Poverty, a thing of the past in Singapore?

A masterful piece by Martyn See... of the poor and the old. A must-watch, especially for the people at the top who are trapped in their cotton-candy world that poverty is history in Singapore.

Imagine yourself at that age, collecting cans and cardboard. I would do it so as to recycle stuff in the environment, but not cos I need to eke out a living out of it. This film is moving, to say the least. Kudos to See, for bringing out the harsh reality we all knew but chose to ignore.



Link to Google video

Martyn's blog

Happy National Day Singapore

On this very joyous occasion, I am not in Singapore.

Before I launch into an endless tirade about nothing in particular, three simple words: Happy National Day! Yes, it's once again, 9th August. This is probably the first National Day I'm not on home soil, but I'm guessing it won't be the last. Strangely enough, I am missing home as I write this. More on this later on (or not, we'll see...)

I remember...

In primary, secondary and junior college, where we had to sing the National Anthem and recite the pledge everyday. And of course, when we went to do our NS too. Majulah Singapura!

In the army, where our respect for the flag (both National and the SAF one) was increased because of the almost God-like status. Saluting the flag, ah yes, like we do to officers. Hmm, I vaguely remember we salute officers only cos they carry the Singapura insignia on their shoulders. (Sidetrack: But whatever lah, I hate officers with the yaya papaya attitude.)

I remember the time when I got punished, because I offered to take over my junior's duty of flag-raising (when I was in the army). The flag's tip merely brushed the ground, and a staff sergeant who just woke up and was blurry-eyed, accused me of dropping the WHOLE FLAG on the ground. Needless to say, I“had committed” the worst sin during peacetime (besides AWOL and taking drugs, that is.) It became one of the camp's biggest issues of the day (and no, I had no illusions of grandeur of being one of the most famous then – or should I say, notorious.) For that, I had restriction of privileges (it could have been worse) and my bookouts became more irregular than the number of times a person with constipation went to shit in the toilet. So much for offering to help. Bahhhh.

The first time I was away from Singapore for an extended period of time – my student exchange in Finland. Really tested me a bit, but haha, I didn't really miss home cos I was having too much fun partying away with my ang moh friends. Spent my first New Year, Chinese New Year and Labour Day away from home during that period. Man, I sure missed the ang baos. Hahahahaha.


Now I'm working in China, I miss the familiarity of places that I always visit. Suntec City, where my company's Singapore office is; town, where I meet my friends for lunch; the clubs, where I get to party away with equally crazy friends; the comfort of having TRUE friends around; my uni gym, where I got the most value out of (cos it's "free" and I'm used to the equipment there); Geylang, where I hang out for suppers with friends (sometimes); driving around at night, when the night wind is cool and refreshing; getting lost on streets and turning around in circles, albeit still knowing I'd be safe no matter where I am.

The place I'm in now has lots of shady characters, people of dubious backgrounds, some who are out to look for a quick buck, others who patiently cultivate your trust in them and wait to make a lump sum at your expense, others who belong to some Mafia and whatnot.

Bahhh, the imaginings of my mind. How I wish. Right now, I'm just on alert everywhere I go. Contrast this with back home, where I could be walking on the streets at 2 or 3 am, with nary a care (maybe I'd be careful not to step on snails that occasionally stray onto pavements.)

The culture, the feel, the environment in each place is... just so different. Uniquely Singapore is unique in more ways than one.

Once again to my brothers and sisters in Singapore, and all over the world, let us rejoice on this day and sing the National Anthem with gusto. I won't be joining you guys in person, but in spirit, I'm always with you.


*sob sob* --> (ya right!)


See also: Choo Zheng Xi on TOC - How Do I Love Thee, let me (not) count the ways

Funny blog

Of satire and laughter... and not to be taken seriously!!

Presenting to you, Singapore Donkey.

Definitely takes the Monday blues away!

