Testing Windows Live Writer beta   Wow, can finally embed YouTube videos, centre images (the easy way) and even crop and rotate pix! Download from here: http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/ One year at Microsoft I used to think time passed by pretty fast at The New Paper, where I started work as an intern in 1998 and left in 2007 as a special projects editor. Before you knew it, it was another year of endless deadlines, crazy projects and working with a creative team that never seemed to age as fast as I did. Or lose hair the way I did. Man, time at Microsoft seems even more zipped up. (Forgive the technical term, it’s part of the job ;D) As usual, a major milestone – my first anniversary at MS – came and passed without much fanfare like my other major working milestones (ie. the day I finished the SPH scholarship bond). Well, to cut to the chase, I’m really happy where I am now. Obviously this means that I wasn’t as happy in SPH and I won’t deny that. However, I did have my good times, great mentors and incredible opportunities at TNP, and I’m not saying this just to ensure I’m politically correct. (You guys all know I’m anti-politically correctness, but I’m definitely pro-personal computer. Yo Vista: I’m a PC too!) Goy also says I’m less angsty these days, even though the workload can get ridiculous and there’s one too many overseas trips. So what do I like about my current job (no comparisons to SPH please hor, I’ll tell you offline another time)…in no particular order 1. The products. Come on, it’s not hard to like the Xbox 360. No matter what you think of the console’s predecessor, or the challenges that the 360 has faced, it’s still one of the best things ever made for gamers. Back in 2006, I even bought our first Samsung HDTV mainly to enjoy the HD gaming graphics. I was a big fan even before I did PR for it. I like the fact that we’re still relatively new in the game (compared to PS and Nintendo), so there’s plenty of room to grow the brand and product. But what most people don’t know, is that I’m also a long-time user of Microsoft Hardware gear. Man, I started using their Natural Keyboards way back in the mid-90s and never looked back. Of course, my current fave is the SideWinder X6 gaming keyboard which I just helped to launch, and trust me, this keyboard will redefine the way you type. I went through many brands of mice before I settled on the robust build of MS mice, and you know the rest. Now a surprise product was Office For Mac. I never imagined I’d be working in a dept where it was okay for an MS guy to use a Mac ;D. If you didn’t know, Office For Mac is one of the big sellers for Apple Macs and helps bridge the PC-Mac world a great deal by offering great document compatibility. 2. The people I grew up in a highly competitive environment at ACS. Always in the top class, but always never the smartest in class lah. But the competition was friendly (duh, we were friends what) and nobody sought to be political. It’s pretty much the same in my team, where there are more capable people stuffed into one office floor than I’ve ever encountered at one go in my previous jobs. (Of course, working in SAF does drag down the average quite a far bit, but I’ll talk about those hopeless army regular officers another day). What I’m most impressed with is what I keep hearing from my current boss, Ben Tan: “How can we help you be more successful?” Okay, maybe I’m suaku, this being my first MNC, but these guys really created a formal structure to track that question. In SPH, my editors like Ooi Boon, Raj and others really looked after my career path but there was no formalised system (ie software system) of internal feedback to create a database of performance as a matter of record. Of course, if people tell you that Journalist A is a great journalist, it’s usually true, but how do you define that? Then again, perhaps journalism cannot be measured like other industries, but I personally never got used to it. Within a few weeks of joining Microsoft, I felt very much at ease. 3. Rhythm and structure I’ve always planned my life in a rather haphazard way. It’s a natural side-effect of journalism or being an arty farty guy where the unpredictable is the predictable. What a culture shock it was to join MS, open up my Outlook and see that my calendar was starting to fill up with appointments at shocking speed. Without my intervention either. As I later learnt, the huge emphasis on fixing appointments and blocking time early was to achieve a better work-life balance for the team. And though it was hard to have to plan so far in advance (for eg. we never planned editorial meetings three months ahead), it actually made my family life better. I believe I actually put in more hours than I did as an editor, but the structure allows me more rest and time to evaluate the important things in life. In other words, I’m far more efficient than I ever thought I’d be. It might all sound so rosy and perfect here, but of course, there are the negative bits which I’ll not ponder upon. The pros far outweigh the cons by a great deal, and despite being utterly stressed out, especially in the year-end holiday crunch and with endless number of fires to put out, I’ve never enjoyed myself better. Will I stay at MS for a long time? The safest answer, as any journalist knows how to write when they run out of