Kin Jio Leaf

Raise Our Wages, Can or Not?

2011-07-20T21:38:00.001+08:00

Ape haven't been looking into the sacred text The KinJioLeaf for quite some time. Just some days ago, a certain news report made ape recall a leaflet out of the The KinJioLeaf. Of course they are totally unrelated.

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The leaflet from The KinJioLeaf was a letter written some years ago to address some wage issues within the Mandai Forest. It was addressed to the Palm Tree Chimpanzee (PTC) who was setup to oversee the Palm Tree Orang Utans (PTO) who were in charge of the overall health and well being of the palm trees in Mandai Forest.

"Dear Chimpanzees,

We humbly and sincerely write to you to request for an increase of our salary by 2.8%. Our reason for this request is that the cost of living has increased and is likely to continue increasing. To list some examples,

1) Fuel cost, ERP, parking charges and maintenance has increased resulting in us having to spend more to drive to work.
2) Tuition fees, piano lessons and movies tickets cost has increased so we have to pay more for our children. Not to mention my children had wanted an iPad each, the latest model one.
3) Our foreign domestic workers have also demand for more pay.
4) Our wives have also raised concerns that, in spite of our cost cutting measures and a decent savings of $1611 (myself) and $543 (Esbe) a year, it is clearly not enough. In fact our savings dropped by 1.1% and 0.6% respectively.

We admit that our service has not improved much and at times there were isolated lapses but there have never been any major incidents... other than that time when someone sneaked into the nursery and vandalised a tree, only to be discovered by fellow apes when I sent it out to the forest. Or that time when other apes complained that there's not enough trees to provide shelter for them. Aiyoh, surely, there is enough if they could just squeeze themselves under those trees. Surely, these accounts are isolated and negligible.

Last but not least, we are only asking for an increase of 2.8%, a cap set by you, based on a formula that is what you think we should deserve.

We sincerely and humbly seek your approval to raise our wages.

Signed,
Assam R.T.
Esbe S.T.
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Ape couldn't find the reply though. Have a great weekend!

Sharing Some Thoughts On General Election

2011-05-09T21:00:00.000+08:00

Singapore General Election 2011 is over. For the first time since independance, all but 5 seats, were contested. You can read all about GE2011 in the news, online social media, etc. Many people also, for the first time, get to vote and I'm not talking about people who just reached the legal voting age (i.e. 21 years old).

Some of my peers were sort of caught off guard, thinking that their constituency would be a walkover. They, like me a decade ago, made last minute scramble for information about the candidates and parties contesting in their SMC/GRC.

If you're one of them, you may want to read on. Please note that the following is just an opinion, my opinion. You have every right to form your own opinion and come to a conclusion on HOW you might want to vote, in the next GE.

In GE2001, when I first got to vote, I knew close to nothing about the incumbent and absolutely nothing about the contender. There was a frantic seach in the internet, the fastest means to get information, on the candidates. I saw their CVs... both equally impressive but not enough for me to decide. There were close to nothing else in the internet since election campaigning on the internet then was not allowed. Furthermore, there were very little news and articles about Singapore politics and politicians on the internet then.

I attended the contender's rally but walked out before the candidate spoke. Reason being that a lot of the speeches were about why we should not be voting for the incumbent. I wanted to know why I should be voting for him which I did not get to hear. I didn't attend the rally of the incumbent since my decision was more of less formed at that point. So come Polling Day (2001), my decision was based on who had done something for the constituents BUT I wasn't satisfied with this approach. What can anyone, who is not an MP, do for the constituents? If I were to maintain such a position, does it not naturally mean that I will forever be voting for the incumbent? Only to swing when the incumbent did nothing (or perhaps screw up) and the contender perhaps setup free clinics/tuition centres/bus service etc? If it is that simple, maybe I should vote for the cleaner who sweep my corridor almost everyday should he stand for election.

Nevertheless, I spent the next 5 years before the next GE to read up about the candidates. Starting with the Parliament Papers and following whatever websites that talk about politics and politicians in Singapore. Parliament papers was a good place to start off with since there, you'll get to read what the MPs and NCMPs got to say about the policies, their views and positions. There is a problem relying solely on Parliament Papers though (which I encountered in GE2006), you won't know (if there is) what a new candidate has to say. Following the internet can be difficult too because you have to first establish the objectivity of a particular website before you want to trust what is written on that website... provided you find websites that talk about politics in Singapore then.

GE2006 came and I thought I was better prepared but there was a change in the candidates. SHIT. Now, I have to devote some time to determine who this new chap was and all I got was his CV. It was also during and just before GE2006 was announced, I concluded that looking at the personalities and qualities of the candidates are not only subjective but missing a bigger picture about election. If ONLY the personalities and qualities of a candidate count, why have political parties in the first place? What is a political party? It was also during GE2006 that I got to find out what is a Manisfesto but had little time to digest the contents of the Manisfestoes. It was also in GE2006 where internet seemed to be more active but still inadequate to provide information due to laws prohibiting election campaigning. However, by Polling Day (2006), I've looked beyond personal characteristics and included policies the candidates had to offer, to form the decision I took to mark my vote. I was still not satisfied.

Beyond GE2006, with more websites and avenues offering social and political information in Singapore, I went on to seek for more. I read about politics in general. I read about the political history of Singapore. I read about the diffifferent approaches used in different countries with regards to how elections are conducted. I asked myself many questions and attempt to seek the answers. I am still seeking the answers to some of the questions.

In GE2011, I voted and I am satisfied with my vote. No only I get to read up the CV of the candidates, I read their position and policies. I read about the kind of Singapore they want to build. I read about how they intend to serve the contituents and beyond the contituency, how they want to serve Singapore Citizens.

What I no longer look at is their academic qualifications, track record (unless that candidate is THE PERSON setting that record) or the backing he/she/them is likely to receive from the party.

I voted base on that he/she/the party has to offer for Singapore and how likely they can truly convince the parlimentarians, who are also representatives of their respective constituencies.

Independence From Any Political Parties

2011-04-29T16:55:00.002+08:00

Ape is never good with words and always have difficulties articulating his thoughts. So ape sometime resort to others who closely matches with what ape's thoughts are.

"As civil servants, we stay out of the fray but we work within the political realities"

This statement is quoted from THINK HAPPINESS. Ape is happy to know that there are some people who understands the difference between politicians and civil servants.

Here's another one - Things we should all know – that the Civil Service is independent of any political party.

It's no surprise to ape that there are people who still think that civil service officers (or grassroots volunteers) will lose their job if PAP is voted out. Ape's reply to this to them is "Why worry if you are doing a good job? It's just a change of CEO."

General Election 2011 - Vote For Who?

2011-04-22T15:23:00.004+08:00

Your vote is secret and it is an offence (I think) to ask anyone who they voted for. However, it's not an offence for one to tell others, right?

Who will I vote for? I don't know since I've to wait for nomination day to determine if there is a walkover.

If I do get a chance to vote and to ask the potential candidates some questions, here's a list:-

1) Why did you want to stand for election?
2) Why did you choose this political party?
3) What will you do for the residents of this area?
4) What will you do for Singapore?
5) What is the one thing that the Singapore government must never compromise no matter what?

Perhaps some of these questions will be addressed during the rally or perhaps when the MP wannabe come round for the house-to-house visit. We'll see.

On a perhaps unrelated matter. Some of you might have read in an earlier post that ape is in the Residents Committee. I made it quite clear to my Chairman that I'll not be involved in any activity the moment GE is announced. That's why ape has some time to blog :p

Going Gets Tough Gets Going

2011-02-08T20:25:00.003+08:00

It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. In the case of ape, it's more of a case of keeps going and going and going and not knowing where it is going to lead ape to. This is how ape describes his work.

Wurk wurk wurk... you sure ape is the right person to get this job done?

Never mind if others are doing their part. Never mind if the "higher ups" are even aware of what's going on. Never mind if those monkeys know what they are asking. More importantly, is ape is doing enough? Has ape put in his best effort? Is ape's "best effort" good enough?

Wurk wurk wurk... please tell ape what is he doing this for?

Perhaps ape is not tough. Perhaps ape is lumbering and blundering. Perhaps ape is taking too much upon himself. How nice it will be if ape could clone himself and observe his abilities (or lack of) as a third person or perhaps not, as it could mean two apes going around in circles... or performing in a circus.

Wurk wurk wurk... please tell ape how to multi-task when everything and anything are of high priority.

Maybe it is really time for ape to seriously look for greener pastures... if there ever is a greener pasture.

Wurk wurk wurk...

Mas Selamat Took Shelter With Brother's Family

2010-11-23T12:46:00.002+08:00

In the Ministerial Statement by the Minister For Home Affairs (see here)

"Mas Selamat escaped from WRDC on 27 Feb 2008. Two days later, on 29 Feb 2008, he made his way to his brother Asmom’s home in Tampines to seek shelter and assistance from his grown-up niece, Nur Aini bte Asmom."

Ape finds it hard to believe that no surveillance has been placed on Mas Selamat's immediate family members.

When questioned by MPs in parliament (read here), the answer given by the Minister was that

"... taking into account his family members, which numbered more than a hundred, and with contacts they number many more. I don't want to go into details on what surveillance was done because they are really operational security matters and it is not in the interest of our country for us to disclose these matters." (TODAYonline)

Fine. No details on all the surveillance for security reasons. How about just revealing the surveillance on Asmon's (Mas Selamat's brother) family? Was there surveillance on him? Yes? No?

The Minister also mentioned that investigations were conducted on a few hundred people including Mas Selamat's extended family members. In particular, Asmom was interviewed by ISD on March 3, a few days after Asmom had given refuge to Mas Selamat in his home yet Asmon was able to keep his cool and did not reveal anything with regards to his harbouring of Mas Selamat. The investigation at that point did not warrant any further actions.

" ... you get the best results when you know some of the facts and you are able to corner the person. I had pointed out in my statement that the intelligence at that point in time did not warrant us to take any other view other than that what Asmom was saying was accurate." (TODAYonline)

Ape wonders what new evidence has surfaced that allows the investigation to corner Asmon and his family. Mas Selamat's own admission?

Society & Ape

2010-05-17T22:17:00.001+08:00

ape was blog browsing and came across this particular posting by angry doc. angry doc titiled his posting "Elite-basing" and was relating to an article by Sandra Leong "Scoring High In Grades But Not In Values".

"... the pursuit of intellectual excellence to the exclusion of character or value excellence breeds an exclusionary attitude to the rest of society. Many of the products of our top schools forget they have to give back to the society that allowed them so many opportunities." Sandra Leong

"What is implied there is that people who are successful owe a debt to society, and that if they refuse to "give back" to society, there is something faulty with their character or values system.

But angry doc would like to ask: who in society is calling for this debt to be repaid? On whose behalf is Ms Leong calling for elites to "give back"? What makes us think that we are entitled to the time, effort, or the fruits of the labour of those in society who have succeeded?" angry doc

ape had a dream on that very night after ape read these two articles. ape met a being who called itself "society". However, ape couldn't really determine if ape met one or two of them who chose to call itself (or themselves) "society" because it appeared to ape that it was the same yet different being. However, there's something about the dream that ape wanted to leaf it down into KinJioLeaf.

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PART 1

ape: "Who are you?"

society: "Society"

ape: "OK.... but what are you really?"

society: "I'm the one who provides for you to be an elite!"

ape: "But I'm not..."

society: "You are because I say so! You went to an elite school. You have a decent paying job. You've paid off your housing loan."

ape: "That hardly makes me an elite. I only spent four years in an elite school. I'm not a scholar. I'm staying in an HDB flat..."

society: "You are because I say so, so stop denying."

ape: "OK... if you insist." ape wasn't quite sure what this meeting was all about but being in ape's nature to be helpful, ape asked "Is there anything I can do for you?"

society: "Ha! You've finally wised up. Yes, what can you do for me!"

ape: "I don't know... not be a burden to you? Do my job, feed my family, just follow law?"

society: "Not good enough. What about me? Can't you build roads, produce good policies, donate more to charity, help the poor, find housing for them, get more workers, kick out the foreigners, form a new government, arrest the rabble rousers, lock up the gays, give more freedom, uphold democracy, respect human rights, create jobs, build cheaper public housing, ensure property does not collapse..."

ape: "Wait, wait, wait... that's a lot to ask of me!"

society: "I don't care. You're an elite!"

ape: "I didn't say I am. You said it. Even if I am an elite, why should I?"

society: "Because I made you so. I am the infrastructure, education, etc... I'm the opportunities that make you who you are now. So it's time to pay back. To return what you owe."

ape: "But I'm not an elite!" (society was about to retort but ape cut him off since he is getting on ape's nerves) "OK. Cool down. Let's just say hypothetically I am an elite"

society: "You are!"

ape: "OK, I am since you say so. Isn't the infrastructure, education, the opportunities you mentioned offered to everyone? Since ape manages to do better than the rest...hypothetically, due to ape's own hard work and efforts, isn't ape entitled to whatever benefits that comes with ape's success and remain ape's own rights to whom ape wants to share the benefits? To whom do I owe this success? My parents who worked hard to bring me up. I'm not saying I am going to deny you but I don't see how I owe you? Whatever I have achieved so far is on one part due to my own efforts and another from my parents and the many mentors who guided me all these years. You make it sound like I owe you a debt. Do I?"

society: "You do!"

ape: "So if I refuse to study, refuse to work. Laze around and do nothing and become YOU, I can make demands that the "elite" must provide for me?"

society: "You'll never become me! I am the infrastructure, education... THE opportunities... not some lazy bum like you!"

ape: "See! I told you I'm not an elite. You've just admitted I'm a lazy bum so don't make demands on me."

society: "Don't try to play "elite" with me or you'll suffer! You just wait and see. I'll be waiting for you and hound you like an Ah Long if you don't pay back!" (ape was totally lost at this point and wonders how is he going to wait and yet hound on ape).

Whatever, ape was jolted out of his sleep and had to visit the bushes. After ape has... er... watered the plants, ape went back to sleep, not quite sure if he wanted to meet "Society" again in his sleep... (to be cont'd)

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PART 2
society: "Hi ape!"

ape: "Er... hi." (ape noticed something seems kinder in his tone and demeanor but can't help checking him out apprehensively for pig head or red paint)

society: "You look worried. Don't be."

ape: "Who are you?"

society: "Society"

ape: "Have you come to collect "debts" from me?"

society: "Debts?!?! What do you owe me?"

ape: "You don't? I thought... never mind. Is there anything I can do for you?" (ape fell back into his usual self)

society: "What will you do to me?" *dismayed* ape knew it! Pay back time! and ape wasn't paying attention to the choice of words society used.

ape: "... ... "

society: "... ... haven't really decided? Don't worry. Take your time. In actual fact, you've started doing something for me."

ape: "I did?"

society: "Yes. You have a job. You take care of your family. You did not upset me. You did not create unrest. All these are good enough."

ape: "Anyone could have done what ape did so it's really nothing worth mentioning... and we certainly don't need an elite to do all these."

society: "Who said anything about Elite? What is Elite?"

ape: "Nevermind. Who are you really? You don't seem to be the same "society" I met earlier."

society: "I don't know who you met earlier but certainly not me. Who am I? I am a product of you! I am you!"

ape: "Me?"

society: "You, people around you, people before you, people after you. I am who you make me out to be. I'm a product of you yet I am you. Enough about me... or you... or us. I'm more interested about what you will do."

ape: "Er... haven't really decided but since you seemed to like what ape has done so far, perhaps ape will maintain the status-quo until ape can decide. Ape is not quite smart so ape may take quite a long time" ape was actually confused and didn't want to make too much a commitment.

society: "Don't worry. Take your time. You'll know when you know. People who take their time tends to come out with better ideas. Sometimes, the smart ones, even with good intentions, moves too fast and hurts me more than those who take their time to plan. Of course there are those who think that they can destroy me but ends up hurting themselves more. I exist because you exist because I exist because we exist." ape is scratching his head and all over his body at this point... going bananas and totally confused.

ape: "So you're not the infrastructure, education... THE opportunities that provided for me to be who I am now and I do not owe you and need not do anything for you in return?"

society: "ape, you can confusing me." (Walao! Who is confusing who?) "Let me put it this way. You can say I am the infrastructure, education... THE opportunities who provided for you to be who you are now but who made me this way? You! OK, if you are particular about this since I know you are a technician by training and tends to think very straight. Your predecessors made me this way. If you do feel obliged to return the favour, or what you call "returning a debt", the obvious thing is to leave a legacy like what they did so that your successors can continue to do the same for their successors and so on. Let me put it in another way. I exist because you exist and I'll cease when you cease. However, who I am and what I am going to be will depend on you. I can give you a bloody big headache if you make me to be one. I can make you achieve things you never imagine if you make me to be one."

ape: "Wow! ape didn't know he has so much influence on society. ape thought it is only the elite who can influence you."

society: "Ape talk about Elite again. What is Elite? Anyway, ape alone cannot have so much influence lah. The act of a single person or even a small group of people may give me goosebumbs of fear or elation but I recover pretty fast if the whole is intact. I cannot be destroyed unless you cease to exist. However, I can change drastically depending on what you do to me. If you make me bad, I'll be and it is going to take more effort to make me good. If I am good, you can make me better. Do you know how easy it is to make me bad? Just ignore me. Want to give it a try. Ignoring me won't make me go away. I'll just turn bad and give you a bloody nose. When it reaches the point of no return, I'll destroy you and myself."

ape: "Isn't that suicide?"

society: "Yes. It is suicidal of you to ignore me or take me for granted."

ape: "ape is just a small fry. What can ape do? Isn't the care and development of you the responsibilities of the government, the smart people, the rich... the er, elite?"

society: "HAHAHAHAHAHA! So this is what you mean by elite. Ape is giving too much credit to these 'elite'. They do have a certain amount of influence on me no doubt, just like anyone else. However, I am the sum of you, all of you. You alone, the government alone, the smart, the rich or the Eeeeeelite you mentioned, operating alone may give me moments of joy or depression but to change me takes the effort of everyone. Boleh?"

ape: "Hmmmm. OK. Back to basics. Since you, society, is me, the people around me, people before me, people after me. You must have the experience and wisdom of everyone, ya?"

society: "Yeap... and the stupidity."

ape: "Can you tell me, what can I do to make you better? Or at least make sure you don't turn bad? I mean, after talking to you, you seem fine and jolly and helpful so I assume you must be good now but then again you could be creating an elaborate scheme to trap me and give me a bloody headache and perhaps ape is thinking too much and ... "

society: "Ape, ape, you're talking bananas. Focus, focus. I am who I am now due to what your predecessors has done. One thing for certain is that over the last centuries, I am getting better and better in most ways. The reason for this is that your predecessors developed me so that I can reciprocate them and their successors. By successors, I'm not talking about the father who hordes money for his son or people who keeps their success within their own family. I'm talking about people who benefited from what the pioneers had done. These 'beneficiaries' wanted to honour the pioneers and did what their predecessors had done - leave a legacy for everyone. Think of people like Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian, two people whom you should be familiar about since your secondary school days. I'm not talking about just the elites. I'm talking about everyone. Of course, there are some who did more than others but remember your primary school motto - From Each His Best? Some can do more, some can do less. It doesn't matter. Everyone has a part to play."

ape: "So it is not about returning debt or owing anyone?"

society: "Certainly not. Even if it is, once you return the 'debt', than what? You will ignore me and forget me. The end. No. It is about legacy. Continuation. Continual improvement. You benefitted from me because of the efforts of the people before you. You don't owe me anything because I am the creation of the people before you. Obviously, you can't pay them back since they have left. If you feel obliged and wanted to honour these people, do what they did, leave a legacy for the people after you. Once you ignore me, what is left is disaster for the people after you and they WILL definitely remember you, the whole lot of you, provided WE survive.

ape: "So... what shall I do?"

society: "Wake up now or you'll be late in sending your daughter to school! If you don't do anything now, she will suffer, you know?"

By then, ape woke and realised that he is running short of time. Daughter was all ready and waiting for ape. Soon, she will be ready and need not wait for ape anymore. When that time arrive, will it be easier or harder for kids of her generation to get to school?

Back To School

2010-02-02T22:12:00.000+08:00

It's been more than a month since ape walk his daughter to school everyday. Ape's daughter is in primary one now. The school is just across the road from where ape stays.

The first week was kind of messy but the school has prepared the parents well. The school has invited parents for briefing weeks before school starts. The principal spent almost an hour briefing us about the school, explaining the approach, describing what would happen during the first week or so, where to drop our children, where to pick up our children, what would happen, etc. Yes, the first 3 days was messy but that's expected. Everything more or less settled down by the fourth day base on ape's observation... except punctuality.