Thoughts and reality

This is an interesting post by Mr Wang. In it, a scientist (Emoto) theorizes that thoughts can affect the formation of water crystals if they are directed at the water before it is frozen. Woah... I think this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what thoughts can do for the self.

As I keep stressing, positivity also helps. And it especially helps when you're in a new environment and everything is bewildering you, like what I am facing now :)

Things are falling into place for me, but only because I thought it would. Have a nice day folks!

Constitutional amendment

Looks like the ruling government are making even more dubious decisions after their last pay raise issue (click on the above link to read Molly's take on it - a rather good one I must say). This post is not meant to be a commentary, but rather as a record for myself to come back and look at after some time.

After being out of the country for some time, I've more or less lost touch with the happenings on the ground. Now I'm trying to make up for lost time.

Keep up the good work, fellow bloggers! Our people are learning to read online articles for more news! =)

Right-of-way

Like everywhere else, one has to learn to quickly adapt or become redundant. Luckily for me, it is an inborn thing to want to ACT like the locals from the area I am in (whilst not necessarily accepting their values as mine).

So, this post is about right-of-way. In China, at least of what I've seen, this word/phrase is not commonly used/known, not least because the people here don't use English, but more because of their nature.

What I am talking about? Lest people start accusing me of broadly tarring everyone here with the same brush, I have to account for my stand.

1. On the road - in Shenzhen it is not as bad, but in Tianjin (where I was briefly for 2 days), the number of times I heard the car/bus/lorry/van/whatever vehicle horn was uncountable. Really, I kid you not. It almost seemed like the cacophony of noise was as continuous as air from an air-conditioner (a working one!), only that it jarred on my nerves. People here don't really allow others to cut into their lanes, and also, they have no sense of traffic rules. A two-way street quickly becomes one-way when one of the lanes become congested with traffic, and then a deadlock happens as a result because traffic on both sides are stuck with no possibility of either side advancing. And no one has the brains to reverse their cars apparently. It takes a policeman to come direct the people to MOVE IT! MOVE IT!

2. Rushing for lifts/trains/buses - While it is fair to clarify that the problem is not as acute for trains and buses because it is relatively less crowded than the lifts in particular I am talking about, the problem remains. One thing that stands out from what I recall, is that the DOOR OPEN button is rarely used in the lift situation. The person nearest the lift buttons would be furiously pressing on the DOOR CLOSE button instead, all whilst people are trying to come into the lift. LIKE WTF #$%^&?! And people here take it as a given! OMG bozos!! What were you guys thinking? Are we all like pigs to the slaughter, rushing into some sanctuary or something? Did you really have to press the Door Close button so many times as people are coming in? Will it get you any faster to your office? Stupid fugheads.

OK, I hope this piece entertained you a little. I'm still trying to figure out the enigma that is the Chinaman. Till then, there will be more of this shit coming up.

This blog will not be updated till further notice

Due to pressing personal problems and those with work, I will cease updating of this blog till further notice.

I will be away in Shenzhen, China till the end of the year and I heard that Blogger is banned in China. As such, I think it might be impossible to blog on this platform.

I thank all my previous readers for their support and I hope bloggers out there will continue on your endeavours to protect Singapore's and Singaporeans' collective interests!

WE LOVE SINGAPORE!

Recycling and why it will not take off in Singapore

Before I start the post proper, let me display two pictures I took at Suntec City the other day.



The two bins. Look similar? Not really, right?

But contents looks similar!

This is what I call the lack of social conscience in SG. This is why, despite many of the good intentions behind the SG government's policies, they almost never seem to take off in the way it was intended.

Since people like to compare across countries, I shall use Finland as an example. There, the law doesn't state a penalty for littering. Why? Because simply, people there don't do it. I once asked a friend over there, "why don't people litter?" She looked at me with an extremely puzzled look, and replied, "Clarence, why would anyone WANT to litter?" That was what I call, a moment of enlightenment. Why do we litter? Why do we throw rubbish into the wrong bins? When it is obviously a recycling bin and the one for rubbish isn't even overflowing with refuse!

