From Patrimonial to Matrimonial

Thursday, 15th October 2026

Regular readers of my blog will be aware that we will soon be moving out of my "patrimonial" home (ie. the one that my dad bought way back in 1978, and in which I have been staying for more than 80% of my life), and into what my wife calls our "matrimonial" home.

Why matrimonial home?  Read on.

When I was courting my then-girlfriend (now wife) in 1989 and into 1990 and 1991 (we got married at the end of 1992), dad decided to do some minor additions and alterations, which involved expanding the existing bedrooms, and creating a brand new bedroom where a side yard used to be.

While decluttering, I came across some architectural drawings dated April 1990.

In particular, shown below is the 1ST STOREY PLAN:

As you face the entrance into the house, the new bedroom (as indicated by the green square) is on the left, towards the back of the house, while all the other bedrooms (including the master bedroom that my parents occupied) are on the right.  The red lines represent where the original walls used to be, and the green arrows pointing outwards indicate how the bedrooms were to be expanded outwards.

Note how all the other bedrooms are on one side of the house, while the newly-created one is on the other.

Note also there is only a single storey.  Mom was very adamant about this, because she did not want us kids to treat the house like a hotel.  Even if we were to retreat into our rooms upon coming home from school, we would still be within earshot whenever she announced that it was time to gather at the dining table for our dinner :-)

So, what was the purpose of the new bedroom with its own attached bathroom?  Let me explain.

All along. my mom had wanted me, being her only son, to continue staying with her and dad, even after I got married, so she asked him to specially construct a proper bedroom for my wife and I to stay in.  So sweet of her, ya?

And the timing could not have been more perfect.  Renovations were completed sometime towards the end of 1991 and beginning of 1992.  Very shortly thereafter, my bedroom became my matrimonial bedroom, when my wife moved in after we had our wedding dinner on 22 Nov 1992.

As you can imagine, I was rather the mummy's boy, so this arrangement suited me just fine.  It also meant that our kids would be in the good hands of our parents, so that we could focus on our careers and not worry about having to find a daycare or babysitters.

The side yard was rather huge, so they could build a bedroom of reasonable size (about15m² /160 sq ft), large enough to fit a queen-sized bed, wardrobes for my wife and I, a dresser, a couple of cabinets, a baby cot and even 2 mattresses to be placed on the floor.

The cot was used by our kids, before they progressed to the mattresses.  And that room was where our immediate family stayed in for a good 5 years until the mid-2000s.

In conjunction with my sisters moving out from their bedrooms, the kids took a room each.  So this house is very much their childhood home as well.

Anyway, back to what my wife calls our matrimonial home. The condo we are moving into is exactly that -- a house that we can finally call our very own :-)

When mom went back home to be with the Lord in Jun 2012, we went house-hunting for a place very nearby. Just in case dad asked us to move out, we did not want to be too far away from him. 

He didn't (chase us out), so we happily stayed on.  Our own place (which was purchased with tenancy) has been rented out to 3 different sets of tenants since.  Initially to an Indian family, then mainland Chinese, and then, most recently, Malaysians.

The latest tenant just vacated the place last week, and we commenced renovation just this week.

We are targeting to move in sometime early next year.  I am not at liberty to reveal the exact location.  Suffice it to say that Mr Seah Kian Peng will still be our MP :-)

Exceedingly, Abundantly, Above and Beyond

Wednesday, 14th October 2026

Yours truly, the GP Unlimited subscriber

I happen to look at the statistics of my blog just this morning, and noted that the top 5 most popular posts are currently as follows:

The top 5 most viewed posts as at 14 Oct 2026

The top 2 are fairly-recent posts regarding topics of great interest:

Ouch, That Hurts and It Should 

(At #1, posted on 28 Jan 2026)

This post talks about how the Body of Christ is affected by the PropertyLimBrothers scandal.

Go Ahead, Make My Day

(At #2, posted on 8 Feb 2026)

This post talks about how God challenges us to test Him regarding tithing.

A very recent post has bulleted into the top 5, which is also understandable, because in it I revealed publicly for the first time how I was initially fired, and then miraculously rehired, by that same employer 16 months later.