The school expected the children to be in the school by 7:25 a.m. so that tthe flag raising ceremony can begin at 7:30 a.m. sharp (exactly like the way it was several decades ago when ape was in school). Therefore, ape was a little surprised that after leaving his daughter at school, (occasionally at 7:25 a.m. sharp), while walking back, ape saw some students strolling to school... with their parents. Ape reckoned by the time they reach the school gate, it must be 7:30 a.m. or later. Are parents really that indifferent towards punctuality? Anyway, by the 3rd week, the school has taken a firmer approach and closes the gate at 7:30 a.m. Apparently, some pupils (and parents) are undeterred still, although there's significantly lesser now.

Anyway, school is fun really or rather, ape enjoys walking his daughter to school. The walk might be 5 minutes but it allows ape to indulge in small talks with his daughter. Seeing so many people walking towards a common direction for a common purpose makes ape feel so alive again. It's very unlike the zombies in trains, bus and roads where everyone seems to be rushing to somewhere to do something but dunno what.

The routine ape went through in the last 2 decades was wake up, wash up, go work, wake up , wash up, go work, wake up, wash up, go work. Before this year, ape couldn't recall when was the last time when ape wakes up before the sun rises to feel the cool morning, steps on the cold tiled floor and speak in low soft tones. The only times when ape feel the dawn were days when ape had to stay out late or worked overnight and arrived home at daybreak. This year is so different and walking my daughter to school brought back so much fond memories.

When ape started school, some 3 decades ago, mommy ape walked him to school. Ape's mum works in the school so that's not too much of a problem and we usually arrived in school at 6:00 a.m. You see, ape's mommy is what one might call, a school janitor or back then, she's called Ah Soh. Mommy has to open the school gate, school office, turn on the tuckshop (canteen) lights, etc and ape delightfully helped her do these... afterall, not everyone has this privilege to sneak into the principal's office and sit on his chair. Then, ape would go to his usual corner and wait for his classmates to arrive. We'll chat and as more friends arrive, we'll play games such as police-and-thief (catching), tok kar (catching but hopping on one leg) and sometimes when the girls were more obliging, they'll invite us to play zero point (skipping ropes) or five stones. Almost everyone was eager to go to school simply because school was fun. Playing together made us feel good about learning together and it didn't hurt so much when we were punished together. It was the "togetherness" that give ape so much fond memories.

In case you're wondering, the picture is the school that ape attended... in fact, ape was in the class situated at the highest floor at the corner. You'll never see another pupil wearing the school uniform anymore. It's been closed down and merged with two other schools.

Residents' Committee

2010-01-05T11:32:00.004+08:00

Ape moved to a new place not too long ago. Ape joined the Residents' Committee (RC) there as an observer... for the time being. For those of you who wish to know a little bit about RC, a good start is to google or go here.

Before anyone jumps to any conclusion, ape's joining the RC is rather impromptu. It started with wifey enquiring about the lift upgrading program around the flat where ape stays and the possibility of elderly, disabled or pram friendly walkways from the MRT station ape's flat. Wifey was eventually connected to the CC and as sort of btw thingy, was invited to join the RC. Invitation was extended to spouse of wifey - that is ape :p

Ape was reluctant at first and still is. Reason being ape is not sure exactly how much commitment one has to put in. However, ape reasoned that one will never know until one starts participating actively, right? Furthermore, RC is run by volunteers which means there is really no obligations for the members to participate in each and every activity. So that resolve the first hesitation ape had.

The next worry is, how objective or nonpartisan is the RC? So far, after attending a couple of meetings and activities, ape has yet to see any die hard fans of the ruling party (or die hard fans of the opposition party for that matter). That's good. This is important because one of the functions of the RC is to liase with and make recommendations to the governmental authorities on the needs and aspirations of the residents. So regardless of who seats in the ministry, RC has to work closely with them.

So far the experience with RC is not particularly exciting but then again, it's too early to tell as ape is not only very new to this particular RC, ape is very new in this estate. As mentioned before, ape is still an observer so ape shall continue to observe :=)

What is ape's objective in joining RC then? The reason is simple. Life is not simply about work work and more work. Ape wanted to get involved in some activities that allows ape to has more "visuals" about what is really going on around ape. What better way than to start getting involved with matters that surround the place where ape stays?

Past, Present And Future

2009-11-19T23:58:00.003+08:00

Actually, ape wanted to use the title of "Know The Past To Understand The Present So As To Plan For The Future" but that seemed a bit long so ape simply cut it short.

Also, to cut this potentially long post short, ape was immersed with this blog http://singaporegovt.blogspot.com for almost the whole night, reading through some of the events that lead to the Singapore that we know today. Ape came across this site because ape had wanted to find out more about this person called Lim Chin Siong. Ape came across this person called Lim Chin Siong because.... nevermind... long story short, ok?

Some years ago, Ape was very surprised when ape came to know that MM Lee became Singapore's PM when he was 35? Gosh! What the hell is ape doing at age 35?

Ape largi more surprised today when ape found out that Lim Chin Siong, at age 21, was already leader of workers, trade union and students. Got elected into legislative assembly a year later and yet another year later, represented PAP for constitutional talks in London. What was ape doing at age 21? Representing a friend to impress a girl for a date... damn.

Besides some history lessons (that are not found in school textbooks) that can be found in the blog mentioned, there's a whole lot more thought provoking matters discussed there. Ape wanted to make that bog as one of the forest ape frequents only to realized that the blog seems to have stopped since 2007... sigh.

Effective Road Pricing, Again?

2009-10-27T00:43:00.000+08:00

Some ardent fans (if they visit KJL still) will recall ape was in Melbourne, Australia sometime earlier this year. One of the things that impress ape was the manner in which toll is collected on their highway. Motorist there need not install an IU. (An IU cost more than $100, although it was free for existing motorist when ERP started here). One only need to log in to the internet and make payment online, prior to the intended journey where toll exists.

What if one in Melbourne suffers from similar situation ape faced previously? Motorist is given a certain days of grace period to pay the toll online or via phone calls. If you missed that deadline, the fine is hefty. (Go here for more information). Forgetful motorist or foreign motorist who are not familiar with the toll will appreciate their system of toll collection.

Ape rented a car on one of the weekends when wifey joined ape in that foreign land. Ape studied the map to avoid the toll but still got lost along the way and suspected he has entered a toll zone. Went online as soon as ape managed to get an internet connection and was directed to a page where ape can make payment. Problem was, the online service could not indicate whether ape actually went through the toll. A 24 hour hotline was available to make enquiries though. Ape made that call. The lady on the other end of line sounded merry and was absolutely helpful and polite, even though it was after 10pm. She got ape's name, the license plate number and did a search in the database. "Nope. Your records did not show up" she replied. Ape, being a kiasu and kiasi Singaporean probed further.

"Does that mean I did not enter a toll zone or the records has not been updated yet?" ape asked.

"It was only this afternoon when you travelled so it could be that it has not been updated yet. Why don't you try calling tomorrow?".

The next day, ape called again. The voice at the other end sounded familiar. Ape told her the problem and immediately she recalled "Oh! You're [Mr Ape] who called last night" Ohhhh, that's customer service! Not only did she remember the call she received, she recalled my name! Ape's response was embarrassing.

"I'm sorry I couldn't recall your name... is it Beth?"

"Bertha. No worries... give me your car number again. I'm sorry I couldn't remember what it was." Customer first... administrative matters took a back seat.

She ran through the database and there it was. Advised me on the toll cost and payment mode. Ape gave her the credit card number and settled the matter. No additional administrative charge.

Why can't we do the same? Ape thought. In the previous post, prior to dinner, ape recalled the pleasant encounter in Melbourne and asked why can't we do the same. After paying my "violation" with administrative charge, ape think again - why can't we do the same?

Effective Road Pricing?

2009-10-24T00:27:00.003+08:00

Ape had a somewhat eventful night. Went to the gym after work to burn some calories, purge the nicotined lungs and cleared some cholesterol blocked arteries. Joined wifey and friends for dinner in town after that. Ape made sure he had his cash card inserted into the In-vehicle Unit (IU) just in case Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) is still in operation.

Ape is a biker who doesn't frequent town or any of the ERP tolls. As far as Ape can recall, it's an average of once a year ever since ERP was introduced. It does not occur to ape that he has to remember every single toll, the precise hours that they will be in operation and the charges. Simply because, the next time ape has to pass through any of these gantries, the rules has probably changed. Nevertheless, ape had his cash card placed in just in case. It was the journey home that caught ape off guard.

Dinner ended close to 10. Ape deliberated on inserting the cash card. Ape knew he had to travel along CTE and the toll in CTE lasts longer than all other ERP gantry. Ape can take the safe way out by inserting the cash card but run the risk of forgetting to retrieve it. IU on a bike is unlike that of a car whereby one can keep the car locked and a passerby cannot take the cash card without breaking the window. Cash card left in the IU of a forgetful biker can be easily and frequently got "picked up" by any passerby and this happened to ape a handful of times. It is also easy for ape to forget taking out his cash card because ape seldom has any need to place it in the IU.

It was 10 pm and ape is heading out of town... should be safe, ape reasoned. Big mistake.

Traffic was heavy and slow moving. "Accident on lane one" was displayed on the EMAS. Better keep the eyes on the road... in case ape became the 2nd accident. Shortly after the accident site where the traffic became smoother, ape looked up and saw "ERP in operation until 10:30pm". Damn. Where's the next turning before the toll booth? NONE! "What time is it now?" Ape thought. Ape dared not steal a glance at his sleeve covered watch. Nevertheless, ape the saw the time... prominently displayed on the ERP gantry. "10:24pm ...." Shit. "...motorcycles $0.25..." as if in mockery. ARRGGH! Went through the gantry. The LED on the IU flashed red merrily and all ape could do was to wait for the letter from LTA. Ape wondered how much he'll be fined.

(The latest comment about ERP ape read about is here).

National Day, National Pledge... Nationalism

2009-08-09T20:22:00.000+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

Ape joins Singaporeans to make this pledge. On this day, allow ape to recall some thoughts about the sense of patriotism, nationalism and sense of belonging... to Singapore.

Remember some time ago, Dr Vivian B. recall the conversation he had with his son? About why should he fight for Singapore if there's a war? Actually, ape came across this topic some 10 years before Dr Vivian brought it up in parliament. Ape has found his answer and is simple. Ape has a part in this nation building and is still doing his part.

No no no... ape is no civil servant. Ape is just a common citizen like any other citizen. Ape works, ape pays tax. Ape owns a HDB flat and ape pays road tax (motorcycle). Ape likes to believe his occasional feedback to Town Councils help improved general estate of the town ape stays. Ape did his national service is still serving as an NSmen (actually, ape was a regular).

Ape did not come up with national policies nor build skyscrapers or highways and the little things is within ape's capabilities and the capabilities of many Singaporeans does contribute to our country. For these little (little doesn't mean unimportant, though) efforts that ape has contributed, should ape allow any aggressor to overrun this country or should stand and defend what is rightfully ours?

"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" (John F. Kennedy)

Nope. Ape is not going to quote JKF because it is meaningless to ape. Ape is going to amend it to something that is more meaningful to ape should I ever have doubts about fighting for Singapore...

Ask not what Singapore has done for you - ask what you have done for Singapore. (Ape... not Abe hor.)

When you have a part in building something, I'm sure you'll stand to defend it when it's in threat of destuction. Think about it. What have you done for this country that makes you want to stand and defend her. It doesn't matter if it's big or small... as long as you've done your part.

Have a wondeful National Day

Things We Take For Granted

2009-05-30T11:16:00.002+08:00

Something came into my thoughts and I decided to put it down in writing. I'll share more of my thoughts at the bottom of this post. Do share yours with mine.

***********************
You're in love

So is the man who loves you

You're so in love that you want to make a vow,
To live together in the legal estate of matrimony,
To love him, comfort him, honour and keep him in sickness and in health
and forsaking all others, be faithful to him, so long as you both shall live.
So does he

You're so in love that you want to declare your love to everyone and anyone
and receive the blessings from those who love you

So does he

You're so in love that you'll devote your heart, mind and body to him

So does he

You're so in love that you want to raise children with him
To see them grow and realise their own potential
and to be valuable members of society

So does he

But you can't,
you can't live together in the legal estate of matrimony
you can't declare your love to everyone
you won't receive the blessings
you can't devote your body to him
you can't raise children with him, not even if all you're asking for is adopted children

not only that,

you can't apply for subsidized government housing
or place his name under the beneficiary of your life insurance

Neither can he

Because you are a man

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

I wonder how many of you were thinking about the gender of "You". Gender aside, what if the last statement has been changed to

"Because you are of a different race / religion /social class"

What will your thoughts be then?

I realised, after I went through these thoughts, that there are so many things that we, heterosexuals, happily married people, take for granted.

We happily walk into that tiny building in Fort Canning Hill to register our marriage. Declare our marriage vows to our friends and family. We even hold lavish banquet and receive loads of well wishes.

We're granted subsidized public housing, we can put our spouse name as beneficiary in case the unfortunate happens to us. We can adopt children even if we can't have any.

We hug and kiss our partner publicly when we happy, we do the same when we're sad. We can do all these because we love and are capable of loving. Why can't they?

Pink Dot Sg

2009-05-17T17:12:00.005+08:00

Ape is proud to be there, with his wife and daughter.

You be your own judge on how you and your family want to live your lives. Please don't judge others how they live theirs as long as they do no harm to others and are happy.

We Are AWARE

2009-05-02T16:38:00.005+08:00

Updated on 9 May 2009

Ape is really a peace loving person. For that matter, ape is always a firm believer of listening first, decide later, action latest. In order to be able to listen first, one has to be open minded, non-judgemental and empathetic. That is the exact reason why ape supported the original AWARE. The ousted new-EXCO headed by Josie Lau did the reverse of what ape believes in - that is action first (by taking over the EXCO) and listen last. Thus, ape can never support or condone them.

Stay Alert and Be Vigilant

2009-04-28T22:21:00.001+08:00

If you've not read in the papers, stay alert and be vigilant of a flu pandemic. A new strain of the flu virus, commonly know as swine flu has spread to countries including USA, Mexico, Canada, Spain and Scotland as reported in Today Online.

In Singapore, efforts have been made to step up pre-cautionary measures (reported here and here) in order to prevent a recurrence of tragedy when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) hit us back in year 2003.

Ape was in the airport on Sunday and apparently, Changi Airport wasted no time in rolling out the temperature screening machines that were used during the SARS outbreak to detect for any signs of fever of its passengers. Ape supposed the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority will be particularly observant of passengers arriving from America and Europe.

Just yesterday, at ape's workplace, we were told to take out our business continuity plan and go through them... just in case Alert Level has been raised to Orange.

Just this morning, when ape returned to my NS unit for medical checks, the public announcement system called for all medics to assemble for morning brief. One out of the two medics who attended to ape left for the brief and returned to update his buddy on the precautionary measures to be taken. Just before ape left the medical centre, tables were placed outside the rooms... presumably to prepare for "pre-screening" before letting visitors into the centre itself.

As of now, while ape is writing this, CNA on TV says that the Alert Level has been raised to Yellow.

Keep yourself updated on the news and development and stay alert for any signs of flu. Take care everyone... for yourself and your family. Ape has to find his masks and personal thermometer. Ape wonders if there's anymore masks or thermometer in the pharmacy below.

Ape Supports AWARE

2009-04-25T21:00:00.002+08:00

Ape Supports AWARE... and ape don't mean the bogus new EXCO. In ape's previous post, ape has already made known and urge any readers here to support AWARE by signing the online petition here.

What are ape's reasons besides those stated in the petition?

1) The removal of the old guards was clearly a deliberate and pre-planned coup, orchestrated by a certain Dr Thio... who self-proclaimed to be "feminist mentor". Ape has heard of Braema Mathi but who is this self professed Dr Thio Su Mien?

This tells ape the new EXCO (and supporters) lacks humility.

2) The new EXCO allege that AWARE had strayed into promoting homosexuality and intend to set AWARE back on its correct path. If this is true, why can't they address this concern in an open debate? Instead, they went in stealthily and staged a coup.

This tells ape the new EXCO is capable of dodgy actions.

3) All the sub-committee heads, include internationally known Braema Mathi who heads CEDAW were removed from their positions without reasons ... and a simple thank you.

This tells ape the new EXCO is disrespectful and lacks decency.

4) The locks were changed, effectively keeping out the old guards from saving their documents. The centre's manager was fired for "not following instructions" with no further elaboration when the manager had wanted the new EXCO to explain their actions to the old guards.

This tells ape the new EXCO is unreasonable and will force its way through.

Ape suppose the above four reasons is more than enough for ape not to support them. What has the old guards done, anyway, that wins ape's support?

The old guards have maintained their position and objectives clearly and soundly. They embraces diversity in race, religion, culture and sexuality. To ape, the key word is embracing diversity which apes finds is particularly important in this multiracial, multireligion and multicultural society. Embracing diversity is also one of ape's beliefs. So if you do share the same belief as ape, please lend your support by going here and here.

(If you noticed, ape has not mentioned anything about religion other than the last paragraph. The reason is simple. This AWARE saga has nothing to do with religion. It's about our ability to mature as a society in whole and truly progress as a great nation. This is also the reason why ape got involved in this misunderstood "38 38 women thingy")

Save AWARE For Gender Equality

2009-04-25T03:30:00.002+08:00

Ape is a male, in case you haven't noticed, so when ape first got to read about the AWARE saga in the Straits Times, ape really can't be bothered. The reason is that, ape heard of this name AWARE and heard that they do something for women and that's all ape knew.

What went on in ape's mind then was "Hmmm... imagine if after the last General Election in year 2006, all supporters of say Workers Party started moving to say Tanjong Pagar GRC and consolidate there and by the next election, WP contest against PAP that is headed by Minister Mentor and PAP lost!!!! Wah! Big news leh!" ... but of course this would not happen.

Anyway, that news article on 10 April 2009 was soon forgotten by ape (not entirely la... ape did visit other blogs and got a little bit info about the backgrounds of the new EXCO). Then on 17 April 2009, over lunch break, ape's colleague was saying something about DBS start interfering with employees personal time and something something relating to AWARE. Oooh! Interesting.

So after work, ape read about the incident in Business Times. Apparently, it is not a case of employer interfering with employees personal time. Read carefully. It is a case of employee breaching the company's staff code of conduct. Josie Lau did not declare or seek approval from her boss (twice) when she joined the AWARE EXCO and then elected to President of the EXCO.

And so days passed. Ape met a neanderthal friend for coffee who said," aiyah... all these women folk things... all the 38 38 matters... why receive so much attention in the news? Trying to suppress the Geylang Serai Market problem izit?"

Well... ape is not sure of both allegations ... 1) Is what's happening in AWARE just an internal problem? 2) Is there some cover ups at the GSM?

At least ape is sure he can find out more about AWARE. What ape found out is that, the AWARE saga, as the ape see it, has become a battle of idealism (is that the right word?)

Apparently the old EXCO feels that the new EXCO will possibly impose their religious views into AWARE. The new EXCO accusses the old EXCO of promoting lesbanism. In their defence, old EXCO maintained that AWARE is a secular organization that embraces diversity and they are neither pro or anti gay/lesbanism.

Is you want to find out more, search the net or if you trust the posting of new AWARE website set up by the old EXCO (so confusing new website, old exco :p.. ape going bananas), go here where the old EXCO supporters have consolidated all the news reports from main stream media. (Remember hor, in Singapore, main stream media is supposedly to be factual and objective).

After reading through all these reports and the events that occurred... ape feels not only this matter concerns him, ape also feels he need to lend some support to the old guards... and he did so by signing this petition.

Actually, in this post, ape wanted to tell you why he decided to support the old guards but... really, it's very late now so I'll explain further on another day .

Story of Duke and Bruno

2009-04-13T21:19:00.002+08:00

Duke and Bruno have been with their keeper for as long as anyone can remember. Both are equally loyal. Both protects the interests of their keeper but in different ways.

Duke rarely barks. He would do his usual walk around the house, survey the area, keeping a mindful look out for anything unusual. He would pick up the wayward litter,casually dropped by his keeper when he takes out the trash. In the night when all were asleep, he would rest near the doorstep,keeping vigil. His gaze would be fixated on any passerby and ready to pounce on any stranger who has the audacity to trespass. He rarely barks and did his work dutifully.

Bruno was never missed by his keeper. His presence is always felt. He would follow his keeper wherever he went. He barks at the slightest anomaly, including the occassional rebel leaf from the neighbour that found its way across the fence. When opportunity arised,he would strut towards his keeper,parading the squeaking pest in his jaws - the pest that was snatched rudely from the paws of the neighbourhood cat who hunted it.

In spite of their differences, Duke and Bruno never had any rivalry between them. The only time they fought was playtime, solely for the entertainment of the keeper's child, KJ.