That moment of enlightenment led me to change my attitude towards littering. Nowadays, when I have something to throw and a bin is not in sight, I simply shove it in my back pocket.

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We are already a first-world country, and in many aspects of our economy, we're first-class amongst the first-world nations. But the thing is, we look upon other locals with disdain, treat them as inferior, simply because of their social practices. Things that could have been changed easily, like not littering, like giving way to alighting passengers from MRTs and buses, like not squeezing yourself into the train when it is obviously bursting with people inside already, like not spitting in a public place, like... like... like... so many other things. I understand the meaning of 'old habits die hard', so I really hope that the younger generation (my own and those younger) will not follow in their parents' generation's footsteps, at least in terms of social practices.

Having said that, we now look at the decision of putting the two bins side by side. If we leave it as it is, there will be absent minded people who just throw their rubbish into either of the bins (let's just say 50-50 chance for argument's sake.) Some people will feel guilty about dropping it in the wrong bin but even these are rare. There will be those who are more civic-minded who after accidentally drop it in, will want to pick it out and drop it in the correct bin, but these people are an endangered species (even rarer than the previous category.)

Yet if we don't, there will be inconsiderate asses who, on pretext of not having a rubbish bin to throw their litter, will just drop it conveniently into the recycle bins if they are placed separately from the rubbish bins.

So this is going to be a real hard decision, eh? Because if we look at how recycling works, it just takes one idiot to pour in some curry sauce and dirty all the paper, plastic, or cans to make them unfit for recycling. No wonder recycling is not that profitable a business as in other countries. Back to my earlier example, in Finland, where people even SORT OUT their refuse to be recycled! There are about 7 or 8 categories of such, and people actually bother to do it. It's amazing to us Singaporeans, maybe, but until we bother to do such, we can never call ourselves a first-world country in all senses of the word.

My suggestion to the management of all establishments/ recycling companies is to rig the design of the bins such that the rubbish bins are incorporated with the recycling ones, with the hole for rubbish at waist level to suit those absent minded and inconsiderate asses. The hole for dumping materials fit for recycling should be placed slightly higher, maybe at shoulder level, so kids cannot reach it, and only civic-minded people actually bother. I'm not sure, it might be expensive to redesign the bins, but in a country like ours, it might be the only saving grace for recycling yet.

Featured read: The Great Singapore Sale

Synopsis - Esther talks about her GSS experience, whilst comparing between Singapore and Malaysia. I think it's a good read and a wake-up call for the frogs-in-the-well who are unable to see the picture outside of their wormhole.

University places = F(protectionism, citizenship, taxes)?

Great debate on the issue of "how we should allocate our university places." I didn't write on it first-time round because I didn't think it was much of an issue to be debated on. How wrong could I get.

If people understand what a debate is about, they will realize that there is hardly a "correct" and "wrong" stand. Too very often in our lives, there are the so-called grey areas. I hope that readers exercise caution in reading, then commenting. It is easy to gripe about the imperfections in any system, simply because no system is perfect! But it is more difficult to come up with a solution that can actually work better, and has less/minor side-effects! But you all already know that.

Before I start let me explain the title of this post. So far that I've seen in the blogs and their respective comments, these few issues have cropped up together with this discussion on "university places", so I somehow thought that it would be interesting that university places could actually be a function of all the above-mentioned! What you guys think?

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I was quite taken aback that Mr Wang - whom I highly respect for his (usually) rather incisive and balanced views - took an absolute stand on this issue. To the extent I thought he was actually xenophobic. I was wondering why I thought that way (apparently my subconscious mind works faster than my conscious one), but when I re-read the article I finally realized.

"Heh. Actually there's nothing surprising about it. Look at our property market. Look at our residential rental rates. Look at the crowds on our MRT trains and in our food courts. Look at the endless jam on the CTE.

And then look at our university situation.

See the pattern? Due to a massive intake of foreigners in recent years, our resident population has exploded. We've become the 2nd most crowded country in the world. And our current infrastructure just can't cope."

