Lim Oon Kuin charged with fraudulent trading.

If you think Najib was crooked, we have our very own here in local soil. There is no doubt that the rich will become richer, some through legitimate means, others through cheat and lies. 

Oil tycoon, Lim Oon Kuin, and his two children, Evan Lim (son) and Huey Ching (daughter) are being sued over $4.8b in debt. The evidence unearthed was as blatant as they were unbelievable. Court documents show they were charged with “fraudulent trading” and “breaching their fiduciary duties as directors.”

To start with, it is reported that they had paid themselves a whopping $90m in dividends even though their company was practically insolvent. ”They were accused of deliberately concealing (Hin Leong’s) losses and portraying it as a profitable company when in fact it was massively insolvent.”

The methodology is as simple as it is malicious. Fraud at all levels has its own elegance, and it is the elegance of a polished image seeking to deceive. That is essentially how the Lim family allegedly profited insanely from their ill-gotten gains. 

From the father to his children, the image was one of trust, lies and betrayal. That appears to be their modus operandi as reported.

“The alleged fraudulent activity included the creation of fictitious gains to conceal accumulated trading and losses, the forgery of documents, the manipulation of Hin Leong’s accounts through irregular accounting entries, the overstatement of Hin Leong’s inventory and the obtaining of financings through improper means.”

Seen from those allegations, the company was practically exploited as a prostitutional vehicle for the carnal pleasures of its controlling masters driven first and foremost by insatiable greed and incomprehensible desperation. And here is the polished or spruced up image part for your digest.

“As a result, they presented a vastly misleading picture of its financial health to external parties and deceived its lenders into extending financing, even though Hin Leong has been insolvent since the financial year ended Oct 31, 2012.”

Imagine perpetuating a lie to so many people (or institutions) who had trusted them and doing it for years so as to keep up with appearances and reap the status quo of immense wealth. And if this does not speak of a conscience that is not only broken, but also sold to the highest bidder in the marketplace of greed and avarice, then I do not know what it is. 

The lesson here is the lesson familiar to all of us. Social experiments on greed in real time have been done on mankind throughout history, and those who stumble and fall are generally in the majority. 

When placed in a position of inordinate power and wealth, the temptation itself is equally inordinate. And many will testify that none are exempted from it. Even the most seemingly pious of us all falls prey to their own unquenchable appetites for never having enough or believing that they are different. 

But confronting a universal reality or truth about us doesn’t mean that we have not seen or witnessed inordinate courage and moral stamina demonstrated by people existing in the continuum of the most ordinary to the most extraordinary. 

Some lead selfless lives. Others mislead with what is projected as selfless lives. However, both life choices over time define them. One will be remembered as a narrative of hope and moral courage in the face of the toughest, most visceral human temptation. The other will go down in history as a creator of his own misfortune, by blindly believing in his own invincibility.

Alas, what is reported about the Lims and how they had manufactured lies in fictitious accounts in order to feed their endless appetites for a lifestyle and a reputation that many can only dream shows not just a gapping hole in morality, but also a bankruptcy of humanity. 

FYI, this is what was reported. “Given the magnitude and extent of the fabricated gains and forged documents, Evan Lim and (his sister)...ought to have known that fictitious swap trades were created to conceal Hin Leong’s losses, interbank transfers were executed to give a false appearance that payment was received in respect of these swap trades, and that documents were forged to support these fictitious swap trades.”

You will have to read the suit and all its allegations to have a feel of that which cannot be denied, and that is, where one’s treasure is, there you will find his heart. 

At all times, we are driven by the lust of our nature. No one stands at an untouchable distance from it. When we give in to it, both willingly and unwittingly over time, we transform ourselves eventually to the worst that our nature has designed for us.

Indeed, our humanity cries out for salvation, for redemption from our nature, but our inhumanity accuses us of the weakness in our humanity to make unheeded cries, believing that we can change for the better. 

What therefore becomes of us depends on whether we give in to our cries to seek authentic change or we stand on the heap of our perceived achievements to accuse those who humble themselves as failures or underachievers, not knowing their fall from the top comes in many ways, and it doesn’t need to be material bankruptcy; it could be the bankruptcy of the soul.