kickers, is “only time will tell”. One Year At Microsoft! I’ve survived the first year! Now more of a mouse! (Actually I’m just writing this to test the new beta versions of Messenger and Live Writer. Will write my real posts soon ;D) One Year At Microsoft! I’ve survived the first year! Now more of a mouse! (Actually I’m just writing this to test the new beta versions of Messenger and Live Writer. Will write my real posts soon ;D) You make me feel like dancing Leo Sayer is one of the great music icons of the 70s’. But before you read further, check out one of his “live” (mostly lip-synched) performances on TV then…. And I was stunned to find that The Wiggles did a modern mix with Leo too, complete with Greek overtones. But it’s one of the best Wiggles videos I’ve seen since Top of The Tots. I don’t buy their DVDs anymore since Greg left the team, but I might just buy this particular DVD (haven’t found out which title it is though) Bringing back the late 1990s with iTunes Was testing out the new Genius function today in iTunes, and man, it’s a really good way of digging up old retro hits to complete my collection. Some songs I bought in the past hour. 1. Just another sad love song - Toni Braxton (1997) One of her early hits before she stereotyped herself, this is pure vintage Babyface (along with the customised whoops). Reminds me of the long bus trips to school during ACJC days, and whimisical discussions with the boys at the void deck. 2. Together Again - Janet Jackson (1997) This was probably the peak of Janet’s career (well, because I didn’t buy any of her songs after this album Velvet Rope). Great use of bass guitar to open the song, and for once, she sounds pretty coherent. Brings back memories of the long walk to Khatib camp, or MRT rides to NTU. 3. Crush - Jennifer Paige (1998) She was this Chinese-looking ang moh chick with a great one-hit-wonder song. Apparently, she’s still performing. Family Guy Meets Mario Sorry for the lack of posts, been super busy at work. You’ve gotta check out this short skit by Seth McFarlane of Family Guy fame. Great sendup of Super Mario Bros. Doing the honorable thing after messing up The Facebook group calling for Ms Lee’s removal from STTA. Click on picture to join.  So, it appears the Olympics table tennis saga has ended. Only because the Gahmen said so. Or so we are led to believe by a rather vague press conference (as reported by Channel News Asia, maybe other media will flesh this out more.) SINGAPORE: The controversy surrounding the Singapore Table Tennis Association has been called to a close by the Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sports. In a special media conference on Friday evening, it announced that team manager Antony Lee will continue for another three months, to finish up his Olympics reports. He will then move to the Singapore National Olympic Council in November. The association will also have two separate head coaches, one each for the women’s and men’s teams. President of the Singapore Table Tennis Association, Lee Bee Wah, apologised for causing grievances and stress. With that, the dust has settled over a week-long saga that mired Singapore’s silver medal win at the Olympic Games. Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said the issue was caused by misunderstandings and ties have been mended. He added that the local sports scene, especially the Singapore Table Tennis Association, has emerged stronger from the incident. It’s pretty obvious what has happened. New STTA president messes up by dissing her own team in public. The public goes nuts over her dampening of our first Oly medal in 48 years. Gahmen gets alarmed, steps in and tells everyone in the team off. Calls for hasty press conference on a FRIDAY NIGHT (people got a life you know). STTA president issues a way overdue apology in order to keep her job and save whatever is left of her face. Rest of table-tennis team stands together in public to tell everyone everything is ok, because it’s not possible to do otherwise anyway. Team manager keeps his job…sort of. Gahmen says “IT’S OK. MATTER CLOSED. STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.” Well, I hope the average Singaporean can see what’s happening for themselves, apart from the fact these guys don’t know the social value of a Friday evening.  The matter is far from closed because as of time of writing, we have no idea what the misunderstandings were. Controversies are not closed by one sentence by a minister, but by a general agreement with those affected. Unfortunately, in this case, it’s the whole country who needs to agree with him. And I’m pretty sure you can’t mend ties overnight, especially with sobbing male table-tennis players on television and angry words exchanged in the media by key parties. And lots and lots of angry online postings.   