Now, I dunno what happened along the way, but although I am quite certain that the intake of foreigners may have something to do with the problems mentioned (there is indeed a logical connection), I wouldn't connect them in the manner that Mr Wang has done. If connections were so easily made, then academics would be out of work.

"The basic point still remains. It is the responsibility of the government to provide adequate education opportunities for its citizens."

Yes Mr Wang. But to what level are we talking about? The state is providing for education up till secondary level. We can't even guarantee places at JC level, and now you're talking about university? What is adequate? Enough for one is not enough for another. ($1million a year is enough for many of us, but yet not enough for... you know, others.) It is easy to SAY things, but to implement, you must have the means, and that directly translates to money, and yes, taxes.


Of course, I foresee the next point coming: "Then don't give out so many foreign scholarships lah!" Correct, I agree on this point. I even mentioned in one of my previous comments on some blog that some of the money that we've been giving out to foreign scholars to make Singapore more "cosmopolitan" could be better spent on Singaporeans to give them an overseas exchange experience. This, as opposed to giving out whole scholarships to some Singaporeans, because the same amount of money could be better spent to benefit a larger group of Singaporeans. I also argued that the cosmopolitan-ity of a country would not be greatly enhanced just by introducing a group of foreigners into the country because people will tend to stick in their social circles (of course not true for hall residences where people get to mix around more freely!) and not mix around too much.


From the many comments on Mr Wang's blog, I can see that a lot of these people do not have foreign friends, and it is quite sad. Not just because you cannot be more "cosmopolitan", but also because you will tend to have warped views of yourself, your country and the world as a whole. I am against excessive spending OUR money on foreigners, of course, but the thing is, I have seen firsthand, how a foreign friend of mine (American) came here, studied for a year, fell in love with the place, fell in love here too (albeit not with a local), went home to complete his degree and vowed to come back here to be a PR (with a possible view of taking up citizenship) - he already has a return ticket to Singapore! Looking at the big picture, would you say the money spent on him - I dunno how much - is not worth it? He is probably going back to Michigan and saying a lot of good words about Singapore - of course he is not blindly pro-Singapore - and encourage more tourists to come here in the process. Word-of-mouth is growing in importance in this age, and I believe it's more powerful than any advertisement. In this sense, the scholarships/bursaries given out might be more effective than the STB advertisements being screened in various countries. (Now of course if you're going to be a total ass and say that we DON'T NEED foreigners, then sorry, there is no point for argument anymore. We're on two different wavelengths already.)


In case people start accusing me of being elitist/ uncaring/ not knowing what being rejected from university means, I have to categorically state that my bro got 4As, 1D and 1M (for S papers), A1 for both GP and Project Work and got rejected from the Medicine faculty too. His CCA record is impeccable too, having had MP attachment (only offered to the best students in his JC) and various Community Involvement projects. I shall not elaborate further on his achievements (I'm not here to boast!) but needless to say, my brother has qualifications that far surpass any of those mentioned in the papers. Yet as we wonder why he did not gain acceptance into Medicine, my family and I do not go around accusing the government of not doing its part. My mum's considering selling some property - not sure if it's the flat we're staying in - to let my brother study overseas. Thing is, there is always going to be competition all round, and if you get rejected from somewhere, it is fair to say that you're going to have choices elsewhere. There ARE second rate/less established universities in Singapore, besides the 3 main ones, and well, if I state those university names, I run the risk of offending YET another group of people (hint: read the comments in Mr Wang's blog for clues.)

In fact, as pointed out somewhere, the whole idea of setting up second-rate universities opens up a can of worms. It is recognizable that competition is indeed quite the extreme in Singapore, and getting this second rate degree might not be worth its salt (or money). Then, ah yes, when you graduate after 3 or 4 years, these very people are going to COMPLAIN again (oh why not?) that now that they have degrees, they SHOULD be employed and why are they not? Look at Taiwan, they're bursting with graduates from all over the place, but a significant percentage of them are unemployed. So is this how we want our graduates to turn out? Even being the best is not enough? Then what? Masters, PhD, post-doc? Then everyone in Singapore will now want a PhD and they're going to demand tha tthe government provide enough places for everyone?