It was under new moon and the winds were high. A stealthy shadow leapt across the fence and took cover in the garden shed in a single swift motion. Fast but not enough to escape Duke's sight. Duke stood his ground and guarded the house entrance still. His gaze never left the fugitive. As long as the escaped prisoner stayed in the shed, he was no threat to the family and Duke intended to leave it that way. Nevertheless, Duke adjusted to a crouching position,ready to pounce should shadow take another step towards the house. Further up north along the street, the flashing lights of the local patrol could be seen.
Bruno roused from his slumber, glanced at Duke and realised something was amissed. He followed the gaze of Duke and barely made out a man sitting in the garden shed. Bruno leapt up, ran round the courtyard excitedly and woke the entire neighbourhood with his incessant barks.

The fugitive panicked. He had to think fast. From his position, he could see the patrol approaching. The barking dog had effectively blocked his escape into the street. He was not prepared to test the truthfullnes of the adage - a barking dog never bites. His alternative was to hold someone hostage in this house. He'd rather die fighting than return to the cell and face the noose. A hatchet hung harmlessly on the shed and turned evil in the hand of the fugitive. Shadow dashed for the main door. Duke pounced. Bruno watched as the hatchet landed on Duke's shoulder while Duke landed squarely on Shadow's chest. Dog and man sprawled on the grass. The hatchet flung into the bushes. Duke would have gone for Shadow's throat but was too weak. Shadow was disoriented but quick to pick himself up and dash into the street southwards, only after he kicked that barking dog out of his path. Bruno laid whining and wheezing with a couple of broken ribs. He would never be able to bark as he used to. Duke, totally exhausted and bleeding profusely, remained fixated on Shadow as he diminished down the street with the patrol on his heels. A couple of gun shots were heard and that's the last anyone in the neighbourhood saw Shadow. Duke took a final look at the house. Saw Keeper and family safe and sound. He closed his eyes for the final time, knowing he had kept the family safe.

Keeper missed Bruno's bark. In fact,he missed those days when Bruno would run around the house,chase after birds or leaves and any little things that excited him. KJ is no longer a child. KJ will soon be told that Bruno's health had deteriorated and he would need to take Bruno to the town vet. Keeper is sure that KJ will brightened up when he present a puppy to KJ. However,Keeper is determined that he will only keep one dog. Keeper knows exactly the type of dog he wanted.

KJ is at the pet cemetary. He placed Duke's favourite biscuit on the ground. He remembered how Duke would always break his fall when he was a toddler. Or how Duke would snuggle up to him and lick his face when he felt all alone in the sand pit. Duke never failed to find his lost toy or shoes. He remembered vavidly how Duke had heroically saved the family on that fateful night. He had witnessed the entirely episode but no one cared what he saw because he was just a kid.

School Is Fun! Really!

2009-03-20T21:32:00.003+08:00

School is really fun! If you know how to ask the right questions... if not, you can still make it fun by behaving like an absolutely insensitive moron ragging your peers or just a moron being ragged by your peers, video captured and posted online and laughed about it.

If only ape had been like them (ape meant the two mentioned below, not the morons above) during his younger days...

"TWO Singaporean teenagers have designed a 'sponge' that can possibly mop up massive oil leaks at sea.

Hwa Chong Institution student Tan Ding Jie and River Valley High School's Gu Tianyu, both 17, spent their year-end school holidays last year experimenting with a 'superhydrophobic membrane' that repels water, like a lotus leaf, while absorbing organic solvents such as oil.

Their project was one of 59 developed last year under the Young Defence Scientists Programme (YDSP), a joint effort between the Defence Science and Technology Agency and DSO National Laboratories.

The annual programme, begun in 1992, helps students venture beyond textbook theories by working with defence technology professionals.

Instead of enjoying time off during the holidays, Ding Jie and Tianyu holed themselves up in the laboratories of the National University of Singapore (NUS) to find the most cost-effective material to absorb grease or oil leaks. They were mentored by scientists from NUS and DSO. ..." (Straits Times, March 16, 2009) Click here to read more.

You see, ape was once a very bright kid. If ape had been better, he would be a lawyer or doctor... or a doctor who desperately need a lawyer or a lawyer desperately needing a doctor. However, when ape reaches that weird period in life called "teenage", ape became... weird. (Maybe ape has never grown out of teenage... or perhaps he did but had not loose the weirdness... whatever?!?!)

Interests in being curious was lost and curiosity took a turn in interest towards, erm other more sociological and biological subjects. The problem was, sociology and biology was not taught in secondary school - at least not then and biology was offered to smart students only if they can cope with physics and chemistry. Come to think of it, this arrangement makes sense. You have to have some chemistry before getting physical and only when you know what you're really getting into then the biology of life takes place... but again, with or without you knowing what you're really into, biology of life will take place... know what I mean? Don't? Told you I am weird, didn't I?

Anyway, ape's academic performance took a dive. In case you're wondering if the cause of ape's falling grades had something to do ape's independent venture into chemistry, physics and biology out of school's curriculum, nope, that was not the cause... ape didn't get lucky.

You see, studying has to be enjoyable, education has to be fun! Ape had lots of fun in primary school. There were no stress, no targets to meet and between ape and his primary school friends, never once did we compare our grades. Most of us lived in a small humble town called Taman Jurong and our parents mostly blue collar workers.

However, in secondary school, things took a different turn. Ape enrolled into one of the top schools. Competition was high. Teachers are worried about our grades. Students are worried about their grades. The parents are worried about their grades. ECA (now called CCA) was also a competition... with other schools. Ape was thrown into a very competitive environment but ape has never been a competitive sort of person. As if academic performance and ECA was not enough, there's a certain subtlety within the students and teachers to compare the family backgrounds of students.

Ape certainly didn't score on that either. But this is not want ape want to say, especially to my teenage or weird readers. The point is, when you feel stressed about school and studies, and you lost interest... beat up your teacher, rag your peers and burn the school down... ... ... no, just joking, don't do that... maybe just beat up your teacher. No seriously, don't beat up your teacher, rag your peers and burn the school down.

Seek knowledge that interests you. I mean knowledge, and not subject, that you can relate too and interested in. Ask your English literature teacher why people in Shakespearean time talk funny with Dees and Daos anon. Or 500 years from now,will the students then ask why is it students in the 21st century talk funny with words like OMG, LOL, XD? :p

Ask your biology teacher about the birds and bees... and why, even though you took protection, your girlfriend got pregnant! If you're taking history, ask why was World War II started and not when it started. Ask how did it end and not when.

Ask your mathematics teacher if he had ever used Fourier Series, other than teaching it. And how can maths help you solve the equation of,

John+Jane)=unwanted x preganacy

where,

protection ≠ broken ≠ expired

Ask yourself what would you like to know about the subject and not what is going to be delivered to you in the curriculum. Don't be afraid to ask questions and questions don't have to be smart... only answers need to be smart. In case your teacher gives you stupid answers such as "That's not in the exam" or "You don't have to know this", well, you can still try ragging him/her... or substitute John or Jane and see if equation proves true.

Do You Really Need Your CPF Now?

2009-03-16T21:10:00.000+08:00

Ape saw "Allow Partial CPF Withdrawals Now" in ST Forum. (Thanks to KTM).

Just to share some thoughts (thoughts meaning ape can be wrong) about the author and following comments to his article.

Gary Teo appear to be someone who is doing relatively well. At least he still has his job and his job allows him to pay off his 5 room HDB flat before 40! His children seems to be around secondary school age. Perhaps his financial crunch will come in 4-6 years time when they really need some money for their children's higher education? However, he did not elaborate further as to the "issue that worries" them. As far as ape is concerned, Mr Gary Teo is someone who does not need the CPF money now.

Comments following the article were mostly arguing, sarcastically, that our CPF should be released to us in times of need. Most of such argument will eventually lead to this,

"The BIG problem is the MIWs think that MOST SGANS dont know how to manage their $$$$... Posted by: NoodleWon at Sat Mar 14 19:02:38 SGT 2009"

Do we? Do we know how to manage our money?

Ape was once like quite a lot of people saying "CPF is MY $$$, why can't I use it when I NEED IT!" Ape still is. No one can argue that your CPF is not yours... unless you were once a victim or accomplice of those schemes where employers "borrowed" elderlies ID to make them their "employees" so as to get some grants/subsidies (ape's a bit hazy on this but I diverted).

The question is when and where can you use it. The answers can be found in CPF webpage. The problem is, some people need their CPF earlier than they are allowed to do so or for other purposes not allowed for in CPF... and so, it came back to this "CPF is MY $$$, why can't I use it when I NEED IT!".

What has changed for ape is the definition of NEED.

About the only people whom ape thinks has a real need to withdraw their CPF monies earlier than what is presribed are people who, by some unfortunate turn of events, have to incur HUGE sums of money for their MEDICAL treatments. Unfortunate turn of events (for medical treatments) include accidents and critical illnesses. If untreated, lead to death. Amounts so huge that their normal savings cannot cover (but adequate in their CPF). Maybe ape is saying this because ape is a smoker and worried that one day... he may get some heart/lung diseases :p Perhaps, ape REALLY should quit smoking... ...

Why not for times like now? Worse economy downturn ever? Loss of jobs? Because, ape thinks, one can save and prepare for such days and they are temporary. A simple solution is to save to an amount equivalent to say 3 times your salary or more. It may take years (took ape a decade to build up this amount... after ape has wasted some years before that) so do it as soon as you draw your first paycheck.

CPF is meant for retirement... for our old age. Thus, we have medisave (for medical cure during old age). We can buy our property, that we can still use in retirement, with CPF (conditions attached though). CPF is not meant for joblessness or bad economy... and certainly not a back up plan for those who don't know how to manage their own money.

Bad times such as loss of jobs? Come on, don't we have enough sense to keep some savings (other than CPF) for such days? Of course such savings won't build up overnight but they will eventually,as long as one watches his expenditure carefully.

"Spend within your means!" Cliche, right? But how many listens?

Ape be honest with you... ape wasn't listening in the past also and felt so angry that Govt don't think ape can manage his own peanuts. Until a elderly kopi-buddy advised ape to pretend that ape don't have CPF, what ape gonna do if he lost his job? Hmmmm... so ape start saving since and ape is reaping the rewards now.

Ooh... ape really finds it hard to believe that over the years, Gary had not built up any personal savings... unless, he doesn't know how to manage his money in which case, should his CPF be released for him to manage himself? Even if it's just a little?

Buying a (HDB) Property

2009-02-26T21:30:00.000+08:00

Ape sold his HDB flat a couple of months back... when property market was still good. Nope, ape did not make any profit - ape only managed to break even. How much ape (and wifey) took out from CPF to furnish the loan (including interests), how much ape (and wifey) returned back to our CPF. It's like saying ape has lived in a HDB flat for close to decade... for free :=)

For those of you who are considering purchasing a HDB flat, ape has no advice for you since ape is no property guru. However, the following was what went through ape's mind when he embarked on the journey of "owning" a property. (BTW, one doesn't really own a HDB flat since it's only good for a maximum of 99-years lease, that is, if you live long enough, the flat will be returned to HDB and you won't get a single cent in return)

What For?
The first thing that got into ape's mind was the objective of purchasing a property. What was ape buying a property for? To speculate and earn money or what they call "investment"? To live nearer to ape's workplace/parents/mistress (oops)? Or simply wanted a place to stay and able to declare "Welcome to OUR humble abode"? Well, it's all a bit of the above (and perhaps more for others) but ape set priorities and put "A place to stay and call our own" at the top.

Listing these objectives is important because they would eventually shape the choices and availability of the property ape were looking for. Therefore, with the priorities set, certain options such as "renting a property" or "staying in parents place" were ruled out.

HDB or Private?
First off, private property was (and still is) out of the question. Ape's income simply could not afford one. So ape turn to HDB. Ape didn't think further than affordability then. However, ever since, ape hears a lot of advice to make HDB your first property, even if you could afford private property. One of the reasons is that, should you ever wish/need to switch from private to HDB, it will be very difficult and it's not about affordability. Ape will leave that to the experts to explain.

Direct or Resale?
But then hor, should ape buy direct from HDB (supposedly subsidised?) or from the open market? Since ape was a first time buyer, ape can still enjoy a certain amount of grant ($40K then for a 4 room HDB flat) which more or less made the differences between direct and resale flats close to neglible - as far as $$$ is concerned. Eventually ape chosed buying resale for the following reasons:-

1) New flats were developing in places too far from parents (hey! ape still want to visit parents regularly hor!)

2) New flats were developing at areas not close to MRT (hey! ape no peanuts for private transport hor!)

3) Ape has to wait for a couple of years before the new flats are complete (hey! ape was getting married hor!)

To put it another way is that there's more flexibility in getting a resale flat instead of purchasing direct from HDB.

Where and Affordability?
So ape zoomed in on our requirement, that fulfilled our needs and start checking out the prices of resale flats in areas (near parents and/or MRT stations) to get a feel of "market rate". Next, of course is affordability. With our paychecks, we can afford a 5-rm or EC HDB flat but we decided against it. For the following reasons:-

1) The floor area for 5 room is big...which means we'll have to sweep more often, mop more often, pay higher Service and Conservancy Charges. BTW, Town Councils' Sinking Funds investments were not known and rebates base on flat type was also not popular then. So when all those news came out, ape said "Heng ah! Lucky I never buy 5 room flat!"

2) Whatever that went into our CPF would be utilised to service the housing loan... for the next 30 years! What? Did someone say "But your money just sit in the CPF cannot use for other purposes?"

But ape thinks simply, mah!

Firstly, can anyone guarantee that ape will keep his job for the next 30 years? On top of that, his income will at worse remain stagnant and will never decrease? Last time ape checked, no one gave such guarantee.

So how much can the ape afford? We estimated on this basis:- the monthly installment to furnish the housing loan should preferably be around 50% of our monthly CPF Ordinary Account (OA) contributions and not more than 75%. You'll need to do a bit of reverse engineering to establish what should be the purchase price of the flat. Other things ape had to consider was exactly how much loan would ape be taking? The loan cannot be more than 90% of the purchase price and cannot include any Cash-Above-Valuation (COV). On top of that, your initial CPF would be wiped clean first. (Ape will probably explain this in more details in the next post... but then again, ape thinks you shouldn't be lazy...so go HDB to find out the latest updates)

Why did we pick this figure of 50% of our CPF OA? Since no one can gaurantee that we could keep our jobs for the next 30 years, ape had to prepare for the worst - that is in case ape or wifey or both of us had been out of job! Let's say if ape was out of job the very fist month when he start furnishing his loan... where can he find the money? Not forgetting CPF already wiped clean. From his own savings, right? Then who's going to pay for S&CC, utilities, bread and butter? However, since ape applied the "50% rule" and if the ape was able to hold out for say 3 months before losing his job, he would be able to furnish the housing loan for another 3 months, right? The longer the ape keep his job, the longer he'll hold out if he loose his job. Boleh? In fact, if ape could afford it, he would not even want to stretch his loan for 30 years... the longer you loan, the more interest you pay!

So far,we're still on housing loan. We had to consider the cash sum, too. Thnigs that cannot be paid by our CPF, including Cash-Above-Valuation, property agent fees (if you're getting one), renovations and furniture. All these have to be worked out before one actually commit to purchasing the property.

So after working out our objectives, setting our priorities and calculated our affordability, the rest was a breeze - find a place that we like, give and take a bit base on priorities and make an offer within our affordability. Seller not impressed? Move on and find the next.

We got our first home within 3 months...I think. Had been staying there happily since. So why sell now? Well... objectives changed (or perhaps not) but priorities certainly changed but ape will tell you more next time.

Huh? Wats Tat Again?

2009-02-10T23:25:00.000+08:00

Ape is away from Singapore since early Feb. Been busy with hardly anytime to blog. Anyway, was trying to catch up on some home news by back tracking and here's what ape found...

Netizens ‘squandered an opportunity’

Ape was like "Huh? You mean there's is something called a community in the internet? Remotely resembling a group with a certain kind of characteristics and somehow, have to rise and voice up when something socially unacceptable arise?"

Come on... "netizens" are as generic "humans".

When ape started to use his brain,the next question pop out "Wa lau! You mean there's nothing more important to discuss in parliament? Aren't we in a recession? Look into that!"

Anyway... ape rants. Good thing ape is neither human nor netizen... ape is erm... ape :p

Engaging The Government Online

2009-01-10T14:37:00.002+08:00

Previously, ape pointed a few ways to engage the authority and mentioned about bloggers' response to AIMS consultation paper. If you want to know more about what AIMS has been doing, read here, I'm not sure if this is the official website though.

The Government held a press conference to conclude AIMS report. The full report can be found on AIMS website. Or you can be like the ape, read someone else's summary. Ape is too lazy to repeat what is said or written.

However, ape just want to give a bit of his peanuts on one particular area - Reach. Reach is the official Government feedback unit. Ape has been there some time ago but not very active there. Topics were quite boring actually and comments posted by netizens were hardly "thought provoking". Read a lot of "I agree" or "disagree" without further elaboration. Not too sure how are things getting on there...

Anyway, the Minister for Infomation, Communincations and the Arts, said they'll expand the role of Reach and Reach will still remain "as its authoritative online source to engage Netizens [... as opposed to...] wandering the whole of the Internet just to debunk every single misleading or wrong posting" (Today, 10 Jan 09, words in brackets by ape).

Some may see it as Government limiting it's engagements with the online community but ape feels it's purely for practical reasons.

Who To Engage?
First, which online community or blog, should Government engage? Even if we zoom down to social political blogs, which one? Perhaps there's only a handful of good social political blogs now but what happens when there's more?

"Eh, why gahmen respond to The Online Citizen but not my blog, Talk Only Cock, har? Same same what! they TOC, I orso TOC leh?"

Who's This?
Besides that, if, for example, ape decides to talk about social-political issues only and one fine day, some one allegely from the Government decides to engage in discussions here. Ape will think - "Are you really who you are?" and so ape check with the respective ministry to confirmation and everytime this person post then everytime ape need to check... because ape can't really know if this person is still the same person who last posted. Ape no time to count peanuts!

And what if readers of ape read here that ape is discussing with someone from the Governement, won't the readers think "Is this reeeaaaaal?!?! Or is this ape trying to impress and boost his readership to earn advertisement?" and so they'll check with the Government... one reader one letter, 10 readers 10 letters? Government no time to count peanuts... oops, Government not like ape, they don't count peanuts.

And if say, supposing someone uses the inital LKY and claims that he is a civil servant and gave his comments here, do I really want to enquire from the ministries if this "LKY" is really from the civil service? And is he or perhaps she writing in personal capacity or as "Government"?

So, ape still think it is better to go to Reach if one wants to seek Governments engagement. At least netizens (readers and posters) know respond is from Government and Government need not appear to be bias by visiting some online forum but not the others. Win-win?

New Name?

2009-01-08T22:28:00.001+08:00

Ape must be suffering from identity crisis.

In my previous post, ape wasn't quite certain about where he is going with this blog but at least ape decided to change his name now and simply call himself... Ape... until identity crisis resurface :p

Previously, the name khirsah was used but seemed to cause quite a bit of confusion. (and more letters to type) "Khirsah" is unique but not original. It's actually the name of a dragon taken from a fantasy story book series called Dragonlance. Not many people are familiar with this name and some thought that I'm an Indian, perhaps of it's similiarity to Krishna. I'm not an Indian and I have nothing against Indians. I'm just an ape.

Some of those who know me through CNA forum called me M. K or Master K... nope, I'm not a Master in Karate or master in anything. It's just that I started my story telling there and one of them relate me to the late Master Lee Dai Sor, a well known Redifussion story teller. A shoe too big to fill.

Finally, ape decided to settle for Ape because Ape is simple. Ape loves peanuts, go Ooh ooh and Ape is simply ape.

P/S Ooh, ooh, Ape still dream of retiring by setting up a simple stall by the Singapore River and tell stories to entertain interested listeners and you only need to pay him peanuts.

Engaging The Authority

2009-01-07T21:45:00.002+08:00

Once again, we hear the all too often "respect the authority"... probably more often in the year 2008 when we have a number of cases where the Singapore Court was challenged or questioned in several cases.

During the opening of the legal year 2009 in Singapore's Supreme Court, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong reiterate that the courts requires its authority to be respected by all (read this).

I do agree with CJ Chan. For the court or any authority to carry out their duty effectively, a certain form of respect must be accorded. Hurling insults, making false and scandalous allegations certainly impedes the authority. However, I must add that respect should not only come from the people, respect must come from the law enforcers, the authority themselves, i.e. all, everyone. Those holding public office should also respect the authority accorded to them and not abuse their powers. The people have to respect the authority and not make false or scandalous allegations.

What if we don't agree with certain laws? What if we don't agree with how the authority applies the law? Can't we voice it out? Sure we can... but how? Protest? Even if it's peaceful?

Attorney General Prof Walter Woon also spoke about the need to protect the integrity of the judicial system.

"He said that while freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed in the Constitution, the line is crossed 'where a person deliberately attempts to undermine the authority of the courts by casting aspersions on the integrity of the judges in order to further a political or ideological agenda'[...]'I can only conclude they were testing our resolve and probing to see how far we could be intimidated by their tactics,'" (Straits Times, 4 Jan 2009)

said Prof Woon with reference to a group of activists at the Attorney-General's Chambers the demanding the return of items seized by police investigating certain offences, with threats of sit-ins and protests.