At this point, I can only see a few logical next steps: Ms Lee Bee Wah really has to step down now because it’s the honorable thing to do. And sports is all about honor and glory. Just because the Gahmen says she has done/will do a good job doesn’t mean the rest of the population agrees. And it’s our taxpayers’ money that funds these people, not some private angel fund. She issues an apology that she should have one week ago - the real issue is not her management decision (why, she may have been completely right to re-org the team for matters we may not be aware of), but her extremely poor public timing that she should fess up to. And the fact she hurt an entire country’s ego and pride by letting on about a decision that should not have been made public. She might blame the reporter for misrepresentation, but the fact is that she said what she said, without realising its real impact. Why should future table tennis stars have faith in that she’ll do well, given that she refused for the longest time to admit any wrongdoing? And why are people who have no experience in dealing with sportsmen running the show here? Where are our sporting greats who know the pain and agony it takes to get to the top and stay there? So why do we have trouble winning medals? It’s not necessarily a factor of not having the right talent, but the right management. We complain all the time about the foreign talent we hire in SG, but do we complain about the people who hire them? Why aren’t we gunning for the people responsible for the state of matters, instead of blaming the symptoms of their decisions? The Minister ought not to take our intelligence for granted if he wants to be credible with the masses. The more you try to tell people to shove it, the more they will push back, especially online. We can see what’s wrong for ourselves, even though we may not know the full picture. We don’t have to be told whether an issue is closed or not, and we’d be fools to let this matter rest with such vague and sweeping answers. Sports may or may not unite a country, but a public dressing down of high-achieving sportsmen and their managers rankles everyone who has a degree of EQ. Get it right, we’re not unhappy over individuals, we’re unhappy over the lack of sportsmanship and political etiquette by the people who are supposed to champion it. Of course, this perception may be the result of the way the news report was broadcast. Who knows? But like I said, the entire country has been hurt, and there’s no remedy in sight. Anyway, we can only talk here, won’t change anything except the hope we actually have an impact on Ms Lee’s ability to see sports in the way she should. Have a good laugh at Mr Brown’s latest MP3 on the Pingpongsaga.   Update: Indeed, CNA’s report left out alot of stuff, probably because of the short time left for editing. ST’s report tells alot more, but my points above remain the same. Being media-savvy The latest fiasco over Ms Lee Bee Wah and the removal (sacking, termination of contract of, removal, whatever they’ll call it) of the table tennis team manager for the Singapore team is not only a grim reminder of timely release of information, people management skills but also of media-savviness. Singapore being such a small place, it’s only a matter of time before you’re approached for an interview by the press. You need to be aware of how to deal with the press when they come talk/hound/hassle/cajole you. As an ex-journo, I have two pieces of advice on this, depending on who you are. 1. For the general, unsuspecting public. Don’t say a single thing. Why? You’re not sure who you are dealing with or how your quotes will be used. The older generation was afraid of talking to reporters largely because they thought the Gahmen would come after them. Well, today I’m more wary of how my quotes will be taken out of context by some intern. Of course, very senior journos tend to be more trustworthy as they know better than to screw their newsmakers.  I was once interviewed myself for a TV news interview on how legal betting would affect soccer matches here. I did it for fun, not revealing that I was a fellow press corps member. I said: “Well, all matches are probably fixed to some extent anyway. This is happening through out the world lah. Players could always do with more money right? I don’t see how legalised betting could change things very much.” Reporter: “So how do you think it’ll affect local S-League matches?” Me: “Erm, I don’t really know what to say about that. I don’t bother to watch S-League matches” Guess what was broadcast? Me looking a bit blur and ONLY saying :”Erm I don’t really know what to say about that.” 2. For the guy who needs to be in the limelight (company spokesman, politician, lawyer, crook etc) Say only what needs to be said at that point of time. Too many spokesmen talk too much, inadvertantly blurting company secrets and so on. But above all, be honest. You can withhold information, but you’d better off dead if you decide to lie. The best journos are able to drill down to the truth and tear off any contradictory statements with ease. Pray you never meet them, but if you do, make them your best friend by feeding them choice quotes that won’t get you fired from your job. Or giving a really good story lah. I’m pretty annoyed by both newsmakers and journos who have forgotten that the media is there to serve good stories to the public, not some boring exposition on why the latest Gahmen policy will do miracles for the public. Politicians often get so used to talking to political beat journos, they think that all media think and talk the same way. Well, it’s very different when you meet finance, tech, lifestyle or sports reporters. Some are more hungry to get a good story than others, and if you feed them info that fits their story angle, well, pray the story turns out in your favour! In any case, always keep your quote short and simple. Don’t spew