yamizi...

Birthday Afterthoughts

2012-01-07T01:06:00.004+08:00

This was the birthday cake that I had -- Baileys with Love! A chocolate-y cake with a strong dose of Bailey with raspberry toppings and dices of strawberry within. It's a must-try if you are a fan of cakes with alcohol infused! To purchase the cake, you can go to SmilingBakes.

I will also like to take this opportunity to thank my parents for bringing me into this world and for remembering my birthday! My girlfriend, Xinjie, for planning our little get away and also remembering my birthday (of course!)!!! And I also thank and appreciate the following people who remembers my birthday, not in any particular order:-

Meimei, Ziyin, Noraida, Yongxiang, Vincent, Yoke Hong and Yvonne.

I'm officially 30 years old and excited into creating this new fulfilling chapter in my life!

Turning 30...

2012-01-02T23:59:00.001+08:00

Happy Birthday to myself! Today is my 30th Birthday! The first year of getting into my 30s. Looking forward to it and seeing it as another landmark in my life journey. While I find that 30 is not exactly young but it is probably this age onwards where things start to blossom for many people. I do have a set of new year/birthday (just a day apart anyway!) resolutions. But I think I have not been able to keep my goals in check against time. And losing time means losing opportunities. Such is life.

I thank all the birthday wishes that I have received. I really thank for all the kind thoughts that you have for me. I realise one of the ironic thing is that, most of the people who gave me nice birthday wishes are the ones that I usually don't remember their birthdays and those that I do, seems to have forgotten.

Moving forward, managing time, prioritise matters and putting in effort, these are probably what I will learn if I do get my resolutions checked and realised by the end of 2012.

Have a blessed year ahead everyone.

Using Oni to fight the special Akuma and ended up a draw game...! Haha!

2012-01-01T13:26:00.001+08:00

Happy Holidays!!!

2011-12-25T01:09:00.005+08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone! I have quite a few things in mind but I just somehow find it difficult to type them down! I guess I will probably fail my 'O' level composition examination if I got to retake!!! I will still *try* to churn them out in the coming few days!

Haha!!!

Christmas is the period of time when I really look back what I have done for the year. I did achieve or make some progress in some areas in my life. The biggest achievement is something that I would not like to share at this point of time as I was advised by concerned people to stay low profile about it!

However, some of the progresses that I have made includes (not in any particular order)!:-

1. Did 2 10km run on Sundown 2011 and Standard Chartered Marathon 2011. I didn't train for my 10km run. So both runs were made of walking-fast and running with walking-fast covering longer distance! Fitness shall be listed down in my year 2012 resolution again!

2. Bought quite a few books on Tarot, not only on divination techniques but on some of its other related topics. Most of the books just came in recently and I am still taking time to digest them. I feel good that the passion for Tarot reading doesn't die out. I feel great when I do good readings for people anytime.

3. It's a decision that's made this year which will take effect after next week, which is I'm going back to school! I have signed up for a 8-month Diploma in Paralegal Studies with Kaplan. Wish me luck guys!

4. I'm still training Xingyi Quan (形意拳) under Xingyi Kempo. I have started training since July 2010. It's been 18 months!!! But of course I still have a lot to improve! But learning Internal Martial Arts really makes me understand thoroughly what does it mean about investing time and effort in practising and practising. I feel that this applies to almost all things in life. I am currently picking up Xingyi Swordplay (形意劍) and Wuxing Tongbei Quan (五行通臂拳).

5. Changed job successfully! Although technically speaking it's a transfer of 'department' but I still get to change to a new working environment!

6. I did lose my weight from 106kg to 97kg in the middle of this year. But somehow I can feel that I have put on some weight again! I manage to muster enough courage to speak my up mind when I met irritating relatives who have been mocking my body mass for decades (since I was a boy, so, at least 2 decades okay?)and tell them off!

7. Cut down in playing arcade games...I think I did cut down lah!

Maybe I should draft up a KPI against a timeline for me to set my targets and goals! I'm turning 30 after this week. I see it as a very important landmark in my life. With a partner that I'm serious in settling down, there's not much room for me to carry on idling.

Sighs, is ego playing up...?

Anyway, 1 Jan 2012 also happens to fall on a Sunday, the first day of the week. So it makes the whole 2012 so significant! Okay, at least this is how I feel.

Better draft up my 2012 resolution! Meantime...Happy Holidays!

Little flooding @ Havelock Square, just right in front of the taxi stand.

2011-12-23T17:45:00.001+08:00

又碰到了可愛的一團黑氣了！

2011-12-17T09:30:00.001+08:00

This is for real! 3 breakdowns in 4 days!!!

2011-12-17T08:59:00.001+08:00

一團黑氣...! 嘿嘿!!!

2011-12-13T08:47:00.001+08:00

The little Home fighting for its life -- Afterthoughts

2011-12-07T08:48:00.006+08:00

I would like to thank Ms Biddy Low and and Mr Andrew Loh who made time to visit Lee Ah Mooi Home and had this report written beautifull by Ms Low. The following is taken from here:-

Peeping out from the greenery as one passes through Thomson Road is a plain white sign which reads "Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home". It is a familiar sight for this writer as it is on her regular bus route home; and like many other commuters and passersby with no personal attachment to the place, it had remained so till recent events put the spotlight on this otherwise nondescript establishment.

Hot on the heels of the controversies surrounding the acquisition of part of Bukit Brown Cemetery and Old School at Mount Sophia, Lee Ah Mooi, together with Rochor Centre, have also been thrown into the discussion on the conservation of Singapore's heritage.

The construction of the North-South Expressway, which is estimated for completion by 2020, has resulted in the acquisition of 38 plots of land, and much grievance from residents whose lives will be disrupted. The occupants of the old age home are no exception.

Who and what are the people and legacies that will be affected by these relentless construction plans?

"We don't make profit, we can't compete," said Mr Then Mun Wah, the Managing Director of the home. Lee Ah Mooi is considered one of, if not the, cheapest homes for the elderly in Singapore. It currently houses close to 120 patients, most of whom are bedridden, in 3 main buildings. Faced with growing costs, including an increase in the nurses' levy, the prospect of losing the current premises and having to bid against corporate competitors with more money to spare is proving to be an additional burden that can break the proverbial camel's back.

Back in the 1960s, Mr Then's mother, Madam Lee Ah Mooi, took it upon herself to care for the destitute in her neighbourhood. Most of them were Samsui women and ah mas, labourers and/or celibate women who found themselves alone with nary a cent to their name in their old age. Not content with sending them to relevant authorities for aid, she began housing them in her own home and later rented a house in Jalan Kayu which for 13 years was the place where many spent their last remaining days, sheltered and well-cared for.

Unlike the last time they were told to move however, Lee Ah Mooi Home is not allocated a new space by the authorities this time round. In 1984, when their Jalan Kayu rental house was acquired for, also, the building of an expressway, the then abandoned Lee Kuo Chuan School premise was leased out to them by the Singapore Land Authority under the Temporary Occupation License. With the help of private donors and grateful families of past and present patients, the previously run-down building was quickly transformed into a conducive home for the patients.

Lee Ah Mooi Home today is a quaint abode with serene environment. It is clean, the wards are well-lit and well-ventilated. Set among lush greenery are facilities for the patients to exercise and relax in. The oldest patient there is 106 years old and the average patient has spent about 7 to 8 years there.

Some of the patients' families have had difficulties footing the bill and the home has been flexible toward these cases. This is because Mr Then firmly upholds the spirit of his mother's 47-year old legacy, which is to help the poor with "patience, passion for the work and love." It is not always easy, but essential for Mr Then and the staff to "treat everyone as human beings."

It is this continuation of Madam Lee's tenacity and compassion that does not allow Mr Then to increase the current fees or be more profit driven in the running of the home. Given the choice, Mr Then would like to stay on in the current site which has carried the Lee Ah Mooi name for 27 years. He doubts the home can be sustainable in any commercial location given the present market rental rates.

The construction as stipulated by the plans will only affect a small section of the land the home occupies, namely half the kitchen and the laundry area. These areas can easily be set up in the other parts of the home, Mr Then explained, and does not require them to vacate the premises in its entirety. The patients and families also hope to stay in the current location as it is accessible and familiar. "We can make do with any inconvenience that the construction may bring, we are flexible," says Mr Then.

Ideals will continue to be his priority in the grand scheme of things. If he is unable to secure an affordable new location that allows the home to continue providing care at a lower fee, or to help families who find it hard to make ends meet, he would rather close the home down and continue his mother's legacy in other ways. "But," he asked, “where will the current patients go? Where can they afford to go?"

A portrait of Madam Lee hangs prominently in Mr Then's office, legacy of her influence flows between every line he utters. Mr Then's son and nephew have also been helping out at the home, ensuring what Mr Then believes to be another generation which will carry on his mother's beliefs.

While the national discussion rages on, revealing a wide spectrum of opinions and concerns, hopefully Lee Ah Mooi's fight to secure its space will not be lost in the cacophony. It is a living, breathing testament to an amazing story of Madam Lee and her family's dedication to a cause and the place of rest and solace for those treading the final lap of their lives.

A house is not a home without heart.

What are we really tearing down for corporeal convenience?

--------------------

The plight of Lee Ah Mooi Home has really struck a chord in my heart. I'm one of those communters that Biddy had mentioned, riding past the quiet little Home for years when I used to visit a buddhist centre along Balestier road.

I don't remember seeing them appearing on mainstream media with a bang seeking for donations which unnecessary stunt performances. To put it crudely, they have been minding their own business, managing their Home carefully so that they can care for their patients. So why is it now they are ask to go?

The Home is a decent place and have done (in my opinion) a big service to the communnity at large by providing low-cost Home services for their patients.

It's the Holiday Season (my apolgies for the belated Chrismas and Boxing Days greeting but we have the New Year coming up!) and how nice would it be if there is just a little more warmth to be shared with the Home and a possible more compassionate approach to our national development that will not affect their survival.

The new white elephant...? Still not operational...!!!

2011-11-12T16:48:00.001+08:00

At AMK MRT Stn platform. It's more than 2 months and these safety doors don't seems to be operational yet. Hmm...waiting for another victim...?

2011-11-05T10:17:00.001+08:00

Where are the seats again...?!?!?!

2011-11-03T23:06:00.001+08:00

Is this advertisement honoring slim healthy woman and put plump-looking guy at an inferior status...?

2011-11-03T18:08:00.001+08:00

If you can read the words on top left blue banner and bottom right yellow banner...this is what I call freedom of expression with a lot of guts...!

2011-10-23T14:33:00.001+08:00

Enjoying the spaciousness while waiting...

2011-10-22T09:51:00.001+08:00

George Carlin The Best 3 Minutes of His Career "The American Dream"

2011-10-15T07:52:00.001+08:00

Found this clip and I cannot help but to feel that what George Carlin have said seems to apply to nations all round the globe...?

Baked Alaska @ The French Stall

2011-10-14T21:41:00.001+08:00

Dinner @ Culina

2011-10-13T20:29:00.002+08:00

The typical impression of molester that goes for the buttocks...

2011-10-08T15:28:00.001+08:00

Uniquely Singapore #01 -- This 'barrier-door' thing has been set up at this Ang Mo Kio MRT station (towards city) for at least 3 to 4 weekends (as I only see them on Saturday mornings) but they don't seems to be operational yet. Want to wait till another

2011-10-08T09:56:00.001+08:00

A very friendly and playful community cat...haven't thought of a name for him yet though...!

2011-10-07T23:46:00.001+08:00

Pray tell why is it 95 points...? I counted and at most 60 only...

2011-10-07T09:01:00.001+08:00

Apparently the persons who sat at this table earlier didn't give a hoot to what's said on the table...

2011-10-05T21:55:00.001+08:00

My favourite community cat 丑丑! He seldom manja to me which he did this morning...weird morning to begin with!

2011-10-05T12:12:00.001+08:00

A beautiful sight that made my irritating morning less irritating =)

2011-10-02T08:43:00.001+08:00

This skyscraper didn't exist when I was active in this area...!

2011-09-30T22:27:00.001+08:00

With the Love of my Life =)

2011-09-30T18:24:00.001+08:00

Adapating...till the original forms are gone...?

2011-09-30T11:32:00.003+08:00

I have been exposing to Chinese Internal Martial Arts, in particularly Xingyi Quan for near 2 years. I won't say I'm an expert in it and good at using Xingyi Quan for fighting. I don't learn this because of 'wanting to fight' but it's primarily base on the interest on how amazing Internal Martial Arts can be. I have also learned this art because of wanting to get my lazy bum into some physical conditioning and learning some self defence skills.

Due to this interest, I do surf the youtube at times to see application of Xingyi Quan. There are actually not a lot as compare to the more well-known (thanks to Bruce Lee and Donnie Yen) Wing Chun.

But it is coming across to clips like the one shown below that makes me realise how much a technique can lose not only its essence but forms as well. It's not difficult to know that techniques will adapt and evolve as time goes on, but pray tell, if anyone could tell if there is any 'form' of Xingyi to be found in the clip in the first place. Yet, the title can be proudly put as Kickboxing vs Xingyi...

Can you tell if there any Xingyi form appeared in this clip...?

A good way to start a Friday...with a heavy downpour incoming! Fortunate to those who will be sleeping in at this hour still!!!

2011-09-30T07:10:00.001+08:00

梁靜茹- 聽不到

2011-09-29T21:38:00.003+08:00

喜歡MV裡頭的故事，更喜歡女主角最後的笑顔 =)

梁靜茹- 聽不到

fight with 100 warriors-Magadheera

2011-09-29T08:31:00.003+08:00

Bump into this while surfing youtube randomly. I don't know what movie is this but I have to say its effects are way better than Mediacorp! But the clip can be quite draggy and especially if you don't understand the spoken language and there is no subtitles.

Martial Arts is physics

2011-09-27T22:59:00.005+08:00

Whatever shown in the following youtube clip could only happen in the movies. In real life, martial arts is a form of physics, it cannot defies the law of physics and hence there is no such remote control skills. Unless you like to go into the field of supernatural and that wil be a different story. However, thumbs up for the old fella who wants to expand his self-belief to people outside his art and got his poor face hammered instead...!

Kiai Master vs MMA

Four Fallacies about the Singapore Welfare State

2011-09-27T14:59:00.002+08:00

Very article that can be found from here:-

Four Fallacies about the Singapore Welfare State
Ng Kok Hoe

If ever one needed proof that habits of thought are hard to break, we need only look at the way social welfare is treated in Singapore. There is probably no other policy domain which impacts on our lives more directly and yet is less contested.

The whole question of the well-being of vulnerable members in our society is framed by a core of ideas that over time have become so ossified that we no longer check and challenge ourselves, and because of that, foreclose any chance for change. In times when everything else is changing – from interpersonal communication and family structures to patterns of international migration and global financial systems – static policy thinking is risky.

At risk of simplification, this static thinking about our social welfare can be roughly summed up in a few statements: Singapore is not a welfare state and should never be, because the Western welfare state is doomed to fail and social welfare is fundamentally un-Asian. As a small country with no natural resources, we have no choice but to define our own style of social welfare, which by and large has worked over the years. So why fix it if it ain’t broke?

Underlying these statements are four powerful ideas about social welfare and Singapore society. In the spirit of critical reflection, let us now examine the truth in each of them.

1. “Singapore is not a welfare state.”

There are two ways to read this. If a welfare state is loosely defined as a state that takes steps to redress the inequitable distribution of resources by the free market, then Singapore is surely a welfare state. Our progressive income tax system, highly selective social services, and various means-tested subsidies are clearly redistributive. In fact, our social spending has been rising in recent years, which suggests we are a growing welfare state. Going by this definition, very few countries in the world can claim not to be welfare states. It is only in the extent of welfare provision that nations vary.

A stricter definition of a welfare state is a social welfare system in the tradition of the Western European societies, where the term welfare state originated. By this standard, Singapore does not fit into the mould. But this notion of a Western Welfare State is more Asian caricature than empirical reality. An influential book by Gosta Esping-Anderson back in 1990, called "The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism", brought attention to fundamental differences among the welfare states of the advanced economies. It later inspired scholars in the region to define an East Asian welfare regime, of which Singapore was a case. Today it is common academic wisdom that welfare states are characterised by diversity of means. So we end up in the same place as with the looser definition: Singapore is a welfare state, even if the extent and manner of our welfare provision is distinctive.

2. “The Western welfare model is bound to fail.”
Singapore usually takes issue with social risk pooling in the mature European welfare states, of which unemployment benefits, nationalised health care, and pay-as-you-go public pensions are prime examples. These three programmes often draw fire from the three main contentions against the welfare state.
The first is a value argument. It is believed that schemes such as unemployment benefits corrode the work ethic and create a culture of dependency. While this argument might have intuitive appeal, it is helpful to remember that in Northern Europe where social spending is the highest, both labour participation and productivity in terms of GDP per capita are ahead of Singapore according to World Bank data. Helping professionals like social workers would also understand that the value of work to the individual is not merely monetary. Work contributes to personal identity, provides fulfillment, and gives access to social networks. For these reasons, even the most generous unemployment benefits have never attracted masses of workers off the payroll onto the dole.

Another argument for the deficiency of Western welfare is that schemes like nationalised health care are believed to be prone to abuse. We in Singapore like to think that if people are left to their own devices, demand for health care will be infinite and costs will escalate uncontrollably. While it is easy to see how co-payment like in our health care system encourages prudence especially for elective medical procedures, it is not apparent that people have a naturally insatiable appetite for health care services. How much health care, really, can one consume? The abuse or free-riding argument has also been applied to our public assistance scheme, hence the strict criteria and low rates. But there has never been published evidence in Singapore of the free-riding phenomenon. There is however anecdotal evidence among social workers that social stigma and problems of access sometimes prevent those who need help from reaching out. Considering the size of the unemployed population in Singapore – a crude proxy of potential welfare dependents – is about 65,000 while the number of public assistance recipients is only about 3000, we must be a long way from that slippery slope. In any case, abuse is a problem of implementation, which should not detract from the intent and worthiness of the policy. We do not shut down the 999 hotline for fear of prank calls.

The last and possibly most damaging case against Western-style social welfare is that it is financially unsustainable and will eventually bankrupt the state. At a seminar on Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) last year, a senior politician likened European pay-as-you-go pensions to political Ponzi schemes that were never going to pay up on their promises. This view is misinformed. It is true that pensions constitute the heaviest fiscal burden among all sources of social spending in Europe and have come under pressure from population ageing and economic stagnation. But this area is complex and dynamic. Research done at the London School of Economics has found that reforms in recent years have addressed policy constraints to different extents across Europe and in some cases have put pension systems back on a more sustainable path. The reference to Ponzi schemes is also disingenuous because it fails to recognise how these pensions have helped many generations of older persons in Europe avoid poverty and retire with a sense of financial independence and personal dignity. Sociological studies have shown that these pensions often enable older adults to contribute to their adult children as they look to establish their own families and careers. In contrast, the majority of elderly Singaporeans are compelled to rely on their adult children for financial security, even though retirees are likely to have fewer children in future. Can we say that either system is more sustainable?

The weakest argument against the fiscal sustainability of Western welfare is probably that it led to the current economic crisis. It did not. The current economic crisis gripping Europe may be due to many things, such as negligent regulation of banking practices or even inherent flaws in modern capitalism, but it was not due to the welfare state. The misperception may have arisen from the sweeping cuts to welfare spending that countries have made. But in this case, the site of treatment does not indicate the source of ailment.

3. “Social welfare is un-Asian.”

In the early 1990s, as the world marveled at the rapid economic development of the newly industrialised countries in this region, also branded as the East Asian miracle, a peculiar blend of political rhetoric and cultural theorising shaped the thinking that Confucianist societies such as ours have a natural aversion to state-driven social welfare and prefer instead to rely on the family and the community. Today, this idea no longer holds sway in the wider academic community and is mostly regarded as political opportunism and cultural posturing.

The reason the cultural argument faded away is that even in East Asia, a variety of welfare states have evolved in the past decade or so. Taiwan and Korea have not taken the CPF’s lead. Instead they have introduced pay-as-you-go pensions, European style. We do not talk about it, but even Hong Kong – which is comparable both in economic positioning and cultural make-up and is often regarded as our closest rival city – has implemented universal pensions for residents aged 70 and above with no means testing. Every elderly Hong Kong resident receives the equivalent of S$160 per month. It is not much, but we can only imagine what difference that might make to poor elderly Singaporeans.