Why is it so important to protect the integrity of the judicial system?

If the authority is seen to be intimdated, they'll loose all credibility. Common people like this ape will simply think "Ah? Like that also can ah? So next time I buay song (not satisfied) I can also kow peh cow bu la (rant or protest publicly)!"

You see, the point is, not everyone understands the cause(s) taken by activists. Even less people will know the true intent of such "activists". (Note: I use activists broadly to include politicians or anyone who go into the streets and kow peh kow bu as well as those who don't kow peh kow bu). Sadly, what some people will see is that a group of people not happy and they make a lot of noise and the authority give in to their demand, and therefore, conclude that if you want your demands met, make a lot of noise?

So how should we engage the authority if we cannot make our opinion heard through protest? If there's something I felt strongly about, a change in certain policy or law that I feel that is absolutely necessary, what can I do?

Law Minister K.Shanmugam mentioned one... a difficult one where not all can meet.

"The way to change the law was to get elected politically and argue in Parliament why the law should be changed" (Straits Times, 4 Jan 2009).

However, that is not the only way. You can go for Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP). Even if you can't be an NMP, you can talk to your MP during Meet the People Session and request your MP to raise it in Parliament. Or you can approach one of the NMP to raise it, like what some did when they petition to repeal Section 377A through NMP Siew Kum Hong. Sometimes, you may not need to raise your concerns in parliament through a proxy for matters on a smaller scale. You can write to the authority concerned, privately, seek their views and perhaps publish in your blog if you want to for sharing with fellow citizens. Someone like Dharmendra Yadav in Think Happiness. You can also present your feedback through Reach, the official Government's online portal for feedback. Last but not least is to organise yourselves to submit your proposal in response to public consultation papers like what 13 bloggers did in response to the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society (AIMS).

The above examples are some of the proper channels to engage the authority. They are non-aggressive measures that we can do. Look at it this way, what is our objective? To achieve a certain intentionally good outcome, right? Would you go bang table and demand change, in the process making those in-charge ~~loose face~~ put up defences immediately? Or would you be consultative and engaged the decision makers politely and amicably to seek an ideal resolution?

To close this off, I politely request that you watch Anna and the King (starring Jodie Foster as Anna Leonowens and Chow Yun-Fatt as Siam King Mongkut). In a particular scene, where Tuptim (King's concubine?) was sentenced to death, Anna cried babaric! outrageous! "I will speak to the King!" publicly in the court. What she did was effectively sealing Tuptim's doom. The King, who had the authority to pardon a death-roll convict, was no longer able to do so because his subjects would think that he was led by the nose by a woman... and a foreign one. The King would loose the faith and credibility to lead his country... even though he was a wise monarch and he too, need to respect the law of the country.

New Year, New Look, New Erm...Uncertainties

2009-01-06T21:06:00.002+08:00

It's 6 days into the year 2009. Ape kinda late in posting this but better late than never. Did I mentioned there's a new look in this blog? Oh, I did... getting forgetful these days :p

There'll be a lot of uncertainties this year - uncertain about the job security, property value, investment, general election, breakfast/lunch/dinner etc. Ape is, too... every year, in fact. In addition to these, ape wonders what he should do with this blog.

Ape is uncertain where he is heading here. Previously, ape mentioned the intent to start this blog was to rave about my misery. But when ape actually do get started, happier oreadi, so started talking ~~cock~~ ape stories instead. Then ape considered going into something more serious and finally decided to talk about growing up and avoid social-political matters... but never really got into doing so because social-political matters got very interesting... especially in year 2008. Yet, the ape a bit kiasi (ape still is but sometimes cannot tahan and start ranting).

So... there's no evolution, no changes. Ape will still be as is... turn wild occassionally and behave most of the time and silly all the time. In other words, ape will continue to talk ape and cover any topics that comes to mind.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T12:13:00.003+08:00

This new year greetings come a bit late but then again, tis ape don't really have a good sense of time. The blogskin has been changed... just a little to maximise the screen space. Hope you like it.

Wish everyone a Happy New Year!

For The School Or For The Students?

2008-12-28T21:02:00.003+08:00

I shared the same frustrations with Mdm Wang about being enrolled into one of the "top" secondary schools. I was in the top 10 percentile in my primary school and managed to be enrolled into one of the "elite" secondary schools. Well, I maintained in the 10 percentile, only this time , it's the bottom 10 percentile. It was easy to be discouraged and disappointed. It did not help also that you have classmates who come from wealthy families where their parents can provide whatever extra resources to help them cope, including good and sound advice on how to manage their studies, choosing the right ECAs, what to aim for higher learning etc.

However, one difference between my school and Mdm Wang's was that my principal did not request that students drop weaker subjects "so as not to pull down the school standard". When some students really did badly in their exams and failed to make the bare minimum to promote to the next level, they were asked to be transferred - not because the school was afraid that the standards would drop. It was for the interest of the student - to place him in a more compatible environment. To help him re-build his confidence.

Indeed, one of my classmates was transferred in that way and when I met him a couple of years later, he told me that his confidence had improved and managed to stay focus on his studies. He would have given up on his studies had he remained in that top school.

Well, my school achieved the intended objective of helping this ex-classmate of mine. However, was the school worried about students pulling down standard? I am one of those who contributed to the school standard drop yet I graduated. The best part is, my form teacher continued to be encouraging on the day he handed my nothing-to-be-proud-of certificate and told me to continue to give my best. I'm sure I disappointed him.

Anyway, that was almost 20 years ago... I wonder if it has changed to be like Mdm Wang's.

Foreign Workers Abandoned

2008-12-18T21:49:00.001+08:00

I just cannot understand how could companies be so uncaring?

Left to their fate - Group of 179 foreigners among a growing number abandoned (Today, 18 Dec 2008)

According to their report, their registered employer is Tipper Corporation, a marine company. Tipper claims that Mr Uthayanan (whom the foreign workers though is their "boss") was supposed to look after the workers and train them before placing them on a project next year.

Ministry of Manpower clarified that "Tipper Corporation remains responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the workers, and if they fail to fulfil their responsibility, they will be committing further breaches of the law."(Today, 18 Dec 2008)

I wonder how many of such cases will surface in the coming months in view of the economy downturn.

-----------------------Updated on 24 Dec 2008-------------------------------------------
Seems like there may be hope yet... at least for some of the 179 workers. Apparently, while waiting for MOM and the employer, Tipper Corporation to investigate and resolve the issue, some members of the public and some NGOs came forward to provide food and alternate lodging for the workers.

Also, according to a report in Today, 23 Dec 2008, their owed wages will be paid. However, the fate of the workers, or at least some of them still remain unknown - will they be repatriated or gainfully employed long enough for them to pay the debts they took to come here to work?

May people be more giving, not only in this festive season but all the time, whenever we can.

GAWK

2008-12-07T22:06:00.001+08:00

Just the other day, I overheard a discussion between 2 guys at the local coffeshop. I heard them addressing each other as TC, Endu (I supposed they meant Andrew, spoken in Singlish) and KS.

TC:"Eh, Endu, I'm thinking har... now that market drop, perhaps it's time to start business"

KS:"What! Siao ah! How can?!?! Where got money. Big banks no more bang and you still think of business?..."

Endu:"Hear him out. I think the prospects are there. You see ah, now everything burst, everything drop, so it will be easier to start bisness. Anyway, bisness always take time to kick start and by the time we're ready, the market will also be ready and we can ride the wave to the next peak!"

KS:"Or sink deeper into the abyss..."

Endu:"Don like that la... anyway,what bisness you think of huh?"

TC:"Hotel. You see har, private property has fallen. So it's not difficult to acquire some place to start our hotel. Orso, many people will sell their house, recession mah... people always sell house, wife and children when in recession, right? So,where to stay? Park? Cannot la! Take nap only kena nabbed by warden and pay $200 orkong, imagine stay in park, wa lau! Sure sent to jail and cane somemore. So they stay Hotel, la! As long as you don charge more than $200 per night!"

At this point,I can't resist the urge to look at the trio and saw that Endu was clearly beaming, KS kept shaking his head and TC was staring into the sky, perhaps visualizing his dream hotel. KS seemed about to speak up but Endu cut him short.

Endu:"Hotel must have name la... so what to call it?"

TC:"Gahmen Approved World Klass Hotel!"

KS:"How the hell do you expect the government to endorse our hotel and a world class one!"

TC:"Hello, you're not listening... I said gahmen...not government, spelling not the same. And just because our hotel's name is World Klass, doesn't mean it has to be world class standard. I said approved, not endorse. We need approval to register our business right? We need approval to build or convert our flat to a hotel right? We can even invite a minister or two to our opening ceremony but that doesn't mean it is approved, accredited or endorsed right? Name doesn't matter one la. Like Layman minibonds are not bonds and not for layman, right?"

KS:"It's Lehman, not lay man..."

Endu:"Whatever... hmmm Gahmen Approved World Klass Hotel... GAWK! In short! Wow, we'll have people gawking at our hotel!"

At this point, my coffee has turned cold. I took a last gulp and left the place. But I'll keep in mind to avoid any hotel by the name of GAWK.

Mr Tan To Run For Election

2008-11-25T22:38:00.002+08:00

An online petition has been set up to support Mr Tan Kin Lian to run for Presidential Election. You can read more about him in his own website or elsewhere in the internet.

Initially, I had wanted to sign up the petition in support but hesitated when I read that he "will only do it if enough people want [him] to lead. If Singaporeans want change, they must have a stake in it and show their commitment by putting down their names. [He] cannot do this without strong support' (Straits Times, 23 Nov 2008) and he requires a 100,000 signatures.

Someone by the name of smallvoice585 commented in The Online Citizen. My hesitation to put my name in the petition is consistent with the last paragraph of smallvoice585 comment.

A great leader should first and foremost, have a vision, a set of beliefs and commit himself to the cause. People who share similar vision and beliefs will gather in support. Asking for support first is almost like saying "I'm not sure if my plans work, what do you think? Should I press ahead? Will you support me?".

Mr Tan did respond to smallvoice585 and explained his reasons for the 100,000 signatures. I'll leave you to decide if he had explained clearly enough. I'm still not certain exactly what he is trying to do.

In any case, I do wish to see more people running for election, be it GE or PE. I think that Singapore has a lot of talent to offer but simply not enough who are committed and prepared to face public scrutiny. I wish to be able to vote and cast my ballot to the person I know who is the most capable. I do not wish to enjoy a one day "holiday" because my estate is a walkover. I do not wish to vote for a candidate because everyone else tells me this is the right one or that is the wrong one and I know absolutely nothing about him/her.

What Do They Have In Common?

2008-11-06T22:19:00.004+08:00

Recently, I read about a certain undergrad in the local mainstream paper who wanted to buy a $4000 Chanel bag with her first paycheck and thinks her friend "who is left with $20 to last until the end of the month, is silly to consider taking up a part-time job to earn some extra cash." Tsk, tsk, tsk... I said to wifey, "What a spoilt brat!" Later in the week, this undergrad stood up and claimed in her blog that she had been misquoted and she is really not the spoilt brat as the press made her out to be.

Some years back, there was a poly student who lost her mobile phone and later discovered that video recordings (stored in her lost phone) of her making out with her b/f went into the internet.

What has these two girls got to do with one another? Nothing! Other than both were much talked about in the local cyberspace, they are not related (at least not that I know of) and their acts are also not related. As far as I'm concerned, there's this someone who is a spoilt brat/there's this someone who did not report accurately (depending on whose side of the story you stand by) and there's this someone who rather immoral/careless (depending on how liberal you are).

Yes, there's always someone, somewhere out there who did/did not do something and hit the head lines. Their acts, whether we support, encourage, condone, condemn, agree, disagree... is real life learning materials for our children. Whenever I read such news, be it from mainstream media or otherwise, I seldom focus on the name (unless s/he is someone I know). I do not see any value in remembering the names. It is the act that is worth remembering. It is the act that is worth the education material. And it is the act that I will usually talk about with people I know. When we start to focus on the issues and not the person, there'll be less hurt, less personal attacks and hopefully less libel suites.

So to me, it doesn't matter if AL is a spoilt brat or not... what matters is any undergrad who thinks that his/her very first paycheck is anything more than $4000 is well unrealistic. It doesn't matter if TM is immoral or not but someone who records very intimate and personal video of themselves is being careless and to lose that video is being very very careless (did I say this ape's vocab is limited?)

Talk about the act... condemn or support the act but avoid the person, because "person" can change.

Keep In Touch

2008-10-22T22:11:00.001+08:00

OK, I've been lazy and not updating my blog frequently. Apologies to my handful of fans who still come in once in a while.

I joined one of the social networking website - Facebook. Actually, I joined quite some time ago and managed to connect to some of my friends I maintained contact anyway. However, in the last month or so, I found my primary school group in Facebook. Little did I expect that a simple class photo could get me connected with several primary school friends. We have been actively updating with each other. Almost everyone (including myself) will respond to a friend invite with "Wow!" or "Amazing!".

A lot of reminiscence... a lot of nostalgia.

There's A Part For Everyone

2008-10-21T23:32:00.002+08:00

Regardless of what the rating may be, I'd say Nation Builders is a very good film to remind us that there will always be people out there who needs help... no matter how well a nation develops or progresses economically. Never, ever leave them (the elderlies) behind because someday, all of us will get old, economically unproductive and possibly a liability to people around us.

Some may think that the destitute have only themselves to blame... so not working hard enough when they had the chance. Is this the case for every single one of them? Perhaps not. They could have been mislead. They could have been ignorant about economics and poor in understanding financial planning. They could have little or no education to start off with. So, I urge everyone, please don't leave them behind. There are many simple ways to help them such as buying tissue paper from them, give you unused card boxes to them or simply give them a token of appreciation for their singing or do what Think Happiness suggested.

We reap what we sow.

JB Jeyaretnam - He Never Give Up

2008-09-30T22:00:00.003+08:00

Veteran opposition politician Mr JB Jeyaretnam dies of heart failure at about 1:30am on Tuesday, 30 Sep 2008. (read here). You can find out a lot ore about this man from the internet.

As a relatively young ape who start to tune in to Singapore's political scene, I've heard quite a bit about him (in the past) but never really seen him in action. Anecdotal evidence (coffeeshop and taxi driver talks) showed that he was a man who perservered and convicted to his cause. He was sued to bankruptcy but that did not deter him from going back into politics. When he was discharged from backruptcy and formed a new politcal party earlier this year called Reform Party, I was like

"oh great! NOW, I can see this man in action. Let's see how he'll stand up to the ruling party in the next GE."

Shortly after the inaugural dinner of the Reform Party, he took steps to continue his relentless pursuits (seen here and here) with regards to the Jurong GRC by-election.

I'm sad to see such a man, who against all odds stays true to his belief, depart from us.

Some Dreams Can Never Be Fulfilled, Can They?

2008-09-30T01:00:00.002+08:00

Don't be mistaken. I'm not in this particular video neither am I related to these musicians... except I played the same musical piece back in my school days.

Those were the days. Those were one of the proudest moments of my life. Thinking of such moments makes me sigh. Listening to musical pieces like these, overtures that I had played before, almost make me cry. It is such a pity that more than a decade of music passion has gone to dust to be replaced by mundane rat-race. Hope the next generation gets more opportunities to develope their potential and not be moulded to whatever field the state wants them.

Singapore Short Stories - Terrorists Plans Foiled

2008-09-18T22:00:00.002+08:00

" FIVE more Singaporean members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network have been released by the Internal Security Department (ISD), after they were assessed as no longer posing a security threat that required detention." (Today, 16 Sep 2008)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know how some of them were arrested in the first place and why one of their plans were foiled? Well, according to The Kin Jio Leaf, they had actually sent in Foreign Talents who are supposed to be THE experts to carry out the attacks.

When the first FT arrived, he was supposed to go to this pre-rented flat to assemble the bomb. When he got there, found out that he was only given a room in that flat (rental high la) and there were other Foreign Workers (chio chio Dragon Ladies) in the other rooms. "What the heck", he thought "maybe I can even date the dragon ladies out and get lucky"...he didn't. The next thing he know, ICA and MOM stormed the flat. The dragon ladies are illegal overstayers... he being in the same flat was investigated also.

"Sir, although you got proper document to be here but we found that you are conducting a small business at home without a permit!" The MOM and ICA officers noted, confiscated his devices thinking that he was making a MP3 player and sent him back.

The second guy was smarter now (with more budget). Rented the whole flat, assembled the bomb, got to the void deck and...stomach pain (must be the curry fishhead the previous night). So painful that he left the bag at the void deck, ran up to his flat and "bombed" the toilet first. When he returned, the bag was lost...garung guni man picked it up, stripped it apart and sold it at Sungei Road.

Third guy got the bomb prepared and headed to the MRT. (He was planning to bomb Raffles Place Station actually). However, he couldn't squeeze into the train. Tried taking a bus, also the same problem. Then he called for a cab. He was running late (need to set if off during peak hours) so when he arrived, didn't bother to pay the taxi driver and made a dash for the station. Afterall, he's a terrorist what! However, the taxi driver happened to be a sprinter and can break ice with his fist....so the terrorist kena abish abish and broke his jaw. The taxi driver realising he has caused grievous hurt, chabo-ed. When the terrorist picked himself up, he realised the bomb is lost...again...in Sungei Road in pieces.

Finally, the terrorist head said, "I think we should get the locals to do the job. They know the place better"

Being Singaporeans, those newly recruited guys wanted to be very sure of the assignment so they took picutres, videocam etc. They made a scan through all the regulatory requirement to ensure that they do not need a permit to carry out the act. They did a cost-benefit-analysis, send to the supervisor for recommendation, manager for support and eventually to head office director for approval... but by then the US found those pictures and alerted the SGP government...
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It's Not Just The Men...

2008-09-17T21:16:00.002+08:00

Reading An Eligible Beauty from Today, I felt inclined to tell ex-Miss Singapore, Ms Teo, that not only Singaporean men have little confidence in dating women with "higher qualifications", Singaporean women too, believes so.

Relating a personal experience - I was falling head over heels over a girl... many years back... way before I know wifey. (Pardon me but at this juncture, I must admit that I have to thread very very carefully in case wifey turns white, green and red and then I get a broken head and a wounded knee... after she break my head with a bat and made me kneel on cockle shells :p)

As the years progress, our path diverge. To put it simply, she went to uni and I went into poly and we lost contact a couple of years after that. Interesting part was when I talked to my friends about her, many of them (mostly women) asked if I was at all concerned that she'd be a graduate and I a diploma/others. I couldn't and still can't understand what has an academic certificate got to do with a relationship? Isn't the ability to communicate and share happiness (and misery) more important? We're not applying for a job, are we?

Anyway, to cut the long story short, we lost contact not because of the differences in our academic qualifications but simply, we've left adolescence and sought our life objectives in different path.

I've found one of my life objectives - wifey, I wonder if she has found hers? Or perhaps she, like Ms Teo is "over qualified" that not many potential suitors dared to ask?

I've to stop writing now... gotta take out the thrash...now where did I leave the bat and cockle shells...

More Than Just Medals

2008-09-16T22:30:00.001+08:00

If I am proud of the Singapore paddlers, I'm more proud (pardon my poor vocab) of Yip Ping Siew and Laurentia Tan. Pin Siew (swimming) and Laurentia (equestrian) are two of the six athletes representing Singapore for the Paralympic 2008. The other four athletes are Ting Chee Keong Eric (athletics), Lim Kok Liang Desiree and Tan Wei Qiang Jovin (sailing) and Theresa Goh (swimming).

Pin Siew won a gold and silver medal for swimming....
Laurentia won two bronze medal for equestrian.

Just their names alone sound soooo heartlander Singaporean.

I tried to google their names and hardly find any information on the web relating to their background except Laurentia. These people give me great motivation to better myself and are living prove of mind over matters... or perhaps in the case of Laurentia who suffered from cerebral palsy, more than just mind... faith is equally important too.

Congratulations to all of you! You've done us proud!

Congratulations Team Singapore

2008-09-10T21:24:00.001+08:00

I had actually wanted to post this much earlier and before I can complete what I started... the dampening announcement and followed by well... anyway,let's move on or in this case, move back.
---------------

The last Singapore got an Olympic medal (silver in weight lifting) was back in 1950 by Tan Howe Liang. Before I go on, please don't forget this man. I'll come back to him later.

In this 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, the Singapore Women's table tennis team won another silver medal. In spite of what some may say about the paddlers being foreign imports, I feel proud for them, especially Li Jiawei who has been living and training in Singapore since 1995 and representing Singapore for more than 10 years!

Well done ladies!

But I hope they don't stop there and continue to push themselves further, like the true sportsman, Tan Howe Liang.