the official PR line written from the top - always paraphrase and make it sound more casual without changing the meaning. Each quote should mean something useful for the journo. There’s no point saying you’ve sold 100m units of product A when you don’t explain what that figure means to the general public (eg “You can now share all your media with 100m other gadget users over the air!”) More importantly, you should ask the journo how he intends to write the story and how your interview would help the story have more meat. The minute you do that, you help frame the questions and answers that will follow, while making it very clear that the QnA is a mutual, equal and friendly two-way process, not some interrogation session. Will write more on journalism stuff when I have the energy to do so again. Ping pong PR Article from today’s Straits Times featuring the table tennis association president. The new Flipviewer feature in ST really makes for great web clippings Not so much for the PR folks though, as you can’t save the PDF.   What a PR gaffe! If you haven’t heard what happened, here’s the paper’s quick summary: FURIOUS Singaporeans lambasted the shock decision by table tennis president Lee Bee Wah to remove team manager Antony Lee and to refer the fate of Liu Guodong, the team’s head coach, to a coaching committee. By 8pm yesterday, The Straits Times received nearly 200 e-mails and letters from readers - almost all of whom voiced disbelief and outrage. Many more flamed Ms Lee in Internet blogs and postings. Most of them took issue with the timing of the news, which came just before Singapore’s Olympic paddlers were due for a victorious homecoming this afternoon. ‘This sudden announcement has certainly cast a dark cloud over the shining achievements of the table tennis team,’ banker David Chee lamented. ‘Just as people should be given time to mourn their loss, they should also be given time to celebrate their achievements. Anything short of this is just plain disrespectful.’ Mr Lee was held responsible for Gao Ning’s third-round defeat in the men’s singles at the Games. Gao, the Republic’s top male paddler, had to play without a coach by his side. As young sportsmen in the ACJC dragonboat team, we went through similar (but not on the same scale) issues with our teacher-in-charge. We were (and still are), the only JC team to win a local championship and an overseas championship in Hong Kong in the same year. What happened when we returned? Our captain Derek Cher (now in Heaven) was removed publicly from his post, and the team’s morale dropped to hell. All because the guys were a little rowdy at the celebration dim sum lunch (which I didn’t attend cos I fell sick). Anyway, back to the current fiasco. No matter the reason for firing the manager, the timing is just plain wrong. It throws another spanner into the debate about employing foreign talent to win medals for the group. Is our sports program meant to build champions or better employees? When you fire people at whim, especially when the whole nation happens to be looking at the team, you’ll be severely scrutinised at all levels and experience alot of pre-judging by the public. I’m not sure what kind of PR training or public exposure Ms Lee Bee Wah has experienced to date. But one thing is for sure, no matter what she does now, she must be prepared to be demonised for this one move - it took 48 years for the country to win an Olympic medal, and it took one decision to totally kill it. Think about it this way - which foreign or local sportsman would want to help Singapore win its next medal from now? When champs are not even allowed to celebrate properly? Brats! With all the furor about Baby Bonuses, better to show everyone why no amount of Gahmen money can convince me to have another kid. These two brats can really drain any parent! But still cute lah. [Show as slideshow] Sidewinder X6 announced! Batman meets Mavis Beacon  I usually don’t write about my work at Microsoft on this blog. I think people already write enough about our company and products without me adding to the fray. But I must tell you the upcoming Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard is something that my fingers really love. It was just announced at Leipzig at the Games Convention show and I’ve been using it for a few days. I’ve had a hands-on of the final product and I can tell you it rawks. See here for all the great specs and features. Basically the press release includes the following key features: Switchable keypad can be attached to either side of the keyboard, allowing gamers to switch between a standard key pad and a macro pad in gaming mode. Mode switching lets gamers manually toggle the keyboard from standard mode to either of two gaming modes. LEDs show the selected mode. Automatic profile switching detects the application that is running and applies the custom profile to the application. Assign up to 90 macros per game with the programmable macro keys. NEW! Cruise Control feature continues an action without having to hold down the key or keys assigned to the action. Gamers can use Cruise Control with up to four keys at a time.1 In-game macro record button lets gamers record any sequence of keystrokes — even standard chat messages. Macros are stored on the PC hard drive and can be easily shared. WASD gaming keys have front-face lighting for enhanced visibility. Quick-Launch key gives one-touch access to Windows Vista Games Explorer,2 allowing gamers to quickly see the games in their PC’s game library. Two-color adjustable backlighting is controlled by a dial right on the keyboard. Amber indicates programmable macro keys in game mode, and red indicates nonprogrammable keys. Media keys and volume control dial provide easy access to popular media activities such as play/pause, previous track, next track and mute.   