Burma’s xenophobic actions leave me almost speechless! Hi Friends, Can anyone other than the 20-30 generals who constantly surround the despotic Senior General Than Shwe really understand what is going on? Nargis had come and gone and left tens of thousands dead in its trail and now hundreds of thousands of folks throughout the Burmese country-side are in dire need of food, water and shelter. If they do not get these, disease and neglect will Burma's cyclone disaster: Time for unconditional giving 8.5.08: Please donate generously through: 1. Red Cross Singapore 2. Mercy Relief 3. World Vision The latest casualty figures are much higher than expected- it could be more than 100,000! Hi Friends, The people of Burma really have it bad. They face yet again another tragedy of immense proportions- but this time not man-made. Notwithstanding what I think about the wrongful Are we ready to treat our maids as humans yet? Hi friends, In 2006, I blogged about the plight of Singapore’s maids. I said, “In this day and age, when even the civil service has implemented 5-day weeks, is it so hard to understand that these 150,000 maids are just like you and I, requiring relaxation and rest? These workers, who are an asset to our national economy, are not slaves and should be accorded the same human rights that you and Olympic Torch Relay: Hey China, what about Singapore? Malaysia prepared for torch run (BBC News 21 April 08) The Olympic torch is due to make its way through the streets of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, the latest leg of a worldwide relay. Malaysian officials said they were not expecting any protests. The torch drew high-profile demonstrations from pro-Tibet activists as it passed through cities such as London, Paris and San Francisco. Of Lorenz's Chaotic Butterflies and Singapore Obituary: Edward Lorenz; Pioneer in Creation of Chaos Theory (1917-2008) By Patricia SullivanWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, April 17, 2008; B07 Edward N. Lorenz, 90, a meteorologist who laid the groundwork for chaos theory, memorably asking whether the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas, died of cancer April 16 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was an Voting with the feet is worse than voting for the other side Dear editor, Introduction Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has in a recent interview with Lianhe Zaobao (and translated for the Straits Times) mentioned how the search for political successors has become a big challenge for his government. He cited how out of the 600-odd students who scored four As in their A levels each year, about 150 would eventually work abroad, some never to return. Implied I almost stopped writing… but then came a phone call Hi Friends, The music stopped I stopped writing to the newspapers’ forum pages for just about a year. Many reasons accounted for the hiatus- primary one being constraint of time. I was just finishing a course and I needed more than 24 hours a day. But a more important reason was that my creative juices sort of just dried up. I was also feeling the futility of ranting and shouting like Singapore’s investments in UBS; Merrill Lynch; Citigroup (aka triple whammy rotten eggs ). Hi Friends, When Singapore’s Government Investments Corporation (GIC) and Temasek Holdings bought substantial stakes in the above three financial titans, I was genuinely proud and excited. Wow! I believed (as did GIC and Temasek’s advisors) that such opportunities were once in a lifetime and not to be missed. This little red dot of ours would surely prove the whole world wrong! Buy when Aesthetic Medicine and Snake-oil-My unabridged letter to the Straits Times Hi Friends, The below is the complete letter sent to the ST Forum page. The editor chose to print only this sentence: "As not all aesthetic treatment is “snake-oil” we should not throw the baby out with the bath-water by banning aesthetic medicine. " That's his prerogative. Mine is to publish it on this blog. Now I know why Jeff Ooi and the gang up north had become cult figures! Maybe I can be David Saul Marshall: What Singapore’s mass media will not tell you Hi Friends, Way back in October 2006, I posted an entry entitled “Lessons from Beyond the Grave- What 2 Singaporeans teach us”. This was in two instalments. Part One was the tragic tale of a certain Mr.Tan Jee Suan who was so poor and financially distressed that he felt that the only way out of his monetary troubles was to end his life in front of an MRT train. His parting gift to his Malaysia’s GE Tsunami and implications for Singapore Hi Friends, Malaysia’s rakyat has spoken Malaysia’s rakyat (people) has spoken in no uncertain terms. In one fell swoop, Malaysian political’s landscape was unimaginably changed. Barisan Nasional (BN), the national coalition which consisted of racially-based component parties which until yesterday was supposed to give the different races a representative voice in the higher echelons of Letter about Parkway Novena Hospital Hi Friends, I owe The Straits Times' editor a treat. I have given him so much extra work! Recently,whenever I write a letter to the ST forum, he/she has to: 1. take out French words 2. take out financial concepts like "triple bottomline" and "corporate social responsibility" 3. rewrite most parts leaving only some ideas behind 4. take out the fizz so as to avoid too much controversy ( such as Burma fools the world (again) Hi Friends Burma makes a fool of the international community once again. It now has a draft constitution which more or less says, “ Anyone who is named Aung San Suu Kyi cannot participate in the 2010 elections.” Okay, it actually stipulates that anyone who is married to a foreigner (even if the latter has long died) or who have children who are not Burma nationals cannot take part in domestic Beware MSM editor's creative scissors-you read what they want you to read Hi Friends, Our MSM ( Mainstream Media) has a monopoly on what we get to read and hear. For example, Specimen A below is what was edited and printed whilst Specimen B, was what I actually wrote. It is exactly like in the advertisement where the tennis coach was telling the student's father what a physically-challenged child his son was and how the boy could be a case-study for physiology on TOC's mole affair - My personal opinion Hi Friends, Much has been said of the sordid affair about how Remy Choo Zheng Xi , could be part of a PAP-inspired counter-insurgency campaign to control the blogosphere (via The Online Citizen "TOC") in favour of the PAP. False premises My observation is that this allegation is based on false premises. The main false premise is that the TOC ( and the blogosphere at large) is anti-PAP. This Are you ready for change: What’s your Locus of Control score? Hi Friends, Recently I had some opportunities to do psychometric tests. One of these is the Rotter’s Locus of Control scale. Locus of Control: Locus of control refers to how individuals attribute responsibilities for events that happen to their lives. In simple terms, do we feel that most things that happen to us are beyond our control? That our social structure or our office hierarchy are so Suharto: .."if he had any faults, please forgive them" Hi Friends, 'Father has returned to God. 