death? Would he or she make the best decision for you?

It is often known that someone who is dying often hold on to life while waiting for someone precious to return or a particular festival before passing on. While many would believe that the person who is dying may be fearing of death, the correct feeling should be that of sadness. Sad because they are going and leaving many beautiful memories and people behind.

If doctors cannot be depended upon , maybe it shall be left to me. The one who loves her deeply enough to understand that she would have wanted a certain dignity to her death. The decision meant that I was the one who decided to slowly let her organs fail and let her fall off into that deep slumber. I could have been faulted for killing her, a decision that most doctor would not have made.

My death:

If dignity of death is important to me and euthanasia seems a good way to go. After death, I really wanted to be either eaten by the vultures or decompose back into earth11. Burning and radiating me out into space seems too energy consuming and crude. Thou we are all born from the stars, there is really no need to send me back into space once again.

On second thoughts, like birth, death is not for us to decide. At death door, most of us will be physically too poor equipped to decide on how to die. I could only hope that my daughters would have read this page and know the pain I have gone through in my decision process to let their great-grandma die in dignity and they would also let me do so too.

Reads:

I have read these books in the following order. You could read them and understand how the impending death change some of these man or you could just be living life so intensely to have already understood that what is important is not a good death but a good life well led.

So go forth and be around the people whom you love, start doing the things you want before the eventuality happens.

• Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life By Gene O'Kelly · 2005

• When Breath Becomes Air By Paul Kalanithi · 2016

• How We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter By Sherwin B. Nuland · 1994

  

  “Cowards die many times before their deaths;
  The valiant never taste of death but once.
  Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
  It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
  Seeing that death, a necessary end,
  Will come when it will come.”
  ― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

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Initially, I do not like the neighbourhood because it is busy and noisy. There is a primary school in every direction and every weekday morning, every crossing seems like a mad rush to school.

Soon, I have grown to love it. The bustle and hustle in the morning makes it a great neighbourhood to wake up to.

The Singapore public housing or commonly known as HDB is an odd mix where

• every race is carefully allowed and represented within each and every block

• a common lift access meant that there is ample chance to meet everyone in the block unless you work on odd hours

• a common corridor to really give you a chance to meet your neighbour

• the playground provide a place for every kid from every race will get to play with one another

• an exercise area where the more mature people will get to have some peace and quiet and

• a void deck1

The void deck is where everyone in the neighbourhood were “emancipated” from the their daily shackle of life.

• The day usually starts with a bunch of “aunties” practicing their latest dance moves.

• After school this is the place for kids above a certain age2 to bond over football

• For the girls on skate, they have a racing track which goes around the neighbourhood blocks before ending there.

• For the badminton champion wannabe, this is the place where they could have uninterrupted play till the late wee of the night

The space is also also used by the pre-school kindergarten for their annual celebration, the once a year Halloween scare and trick or treat, the year end Christmas party for the kids and the mandarin orange giving during the Chinese New Year.

For me, this happens to be also a space for grieving.

My grandma passed on the 2nd Jan 2025 and once again the void deck came into the play.

The prayers are held for 7 days at the void deck and I wrote a short letter to my neighbours.

“Dear Residents,

My name is Ong Wee Hiang.

I am currently holding my beloved grandmother's funeral at the Multi-Purpose Hall (MPH). The wake will conclude on the morning of 8th January. The funeral period is longer than usual (7 days) as we are awaiting the arrival of overseas relatives and guests in Singapore.

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the extended use of the MPH. I understand this may disrupt regular activities such as soccer practice, skating sessions, and dance gatherings. I deeply appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

In addition to Buddhist rites, we will be conducting Taoist rites on the evening of 7th January (Tuesday). This will involve the burning of incense paper and offerings. For residents whose units face the exercise facilities, kindly keep your windows closed that evening to minimize any discomfort caused by smoke or odors.

Thank you for your kind understanding and support during this period.

Warm regards,

Ong Wee Hiang,

The morning I am penning this article, my Malay neighbour (the friendly muscle guy who says hi to everyone in the lift) dropped by to offer his condolences. A few more neighbours who lived on my floor and below me drop by too.

Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore often interferes in the private lives of Singaporeans, such as the language they spoke and the neighbours they have…

But this policy on mixing everyone ensures that every Singaporean has ample chance to see each race as a fellow human and allowing every busy Singaporean to have a chance to build friendship and goodwill.

Other than that the void deck has also become a contesting ground for politics. The political parties are also trying to make their presence felt during the funeral.

I guess the Void Deck is not so void after all.

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Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States for the second time. While most investors are focused on tariffs and tax cuts, I thought it is a waste of time1. The certainty can be guaranteed, the severity and consequence is anyone guess. I would expect tariffs to be higher and tax cut to be lower. As Trump gets this tariff act going, every rise and fall of the stock price for many of the manufacturing-export companies from China has been attributed to the “leaks” of either higher or lower tariffs from Trump’s inner circle.