Personally, I feel that Tan Howe Liang deserves more credit than is due to him. He worked as a clerk and a mechanic to finance his own training and expenses. He wasn't there for the citizenship or for the prize money. He made a commitment to his father that he would be the strongest man and fulfilled his promise. Conviction was what brought him there.

Sports, like most other pursuits should not be simply about winning a medal or getting a certification. We should pursue our own dreams and not medals and certificates because medals and certificates are nothing more than a "tick boxes" in the long long list of life.

A Good Blog

2008-09-09T21:00:00.000+08:00

If you noticed, I have added the blog - Think Happiness into one of the links.

I first came to this blog when I was linked to one of it's article called Meeting David Marshall In 1994. ...and I was impressed, especially the mention of the lack of fire in the bellies of our youths these days. The post made me think that perhaps it was too much of a good life that we have less and less of people who are committed to Singapore and its citizens.

I went on to read some of the other posts and haven't really found any article that I disagree with. Most are focused on positive thinking - looking at things from a brighter side, taking the initiative to get something good done. I will visit this site every now and then.

Purpose Of ERP?

2008-08-18T21:56:00.001+08:00

Now, I am totally lost. Nope, not because the GPS on my motorbike is not working... actually I don't have a GPS on my bike :p

Can someone remind me again on the purpose of ERP? While the heading in this ST article suggest ERP is to keep the traffic flowing, the article also quoted PM Lee saying

"When ERP was increased, we also reduced road tax and improved public transport. As a result, many more Singaporeans can now own cars. With more cars on the road, we need to increase ERP to keep traffic flowing." (ST, 17 Aug)

Forgive my ignorance but I perceive it to mean ERP increase is for the purpose of ... increasing ERP? Ok... maybe what he meant was ERP increase has created the unintended result of ERP increase. If I work backwards, the unintended ERP increase is a result of more cars on the road. Backtrack a bit more, i.e. more cars on the road is caused by... reduced road tax and improved public transport?

So what are we actually trying to achieve? Are we encouraging Singaporeans to switch to public transport? Or are we encouraging Singaporeans to own a car? My simple mind simply cannot work out the logic.

Apathetic Singaporeans?

2008-08-08T21:00:00.002+08:00

For quite a number of years and quite often, I've read or heard about Singaporeans being apathetic about the socio-political issues here. The most recent that I've seen is from Aaron. He guessed that we are apathetic because we are given "a roof over the head and a full stomach" and Singaporeans "will only become interested in socio-political issues if they are starving or they have to sleep on the streets." Perhaps that is true. Perhaps joblessness, homelessness and starvation was the driving force, the fuel for the fire in the bellies of the Singapore pioneers to engage in socio-political issues,

or do we really have to go into that to get Singaporeans to be engaged? Especially our youths? Perhaps there is an alternative - an alternative that I experienced and will share with you now.

I was apathetic. I don't even know what is an MP, the purpose of parliament, what are political parties, who's in what party etc. When it comes to social issues, all I know is that the destitutes are taken care by the charity organisations, once in a while school or army dish me a donation card/bin and tell me to help in charity, I get attend school in sardined-packed buses and a lot other mundane or should I say bread and butter issues. This understanding of socio-political issues had stuck with me even when I'm 21 (legal age for voting), even after I got married about 5 years later.

Why? Simply because I know someone has voted for someone and that voted someone will take good care of Singapore. I couldn't care more as long as I have a job, a house and my family is well taken care of. However, this apathy was dispelled, on the very day when I received the Election notice that I am supposed to vote.

"Who is this guy? Who is this contender? What have they done? What needs to be done around my constituency? Who can do a better job in addressing the needs of the residents? Who can do a better job to address the needs of Singapore? What are the needs of Singapore?" and so, with only a few weeks to V-day (it was the 2001 election and from what I know, one of the shortest period between announcement to voting day), I did a frantic search on whatever I know about the two candidates and yielded very... very little information.

When V-day arrived, the only reason I voted for that particular candidate was a very simple letter addressed to the residents a couple of years back. I will not tell you the content of that letter because it is not the point. The point is, that is the only thing that I know of, he did for the residents and I know absolutely nothing about the other candidate.

From that day onwards, I told myself to read up more, to find out more. It may be years before I get to vote again or perhaps never will I have the chance again but I want to vote wisely with an informed choice. It was a good thing that I did that because come 2006, my area was contested again and I must say I know who I am voting for.

Did hunger, poverty and homelessness drive me to become interested in Singapore's socio-political issues? For your information, I'm still gainfully employed, I still have my HDB flat and none of my family members are starving... except when I'm on a diet.

My point? Let the people know they have a say and they can make a difference. They earlier they know, the more interested they'll be and the earlier the Government can find good leaders to groom.

Dinner At The Local Coffeeshop

2008-07-02T22:08:00.000+08:00

So angry... actually not so really that angry la.... :oops:

A couple of week ago, we were having dinner in one of the local coffeeshop chain... wife placed the order for some dishes and the operator's rule is "pay first". Wife returned to the table for $$$ and at the same time felt that she had "over-ordered" so we decided to drop one dish. When we returned, the operator claim that the dishes had been keyed into the cash register and the chef had started cooking on ALL the dishes... cannot cancel. I told her we hadn't pay yet and what if I walked away then? They would be Lan Lan (Singlish: means a state of helplessness), right? The norm is that if payment is required first, food is prepared only if payment is received. Anyway, didn't want to spoil the dinner over such minor issue and we relented. It was a case of misunderstanding afterall. Come to think of it, we were partly to be blamed for wrong assumption. :oops:

When I returned to my seat, the kopi-soh (the lady who's responsible for taking drinks orders) who took my order forgot who ordered. When I made my claim, she said "respond la... I've been asking around". Wa lau! (Singlish: an expression made when one is Lan Lan) I couldn't hear her because her voice was relatively soft in the coffeeshop and I couldn't see her because she was standing behind me. I wouldn't have known if wife had not saw her and prompted me. Didn't want to argue further with kopi-soh and paid up but she didn't have a 10 cent change! :evil: What is this! It's not like I give her $50 for a 80 cents kopi-O, I gave her all the coins I had, in denomination of a 50 cent and two 20 cents... she did not have a 10 cent change!!!! :evil: For those of you who may not be familiar, kopi soh typically carries a pouch, full of coins so that she has the exact change when required. I wouldn't have been so upset if she had been polite and request that she'd return to me when she had the change - instead she asked if I have the exact amount! Of course I don't have or I would have given her the exact amount!

I was upset, no doubt about it... but more disappointed than being upset because these coffeeshop staff fit the description of "locals-with-poor-service-level" and they are the examples often quoted to justify for foreigners-with-better-service. S.......i........g.........h

Pedestrian, Cyclist and Motorists

2008-07-02T20:20:00.000+08:00

Saw two forum letters with regards to the the rights and place of cyclist.

Bikes vs Bus (Today, 17 Jun 2008)

Cyclist v pedestrian: whose right of way? (ST, 20 Feb 2008)

My view is that the issue lies not in deciding should bicycles stay on the road or pedestrian walkway. The issue lies in how we (motorist, pedestrian and bicyclist) can accommodate each other. The issue also lies in how we view our "rights".

Cyclist should not be restricted to either the road or pedestrian walkway. Cyclist should be free to choose which path is safer for them. Having said this, I think all cyclist should exercise caution and put on protection gears such as helmets, arm and knee guard and install blinking/warning lights. Cycle in a single file and keep to the left so that motorists can bypass them. Also, if they choose to ride on pavements, they should slow down or even come down and push their bicycles if they arrive at a crowded/tight spot.

Pedestrians too, should exercise a bit of patience and not hog the entire pavement. When a cyclist rings the bell, he is trying to warn the pedestrian and hopefully, make some space for him to pass through. Pedestrian can simply step aside, make way for the cyclist to pass and continue on their leisurely stroll.

Motorists too, should slow down and overtake when they spot cyclists on the road. Tailgating cyclists or anyone for that matter, is (to me) a foolish thing to do.

What I have suggested above is commonsense and simple thing for everyone to do but why are some people so intolerant of each others' presence? and demand to know who has the right of way?

Pedestrians do not have full, absolute and exclusive rights to use the pavement, neither do the motorists have full, absolute and exclusive rights to use the road.

Cyclists, too have to be considerate to the pedestrians who have as much right as cyclist to use the pavement.

Motorists... just because you paid road tax, COE and ERP doesn't make you king of the road.

But why are we so obsessed with determining who has the rights to what? More strangely is that we seem to be always appealing to the authorities to set rules/laws to determine our "rights". Are we being deprived of rights in the first place? Or are we so naive to think that every rights has to be determined by the "authorities"? Don't we exercise our basic human rights with common sense to share the common places in this little dot that we call home? Can't we use our common sense and exercise our rights and at the same time not depriving others of their right? Or are we still behaving like little children and run to mommy/daddy to tell us what to do and what not to do.

Growing Up - Religion, The Introduction

2008-06-13T01:10:00.001+08:00

Sorry, folks... been busy lately doing someone else's job... but that's life.

In my previous post some time ago, I mentioned that I'll talk more about growing up in Singapore or should I say, MY growing up in Singapore. (Noticed how egoistic am I? :p)

Anyway, as I was on my way home just now, thoughts about my religion, or rather, my journey into discovering religion came into my mind. So, I will blog about it here.

I was born into a typical Chinese family and religious inclination is a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism... just like any typical Chinese family in Singapore. I had no idea what is Taoism or Buddhism. I just followed what my parents, and grandparents, did. We worship the Goddess of Mercy (which is in line of Buddhism), Tian Gong, Guan Gong, Tu Di Gong and our ancestors (the latter are more in line with Taoism). Nevermind if you do not know these deities but just to let you have a brief introduction to the polytheistic nature of traditional Chinese faith in contrast to the monotheistic nature of other religion such as Christianity.

Like I said before, I merely followed what my elders did and went through the religious rites without knowing what we were actually doing. It was until about the age of 10 when I started to be more explorative and involved in understanding religion and it was actually Christianity where I started off.

It all started when I would "sneak" into the church right beside the HDB flat where I used to stay. Theplayground in the church compound is particularly attractive :p. Furthermore, churches are typically peaceful. Occasionally, I would attempt to go as far as into the building itself and sit in the Sanctuary (where mass service is held) and contemplate. It was on one such incident when Pastor Yap caught sight of me and extended his invitation to the Saturday children session with promises of singing, games, story-telling and friends. The songs, games, stories and friends certainly appealed to me and before long, I attended the Saturday sessions regularly.

It was obvious that all the songs and stories were related to the Christian faith and it was through those where I started to understand Christianity more. Before long, I was baptized through prayer and the Saturday service was no longer just about fun. Don't be mistaken - the singing, story-telling etc still went on but I went to church for reasons more than just fun. I was slowly discovering another aspect of myself, i.e. my perceptions towards the world beyond mortal affairs. Furthermore, I discovered certain potential in me when I was occasionally tasked as the song/prayer leader and even a team leader once, during a church camp. Well, actually it wasn't something great as other kids did get their chance but my point is we were given opportunities to take lead at one time or another. From the bible, parables and sermons, I begin to see more into the adult world... the real world.

However, my going to the church wasn't warmly received in my family. My dad was openly skeptical about Christianity with me. My mom was skeptical too but she's more reserved on her opinion. In any case, my parents had never forbid or restrict me from going to church.

On one occasion, I got an earful from dad when I say grace at the dinner table, thanking God for providing food for us. My dad had a poor grasp of English but he certainly knew what I said. "What did Jesus do to provide food for you?!?! I worked so hard to feed the family and you thanked Jesus instead of me, your father!" Well, both my parents were workers with little education and they certainly worked very hard to feed this family of six. I can understand his unhappiness. Since then, I made my prayer in my heart. If I'm still a Christian now and if my dad is still around, having dinner with us, perhaps I'll amend my prayers to "Thank you Lord, for giving us a father who worked so hard to feed us, and for giving us a mother who can cook so well (my mom can really cook)". But my dad is no longer around and I'm not a Christian now - I'm what they call a Backslider.

There are several reasons why I backslided. The initial reason was that when I went into secondary school, the ECA took its toll on me. Saturday was full day ECA for me, not the typical half day. That left Sunday for me to attend church but Sunday is the only day when I have full day for my family. Following my missing church, a few upsetting incident happened with the members of that church which made me lose faith. One of it was that a couple of the church members went to my home, supposedly to enquire why I missed church. I was in school for my ECA, as usual, and my mom attended to them. My mom didn't know that I seldom attend church service then and explained that she didn't stop me from going.

Sensing that they were unable to get anymore answers from her, they turned their attention to the deities and ancestor tablet place on the altar and remarked that my mom was worshiping idols (in Mandarin, the word is rock). THAT upsetted my mom and she retorted that she respected their rights to they religion and respected her son's choice in religion and told them not to make such insulting remark on her choice of religion. If we had knew about the Seditions Act then, those two fellas could have ended up in jail. My mom didn't tell me about that encounter immediately then when I returned from school... still respecting my choice. There were other incidents with some Christians, personally experienced by myself and finally made me gave up Christianity totally.

Before anyone say I am against Christianity and attempting to spread not-so-nice messages, let me add that another person (Lay Hoon's the name) who got baptized with me, had a totally different experience. Her life had certainly changed for the better. She had certainly found hope in Christianity (and I have no idea how is she doing now since I stopped going to church). My experiences with some were not pleasant but that was mine experiences. I was almost against Christianity at one point of my life. Thank goodness, a sound minded Christian friend once told me, man can fail you because it is human to err but God will not - do not judge a religion base on the actions of man. With those words, I'm managed to keep an open mind about Christianity and any other religion.

If there's a church nearby with its doors wide open, perhaps I'll sneak into Sanctuary and contemplate once more. :p

Who Should Take Responsibilities?

2008-04-29T23:31:00.002+08:00

In my previous post, I talked about responsibility and accountability and the fairness of taking actions on those responsible and accountable for the lapses.

Coming back to the issue of Mas Selamat's escape. Without the benefit of knowing the full details other than looking the the COI Executive Summary and Ministerial Statement, I am of the opinion that accountability and responsibility goes beyond the officers stationed in Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC). Everyone has to take responsibility and account for something... and what is that something?

In my earlier post, I quoted from the Ministerial Statement that there were "no evidence of connivance, collusion, or assistance given to Mas Selamat" nor "malice or criminal liability on the part of any officer implicated". In other words, none of the staff actually intended for Mas Selamat to escape. Thus, for that matter, I don't think anyone (including the GC and SDO) should face any "permanent" punishment such as termination. Doing so will only encourage their successors to be more resistant to taking responsibilities... or perhaps even deny their lapses. However, some disciplinary actions along the lines of stoppages of leave, bonus, demotion, reassignment or at least re-educate and re-train should be necessary. By doing so, it sends a clear message across that the lapses are serious matters and cannot be condone, and yet the "authority" is prepared to hear out the difficulties the officers may face in conforming to the expectations.

To determine who is responsible for the lapses and weaknesses can go very high up. The GC guards and SDO who did not follow SOP by leaving Mas Selamat out of their sight are certainly responsible for this non-conformance. It seems that they are not the only ones. There have been cases where MS had closed the door. Who should take responsibility for not preventing such non-conformance to take place? Should he face disciplinary actions? The toilet was not meant for detainees but was used nevertheless for convenience. Again, who should take responsibility for not preventing such practices? Should he face disciplinary actions? Although the COI did not explicitly mention it, who should be responsible for the weaknesses that warrants improvement in

1) Command and Control
2) Communication Coordination
3) Regular Exercises and Audits
4) The WRDC itself

The WRDC is a "complex-multifunctional facility" (Ministerial Statement). Who is responsible for ensuring that the WRDC has all the resources necessary to run such a facility? Who runs the renovation and re-development programme? Were there any risk assessment done to ensure that the renovation and re-development programme do not alter the security eco-system? Who do all these works? Are they trained to manage renovation and re-development projects? Is the WRDC provided with sufficient resources to not only carry out the multifunctional roles but additional resources to carry out the re-development program? Are there other detention centres (I'm do not know how many are there but let's include the prisons as well) that faces similar cultural, operational or infrastructure weakness? If there is, who should be accountable? These questions can go on and on, higher and higher into the organizational hierarchy and may very well implicate everybody but that is not the point. The point is for everyone to ask themselves "Am I one of the confluencing factor?"

Anyway, I don't think Minister for Home Affairs or Director ISD need to answer all these questions to the public - the COI's Executive Summary is quite comprehensive and the Ministerial Statement is even more detailed. However, I hope for everyone's sake, they will find the answers within themselves and take any corrective actions where required.

Responsibility, Accountability, Culpability & Actions

2008-04-28T05:27:00.002+08:00

The nature of my job (past and present) places safety management on high priority. In the course of my work, I've been exposed to much knowledge on the concepts and methodologies of safety management. After reading the Executive Summary by the COI on Mas Selamat's escape and the Ministerial Statement by the Minister of Home Affairs, I find many areas where the knowledge on safety management can be applied to security management.

When lapses (be it safety or security) have been found, the rational and natural approach is to take actions to "plug" the lapses. However, in my opinion, the issue of determining responsibility, accountability and culpability will determine the effectiveness of the "lapses-plugging-actions". To put it in another way, what "personnel-related-actions" to take on those who are responsible, accountable and culpable will have an effect on how the "lapses-plugging-actions" are being carried out. If the "personnel-related-actions" are not perceived to be fair and just, "lapses-plugging-actions" will be carried out half-heartedly. So what do I mean about who are responsible, accountable and culpable? Here's my definition:

Responsible - the person who is actually carrying out the job, e.g. the Gurkha Contingent (GC) guards and Special Duty Operative (SDO) or, in my line of work, the technician who does the repair work.

Accountable - the person whom those responsible reports to. This person may not be actually doing the job of escort or repair but has to account for how well or badly was the job done. These people include supervisors, management staff, auditors, independent checkers etc.

Culpable - When there are procedures to be followed but the person chose to do otherwise, in maintenance, we call it non-conformance (to procedures). However, that person is not culpable (of misdeeds) yet. If his non-conformance is due to malice, intent to sabotage, wanting the adverse consequences to happen or clearly defies commonsense, then we would deem this person to be culpable. Rightfully, he should be removed from his job or face other severe disciplinary actions because he is a threat to himself, his colleagues and the organisation. However, if his non-conformance is due to a misunderstanding of the procedure, or even lack of clear procedures, inadequate resources, etc or when his non-conformance is actually a "cultural norm" (everyone else does it)... well, what action should we take? I'll come to that later on.

Back to Mas Selamat's case...

There were "no evidence of connivance, collusion, or assistance given to Mas Selamat" nor "malice or criminal liability on the part of any officer implicated"(Ministerial Statement). Thus, in my opinion, no one is culpable, not even the GC guards and SDO operative, based on my description of culpability. However, that does not mean that no one is held responsible or accountable for the lapses leading to Mas Selamat's escape. Looking the COI's recommendations, clearly the lapses went beyond the escorts' not keeping line of sight of the detainee, un-grilled window and weakness in the perimeter fencing. The COI's key recomendations include,

1) Centralised Command and Control
2) Enhance Communication Coordination
3) Regular Exercises and Audits
4) New Detention Facility

These recommendations suggest that there are "high level" weaknesses. There are people, most likely high up, who are responsible for effective command and control, communication and coordination etc and even higher up who are accountable for the "need-to-be-improved" areas. There are people who have to be responsible and accountable for the weaknesses.

So what "personnel-related-actions" should be taken? If no one is culpable of intentionally assisting Mas Selamat's escape directly or indirectly, does it mean that no (disciplinary) action will be taken on anyone? No. The personnel-related-actions can include re-train and re-educate, stoppages of leave/offs/bonus/promotion for a fix period of time etc for all those responsible and accountable for the lapses and weaknesses. This is to send a clear message that lapses cannot be condone, whether it was done intentionally or not. Since these disciplinary actions are not permanent, it gives hope to the staff that they have an opportunity to do better in future.

On top of that, the disciplinary actions must be seen to be fair and not exonerate anyone, especially the top management. If not, all the talks and recommendations about centralised command and control, enhancing communications and coordination will turn into "blah blah blah" in the ears of the lower ranking staff. All the weaknesses will still be present.

Should anyone be sacked or asked to leave? Since the COI and CID did not find any evidence of connivance, collusion or malice, I don't think anyone should be sacked. In fact, sacking someone or making someone resign is really a simple way out. That person will take away a full load of knowledge and experience about the "honest mistakes" he made. I would even advocate that everyone should stay on, from the director of ISD to the GC and SDO. Stay on to make things right. Stay on to ensure that the correct ways of doing things are materialised.