My own experience so far: - Really love the typing experience. I usually type fastest on a Microsoft Natural split keyboard, but this one takes it one notch up because the keys have very good tactile response. They are also spaced for optimal efficiency. - The backlighting is done very well and not overly-bright or dim. The volume dial also allows very fine control of your audio. - I don’t really play so many PC games these days, but the macro recording works for all sorts of work stuff like Excel or MS Word too. I’m trying out macros for Photoshop soon. You can always key in the macros into the software if you don’t want to do it directly. - Overall, it looks really cool lor. Like Batman’s little own PC keyboard ;D The product will be available in SG later in the year. Paying The Price With No Regrets This article was published in Today, today.   BY IAN TAN ON HER deathbed, my ever pragmatic mum told my then wife-to-be: “Must have double income! Singapore too expensive to live on one paycheck alone.” That was over seven years ago when both Sze Wei and I were still university undergrads. Sorry Mum, unlike a lot of guys out there, I refuse to heed that advice. I know you were a single mum who struggled to raise three children, but that’s also why I never saw you much when I was growing up. Dad passed away when I was three months old and thus I never had a father figure, which was something I swore never to inflict on my children. It took me a long time to convince Sze Wei, and she spent a year mulling over it before she finally quit her job to stay at home to look after our two energetic children, now aged 5 and 3. Sze Wei is the envy of her friends, but I can assure you my wife is not living the life of a rich tai-tai. In fact, for a few years after she stopped work, we couldn’t generate any extra savings as I struggled to pay our bills and helped to support her retired parents. Thankfully, I make a bit more now and we can breathe easier. Now people always ask me when they find out the state of my nuclear family: “Wah, you really support the Gahmen’s baby policies is it? Why not have one more? Can get four months’ maternity leave now, you know! Lots of baby bonus!” It’s pretty annoying, because from what I’ve just written, you can probably tell that Sze Wei and I had children and made certain sacrifices for them because of our own belief in their upbringing, despite societal (and for me, maternal) pressure to keep up with the Joneses (or is it the Wongs?). I’ve never paid much heed to the Government’s Baby Bonus plans because the incentives (yes, even the tax breaks), couldn’t stir my loins into action. But when I heard about the latest package, I got pretty upset. The glaring lack of paternity leave reminded me of the time my first child was born and I decided to use my entire leave allowance that year to look afterSze Wei during her confinement month.  For guys who haven’t gone through it yet, just know that the first month of your child’s life can be the most terrifying for the family. Many women face problems such as the child refusing to breastfeed, constant exhaustion as the result of a baby who wakes up every other hour, meconium (that’s newborn faeces, dude) soiling the diapers many times a day. I changed diapers till I turned as green as the faeces I was wiping off my son Isaac’s buttocks. Not everyone has parents or confinement maids to help out, and this is where the hubby really needs to step up and share in the parenting experience. I burnt my annual leave again for my second child Isabel, and I never regretted it. The bonding experience from day one is irreplaceable and my children know that too. So what do the latest Baby Bonus measures mean for hands-on parents like us? I see the lack of paternity leave as a clear message to stay in the office during confinement month because we men might just squander any extra leave we get or make our bosses really unhappy with the loss of our workplace contribution. Then there is the extra money being pumped into childcare centres which doesn’t benefit homemakers like Sze Wei. But for parents like us, the question is whether we want to leave our children in the arms of strangers who are only doing only doing what they do because they are paid a salary? I know not everyone shares my views. Many already complain that our society is too materialistic, that our people are too self-absorbed. There will be those who want their cake and eat it — have babies and look towards the Government to “compensate” them for having done so. Perhaps it is also time to start promoting family values that are being rapidly eroded today? There is a price for everything in life, and for our children, my wife and I have paid up with no regrets. We took whatever Baby Bonus benefits being offered then, but they really had no impact on our lifelong decisions. I just hope other parents-to-be don’t look to the Government to pay the price of having children. After all, the authorities don’t make the baby — you do. Ian Tan is a former journalist who is now a public relations professional in the IT industry. Once again, fathers do not exist in SG The Singapore government plans to spend an additional S$700 million a year on measures to boost its flagging birth rate. Currently, it spends about S$900 million a year. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday night that a baby brings much joy, but can also be a logistic and financial challenge, so a slew of measures will be implemented by the government to create more time and more funds to help parents cope with their children. Paid maternity leave will be extended from 12 weeks to 16 weeks, and the extra four weeks can be taken anytime during the baby’s first year. It was previously extended from eight to 12 weeks in 2004. There will also be a larger baby bonus for first-time parents, more tax incentives to encourage mothers to work, more incentives for the fifth and subsequent children, and more financial support for couples who go for In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment. On top of that, Mr Lee said parenting is not just the mother’s responsibility. “I used to change nappies, in the days before Pampers. So you’ve actually got to fold the cloth, you’ve got to put it on, you’ve got to put the safety pin, I haven’t pricked any baby yet. If I can do it, that means anybody can do it,” he quipped. Emphasising that parenting is a job for both parents has influenced some policy changes which he hopes will help to shift attitudes. Childcare leave, which can be claimed by either parent, will be extended from two to six days per year. Government to spend S$700m more on pro-family measures, 18 Aug 2008 Channelnewsasia I knew it! I knew it! Once again, we longsuffering dads are treated like an afterthought by the Gahmen. What was in that NDP Rally Message for us Providers Of Spermatoza and Masculine Role Models? Here’s what I heard: “Here, take a few more days leave. Never mind that your wife needs one month for confinement, the extra four childcare leave days should be enough okay. Oh yes, don’t forget to turn up for reservist where you won’t see your wife and newborn for the next month or so” “Claim more baby bonus as a tax break. But don’t blame us if you want to drive a car to ferry the kids around town and you kena the ERP chain of gantries. Can always take the supercrowded MRT mah, even with your stroller.” “Have five kids or more lah. We know the tax breaks are enough for the first five years. After that, if all your kids want to go uni at $100k a pop, that’s your problem. Your wife going back to work in her cushy job soon right?” We guys ought to really protest. All the benefits are going to women, and it’s assumed that guys don’t play a major part in their childrens’ lives. Well some of us dads do try, and the Gahmen isn’t encouraging other fathers-to-be to try either. Those policymakers just don’t get it. And I want to know how many married guys were involved in making this New Baby Bonus which I am sure will not move the birth rate up by a significant measure. They forget it takes two hands to clap. For goodness sake, the Gahmen is not the other half that wives need as much help they can get from - we husbands are. But where are we in this wonderful Singapore Fertility Equation? We’re nothing more than the petri dish or the titration tap.   PS: Got quoted in Today on Aug 20th! Teaching better Wikipedia picture of Nan Hua students. Picture by Mailer Diablo. Our education system has evolved over time, in response to the changing needs of our nation, as well as the external environment. We have a first class education system that is respected internationally. But we can always do better. We want to maintain high educational standards that give every Singaporean student a valuable cachet and recognition worldwide. Moving forward, we want to create more space and focus in our system to impart values to our children. We want to nurture each child, to believe in himself and be self-sufficient, to care for his fellow man, and to be able to contribute to the larger society around him. These are simple goals of any public education system, but few can say that they have delivered. Singapore must aspire to attain these worthy educational goals. MOE will lead the way, but to succeed, we will need all stakeholders to support these initiatives. - Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, at the 4th Anniversary Public Lecture at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, on Thursday, 14 August 2008, at 11.30am Educating The Next Generation   All great and good, dear Minister, but I’d also like the education system to be able to sport the following. 