One school of thought advanced by American scholars Stephen Haggard and Robert Kaufman is that social welfare develops in line with economic development and democratisation. The rapid opening up of political competition in Taiwan and Korea has led to significant growth of social welfare, whereas the unique political situations in Singapore and Hong Kong explain their relative stasis despite abundant fiscal resources. In other words, there is nothing intrinsically un-Asian about social welfare.

4. “In spite of what critics might say, our social welfare system has worked.”

We sometimes take this even further and suggest that our system should be a model for others. For example, we like to point out that we spend less in health care than most developed countries but achieve better outcomes. This is true and reflects the cost-efficiency of most of our social welfare programmes. But global indicators do not tell the full story about the real cost of our social welfare system.

One way to interrogate the impact of our approach to social welfare is to ask about the spread of outcomes across different segments of society – something which should be second-nature to social workers, with our intuitive attention to individuals, families, and qualitative experiences. For instance, as a population, Singaporeans may be living longer lives. But what are the health outcomes for low-income families compared to richer ones? Does income gap also imply a gap in quality of life? A thought-provoking report by Tan Hui Yee in the Straits Times recently pointed to low social mobility in Singapore, meaning that children of families with poorer economic status are themselves less likely to do well later in life. The European welfare states achieve much better social mobility due to the leveling effect of universal social welfare programmes. If we are concerned about work ethic and competitiveness, then we should be concerned about social mobility. Because nothing dampens aspiration and industry more than the knowledge that you live in a society where you have limited prospect of overturning those disadvantages into which you are born.

Even when we pull the analytical lens back to examine outcomes across the board and for larger social issues, there are serious implications about our social welfare model which we sometimes overlook. If only we could free up our policy imagination, we might find answers to some of our most pressing problems. One is our low fertility rate, which is one of the lowest in the world and has seemed impervious to policy intervention. Again, we do not talk about it, but Northern Europe might offer some clues. According to data from the United Nations World Population Prospects, the total fertility rate of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark averaged 1.9 during 2005-2010. It was 1.3 in Singapore. Their female labour participation rates are also noticeably higher than Singapore’s. Population policy is as complex as individual decisions about child birth. But it is easy to trace a connection between the healthy fertility rates in the Scandinavian countries and the prominent features of their welfare states: accessible state-run childcare services, institutionalised child benefits, and widely-practiced flexible work arrangements for parents. It then becomes obvious why the Baby Bonus has not made a difference for us. Social welfare policy is not only about helping the poorest, it also shapes social norms and individual decisions across all strata of society.

In the end, the form that every welfare state takes is a choice that society must make. No policy is a matter of course, every policy is a choice. This choice must be made with thorough consideration of the full range of viable alternatives, and the benefits and trade-offs implied by each option. It is more about picking and calibrating our position along a spectrum of possibilities, rather than choosing between all and nothing.

The process requires a society of open and engaged minds from the top to the ground that resist old habits of thought, are not afraid to learn, and always demand evidence. There is an obligation of public accountability to present all the options and explain the rationale before making a call. We also have individual responsibilities of citizenship to scrutinise official lines of thinking, ask important questions, and learn to engage constructively in policy debate. There is merit in public engagement itself. But engagement and debate are especially critical to the development of sustainable and stable social welfare systems. Because unlike other more removed and technical domains of policy-making, social welfare is a society’s collective decision about its commitment to solidarity and mutual responsibility. In no other realm of public policy do decisions so powerfully shape the tone and fibre of society.

Peter Townsend, a renowned British professor of social policy who sadly died in 2009, once remarked that “It may be worth reflecting, if indeed a little sadly, that possibly the ultimate test of the quality of a free, democratic and prosperous society is to be found in the standards of freedom, democracy and prosperity enjoyed by its weakest members.” He might have been talking about us.

Mr Ng Kok Hoe is a doctoral candidate in the social policy programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science and holds a MSc in Public Policy and Administration (LSE) and a B.Soc.Sci in Social Work, National University of Singapore. He has worked at the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) in policy and service planning positions related to juvenile rehabilitation and problem gambling. He also has direct practice experience with juvenile probationers and as a counsellor. He has taught social policy and social work research courses in the Monash university - Social Service Training Institute Bachelor of Social Work programme, and was involved in the development of accreditation for social workers as a previous Chair of Membership in the Singapore Association of Social Workers.

***********************************************************************************************************************

It had bothered me ever since I had my political awakening that what is the real reason for our Government not taking a bolder step to review our current welfare schemes?

I believe more respect can be gained if the under priveledged who were borned, bred and grew up here in Singapore are better well taken care of than giving opportunities (or even freebies!) to foreigns.

Little Yellow Brick

2011-09-27T14:29:00.003+08:00

Found this interesting blog that is meant for Lego enthusiasts and if you are, bookmark this page or even get in touch with the writers to build network!

http://littleyellowbrick.blogspot.com/

I'm linking it under 'friends' passion' scrolldown bar.

A Letter from a Shelter Manager

2011-09-27T10:39:00.004+08:00

Read this meaningful and heart-wrenching article from here:-

A Letter from a Shelter Manager - anonymous in North Carolina

I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know.

That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".

Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.

Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this and it made me want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

As I have always share with people whom talk about owning pets, please adopt one from the animel shelter or a stray. I'm unsure how is the situation with our animal shelters here but I won't be surprise if they turn out to be similar in practice (as in to put the animals down after a certain duration).

In my opinion, owning a pure breed is related to elitism but that is still okay if you treat your pet well and take good care of it till its last breathe. Pets give you good company and share both your joy and sorrow so don't be an ass by not taking responsibilities in taking good care of them!

You Say I Say Who Confirm...?

2011-09-27T08:54:00.003+08:00

And I have come across this website that is co-host by 4 active citizens who wants to cut through the runours and gossips and present the reality! Sounds like The Matrix!

I will put it under my "popular/social blogs/sites" scroll bar for future reference.

Support support boleh!

For the ultimate carnivore...pork knuckle!!!

2011-09-26T19:16:00.001+08:00

Scientists Turn Brain Activity Into Moving Images

2011-09-26T08:54:00.003+08:00

An interesting news taken from here (please click link to see photo and youtube clip):-

UC Berkeley researchers tap into technology that may one day allow for re-watching your dreams.
By Ben Johnson Posted Saturday, Sep. 24, 2011, at 2:48 PM EDT

There are lots of comparisons to be made: DVR for the brain, seeing through someone else’s eyes, or a real life version of “Minority Report.”

But whatever you call it, what researchers at UC Berkeley have done could have major implications for getting inside someone’s head.

Authors of a new study published in Current Biology were able to reconstruct YouTube videos from a subject’s brain activity with the help of magnetic resonance imaging. In other words, study subjects watched videos while their brains were monitored, and scientists were later able to reconstruct approximate images of those videos from the brain imaging data.

“This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery,” coauthor and psychology professor Jack Gallant told ABC News. “We are opening a window into the movies in our minds.”

Subjects watched a variety of images — clips of an airplane, elephants walking, text on a screen and Steve Martin in “Inspector Clouseau” (really guys? You couldn’t have asked for a suggestion from the film department on that one?).

Scientists recreated images by mapping tiny changes in blood flow to parts of the brain which decode visual images, all while subjects were viewing. The results are haunting, ghostly pictures — but they’re also pretty unfocused. In other words, it’s going to be a long time before you get brainwave movies in full HD.

Worried it won’t be long before the future crimes you’ve visualized — or those weird dreams about your 9th grade social studies teacher — will go public? Fear not. As far as reconstructing memories for court, the coauthor points out on the study's website: "After all, an accurate read-out of a faulty memory only provides misleading information."

Gallant also says visual modules exist all over the brain, and that researchers will have to build accurate models and mapping capabilities before getting further. “We need really big computers,” he told ABC. For those who wake up wanting to get back to that awesome dream where they were flying through a world made of cotton candy and inabited by beautiful people, that may seem like bad news. For others, it's probably cause for a sigh of relief.

Here's a video showing some of the original images on the left, and the composites created from brain activity on the right:

*****************************************************************************************

It will be interesting if they do this sort of imaging test on people who meditates. Let's see what's on their mind and more interestingly, if it can decipher the exact imageries that some of these meditators visualise deliberately during their sitting...!

Schoolkids suffocate each other till they faint

2011-09-25T17:53:00.002+08:00

Came across this news in facebook:-

SINGAPORE - A netizen was shocked when she came across pictures of some secondary school students in uniform playing at a neighbourhood void deck.

But they were not indulging themselves in innocent fun and games. According to the reader, who sent in the pictures to Stomp, two boys were being suffocated by their schoolmates, until they momentarily lost consciousness.
Click here to find out more!

Said the reader: "There were a few students from New Town Secondary playing with their lives.

"Why didn't members of the public stop them?"

In the photos, the boys were shown slumping to the ground, after being choked.

She also questioned if the students are aware of the danger of stopping oxygen flow and blood flow in the body.

Asphyxiation is a condition where the body and brain is deprived of oxygen, and can lead to tissue damage in the brain or other organs.

********************************************************************************************

I encourage readers to click the hyper to see the photos that were sent in.

2 points that I take away from here:-

1. I have really no idea what are these young people are thinking; and,

2. The line "Why didn't members of the public stop them?" tickles me. So why didn't the reader who also took the photo of these young people stop them? Does taking photographs makes a person feeling somewhat more special and detach from the situation?

Faster Than Light Particles Could Wreck Einstein’s Relativity Theory

2011-09-25T01:39:00.004+08:00

Read this interesting news from here:-

This is extremely shocking: CERN scientists using a 1300-ton particle detector have measured particles travelling faster than the speed of light. If confirmed, this discovery could invalidate Albert Einstein's 1905 theory of special relativity and revolutionize physics.

Einstein's theory says that there's nothing in the universe that could travel faster than light. Now, CERN scientists believe this may be wrong according to their latest experiment.

The 3-year experiment timed about 16,000 neutrino packets launched from CERN facilities in Geneva, travelling through Earth and arriving 2.43 milliseconds later to the subterranean facilities of Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory. There, the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (the OPERA particle detector) recorded the hits.

When scientists discovered that the particles were arriving 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light—with only a 10 nanosecond error margin—they freaked out. I don't blame them. Imagine someone comes to you to tell you that a new observation shows that planet Earth is actually flat.

But University of Bern's Antonio Ereditato—spokesperson for the 160-member OPERA team—says that the experiment is "a straightforward time-of-flight measurement." It was repeatable, so they couldn't ignore it because that would be dishonest: "[T]he consequences can be very serious [...] We are forced to say something [...] We have high confidence in our results. But we need other colleagues to do their tests and confirm them."

Full sizeThe news are so extraordinary that other physicists are already saying this is impossible. Chang Kee Jung—a neutrino physicist at Stony Brook University in New York—believes it's a systematic error. Jung is the spokesperson for a similar project in Japan. Indiana University's physicist Alan Kostelecky believes that, while it may be possible that neutrinos can travel faster than light, the experiment needs to be repeated "by at least one and preferably several experiments." There are other facilities that could be used to run the same test, one of them is Fermilab in Chicago. The other one is the T2K experiment in Japan, the one in which Jung participates.

Still, Kostelecky confesses that he "would be delighted if it were true." I would be delighted too. I love when the world goes crazy.

*************************************************************************************

It will be indeed a scientific breakthrough if the scientists have really found a particle that can travel faster than light. And this is one thing I like about science, that a discovery that is made later can prove the former to be incomplete.

But I personally do not like the headlines that Einstein's Theory can be wrecked. What is so good about having it wrecked? We got a great scientist of our time, who could come up with discoveries with limited technologies given at his time!

There are still so much details that are not released with regards to this experiment. Although it is said to be a simple "straightforward time-of-flight measurement", I feel that such discovery will be more meaningful if the parameters of the experiments are shared.

When I read this news, the first analogy that came to my mind was this:-

2 balls of same size but of different masses are going to be launched by a projector from one point to another. The first ball has 5kg of mass and the second ball has 10kg of ball. If the projector is going to use a force equivalent to 10kg to launch both balls, which one do you think is going to travel at a faster speed?

I believe you get the picture.

There are many question to how the machine projects the particle and the composition of this particle that is found to be faster than the speed of light.

Most important of all, what's next for this new discovery if it is gonig to be indeed proven to be true by other scientists?

I feel that science is man's attempt to understand nature's phenomenon and to make use of this knowledge to create technology that serve mankind. I hope the CERN scientists did not carry out this experiment simply because they like to 'wreck Einstein's Relativity Theory'.

Harvesting...?

2011-09-25T01:22:00.002+08:00

Read this entry in Blinkymummy's blog.

What do you think? Coincidence for the HDB officers to use the word 'Harvest' and the 'Jesus fish' logo or there is something behind that the general public is not aware?

Also curious that whether the Methodist Church's interest is solely on non-christians or including christians that are not from the Methodist denomination...?

Captain China...?

2011-09-24T09:13:00.002+08:00

Opening scene for Return of Chen Zhen

A cute comment for the youtube clip above and Donnie Yen did it suave style yet again...!

Dinner @ City Square Mall Ashton

2011-09-23T19:00:00.001+08:00

A cute little photo to try my Instagram and Posterous out...!

2011-09-23T10:31:00.001+08:00

PublicHouse.sg: M'sia abandons ISA; S'pore's reactions

2011-09-17T07:21:00.000+08:00

News source from here:-

On 15 September 2011, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the abolition of the country’s Internal Security Act (ISA). The PM broke the news during his Malaysia Day speech in Angkasapuri in Kuala Lumpur.

On 16 September, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a statement on the matter, particularly stating its stand on Singapore’s adherence to its ISA. The opposition Workers’ Party and civil society group, Think Centre, also issued statements on the issue.

We present excerpts of PM Najib’s speech and the statements from the Singaporeans.

Excerpts of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s speech. (You can read the full speech here.)

As many of you know, except for the proclamation of emergency of 1964 as a consequence of the confrontation which was impliedly revoked, all the proclamations of emergency subsist till today. Thus, realising that the reality in Malaysia has changed, feeling the pulse, agitation and aspiration of the rakyat who clamour for a more open and dynamic democracy, where, the opinions, ideas and concerns of the masses are given due attention, so as to be at par with other democratic systems in the world which are underscored by the universal principle from the people, by the people and for the people, the government now under Clause (3) of Article 150 will table a motion before both Houses of Parliament to have the three Proclamations of Emergency annulled. In my opinion the time has come for the people of Malaysia to advance to the future with the next paradigm based on new hope and not be bound by the nolstagic constraints of past history.

[snip]

Pursuant to that, as I have promised in my maiden speech after first assuming the post of Prime Minister on 3 April 2009, that the Internal Security Act 1960 ( ISA) would be reviewed comprehensively, it is now my pleasure to announce on this historic night, that the Internal Security Act 1960 ( ISA) will be repealed entirely. To prevent subversive action, organized violence and criminal acts in order to preserve public order and security, legislation will be enacted under the umbrella of Article 149 of the Federal Constitution. In essence, the legislation will have the aim of maintaining peace, well being, tranquility and order in the lives of the people and the country.

Over and above everything else, the Government will always ensure that the fundamental rights of those involved are preserved. Any law enacted will take into account rights and fundamental liberties based on the Federal Constitution. The new law will provide for a substantially reduced period of detention by the police compared to what we have now and any further detention may only be made with the order of the court except the law in relation to violence which is still under the power of the Minister. In general, the power to further detain will be transferred from the executive to the judiciary.

In addition to repealing the Internal Security Act 1960, the Government will also repeal the Banishment Act 1959 as well as review several laws to ensure that these laws fit the present needs. In relation to that, we will not hesitate to amend or repeal laws which are no longer relevant.

This comprehensive review will involve the Restricted Residence Act 1933 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 where the yearly renewal principle will be abolished and in lieu thereof a licence will be issued until revoked. The Government will also review section 27 of the Police Act 1967, taking into consideration Article 10 of the Federal Constitution regarding freedom of assembly and so as to be in line with international norms on the same matter.

[snip]

It is absolutely clear that the steps I just announced are none other than early initiatives of an organised and graceful political transformation. It stands as a crucial and much needed complement to the initiatives of economic transformation and public presentation which the government has outlined and implemented for over two years in the effort to pioneer a a modern and progressive nation.

It is neither too early nor too late, but this is the most suitable and precise time for such major estimations to be made and implemented. Though some parties opine that this is too risky, we will proceed with it for the sake of survival, as it has been fifty years since our nation achieved independence, and and nearly five decades since Malaysia was formed. Thus, we stand at the threshold of a vehicle that speeds towards its destination as a fully developed nation.

Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs’ statement.

The Government notes the announcement by Malaysia that it will be replacing its Internal Security Act (ISA) with new legislation aimed at preventing "subversive action, organised violence and criminal acts".

The ISA in Singapore and Malaysia may have the same roots from the time when both were British colonies, but the two countries and their respective societies have evolved differently over time. Accordingly, the ISA in Singapore has evolved and is now different from that in Malaysia. A person arrested under the ISA in Singapore may be held in custody for up to 30 days after which an Order of Detention or Restriction Order must be issued or else the person must be released unconditionally. In Malaysia, the period of custody is up to 60 days. Also, under the Singapore ISA, since 1991, the President has the power to veto the Government's decision to detain a detainee if the ISA Advisory Board, which is chaired by a Supreme Court Judge, has recommended the release of the detainee. This was an additional safeguard enacted by the Singapore Government to prevent misuse of the Act.

The Singapore Government has used the ISA sparingly. The ISA has only been used against individuals who have acted in a manner prejudicial to the security of Singapore or to the maintenance of public order or essential services therein. No person has ever been detained only for their political beliefs. The ISA in Singapore has only been used to deal with threats of subversion, racial and religious extremism (such as inciting racial or religious hatred, strife and violence), espionage and terrorism. These threats continue to be salient today, especially in the last ten years against the threat of terrorism, where the

Government's priority is to act swiftly to prevent an attack from taking place. The arrests made under the ISA in Dec 2001 thwarted the imminent suicide bombings against establishments in Singapore that were planned by Al-Qaeda operatives assisted by several of the arrested Jemaah Islamiyah members, preventing the loss of innocent lives. The ISA continues to be relevant and crucial as a measure of last resort for the preservation of our national security.

The Workers’ Party statement.

The Workers’ Party notes the Malaysian government’s proposal to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The Workers’ Party manifestos, including the 2011 election manifesto, proposed the abolition of the ISA in Singapore. This repeal would destroy the prospect of any government using the wide ranging powers therein to curtail its critics and opponents. Even where there are suspects accused of espionage, trials can still be held, with modified procedures if state secrets are at risk.

Nevertheless, the Party acknowledges the need for effective measures against terrorism. As such, our manifesto also stated that the government should be enabled by a dedicated anti-terrorism law to make swift arrests and detain suspects without trial. However, these suspects must be afforded real avenues to challenge the legality of their arrests through the courts and an advisory board. These bodies should be empowered to order the person’s release if not satisfied as to the legality of the detention.

The Think Centre's statement

Think Centre (TC), one of Singapore's oldest political NGO, welcomes and applauds the announcement by the Malaysian government to repeal the controversial 51-year-old law allowing detention without trial and ease other legislations curbing civil liberties. The ISA allows an individual to be held virtually indefinitely for acts considered a threat to national security or to prevent such acts. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak added that the Banishment Act would be repealed while he will do away with the need for annual publishing permits under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA). He also said that the Police Act would be amended to allow for freedom of assembly according to international norms, although street protests would still be outlawed.

Since TC's founding in 1999, one of the first human rights issues that it championed for, is the abolishment of the ISA. In 2000, TC drew widespread international attention when it initiated a peaceful demonstration as part of its "Abolish ISA" campaign at the nation state's Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park. Several TC leaders were however called up by the police for investigations in the aftermath of the demonstration.

In the past decade, TC has continued to champion tirelessly for the abolishment of this and other related legislations that run contrary to the fundamental principles of human rights such as the right to life, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly etc. While TC does not support any form of indefinite detention without trial, any new legislation that would ensure detentions should only be carried out by Court orders in the face of threats to national security or sovereignty. As such, powers of detention should never be vested with the Executive or the Police.