A punitive culture within any organization is always counter-productive. It will not only make everyone shirk responsibilities - such a culture "encourages" people to cover-up or even distort truths. In such a cultures, those directly responsible (normally the lower ranking staff) for the lapses are removed immediately but the indirect causes e.g. inadequate tools, ambiguous procedures, crazy-boss-who-make-me-repair-the-nuclear-reactor-in-5-minutes etc are unchecked and unrectified. Someone else is bound to make the same mistake, again. Weaknesses will occur and go undetected, unreported, waiting to blow up on anyone "suay" (unfortunate) enough to step on it at the wrong moment.

Ha! I Found The Prince

2008-04-08T22:52:00.007+08:00

Just found out that the Frog Prince is still in town and not in Paris as he claims!

He's been stalking my children! :p

No la, actually he really is out of town. I was just having a bit of fun with my mobile phone with camera features. It came as a surprise that under the Frame facility, Frog Prince actually made it into the features. Can't help it but to capture a couple of shots with it. Kinda cool, don't ya think?

Feeling So Guilty

2008-03-29T14:01:00.004+08:00

Not too long ago, I just passed my Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT). Before that, I was thinking about keeping physically fit, not just for the yearly IPPT but also for my health's sake... thinking, like I did every year. True enough, I thought a lot about keeping fit for the last week or so but hardly did any exercise (if you consider a stroll in the park to be exercise in the first place). Not only that, I pampered myself with these:

Got both of these and quite a few other dishes at Chomp Chomp in Serangoon Gardens a couple fo days ago. The crab soup was delicious and guaranteed with roes at less than $10. Arrghhhh.... the cholesterol!!! Anyway, got quite guilty over it so the very next day, I headed straight to the gym for some workout.

I was quite surprised with myself when I managed to pull 4 STANDARD chin-ups... enough to pass my IPPT :p and even more surpising was that I managed to clock a better timing than my RT-IPPT when I attempted the 2.4km run on a threadmill. Ok, ok,,, these achievements are nothing to brag about but it is still my personal best sinc the last 4-5 years. Hmmmm... was it the crab soup? Anyway, I told myself to maintain this standard for at least a year and not only will I be able to pass my IPPT next year, I can even get a Silver Award!... or should I aim for a Gold Award? :p

Where Can He Hide?

2008-03-20T23:38:00.000+08:00

It's been like 3 weeks since Mas Selamat escaped and still no sign of him. From what I read in the net or news, more than a thousand personnel have been mobilised to search for him. More than a thousand phone calls or emails were received by the police with possible sightings reported. However, there are simply no trace of his where abouts - perhaps the Home Team did find traces just that these were not publicised for fear of jeopardising their operation to hunt him down... perhaps. If Mas Selamat is still in Singapore and the Home Team really do have reliable traces or leads to his hiding place, I find it very hard to believe that they could not get him by now.

If his escaped had been planned and co-ordinated with accomplice, I believe he must have fled the country on 27 Feb 2008, the day he escaped the detention centre. How certain are the police when they say he acted alone? Assuming he is still in Singapore and unable to contact any of his accomplice, where can he hide? I don't know.

But I asked myself, if I were him, where will I hide? So I started to muse over this question. Where ever I may be hiding, the place has to be as far away from public view as possible. It should also be near sources of food and water... and near the coast as much as possible. Eventually, my thoughts led me to think of Choa Chu Kang Cemetery.

Firstly, it is not unusual to see anyone in a cemetery... even at night, especially in Chinese cemetery where punters are known to seek additional help for the spiritual world. Also, no one would take more than a glance at a stranger in a cemetery... especially if that stranger appears to be unkept. Who knows? The dilapidated stranger you saw may not be a human after all. Food is really not an issue, if one is not too choosy. There's bound to be some offering of food and drinks to the deceased. Well, if those are really not up to your taste, there's fruit trees among the forests surrounding the cemetery. Beyond the CCK cemetery to the western end is the sea. even if the Home Team were to comb the cemetery, chances are they may not be as enthusiastic about their searches compared to other places. Come on... cemetery gives everyone the creeps. He'll just need to bide his time and await for an opportunity to perhaps hijack a motorised boat from one of the kelongs near Serimbun or Kranji and off he goes... provided the Police Coast Guard failed to detect him.

Anyway, it's just my musings... there's still a lot of questions to be addressed... such as how could he get to CCK cemetery in the first place? How certain can he be that punters will not approach him and ask "Bang, you know which hantu gives good tips?" Or perhaps, he had been taken away by the pontianak hiding there... which is why the Home Team could not find him anywhere in this world...

To all the group troopers who are actually doing the work of searching - don't loose heart. We know you are putting in your best effort to look for him. Keep it up.

What's My Mood?

2008-03-19T22:22:00.003+08:00

Many years ago, a group of us were receiving our training somewhere at the eastern side of this little red dot. On one particular morning, when we just stepped into our class. This statement was scribbled on the board - "I'm so happy I can lick my own ass!" No one knew who's the joker who wrote that but we were laughing and speculating how do this person lick his own behind?

However, this statement has been etched in my mind for may, many years. Whenever I am elated, "I'm so happy I can lick my own ass!" comes to mind...

And this is exactly how I feel this evening... because I passed my IPPT! This means no more RT... no more burning 3 evenings every week for the next 4 weeks... no more dieting, no more training, no more... WAIT. I think I should just maintain my fitness and continue exercising regularly. For the sake of my health and not just for passing IPPT.

P/S I haven't figured out how can a person lick his own behind... do you think contortionist can do it?

Mind Over Matters?

2008-03-09T19:40:00.001+08:00

Just had my 5th RT session. For the uninitiated, RT is known as Remedial Training. You will be blessed with RT if your fail or did not attend your IPPT. IPPT is Individual Pa Pok Test... no lah. IPPT is Individual Physical Proficiency Test. It is compulsory for every NS liable Singaporean to take the IPPT once a year. Since I'm still an Operational Ready NSmen... or so they term us but I still regard myself as reservist, I'm still required to take the IPPT once a year. For my last IPPT window, I failed my 2.4km run... ok ok... to be honest, I would have failed my chin-up also if I had not cheated a bit... a little it of jerking and not keeping my arms straightened :p

Of all the stations, consisting of of 4 static stations (shuttle-run, situps, standing broad jump and chin-ups) and a 2.4km run, I always have problems with chin-ups. Every year, during the test, I will fail by 1 or 2 chin ups... and have to re-test or attend RT. Since the days of my Basic Military Training, standing under the chin up bar would make my heart pump faster and I'll conjure butterflies in my belly. Only in the last recent years, I have problems with running the 2.4km also... just managed to pass.

I've always wondered what is it that keeps me from passing my IPPT.

Is it due to lifestyle?
Or perhaps diet?
Maybe it is work stress and the lack of time for exercise?
But I think all the above are excuses. I smoke but there are chimneys out there who can get gold medal for IPPT. The Company's Best PT during my BMT is one such example. Diet wise... well, I'm not obese and my BMI is still within the ideal range. And I have reduce my intake of fatty and high cholesterol food. Lack of time and stressed by work is also not an excuse... afterall, I'm one who do not believe in selling my soul to my employer.

So what's keeping me from training for my IPPT? I believe it is this...Mind Over Matters. I just have to keep to a strict regime of exercising regularly. I must keep reminding myself that exercising is not just to pass my IPPT. It is to keep my health stable as well. Afterall, age is not slowing down for me and as the years pass, I am finding it harder and harder to keep up and maintain my personal standard.

For a start, I have to train to pass my RT-IPPT in less than 2 weeks. Wish me luck :p

Terrorist On The Run

2008-03-03T19:12:00.005+08:00

Just doing my part for the safety of Singapore. This man was placed under preventive detention at the Whitley Detention Centre for involvement in a number of terrorists plots against Singapore. He had escaped on Wednesday 27 Feb 2008. If you see him, please call the police immediately.

Added on 8 March 2008

It's been more than a week and seems like there's not a single trace of this man's whereabouts other than the lead provided by the petrol kiosk workers on the day his man escape. Is he still hiding in Singapore? Or has he left the country? Is he working with accomplice(s) or still hiding alone. There's still a lot of questions left unanswered. The first and foremost is "How did he escape?" We've been told that he escaped while he went to toilet break when his family came to visit him... hardly a satisfactory answer. Wasn't he escorted? Shouldn't the toilet/building/compound be secured? Well, I hope MHA can release the details... eventually, whether he is caught or not.

Next perplexing issue is that why is the information released to the public 4 hours later? On the previous case of the NSF who smuggled a rifle with live rounds out of the army camp, public was also made aware much later. The reason cited then was that they do not want to alarm the NSF, forcing him to panic and go on a shooting spree... or hide. That sounds reasonable, at least to me. But what about this case? Supposedly, he did not pose an immediate threat since he's not armed... and he will definitely go into hiding... much better than the NSF. Afterall, he's been trained overseas making him somewhat a "foreign-trained-talent". Will the public panic? I don't think so since the public did not panic when news of the NSK with a dangerous weapon came out. In fact, I think most Singaporeans are too complacent to panic. If they had alerted the public earlier, perhaps the petrol kiosk workers would have informed the police much earlier and maybe he could have been caught on that very night. Anyway, its just my wild speculations.

What made me perturbed is that the information to assist the public to identify this man is released in piecemeal. We have his face in the papers and news on that day. We were told he walks with a limp on the left leg the next day. Later, we were informed that his limp is not observable unless he is running or walking fast. And a couple of days later, the public was informed of the clothes he is likely to be wearing when he escaped... information that is no longer useful or relevant since after so many day, he could have changed or even left the country.

One other very puzzling thing is that Dr Teo Ho Pin, Law and Home Affairs Government Parliamentary Committee Chairman, posed questions to Mr Wong Kan Seng, Home Affairs Minister, in parliament about this security lapse (see link) !?!?! Pardon my ignorance, isn't the Law and Home Affairs Government Parliamentary Committee equally accountable or are they just an independent audit committee? Is there too much focus in creating too many committees that we have over-sighted on the REAL issues?

Of all the statements that came out from the politicians so far, I feel it is still these from MM Lee that make sense. Trust this old man to be rationale, precise and to the point... whether you like what he said or not.

I can only hope and do what little part I can to ensure that Mas Selamat is caught before any harm is done. Mas Selamat is not a threat just to Singapore. He is an allege terrorist. He is threat to the world.

Singapore Short Stories - Ah Meng's Naming

2008-02-09T12:01:00.002+08:00

Ah Meng is somewhat of a local celebrity. She's an orang utan in the Singapore Zoological Gardens and entertains tourists occasionally by having breakfast with them. Someone asked me why is she given a boy's name...well, here's the story.
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According to the Kin Jio Leaf, Ah Meng came into this world on 18 June 1960. She was actually kept as a pet illegally until 1971 when the Khirsah and Council then found her. They abish abish the owner until he look like a baboon's behind. Years later, when Harrison became the CEO, we gave Ah Meng to Harrison for safekeeping in the zoo.

Harrison had this wonderful idea of "Breakfast With An Orang Utan" program and consulted us. We also have our hidden agenda and so we agreed. However, we had this big problem... the full name of Ah Meng is AhBuCeDarElleFarGoHaInJerKinLiMeng. It means "The Beautiful One" in our language. Harrison couldn't pronounce it so he named it "Ah Meng" for short...which means "The Beast" in our language.

Of course Ah Meng not happy lor and she give Harrison the finger whenever she saw him. (Harrison claimed that Ah Meng's dislike of him had something to do with that time someone wanted to make a documentary and Ah Meng avoided the camera by climbing up a tree. Harrison coaxed her to come down but eventaully she fell down and injured her arm. So from then on, she don't like him )
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The above short story was written some time ago but somehow was not posted here. Just got to find out that Ah Meng passed away (CNA news). Breakfast will never be the same in the zoo.

If you like to find out more about Ah Meng, go here.

Spot The Seahorses

2008-01-20T17:42:00.001+08:00

A diving friend snapped some pictures of seahorse. Kinda cute.

Talking about seahorses... do you know that the eggs of seahorses are kept by the papa seahorses? That is, it is the papa seahorse that get pregnant... not the mama seahorse....

See if you can spot the seahorses. I could... ... but cannot now... ... hmmm, wonder where are the seahorses... ... keep a look out for the eyes... that's what my friend says...

The Best Birthday Gift

2008-01-09T18:03:00.000+08:00

I have been receiving birthday gifts but non is as special as this card. It is made by my daughter, Trixie. Did I say I am very proud of her? Nothing beats a simple card that is original and comes with sincerity. Not only did she give me a card, she called to wish me a happy birthday.

My Son, Tate

2007-12-30T03:10:00.000+08:00

Woohooo! First, I must thank wifey for having to carry our new born son, Tate for the last nine months. He's a healthy, not-so-little guy weighing slightly more than 3.7kg at birth!

Not any less lovable than our first child (Trixie), Tate's coming to this world brings a special significance to my family. If you've read my previous post, my father passed away late last year. What most of you do not know is that, exactly 3 weeks after my father's death, my brother joined him. No one knows what made my brother take his own life but apparently he was suffering from depression, something which we suspected but didn't know it was that serious. It was a very, very difficult period for my family. So when wifey and I came to know that Tate is akan datang, I wasted no time to spread the good news to my mum and the rest of the family. BTW, Tate's arrival was not planned... at least not by us, so I'd thought there must be someone out there watching over us and present this gift to us.

OK, so much for the sombre part. Let's move forward to the more positive outlook in life... Wifey and I felt that his name should start with a letter T like his sister, Trixie. Did a search for meaningful boys names starting with the letter T and my oh my, the names are limited. Eventually we filtered down to two - Tate and Theodore. Personally, I preferred Theodore which originates from Greek meaning "God's gift". Wifey preferred Tate which is of English origin meaning "Cheerful". Each of these names have different variations like Tait, Taitte, Tayte for Tate and Ted, Theo, Theodorus for Theodore. Eventually, I relented and agreed on Tate. Theodore may be a bit of a tongue twister for our non-native English speaking families. Besides that, the name Tate is more related to Trixie which means "Bringer of joy".

During gestation, Tate is unlike his sister who is more placid. Right from the end of the 1st trimester, his movement can be felt and he moved alot through the rest of the pregnancy. I wonder if he aspires to be a gymnast. Besides that, wifey felt contractions very often too. When wifey was carrying Trixie, the only time she felt ONE contraction (and a relatively mild one) was when she was waiting in the delivery ward for the hospital staff to prepare the operations theatre. With Tate, it was a totally different matter. I just hope we can educate Tate to be as well behaved as his sister.

Also, Tate grows fast. Last weekend when we were shopping, people gave obvious about their stares when they look at wifey. One even remarked, "Wow! So big!" 3 days back when wifey went for her medical appointment, Tate's estimated weight was 3.4kg!

Last morning, when the amniotic fluid started to flow out (one of the signs that the baby is about to come out), we grabbed the bag and hailed a cab. The driver is a nice chap and told us that he'll go slow for a smooth and safe ride to the hospital. Wifey said something that made him promptly floored the accelerator, beat a red light and almost did a drift. I had to harmonize the speed correcting that he need not go THAT fast and added that we didn't want him to be booked by the traffic police. He laughed it off saying it's alright. If TP did notice, he would explain the situation and we might get a free escort to open the traffic ahead for us. We reached the hospital safely anyway.

Everything went through smoothly and Tate is delivered after a C-Section and this time, I am not suffering from shingles and managed to be in the ops theatre with wifey and Tate the moment he is born. Tomorrow will be another day where we'll have to jia you cos there'll be many years ahead of us.

For those of you who do not know what's a C-Section (Cesarean Section), follow this link to watch the video clip of how babies can be born. (Warning: It can be gory and upsetting to some)

And You Think Only Blondes Are Stupid?

2007-12-29T02:04:00.000+08:00

I was reading Mr Brown's blog when I came across this. Couldn't help laughing, especially the reactions from the boy. Then I went into Youtube and did a search by typing "stupid"... guess what I found there. I am really surprised by the answers given by the Americans.

My Dear Daughter

2007-12-18T21:00:00.000+08:00

Not too long ago, someone in CNA forum guessed that I must have a very well behave daughter. Well, I must admit she is and I certainly hope she can continue to be so.

Over the last 4 years, I hardly see my daughter. The reason is that wifey and I are weekend parents. That means, we'll fetch our daughter home over the weekend and comes Sunday night, we'll have to "deposit" her with my mother-in-law. Also, we make it a point to visit her (and my mother-in-law) at least once a week during the weekday. Do I really have a choice to do otherwise? We certainly hope that we can see her everyday and have her calling out to us, "Papa! Mommy! You're home! See what I draw!". However, we can't... both of us have to work. Can we fetch her home on a daily basis? Maybe... but I think travelling for 45mins on either direction between my M.I.L. everyday will be taxing on us and our daughter... not to mention traveling from my M.I.L's place to/from my workplace. Why don't I buy a car? Yeah, right... might as well suggest one of us quit our job. Or better still, go buy toto and pray that I'll strike the first prize. $500K will do - I do not expect to win the rolled up millions although I do not mind :P

To cut the long story short, wifey took a couple of "long weekend" leave recently such that the "weekend resort home" become "weekend cum Monday resort home". Instead of the usual practice of returning her (my daughter, not my wife) to my MIL on Sunday, we go there on Monday so that we can have more time with her (my daughter, not my MIL) and hear that "Papa! You're home! See what I draw!"... aaaaaah...bliss!

She can really be chatty if she wanted to and will take the initiative to play with us with her usual "SURPRISE!" She will attempt to hide...by covering her eyes and then shout surprise while removing her hands to look at you :=) (I think I'll need to teach her the story of 掩耳盗铃). Anyway, it is always fun playing with her.

Also, the honest truth is, she rarely makes me angry... frustrated perhaps but not angry. However, on a recent occasion, she got on the nerves of wifey. Now, try to understand that wifey is very, very pregnant now so she tends to be a bit more sensitive. So on that particular day, wifey was teaching Trix to spell "The" and "This". After several rounds of coaching and repetition, Trix still spell "This" like this "Theis". Wifey lost her temper and hit our daughter's hand with a cane! Ouch! To be exact... a candy cane :P ... (not so ouch). Tears welled up in our daughter's eyes and only then did that irresponsible papa who hides in the study room blogging, came out to the living room and save the day :p.

I could see from her eyes that the tears rolled not because of the pain from the candy cane (it's really a very small one) but more like somehow, she felt she has disappointed us or made us feel unhappy. That made me look at my daughter in a very different perspective and I really think she is quite capable of sensing when someone's emotion is really not quite right. In other words, she is quite understanding. On top of that, she isn't those who wails and screams nor shout (touch wood) - she just cry, trying hard to hold back her tears and look at you with pleading eyes and that look totally melts my heart... like this one, taken a couple of years ago...With that look, we continued to coach her for another hour or so with as much patient as we can muster. Finally, at the end of the day, when I asked her to spell "This", she wrote "T h i s" and then I asked her to spell "The", she wrote "T h e"... woohoo! So I tried again and asked her to spell "This", she wrote "T h e i s"... ... ... ... perhaps, she's not ready for "This" yet.

Maybe, I'll a different approach next time and teach her "This" and "That" instead of "This" and "The". But whatever the case may be, we still love you, Trixie!

Taxi Fare Increase

2007-12-12T11:55:00.000+08:00

Taxi fare is set to increase... again.

According to ComfortDelgro's press release (here), the "fare changes" (just say fare hike, la!) is meant to address issues including,

1) Addressing commuters' concern in the difficulty of getting a cab in the city in evening
2) Simplifying taxi fares for the convenience of commuters
3) Encouraging call bookings to better match the supply and demand

On the first issue - Little cab in city in evening (just make the cab bigger, lor...sorry, can't help it there :p)

The solution is to increase city area surcharge from $1 to $3! Simple wat! Even an orang utan can understand. No cab in city area, increase surcharge so cab drivers will go into city area! Simple, right? Pay them well and they will come. Not enough talents? Pay them more, lor!

Hmmm, I wonder will this deter commuters from taking cab in the city area in the first place! Also, where's the boundary of city area? Maybe I better go find out so next time, I'll just step out of the city area and then lament no cab in non-city area. But then again, perhaps not or they'll increase the surcharge for non-city area.

I also wonder how would cab drivers really react to it. Will they still go into hiding so that they can not only get the city area surcharge, they'll earn the call booking as well! Afterall, ComfortDelgro has shown them that maximising profits is still more important.

The second solution (City ERP rebates) to the first issue (no cab in city in evening), I think is a good move. It does not deter passengers and it encourages drivers. Unless you believe ComfortDelgro will go bankrupt paying ERB rebates... nah, not possible.

Second issue - simplifying fares

The first solutions is to revise back to the days where Late Night Surcharge is 50% of the metered fare between midnight and 0559hrs. Great! I hated the idea of progressive increments starting from 2330hrs at 10% anyway. Aunties and Uncles will find it easier to calculate afterall.