How Do We See Ourselves (Part 6)

(At #5, posted 5 Oct 2026)

What DOES take me by surprise are the interest in 2 posts from way, way back:

The Hired Hand Mentality
(At #3, posted on 15 Jun 2008)

This was posted in reflection to a sermon preached by Bishop Emeritus Wee Boon Hup about Jesus being our Good Shepherd and contrasted Himself to hired hands who take no ownership of the sheep.  My take was that there are pastors who are supposed to be shepherds but behave like hirelings in the way they relate to the flock.

A Paradigm Shift in Viewing the Things of God

(At #4, posted on 5 Apr 2009)

This was posted during the time when there was lots of publicity about Ps Prince receiving a half million dollar salary, and I compared him to being the Master Chef of Christos Restaurant.

Well, he requested the Council to stop paying him a salary, and he now relies solely on his intellectual property, ie. his books, his sermons and subscriptions to his GospelPartner app for income.

I myself am an Unlimited subscriber, paying $49.98 every month (see above).

If there are just 1,000 of such subscribers like me, that would already be the equivalent to the $50,000 he was allegedly paid by the church.

I will not be surprised if there are at least 20,000 subscribers, so that translates into $1m of revenue each month for 22Media, the company that handles Joseph Prince Ministries. There are of course other overheads be paid such as rental, staff salaries, production costs, etc, but even after deducting all those, Ps Prince is definitely earning much more than before :-)

Because Ps Prince exalts, focuses on and honours Jesus so much in all his messages, God in turn has blessed Ps Prince with such a flourishing ministry.  Like what Paul says in Eph 3:20, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or think. Amen? 

How Do We Identify Ourselves? (Part 10)

Monday, 12th October 2026

PART 10: OUR TRUE IDENTITY 

The last 9 posts were about my 30+ year career, spanning more than half of my life, and what very much was used by society to define me as a person.

As you can see, it has been quite the roller-coaster ride with its ups and downs, mountain peaks and valley troughs. But through it all, I see the faithful hand of God's provision and protection.

Like what I mentioned in the very first post, man's identity is oftentimes tied to his profession.

In his Children's Day sermon on 4 Oct 2026, Ps Lawrence talked about how many parents hope their children grow up to become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer (he did not mention accountants or architects, but you get the picture).  But we should just be happy that they are our children, and wonderful gifts from God.  As parents we should love them for who they are, just like how God loves us because of who we are.

Classic cassette

It was thus also so apt that just 2 days later, on 6 Oct 2026, the Gospel Partner app's Day & Night Devo was on the very topic about IDENTITY!

The snippet for that day is from the sermon, "Your New Identity in Christ", a true classic, preached by Ps Prince on 7 May 2000.

A friend actually passed me the cassette version of his sermon to convert into MP3 format.

Ps Prince says it best, so I am reproducing the devotional in full below:

GP morning devo on 6 Oct 26

You Are More than Just What You Do

Let me ask you something that might catch you off guard.

If someone asked you, “Who are you? 

Not what you do, not where you work, not what your title is, but truly, who are you?”

What would you say?

It’s harder to answer than it sounds, isn’t it?

What we do is so deeply woven into the way we relate to one another. We meet someone new, and within the first few minutes, it comes up: “So, what do you do?” And without even thinking, we hand them a label. A title. A function.

“I’m in finance.”

“I’m a stay-at-home mum.”

“I run my own business.”

“I’m in full-time ministry.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of that. The Lord gives us our vocations for a reason. Just as He put Adam in the garden to tend it, not as a punishment but as a gift, the Lord designed us to find real satisfaction in meaningful work. He knows exactly how we’re wired and what will bring us a sense of purpose and fulfilment.

But if we are not careful, we can let the gift become lord over us. Many people strive their whole lives, trying to ascend that corporate ladder or attain that prestigious office overlooking the city.

And it’s not just in the corporate world. Even at home, a mother can let caring for her children weigh on her so much that every parenting mistake, every difficult season with a child, can land on her like a personal verdict. It crushes her sense of self.

That’s why I want to remind you today: Don’t tie your identity to what you do. You are not just what you do. You are so much more.

After all, you are a human being, aren’t you? Not a “human doing.”