In this regard, TC urges the Singapore government to follow Malaysia's lead in repealing the ISA and other legislations curbing civil liberties and infringing fundamental human rights of its people. In this new political norm whereby a new social compact has been forged after a watershed year of electoral progress, TC appeals to the Government to review and rethink its approach to management of civil and political rights of Singaporeans. This same call will be championed without fear or favour by TC in its upcoming oral intervention at the Universal Periodic Review plenary, before the U.N Human Rights Council this September.

"Singapore will seriously consider abolishing the Internal Security Act if Malaysia were to do so", then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong informed visiting Malaysian journalists, according to a report in Straits Times, dated 3 February 1991. However a statement released today by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the ISA disappointingly appears to be a recantation of what, the now Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had promised twenty years ago. PM Lee should seriously make good on his words to consider abolishing the Internal Security Act now that Malaysia has announced that it will repeal the Act.

As 2011 has shown, Singapore society has come of age in terms of civil and political engagement. If the Government truly wishes to re-make Singapore into a place we call home, it must first cast away archaic legislations such as the ISA and keep up with liberalisation of democratic norms. Doing so will allow Singapore to transform itself into a truly modern, mature and functioning democracy.
****************************************************************************
It is both surprising and applauding that Malaysia is taking this big leap into a truly developed nation. But I congratulate to all Malaysians who had directly or indirectly be the cause to make your Government moving into this direction of respecting the basic rights of the citizens. I can sort of feel the struggles that the Malaysian PM might have faced but whatever he had, I think he had really pushed both Malaysia and Malaysian politics into a new landmark, where Singapore, well, still lags behind her neighbour up-north.

P/S: PublicHouse.sg is an online initiative that just started recently. Do 'like' them and find out more!

Mediator...

2011-08-14T16:28:00.000+08:00

The Community Mediation Centre (Singapore) would have come under the limelight (if not firing!) for an article that was reported in Today recently (I bold the concerned part):-

Number of neighbour disputes hit high

Neighbours lack communication and increasingly intolerant: CMC

by Quek Sue Wen Carolyn
04:45 AM Aug 08, 2011

SINGAPORE - From dripping laundry to obstruction at common areas to the cooking of curry, there have been more than 300 cases a year since 2008 of warring neighbours taking to mediation to iron out their differences.

Last year, the proportion of neighbour disputes handled by the Community Mediation Centre (CMC) hit a high - with such cases making up two thirds of the total case load. And the trend has not escaped the attention of the authorities.

Responding to Today's queries, a Housing and Development Board (HDB) spokesman said that it is currently reviewing its penalty framework for public nuisance and is consulting views from various stakeholders.

The spokesman added that the authorities will take enforcement action, as a last resort, if the disturbance in question affects the neighbourhood, and when all efforts to resolve the matter amicably have failed.

The spokesman said: "In such instances, the HDB may initiate legal action to compulsorily acquire the flat or impose the penalty."

The CMC is the main mediation body here for social, community and family disputes that do not involve a seizable offence.

Out of the 498 cases seen by the CMC last year, 67 per cent were neighbour disputes, an increase from the 2007 where such disputes only made up 50 per cent of the centre's caseload. (see table)

According to the CMC, 75 per cent of these mediated neighbour dispute cases usually reach settlement.

Still, according to two CMC volunteer mediators - who have about 13 years of experience presiding over 200 cases each - neighbours are getting increasingly intolerant of each other and pick on trivial matters at times. There is also a lack of communication, so when conflicts arise, they would rather seek a third party than settle the matter themselves.

Madam Marcellina Giam, 54, a CMC master mediator, told Today: "I feel (neighbours) are less tolerant these days and they are bringing very small neighbourhood disputes to the CMC like disputes over a few pots of flowers or washing the corridor, which never used to happen."

Fellow master mediator Thirunal Karasu Palaniappan, 49, added that unlike in the past, when the "kampung spirit" was strong and neighbours ventured into each other's homes freely, many neighbours now do not know each other.

A silver lining

Most of the cases the mediators have seen are between neighbours living in public housing, though they have handled some cases involving residents of private estates. About 80 cases the CMC saw in the past two years were also referred to it by the HDB. This is out of the 1,700 complaints on inconsiderate neighbour behaviour the HDB receives on average in a year.

Mediators are also seeing more disputes involving new immigrants. Both mediators felt that most of the cases they see could be easily solved by the neighbours themselves but the latter choose not to.

As a dispute can usually take up to one hour to resolve and in one session, they said this showed how all that was needed was face-to-face communication to settle matters amicably.

While mediators are seeing a greater proportion of neighbour disputes among the cases that they handle, the good news is that fewer neighbours are taking the legal route to resolve their differences.

According to the Subordinate Courts, with the introduction of a more rigorous and proactive case management and pre-trial process last year, a majority of magistrates' complaints - which include neighbour disputes - have been resolved without the need for a full trial.

In 2009, there were 4,569 magistrates' complaints filed but this dropped by 412 complaints to 4,157 last year. In the first six months of this year, there were about 1,800 magistrates' complaints.

This translates to fewer cases in the Neighbourhood Court, a dedicated court set in 2008 solely to deal with neighbour disputes.

"Frivolous and unmeritorious complaints are weeded out at an early stage while the rest are settled by way of mediation, which has been very successful," said a Subordinates Courts spokesman.

When neighbours disagree ...
by Quek Sue Wen Carolyn

Case 1: A family, who had just moved here from China, had resorted to mediation because they could not stand the smell of curry that their Singaporean Indian neighbours would often cook. The Indian family, who were mindful of their neighbour's aversion, had already taken to closing their doors and windows whenever they cooked the dish, but this was not enough.

"They said: 'Can you please do something? Can you don't cook curry? Can you don't eat curry?'," said Madam Marcellina Giam, a Community Mediation Centre mediator. But the Indian family stood firm. In the end, Mdm Giam got the Indian family to agree to cook curry only when the Chinese family was not home. In return, they wanted their Chinese neighbours to at least give their dish a try.

Case 2: A 40-year-old sales manager was shocked to find a note posted in one of the lifts of his Telok Blangah block. The anonymous writer had complained that his children were making "ear-piercing screams everyday and making the environment very unconducive for resting". The writer said the screams were "hurting the ears" of the residents and called on the children's parents to be "socially responsible".

The sales manager, who wanted only to be known as Mr Su, said he thought of responding and finding out who the letter writer was. He decided against it eventually. "I don't know why the writer had to do that, he could have approached me directly," Mr Su told Today.

He has also told his two sons aged three and five not to make too much noise when they play. Mr Su also said he will let the matter rest - provided it does not happen again. Carolyn Quek
************************************************************************************************

Apparently, the outcome of Case 1 has upset a lot of netizens including myself. The absurdity of such compromise came to be as a big shock. Cooking curry is not a big deal in Singapore. The PRC family in question has definitely not integrated into our culture. The solution, in my opinion, is crap. Blinkymummy gave a good analogy to the unreasonableness from the PRC family in question.

"Can you move to South Korea and ask South Koreans not to make kimchi coz you think fermented cabbage is smelly and disgusting?

Can you move to Taiwan and ask Taiwanese not to make/sell smelly tofu?

Can you move anywhere else in the world and tell the locals to change themselves to suit you?
Only if you are trying to colonise the place, right?"

In a defence to protect Madam Marcellina Giam from the critics hailing at her, here is reply from CMC in response to Temasek Review Emeritus' query that came out a few days later:-

from MLAW HQ CMC (MLAW) MLAW_HQ_CMC@mlaw.gov.sg
to BT Kojak
date Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 10:16 AM
subject RE: PRC asking a Singaporean Indian not to cook and eat curry

.

Dear Mr Kojakbt,

RE: PRC asking a Singaporean Indian not to cook and eat curry

We refer to your email dated 9 August 2011.

2 We thank you for your feedback and concerns raised regarding the article in TODAY, “Number of neighbour disputes hit high” (8 August 2011) and write to clarify the case facts. The article stated that community mediator, Mdm Marcellina Giam, “got the Indian family to agree to cook curry only when the Chinese family was not home”. We have checked with Mdm Giam and this is inaccurate. The solution to the dispute was proposed by one of the parties and accepted by the other party. Mdm Giam did not propose the solution for the parties, neither did she impose it on them.

3 This is in fact the crux of mediation. The community mediators, who are trained volunteers, act as a neutral third party to facilitate discussions between the disputing parties. Their role is not to decide on the outcome of a case; they have no authority to do so. The final outcome, which is unique to each case, must be a mutually acceptable solution arrived at by both disputing parties after discussion. Mediation seeks to provide an informal and amicable way of settling inter-personal, social and community disputes to cultivate a more harmonious, civil and gracious society.

4 In cases where parties are of different ethnicities, cultural background or nationalities, the community mediators take great care in trying to get parties to understand the varying perspectives, and foster greater understanding and communication. In this particular case, despite clearly different cultural backgrounds, both parties were able to come to a mutually agreed solution by themselves in the interest of neighbourliness.

5 We have also issued a clarification on the matter in TODAY (11 August 2011). You may refer to the ‘Voices’ section for the clarification at: http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110811-0000303/Mediators-are-a-neutral-third-party

.

Yours sincerely

Joanna Hor

Deputy Manager, Community Mediation Unit

Ministry of Law
************************************************************************************************

Since MinLaw had checked with Madam Giam and said that, "got the Indian family to agree to cook curry only when the Chinese family was not home" is an inaccurate statement, will the reporter be made to take responsible for this inaccurate reporting? In fact in Singapore, will reporters and journalists be held responsible for any form of inaccurate news that they might have put up?

I got curious about whether is there any legal binding when a case has 'so-called' settled in meditation. A friend of mine shared with me that parties will be made to sign an agreement and this agreement in turn becomes legal binding.

What kind of a contract will it be to disallow people from cooking curry in specific situation? I thought my friend was joking until I have read this(please pay attention paragraph in bold):-

Overview

What Happens Before Mediation?
All requests or referrals are handled by a co-ordinator at the relevant Community Mediation Centre (CMC). In the case of walk-ins or call-ins, the co-ordinator will telephone or write to the other party, offering to set up a meeting between the two parties in dispute so that they can discuss their problem. If all parties agree to meet for a mediation session, the CMC will arrange for a session to take place as soon as possible. A convenient time will be allocated, during or after office hours on weekdays and normal office hours on Saturdays, for mediation.

The mediation session will be attended by the parties, and facilitated by a CMC mediator. The mediator's main function is to help parties settle their own conflicts. When arranging for mediation, consideration is given to matching the mediators with the characteristics of the disputing parties in terms of language ability, gender and, if relevant, race.

Prior to the commencement of a mediation session, parties are requested to sign an Agreement Form to indicate their agreement to mediate and abide by the CMC’s mediation procedures.

What Happens During Mediation?
The mediator will open by briefly explaining to the parties his role during the session. The mediator will then lay out the 'ground rules' for the session, stressing fairness and confidentiality and emphasising that participation is voluntary for all disputants. The mediator will also explain the procedure that will be followed.

During the mediation session, joint meetings with both parties and private one-on-one sessions may be held. The session typically begins with a joint meeting, with each side taking turns to explain their position. During this joint session, the mediator will ask questions to clarify issues and obtain additional information.

After that, parties might meet privately with the mediator in separate sessions. At such sessions, parties are able to reveal to the mediator additional information that they may not wish to disclose to the other disputant. When parties regroup, the mediator will help them identify options to resolve their problem.

All communications during the mediation process are made strictly 'Without Prejudice' and should not be used in any legal proceedings.

Settlement
Any settlement arrived at will be binding on the parties if it is written down, signed by all parties, and the document itself contains a statement specifying its binding nature. If the disputants have signed such an agreement, any breach of its terms by one party would be grounds for the other to institute legal proceedings for breach of contract.
************************************************************************************************

This is no joke. The Indian family concerned can be sued for a breach of contract should he cook curry when the PRC family is at home. I wonder if such a 'breach' should really occur, how will the court decides on the compensation?

Talking about having a joke amplified.

As expected...!!!

2011-08-14T15:36:00.000+08:00

Remember Tin Pei Ling's alleged breaking of rules on the Cooling Off Day during our recent General Election? As expected...the case concluded with no substantial follow-ups!

Taken from here:-

Police: No further action taken against Tin Pei Ling
August 10th, 2011 | Author: Your Correspondent

As expected, the police has let PAP newbie MP Tin Pei Ling off the hook for allegedly flouting election laws.

In a short statement released to the press today, the police said no further action will be taken against Ms Tin. It did not explain why the case was dropped.

A police report was lodged against Ms Tin on 12 May 2011 for allegedly posting a snide remark about her opponent on her Facebook which she later attributed to her administrator ‘Denise He’.

Though she was still under police investigations then, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appointed Ms Tin as a member of the powerful Home Affairs and Law Government Parliamentary Committee overseeing the police.

When asked about her police case by a netizen, Ms Tin replied coyly that she ‘trusts’ the AGC and police to reach a ‘fair conclusion’ on the matter.

In 2006, then WP candidate James Gomez was arrested ONE WEEK after the election for allegedly ‘intimidating’ a civil servant. He was subsequently given a ’stern warning’ because he never committed any offence to begin with.

If Ms Tin’s opponent Nicole Seah had flouted election laws instead, she would probably be arrested, charged and jailed by now.

In Singapore, there seems to be two sets of rules – one for PAP leaders and another for the ‘lesser mortals’.

What are your thoughts on the outcome of this case? Please feel free to share them here.
************************************************************************************************

So what happens next? Blinkymummy made a good observation of what should be the next follow-up:-

Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Confirmed: Tin Pei Ling made False Declaration in her Election Form

You may have read the news reports on Police's investigation outcome on the comment made by 'Tin Pei Ling' on Tin Pei Ling's Facebook page during the Cooling-Off Day before GE2011.

In essence, Police has investigated and concluded that it was indeed Tin Pei Ling's friend who had accessed Tin Pei Ling's Facebook account and posted that comment. Tin Pei Ling's friend has since been given a warning by Police.

With that, it is now crystal clear that Tin Pei Ling made a FALSE DECLARATION in the Declaration of Election Advertising by Candidate form, where she stated that 'Tin Pei Ling' as the only moderator of her Facebook page. No mention of 'her friend' in the form.

Police has already done its part. It is now up to Elections Department to do its job. A job which Elections Department said it would do only after a police report had been filed.

Elections Department must take action against Tin Pei Ling as all pieces of above-mentioned information are now public knowledge.

Not only did Tin Pei Ling make a false declaration in her election form, she chose to give someone of such pathetic calibre full access to her key campaigning tool during GE2011. Does she take the General Election seriously at all? Or is she daft?

I don't see how anyone, including Elections Department, Prime Minister's Office, and even members of the PAP, can pretend that nothing of the above has happened.

There is a limit to how much apathy and 'acting blur' the public can tolerate with regards to this issue. People are damn JYET about this oredi.

Let's call a (kate) spade a (kate) spade, eh?
************************************************************************************************

I honestly believe that nothing is going to happen. Especially during this period where they cannot allow negative image to affect the coming President Election. They going all out in splashing good things about Dr Tony Tan again and again on the mainstream media remember?

What's your take on the coming President Election...?

Farewell Post-Museum!!!

2011-08-14T15:10:00.008+08:00

This was broadcast on Channelnewsasia on last Sunday:-

The Singapore Spirit

2011-08-11T13:07:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Singapore (althought it's belated!)!!!

This is definitely one of the true Singapore Spirit that I have envisioned:-

World War II hero Tay Ah Soey dies at age 97

Published on Aug 10, 2011

MR TAY Ah Soey, a war hero who saved 62 people during World War II, died last Saturday of old age. He was 97.

He was among a group of five who pulled 62 people out of the water when Japanese forces dropped bombs in the sea on Feb 13, 1942, sinking boats which were ferrying people away from Singapore.

The fisherman and his two brothers had gone out on his own fishing boat, braving bullets and bombs, to save civilians and military personnel who had fallen into the sea.

Among those he helped pull to safety were rubber and pineapple plantation magnate Lim Chong Pang and his brother.
***************************************************************************

Braving through the storms and not leaving people behind in the midst of invaders' firings. You need to have a lot of guts to do this. I don't remember hearing about the heroic deeds of Mr Tan and his friends until this faithful article. I wish that their contribution to part of the history do make their way to our National Education syllabus.

Salute to Mr Tan and his other comrades for their selfless act in savings the lives of many. This is one of the Singapoe Spirit that I envisioned. I am so sorry that their bravery have been conveniently overlooked by the people of this nation. People are still glued to the meaningless fireworks, mass display and all the sing-along, forgetting that the monie behind in making these happen can be used for better things.

I wonder what is the vision of Singapore Spirit for the people who have brought this up in the first place?

Rest in peace Mr Tan.

Hungry...?

2011-08-06T09:24:00.000+08:00

An interesting month that we are having in Singapore. Singapore, as we know, is a multi-cultural society and this is the very month that we see the practices of 2 different cultures revolving the same theme -- hunger...!

Our Muslim friends will be fasting this month as their calender has reach the month of Ramadan. During this auspicious month, Muslims around the world observe fasting during daylight and perform more prayers for their spiritual growth. The hunger that they will go through in the day is to train for a stronger mind and character.

To our Taoist and Buddhist friends, this is the month when 'all hells break loose'! Okay, this is not to be taken literally anyway. On the Chinese lunar calender, this is the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival. The forklore belief is that spirits who have suffered as hungry ghosts are released in this month and are free to accept offerings and prayers by Taoists and Buddhists.

However, Buddhist practice in this Hungry Ghost Festival should be known properly as the Ullambana Festival.

As for the Taoists, the 15th day of the 7th month markes the manifestation day for the Official of the Earth (地官大帝) and the belief is that on this day, this paritcular deity can perform the role of clemency on the sins of the hungry spirits. Thus, having their sins to be forgiven (not totally though) and wish they will rest in peace and attain their deliverance soon.

As to the local Singaporean version, before it was commercialised, Hungry Ghost Festival actually has some values to learn from as well. In the earlier days when our forefathers came from China by sea, some of them could not survive the hardship tormented on them during the journey and have died. It was too expensive or impossible (as some of them came alone without friends and families) to send their remains back to where they came from. So for those who did survive the sail to Singapore, will come together at the Chinese lunar 7th month to hold prayers and offerings for those who had passed on. I actually really like this idea of comradeship and remembrance.

But now, all of these have been replaced with neon lights, loud speakers and sometimes, sleazy performers.

Step by step, bit by bit

2011-08-06T01:34:00.000+08:00

Trinkets of water can make a hole out of a boulder; and a journey of a thousand miles start from the first step. This is yet another attempt to make myself back to blogging more often again!

So never mind if my entries are going to be mundane, superficial or lack of substance, it will be just another platform for me to voice my opinions to the things that I concern about.

I would like to thank my friend Qiuyun who had lent me an interesting book which indirectly kicked my butt to get myself back on my blogging track once more.

These few months were for me to adjust to my new working environment. I belong to a team that supports a branch but most of the time I am out station to an office where I work alone, with a plant (yay!) as my companion. I will be left out from all the little fun and social activities but I am definitely involved in the daily operations. One of my core duties is that I get to meet offenders almost everyday.

Just like the previous 2 jobs that I have worked before, this one is another eye-opener too. It set me into thinking about mechanism of judiciary and social assistance that are in play in this sector.

The reason why society is complicated may be due to the fact that humans are complicated. Do human beings need to be so complicated at all?

Anyway, on a lighter note, today is the Chinese Valentine's Day (七夕节）!!! Having it falling on a Saturday means that it's a good day to go dating! Please go dating okay? Can date your family too!

I will be attending Xingyi Kempo's Grading Test this evening and I'm looking forward to it...!