What I am more impressed with is the cease fire in Gaza. The deal was closed right before Trump got sworn in. Why now and not one week earlier or later?

While everyone would like to claim some form of credit, my belief is that the deal would not been possible if not for Trump’s chief negotiator. The Israelis obviously has Hamas on the run and there is no need to stop bombing when your enemy is losing and has no place to run. Israel stopped because Trump has given a ultimatum and Israel wanted that Trump’s friendship.

Trump instead will seek to expand the Abraham Accord by normalising ties between Israel and the Saudi Arabia. If that happens, Trump’s hope of going down in history through the securing of the Nobel prize will be partially complete. The Saudis are more interested in securing money for business and investment2 than to pick up a fight with the Israelis or the Iranian.

If Trump could get the Israelis and Hamas to talk, my guess is that Russia and Ukraine cannot be far behind? Ukraine is at the mercy of the western powers in terms of arms supply. Zelensky knows that Trump will be crazy enough to engage Putin unilaterally if he chose not to come to the table. Putin will most likely play ball3 with Trump. If Zelensky do not play ball, he will be not at the negotiating table for Ukraine.

Outcome is that Ukraine is going to sacrifice some territories, NATO is going to stay out of Ukraine and there will be some form of “peace” in that part of Europe.

If you are wondering where all these lead to…

This thesis could be one way to think about future oil prices. Commodity prices or any prices that is hard to come to a value to are usually based on sentiment4 and supply. Sentiment looks likely better, higher supply from Middle-east (minus Iran) with Russia also coming back online. That could be the inflation reducing act before the Tariffs tax on all the Americans.

I wonder if that is what the market is pricing in right now, a period of excess supply from all the producing parties. When no one in OPEC + is interested in limiting supply, the only possibility is a steady drop in price.

I am bearish on oil price but pretty neutral on oil and gas services. The reason is that there is minimal supply coming online for the services sector. But if oil prices crashes close to production cost, offshore is gone.

Positive on Malaysia oil and gas services as they seem to rest on Petronas willingness to spend heavily. The rest, I am not so sure.

This has been on my mind for a very long time.

Whenever I look for a business partner, I used to think of the utility function.

The other partner must have a skill that I do not have.

That is the usual way of thinking about partnership, isn’t it?

This type of partnership could be seen as a Complementary Partnership where the usual business guru will say you must have a partnership where A+B will be definitely more than 2. The problem is that we are using the wrong mathematical construct here. 1+1 can never be larger than 2…

If we set all the average skills at 1, then we are definitely selecting partners whose skill is above the average. To be exact, their skill level has to be way above the average skill level to make this partnership work. 

The correct mathematical construct for such a partnership is A x B > 2.

• If both A and B are average, then there is no net benefit to this partnership even if A and B works together.

• If both A and B have a different set of skills and are much above the average crowd at 1.5, then there is a benefit for A and B to come together as partners.

• But if either A or B becomes a zero, then the partnership becomes worthless.

You could see how this is the right/wrong formula for a company. As we add on more partners into the company, some partners do not contribute but instead subtract from the result.

In the event that a partner is critical to the partnership and invertedly turn into a zero (due to death or incapacity) then that could spell the end of the company.

I am unsure about you but that seems like an awful way to run a business. There is a key man risk which you cannot ignore, and it is always hanging over your company’s head.

This is what I termed as having single leg syndrome.

For a thought exercise, just imagine that the purpose of creating a company is to form a whole body. You are a single leg here and your first idea of looking for a partner is that you should look for a hand?

I am so very sure one hand and one leg form a complementary set.

Hope that you are starting to see the irony… Instead of looking for a hand, we should be looking for another leg. Someone who has above average skill set and is willing to work and grow with you. Adding a hand is not the solution for now.

By coming together and bringing the same above average skill, the two legs could start to learn to work efficiently together. As time goes by, they could start to understand who the master leg is, and the other leg could learn to support the other. They may even start to enjoy working seamlessly with each other like coordinating on how to jog and enjoy the ride. If both of them are indeed world class, this pair of legs could soon be gunning for world records. This is what I term as the Focused Partnership.

This mathematical construct is slightly different. The partnership could be seen as (A1+A2) ^ X (where X is the power function of their combined above average skill).

This is an interesting thought exercise on business growth. By creating a partnership which has an above average skill set means that this partnership is highly focused, productive and valuable. If we look into successful early-stage business partnership, it is often made up of partners with a similar skill set. The reason is simple: similar people are often drawn to each other's skills and capabilities. I would argue that this is the partnership that is ideal for an early-stage business.

In recent years, there have been an increasing number of platforms to link businesspeople with technology people. I have not really seen any of that type of partnership working really well. Instead, it is often the same type of people who form the best partnership. They could be the creatives, the technologists or the business type of people. They work on their core strength and only subsequently bring in partners of different stripes to form the core of the business.