Here’s what I’ve noticed. When our identity rests on what we do, we become fragile in ways we don’t expect.

We take criticism of our work more personally than we need to. We compare. We compete. We feel unsettled when someone else seems to be doing what we do, only better. We cling to titles and positions longer than we should, because letting them go feels like losing a piece of ourselves.

That’s not what the Lord desires for you.

Look at this piece of wisdom from the apostle Paul about what we choose to build our lives with in 1 Corinthians 3:12–13:

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.”

Paul captures it so well here. He talks about two categories of building materials: wood, hay, and straw on one side; gold, silver, and precious stones on the other.

Now, the wood, hay, and straw? That’s everything you accumulate and build on the outside. The titles, achievements, and roles you occupy. These things are purely temporal… and when the fire comes, they don’t hold up.

But the gold, silver, and precious stones? That’s what the Lord has already established in you through Christ.

Your identity as a son or daughter of the Most High.  Your standing as a new creation. Your righteousness that’s been given, not earned. Your belovedness that’s not contingent on your performance.

These are things the fire cannot touch.

Now, I want you to believe this without reservation: The Lord absolutely wants you to flourish in what you do. He wants to give you skill in your vocation, wisdom in your decisions, and favor that opens doors you could never have pushed open on your own. He is not asking you to care less about your work.

But He doesn’t want you in a place that leaves you exposed and vulnerable. He wants the blessings in your life to endure and truly serve you.

A lady can say, “I am a mother,” but what happens when the children grow up and leave the nest? Will she know who she is when the house goes quiet?

What about the man who says, “I’m a banker.” What happens the day he leaves the bank?

Or consider the leader in ministry who has built their whole sense of self around their title. Who are they when the season of leading comes to an end?

Let me ask you this question.

When our position or our roles change… when the trappings of our fancy corporate titles are stripped away… who are we, really?

That’s the question the Lord wants to help you answer. Not just when the moment of crisis comes, but now, from a place of security and rest.

So today, whatever you’re walking into, whatever you’re carrying, will you take a moment to recalibrate?

You are not your job title. You are not your output. You are not the sum of what you’ve built or produced or led.

You are a son. A daughter. Loved before you did a single thing to earn it, and loved still on the days you feel like you’ve done nothing right.

That’s who you are. And that’s what will truly endure, even through difficult times.

And so dear friends, this is how we should identify ourselves.  We are new creations, sons and daughters of God the Father, highly-favoured and accepted in Christ, the Beloved.  That will never change, no matter what our station in life is.  Amen? 

How Do We Identify Ourselves? (Part 9)

Sunday, 11th October 2026

PART 9: OWNSELF EMPLOY OWNSELF

Pritam responds to ESM Goh

On 26 Aug 2015, the former ESM Goh Chok Tong said, "We are our own checks," at a press conference in response to a journalist asking whether Parliament needed more opposition members to provide a check and balance on the ruling party.

On 2 Sep 2015, Pritam Singh retorted, using the Singlish phrase, "ownself check ownself" to summarily describe what PM Goh was claiming, and that phrase has since been immortalised in local folklore.

Well today, I will talk about "ownself EMPLOY ownself", which is essentially what a sole proprietorship is all about.

After I left my previous full-time employment on 15 Jul 2020, there was a couple of years that I was totally out of the workforce, making the necessary adjustments to cater to my dad's decreasing quality of life.  After he got his stroke in June 2010, he was hospitalised for two weeks, then transferred to St Luke's where he stayed a month before being allowed to return back home.

He had to be bathed, diaper-changed, tube-fed, assisted in walking and attended weekly therapy sessions.  I also had to bring him to see his geriatrician on a regular basis, and also to monitor his medications and medical supplies.

After about 2 years, his condition stabilised, and with it, a predictable routine to his caregiving requirements, so that was when I seriously considered setting up a sole proprietorship.

(11) Akeraois Phronesis (11 Jul 2022 to date)

I had thought of the name Akeraios Phronesis for quite some time already, those being the Greek words ἀκέραιος for "innocence" and φρόνησις for "shrewdness" respectively, found in Matt 10:16.