Can of worms indeed. Huge.

The suggestion of setting up another university JUST to cater to the Dragon Year babies is NOT economically viable. Are you going to tell me, you're setting up an multi million-dollar (probably upwards of $50million?) institution just to cater to one batch of students, and after they graduate, the university falls into disuse until 8 years later (assuming 4 year courses)? I hope the person who said that has some intellect left to admit that he was a moron.

The author believes that we should not always turn to the government for help, as I have said again and again. Since when has not getting a place in university turned into a thing of national concern? Sure, and the next time you lost your wallet, you'd blame the government for not making the place safer?! What next, pray tell. Sure, by all means, vocalize your thoughts, but before that, sit down and reexamine yourself, and those thoughts - are they reasonable or not?

Having said that, it is my belief that our government should not have gone out on such an aggressive drive to hunt foreigners to come to our land (which is quite frankly, bursting at its seams already - like Mr Wang said.) It should be a gradual thing so we can adjust at the various stages. But I'm not sure, it could be due to the greying population issue.

I end this post urging readers and bloggers alike to try to get the big picture of the situation (well, I'm not saying I did get the WHOLE picture, so correct me where I erred) before actually airing your thoughts. Of course it all makes for good verbal discourse when ideas get thrashed out in the online world like this.

G'day to all!


Related blogs and news:

Mr Wang: Should Citizens Get Priority for University Admission
Molly Meek: University Places: Can we think beyond the universities?
Singapore Angle: Much ado about university admissions
Aaron Ng: Universities should give Singaporeans priority?
Bart JP: Protection for Singaporeans?
Updated
ST Forum: S'poreans have priority in university admission - MOE clarifies
ST Forum: Unsuccessful students may yet excel in life

Pragmatism and the choice to stay out of politics

Life could be predictable, if only you'd believe it to be.

There's a "straightforward" path to success. Study hard in primary and secondary school (get into all the brandname ones without the "negative influences"), get into a top JC (y'all already know which), then achieve the perfect 4As, 2Ds, A1 for GP and an excellent CCA record to boot. (But that's IF you can do it, and a very big IF.) Then of course, hone the interview skills to ace that scholarship interview, and you have it MADE FOR LIFE. Yes, literally speaking.

From then on, as those responsibilities come one by one, so does greatness. Promotions come thick and fast, and before you know it, you're in the top echelons of power, a position which commonfolk like us all can only hope to reach - and that we pin our hopes on our next generation. One of my friends actually said she LIKED that kind of predictability - she felt safe in the knowledge that there was a surefire formula for success. But that's only if you do make it there, or at least somewhere NEAR there.

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Pragmatism in Singapore means to lead a peaceful existence, earn your own money and mind your own business. This necessarily(?) means you do not dabble in politics or engage in alternative views, or does it? Pragmatism tells me I shouldn't be confronting (if at all) the establishment. Yes, looking at what I can potentially lose, it is scary.

While it is not my business who is in charge of Singapore, it is my concern, as long as I am Singaporean and feel such, to want the best to be right at the top, and more than that, to ensure that they do not go unchecked and totally unopposed as they chart the path for our country. I think a government, however bright and capable, will crumble if there is insufficient checks and balances in place. Corruption will set in, regardless of the level of salaries being paid out (of course a higher salary will manage to stave off chances of that happening for a longer time, but still...) That is why, although I favour a limited democracy for its efficiency in policymaking, I also believe that the citizens have a role to play by being watchful over their own leaders.

I am glad to have found an active online community which watches the government's actions closely. While we might be tempted to feel discouraged from time to time (words are only words without action being taken), let us take heart in the fact that maybe one day, the government will take our opinions with more than a pinch of salt.