1. Impart (not teach) a proper history of modern Singapore and why we are the way we are today. I doubt anyone reading this blog has a clear understanding of how Singapore came about. What we read in history textbooks in secondary school was sanitised and severely truncated. For eg. there was never a clear explanation why Singapore was booted out of Malaysia (ie. LKY vs Malay nationalism), because of the desire to maintain racial harmony in class. It took me years after school to finally see the bigger picture and hidden facts of the past. Kids today will probably learn more reading Wikipedia’s SG entry and the PAP-Umno conflict page. The first step to true nationhood is understanding your roots, and we don’t know it at all. Racism simmers under the surface of the society, but we often brush it aside as if it doesn’t exist, and many Singaporeans have no idea what type of region the small island is surrounded by. 2. Teach a view of Singapore that is not just through the Gahmen’s lenses. This is going to be tough, given that PAP ideology stretches throughout the civil service and has been embedded for decades. There are many good things about PAP ideology (which they and media supporters keep harping on incessantly). But teachers need to be able to give a balanced perspective on all things. When foreigners criticise Singapore, it’s not always because they want to tell us how to run the country, but because they simply have a different viewpoint. The Singapore way is to tell this guys to shut up and cover our own ears…or sue them. What happens in the end? Our people grow up, see reality for themselves, and leave the country for good because they don’t want to be nagged at anymore.  Brain drain doesn’t only occur because we are better educated academically, but because we may not want to stick around with people with closed minds and hearts. Teachers and students need to be able to question and prod the system that nurtures them, but the system still encourages rote learning at all levels. GP classes need to stretch minds, not impart fixed views. I guess scholarly policymakers don’t grasp this concept - Nationhood starts from the buzzing classroom, not some boring government public campaign or social studies textbook. Look at the French as a classic example - they argue about everything to death but they love the idea of France. 3. Get more teachers who actually know what the real world is. I don’t know if anyone realises this - but teachers are being churned out like crazy out of NIE, and they become teachers without having any experience outside of the school system. As they are not affected by profit and loss margins, they don’t know the realities of the business world, economic shakedowns, the relationship between government and businesses, you scratch my back I scratch yours, ERP and parking costs, 360 degree employee feedback mechanisms and so on. These are things important for students to learn about because the world is getting increasingly flat and more competitive. I see young people today entering the marketplace thinking they deserve a mid-level manager’s post immediately because they have some fancy graduate or masters’ degree. Wake up, kids, everyone needs to start at the bottom to excel at the top. Grades mean little in the long run when you cannot perform. Of course, the question is why anyone doing well in the business world would want to teach a bunch of students and not get the pay they are used to. 4. Stop stressing on just performance but on individual development. Obvious statement right? Every child is special, and every child develops at his own rate. Our system is unforgiving and does not recognise soft skills (another reason for the low levels of cultural development here). Self-expression and creativity is not truly encouraged because it does not help raise the school’s academic ranking or make parents desire to send their kids there. When some schools enter music competitions, the intent to win it is far greater than the intent to expose the students to musical expression. Some kids don’t do well at studies, but they are potentially great leaders because they sport abnormally high EQ levels. Yet are teachers or the system able to nurture these people to reach their natural height of abilities? In ACS where I came from, there were teachers who could, and we appreciated them for there effort with eternal gratefulness. But it’s a thankless job when the majority are just focused on finishing the curriculum for the day. 5. Let the kids have fun Duh. Many students spend too much time studying in Singapore, too little time hanging out, falling in puppy love, getting into hijinks etc. People learn life lessons from the mistakes they make, and I fear there is little room for such minor infringements in many schools to let students tumble and pick themselves up. An old friend leaves Sim Lim Square I was just at Sim Lim Square doing window shopping with my son when we went into one of my old haunts on the 2nd floor. A reputable shop among a whole bunch of dodgy retailers, I’ve been buying stuff from there for a decade. I can probably count a few MiniDisc players, several camcorders and LOTs of earphones. So I chatted up salesman Mr J. about upscaling DVD players and asked, “Hey, how come all the Sony HDTVs have been dismantled? You guys refreshing the displays?” He shook his head and said they’re doing a clearance and will be closing down the shop soon. “It’s hard to do business these days. Customers are smart, they know how to compare prices, and with the 7% GST and NETS charging extra, it’s so difficult to make money. The boss decided to close shop.” “So where are you going to go? You guys have been here over ten years right?” “I don’t know, probably join another company.” It’s always sad when an old established retailer is forced out even though they’ve been running an honest (at least to me) business and trying their best to keep things going. Rising