Around that time, I got to know Patrick Bezalel Lee, and commissioned him to conceptualise a hyper-realism piece of artwork based on that very verse, for which he quoted me a very good, kingdom-friend price :-)

He shared the masterpiece he came up with in the following Instagram post.  Thanks Pat!

https://www.instagram.com/reels/Cnl5nI0SRd-/

Patrick Bezalel showcasing the artwork he did for Akeraios Phronesis

I then engaged fellow GraceUnited member Eve Elza Zoe Tian to design my name-card.  It was beautifully done.  Thanks Elza!

Name Card designed by Eve Elza Tian

Note how I intentionally use 4 corporate colours: purple, red, white and blue.  These are the 4 colours/materials used in the tabernacle curtains (see Exodus 26) and also the 4 colours representing the 4 Gospels and the person of Jesus Christ:

The 4 faces depicting
he person of Jesus in the Gospels

Purple = Royalty and Christ's Kingship (Matthew, where Jesus is the LION of Judah, the King of the Jews, descended from David)

Scarlet/Red = Blood Sacrifice (Mark, where Jesus is the OX, the Suffering Servant, with no pedigree)

White (Fine Linen)  = Purity and Humanity (Luke, where Jesus is the Son of MAN, descended from the first human, Adam)

Blue = Heaven and Deity of Christ (John, where Jesus is the Son of God, typified by the EAGLE)

I also bidded for the UEN number.  Note how it ends with a series of 7s and 5s :-)

The timing of setting up Akeraios Phronesis on 11 Jul 2022 could not have been more perfect, because a fellow NTU Christian Fellowship alumnus, FT Liu, invited me to speak at the Professional Development Conference held at the Lifelong Learning Institute on 13 Aug 2022. 

Yours truly was a speaker at PDC2022

And then 3 years later, it became the very vehicle I used to register the vehicle I bought for my son to use.  You can read about that here.

https://rootss.blogspot.com/2026/07/god-blesses-neverendingly-perfectly.html

By the way, I have also done the following write-up on LinkedIn:

Having worked for more than 30 years, many a time I have felt like a sheep in the midst of wolves. Yet the wisest Man said we should be shrewd as snakes while remaining innocent as doves.

Akeraios (“A”) and Phronesis (“P”) are the Greek words for "innocence" and “shrewdness" that were used in that passage in Matthew 10:16, hence the name.  The title Chief Mover/Shaker was inspired by 2 of my other passions: Trucking and Droning.

Feel free to engage me, and I will share with you through real-life stories on how to sharpen one’s P, while maintaining one’s A. Let us together become movers and shakers where we are placed in society.

So what is my station in life now?  

Unemployed?

I was exactly that from 23 Aug 2010 to 28 Feb 2011, and then again from 16 Jul 2020 to 10 Jul 2022.

Self-employed?

I have been this from 11 Jul 2022 to date.

Retired? 

I have not actively sought business for my sole proprietorship, so some would refer to me as a retiree.  I recently bought this shirt from Lazada, which defines "Retired" as "the ability to do what I want when I want" and also "not my problem anymore", which aptly describes my current circumstances :-)

Retired tshirt

In the next post, I will conclude this series with what our true identify should be.  So stay tuned!

How Do We Identify Ourselves? (Part 8)

Wednesday, 7th October 2026

PART 8: THE CFO WHO WRAP MOUNTAIN WRAP SEA, DO OX DO HORSE

Let's continue this series of posts with the job I stayed the shortest at.  It was for a total of 7½ months to be exact.

wrapping the mountain and the sea

Every salaried worker's dream is to become part of the C-Suite one day, ie. a Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), Chief Operating Officer ("COO"), etc. 

For accountants, that would be the Chief Financial Officer ("CFO"), and it was no different for me.  And if it was that of a public company, lagi better, the compensation package would include ESPPs (employee stock purchase plans) and/or ESOPs (employee stock option plans).

Following from earlier posts, after my tenure at Walton ended on 18 Oct 2019, I wanted to take a long, well-deserved break (after more than 30 years of corporate life).  I played golf practically every other day in the month of November, and planned to do so in December as well.

In fact, I even did an advanced booking to play at the Els Club, Desaru on Mon 2 Dec 2019.  More on this later.

Did I want to go back into the workforce?  Only if it involved being the CFO of a listed company, or a company with ambitions to go public.