囍帖街

2011-07-29T01:05:00.002+08:00

最近因為與心潔在一起的關係才會聽多點廣東歌曲。在聽了蘇永康演唱會版的≪囍帖街≫後便喜歡上了這首歌。是有點傷感的歌，但認識我的朋友就知道我喜歡這類的歌。也在youtube上照到了四個版本的≪囍帖街≫，在這裡與大家分享。本人較喜歡陳奕迅的演唱會版。

謝安琪，原唱版

蘇永康，演唱會版

陳奕迅，演唱會版

Acappella 版 (神戸の女性アカペラグループ宝船)

忘掉种过的花重新的出发放弃理想吧别再看尘封的喜帖你正在要搬家
筑得起人应该接受都有日倒下其实没有一种安稳快乐永远也不差
就似这一区曾经称得上美满甲天下但霎眼全街的单位快要住满乌鸦
好景不会每日常在天梯不可只往上爬爱的人没有一生一世吗大概不需要害怕

忘掉爱过的他当初的喜帖金箔印着那位他
裱起婚纱照那道墙及一切美丽旧年华明日同步拆下
忘掉有过的家小餐枱沙发雪柜及两份红茶
温馨的光境不过借出到期拿回吗等不到下一代是吗

忘掉砌过的沙回忆的堡垒刹那已倒下面对这浮起的荒土你注定学会潇洒
阶砖不会拒绝磨蚀窗花不可幽禁落霞有感情就会一生一世吗又再婉惜有用吗

忘掉爱过的他当初的喜帖金箔印着那位他
裱起婚纱照那道墙及一切美丽旧年华明日同步拆下
忘掉有过的家小餐枱沙发雪柜及两份红茶
温馨的光境不过借出到期拿回吗终须会时辰到别怕
请放下手里那锁匙好吗

同進同出

2011-07-26T00:00:00.011+08:00

這首似乎是黃大煒一首鮮為人知，輕快曲風的情歌。在這裡獻給我現在的女朋友，心潔。在一起一年了！這首歌也說了我這一年的感觸。謝謝妳給了我們倆這個機會。讓我們携手走下去吧！

黃大煒-同進同出

My Last Reading at Rowell Road

2011-07-25T09:49:00.000+08:00

"Rowell Road" here refers to Food#03 and Post-Museum. Personally, if it's not because of getting acquainted to these two places, I would have no reason to get down to Rowell Road so often for almost three years.

My last reading at Rowell Road will fall on the coming Really Really Free Market that will be held on 7 August (Sunday). I won't be heading down to Food#03 these coming 2 Fridays. However, if you need a reading (particularly if you wish to make a donation to the Post-Museum Fund), feel free to email me and we can arrange to meet at Food#03 before it closes in early August.

I have done a short write-up dedicated to the Post-Museum and Food#03 at my other blog.

黃明志想見大馬首相...!

2011-06-23T09:28:00.000+08:00

黃明志為了見大馬首相而下了不少功夫喔。連歌都寫了，看著明志這麼的努力，身在鄰國的我，雖與他非親非故，也確實是很被他的舉動感到鼓舞。

Part 1

Part 2 (對我來說影片的後半段挺震驚的。不知道會有人對明志遷怒到燒他的照片還搞了個示威...)

MV

Simply amazing...!

2011-06-22T20:40:00.000+08:00

A good example of what pure skills and visual effects can bring us to. I have come across their videos on youtube and I must I am very very impressed...!!!

Ultra Combos #1 - Thousand Pounds

Ultra Combos #2 (Femme Fatales) - Thousand Pounds

Ultra Combos #3 (Final Round) - Thousand Pounds

Nice right? Way better than some of the action movie that we are having nowadays! Nice choreograhpy!

Here's a short write-up about Thousand Pounds Action Company on Wikipedia.

Really Really Free Market 17 (26 June 2011)

2011-06-22T20:28:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-
Time Sunday, June 26 · 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Location Show Room, Post-Museum
107+109 Rowell Road
Singapore, Singapore
Created By Jennifer Teo

For Singapore Really Really Free Market (SRRFM)

More Info Our second-last session in Rowell Road, don't miss it!

Join us for the 17th session of this temporary market based on the concept of giving and building a community based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all - share your stuff (books, cds, toys, food, etc) or skills (tarot card reading, hair cutting, poetry writing, singing, etc) by giving them to others who need them!

By sharing, ...we are reducing consumption and waste of our natural resources, re-using what we don't need anymore by passing it on, and most importantly, showing everyone that there are better, more sustainable ways to live.

So join us! Please announce your participation on the wall so others can also be inspired!

And, of course, you're also welcome to come by to just experience the joys of giving and making friends!

As usual, due to lack of storage space and manpower, all items left over at the end of the day will be disposed of. As such, we prefer it if you could stick around or come back at the end to claim your remaining items.

Lastly, if you haven't joined the group yet, please do: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55373428641 - see you soon!
*****************************************************************************
I will be there providing free Tarot card reading services! This is the second last Free Market to be held at Rowell Road. Don't miss it!

One of the those things that I am amazed with...

2011-06-05T10:23:00.000+08:00

...the crane...! I have always wonder how a crane is assembled and a friend shared this youtube video in his facebook not long ago. So here it is!!!

Primetime from ABC News: Gay Parents Bashed

2011-05-30T19:48:00.000+08:00

What will you do if you find yourself in a situation similar to what was shown in the youtube? Well basically I'm very touched by what Donavan has done...!

Three Saudi children who died at Mount Elizabeth were 'critically ill'

2011-05-27T01:18:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

Three Saudi children who died at Mount Elizabeth were 'critically ill'
By Neo Chai Chin, TODAY | Posted: 26 May 2011 0721 hrs

SINGAPORE: Three Saudi Arabian children died within a week of each other earlier this month at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, prompting the Saudi Health Ministry to order a stop to all medical treatment of its citizens at the private hospital here.

The Saudi Gazette newspaper reported that two girls and a boy died between May 14 and 20. The children, who are believed to be between one and three years old, had been referred to the hospital for bone marrow transplants. However, Mount Elizabeth Hospital chief executive officer Kelvin Loh told MediaCorp on Wednesday they were complex cases and "critically ill when admitted to our care, with some limited chance for survival".

He added: "It's most unfortunate the mortality rates for these patients were higher than what we would have desired, as a result of ... pre-existing complex medical conditions."

Elaborating on the complexity of the cases, Dr Loh said one child had advanced cancer of the blood with brain involvement and had suffered a relapse after intensive treatment in Saudi Arabia. The boy also had multiple complications arising from infections and was brought to Singapore by his parents to attempt a bone marrow transplant.

"The high risks were explained to his parents, who agreed to proceed, as the child would surely perish without treatment. Despite our efforts ... he continued to suffer from disease recurrence and multiple complications, and subsequently passed away," said Dr Loh, who added that the medical team "was very disappointed with the outcome and share the grief of the family". The hospital is working with Saudi Embassy officials and its government and is in close contact with the patients' families, he said. The embassy here did not reply to queries by press time.

Dr Loh did not say who the lead physician was in the children's cases. But the hospital said that its bone marrow transplant team has performed over 150 transplants since 2005, with a 77-per-cent success rate.

Bone marrow transplant is a high-risk procedure and most commonly used to treat high-risk cancers, including leukaemia and lymphoma, in some form of remission, according to Dr Tan Poh Lin of the National University Hospital (NUH).

The risks involved are patient-specific and depend on factors such as type of disease, status of disease at the time of transplant and type of donor, said Dr Tan, senior consultant in NUH's University Children's Medical Institute.

The deaths highlight the risks inherent in medical procedures, said a private surgeon who noted that, with improving medical infrastructure in the Middle East in recent years, the patients who come here are increasingly the complicated, high-intensity cases.

"You come over for a complicated job that no one else in the region can do, it's a different starting point," he said.

A March news report cited the Middle East, along with Indonesia and Malaysia, as the top medical tourism markets for Singapore, and the surgeon thinks a dent in the number of patients from the Middle East is possible, as "any adverse publicity will have an effect, especially in a foreign country".

But the key question, said another surgeon in private practice, is whether the children who died would really have benefited from the treatment they received.

"It comes back to your own experience. Let's say out of 10 patients that people tell you would have died, you managed to save one or two persons - so instead of 100-per-cent deaths, you now have 20 per cent who survive. Some patients and their families may accept that. It's very important to establish the track record for such patients of the people who are doing this," he said. He added that a review could be useful, given the three deaths in one week. - TODAY
*************************************************************************************

Seems like our local media does pick this up.

What's your say...?

3 Saudi children die in a week at Singapore hospital

2011-05-24T14:51:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

3 Saudi children die in a week at Singapore hospital
FAHD AL-DHIYABI

RIYADH: The Ministry of Health has stopped all treatment of Saudis at a Singapore hospital after three Saudi children died there in one week. The children had been referred there for bone-marrow transplants.
The ministry said it will provide patients with treatment in other advanced countries.

Two girls, Rawabi Al-Hazmi and Darin Al-Areeni, died on May 14 and May 19 respectively.

A boy, Muhammad Abu Zinadah, died before Friday prayers on May 20.
Another boy, Ibrahim Al-Shar’aan, died on March 26.

The causes of death, according to the hospital’s reports, ranged from rejection of transplanted organs to viral infections, officials said.
The children’s guardians lodged official complaints against officials from the Ministry of Health and the Kingdom’s Embassy in Singapore, who referred them to the hospital.

They said they were lured into accepting treatment for their children at the hospital, which presented them with false reports about its high percentage of successful operations, according to officials.

The families of the dead children expressed astonishment at the Ministry of Health’s decision to refer the children for treatment at the hospital despite knowing that a Saudi patient had died there previously.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette was unable to reach Dr. Khalid Al-Hussein, chairman of the Medical Commission for the Treatment of Saudis Abroad to discuss the matter. His office staff said he would return on Saturday.
– Okaz/Saudi Gazette
__
****************************************************************************
The power of internet! Let's see if this news will be reported in the local mainstream media.

Why this hawker can't afford to maintain prices

2011-05-24T14:14:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

Why this hawker can't afford to maintain prices
Letter from Edward Chan
02:05 PM Apr 26, 2011

I read with interest that the Retail Price Watch Group (RPWG) enlisted more than 120 hawker stalls to pledge to maintain their prices for six months. Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Chairman of the RPWG, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Manpower and MP for East Coast GRC, was present to launch the initiative on March 20. The RPWG was "encouraged to see more businesses taking the initiative to help Singaporeans mitigate increases in prices."

Despite the Ministry of Trade and Industry's efforts to maintain food prices at hawker centres, it is with regret and trepidation that I read about the high-handed stance that the National Environment Agency is taking toward hawkers. My retiree friend was notified by NEA that his stall at Old Airport Hawker Centre had been "assessed by professional valuers to be fair and reasonable" regarding his rental increase from S$1,110 to S$1,500 with effect from April 1, after taking into account "stall size, location and the prevailing economic conditions". This letter came in response to his appeal through Mr Lim Biow Chuan, MP for Marine Parade GRC.

It leaves me saddened that agencies are taking initiatives counter to each other's. On the one hand, MTI wants to keep inflation low and prices stable. On the other hand, NEA is bent on keeping in line with "prevailing economic conditions". My friend is keen to maintain his prices but with a 36 per cent increase in rental, he will find it difficult not to pass this price increase to his customers.

NEA's letter also states: "If you have difficulty maintaining your stall rent, you may consider assigning the stall to an eligible party or surrendering it to NEA." This is his livelihood as a retiree. So it's a take it or leave it approach? Such compassion, coming from the civil service. I can understand if this were a private landlord.

This letter is only available online.
****************************************************************************

I actually came across logo that talks about Retail Price Watch Group (RPWG) on some stalls while I was having my late dinner with my girlfriend a few weeks ago. I found it funny as the root problem is the rental of stalls.

Unlike certain group of people who are interested to grab more monie from the public, I tend to believe that the majority of the hawker centre vendors know the grassroots situation way better than some policy makers. And I also choose to believe that they do empathise with people who are struggling to make ends meet.

I actually don't see 'agencies are taking initiatives counter to each other's' as it seems pretty apparent to me that these two agencies are not communicating to one another in the first place. Each agency just wants to get its job done. One on the other hand wants to score brownie points with the public by trying to bring down the price increment; while the other just want to go by the book and deem fit to have the price increase.

What is surprising to me is that I never know that a stall rental is so expensive! Even if the running a hawker stall can be a revenue for people in the lower income bracket, I find the rental is too high! This rental excludes the other capitals like buying ingredients, utlities bills and employing stall helpers.

Who can help them...?

Malay Singaporean Graduate Left for Melbourne in Search of Jobs

2011-05-24T08:39:00.000+08:00

My friend's online interview with Transitioning.org:-

Tuesday May 24th 2011

Malay Singaporean Graduate Left for Melbourne in Search of Jobs

We did an online interview with a Malay Singaporean – Nazryn – who is currently residing in Melbourne. Below is his reply:-

Describe abit about yourself e.g. personal particulars, educational qualification, work experience.

Good day Gilbert. I am 29 years old - a Singaporean of Malay ethnicity. I graduated from Macquarie University (Sydney) in 2008. Within the past 2 years, I have been working in various contract jobs with small and large enterprises here.. Unfortunately, most of my job stints were of contractual nature and they didn’t provide me with the job security that I require for my own personal advancement. I decided to quit from my previous contractual job and moved to Melbourne in search of work.

Where are you living now and why do you choose that location?

I am currently living in Melbourne. I embarked on that decision to find a job here after contemplating for quite some time. After my PR application was granted, I thought that I should venture out as I am still young and single. Since I have studied and lived in Australia for 3 years, I am somewhat familiar with the lifestyle and culture here. I chose Melbourne over Sydney due to its friendly and cosmopolitan environment. .

Did you face any adjustment problem initially when you make the move? Any regrets so far?

As mentioned, I have stayed here before during my undergraduate days but of course, having work and live in my native homeland, Singapore for a couple of years, there were minor adjustments that I have to make. Currently, I am applying for jobs and the expectations employers placed on candidates differs slightly as they value experience more than education al qualifications. I have to change my approach when applying for jobs.

Regrets? I would say I rather die trying than not…

How is the family coping currently? Are they happy or do they want to move back to Singapore?

I came here alone. Fortunately enough I am still single and the job uncertainty is for me alone to bear.

What precious lessons did you learn from living abroad? Will you do it again if given the choice?

Being independent is vital when living abroad especially in western societies. In Singapore we expect things will be on auto pilot. Here, I have to learn to make enquiries as much as I can and see what legal expectations I would need to undertake in order to gain employment. The idea of a one stop centre in Australia does’nt really exist and you have to make timely decisions to find out what is best for yourself. In fact, I am open to other overseas opportunities should the chance arises.

Was it difficult to get jobs while staying abroad? Describe your job search experience and how different it is from Singapore.

It is indeed difficult at some point. Employers here look out for candidates with “local experience”. Being a new migrant, it’s difficult for me to penetrate into the open job market. Making yourself sell-able is essential when applying for jobs. Employers here expect not only resumes but cover letters and also another letter to address key selection criteria placed on their job advertisements. Cover letters are essential as they summarised your experience and qualifications and it must fit the job application desired. In Singapore, “cover letters” are mostly seen as brief introductory notes (as far as I am aware). One have to be really creative and innovative in order to capture the employer’s attention here.

Do you want to return to Singapore eventually or prefer to settle down in your new place permanently?

It all depends. Like it or not, Singapore is my native home. The unfolding events back home before my eventual departure has been interesting enough. For once, we were given the empowerment to realise our own future in our own country. I realise somehow that being overseas strengthens your conviction and each and every experience and lessons learn abroad can be applied in contribution back home. This contrasted with my initial perception of moving abroad as I have been seriously disgruntled with the level of governance and the tight lipped society the system has created. Seeing how overseas based Singaporeans returned home as opposition candidates somewhat inspired me.

What are your main reasons for moving overseas?

I was disgruntled with the system. Sadly I can’t deny that ethnic marginalisation played a part in this. I realised being a minority (Malay for that matter), my opportunities are lessen and I need to make that extra effort compared to the rest to prove my worth. Seeing how limited the number of Malays in critical positions in the military irked me. I realised the system of fear has influence societal perceptions and if this carries on, we would be xenophobic towards our own citizens. Racism exists everywhere but at least in matured democracies there are movements and initiatives to address whenever such issues arise. The unforgiving educational system was another reason why I thought moving out would be a good idea for now. The way students are streamed at a young age is a rather disgusting thought for me. Rather than making sure a child would enjoy his/her learning experience, we stress them with unnecessary expectations.

Afterall, despite having a tough educational system, we have yet to produce a great thinker, revolutionary innovator or pioneering entrepreneurs. We have instead produce self centred individuals who care for his/her own survival. And we forgot the many who were left behind by our unforgiving system. I may be a bachelor now but I do have plans and aspirations for a conceivable environment should I set up a family one day.

What are your advice for those Singaporean migrants who have newly move abroad?

To keep enduring, keep the faith. Get in touch with local communities who have gone through this predicament and their strong words of advice would be very comforting. It helps mentally. From such interaction, we would learn more about the country’s society and culture. The more we address the differences and absorb the norms, the easier we would fit in.

Any last words from you?

Always do extensive research of the country you are moving to before actually moving on. Ask around about job opportunities, expect long waiting period before scoring that first job and for those with family, affordable homes in neighbourhoods good for your kids’ upbringing. Thousands of people are determined to cross into western countries illegally as refugees equipped only with what they brought along physically and their hope and determination. For those of us who have the opportunity to come with legal papers, appreciate the luxury of time given.

End of interview and thank you.
**************************************************************************

祝各界衛塞節2555愉快!!!

2011-05-17T08:06:00.000+08:00

恭祝各界衛塞節2555愉快!!!

衛塞節是佛教徒們來紀念世尊釋迦牟尼佛的降生，証道及涅槃的一個重要的日子。釋迦牟尼世尊在我們佛教裏被尊稱為“本師”，可有“根本導師”的意思。這可是因爲現在南傳，北傳，藏傳；小乘，大乘，金剛乘；顯教，密教，皆因釋迦牟尼世尊而得以出現於世。所以這“本師”的意義何其的大。

各界同修們也可借此“根本”之意，在這神聖的一天裏反思我們過去一年在佛道上的路程，讓我們對自己，對佛法的信心之炬持續的燃燒來給自己，給自己身邊摯愛的人們帶來心靈上的光明。

信心在佛法裏是我們佛教徒的一種推動我們自己的心態因素。在聽聞佛法時再以自己的觀察而覺得佛法乃可行之法後，對其佛法好好的去學、去了解。在了解后，便把佛法給融進我們的生活裏。當我們用心、努力的實踐佛法時，在人生歷練裏領悟其奧妙，自然的體證佛法的真實性。那在了解到、感受到了佛法的真意之後，對佛法的信心自然的會倍增。如此良性循環，把修行佛法逐漸提升為自然的佛法。

信。解。行。證。

在此祈願各界同修們在修行的道路上所求皆遂，一切無礙！

南無三界導師四生慈父娑婆教主本師釋迦牟尼佛！

Healthcare cracks as wide as Bishan River....

2011-05-14T09:37:00.000+08:00

A good write-up by Lucky Tan:-

Healthcare cracks as wide as Bishan River....

I wanted to post this yesterday but Blogspot was down.

I read with sad the plight of a cancer patient in The Online Citizen. Here is the case in detail [Why cancer patients are not subsidised by the govt]. The story tells us the enormous financial stress put on cancer patients and their families. Mdm Choo was diagnosed with incurable myeloma and needed medication to stay alive and improve her quality of life. The cancer treatment was not subsidized and she was not allowed to use Medisave which was her own money.Only after "haggling" with officials she was allowed to use her own Medisave for medicatiion which costs $500 per pill and chemotheraphy cost $1000 per session. Her Medisave ran out of money and she had to tap on her son's Medisave. As she could use only $450 from Medisave per day the amount of oustanding bills mounted as treatment can cost several thousand per day. When the bills mounted, credit collection company on behalf of SGH would harass them for payment.

“They’re like a licensed loan shark” - Mdm Choi [Link]

This is not an isolated case. Many Singaporeans face such hurdles and financial stress when they get cancer. A few months ago, Singapore's 1980s' cultural icon, singer, Yue Lei passed away in Malacca where he was seeking treatment for cancer. He sold his home in Singapore to pay for his cancer treatment at Mahkota Hospital in Malacca[Link]. Singapore's olympic hero, Tan Howe Liang, incurred a medical debt of $100,000 for his wife's breast cancer treatment[Link]. A donor helped him to pay for the bill. Tan Howe Liang earns $1000 per month working at a gym yet there is little financial aid available for his wife's treatment.

