Collin Ng's Blog

My last marathon run was some 30 years ago, I was then 15 competing in the 3rd quarter marathon race and the distance was more than 30 kms then. I have never liked very long distance, prefer to cover shorter than 5 kms at best. We were encouraged to participate by our young & demure CEO and to compete as a corporate team, if at all . However, we fell short of the minimum requirements of 25, only 21 staff including yours truly enrolled in the run. For the first time since my last, I participated this year Standard Chartered Marathon but only opted 10 kms (the shortest distance), the other being 20 kms and the full marathon @ 42 kms. Never been exercising for more than 10 years, I started some form of training in the early part of this year. Even on the treadmill, I have never covered more than 3 km each time as I really dread long distance run. I woke up early for the run this morning, @ 0530 hrs to be exact. Putting on my running gears, I was already @ Aljunied MRT station by...

“John is adamant to go ahead with the divorce and it is no turning back for us now”, Mary called me to pour out her sorrows. Their marriage had started to go downhill when Mary found out by chance that John was seeing someone on the sly some years back. This had really traumatised Mary so much that she needed medication to control her emotions. I was not close to her then but overtime; I became one of her confidants whenever she yearned for a listening ear. My relationship with John went back many years ago. Both John and I were secondary school classmates and his frivolous way of life is no surprise to me at all. At a young age of 18, he signed up for the Navy as a diver. The rigorous training in the Navy had transformed him into one tough young bloke. Coupled with his height and suave look, getting hitched with girls seemed like a routine for him then. He still looks dashing despite in his 40s now. She hailed from Penang who came to work in Singapore as a trainee nurse in the mid 80s...

It was her maiden voyage from the state-of-the-art Singapore Cruise Centre; the talk of the town then. The 13,000-tonner Royal Pacific, a luxurious passenger vessel was scheduled for 2 nights cruise to high sea voyage along the Straits of Malacca on 21 August 1992. Port clearance was finally granted at about 2000 hrs and she was ready to leave port. As the company’s operation manager, I was among the 535 passengers and crew onboard and many including some hotel crew were cruising for the first time; excitement of sorts can be felt all over. It had been a long hard day for me and I decided to make my way to the restaurant for dinner. As I walked in, a long queue was already snaking around the buffet table. Food was not replenished fast, used cutlery was still left on empty tables and I can see the sullen face of restaurant manager, Amba who apparently, was not happy with the pandemonium of sorts. After dinner at the Starlite Showroom, cruise director, Dick Carpentier an...

Mr Samuel was our form teacher in our secondary school days in 1977 and it was only in a recent gathering with some old classmates that I learnt the only one who has been maintaining contact with him all these years is Ragu. Single and living mostly a reclusive life, he was soon swindled by a long time friend after getting a lump sum payout for his pension some 7 years ago. Since he retired from his only known profession – teaching and English language to be precise, he has been struggling to keep ends meet. His only kin is a sister is in Kuala Lumpur and she is already 85-year old. After some effort, Ragu managed to arrange a meeting with him and I was eagerly looking forward to that day for I have not seen him for more than 20 years already. When I saw him, he is still as obese as before but the unkempt long white hair makes him look older than his 67 years. Due to his weight and coupled with poor health, walking a short distance is akin to running a marathon and it is really a pain ...

IN the school of marketing, we have always been indoctrinated to apply the 4 Ps which are fundamentally important, namely Product, Place, Price and Promotion and missing one of the Ps could well spell trouble of sorts for any business. In any best scenario one could have hoped for; our product has to appeal to the larger audience in the right market source for its quality, brand and price affordability emerging from a series of successful promotion blitz assuming the 4 Ps in the marketing mix are taken into context. By the same measure, for a successful venture in any industry to remain sustainable for a long while, haven’t we also overlooked something very important here? Yes, it is about service to our customers and it has to be one heck of a good customer service to begin with. Without further ado, no one industry can afford to do without is offering a good and personalized service for their customers to remember a long time to come and it is probably one important marketing mix of ...

GONE were those days when working out in a typical gym per se was privy to just one confined segment of the market – the macho type and men only. I happened to be one of them in my much younger days. Since then, evolution of sorts has come a long way and it’s all thanks to an array of tried-and-tested formulas in the one decade or so that has somewhat changed general public perception of a sweaty gym of the past era to what it is today; that is the sleek and modern fitness centre one can never dream of. While fitness centre compete among them for the slice of the growing market, notwithstanding it is certainly getting more and more congested, particularly so for new players joining the fray and in their attempt to get customers to sign-up as members, there is always a hefty discounted membership price with plenty of ‘complimentary condiments’ like spa, welcome drink, personal coaching, etc. thrown in. Bearing in mind, the one that appeals to the specified target audience is likely to s...

Traditionally, it has always been a ‘grudge’ match between Singapore, the Lions and Malaysia, the Tigers, but the prolonged rain could put paid to a full turnout at our 55,000 capacity stadium. After a streak of winless matches, football fever was at its peak again when our Lions fought their way to the 2nd leg of the semi-final of the biennale Asean Championship. The 1st leg was played at the 80,000 capacity Shah Alam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur which ended in a one-all draw. Tickets were completely sold-out before the match day but I was lucky to land 2 complimentary tickets; much thanks to Tino’s good connection in the Sports Council where he works and for the first time, John who had always shown scant interest in football, agreed to join me. After more than 3 decades, the grand dame will be making way for a multi-purpose state-of-the-art stadium later this year and ending the last match played here on a winning note mattered most to all. The match had been scheduled to kick-off at 8 p...