Remember that Infineon colleague who attends New Creation Church called Victor Poh who first introduced me to the gospel of grace back in 2005?

My whatsapp conversation with Victor

Well, he sent me a Whatsapp message on 1 Nov 2019 (just 2 weeks after I left Walton), asking whether I was keen on a CFO role for a company that was planning to get itself listed.  Duh, of course I was! I wanted to ask him if the Pope was Catholic :p

He asked for my CV so that he could forward it to a Mr K, who was his ex-boss. 

On 4 Nov, I met up with Mr K for a 1st round interview, and then on 18 Nov, I met up with him and a Mr T for a 2nd round interview.

Mr K and Mr T were the co-owners of a coal-mine in Indonesia through a company called Kitty Hawk Natural Resources ("KHNR") and were looking for a way to monetise it.

It so happened that there was a listed company in Singapore called Resources Prima Group Limited ("RPG") that itself used to own a coal-mine, but had lost control of it, technically becoming what SGX terms a "cash company" and risked getting de-listed unless they could find a sustainable business to inject into it.

One common way to do so is via what is known as a reverse takeover ("RTO").  Let me explain how that works.

In a typical takeover of another company (for example when Facebook bought over WhatsApp, or when Google bought over YouTube), a bigger fish ("the acquirer") eats up a smaller fish ("the target"). 

After the acquisition, the target's employees end up being made redundant because of duplication of roles in the enlarged group (In the above example, Meta and Alphabet would get rid of WhatsApp's and YouTube's highly-paid staff.  There was no point in keeping, for example 2 CFOs, when 1 single Group CFO could do the job).

In an RTO, the reverse holds true in that the acquirer ("A") is the smaller fish, while the target ("T") is the bigger fish.  After such a takeover, the acquirer's employees are the ones ending up being made redundant, because the target company is the one calling the shots.

On paper, A appears to be buying over T.  But in substance, T is the one taking over A.  An accounting principle known as "substance over form" is applied for RTOs, such that in the Group's consolidated accounts, what is eliminated is the share capital and pre-acquisition reserves of A against the investment by T in A.

SIA's Group and Company share capitals are the same

Let us look at a specific example.  In the financial statements of SIA, the share capital of the Group and Company are exactly the same.  That is because SIA the company acquired all the other subsidiaries, and at Group level, the share capitals of all the subsidiaries are eliminated against SIA's investments in them, leaving just the share capital of SIA.

RPG's Group and Company share capitals are different

Note how RPG's reflect different Group and Company share capital amounts.  This is because RPG itself was formed as a result of an RTO back in Nov 2014, when the former logistics firm Sky One Holdings acquired Indonesian coal miner Energy Prima.

RPG's shares were suspended since 22 Jun 2017, and SGX would only allow it to resume trading upon being satisfied that a legitimate business operation was injected into it.

Reuters' article on the RTO of KHNR

KHNR, a privately-held company with an operational coalmine, was an ideal RTO candidate. 

It would allow itself to be "taken over" by RPG, in exchange for the shares of the listco.  An RTO is also referred to as a "backdoor listing" because it is somewhat similar to an IPO (both require a prospectus), but it is a much quicker and less cumbersome way of going public.  

In summary, a successful RTO is a win-win for both the listed acquirer (because it avoids getting delisted), and also for the target (because it is a way to monetise its assets).

Mr K and Mr T told me that they would eventually make me the CFO of the newly-created KHNR group, but they first wanted me to join RPG itself, because their CFO had resigned.

This was an unusual arrangement because typically, the CFO of the target company becomes the Group CFO of the enlarged group, and the listco's CFO exits after the RTO.  In this particular case, the listco's CFO was leaving even before any RTO was to happen, and the target did not have its own CFO.

Nonetheless, I agreed to it because I had never worked in a listco before, and wanted to gain some hands-on experience.  They also gave me what I considered to be a very attractive salary package, made up of 60% in cash and 40% in shares.  RPG shares were last done at just 2.6 cents (what Mr T said was a "sweet spot" price), so there was a huge potential for it to double or even treble in value upon re-listing, effective doubling or trebling that 40% portion of my compensation.