This is the real state of healthcare in Singapore - not the rosy affordable 3M picture painted by Minister Khaw. During the election campaign, an senior consultant, Prof Paul Tambyah from NUH spoke up at SDP's lunch time rally about healthcare financing and he paints a true picture of the situation : Link.

The PAP govt has kept its own expediture down by passing the rising costs of healthcare on to Singaporeans. Our govt expediture as a % of GDP is the lowest among developed countries. It is less than one third the average expediture of other govts. As the govt aspires Singapore to be a medical hub for the rich in the region, costs goes up (double digit per year) as capacity does not expand fast enough to meet demand. Specialists and experienced surgeon are drawn to the "for profit" medical hub where they can make much more money doing less work. The increased cost is then passed on to the sick and their families by means testing and subsidy cuts.

The govt says it is not financially prudent to do more to help the sick. However, to win more votes at Ang Moh Kio GRC, the PAP promised to build an artificial river running through Bishan Park that cost $1.2B[Link]. Yes, $1.2B for pork barrel but they cannot do more for cancer patients. There are 8000 new cancer patients per year. Over the next 5 years, there will be 40,000 Singaporeans who will be diagnosed with cancer. $1.2B works out to be $30,000 for every cancer patient for the next 5 years. The PAP instead chooses to use this money to build an artificial river to buy political support (after it did so many things wrong in the past 5 years). This a govt that has lost its morality. This is a govt that has lost its way.

**************************************************************************************

I have no idea what can the Bishan River does but I just hope it won't breed more mosquitoes!

I really wish our ruling elites will have empathy for the sick...

George Yeo and His True Legacy for Singapore

2011-05-14T09:24:00.001+08:00

Another good read from Mr Wang:-

George Yeo and His True Legacy for Singapore

Now that George Yeo is quitting politics, many people are saying that this is such a pity for Singapore's foreign affairs. Personally I am somewhat hazy about what George Yeo actually achieved in this area, but perhaps that's just because Singapore's foreign affairs is not an area to which I've paid that much attention.

Instead I will remember George Yeo as the minister who brought the casinos to Singapore. Yes, in case you've forgotten, George was the guy who first proposed the idea and pushed for it. Even within the PAP, there was plenty of debate and resistance about the casino proposal (to such an extent that another ex-minister, Lim Boon Heng, recently broke down in tears when he revisited those memories). But in the end George prevailed.

(George Yeo was also the man who famously said, "But we are building integrated resorts, not casinos". I found this statement very annoying, not merely because of its inherent dishonesty, but because it also assumed that Singaporeans were so stupid that they would fall for it. However, let's not digress.)

George Yeo's true legacy for Singapore is the casinos, for they will continue to exert an influence and impact on our society long after George himself is dead and gone. Billion-dollar infrastructure projects backed by serious international investors will not just fold up and expire tomorrow - once they are here, they are here to stay.

I am not one of those people who are fervently against casinos. Firstly I am not a Christian nor a Muslim and therefore have no religious objections against gambling.

Secondly, I recognise that the casinos do earn easy tourist dollars and create jobs (even though I do not think well of many of these jobs - would you really encourage your son to pursue a career as a professional croupier?).

Thirdly, I am not terribly persuaded by the argument that the casinos will spawn widespread gambling addictions among our people. That's because (in my view) such addictions may just as well arise in relation to 4D, Toto, Big Sweep or mahjong, all of which are forms of gambling which were here in Singapore long before the casinos ever came.

My concern about the casinos is that they will breed a lot of crime in Singapore. As long-time readers of this blog know, I began my legal career as a DPP, working frequently with the police as well as with CPIB and the Central Narcotics Bureau. Through my work experience, I have developed an intuitive sense of the kinds of environments and conditions under which crime, like magic, will spontaneously appear and flourish.

Casinos strike me as a rich, natural breeding ground for many types of crimes. Casinos are to criminals what garbage dumps are to rats, or shit is to houseflies. Specifically, a casino environment is supportive of the following species of criminal offences - theft, robbery, extortion, cheating, drug trafficking, consumption of illegal drugs, illegal moneylending, money laundering, vice activities, human trafficking and other immigration-related offences.

The two casinos have opened only in the recent past, so some of you will argue that it is too early to say if I am right or wrong. In fact I hope to be proven wrong about what I have said about the casinos - for who would want to live in a crime-infested country? Nevertheless, we can already begin to get a flavour of George Yeo's true legacy for Singapore. See below:

"AN UNEMPLOYED man was charged in court on Thursday with armed robbery of $450,000 from a businessman at a hotel room in Marina Bay Sands last week. No plea was taken from Octavius Tok Tien Howe, 37." LINK

"SINGAPORE: A punter who cheated the Marina Bay Sands casino of S$31,500 (US$24,800) with the help of a dealer was sentenced on Monday to 54 months jail. Thirty-two-year-old Tan Tiong Loon is the first person to ever be convicted and sentenced for being in cahoots with a dealer to cheat a local casino." LINK

"A VIETNAMESE woman was fined $700 on Wednesday for soliciting at the Marina Bay Sands casino after she lost money in gambling ... A district court heard that at 1.30am last Saturday, police received a call from security staff of the casino that they had detained a woman for soliciting for the purpose of prostitution." LINK

"SINGAPORE: A former croupier at the Resorts World Sentosa casino and a full-time gambler were jailed Tuesday for working together to cheat the attraction of nearly S$29,000 between October 2 and 9 last year." LINK

"A Singaporean man has been charged with acting as a bookie at the Resorts World Sentosa casino. 50-year-old Ng Ah Chye allegedly committed the offences between 11 July and 17 August, last year." LINK

"SINGAPORE: A court in Singapore has framed charges against five Indians for allegedly using fake casino chips at a resort in the city state, local media reported on Saturday. The Indians are accused of using an unknown number of counterfeit chips valued at SGD 1,000 each ..." LINK

"After gambling and losing the $1000 he had brought to the Resorts World Sentosa casino, an Indonesian tourist resorted to theft. 49-year old Paulus Djohar has been sentenced to 4 weeks' jail for the attempted theft of a $500 cellphone. He followed 18-year old student Lim Tse Min from behind at Changi Airport and took the phone from her backpack." LINK

"A CHINESE national gambled with $250 in casino chips that did not belong to him while an Indian national stole $12,180 worth of electrical cables meant for Marina Bay Sands so as to get some money to bet with. On Wednesday, the two construction workers pleaded guilty. Ni Guo Jian, 45, was jailed nine weeks for criminal breach of trust. Kakkayan Govindarasan, 26, was jailed seven months." LINK

For better or for worse, this is George Yeo's legacy. For all of us, in this country.
**************************************************************************************

I appreciate writers who give a balance view about what had been overly exaggerating in the mainstream media.

An Open Letter to Minister Vivian Balakrishnan

2011-05-10T10:10:00.000+08:00

A repost of a well written open letter:-

An Open Letter to Minister Vivian Balakrishnan Responding to Channel Newsasia Report Govt needs to improve communication with citizens: Dr Balakrishnan

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Holland-Bukit Timah) - Minister (via email to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan; cc'ed to Mr Low Thia Khiang and Ms Sylvia Lim, Members of Parliament, Aljunied GRC)

Dear, Dr Balakrishnan.

I wish you well. I am Richard Chua, an arts and culture worker in the Singapore arts scene. I am also a constituent in the Aljunied GRC. I read the online news report by Channel Newsasia (1) with interest. I find your medical analogy highlighting the importance of open discussion between a doctor and the patient fitting rather oddly with how conversation should take place between the state and its constituents, for the latter is carried out on levelled grounds as compared to the former: where the patient obviously is unable to treating him/herself out of an illness. His/her only choice is to either accept the doctor's treatment, or to reject it. More so than not, the patient -- in lieu of his/her survival -- is not given a choice. He/She has to rely on a doctor's opinion. If not, his/her life might be in danger. If a patient dies, the doctor assumes no responsibility, if proper treatment has been given to him/her. Patients will not be able to make good judgement, for the discussion has high personal stakes. At the end of the day, the doctor has practically no risks.

However engagement between the government and its constituents is akin to parents deciding on whether their son/daughter should undergo a heart bypass, for stakes between the parents are equally high: the risk of losing their child. The quality of the conversation between the parents will be well-considered, informed, with consensus. Both parents assume equal responsibility for the child's well-being. Singapore is the government and Singaporeans' only child. Hence the government and Singaporeans are collectively responsible in the country's well-being.

A constituent's responsibility is to cast his/her vote wisely, to the right party, to the right government. Singaporeans have made their choice last weekend. Dr Balakrishnan, your constituents have exercised responsibility in casting their votes, electing you and your GRC team into parliament. There was only one vote per constituent, for a team of candidates running for places in parliament for the GRC. By having one vote per constituent electing a team of 5 or 6 people into the parliament is totally unfair. For they do not have the option to openly reject the team of candidates contesting in their constituencies during nomination day. Hence requesting constituents to exercise their vote to a group of candidates of whom they have had no say in individual candidates' nomination is fundamentally unfair.

Hence your opinion that George Yeo has lost his seat to Aljunied constituent's will is not well-grounded. For the voice of Aljunied constituents you referred to was a weak one. Aljunied constituents only have one vote per person. They can only elect one team of people, either from the People Action Party or the Workers' Party. They can't vote for the candidate of their choice. George Yeo might have won the hearts of many. Lim Hwee Hua might get my blessing, but in my opinion the new candidate Ong Ye Kung seemed to have a long way to go. Given the differences, and with only one vote on hand, as a voter, I had to exercise proportionate voting according to the number of potentially strong candidates in each party.

If the election results in Aljunied GRC happened otherwise, good Singaporean leaders such as Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim would be the country's losses too. Would you mourn for them? I seriously doubt so, and vice-versa, applying to Workers' Party too.

The problem therefore lies with the GRC system. As much as it is a fair system, allowing minority constituents to be well represented in a constituency, this fairness does not apply to Singapore's very own meritocratic system where the best shall be given the mandate to run the country. A constituent's vote can only be used once, for one group of able-people, not able-individuals. In the recent election, an able-individual George Yeo, from People Action Party, lost his chance to contribute to the nation, not to mention others -- Lim Hwee Hua and Cynthia Phua -- who suffered the same fate. One man's meat is another man's poison. People Action Party has been systematically castrated by its own flawed mechanism.

The GRC system is indeed problematic, and -- in my opinion -- it should be abolished. I sincerely hope that you will raise this issue in the new parliament sitting. If not, I will request my new members of parliament to do so.

Thank you for reading this open letter.

Best Regards,
Richard Chua Lian Choon
SXXXXXXXX

Notes

(1) Cheney, S. (2011) Govt needs to improve communication with citizens: Dr Balakrishnan. channelnewsasia.com. [Singapore] Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1127734/1/.html

cc. Mr Low Thia Khiang and Ms Sylvia Lim, members of parliament, Aljunied GRC.
****************************************************************************

Let us see will this topic be brought up in our upcoming Parliament...!

The Potong Pasir Petition – and the Parliamentary Act. Share and repost to all those who are interested in this matter.

2011-05-09T11:32:00.000+08:00

This is a repost of a note found here, with regards to an entry that I have post earlier. Please take out time to read this:-

The Potong Pasir Petition – and the Parliamentary Act. Share and repost to all those who are interested in this matter.

by Karen Teoh on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 12:25am
Friends,

Many of you would have received the call to go down to Potong Pasir to sign a petition. More than a few of you, like me, have also asked “Why?” and how will this help.

Now, some of you may have seen my earlier notes about the Tanjong Pagar GRC walkover, so I hope you will take my word for it that I know enough about the Parliamentary Elections Act (Cap 218) (“the PE Act”) to be able to explain the why – and what the SPP are trying to do.

Please read this article by Alex Au in which the basis of counting is set out.

http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/counting-agent-me/

All further references hereunder are to sections are under the PE Act. Also, all opinions on the law remain mine and should not be taken as advice as I am not a qualified person under the Legal Professions Act.

Now that we've got the disclaimers out of the way, on to what you all want to know.

SPP’s legal case, if it goes forward, would be an application by Originating Summons under s 90(b) by named plaintiffs, foremost of would be Lina Chiam under s 93(b), as well as Potong Pasir voters under s 90(a). Affidavits would need also be drafted adducing evidence that the Returning Officers judgment of the intention on the mark under s 50(2) is incorrect. It would also help to give evidence at the Polling stations by Poling agents that no assistance was given to voters about voting instructions under schedule 2 of the Act.

Under s 50(4) of the Act on rejection of papers is beyond the purview of the Election judge – so only the correctness of the papers attributed to each side, whether rightly or wrongly and counted under s 50(2) of the Act is at issue. Depending on the finding the judge takes, either 1 vote counted wrongly is sufficient – or all votes counted would lead to a different result, the Elections judge could void the election under s94(a), return the correct candidate to power s 94(c) and s 94(d) – scrutinize the votes. I think s 94(d) and s 94(c) together are rather more sensible – but as a matter of course, all remedies will be added to the pleadings for the Originating Summons.

In any case, it would be a win for Singaporeans for us to lay down the law so that Returning Officials of the ilk described by Alex Au in the link above are no longer given any latitude. I dread to think what happened in the close constituencies for WP.

Based on my experience with the preliminaries of getting such a petition together, SPP and Ms Chiam have 21 days from today, May 8 to file a petition as an originating summons under s 97. An estimate of costs given to me for the Tanjong Pagar application if the facts had been in our favour were that a 1 day trial for an OS would cost about $25K in court costs and filing fees, and a further $30-50K in lawyers fees. It would have come in at a lower end of the spectrum because I was prepared to do a fair bit of the work in drafting affidavits. These costs will have to be paid for by SPP – or the public.

If this case should go through, I think that the SDP, WP, Reform Party and NSP should all contribute minimum sums of at least $5,000 – for the simple reason that tying down the Returning Officers discretion in deciding against them is in the oppositions favour, especially with the number of close fights in SMC's this election - though none so close as Ms Chiams.

But don’t just take my word for it – read the statute for yourself.

http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_retrieve.pl?actno=REVED-218&doctitle=PARLIAMENTARY+ELECTIONS+ACT%0A&date=latest&method=part&sl=1

I also am not quite sure why SPP isn’t just running an online petition that people can sign or indicate assent online? If anyone from the SPP is reading this, we’d be quite happy to let you have access to the Tanjong Pagar Groups online petitioner sign up. We’ve paid for it already – you might as well have it.

On a final note to all of you who have taken the time to read this - a democracy is about reading things for yourself then making up your mind – not blindly doing as told – no matter who tells you what to do – ruling party OR opposition. We are free citizens of Singapore and we have paid the price to exercise our rights – so please use them.

Votes to be rejected

50. —(1) The Returning Officer shall reject as invalid the following ballot papers only, namely, any ballot paper —

(a) which does not bear the complete official mark for the authentication of ballot papers or is not initialled by the presiding officer;

(b) on which votes are given for more than one candidate or group of candidates;

(c) on which anything is written or marked by which the voter can be identified except the printed number on the back;

(d) which is unmarked; or

(e) which is void for uncertainty.

[10/88; 18/99]

(2) Where the Returning Officer is satisfied that any mark made on a ballot paper clearly indicates the intention of the voter and the candidate or group of candidates for whom he gives his vote, the Returning Officer shall not reject the ballot paper on the ground solely that it has not been marked in all respects in accordance with the directions given for the guidance of voters under this Act.

[10/88]

(3) Before rejecting a ballot paper, the Returning Officer shall show it to each candidate or his counting agent if present and hear his views thereon, taking all proper precautions to prevent any person from seeing the number printed on the back of the paper.

(4) The decision of the Returning Officer whether or not any ballot paper shall be rejected shall be final and shall not be questioned on an application under section 90.

[42/2005]

(2) Where the Returning Officer is satisfied that any mark made on a ballot paper clearly indicates the intention of the voter and the candidate or group of candidates for whom he gives his vote, the Returning Officer shall not reject the ballot paper on the ground solely that it has not been marked in all respects in accordance with the directions given for the guidance of voters under this Act.

[10/88]

Appointment and powers of Election Judge

92. —(1) Every application under section 90 shall be heard by the Chief Justice or by a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice for the purpose.

[42/2005]

(2) The Chief Justice or the Judge so nominated is referred to in this Act as the Election Judge.

(3) Witnesses shall be subpoenaed and sworn in the same manner as nearly as circumstances admit as in a trial by the High Court in the exercise of its original civil jurisdiction and shall be subject to the same penalties for the giving of false evidence.

(4) On the hearing of an application under section 90, the Election Judge may, by order under his hand, compel the attendance of any person as a witness who appears to him to have been concerned in the election to which the application refers.

[42/2005]

(5) Any person refusing to obey the order of the Election Judge under subsection (4) shall be guilty of contempt of court.

(6) The Election Judge may examine any witness so compelled to attend or any person in court, although the witness is not called and examined by any party to the application.

[42/2005]

(7) After the examination of a witness by the Election Judge, the witness may be cross-examined by or on behalf of the applicant and the respondent, or either of them.

[42/2005]

(8) The Election Judge shall be attended on the hearing of an application under section 90 in the same manner as if he were a Judge of the High Court.

[16/93; 42/2005]

(9) Unless otherwise ordered by the Chief Justice, all interlocutory matters in connection with an application under section 90 may be dealt with and decided by any Judge of the High Court.

[16/93; 42/2005]

Who may make application under section 90

93. An application under section 90 may be made to the Supreme Court by any one or more of the following persons:

(a) some person who voted or had a right to vote at the election to which the application relates;

(b) some person claiming to have had a right to be returned or elected at the election;

(c) some person alleging himself to have been a candidate at the election.

[42/2005]

Relief which may be claimed

94. All or any of the following reliefs to which the applicant may be entitled may be claimed in an application under section 90:

(a) a declaration that the election is void;

(b) a declaration that the return of the person elected was undue;

(c) a declaration that any candidate was duly elected and ought to have been returned;

(d) where the seat is claimed for an unsuccessful candidate on the ground that he or the group of candidates to which he belongs had a majority of lawful votes, a scrutiny.

[10/88; 42/2005]

Certificate of Election Judge as to validity of election

95. —(1) At the conclusion of the hearing of an application under section 90, the Election Judge shall determine whether the Member whose return or election is complained of, or any other and what person, was duly returned or elected, or whether the election was void, and shall certify such determination to the President.

[42/2005]

(2) Upon the certificate being given under subsection (1), the determination shall be final; and the return shall be confirmed or altered, or the President shall within one month of the determination, by notice in the Gazette, order the holding of an election in the electoral division concerned, as the case may require, in accordance with the certificate.

[10/88]

(3) Where the election of any Member for a group representation constituency is determined by the Election Judge under subsection (1) to be void, the election of the other Members for that constituency shall be deemed to be void.

[10/88; 9/91]

[42/2005]

Procedure and practice on applications under section 90

100. —(1) The procedure and practice on applications under section 90 shall be regulated by rules which may be made by the Rules Committee constituted and appointed under section 80 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Cap. 322).

[42/2005]

(2) The Rules contained in the Fourth Schedule shall be deemed to have been made under the powers conferred by subsection (1) and shall be amendable by rules made under that subsection.

[21/91; 42/2005]

SECOND SCHEDULE

Section 42(7)

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ACT

(CHAPTER 218)

DIRECTIONS FOR GUIDANCE OF VOTERS IN VOTING

1. The voter may vote for one candidate or, if the electoral division is a group representation constituency, one group of candidates.

2. The voter has one vote.

3. The voter will go into the place reserved for the marking of ballot papers and mark a cross in the space provided for the purpose on the right hand side of the ballot paper opposite the name of the candidate or, if the electoral division is a group representation constituency, the names of the group of candidates, for which he votes, thus, X.

4. The voter will then fold up the ballot paper so as to show the official mark on the back, and without showing the front of the paper to any person, show the official mark on the back to the presiding officer, put the paper into the ballot box and immediately leave the polling station.

5. If the voter inadvertently spoils a ballot paper, he can return it to the presiding officer who will, if satisfied of such inadvertence, give him another paper.