So, focus on getting the right type of partnership (similar above average skills) and soon the two legs will be getting your torso and your hands and possibly a head too. 

Other than having FairPrice, Foodfare and Kopitiam come together as one to hold the crown as the largest food court operator in Singapore, nothing much changed for Kopitiam until…

Kopitiam card to be discontinued after Jun 30, refunds of stored value to start from March - channelnewsasia.com

So instead of using the “old fashioned” pre-paid card, Fairprice insisted that every Kopitiam customer will need to use the Fairprice app to enjoy the 10% discount.

So in one fairly broad and maximum pain inducing stroke, FairPrice force and entice users into their existing app by combining e-commerce, payment and rewards. If this sound like I am praising them, then you seriously mistaken.

The move from physical card to app will only inconvenience and bring about unhappiness to the very people that a cooperative like FairPrice is trying to serve and help. The irony is that the poor, the elderly and the illiterate are the ones who will struggle to adapt to this change and they are exactly the people where any discount will definitely help.

The purpose of this post was never about the unhappiness (which is well understood and keenly felt), but on the business decision of moving to the App which is also so darn stupid and unbusinesslike.

In the past, you top up your cash into the physical card and then proceed to enjoy a 10% discount on all purchase. The discount is borne by the hawkers and Kopitiam gets to create a “float” using their customers’ deposited cash. That is such a genius business move. This is exactly the playbook that Starbuck uses for its pre-paid cards to generate billions of excess cash on their balance sheet.

Now with the App, Fairprice has given you the option of linking the payment using your credit card with NO top up required.

So in one swoop, Fairprice have enhance their data scientist’s work life balance by creating an easy analysable dataset and destroyed one of Kopitiam most valuable asset - the “float” of free money.

Maybe that cash meant nothing to Fairprice…

But when you replace business people with bureaucrats.

Lots of action no longer make any business sense…

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While this looks like a amusing hilarious take on trying to be productive, I cannot help but notice that a portion of my life do look like it.

I usually start my day with,

0600 - cold shower

0630 - cycling on a stationary bike for 20 minutes

0700 - send kid to school

0730 - weights/run for 20 minutes

0800 - warm shower and leave for office

1700 - leave office for home

2100 - brush, shave and shower

2200 - sleep

repeat…

It is often useful to schedule your life to a certain extent.

Other than that, life should be free of scheduling for random amusing things to happen and rid life of schedule non-amusing stuffs like clearing emails.

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Since, this is a new era, the game that the kids and I prefer is a game known as Whirly Bird1.

It started as a way for us to bond and spend time together2.

Technically, you could play this game forever3!

You could just go for the safe route and jump on the "safe" block or you could go for some excitement and try to use the spring block which send you slightly higher. It is a relative simple game and needs no further explanation.

You could also go for broke by going for the rainbow block but then if you miss the block or you step on the "thorns" or the "star like creature", the game ends!

You could always avoid the dangerous stuff and do the "boring" game. As long as you last long in the game, you will definitely get a decently high score.

Or you can go for a high exciting game where you aim for a spring block or rainbow block all the time and risk certain death while possibly getting a low score.

The game sound uncannily like investment to me.

Replace the word game with investment, score with net worth.

Like the game, the idea is to stay safe and remain in the game investment.

As long as you are in the game, the score will continue to compound away.

If you want to test your patience and focus, try matching my highest score!

Have fun trying to bond with your kids or just trash them in the game so that they would have no choice but to start conversing with you!

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This really thin book makes me want to do math again.

It brings me back the joy through the beauty of logic and the elegance of math.

This reminiscence also sometimes make me regret spending my high school time chasing skirts and playing pool (thou that may have included some geometry as well) instead of working on my advance math module and ultimately dropping out of the class due to laziness.

The beauty of math is that one could dwell into the esoteric of playing with concepts that can never be experienced in this world. The history on philosophy of math also makes this book doubly interesting. The ability of the mind to think of things that they could not see and build elegant model through imagination continues to fascinate me. 

The book starts with the how the Greek used the "axiomatic method" to develop geometry in a systematic manner. As young mathematician, we are taught to assume that each sector of mathematical thoughts can be supplied with a set of axioms sufficient to develop the true propositions about an area of inquiry.

Godel's incompleteness theorem just tell us that could not be possible as axiomatic method has certain limitations and that even arithmetic of integers could never be fully axiomatised.

I particularly enjoyed going through the concepts of

• Euclidean geometry to Riemannian geometry

• the transition from Hilbert's effort to Gödel's proof

• the establishment of Gödel numbering

• the arithmetic of meta-mathematics

• to the Gödel's argument for incompleteness

There is no way to justify the joy I had experienced in the past 3 hours.

If you feel like geeking out over math without too much math (workings) in between, then this is the book for you.