However, the second solution doesn't seem to have anything to do with simplifying fare. Instead of charging $2 surchage for peak hours, they charge a 35% of the metered fare (and call it premium?!?!?). If you tell an ape, "Uncle, peak hour, hor! I need to charge $2 extra!", the response will either be, "OK lor... what to do?" or "Walao! Tai lang pang her! Bo pian la, kia la kia la! (meaning: It's daylight robbery! What to do? I can only suck thumb, just go!)"

But if the driver goes, "Uncle, peak hour, hor, need to charge 35% more!" one might response in the manner shown above or "How much is that going to be? I no study noe no maths like tat one leh. Midnight I can still count simply, meter plus jit pua (half) of meter, 35% is how?"

The only thing in the second solution that touches on simplifying fare is the use of automated computing for the calculation... with detailed breakdown of receipts! Woohoo! Erm... can they not do that also using flat $2 surcharge?

Also, the solution is focusing just on Late Night Surcharge and Peak Period Surcharge. However, if you look at the whole concept of cab fare, do you think it is simple?
Flag Down Fare (with it own formula)
Peak Hour Surcharge (on different dates and time)
City Area Surcharge
Late Night Surcharge (meter plus jit pua, ya?)
Airport / Terminal Surcharge (I've no idea how much now)
Call Booking Fee
ERP Fee (please check with LTA)
Honestly, sometimes when a foreigner asked me how much it cost to take a cab... I just tell him, pay whatever the meter says... although I'm not sure how many of these surcharges are computed into the meter.

The third issue - Encouraging call booking

Here's another good solution... although I'm not sure the $0.50 less is borned by the driver or ComfortDelgro). Simple. Straight to the point. I wonder how effective will it be. Personally, $0.50 makes little difference when I consider other factors such as availability of and need for a cab.

There is one point that crept into the press release yet seemed out of place. It between the 2nd and 3rd solutions and did not explain what issue(s) it is supposed to address - Flag Down Fare Increase. I'll leave you to figure that out.

Whatever the case may be... I'm beginning to be more conscious of which cab (base on the operator) to take and will not hesitate give certain cabs a miss. So I urge the other cab companies to reconsider if they should always follow suit whenever one company increase... or should I say make adjustment, to the fare.

A Year Ago...A Death In The Family

2007-12-11T16:51:00.000+08:00

Christmas is round the corner and I suppose many of you are preparing for the holiday season, if you have not done so. This post is nothing about being jolly or bringing good tidings. In fact, it's the opposite. So if you do not wish spoil your jolly good feelings... give this post a miss, please, I insist.

I will not hesitate to write talk about life, neither would I shy away from death. After all, have you met anyone who has never lived or will never die?

On this day a year ago (base on Chinese Lunar Calendar), my father passed away. There are certain rites to be performed, according to the Chinese practice, after one year. So, this morning, I headed to my mum's place. As the monk who assisted in the rites started the all to familiar chant, emotions started to well up and got stuck at my throat. I guess one can only move on but never able to "get over it".

It was a sad moment for my family when my father passed away. It was also a sort of relief - in the sense a relief for my dad and family because he was suffering for some weeks prior to his passing. My father suffered from pneumonia and a mild stroke which got him admitted into the hospital. The pneumonia eventually led to one of his lungs collapse. He struggled for a month or so and eventually passed away peacefully in the hospital. His wife, eldest son and youngest brother were beside him when he left. The eldest son, my brother was particularly depressed and that left me to take care of the funeral arrangements. My father was eventually cremated in Bright Hill Temple and his urn placed there. One thing we didn't realised was that his death had affected my brother more than anyone else.

My father was a conservative man and by that I mean he was the type who believes that man must be the head of the family and as long as he provides for the family 3 meals a day, roof over their heads and children gets educated, he has done his job. He would never have been nominated for the "Best Father of The Year Award".

Nevertheless, he was a good man. He would never impose his views or opinions on another. He would frequently offer alternative perspectives such as making you think about the fisherman who offers bait to fish or the patriarch who drove his prodigal son out of the family. Whenever something appears to be wrong, he would make you think about the righteousness in it or when something appears to be right, he would let you consider what could be the (wrong) hidden agenda. From his perspectives, there are no absolute wrongs or rights. However, that does not mean he was without opinions. He did have them. Just that he did not impose his opinions on others.

It's been a year now and life has to move on.

Don't Ya Love Flowers?

2007-11-30T18:42:00.000+08:00

Did I mention that I tried developing the green thumb? No, I'm not turning into the Incredible Hulk... the Incredible Sulk, maybe but certainly not the Hulk.

I tried planting my own flowers. Had wanted to do that years ago but my neighbour beats me to it. Now, his "lease" expired.. oh rather he gave up. So now, the sun facing corridor is made available and it's my turn now.

Here's the results of our efforts. Nice?

I'm actually quite fond of flowers. So in most overseas trips, I would snap pictures of flowers whenever the opportunity arises. I also realised that flowers are the most beautiful in their natural form... and not in a bouquet. Here's some of them that I took in my previous trip to Hokkaido. I promised someone out there that I would show these pictures to her... long long ago, sorry there. It really took me a long time to show these picures :p

I'll leave you to admire these flowers now. BTW, sorry for the bad layout... just can't get this blog to cooperate...

The Importance of Responsible Media

2007-11-27T23:17:00.001+08:00

I was in a course relating to safety management. In one of the case studies, we looked at the Uberlingen Mid Air Collision involving Bashkirian Airline and DHL aircrafts. Everyone, all 71 of them (45 were school children), on both of these aircrafts died.

I will not discuss the details of the findings from the investigations and certainly not point at who is to be blamed for this tragedy. You can perhaps find a lot more details from the internet. However, I would like to draw your attention to the role media or rather the consequences when media reports irresponsibly.

What happened immediately after the mid air collision was that the media went in to cover the news. Some media, without establishing the facts, reported irresponsibly that the fault lies on the air traffic controller. Such kinds of media thrives on "spicing" up the events to win readership afterall. That eventually became a contributing factor to the air traffic controller being murdered by another man who lost his entire family (wife and 2 children) in that accident.

Media has a very important role when reporting cases like these. If they are not sensitive to the emotions and reactions of their readers/viewers, they could easily invoke another tragedy to happen. In this particular case, not only was the media (the irresponsible ones) insensitive, they made bias judgement even before the official investigation team concluded their findings and recommendations for improvements on safety.

A similar case happened closer at home during the 1950s(?) when the media was not sensitive to the local and religious sentiments which resulted in the Mariah Hertogh Riots.

From these two incidents, it led me to think that media must not only be objective, media has to be sensitive to the reaction of their readers. This also serves as a reminder to me that I too, have to exercise some control over what I write because what I write can be viewed by anyone. You'll never know who actually reads your blog.

Do The Right Thing

2007-11-18T21:30:00.000+08:00

Heard about this from a friend and found it the net.

"An elderly man was trying to find a place to sit and observe the Olympic Games, as he went to each section. All the other Greeks laughed as he tried to make his way through. Some ignored him. Upon entering the Spartan section all the Spartans stood and offered the elderly man their seats. Suddenly the entire stadium applauded. All the Greeks knew what was the right thing to do, but the Spartans were the only ones who did it." (here)

During my Sec 1 days, a thought struck me. It seems to me that Singaporeans are sucker for rules and authority. Everything that we do (or should not do) must come with some form of written rule from the relevant authority. Now, I'm not saying obeying rules are bad. Rules are necessary to ensure things run smoothly, in the broadest sense. However, what I found strange was that some people regard the absence of rules meant endorsement of anything else that the rules did not cover, or the presence of rules meant endorsement of every privileges that may come with it... regardless of what common sense or moral values tell them. It's like saying,

"Oh...there's no regulations that says I must give up my seats to the elderlies so why must I do that?" or

"Oh, as a pedestrain I have the right of way at the zebra crossings. Motorists must keep a lookout for me and give way to me. I can take my own sweet time."

This thought came to me at a time when I observed a bunch of kids making a ruckus at the void deck. An elderly man, who was not related to these kids (except they're of the same race), told them sternly that their behavior was unruly and unbecoming. The kids quietened and left for the playground eventually, restoring peace to the neighbourhood. Initially I thought to myself that the elder had no authority nor responsibilities over the kids. What if those kids turned around and challenged him "Who do you think you are?!" Would it not be better if he informed the parents of the kids or the police or Town Council to let THEM handle those unruly kids? Afterall, these people can exercise some form of authority over these kids but not the elderly. However, comonsense and cultural values also tells me that elderlies are to be respected. Moreover, he did the socially correct thing and that was to tell those kids to respect the neighbours. He didn't need a warren card or a letter of authority issued by a Minister or Commissioner of Police to do that. He did what is socially and morally right of an elder... to educate the children.

From that moment on, whenever I notice something not so right, I asked myself if that particular situation require the relevant "authorities" (including parents, teachers etc) to step in and make some rules. I was a "young adult" or "old child" (depends on how you look at it) and should start to take on more responsibilities. Instead of "Teacher! Teacher! He took my rubber!" or "Mommy, mommy, he called me a monkey!", I started to approach my classmate directly and say "If you need to borrow my eraser, you could have asked and I'll be more than willing to lend it to you" or "Mind you, I am not a monkey. I am an ape, Orang Utan. To be scientifically correct, I am a Pongo Pygmaeus."

But of course, if I was up against gangsters who are out to wallop me... I would still run to teacher and yell, "Teacher! Teacher! Ang Kong Beng want to wallop me!" and the teacher would go "Mata, mata! Got Ah Beng want to beat my student!" There are times when the relevant authorities have to step in. Don't try to be a hero when you do not have laser eyes and wear your red underwear outside like Superman.

If you know you are doing something right and not harming anybody (including yourself), do you really need some figure of authority to support you and make some rules? All the time? In every situations?

I end this post with a short clip (here). The stand up comedian is Peter Russell... the way he said "Do The Right Thing" is hilarious.

This Used To Be My Playground

2007-11-15T13:09:00.000+08:00

We used to play here. It was near the block where my gandma stayed. All landscape that you see in the picture are gone now. This was our "kampung". On any festive occassion, all the relatives would gather at my grandparents' place. The adults would play socialise over mahjong, coffee or talk about whatever topics adults talked about. The children would gather downstairs and play. Once in a while, an uncle would showoff his camera and snapped pictures of us. I suppose this was taken during the Chinese New Year period or we wouldn't have dressed so nicely.

Notice the drain on the left? My cousin and I would arm ourselves with slippers or sticks when night falls. We would scout the drain for cockroaches and *smack*... NEA would have been proud of us :p

Also, note the phone booth and the phone inside. That phone was the second generation. I can still recall the first generation is a green phone with dialling disc... yes disc and not pad. The type where you need to dial the numbers one at a time... to let the disc roll back before you can dialthe next.

If I do recall clearly, we were the only children that roam this place frequently. There were a couple of households with less than a handful of children staying in that block but none of them managed to gather as many children (or grandchildren) as my grandparents. Games we used to play include Catching, Tua Beh Long (Big Road), Zero Point, Hop Scotch and a lot more. The eldest chap in the picture is my brother...the eldest grandson. He was the one who came out with most of the games. A very innovative person who improvised games and tools with used items.

We had so much fun and now we've all grown up and most of us are parents ourselves.

I Must Remind Myself

2007-11-07T23:34:00.000+08:00

Sorry folks... it's been a terrible day. Skip this if you don't want to feel miserable. I don't want to talk about this anymore after post so comments off. I just want to let it out of my chest and enjoy my holiday.

I must remind myself to keep my mouth shut... the only time when I should open my mouth is to say "I'm sorry, it's my fault, I'm to be blamed"

I must remind myself not to give opinion... except when my opinion is to fully support my boss' opinion

I must remind myself not to offer explanations... I can never have explanations, only excuses

I must remind myself to eat my humble pie... sorry, I don't even deserve a humble pie

I must remind myself of my place and position in the corporate ladder... that is the bottom where all shit flows

I must remind myself I have nothing to offer except my labour... until a scapegoat is needed

Day and Night

2007-11-05T21:19:00.000+08:00

Day and Night are as natural as Sun and Moon

While dawn signals the start of day and end of night
Dusk announces the beginning of night and end of day

Some enjoy the warmth from the sun
Other appreciates the tranquility of the moon

In day, we see the forever changing clouds
At night, we visualize the permanent constellations

Day shows us the colours of the mountains and flowers
Night gives us the sounds of waves and crickets

Day and Night are as natural as Sun and Moon
Why should we welcome one with open arms and shun the other

No Sex Please...On SIA's A380

2007-10-29T18:24:00.002+08:00

After reading this article, I can't help musing about all the possibilities and questions SIA may need to fend off...

"Eh! Why I cannot have sex har? Double bed there and privacy maintained right?"

"Erm, sorry sir, Singapore is still a conservative society that values the conventional family unit AND place for sex. Sex at 30000 feet above the air is 'unconservative'. SIA, being Singapore's national air carrier would like to followsuit. Thus, I regret to inform you that the rules are still no sex in the A380"

"But we're doing it in private, right? Not that we'll keep banging against the door or what!?! So why ban it? You won't really know if we're doing it in the first place!"

"What you REALLY do in private, we don't really want to know. Our aircrew will not intrude into your privacy."

"So is it can or cannot? Your rules say cannot and then you don't really want to enforce?"

"It is better to accept the untidiness and ambiguity. We shall see how this matter evolve eventually."

"Ok lar...anything you say lar. Anyway, I'm booking a ticket for myself and my partner. You have my details here in my passport. My partner's name is John Smith..."

"... ... ... ..."

(All names and conversational exchanges are purely fictional)

Personal Ethics On Blogging

2007-10-29T13:50:00.001+08:00

Something happened recently that force me to reflect on some ethical issues about this blog.

My Sec 1 niece, B, managed to hunt me down and found my blog. It is natural that it will only be matter of time when all the other nieces and nephews and even my own children will come to read my blog... provided this blog did not bore her to death first. In other words, what is written here is no longer the views and opinions of a stranger but that of someone she knows.

Of course mature adults who read my blog can differentiate between "sensibilities" and "silly nonsense"... although there might be some adults who still can't do it. Of course, there are children who can't form the distinction but at least they can still go to their mommies and daddies to ask... and I hope they do - "Pa! There's this orang utan who can blog and say something I don't quite understand, please explain!"

"Oh...this fella is full of nonsense! My child, don't believe a single word he says!"

It is a different matter when my niece,who knows me in person (or at least the kind of person I project to her) reads my blog. What if all along she look towards me as that serious-no-nonsense-unable-too-lie role model (I doubt she regards me as such but just what if) She may regard everything I say here as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! And this will worry me a lot! I would imagine she mimic some of the expletives I use here, got a scolding from her mommy and with tears rolling down her cheeks, she defended "But Uncle Ape says that also what! To the whole world!" Gosh! Am I in serious trouble! Before I go any further, let me address some family issues...

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To my niece, B (and niece R, nephew D, D, J... the whole lot of you!) whatever impression I cast on you in person, know that it will depend a lot on your age. There are things about me that I will never show you or talk to you... at least not while you're still young. However, do note that what I write in this blog goes out to all sorts of people. My assumptions are that most of these readers are adults and know when I'm joking, making sense, silly, sprouting nonsense etc and children who reads my blog are under parental guidance. So, if you do come across something that I write here, things where Ah Ma or Po Po will say "Aiyoh! This is so evil!", please don't be confused as to who is right or wrong... just ask me in person. I will most likely tell you Ah Ma or Po Po is correct.

Know this also, whatever impression you may have about me, know that whatever I say here CAN be wrong, silly or full of nonsense.
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Back to everyone...hmmm... I forgot what I want to say :p Or ya, about blogging. There are many things I would normally not say directly to any person in particular but in blogging, where the audience covers a lot more people, there is a slight different in that issues are no longer "personal" but more open.

For example, we take the case of a certain school teacher who announces his sexuality in his blog. Would he have said the exact same things in class to his male students? I doubt so. His "walking out of the closet" was addressed to people in general and the message I receive was "Do not hide your full potential just because you are not entirely normal".

Or taking an example from my own experience, there are certain friends who might feel very strongly about his religion. I may have my own believes and reservations about his religion but knowing how he would react, I will never discuss my views on his religion with him. However, that doesn't mean that I will not talk about his religion with anyone else.

... ... ...

I lost myself again... what was I trying to say? (another sign of old age?)... ya, ok. My point is, when you read a blog, please don't take it too personally... unless of course the blogger names you, shames you and made you look silly in front of the whole world.

Memory Snapshots of Early Childhood

2007-10-26T00:35:00.001+08:00

I better get started about my life story before Ras starts throwing Char Kway Teow or Chai Tau Kuay at me...whatever that means :p

Have you ever wondered how much do you remember about your early childhood? And how early or what is the first memory? At 4 years old? At 3 or 2 or even 1? I can only remember vividly of events in kindergarten 1, i.e. 5 years old onwards. I can also recall quite a number of events that happened when I was 4. Anything before that? I can only think of 3 "snapshots". I had no idea what they meant until my family and relatives filled me in when I'm older.

What are these 3 snapshots? The first is me looking over my shoulder at the corridor of my grandma's flat. My older brother was standing there, waving, pointing and shouting at me.

The second snapshot is one where I see the door of the private clinic below my grandma's flat opened and it seemed that someone was carrying me into the clinic.

The third is more like a 2 part short video clip. Part 1 - Grandma told me to stay and wait while she entered a bank. I turned around immediately to examine the fishes swimming in the water-landscape pond. Part 2 - I observed that the water line is right in front of me...and one of my slippers is floating right in front of me at eye level. A man was reaching out to grab my hand.

So what really happened? It's not difficult to guess the third scenario. Grandma and I went to the bank. Bank was crowded with a long queue (so are banks now) so I was told to wait outside. Right outside this bank was a small, simple, artificial landscape with a small little waterfall and a small little pond with small little fishes. And this small little ape was very excited about the small little fishes, inched out to took a closer look and fell into the pond :p

I remembered the bank was UOB because I visited that place many times after that as I grow older. And everytime I passed that place since that incident, I kept wondering why they have filled up the pond with cement? I missed those small little fishes.

What about the 2nd snapshot - clinic door? One of my uncles carried me into the clinic. Why? I fainted. Why? He caned me. Why? I wasn't paying attention when he was trying to coach me on some simple word recognition. I was to learn later that the doctor and my mum wanted to report him to the police but didn't do so eventually. FYI, that uncle of mine is not a child abuser. He was young then. I must have pissed him off terribly. I do not harbour any bad feelings about him, even after I came to be aware of what happened. I know he is truly sorry for what he did because all these years since then, I can sense that he is particularly nice to me amongst all his nieces and nephews. Maybe it was that particular incident that made me smarter (academically only) among my siblings and cousins :p

The first snapshot. Even without anyone telling me as I reflected on the first snapshot when I was older, I could tell that I was either in the carpark infront of my grandma's flat, at the bus stop or on the road. How old was I? What was I doing there? What was my brother shouting about?

Here's what my brother told me. He came out of my grandma's flat on the 3rd storey and stood at the corridor, looking across the road and into the school and the market opposite the flat. He saw a toddler, barely able to walk, making his way across the road! Hmmm...this child looks familiar, in fact, he looks like :O ?!?!?!?! So you know why he was shouting, pointing and waving. No one knew how I managed to sneak out of the house, walk down the stairs from the 3rd storey, past the coffeeshop directly below grandma's flat, cross the single lane carpark, crossed the bus stop (I must cross the bus stop because there was a drain between the carpark and the road and the bus stop was the only access to the road) and arrived in the middle of the road...undetected by anyone! Singaporeans really bochap?

Here goes the exciting part. At that moment, a public bus was coming my way (service 240 or 246?) The driver saw me, jammed on his brakes and brought the bus to a nasty stop. At about the same time, my brother managed to alert some of the adults (my uncles and grandma?) and they dashed towards the road only to find me...of course not dead la! Died how to write story here? They found me under the bus, safe and sound.

Many years after that, my father told me the road used to be served by Service 246. Because of that incident, SBS pantang (superstitious) and shifted 246 to run on another road. Service 240 replaced the route taken by 246. In anycase, if the uncle who drove that bus is reading this, please accept my sincere apologies...I was young and rash and have never intended to cause you any distress.

It's Better To Accept The Legal Untidiness And The Ambiguity

2007-10-25T18:40:00.000+08:00

HELP! HELP! Can someone explain to me what is PM Lee trying to say? Can someone tell me that I have read wrongly or misunderstood his statement?

Our current Prime Minister, who's father has always maintained that the integrity of the Government and the Singapore Law must never be undermined, said that it is better to accept the legal untidiness and the ambiguity with regards to Section 377A! (see here, here, here and here). He further went on to say that since it (I suppose he meant S377A) works, don't disturb it.

WA LAU!

Have you heard of this saying? "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!" I have been told countless times that such thinking is backward, old school of thought, reactive etc. I have been told countless times that we should actively seek areas for improvement, take some risks if necessary, don't sit and wait for the machine to fail before you act on it.