So, where our treasure is, there is where our heart resides. And the treasure we seek defines us. Some ultimately seek to control us, to take over. Others, for the treasure that requires us to seek with earnest, faithfulness and hope, once found, they aim to transform us. The choice is still ours to make.

 

I flushed before I'm done.

I was in the High Court this week. I was waiting for my turn for a Pre-trial Conference. I then felt a squeeze in my bladder and headed to a nearby loo. After daring a peek at my new crew-cut hairstyle with a tinge of ruefulness, I rushed to the cubicle at the extreme right and let it go. It was a relief I relished but only for a moment. And here's the rub. Before I finished, I flushed. Yes, you heard it right...I flushed. And I saw the imagery of a cascading waterfall battling with a limpy lone loo.

Then it hit me like a gale of ammonia: Why did I flush even before I finish the job? Why can't I just wait? Altogether, I had to flush twice for a single slivery stream into the urinal. Two flushes for one flash in the pants? I then zipped up, washed up and went out of the toilet musing about the first impatient flush. Was there even a need for me to do it? Am I at the core an impatient person?

Maybe I am. Maybe this is one of the signs of this modern hurry, quick fix, get-it-done generation. I recall Shakespeare once said, "How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degree?" Indeed, for me, what pee did ever pass but by the last squirt. And I have unconsciously manifested the impatient double-flush syndrome.

I guess my life is dictated by the passing hands of a clock. Every minute has to count for something. Every minute that lies idle is a minute that lies wasted. And it is irredeemable, irreversible and also intolerable. The pressure to perform, to meet deadlines, to outdo, to excel, to outwit, and to stay ahead is relentless and it has seeped into every aspects of my life: in my office, in my work, in my children's academic track, in my spiritual growth, in my existential yearnings, and in my toilet habits.

I believe this is my unconscious programming in this fast paced society and the pee-feedback tells it best. Let me phrase it with a dash of prefixes of "dis-" to prove my point. I could not wait for the discharge to be fully dispensed. I was in disquietude. On a subconscious level, I just wanted to disrupt the watery discard in a disagreeable manner. I could have desisted but I was defeated by my disability to do so. Why? Because I am seeped or immersed in a results-centered, grades-hungry, quick-fix culture. This culture breeds impatience, instant gratification, overindulgence, materialism and greed.


I guess I will always be running after the clock, trying to play catch up with it. I have sadly signed up to be part of the nuts and bolts, cogs and wheels of this serpentine system they call market-driven competition. No one wants to be left behind. Everyone wants to be ahead. I am indoctrinated to make a splash, make it big, make it last, make it loud and make it count. Worldly successes are always about having more and flaunting it all.

People love a good rag-to-riches story and they dream of one day fulfilling the great American dream. And nowadays, looking at the runaway success of Alibaba, it may as well be the great China dream. The insidious effect of all this is that it is making me into a product of my culture where impatience rules.

It rules in retail therapy where it is believed that a credit-fueled shopping spree is the answer to life's meaninglessness. It rules in pharmaceutical quick-fix where any mental low-point is readily solved with popping the right mixture of pills. It also rules in our own meritocratic grades-first society where we pile up heaps of tuitions and enrichment programs in the hope of cloning the perfect child. However such quick-fixes deal with the symptoms and not the causes.

The finding of meaning cannot be resolved with a one-off hedonistic binge. Our mental illnesses have to be dealt with in the context that they present themselves and not by electrochemical neural disruption. And the academic track is not about piling up the assessments but by firing up the imagination. Henry Miller, an American writer, once said, "In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest." Maybe in the long run, the "easiest difficult way" is to be true to myself and not throw myself into the piranhas-infested waters of catching up with the Joneses. Being true therefore is being authentic. Authenticity is what makes for a sober wise man (or woman) who knows his/her boundaries and does not artificially stretch it to places of disquieting discontentment just because everyone is doing it and going for it.

In the end, I want to realize my true potential and not the phony ones where I find myself doing the things that in the long run brings more personal anguish and emptiness. Two American professors wrote about this in a rather feisty way: "We have phony rich people (with interest-only mortgaged and piles of debt), phony beauty (with plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures), phony celebrities (via reality TV and You Tube), phony genius students (with grade inflation), phony national economy (with $11 trillions in government debt), phony feelings of being special among children (with parenting and education focused on self-esteem above all else) and phony friends (with the social networking explosion)."