They also wanted me to start work asap because the outgoing CFO's last day was 7 December, and time was running out for him to do a proper handover to his successor.

Remember how I mentioned about pre-booking a flight to play golf in Desaru?  Well, I had to cancel that game :-(

(10) Resources Prima Group Limited (2 Dec 2019 to 15 Jul 2020)

Upon joining RPG, I discovered from my predecessor (let's call him TTL) that I would be, as was he, the only full-time employee on the payroll.  RPG had to keep its costs down to the barebones minimum, so there was no physical office, no name card, no proper corporate email (I had to create and use a gmail account), etc.

I was expected to do what Hokkiens would describe as bao sua bao hai (包山包海) and Chinese describe as zuo niu zuo ma (做牛做马).  In other words, all and sundry, akin to laboriously working like an ox or horse.

Working laboriously like the ox and horse

TTL handed me the relevant source documents, passed me a thumb drive with the relevant data, introduced me to the relevant contacts, and at the end of that very week, went on his merry way.

Every 2 weeks, I would make a trip to the registered office in Ocean Financial Centre to collect correspondences and open them up to file.

I would be the sole liaison person dealing with the sponsor, auditors, current and potential investors, directors of both the listco and the target, corporate secretaries, share registrars, printer for the annual report, etc etc.

In just 7½ months with RPG, I released a total of 23 announcements on SGXNet.  These included monthly* updates (pursuant to 704(22) of the Catalist Rules), the Group’s full-year results, annual report, AGM, significant transactions, and various requests for extensions of time (including that relating to the submission of the proposal for resumption of trading). 

* Most listed companies just need to give quarterly updates, but those that are in financial distress are required to do so monthly, which is ironical given that such companies already face a shortage of manpower and resources.

But I took everything in good spirits because it meant learning on the job.  I essentially had the best of both worlds, working in what was similar to a start-up company that had to watch its cashflow closely, yet also simultaneously having to fully comply with the regulatory requirements of an actual listed entity.  The workload was also manageable, with predictable peaks and troughs.

I also believed in 前苦后甜 (bitter at the start, sweet at the end), because if the RTO was successful, I would be duly rewarded in terms of great job satisfaction, and also owning shares with huge upside potential.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 hit shortly after I joined, and the operations of the target's coal-mine were even suspended till further notice.

My dad then suffered a stroke on 10 Jun 2020 (while I was on a weekly Board conference call).  I tendered my resignation on 16 Jun so that I could spend more time with him.

I wrapped up FY2019 by making sure the AGM matters was properly handled, and also told Mr K that once my dad's condition stabilised, and upon the mine resuming operations, he could count on me to re-join the company.

Sadly after I left, RPG got a couple of further extensions from SGX but received a final rejection on 5 Nov 2021, ultimately leading to its shares being delisted on 25 Apr 2022.

When that happened, I also had to say goodbye to that 40% portion of my package.

Recently, I logged into my CorpPass account and note that I am still an authorised user of RPG Logistics Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of RPG that was incorporated in 2019, so that the expanded group could go into nickel-mining too.

I also still owe Victor that golf game.  He has been so busy that we have not fixed a time for that yet.

Oh ya, my designation as a staff of RPG was that of a "Financial Controller" rather than of a "CFO", as the Board wanted to avoid having to make an announcement on SGXNet.  My predecessor only stayed for 10 months, and the Board did not want to alarm investors about the high turnover of key management personnel.

It was just as well, as I stayed at the role even shorter than he did, so you will not see my name being in any way associated with RPG when you google it (you will unfortunately see his name when you do).

Business Times article on my predecessor

My successor EL was likewise given that same FC title.  I was, however, being made reference to (albeit not by name), on page 67 of the 2019 Annual Report (the one that I had put together).  That's my share-based compensation being disclosed in note 7.

Yours truly mentioned in the Notes

Oh by the way, the price of coal has trebled since 2020, from around US$50 per metric tonne to US$150 per metirc tonne.. Although Mr K and Mr T had to write-off the close to $1m which they injected by way of a convertible loan into what was ultimately a lost cause, it was a blessing in disguise that the RTO did not materialise, as they are still holding on to that mine that has since similarly gone up in value.