6. If the voter votes for more than one candidate or, if the electoral division is a group representation constituency, more than one group of candidates, on any ballot paper, his ballot paper will be void and will not be counted.

7. If the voter places any mark on the ballot paper by which he may afterwards be identified, his ballot paper will be void and will not be counted.

[10/88]
***************************************************************************

Do give it some thoughts and if you like, please go to Block 108 Potong Pasir to sign for the petition!

Petition for Residents of Potong Pasir

2011-05-08T23:10:00.000+08:00

Please visit here for more information.

The following is the extract of some information:-

Petition will be held on 9th of May 2011 (Monday) and 10th of May 2011 (Tuesday) from 1600 - 2000 hours.

We require 8000 signatures from residents, to call for a by-election of Potong Pasir SMC. Non-residents may come down and sign as a show of support.
**************************************************************************************

The aftermath of the heat of election. I was at the petition gathering earlier this evening. It was really crowded. But I love the crowd, especially the crowd comes from all over Singapore.

Awakened...?

An Advance Happy Mothers' Day!!!

2011-05-07T02:24:00.000+08:00

Wishing all mothers in advance a very Happy Mothers' Day!!!

This year's Mothers' Day is a little special on this little red dot. It is the day where we will know the composition of our new Parliament. I think it is expected that the counting of the votes can go late in the night. So I guess that many Singaporeans will only get to know the polling results on Mothers' Day.

I wrote this entry because I was inspired by this particular post that is circulating around in facebook. There is a message encouraging people to put their mothers' photos as the profile pictures for a period of time in honour of their mothers.

I paused and thought for a while (not trying to be demeaning but) and realised that such action doesn't have much pragmatic effect.

I feel that the best Mothers' Day gift for this year is to cast the right votes to the Opposition Parties.

Having elected Members of Parliament from the Opposition Parties is our best bet to have robust and rigorous discussion on policies in the Parliament. It will also raise the level of accountability and transparency of the Parliament and Government as a whole.

We are suffering from the negative effects of certain policies. The effects did not happen over night but molded through a period of time. Leaving them unresolved will simply snowballed our current problem to the younger and future generation.

Will a loving mother wants that?

Let us join our mothers in the spirit of safeguarding our future generation.

Vote for change.

Vote for accountability and transparency.

Vote for Singaporeans first.

Vote for better social welfare for the needy and less fortunate.

The Singapore National Pledge

2011-05-06T15:54:00.000+08:00

We, the citizens of Singapore,

pledge ourselves as one united people,

regardless of race, language or religion,

to build a democratic society

based on justice and equality

so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress

for our nation.

It is the afternoon of the cooling down day. A day which is supposed for everyone to cool down to think about where the votes in their hands should go to. Candidates are not allowed to campaigned but we cannot stop how the mainstream media will want to make full use of today to push their cause through.

Think about it the kind of policies that you wish to see.

The policies that will affect the lives of you and me, the very average Singaporeans.

I was at the Workers' Party Rally last night and I can say I had never felt this proud reciting our National Pledge. Have our country attain what we had pledged to?

Democracy comes a long way. Some say that you have to keep working on it, it is not something that has reached and you stop working on it. It's an ongoing process.

Every generation will have talents of their time to surface and lead the country to a greater heights.

If you wish to have sound polices, checks and balance, accountability and transparency, and humility in the process of law-making that is for the betterment of Singaporeans.

You know where your vote shall go to.

We can't stop what the mainstream media is trying to project.

But we can put on a smile, explain to the people you love and let them know the importance of tomorrow.

A great and exciting weekend to look forward to.

Don't be afraid and do the right thing.

Vote wisely for yourself and the future generation of Singapore...!!!

Rojak will stay in Singaporean's imagination. But I am not sure if PAP would, in years to come.

2011-05-05T12:01:00.000+08:00

Another interesting article that I have come across in facebook:-

"When you have a coalition government, it will be like a plate of rojak. Everyone will put in their ideas and you are going to have a rojak government coming up with rojak policies. Your future will become a big plate of rojak," added the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office." Lim Swee Say, PAP Rally, 1 May 2011, Bedok Stadium.

Lim Swee Say's analogy using a plate of Rojak to describe the nature of a coalition government is both insensitive and inappropriate. For the dish, not only shared by Malays, Chinese, and Indians alike, reflects the Singapore's society, in the true spirit of multiculturalism. By suggesting that large numbers of opposition members in parliament would result in different "pet" policies taking up space in the parliament, he seems to insinuate that all other policies -- besides the PAP ones -- are done with less than beneficial agendas for the people. Accepting his argument, not withstanding, but to accept the derogatory label given to the Singapore dish is unacceptable. Lim Swee Say's choice of this analogy, not only is disingenuous, at best, but it also undermines the fundamental make-up of the Singapore parliament, where members of the Singapore parliament have always been a gathering of policy makers of different races making decisions for Singapore since its inception.

Singapore parliament has always been a plate of Rojak (if we were to take off the derogatory label that has plagued the dish for the longest time), where members of parliament of different race and language gather to make decisions for the betterment of this country. This is political multiculturalism at this best, where different people can discuss, make decisions, offer different perspectives from their relevant positions. However what's worrying here is -- as what Lim Swee Say has suggested -- that PAP would only want one person to prepare the dish (Rojak or otherwise), rather than allowing many people to prepare the same dish with different flavours, not allowing political creativity to flourish. This will greatly stifle political diversity in terms of ideas for policy formulation.

By holding on the ladle to the pot, this dish (it could be Rojak, as stated earlier that Singapore parliament is by nature a plate of Rojak) could only be prepared by one-person, at his/her own fancy, adding ingredients of his/her choice. That's very disconcerting. For the person will not have the time to explore better ingredients for this local delicacy, while aiming to single-handedly create the best plate of Rojak according to his/her own version of the "the great Singaporean Rojak". If political ideas influencing politics were to only limit themselves to one central concept, then diversity will not be allowed to flourish, culture practices curbed, perspectives stifled.

Should this happen, how would a member of parliament handle myriad and diversified voices in his/her constituency, if he/she prefers only one way of cooking this seemingly creative delicacy (to me, every constituency is open canvas waiting for the best painting to emerge) , not allowing the constituency's full potential in taking different forms and permutations to emerge, according to the needs of the people consuming it?

Lim Swee Say has totally underestimated the potential of the Singapore dish Rojak. For it has stayed with Singaporeans through the ages, proving its timeless-ness. For it has allowed many Rojak sellers to experiment it, to prepare it creatively, to fit the tastes of different generations of Singaporeans. The Rojak will forever stay in Singaporeans' memory. I am not sure if PAP would, if diversity and creativity were to be continually curbed, not allowing Singapore -- most probably the biggest Rojak dish -- to explore greater potential as first world country in this region and the world.

- end -

Cooling-Off Day and Polling Day

2011-05-05T11:33:00.000+08:00

Found this here and repost for sharing:-

PRESS RELEASE

Cooling-Off Day and Polling Day

In previous General Elections, campaigning and election advertising was
disallowed on Polling Day.

In this General Election, 7 May 2011 is Polling Day. The day before Polling
Day, i.e., 6 May 2011, is designated as Cooling-off Day.

Cooling-off Day is a day when campaigning is disallowed and election
advertising must not be published or displayed. This is to let voters reflect rationally on various issues raised at an election before going to the polls.

The following campaign and election advertising activities are prohibited on Cooling-off Day and Polling Day by the Parliamentary Elections Act:

(a) Publication and display of election advertising (including Internet
election advertising) not already lawfully displayed or published before
the start of Cooling-off Day;
(b) Canvassing and visiting homes and workplaces of voters in connection
with elections;
(c) Wearing, carrying or displaying any political insignia or propaganda
(such as badge, symbol, rosette, favour, set of colours, flag,
advertisement, handbill, placard, poster or replica of voting paper); and
(d) Holding of election meetings.

The above prohibition does not extend to the following:
(a) Party political broadcasts on television;
(b) News relating to elections published in newspapers or broadcast on
radio or television;
(c) Approved posters/banners lawfully displayed before the start of
Cooling-off Day;
(d) Other election advertising (including Internet election advertising)
lawfully displayed or published before the start of Cooling-off Day;
(e) Distribution or promotion of sale of any book if the book was scheduled
for publication independent of the elections and the book is not sold at
less than its commercial value;
(f) The transmission by any individual of his personal political views to
another individual, on a non-commercial basis, using the telephone,
Internet or other electronic means; and
(g) Wearing of party badges or symbols by candidates.

Candidates and supporters are reminded to refrain from visiting their
constituents or attending public events within their constituencies on Cooling-off Day and Polling Day. Attending religious ceremonies or worship services, or attending functions in the course of work or employment would still be permissible but this is subject to the general rule prohibiting campaigning and election advertising on Cooling-off Day and Polling Day.

The Parliamentary Elections Act also prohibits the publishing of election
survey results on Cooling-off Day and Polling Day, and publishing of exit polls on Polling Day before the close of all polling stations.

Please refer to the Parliamentary Elections Act (in particular sections 77, 78B, 78C, 78D, 80 and 80A) on the prohibitions relating to campaigning and election advertising during Cooling-off Day and Polling Day.

ELECTIONS DEPARTMENT
PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
4 May 2011
****************************************************************************
To share with all.

PAP's Cynthia Phua And Her Most Famous Moment as an Aljunied MP

2011-05-03T16:45:00.000+08:00

A very interesting article. Please spare time to read it. Repost from here:-

PAP's Cynthia Phua And Her Most Famous Moment as an Aljunied MP

Today I will tell you a story. It is a sad story, so sad that it is almost like a Taiwanese soap opera. Unfortunately, it is not fiction, but a true story. (And here are the links to prove it).

Once upon a time, there was a woman who lived in Aljunied (we don't know her real name, so let's just call her Julie). She was 53 years old, and she had a 17-year-old son (again we don't know his real name - let's call him Ah Teck).

Julie was poorly educated. She had only studied up to Primary 6. She worked as a part-time cleaner, earning $400 a month to support herself and Ah Teck. Meanwhile, Ah Teck had low IQ and was attending a special school for mentally handicapped kids. He also had thalassemia, a blood disorder.

Ah Teck's father had run away several years ago and could no longer be found. So there was absolutely no financial help from him.

One day in January 2009, Julie was at work. She was standing on a chair to clean a fan. Suddenly, she slipped and fell. She broke her wrist. Thereafter Julie lost her job, for she could no longer perform her cleaning duties.

The money soon ran out and they could not pay their HDB mortgage installments. So Julie and Ah Teck were about to lose their home - the HDB was taking action to repossess it. The HDB agreed to rent her another flat. But Julie did not even have $138 to pay for the rental deposit.

So Julie and Ah Teck decided to go to see their MP in Aljunied. They hoped that the MP would sign an appeal letter for them, to waive the $138 rental deposit. They went to the town council and had a chance to meet Aljunied MP Cynthia Phua (yes, the same Cynthia Phua now running for Aljunied again, together with George Yeo).

What went on in the office, we will never know for sure. Cynthia claimed that the conversation was cordial and went well. Her fellow PAP MP Lim Hwee Hua even claimed that Cynthia behaved in a manner that was "very helpful" and "very motherly". But we hear a different side of the story from Julie, and it goes like this:

".....shortly after they had entered the office, Madam Phua asked her son a series of questions: 'She asked him, 'Who are you? What are you doing? Why aren't you working?' .... The mother said she wanted to explain her son's condition, but wasn't given a chance. 'I felt like we were being scolded,' she said.
Whatever Cynthia Phua had actually said, we know that Ah Teck must have felt very humiliated and insulted. Perhaps it was not merely the words, but the tone, the demeanour, the body language. Whatever the case may be, we know how Ah Teck must have felt, for right after he walked out of Cynthia's office, he lost his temper in a big way. Ah Teck picked up a foldable chair, and slammed it twice on a door.

There was a small commotion, other people restrained the boy and calmed him down. And then Julie and Ah Teck went home.

Things might have ended there, but they did not. Cynthia made a police report. Later that night, the police arrived and arrested Ah Teck. Criminal charges were brought against him.

Two days later, Julie went to see the MP again, clutching a handwritten letter of apology from her son. We are told that in this letter, Ah Teck wrote the following words: "'Please fodgive me for what I dad I am sinelely truely I'm sorry". (Note that Ah Teck has low IQ - that would be why his writing skills are so poor).

But there was no forgiveness. There was no kindness. PAP MP Lim Hwee Hua rejected the apology and refused to ask the police to withdraw the case.

Hwee Hua further claimed that Ah Teck's chair "could have killed somebody". (Personally, I think that the only thing you can kill by hitting a door with a chair is the door. Or the chair).

Charges were pressed and the hapless Ah Teck was required to appear in court on a certain date. What happened next is not publicly known. This is probably because the boy was underage - juvenile court proceedings are generally shielded from the public eye and reporters are kept out of the courtroom.

So the story ends here - because we really don't know what happened next.

What I hope is that Ah Teck did not get some criminal conviction that would stain his record, and make his already-bleak future even more difficult.

I also hope that both Julie and Ah Teck had the good fortune to meet a judge who could understand their hardship and empathise with their daily struggles for money and a roof over their heads.

And I hope that the judge treated Ah Teck with more kindness and compassion, than the Aljunied PAP MPs had done.

Since the General Elections are here again, it is also my hope that you will take a few moments to reflect on the above incident.

Especially if you are in the Aljunied GRC, please vote wisely .... for MPs who are kind and compassionate, and who genuinely want to help their residents.

Posted by Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang
*****************************************************************************

Vote wisely.

GE: Majority not concerned about ministerial pay: SM

2011-05-03T12:22:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

By Channel NewsAsia, Updated: 03/05/2011
GE: Majority not concerned about ministerial pay: SM

SINGAPORE — Describing the issue of ministerial salaries as the Opposition’s "favourite flogging horse", Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said yesterday that the "majority" of the population were not concerned about it.

Speaking after a walkabout in Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Mr Goh said: "All they want (to know) is: Have we produced jobs for them, can we look after their medical care, can their medical care be affordable, can we cope with the cost of living, can we deliver good housing at affordable prices?

"These are the issues that are of concern to them and these are the issues the Government is addressing."

Still, Mr Goh acknowledged that the issue — which has been "flogged over so many" General Elections — has cost the PAP "some votes".

"But, by and large, the people understand," said Mr Goh.

The Singapore Democratic Party has proposed benchmarking the ministerial salaries to the national median wage — instead of being pegged to the top six professions.

Noting that the formula used "depends on who you are targeting", Mr Goh said: "You go and examine the pay of the chairmen, CEOs of the public—listed companies in Singapore ... every CEO is earning twice the ministers’ pay, even more. CapitaLand’s (CEO) easily earns about S$10 million. Why should they come and join us in politics?"

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the PAP Government would have to explain its stand on ministerial salaries "again and again, during times when temperature is not so high".

Noting that the topic has been debated "many times over the years", Mr Lee said: "The last time we made changes was in 2007 and we had three days of parliamentary debate — full debate ... there was a full airing of the issues and explanations on why we think this is an honest, sound system which will enable Singapore to have the best team of not just ministers, but judges, civil servants, Singapore Armed Forces officers ... all the public sector."

The Prime Minister added: "None of those arguments get rehearsed in rallies. When it comes to rallies, you just throw big numbers down, and excite envy and disaffection. But I suppose that is the nature of election campaign."

Ultimately, Singaporeans should "look at the results" for the country, he said.

"It has delivered a Government which has overall served Singapore competently and well. And compared to other countries, we haven’t done badly," said Mr Lee.

Foreign Minister George Yeo was also asked for his take on ministerial salaries. Speaking on the sidelines on a constituency event, he conceded that it was an "awkward question because I have a vested interest in this".

Still, he noted that the country’s key advantage was its public administration — and the remuneration for this sector has to be competitive.

Said Mr Yeo: "If they are not, then the people whom they are regulating, managing or trying to attract to Singapore would be smarter and more able than they are — which means they would not be able to do things they have done."

He added: "The next question (is) whether the political service should be detached from the admin service? If we ... say, OK we pay the political service differently, there will be all kinds of problems."

—CNA/sf/

TODAY
******************************************************************************
After reading this, I really don't know what to say!!!

GE2011 on a lighter note (3)

2011-05-03T12:19:00.000+08:00

Some had reposted this interesting entry in hardwarezone forum.

Who actually have the audacity/courage (well...depends which side you're from) to do up these signages!!!

大选后五年如何光景？别再冷眼旁观，请为新加坡投入一份爱心！

2011-05-03T07:22:00.000+08:00

从脸谱上转载：-

大选后五年如何光景？别再冷眼旁观，请为新加坡投入一份爱心！

黄子明

新加坡人一向是温驯的一群，喜欢安分守己，不问世事。一提到政治，就马上谈虎色变，避而讳言，事关受华文教育的上一代人，为了“关心社会 ”而做出的牺牲太大了，以致大家觉得只要赚够钱，让家人有一个窝就好了，什么叫做“民主”，只是一个抽象的问题，于己无关。没钱的只盼有钱供一个组屋，有钱的梦想有朝一日买更大的房子，很多人于是不敢投反对票，怕人民行动党的恐吓，怕选区得不到提升，产业的增值就没有保障。问题是，放眼一看就知道，五年十年一晃，新加坡已经不再是我们过去脑海中的人间天堂了，我们恐怕不能再沉迷于泡影之中了！

今年大选所爆发的空前82席激烈争战实在反映了一点：新加坡民主党、国民团结党等各自奋起提出政治方针（还有“影子预算案“），以及工人党呼吁的第一世界国会和人民行动党的一党专政之间，所关系到的已经不单是“抽象”的“民主”问题，而是低收入家庭和许多就业人士切身的“民生”问题。现在新加坡的外来人口，已经占了总人口的百分之四十，简直骇人听闻（人力部长林瑞生光明正大地说：两个新加坡人对一个外国人，比率“刚刚好”），这所带来的社会问题是可想而知的。这不是一个某某国度的移民和本地民性存在隔阂的问题，而是新加坡一个弹丸小国的人口负荷问题，包括了随着外来人口而来就业问题以及物价、房价高涨的问题。试想现在生活都成问题，人们的公积金还都埋在房屋贷款的无底洞里头，退休后还有什么活路？而政府除了建赌场以外，还在为社会作什么建设呢？

新加坡的经济增长（双位数的起伏波动）和人民生活已经成了两回事。从2001年至2010年，新加坡平均工资的实际增长只有1.1%。根据人力部2009年统计，新加坡家庭中位数收入为2720元，这要是以一家四口计算，根本不够开支。至于新加坡的失业率，自从人力部2006年的3.2%连受雇的外劳也计算在内，本地人的就业实情已经难以说清。网上可以看到这样的故事：本地电脑人才，三年前因为公司一律改聘外地（廉价）员工而遭受裁员，为求生计当了德士司机，经济拮据让他无法不到HDB去要求卖掉五房式组屋，他们说不行，他只好说他跳进MRT火车轨自尽，他们才让他卖掉搬入三房式。但如此一般穷途末路，何止一人？

难怪这回选举中，反对党群众大会数以千计的盛况，和人民行动党的小猫两三只（一些中老年人士，还都是RC包巴士送过去，连送一包饭），已成了强烈的对比。反对党的竞选人士的素质和过去的比起来，也已经是今非昔比，工人党的最新王牌，是英美顶尖大学毕业的法学博士、叱咤国际金融业的商业律师陈硕茂，而民主党的行列中，有毕业自英国的社会工作者Vincent Wijeysingha博士，有前副总理吴作栋当年首席秘书陈如斯（他本人写了一份报告，分析政府这些年来以船厂、电子厂为经济重点，大量依靠外劳的弊病），还有1987年因内安法身陷囹圄的退休律师张素兰（她一直在为穷人提供免费法律服务；著有《蓝色闸门之外》一书）等等。

其中最耀眼的新星，当然是团结党的巾帼英雄佘雪玲。网上已经把支持她的人潮，和孙燕姿的演唱会相比。她年仅24，却已有大将之风，义正言辞地道出了平民的心声，我们要是说新加坡年青人一向对政治有冷感，她已经象征了新一代的转捩点。现在大选当前，行动党忙着送红包收买民心，但可笑的是，眼见反对党的竞选活动如火如荼地展开，他们便宣布说工资理事会吁请雇主多加薪，另一方面，他们还吁请小贩六个月内不要加价。要是连购买选票都不愿意自己掏腰包，这是一个怎样的政权？佘说得好：你们要小贩六个月不加价，但是成本费用（柴米油盐、水电租金？）不减，这还不说明了当政的根本连人民生活问题的关键都视而不见？