costs is not just something the papers write about in a detached manner, nor is it just annoying us with spiralling food prices and ERP charges. There are people’s jobs at stake here and if you think about it, little is being done about it from the top. Many policymakers don’t see or work with people like Mr J., they just read about him and forget about it. Today, I also read a commentary in the Straits Times about how a minority of people polled felt that the National Day Parade was an excessive waste of money, but overall, people still looked forward to it. Well it’s just a newspaper straw poll and having conducted many of those, I’d say readers should take it with a big pinch of salt. Yes, NDPs serve a ceremonial function and should remain a fixture for the masses who may not have anything to do on the public holiday, the thing is - how much of our money is being spent on it and why should it be so high? How much can NDP committees outdo the previous year’s anyway? I haven’t been paying close attention, but it also appears there’s a real limit to improvement in show content, and there are diminishing returns. To revive some buzz, they built a floating stage which basically has little use the rest of the year, and destroyed the Marina Bay landscape cum watersports facilities. As a kid, I went for one or two NDPs and really enjoyed it, but as I grew older, I got increasingly upset with the way our money was being spent on it. One thing our Gahmen needs to learn how to do better is how to manage its impression management. In tough times, it has to appear like it’s cutting back on trivial expenses and that it is roughing it out with its people. Unfortunately, it usually has to wait till some controversy arises - I remember the uproar when LTA said it was going to build some expensive building to house its staff, but later backed down and quietly moved into the old Kedang Kerbau hospital premises. There’s also recent news that the Gahmen is hiring more “information officers” to better manage communications to the public. But man, the stuff that I’m talking about, you don’t need any PR professional to figure out or implement. You just need someone who thinks with his head and heart. Ultimately, I think NDP is an okay thing, especially for young and old folks. ESPECIALLY if I’m not called up to stand in the parade and its rehearsals. But for those of us who have to pay taxes, it can also be a show of how the Gahmen is thinking about our needs and feelings.    Good to see you back, China Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, 2008. Photograph by Bullit Marquez/AP   For hundreds of years, China has been bullied and put down by the West. These days, when people mention China, they associate it with cheap knock-off goods, paranoid Communists, Tibet, Sichuan earthquakes and so on. The news has been filled with nothing but how the Olympics were going down thanks to the polluted air in Beijing. Even our own Singaporean Chinese…many of them look down on their mainland cousins as being backward or money-grubbing. But last night, China really reminded the world who has been boss for thousands of years, and that it really only took a breather in the past few centuries. The opening ceremony might have been a symbolic piece, but it sure symbolised many things. 1. China has the money to do anything it wants if it desires to. US$20b is no joke man. No other country would have even dared dreamed of spending half the amount just on an opening ceremony. 2. China has a disciplined population willing to do its political will. Just observe the hundreds of taiji exponents flipping around with perfect timing. I was studying the look on their faces - it was nothing but pure focus (and fear of messing up, of course). 3. China is the Asian hothouse of creativity and execution. Forget the Italian Renaissance. Zhang Yimou’s ability to orchestrate the show, implement the technology and knock everyone’s socks off is just the tip of the iceberg. Not many people realise this, but for the past few decades, the Chinese have been travelling and absorbing as much as they could from other countries. The transfer of technology and knowledge has been massive and unprecedented, and last night’s show was just one demonstration of what the people have brought home. More than anything else - like the fancy ancient costumes or different dialect groups dancing - the ability of China to wow the entire planet is probably just the first step in its true revival and re-ascent to power. It may not supercede Hollywood for many decades or even centuries, but in all other fields, the dragon has stirred. Indeed, last night was a good reminder of what the word “majestic” meant. PS: Of course, the whole Olympic ceremony made our own National Day Parade look like a waste of time. We were at Weizheng’s house and everyone lost interest when the musical fountains got turned on. NDP costs plenty of money too, but it’s not really relevant in a time when there is such a big detachment between the people and the government. Want to celebrate National Day? First ask how many Singaporeans want to put up the flag in front of their house first. It is not out of laziness we do not do so, but a general discontentment with the Gahmen’s way of governing. The Chinese put on a show to prove their worth - our Gahmen puts on a show that has no real meaning anymore.