'We ask that if he had any faults, please forgive them...may he be absolved of all his mistakes.' These words by Siti Hardianti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of the late President Suharto are poignant indeed. Great are Suharto’s excesses but so are his achievements. I will leave it to the Great Weighing Scale in the Sky to conclude if the balancing PAP and the Economic Imperative Will local politics change? In the end, it is the economics that will dictate Loh Chee Kongcheekong@mediacorp.com.sg (Today 1st Dec 07) THE year is 2030. Now, imagine a Singapore with no Group Representative Constituencies (GRC), no defamation suits, no one-dominant party and personality. . This is what the young people who attended a session three weeks ago with Dr Vivian Balakrishnan seem to Singapore's inflation rate- Worse to come? Hi Friends, Of late, we have had a slew of shocking news about inflation rates hitting 16-year highs and even political leaders confirming that this would peak at 5 per cent early 2008. This comes as no surprise to any of us. External factors like the US $100 oil barrels coupled with recent GST hikes to 7% and increased ERP rates of up to $5 (third hike in 2007,no less), must inevitably Singapore's tragedy in Cambodia Hi Friends, This is a sad weekend for Singapore, especially for the grieving families of our five fine Singaporean rowers. The five, Jeremy Goh, 24; Stephen Loh, 31; Reuben Kee, 23; Poh Boon San, 27 and Chee Wei Cheng, 20 are amongst Singapore's ablest and best and have died while representing their nation. We share their loss. Deepest sympathies also for the comrades of these five. The Musings about Opposition parties and such Hi Friends, I was browsing through Littlespeck.com’s article on Party politics- A little ground shift when I stumbled upon Singapore Musing’s article entitled Opposition: Some suggestions for it. I highly recommend it as a worthwhile read for the weekend. Do ponder over it. What is your take? My feeling is if: 1. the economy continues on its pro-business track and is managed carefully and Burma: Time for healing Myanmar's Suu Kyi says 'time for healing' after meeting with govt officials (AFP 10th Nov 2007) YANGON : Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is optimistic after meeting Friday with a military official and believes it is time for the "healing process" to start, her party said. The pro-democracy leader also met with members of her National League for Democracy for the first time Sarkozy's pay rise:French will flip if they know... Hi Friends, The French public reaction is expectedly negative to Sarkozy's doubling of his annual pay to S$480,000. I wonder how they would react if they realise that this is but a fraction of what Singapore's political leaders earn. I do not have our leaders' remuneration package ( maybe some kind soul can send me some data/links), but I remember it was a jaw-dropping, dumb-founding, obscene Non-repeal of 377A: Remember Rosa Parks and Don't Give Up! Hi Friends,I wrote this letter to the forum page today: October 29, 2007 Dear Editor, I refer to the ongoing debate on the non-repeal of Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code. Though contentious and undoubtedly divisive, the debate was necessary and may prove to be cathartic. By voicing our concerns about “gay” rights, Singaporeans from both sides of the divide are taking ownership of Why No Singaporean question and no Singaporean marches. Hi Friends, I will be busy these couple of weeks. ( But not too busy to write a short post here) I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 letters in the ST forum today which more or less reflect my views about the "apparent" Singaporean apathy and about active citizenry. The "whack the opposition to pulp" method or more simply stated "reign of terror" method meted out by Singapore's first Havel, Walesa and Tutu:Living proof that evil does not always triumph Hi Friends, Reading the article below brings back memories of events that seem just a heart-beat away. When Havel, Walesa, Tutu and Mandela stood up against the onslaught of tyranny, no one gave them any chance of success. Yet, the Czech republic, Poland and South Africa are now free and democratic countries able to help other countries break free from their shackles of slavery, in whatever ASEAN's rebuke of Burma welcomed but more action needed Hi Friends, I welcome ASEAN's Foreign Ministers' condemnation of Burma. Although ministers "expressing their revulsion" may seem like just words and a lot of hot air to many, it is unprecedented as ASEAN has a reputation for being an old boys club where politicians meet regularly in exotic resorts and pat each other on the shoulders with self-congratulatory compliments and a cup of tea. I Burma’s despotic regime has crossed the line Hi Friends, Henceforth, I will refer to the nation of Myanmar in its original name of Burma as a sign of protest. In my mind, I had drawn a line in the sand and this line is when the military regime uses brutal and lethal force to resolve this impasse. The line has been crossed. The news from Burma’s cities is that hundreds of monks have been arrested overnight, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been Myanmar needs our support… but the silence is deafening! Hi friends, Some of us have heard of the Prague Spring. It was in 1958 when the then Czechoslovakia, had a unique opportunity to liberalise politically even though it was still part of the communist Warsaw Pact. Alexander Dubcek briefly wrested power from pro-Soviet politicians and from January till August of that fateful year, Czechoslovakians had illusions of democracy and political freedom. Myanmar's brave Buddhist clergy and personal thoughts on peaceful protest "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" Edmund Burke Hi Friends, I am sure that few of the Buddhist monks participating in the protests against Myanmar’s military junta know who Burke is, much less heard of his famous “triumph of evil” quote. It is fair to say that it probably matters little to them as they have already taken upon themselves the duty