当今网上资讯四通八达，博客、面簿、视频已经成了非官方的自由新闻渠道，纸是包不了火的，尤其是擅于英文的网民，对当政者的声讨已经连绵不绝。我们自认是华校生的，也不能再畏缩，缄默了。很多新加坡人还存在一种错误的观念，以为行动党就是政府，公务员也只能对行动党唯命是从。其实行动党多年来垄断政权的方法也很简单，就是一个金字塔模式，一层一层地笼络，所以总理部长的薪金最为惊人，再来是照顾公务员的饭碗，而很多中层阶级的生活也不错，但穷人呢？GST消费税照样收。民主党要求政府考虑让柴米油盐之类的基本必需品扣除2%，行动党一下就把提议打下来，连大选之际，财政部长Tharman Shanmugaratnam也顶多担保7%五年不变，请大家回顾上一次大选，一上台几个月，GST就起了，这回不起，难道不会有别的变相收税？

网上视频有一个穷困老妇女在2006年被警察抓走的录像，她没犯什么法，只是心想亲近总理李显龙，把他当包公。我们要是不把几个反对党议员选入国会为人民反映心声，难道也跟她一样梦想见包公吗？新加坡2009年的国家预算里，34%（150亿元）给了国防、内安、外交，0.25%（1.1亿元）给穷人，给老人家和残缺人士更少（4.2千万）。大家说，我们还坚持要高干子弟当议员，还是要有良知的当议员？象佘雪玲这样的人才，她就说：我们要是都贪图荣华富贵，那还不如参加行动党算了？民主党还承诺，要是中选，就把议员收入一半贡献给选区帮穷人。

我国戏剧家及艺术教育家郭宝崑写过一篇史诗般的剧作：《郑和的后代》。故事一方面像是形容华侨先驱飘洋过海南来，接触新文化的心路历程，另一方面讲述的却是身为太监的悲哀。剧本里说，有一种最高明的阉割方法，其实不用直接用刀，而是用手慢慢地按摩孩童的下体，孩子只觉得舒服，以为有保姆在照顾他。日复一日，慢慢地，他就什么功能都丧失了，从此没‘种’ 了！亲爱的读者，亲爱的新加坡同胞，世界人口又在运动了，我们是否就接受弱肉强食的现实，接受我们被淘汰的可能，接受我们经历新加坡‘独立’建国的这几代文化，都只是殖民政策换手之下的一个牺牲品？

新加坡资政李光耀可以信口开一个数目，说新加坡需要90万个外劳。新加坡法律部长K. Shanmugam可以说新加坡其实不是一个国家，而是一个城市。新加坡职总助理秘书长杨莉明可以说工人党和民主党提出的最低工资是“冷饭”，无需浪费时间。（其实全世界超过90%国家都有最低工资，中国有，马来西亚也在推出方案）新加坡卫生部长许文远可以说新山的安老院便宜，有车开过去不远。其实你我都可以学人家说，‘国家’经济或是‘城市’经济为前提，每个外劳的三四百元外劳税（人力部网站说是为了“控制”外劳人数），自有经济的道理。但我们放弃了国家的概念，是否也要放弃给予所有工友一个尊严，放弃“老吾老，以及人之老”的一个概念？刘程强提出新组屋调低价格，和收入中位数水平挂钩，发展部长马宝山就说这是“盗储备金”？那么反对党都是土匪还是山寨好汉？

今年是辛亥革命的一百周年。满清政府腐败无能，垂帘听政，挥霍无度，终于落得个悲剧下场。但要是当年改革维新成功，是否历史就应该重写呢？我们该不该连一个“维新”也不敢设想，说成是造反？又很巧，这个五月七、八日的周末原本该作为去年母亲节力挺母语活动的一周年纪念。但既然这么巧碰上大选，是否等于说就省了这一份心，收了红包袋袋平安，管它社会下来五年是什么道路，母亲只教我们听天由命？反对党这一回站在同一战线，背水一战，选民是否还停留在到超级市场购物的心态，贪小便宜，把命运交给别人决定？

最后谨此以两段诗歌献给大家，引自新加坡作家贺巾描绘五十年代华校生的小说《巨浪》：

“不做飘浮的白云
不慕高悬的明星
我愿是那浩海的巨浪，
随著狂风怒吼，
迎著朝霞歌唱。
... ...

明星讥讽我平凡
月光喜欢我犷悍
尽管海底有
暗流、险滩
把我阻拦
我最终要
涌起一座山，
把天地翻转，
把天地翻转！”

（本文写于2011年5月1日劳动节）
*************************************************************************************

回头看看，过去的五年辛苦吗？

投反对党一票，绝非世界末日。那只是表示您希望我们的新加坡能有个更稳固的政治基础来为人民服务。

Are SDP posters being taken down?

2011-05-03T07:07:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

Are SDP posters being taken down?
Monday, 02 May 2011
Singapore Democrats

A resident at the Yuhua SMC alerted us to a lorry that was removing SDP posters (pictured) while leaving the PAP's alone. The vehicle doesn't look like the one that we are using to mount our posters.

This was not an isolated instance. Another resident called to report that a white van (license plate No. PA9224) was spotted in his neighbourhood removing the SDP posters from lamp posts at Bukit Panjang where Mr Alec Tok is contesting.

A third one informed us that at Woodlands Drive 50, after Admiralty MRT station, a number if posters were spotted lying on the floor yesterday as if they were torn down.

Another voter saw an SDP poster at lamp-post beside the bus-stop opposite Admiralty MRT station cut.

We ask our supporters to be vigilant and inform us of such incidents and where possible note the number of the vehicle that is being used.

Poster stickers

Still on the subject of posters. Each poster that is mounted needs to have an Elections Department sticker affixed on it. For the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC the number of stickers issued was 2,000. This works out to only 500 posters per candidate which seems extremely low.

As a result we have an excess of posters that cannot be used because they do not have stickers.

After all the stickers were used and the posters mounted, SDP posters seem to be greatly out-numbered by the PAP ones.

We will query the Elections Department on this and find out if there was a discrepancy in the number of stickers being handed out to parties.

These instances may be why some residents do not see the SDP posters in your constituency.

In the meantime we hope you have received our booklet about our candidates which which we have distributed to every household in the constituencies that we are contesting.
*************************************************************************************

Nobody has any idea who did this but I feel that any wise voter knows which party is really worthy of voting. Personally, as much having these banners and posters around will raise the awareness of the people, I believe there should also be people like me. Rally or not rally; banner or no banner, I know in my heart where my vote should go to. My little exposure to the Westminster while I attempted a part time degree showed me that it is important to have strong and powerful alternate voice to be present in the Parliament.

I hope my readers understand this too.

GE2011 on a lighter note (2)

2011-05-02T10:34:00.000+08:00

Found this youtube on facebook and repost here for pleasure:-

Property Values and Your Choice of Political Party

2011-05-02T10:00:00.000+08:00

Repost from MrWang's blog:-

Property Values and Your Choice of Political Party

When I read about Low Thia Kiang leaving Hougang to run for elections in Aljunied GRC, I felt fear and dismay. Low is well-known and very well-loved in Hougang, and if he had chosen to remain in Hougang, his seat in Parliament would be almost guaranteed. However, when Low comes to Aljunied GRC, it's a different ball game, especially with the PAP's gerrymandering tactics.

If Low should lose in Aljunied GRC, then this would be a disaster for Singapore. It would be a very dark day in the history of this nation.

For so many years, Low has been the (almost) lone Opposition voice in Parliament, one man standing up and bravely speaking up against a pack of 80+ PAP MPs. It takes no courage whatsoever to be a Mah Bow Tan or a Wong Kan Seng in Parliament, but it takes great courage to be a Low Thia Kiang. To his immense credit, Low has done his job and served Singaporeans well, not just for a year or two, but for the past 20 years.

If Low loses in Aljunied GRC, then even that one lone voice in Parliament might be gone, silenced for good. It is possible that parliamentary debate might then degenerate into an utter sham. Nothing but a puppet show with PAP MPs posing nice, friendly, pre-arranged questions to each other and giving nice, friendly, rehearsed answers to each other. There would be nobody to challenge them, nobody to act as a check and balance, nobody to ask the tough questions that really need, for the sake of the nation, to be asked.

Honestly, if we come to that stage, Parliament House might just as well shut down. On weekends, the PAP MPs can just gather at Hsien Loong's living room or Kuan Yew's garden to have some cakes and coffee. There they can plan their next salary increases; chit chat about golf and BMWs; and casually make a few national policies for five million citizens. So much for public accountability and transparency,

--------------------------------------

Regular readers of my blog know that I moved house a few months ago. What I didn't mention was exactly where I moved to. I now live in Tai Keng Gardens, a small quiet residential area near Paya Lebar, and I recently learned that my new address is under Aljunied GRC.

There isn't the slightest doubt in my mind who I need to vote for. After all, I am intelligent, educated, well-informed and concerned. So effectively I have no choice. I have to vote for the Workers Party. Because I can see so clearly that the PAP's performance over the past five years is just taking this country on a one-way trip into slow deterioriation and gradual collapse.

Things have already reached such a bad stage that I can sincerely say this: if you genuinely support the PAP and want them to succeed, then you must vote for the Opposition. For the PAP can improve and do better - it has that potential. What the PAP needs is to be shocked out of its own complacency.

The best thing that can happen for the PAP is that they lose 10 seats in this election. Then suddenly they will wake up, remember the people whom they are supposed to serve, and start getting their act together. The PAP does have some talented, capable people in their midst. It's just that they have lost their way, over the past five years.

------------------------------------

I see from the newspapers that Kuan Yew has been busily making statements to create fear in the electorate. Something about how the Workers Party (if they win) will bring down the property values of Aljunied GRC.

What's that old saying about old dogs and new tricks? Fear-mongering is one of Kuan Yew's favourite tactics. Woe betide you, foolish Singaporeans, if you do not listen to me, then the sky will fall on your head. Some of his statements are so far-fetched that it's amazing he still has any credibility left.

Remember this stunning proclamation from Lee Kuan Yew, in 2007? The PAP ministers were just about to give themselves another fat pay raise, and Singaporeans were questioning this. Lee Kuan Yew's reply was that if the PAP ministers did not get their increase, the women of Singapore will become "maids in other people's countries".

Oh, come on, Kuan Yew. Can you at least try to keep your fear-mongering a little more .... rational?

Regular readers of my blog know that I am a keen watcher of the property market. I'd like to share a few personal observations on the content of Kuan Yew's latest fear.

LKY's basic point is that the WP is incompetent; that they will mismanage Aljunied; and the area will be so badly run that property values will fall sharply (relative to PAP constituencies).

But let's look at the facts. Low Thia Kiang has been MP for Hougang, for twenty years. If Low can ruin property values through his sheer incompetence, then Hougang should be a slum by now. But it is not. It is a clean, vibrant HDB town, with its own lively suburban malls, hawker centres, supermarkets, bus interchange, sport stadium, two MRT stations and more.

I can honestly tell you that, as a person who is familiar with the area. My brother lives in Hougang, my kids used to go for tuition in Hougang, and I still go there with my family quite often to eat and shop in Hougang.

Most Singaporeans wouldn't realise it, but I'll just say it straight out here. MPs do lots of important things, such as debate, discuss and shape national policies in Parliament and meet residents to help solve their personal problems. MPs and their grassroots supporters also organise community events like Plant-a-Tree Day and Chinese New Year dinners etc, and make appearances at schools' Prize-Giving Day to hand out awards and make speeches. All these types of MP work have their value and are important in their own way. But none of them has any direct bearing on the value of your property.

In other words, whoever you elect as your MP has very, very little influence on whether your property value will go up or down. May I quickly give you a big bunch of illustrations? Okay, let's go:

Your MP does not look after the roads in your neighbourhood (the LTA does that).
Your MP does not look after the parks (the National Parks Board does that).
Your MP does not look after your public library (the National Library Board does that).
Your MP does not look after your sports stadium or public swimming pool (the Singapore Sports Council does that).
Your MP does not build shopping malls for you (property developers such as Capitaland do that).
Your MP does not manage your MRT line (SMRT does that).
Your MP does not manage your SBS buses (SBS does that).
Your MP does not look after your electricity supply (SP Power does that).
Your MP does not look after your carpark (the URA does that).
Your MP does not investigate crimes (the Singapore Police Force does that).
Your MP does not put out fires (the SCDF and their NSmen do that).
Your MP does not ensure that top schools are near your home (whether a school is top or not depends on the students' efforts).
Your MP doesn't prevent mosquito breeding (the NEA does that).

Your MP does engage the cleaning contractors to clean the neighbourhood (which, in terms of level of difficulty, is not exactly rocket science and shouldn't be a challenge for any self-respecting MP, whether from the PAP or not). Apart from the cleaning contractors, your MP also builds playgrounds, fitness corners, maybe a couple of covered link ways here and there. None of these little projects require great ability or vast competence, nor will they have any significant influence on your property value.

There, hope it's all abundantly clear now. Abundantly clear that Lee Kuan Yew is mongering foolish fears. Don't be his sucker.

Posted by Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang
*************************************************************************************

Some of the Opposition Parties' Rallies on 1 May 2011

2011-05-02T09:35:00.000+08:00

Mr Tan Jee Say of SDP:-

My personal favourite Mr Pritam Singh of WP. I have personally find this speech of his to be inspiring:-

Mr Vincent Wijesingha of SDP:-

the mrbrown show: gee ahruh see (music video)

2011-04-30T11:31:00.000+08:00

Bump into this nice and apt music video! :-

GE2011 on a lighter note (1)

2011-04-29T10:38:00.001+08:00

An interesting photo found here:-

unfortunate, but hilarious sign placement #48268 - PAP 'gives way' to the NSP #SGelections
*****************************************************************************

What came to my mind when I saw this was that this volunteer follow strictly and rigidly to the instructions of hanging the PAP's logo up. Maybe every few lamp posts or what, so that it will be evenly spread out along the streets. And also maybe the PAP's posters and logos definitely got to be on top of any other opposition parties' posters.

So here we are seeing this. The result of following protocols strictly without room for flexibility and adjustments.

Or is it a sign...?

Make things right for Singapore...

2011-04-29T10:13:00.001+08:00

Another good article by Lucky Tan, repost from here:-

Make things right for Singapore...

"If you want change, you have to be the change" - Nicole Seah

Do you want that fresh coat of paint and that covered walkway or your voice in parliament?

Frankly speaking, many Singaporeans are fedup with having to make this choice every election as the PAP rolls out its upgrading pork barrel and blatantly threaten to take it away unless you vote for them. This is wrong and it is in our hands to stop them. We are electing representatives for parliament not covered walkways and fountains for our estates paid for by all tax payers. It is wrong to use the people's money to win votes for yourself by threatening voters. That is how the PAP hangs on to power and that is why the PAP doesn't listen to you - they don't need to hear as long as you respond to their threats. It is in your hands to change this.

Yesterday, the PAP sent out a brochure to many homes called "Burning Questions". One of the burning question is why basic necessities should not be exempted from GST.

"If flour and sugar are basic necessities, how about biscuits and cakes? If bananas are are a necessity, what about strawberry?" - PAP's 'Burning Questions' newsletter

When Malaysia considered implementing GST, the govt promised to exempt basic necessities [Link] so that the poor and elderly will not be so adversely affected by the GST. In fact GST is exempted for basic necessities in all developed countries that implemented it. It is difficult for the PAP govt only because they care little about the poor and elderly. They want to send our elderly to Malaysia and have failed to seriously address the issue of growing poverty and rising income gap. The real burning question is how long do we want to wait for them to fix the problems they created?

Singaporeans can't wait any longer. I attended the 1st WP rally in the 2006 elections. There were much more people in WP rally yesterday night at Hougang. We all know we can't be too optimistic when we see the attendence at these rally as it might not translate to votes. But you can sense that frustration with the PAP has grown and it has spread because the PAP has been deaf to the concerns of the people.

The PAP deployed its usually tactics of pork barrel, propaganda and gerrymandering to preserve power. 29000 voters in Aljunied GRC were sent to other constituencies in the coming elections likely because most supported the WP. That is how the PAP wins - not by doing what is right and good for the people - but using threats,. deception (propaganda) and manipulation (of election boundaries). It is time to put a stop to this and make things right for Singapore.

WP Rally, 29 April 2011 (Friday)

Aljunied GRC
Venue: Serangoon
Stadium

33 Yio Chu Kang Road
Singapore 545677

Time: 7.30 PM

Attire: Light Blue Top
***************************************************************************

Spreading the fear of freak results and losing ministers in GRCs.

2011-04-29T07:19:00.000+08:00

Very good article written by Lucky Tan, repost from here:-

Spreading the fear of freak results and losing ministers in GRCs.

The PAP has this strategy of having each GRC helmed by a minister. The idea is make people fearful of "losing a minister" if they vote against the PAP in a GRC. The PAP then puts newcomers in a GRC who get into parliament on the coat-tails exploiting this fear among voters. Yesterday, PM Lee again played up this fear by saying voters "would have to live with the consequence" of voting for the opposition. So is it really that disastrous if a minister is voted out? We have a very expensive civil service which has highly paid permanent secretaries for each ministry and they are further supported by an also very expensive Admin Service. We have seen ministers without any prior experience, say Liu Tuck Yew who was from the navy, move around and head various ministries. This is possible because there is whole civil service infrastructure in place to support decision making. But suppose you're still not convinced and believe the minister to be a "super-being" without whom his ministry will collapse and all those civil servants don't know what to do unless he is around, just rehire him as "mentor permanent secretary" after he loses.

It is really strange how PAP can create this myth that a running small country like Singapore is almost like 10 times more complex than running the USA or UK and people believe them. You see the opposition in other countries, say in UK, taking over after a decade long absence without much problem.

The other favorite fear mongered during Singapore elections is that of a "freak" result. We see the PAP talking about this during every election. The only thing I find "freakish" about our election results is more than one third of Singaporeans vote against the PAP and this one-third is represented by only 2% of the members in parliament - no thanks to the GRC system. The PAP likes to paint a scenario like this[Link] : people actually want the PAP to remain the govt but somehow vote opposition in such large numbers that they become the majority in parliament. If people vote for the opposition in large numbers, it is most likely these people want the PAP to go. If the unlikely outcome of PAP losing the election occurs, it is more due to their tinkering of the election system in the past decades. Their "methods" of winning elections - use of propaganda, upgrading pork barrel and GRCs + gerrymandering - have an outside chance of backfiring badly on them. The PAP has become dependent on propaganda style of disseminating information which often results in oversimplication and one-sided arguments that many, especially the newer generation, find deceptive and this is being rendered useless by the Internet. Increasing number of people now view their upgrading pork barrel tactics negatively and as something unfair and undemocratic. GRCs and gerrymandering with the electoral boundaries to spread out supporters in a way to gain as many seats as possible and spread the margin of safety. However, if there is an unforeseen swing in votes they will be hit badly losing more seats than if they had more concentration of support within a stronger GRC.

It is not expected for the PAP to lose this elections - despite what they have done in recent years, they still enjoy the goodwill from the 70s right up to early 90s. Reminds me of the Japanese LDP govt that went on and on for years long after they were bad enough to be thrown out. If the remote (I would say negligible) possibility of the PAP losing this elections occur, it will be because of their policies and tactics which have lost them many supporters in the last few years not due to voters making a "freakish" mistake of voting opposition when they really want the PAP.