So, I am back where I first started off...my double-flush dilemma. Maybe everything is symbolic. My rushing to flush before it's done. My anxiety for my children's academic results. My undue worry about their future. My impatience while driving in a traffic jam. My vain hope of a big break. My disillusionment that comes after a disappointment in the faith. And the list goes on.

Here is a thought. If I am caught in a rat-race of worldly success, then whatever place I end up in, whether first place or its runner's up, I am no more enlightened than a rat. That metaphor morbidly implies more than it casually expresses.

I guess the solution is a personal one. It is a long disciplined process, not a short cut. It is also a journey of keeping hope alive, treasuring what's truly important, being true to myself, and being contented with what I have by learning to enjoy it and not frantically thinking of ways to possess more of it.

And in the end, I want to do the toilet challenge again. I want to take my time, this time. I don't want to be neurotic about it. I want to witness the last drop before I flush. And I want to flush knowing that I am all done because you don't get a second chance in life, and you don't need two flushes when one will do just fine. Cheerz.

Greed, that sly philosopher

How powerful is greed?




Greed is a sly philosopher.


He is a long-suffering sniper.


He waits for the right time to pull the trigger.


His methodology is exact and subtle.


He sits with you like a friend.


He consoles you like a counselor.


He plays religion with you too.


He preaches life more abundantly.


He whispers about a heaven on earth. 


He forces you to confront the cross of shame, poverty and
 rejection.


He wants you to lead a post-Calvary life of overcoming.


Greed wants you to succeed. 


He wants the best for you.


He wants to see you soar.


He wants you to accumulate.


For much will have more, and more will have much.

He is a maternal nurturer whose bosoms flow with milk and honey. 


Greed is a song of hope. 


Greed is a timeless encourager.


He advocates time-honored values.


Perseverance to the end.


Patience to harvest the fruits of one's labor.


Strength to run the race.


And hope to see it all through.


Greed draws upon historical resources too.


Where will capitalism be without greed?


Where will market-driven growth be without greed? 


Where will industrialization be without greed?


Where will globalization be without greed?


Where will modernity, inventions, innovation, creative destruction,
 prosperity, GDP, global trade, wealth, surplus, technology all be without greed?


Greed cradles civilization forward.

The invisible hand of the market is the indulgent fan of greed. 


For if the hand that feeds is also the hand that needs to be fed, then greed is its sustenance and profit its supplement. 


The philosophy of greed is the philosophy of raw utilitarianism. 


The end justifies all means. 


And all means 
edifies the end.


The greater good for the majority is also the greater good for greed.


But the sleight of hand here is not on how the greater good is defined but how the "majority" is defined.


And the majority is often not a quantitative measure but a qualitative one.


It is a weighted majority not of numerical strength but of concentrated wealth.


Think of a pyramid with its apex of power and the thousands that slave and die building it stone 
by stone and you will see my point.


And my point is about a gilded point supported by a large base of unnecessary sacrifices.


As the base narrows up to a tip, the power concentrates and acts as it deems fit.


As the storm stirs from below, the froth of greed rises to take hold.


As the minimum wagers wage on for survival, the maximum profiteers celebrate its acquisition revival.


So the sly philosopher is
 eminently sly.


Not because he tells it as it is.


But because he tells it as it is not as if it is.


Now that's an art.


That's an unfathomably great delusion.


Imagine truth prostituted, virtue enslaved, and hope betrayed.


Greed takes the form of an angel of light to guide all partakers on a self-indulgent flight.


He will incentivize your conscience.


He will ease your angst.


He will be your companion till the
 end.


He will resist all resistance.


He will clear the way.


And you will experience unbridled latitude to act free from guilt, remorse and compassion.


Greed is the acid that dissolves all moral resolve.


So greed is indeed good, for the sly philosopher has spoken. 


His religion is redemption.


From a world of shame, poverty and rejection. 


You can find no better friend or counselor as the effervescent greed.


And if you have half the worldly mind, you would readily embrace greed.


For to do otherwise.


Is to be forever left behind.


Cheerz.