The outcome most Singaporeans want in this elections is a more balanced 1st world parliament. They want more balanced policies and know they cannot get that with a parliament dominated by the PAP. Once the nomination is done and campaigning begins, it will become very clear where the "hot seats" are and it is a matter of Singaporeans overcoming their own fears to get what they want for the long term good for Singapore, a better future for themselves and their families. This elections, even die-hard PAP supporters have to agree (unless they are unreasonable people) that the opposition has very good highly qualified people who can contribute. If these people don't win due to what many see as unfair PAP tactics, frustration with the PAP is going to mount further polarising the large segment of the population (now >33%) that don't support the PAP and that is actually not good for the PAP. There are genuine philosophical and ideological difference among the citizens. PAP policies don't benefit everyone and I would argue that in recent years they don't even benefit the majority. This country has to start changing direction soon or it will have to do so in a more abrupt manner in the future. I think in 2006, voters gave the PAP a chance to remake itself under a new PM. However, to their disappointment, the PAP appeared to have remade itself in the wrong direction - unbalanced policies like foreign talent policy became even more unbalanced, income gap got bigger, GST was hiked, minister pay increased and expensive public housing became more expensive. The PAP spent the last 4+ years demonstrating to the people the need for a strong opposition in parliament! ..and I believe this is what they are going to get in the coming election.
-----
PM Lee: No by-election if PAP loses a GRC

By Rachel Chang

IF A GRC is lost at the May 7
General Election - and a Minister along with it - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
does not plan to call a by-election to try and get him elected and back into
government, he told the Lianhe Zaobao Chinese daily.

'Elections are a serious thing,' he said in an interview published on Tuesday 'The voters have
decided, and we will accept the voters' decision.'

He added that voters, too, would have to live with the consequences of their choice to turf a Minister
out.

'There are no safety nets in real life. So it's best not to take
the risk.'
**********************************************************************************

General Elections 2011

2011-04-29T07:18:00.000+08:00

Dear readers,

Singapore will be having her General Elections this coming 7 May 2011. I will repost interesting articles and rally speeches (from youtube) for reference. Do take some time off to read them as we don't have much time.

I may write some thoughts and observations as well.

May our Singapore progress.

Chen Show Mao of Workers' Party on 28 Apr 2011

2011-04-29T07:11:00.000+08:00

Link

Low Thia Khiang of Workers' Party on 28 Apr 2011

2011-04-29T07:08:00.000+08:00

Link

Vincent Wijeysingha of SDP on 28 Apr 2011

2011-04-29T07:04:00.000+08:00

Link

Dr Ang Yong Guan of SDP on 28 Apr 2011

2011-04-29T07:00:00.000+08:00

Link

Nicole Seah of NSP on 28 Apr 2011

2011-04-29T06:57:00.001+08:00

Link

Which maid to choose?

2011-04-26T14:07:00.000+08:00

Found this interesting article in facebook and for the benefit of those that may not have access to it:-

Which maid to choose?

I need your urgent advice about employing a maid. As a busy mother, I need someone reliable to help out at home.

My maid is from Profits Agency Pte (PAP) and she has worked for me for a long time. Her mother worked for my parents and did an excellent job, so I had faith in her. For several years her performance has been very good, but recently she has become arrogant and insensitive, and is making lots of mistakes.

For example:

1) She flooded my kitchen – she told me that the drain pipe has blocked (she was supposed to clear it once a month but didn’t). Then she assured me that it is very rare and won’t happen again in the near future. Guess what? It flooded again within a year!

2) She didn’t close a window and my terrier dog escaped. I was so worried cos he is dangerous and could bite lots of people. After the incident, she didn’t apologise and just shrugged her shoulders saying “What to do, it has happened.” Fortunately my neighbor found the dog and we locked it up again.

3) Without consulting me, she has been bringing in strangers for my house's maintenance work. She says they charge low wages and keep costs down, but they eat my food, make a lot of noise and rest on my bed. I think they even tried to seduce my husband. It stopped feeling like my home, more like a cheap hotel, and I don’t always want to come back at the end of the day.

4) When she first came to work for me, I instructed her to clean the different parts of the house at least once a week. But for some time she has stopped taking care of the bedrooms of PP and H; they are now dirty and messy. I asked why and she told me that the kids had been disobedient, so she was neglecting their bedrooms as a punishment (she has forgotten that she is paid to clean all the rooms).

Even though my maid has worked for me for many years and I value what she has done in the past, I think she is now getting complacent. Her attitude is imperious and dismissive. She ignores my comments and basically treats my feedback as "noise". I wrote to the agency about her behavior; they assured me that they are the best agency around and all their maids are “Commited to Serve” – but I think it is just rhetoric and I don’t see that in her actions. Her salary is much higher than maids in other countries, but the agency say this is to keep her honest and stop her moving to another employer. They say there is a limited supply of maids, and Singapore isn’t big enough for more than one good maid agency, so I should not trust their competitors.

I have to decide whether to renew my maid’s 5-year employment contract. When we discussed this she said that she is now part of a team, and if I want her I must also accept her friends doing part-time work for me. One friend is very inexperienced, can't do basic tasks or explain what she intends to do. I suspect that she is actually underage. When interviewed, she only seemed interested in her days-off and visiting Universal Studios. When she couldn't answer my questions she stomped her foot and exclaimed, "I don't know what to say!" But I am still expected to pay her a high salary.

Now there happen to be a few other maid agencies - Workhard Pte (WP), New Solutions Pte (NSP), Super Personnel Pte (SPP) and Star Domestica Pte (SDP) - that offered me some helpers who seem sincere, genuine and intelligent. They are keen to work, willing to assist me and have a good attitude. I know that they may take a bit of time to learn how everything works, but frankly I am inclined to give them a chance.

People say that the devil you know is better than one you don’t. But I feel that I can’t tahan my current maid anymore. Do you think I should sack my current maid and try out a new one? Appreciate your advice.
***************************************************************************

Who is the real owner of the house then?

Treasure your ability to vote

2011-04-26T07:02:00.000+08:00

Just an interesting story that happens to my friend to share with you.

My friend is a civil servant and he was not in Singapore during the last election due to his work. He did not vote as he was not around. Fast forward back to this General Election, my friend went to the Singapore Elections Department's website yesterday just to check things out. He login with his Singpass and to his astonishment, he cannot vote for this coming General Election. He contacted them and learned that he should have to register himself to reinstate his status when he came back to Singapore. My friend requested that to be done but was told that he cannot have that done now but a month after election. My friend was unsure why he cannot have his status to reinstate now though.

So guys, do really really treasure your ability to vote.

Have your voice heard.

Singapore's Top Election Issue

2011-04-25T00:59:00.003+08:00

Repost from Mr Wang's blog:-

Singapore's Top Election Issue

This simple, heartfelt letter to the ST Forum reflects the nation's top election issue:

Apr 23, 2011
A senior citizen's musings...

SENIOR Minister Goh Chok Tong acknowledged that the prevailing high cost of living in Singapore would be a likely issue in the coming general election ("Rising costs a likely issue: SM"; Tuesday).

He asked the people to decide who they thought would have a better solution to such problems.

I appreciate his forthrightness and am thankful for his timely reminder on this matter. But his comments have evoked mixed feelings for me.

Every time we are assured that things are still affordable, we find prices rising higher. Now we are cautioned to choose the right team to provide the solution.

The ruling party has had ample opportunity to resolve these issues, but the problems still plague us. I may now be an economically unproductive senior citizen, but I still love my country.

Fu Jiat Joon

I'll add some perspective.

Right now, the cost of living is rising in many countries, not just Singapore. One cause is the US monetary policy - as they print more and more dollars to tackle their economic woes, the excess money supply feeds into the global system and leads to inflation worldwide. In addition, food prices are escalating around the world, for a complex host of different reasons that the experts are still debating.

Nevertheless, the rising cost of living in Singapore cannot be solely attributed to external factors. In fact, the average citizen's difficulty in coping with the rising cost of living is very closely linked to an intrinsic, uniquely local factor. That factor is the PAP government's policy on immigration and foreigners. I'll explain.

A rise in the cost of living is not a problem, if it is matched with a rise in average wages. Unfortunately, over the past five years, Singaporeans have NOT been able to earn more money. Singaporeans are working as hard as ever (and in fact, hold the current world record for working the longest hours), but their incomes have been stagnating. If you don't believe me, read this.

To put it simply, while Singapore's economic growth has arguably been decent, this simply hasn't translated into a better life for the average Singaporean in the street. Our reserves may have grown; our government ministers may be drawing bigger and bigger salaries; the Bangladeshi workers and the Filipino waitresses may be feeling satisfied - but the average Singaporean just isn't getting any benefits out of the nation's success.

Why is this so? Well, wages are related to productivity. To earn more money, the Singaporean has to raise his productivity by learning new skills and gaining more knowledge in value-added areas. Companies have a role to play in this too. They have to innovate, become more efficient, invest in new technology, and in training their employees. That's how productivity can increase, together with sustainable wage growth.

But this isn't happening in Singapore. On the contrary, our labor productivity has fallen to shockingly low levels. In 2009, for instance, labor productivity growth was worse than zero. It was negative (-14.9%). And why has labour productivity fallen so badly in Singapore? It's because the PAP government's policy on foreign workers actually discourages productivity. Instead of getting Singaporeans to increase productivity by learning new skills and knowledge, the focus has instead very much been on importing more and more cheap foreign labour to do the job. To quote the Wall Street Journal:

By some estimates, a third or more of Singapore's 6.8% average annual growth from 2003 to 2008 came from the expansion of its labor force, primarily expatriates, allowing Singapore to post growth more commonly associated with poor developing nations.

At the same time, though, foreign workers have driven up real estate and other prices and made the city-state's roads and subways more congested. Their arrival has kept local blue-collar wages lower than they would be otherwise, exacerbating Singapore's gap between rich and poor.

Some economists say the most damaging effect of the immigration is that the influx appears to be putting a lid on productivity gains, as manufacturers rely on cheap imported labor instead of making their businesses more efficient. Labor productivity, or output per employee, fell 7.8% in 2008 and 0.8% in 2007—a phenomenon that could eventually translate into lower standards of living.

Lee Ah Lee, a 58-year-old who makes 850 Singapore dollars a month (about US$600) clearing tables in a cafeteria, says the flood of immigrants has made it hard to make ends meet by pushing down blue-collar pay in Singapore, which has no legal minimum wage. Sitting nearby in a drab apartment block built by Singapore's Housing Development Board, a state-owned body that constructs and sells subsidized housing, 79-year-old Lee Kwang Joo says low-skilled foreign workers are often housed in corporate dormitories, meaning they have no housing costs and can survive on lower pay.

So I hope that the direness of the situation we face, as a nation, has become clear. Obviously, we cannot completely shut the door on foreigners, especially not on foreign talent. But there is a balance that should be kept. When labor productivity falls to -14.9% and Singaporeans' wages stagnate year after year after year despite the fact that the economy is actually growing, you know that the balance has not been kept.

Goh Chok Tong talked about the rising cost of living and posed this question to Singaporeans - "Which party do you think can solve this problem?". But here are the better questions to ask yourself. In the first place, which party caused the problem? Which party IS the problem?

If you are an intelligent person, you know the answer. Vote wisely.

***********************************************************************************

Elections are coming!!!

2011-04-25T00:47:00.001+08:00

Despite the uncertainties and unfortunate natural disasters that are happening at other parts of the world, to me, there are still matter of more importance and closer to heart that is coming -- the elections.

This will be the 2nd time that I get to vote if my ward gets contested. It is also the only time that I feel that I have a real say. It may only be one vote but everything starts from that number one and that number one starts from you.

I'm neither an academic in political science nor any social activists but I am the very much average Singapore that you may bump into on the street. The policies that run in this country have direct or indirect impact on my friends, my family and even myself.

I was very much moved by what my friend put in her msn tagline:-

就算你不管政治，政治也會來管你。

It literally means that you can choose to ignore politics but politics will still affect you.

How true!

I have updated my 'popular blog' links to 'popular/social blogs/sites' and added some other blogs and websites that talk about social issues. I really hope that fellow citizens will become more interested in our local politics and to understand how these policies affect us in the long run. I will also try to repost interesting articles and writings should I come across them.

I may not be a scholar or academic but I understand that the real new media is about bringing the truth to people. It is definitely not just about having fanciful websites that come with attractive games and prizes.

Really Really Free Market 17 February 2011

2011-04-14T15:00:00.001+08:00

Repost from here:-

Time Sunday, April 17 · 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Location Show Room, Post-Museum 107+109 Rowell Road Singapore
Created By
Singapore Really Really Free Market (SRRFM), Jennifer Teo

More Info

Join us for the 16th session of this temporary market based on the concept of giving and building a community based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all - share your stuff (books, cds, toys, food, etc) or skills (tarot card reading, hair cutting, poetry writing, singing, etc) by giving them to others who need them!

By sharing, we are reducing consumption and waste of our natural resources, re-using what we don't need anymore by passing it on, and most importantly, showing everyone that there are better, more sustainable ways to live.

So join us! Please announce your participation on the wall so others can also be inspired!

And, of course, you're also welcome to come by to just experience the joys of giving and making friends!

As usual, due to lack of storage space and manpower, all items left over at the end of the day will be disposed of. As such, we prefer it if you could stick around or come back at the end to claim your remaining items.

Lastly, if you haven't joined the group yet, please do: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55373428641 - see you soon!

************************************************************************************

Yo guys, I will be back to provide free Tarot card reading from 4pm to 7pm.

See you there!

Really Really Free Market 13 February 2011

2011-01-21T00:34:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

Time
Sunday, February 13 · 4:00pm - 9:00pm

Location
Show Room, Post-Museum 107+109 Rowell Rd

More Info
Join us for the 15th session of this temporary market based on the concept of giving and building a community based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all - share your stuff (books, cds, toys, food, etc) or skills (tarot card reading, hair cutting, poetry writing, singing, etc) by giving them to others who need them!

By sharing, we are reducing consumption and waste of our natural r...esources, re-using what we don't need anymore by passing it on, and most importantly, showing everyone that there are better, more sustainable ways to live.

So join us! Please announce your participation on the wall so others can also be inspired!

And, of course, you're also welcome to come by to just experience the joys of giving and making friends!

As usual, due to lack of storage space and manpower, all items left over at the end of the day will be disposed of. As such, we prefer it if you could stick around or come back at the end to claim your remaining items.

Lastly, if you haven't joined the group yet, please do: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55373428641 - see you soon!

**************************************************************************************

I will have to give this coming one a miss as I won't be available. However, do join us in support the spirit of sharing! So mark on your calender guys!

Food #03 Vodcast Episode 15: Mystery Dinner and World Peace

2011-01-21T00:22:00.000+08:00

Food#03 Vodcast Episode 15!

Food #03 Vodcast Episode 14: A new shop rising

2011-01-16T11:49:00.000+08:00

Repost from here:-

16...

2011-01-16T11:39:00.000+08:00

已經進入了2011年的第16天了。。。但是還是得為我的讀者們捎來一聲遲來的2011年快樂！

回顧一下2010年，轉折最大的莫過就是結交了現任的女友。這是我的福分。也讓我的人生升華了另一階段。意想不到但卻很享受現在的這段感情。2010年裏唯有的“大遺憾”應該莫過於沒有好好地去打好西洋星象學的基礎。有一堆與該讀的命理書籍也都沒用心給讀好。我一向來都對靈修玄學命理都很感興趣。只是在早年沒好好的利用青春的時間去打下基礎。現年已29嵗了。也是時候好好地去磨練自己一番。從小就有很多想要做的事情，但是惰性太重了吧，所以也一事無成的樣子。那今年的目標就應該把自己導回這條路上了。

2010裏還有一個“小遺憾”，那就是我的網記的文章頻率越來越少了。也說過了，其實對許多事都有感想，可是不知爲何一在電腦前，卻什麽也寫不出來了。今年也得好好的鼓勵自己一番，把網記給搞好來。也應該嘗試利用寫網記來進步我的語法。

那還有算是兩個“終生遺憾”。它們便是我臉上的疤及體重問題。其實這也無需多說了，我就是丑，而別人的惡性批評到最後也是要我承認我很丑（可是我很~~~溫柔！）。我從傷心到不理會而最近又回到了傷心的階段。我每次說要減肥，可是還是一樣的肥。即使有瘦過，人們也是不屑。減肥是應該爲了自己的健康，但是我愛美的自我又膨脹了。好膚淺喔。有位朋友卻説臉是很值得“投資”的，因爲臉很有可能幫助製造好的第一印象。但是我還是覺得我變得膚淺了。

2010年對我來說會是個膚淺的年份嗎。。。？

yamizi...

Birthday Afterthoughts

Turning 30...

Using Oni to fight the *special* Akuma and ended up a draw game...! Haha!

Happy Holidays!!!

Little flooding @ Havelock Square, just right in front of the taxi stand.

又碰到了可愛的一團黑氣了！

This is for real! 3 breakdowns in 4 days!!!

一團黑氣...! 嘿嘿!!!

The little Home fighting for its life -- Afterthoughts

The new white elephant...? Still not operational...!!!

At AMK MRT Stn platform. It's more than 2 months and these safety doors don't seems to be operational yet. Hmm...waiting for another victim...?

Where are the seats again...?!?!?!

Is this advertisement honoring slim healthy woman and put plump-looking guy at an inferior status...?

If you can read the words on top left blue banner and bottom right yellow banner...this is what I call freedom of expression with a lot of guts...!

Enjoying the spaciousness while waiting...

George Carlin The Best 3 Minutes of His Career "The American Dream"

Baked Alaska @ The French Stall

Dinner @ Culina

The typical impression of molester that goes for the buttocks...

Uniquely Singapore #01 -- This 'barrier-door' thing has been set up at this Ang Mo Kio MRT station (towards city) for at least 3 to 4 weekends (as I only see them on Saturday mornings) but they don't seems to be operational yet. Want to wait till another

A very friendly and playful community cat...haven't thought of a name for him yet though...!

Pray tell why is it 95 points...? I counted and at most 60 only...

Apparently the persons who sat at this table earlier didn't give a hoot to what's said on the table...

My favourite community cat 丑丑! He seldom manja to me which he did this morning...weird morning to begin with!

A beautiful sight that made my irritating morning less irritating =)

This skyscraper didn't exist when I was active in this area...!

With the Love of my Life =)

Adapating...till the original forms are gone...?

A good way to start a Friday...with a heavy downpour incoming! Fortunate to those who will be sleeping in at this hour still!!!

梁靜茹- 聽不到

fight with 100 warriors-Magadheera

Martial Arts is physics

Four Fallacies about the Singapore Welfare State

Little Yellow Brick

A Letter from a Shelter Manager

You Say I Say Who Confirm...?

For the ultimate carnivore...pork knuckle!!!

Scientists Turn Brain Activity Into Moving Images

Schoolkids suffocate each other till they faint

Faster Than Light Particles Could Wreck Einstein’s Relativity Theory

Harvesting...?

Captain China...?

Dinner @ City Square Mall Ashton

A cute little photo to try my Instagram and Posterous out...!

PublicHouse.sg: M'sia abandons ISA; S'pore's reactions

Mediator...

As expected...!!!

Farewell Post-Museum!!!

The Singapore Spirit

Hungry...?

Step by step, bit by bit

囍帖街

同進同出

My Last Reading at Rowell Road

黃明志想見大馬首相...!

Simply amazing...!

Really Really Free Market 17 (26 June 2011)

One of the those things that I am amazed with...

Primetime from ABC News: Gay Parents Bashed

Three Saudi children who died at Mount Elizabeth were 'critically ill'

3 Saudi children die in a week at Singapore hospital

Why this hawker can't afford to maintain prices

Malay Singaporean Graduate Left for Melbourne in Search of Jobs

祝各界衛塞節2555愉快!!!

Healthcare cracks as wide as Bishan River....

George Yeo and His True Legacy for Singapore

An Open Letter to Minister Vivian Balakrishnan

The Potong Pasir Petition – and the Parliamentary Act. Share and repost to all those who are interested in this matter.

Petition for Residents of Potong Pasir

An Advance Happy Mothers' Day!!!

The Singapore National Pledge

Rojak will stay in Singaporean's imagination. But I am not sure if PAP would, in years to come.

Cooling-Off Day and Polling Day

PAP's Cynthia Phua And Her Most Famous Moment as an Aljunied MP

GE: Majority not concerned about ministerial pay: SM

GE2011 on a lighter note (3)

大选后五年如何光景？别再冷眼旁观，请为新加坡投入一份爱心！

Are SDP posters being taken down?

GE2011 on a lighter note (2)

Using Oni to fight the special Akuma and ended up a draw game...! Haha!