More About S377A and Gays

2007-10-25T11:20:00.001+08:00

Sorry folks, I thought I want to stop ranting about this issue but the last parliament session made me want to cow peh some more. When I read the parliament speeches, it become obvious where the "poles" build their foundation.

Repeal 377A approaches it from "Clarity in Law Making".
Retain 377A approaches the topic from "Moral"

For sometime now, I have been looking at this issue on one side of the fence-the Repeal 377A side. I stand on the Repeal 377A side to listen to what BOTH sides have to say. The information I obtained from Repeal is loud and clear - Strength 5! The information I received from Retain 377A was like unreadable and noisy - Strength 1. There were too much clutter and interference for me to make out any sound reasonings.

So for the past few days, I move myself into the Retain 377A camp with the hope that the clutter and noise can be reduced so that I can obtained a less attenuated information from the Retain 377A camp.. True enough, I managed to filter out all the noise and found something intelligible there. Allow me to share my understanding here.

It is obvious to me that NMP Thio does not discriminate gays - she is merely objecting to the act of MSM (male to male sex). To put it simply in the way I understood (and I hope you understand too) is that it is fine if you acknowledge that you (male) are sexually attracted to another male. You can run around shouting "I am a gay! I am sexually attracted to another male!" and the police will not arrest you for that under S377A, although I think the police can arrest you for committing public nuisance under S268.

However, according to S377A, it is a crime if you (male) engage in sexual activity with another man. This means that gays are not criminals as long as they do not have sex with another male. To put it another way, a very direct and blunt way is this - if you (male) cannot have sex with a woman, don't have sex. :( Gays are not criminals as long as they remain celibate.

Still standing in the camp of Retain 377A, I turn my receiver back to the Repeal 377A side and I pick out this message "I do not choose to be a gay! I am like that! I was not influenced or made like that in any way!" I believe and acknowledge that these guys do not have a choice on their sexual preference. However I do believe that they have a choice on whether they want to have sex.

Another piece of intelligible information I obtained from NMP Thio is that S377A covers a heterosexual male experimenting with male sodomy. How I understood her reasoning is this. If a guy, a young teenage guy perhaps, probably still unsure about himself and his sexual preference, believe that the best way to proof his sexual preference it is to try it :O, probably S377A is the only defence he has before he says "Damn! Tak shiok and hurts like hell! I think I still prefer woman"

If I were to draw a two column table and place Retain 377A on one side and Repeal 377A on the other and list down the reasons for each column, "to deter males from experimenting with male sodomy" will be the only reason I can think of under Retain 377A.

So where do I stand now? Sidetrack abit first :P

Through my working life, I have been given opportunities to draft Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Technical Orders or processes and procedures. To me, all such "guides" have to be clear, concise and easily understood. For every single statement, I always ask myself "can this be done?" and "does this serve any purpose?". When it comes to more serious "guides" such as Technical Orders, I take extra effort to eliminate ambiguities. Technical Orders are technical procedures that MUST be followed. Non-conformance to such orders would invite some form of reprisal. In other words, someone will get into trouble if he misunderstood what I wrote.

I look at the Penal Code and still feel that S377A has to be changed. It clearly include consensual sex between 2 male in private and yet gahmen says law enforcers will not bother them. Hello! People up there? If you want to keep it, do it and tell all gays to remain celibate. If you do not intend to arrest 2 males engaging in consensual sex in private, change the damn S377A such that a very specific case is excluded. Take a stand, a firm and clear stand because we are talking about the Penal Code. It is not just about making the Repeal 377A or Retain 377A camp happy, it is also about making the law enforcers happy, happy to know that exactly what has to and need not be enforced.

Please take sometime to read the parliament speeches by NCMP Sylvia Lim, NMP Siew Kum Hong, NMP Thio Li-Ann and MP Hri Kumar. I read their speeches from The Online Citizen but I'm sure you can find it elsewhere including Singapore Parliament Webiste.

For the sake of protecting the integrity of the Penal Code - Singapore's law, please amend S377A instead of simply retaining or repealing it.

Introduction - Evolution of Kin Jio Leaf

2007-10-22T23:25:00.000+08:00

It's time for evolution. If you notice, the Singapore Short Stories series has stopped. Until I get more creative again, I guess know it's time to move on and evolve The Kin Jio Leaf.

Like I mentioned earlier (here) I will move on to talk more about growing up in this tiny red dot call Singapore. If you are looking for a very critical and acute analysis, well, sorry to disappoint you. I'm a simple person talking about mundane affairs and most often, issues where the gahmen will have very little interest.

Of Penal Code - Section 377A And Gays

2007-10-19T14:14:00.001+08:00

Much has been said about Section 377A of the Penal Code, with strong support and rebuttal, from those who are for or against, the repealing of S377A.

You can probably guess how I view this matter (and probably which side of the fence I'm leaning towards) by following the links in the right bar I have in this blog. And I'm sure SingapuraDailyMakan did not mention anything about S377A...let me check...ya, nothing mentioned about s377A.

I do not wish to repeat the argument and views that can be found in the news papers or internet. However, I would like to share with you my personal experience when discussing this issue with my friends.

Anecdotal evidence, i.e. coffeeshop / teabreak chats with my friends, revealed that Singaporeans are still conservative in general. Most took the stand of "I'm not gay, I don't know any gay so it doesn't bother me AND it is better to leave S377A the way it is" In other words, they echoed the explanation given by PM Lee (here). I consider these people "neutral" towards S377A and gays.

There is also a few of my friends (3 actually) who do not sit on the fence. It is very easy to understand the position they take. The two who think S377A should be repealed are gays... at least I know for certain one of them is. The one who insists that S377A should stay, sad to say, has a misguided view about gays. By misguided, I mean he claims that gays are pedophiles, gays want to befriend you for the sole reason of engaging "act of gross indecency" with you, gays are like vampires - they've got "bitten" so now they want to spread the "gay virus" to you etc.

So what's my personal views about gays and S377A? I intend to share my views on these issues separately - 1) my personal views about gays, and 2) my personal views about s377A.

Prior to all these buzz on s377A and gays, I do not know any gays and has very little knowledge about what a gay is. My impression was that being gay is a choice and a heterosexual can be influenced to become a gay if he always mix around with ku-niangs (feminine males) or narcissist body builders or some "bad childhood". In other words, I thought a homosexual can be corrected. In any case, my stand was (and still is) very clear - be a gay all you want, just don't influence me or my family or people dear to me, to be one. You have your sexual preference, I have mine. Let's agree to not impose our sexual preference onto each other.

Now, having read more from the internet, I realised gays are as such not by choice nor influence...they simply are like that (Yawning Bread has 20 Questions that could perhaps share some light for those of you who have not set your perceptions in stone about gays). Of course one could argue that gays claim themselves to be born like that and not by choice or influence, just to serve their own cause. I'll leave it to you to decide for yourselves.

What's my view about Section 377A? Let us have a look at it first:-
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"Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years."
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If the decision is rest solely for me to decide, I will not repeal it. Instead, I will amend it to be like this:-
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S377A - Any male person who, in public or private, abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years. (Note that "commits, or" has been deleted)

AND

S377B - Any male person who, in public, commits any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years. (Note that "or private" and ", or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of," has been deleted)
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I'm not trained in legal matters and have absolutely no idea how the statements would sound legally. I assume that by amending S377A as such, a male should not encourage another male to engage in homosexual activities through persuasion or monetary rewards. And by adding S377B as such, I assume that it means-do what you want in private and out of the sight of public.

But of course I am in no position to amend the Penal Code and certainly no one can amend the Penal Code without considering the impact it has on the general public.

So, as of the current state of affairs, where do I stand with regards to the S377A? Did I sign the Online Petition? Did I sign the Parliament Petition? Well, I signed the online petition...after much thoughts. I was reluctant initially because it was to repeal S377A. The entire S377A will be removed if the petition is successful. I don't think that is a good idea. To be honest with you, like gays who choose to be honest with their sexual preference... on S377A, I stand on the same side with PM Lee, with particular consideration to the last statement he made...

"As of today, my judgement is: the society is comfortable with our position. Leave the clause (alone). What people do in private is their own business; in public, certain norms apply." (here again, bold inserted by me, that is the "bold" not the words in bold :p)

Little Things To Keep Marriage Alive

2007-10-11T22:12:00.000+08:00

Been married for 7 years...do I get the 7 years itch? Well, the politically and sound answer would be - no. The truth is...still no. How do couples keep their marriage alive? Well, I dunno how other couples do it...but here's how we do it - do things we enjoy together! (wa lau! so cliche) :p

Ok, ok, I know it is difficult, especially when both of us have to work and after work, we're dead tired. A bit fortunate for us is that we're weekend parents but still, there's a fair bit of domestic affairs we have to take care of. So, on a day to day basis, we devote a bit of time to have fun - like play on-line games. Here's a picture of us. We were actually travelling from Victoria Island to Orbis, on a giant bird. I'm a magician/cleric, can heal you know. Wifey is a warrior/spearwoman...see that fierce looking spear she carries? Dun pray pray...
We enjoyed this game cos there's no blood and gore (wimps!) which means when our children are older, we can play with them also. Besides that, the monsters that we're supposed to kill aren't fierce and evil looking and it's kinda cute when they got hit...tears actually came out of their eyes...awwww.
The game is fairly simple to play and there's loads of fun there. Most importantly, it's not strenuous physically or mentally playing this game. So it's definitely an activity we can both enjoy doing together after a hard days work.

Gotta go now...wifey's waiting for me to start some fun...

Plan Before You Buy

2007-10-10T22:14:00.001+08:00

I was reading the 10 Oct issue of my paper (Wo bao) where my paper reporter Christine Li conducted an exclusive interview with National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan with regards to residential properties, mainly HDB.

(tried to find the article in the internet so that you can read in full details but couldn't...the closest i got to was this)

The reporter posted 6 questions to the Minister. The first question was this (if you trust my translation skills),

"Will public housing (HDB flats) become very expensive? Are the younger people be able to afford them?"

The Minister's response was,

"In the latest sale of Coral Spring, a 4 room flat cost between $188,000 and $252,000. Taking $250,000 as reference, assuming the buyer paid 10% deposit, the remaining 90% (i.e. $225,000) on a concessionary loan rate of 2.6% interest with HDB for 30 years, the monthly installment will be $900 which can be paid using CPF Ordinary Account (OA). In general, the OA is 23% of monthly income. If a couple has a total household income of $4000, their OA should have $920 a month. Thus, there is no need to fork up any additional cash to furnish the loan. As to the initial $25,000, the couple's OA would be enough if they worked for about 2 years.... ...they do not need to fork out additional cash... ...70% of HDB applicants do not need to fork out additional cash..."

There are 5 other questions that talk about the $8,000 limit, not enough HDB flats, smaller HDB flats and competition with private residential developers.

I just want to focus on the first question here. Should anyone jump to the conclusion that they are ready to purchase a HDB flat base on the scenario given by the Minister...don't. Please spare a few moment to consider a bit more. The scenario provided by the Minister is not flawed... as long as everything turns out smoothly as planned.

Consider the following, assuming you and your spouse are earning a total of $4,000 since 2 years ago. You would not have any problems purchasing a $250,000 flat, right? At least, you don't have to pay the 10% deposit (or do you call it downpayment?) with cash since your OA should have enough.

Ask yourself this - will you (both) continue to draw the same pay, no more, no less, for the next 30 years? Assuming the answer is yes...how much will you have to meet the CPF minimum sum? Most likely your pay may change over 30 years and more likely it will increase..but what if it doesn't? Or suay suay one of you loose the job and remained unemployed for months or even years? Can anyone guarantee the worse case scenario will not happen?

Ask yourself also this, what if the concessionary loan rate changes, say downwards? Everyone happy :) but what if it changes upwards? Do you have enough savings/cash to top it up? Can anyone guarantee the worse case scenario will not happpen?

Finally ask yourself this - what if the 23% contribution to OA changes...downwards? Do you think when such a case happens you will be able to take the difference in cash? How do you cope with your loan now? Can anyone guarantee the worse case scenario will not happpen?

And the final bit of his answer...70% do not need to fork out additional cash. Are all of them able to meet the minimum sum later? What about the remaining 30%? Did they commit to a huge loan, lost their job or suffered pay cut later such that they need to top up with cash? Perhaps they wanted to have more in their CPF OA to meet the minimum sum?

My point is THINK - Don't take everything on face value. PLAN ahead, such that you won't need to suffer later.

Silly Short Stories - Kena Slapped?

2007-10-09T22:50:00.002+08:00

During the Year 2003 National Day Rally, the then PM Goh mentioned about a story involving a certain Minister slapping a fellow Minister. PM Goh said "I must be suffering from amnesia. I just cannot remember this incident!" Well, I don't think he is suffering from amnesia because the incident didn't happen...
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According to the records in The Kin Jio Leaf, the ministers gathered for their regular afternoon meetings. Now, normally in the meeting the coffee boy called Koh Pee Buoy would prepare the drinks (be it coffee, kopi, teh, teh susu etc) for all of them. On that particular day, Pee Buoy was on medical leave.

"What! For the last 30 years he has never reported sick!"

"What's going to happen to my Kopi Oh?"

"and my Teh Susu?"

"I will not be able to think without my Earl Grey..."

Everyone started to panic...well almost everyone except the wisest among them all.
"Gentlemen, the world will laugh at us if we cannot get things done just because we're going to miss our afternoon tea... just get another fella"

And so, they proceeded with their meeting while someone went to get someone to make prepare the drinks. That someone's someone was Poon Lar Par. After being told what the ministers normally like to drink, he went to prepare and serve them. At this point, there was a heated argument over a certain policy where a certain young minister argued with 2 older ministers. Well, arguments in meetings are normal but Poon Lar Par was a bit buay song because he always thought that old people must be respected...how can the young upstart talk back to the elderlies like that? Boh tua boh suay! After serving all the ministers, Lar Par left for the canteen for his own tea break. He met his colleague who's also his trusted childhood friend, Soh Tong and started to tell! "Wah you know har...that young minister! How can he? He think he work so long and can talk back like that!" Lar Par ranted.

"Young minister? Long? Who?" Soh Tong asked.

"Ya la! Who he think he is? He long, people longer! Kena lan!"

"Who? Did you mean Loong or Hu? And who is Lan?"

"Aiyoh! Are you listening or not...that young chap talk back like that. His father never teach ah? Should be slapped man!"

"Who slapped who?!?!..."

"Ya la! The way he talk har, it's like a slap in the old men's face you know...eh, I gotta go, I think the meeting is over. I have to clear up...if not Pee Buoy come back tomorrow I sure kena slap by him"

That night, Soh Tong went out with his neighbour, Poh Sim Boon, to the nearby kopitiam for some kopi and smoke. Well, their wife don't allow them to smoke in the house so they went to the kopitiam to smoke lor...moreover kopitiam got Tiger Show mah...Ya la, Aunty Show who serves Tiger beer.

"So,Tong, how's it like working in the midst of all these big people?"

"Like that lor, I do my work, they do theirs"

"Any juicy stories, huh? Must have la! Heard anything or not..eh I heard they wanna ban smoking in kopitiam, really ah?"

"Huh? Wat? I wasn't listening...I was thinking about wat my friend told me this afternoon"

"What what! Say leh!"

"Well, Lar Par told me something about someone kena slap"

"Who? Who kena slap? By who? What? Where? When? Why? How?"

"I dunno...he said something about a young minister slap old minister..dunno wat long and who and lan...aiyah! I dunno la, don't tell har...wait I kena sack"

"I know already! The young minister must be Loong, who slapped Dhanabalan who sided with R. Hu!"

"How you know?"

"Who else got name containing Loong, Lan or Hu!"

"Oi! I never say that hor. No la, no la...I also dunno what happened! Dun anyhow say hor, som par, som par!"

"Donch worry, I WILL NEVER TELL ONE, I, POH SIM BOON, swear that if I anyhow tell, I'll never get to see my CPF!"
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Well, so you see, that was how the rumours got started...to quote the words from PM Goh's speech - "Now you know how creative Singaporeans are!"

Some Interesting Links

2007-10-04T22:27:00.000+08:00

Got the following from Flo (Thanks, Flo). It's for those who lives through and remembers the 60s. Most of it relating to America, and some were international news... sit back and enjoy the music, if not the visuals

http://moreoldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

This other made me laugh non-stop. Actually, there's more, like Samurai and Moscow. I first saw it in Mr Brown's blog. Those who put in the subtitles must be damn eng or very creative!

My loony bun is fine Benny Lava

Happy Birthday, Trixie!

2007-10-02T00:01:00.001+08:00

Today's my 4 years old daughter's birthday. So I've decided to dedicate today's blog to her....

Mommy and papa had not planned to be parents...we did not want to have any children initially. Not that we wanted more time and enjoyment for ourselves. Just that, firstly, we're not those going all mushy over children. We don't go "oooh...isn't she cute...coo-chee-coo-chee-cooo" or "oorrrr, look at this handsome young boy, give me a big big hug...oorrr, you'll grow up to be a fine young man". No, we're not like that but that doesn't mean we hate kids. Considering the ever rising living cost in Singapore and the fact that we don't go head-over-heels over children, we questioned ourselves if we can be reasonably good parents (I'm not even thinking about GREAT, just reasonably good). We thought about this question before we got married. We thought about this question after we got married. However, we did not come to a conclusion until about a year before our dear daughter is born. It may surprise you but our conclusion was not to have any children...but we did...because, like I said, rising cost of living made condoms and birth control pills expensive :p so...

When wifey got signs that she might be pregnant (if you dun know what the signs are, it means you're still a minor...run along, go suck on a chupa chups or do what kids normally do...), we went to the gynae for confirmation. We were apprehensive and kept asking ourselves what if? skarly? how then? but all the uncertainties left my mind the moment I saw the tiny beating heart on the screen of the ultrasound machine... I beamed with a broad smile, brighter than the sunflower, bubbling with joy that I almost want to burst. IT'S A LIFE! I shouted in my heart like Dr Frankenstein when he awaken his Frankenstein .

Before anyone gets any funny ideas about Trixie, here's a picture of her and she's no Frankenstein. Orrrh...isn't she cute...coo-chee-coo-chee-cooo...I was sold that very moment to my daughter. The what if? skarly? how then? were still hanging over mommy's head. I had to stand up straight and give her all the assurance that even if the sky drop, I'll shoulder it. Well, with those kind of assurance, we cast all doubts away and focus on bringing a great life into this world (Come to think of it now, I think wifey has no doubts that she too was sold the moment she saw the ultrasound image but I think she pretended to be uncertain so that she'll get an edge over me :p)

Like all first time parents, we were all excited over the first pregnancy. We read any books we could find, we asked any relatives and friends on all that needs to be known, we consulted the gynae and even sought some spiritual guidance. It was particular challenging to both of us because we were doing part time courses (remember? we decided not to have and thus went to upgrade ourselves? or rather, I was oreadi doing my part time degree, wifey took on more courses). We had to juggle time between workplace, school and clinic. In a way, it was fortunate that I was doing my final year for my degree and one of the subjects was biology...naturally, I was very attentive on topics about pregnancy.

Everytime we visit the gynae, we asked about the progress of the fetal development "Doc, er, is the baby healthy? good? normal? everything ok?"... and everytime, the doc would reply "huh? you want to know the sex ah? girl la...oh?! Ok la, healthy lor, good lor, normal la" Well, we dun mind knowing the gender and we dun mind if we have a boy or a girl...most importantly, she's healthy and happy. As we're nearing to her delivery date, everything seemed to move a lot faster... we had to get a cot, milk bottles, strollers, steamers, baby clothes, powder, shampoo, bath foam, bath tub, diapers,blankets etc on top of juggling between work, school and clinic. The one most important task though, is getting the name. It has to sound nice, in all forms of dialect, looks nice, means nice...and eventually, we settled with Trixie which means Bringer of Joy... (in case you are wondering, you live up to your name, Trix!)

My wife completed her part time studies before the due date but papa had to carry on with assignments and prepare for exams during the expected delivery date. Unfortunately I was down with shingles about a week before delivery date :( Shingles meant that I won't be able to enter the delivery room and I won't be able to carry my Trixie when she is born :( Trixie's expected due date was 1st Oct and doc advised that if by the 5th she's not ready to be out yet, we may have to go for a C-Section or induce labour-Trixie was getting too big for wifey to handled afterall. That very night after we consulted doc, wifey and I went to catch a night movie, Infernal Affairs Part 3, I think. Returned home, bathed and sleep, as usual. It was about 2a.m. when wifey woke me up and told me her bag burst :o !!! So, we called our doctor and took a cab to the hospital. It wasn't until 3 am when the delivery room was prepared. Since I was not allowed to enter the delivery room (shingles, remember?), wifey decided to go for C-Section. She was worried about not being able to go through natural birth without me by her side...what if the pain was more than she can bear and she need to hit/bite/slap someone? She can't possibly do those on the medical team, right? She can only do that on her husband, right? She can't do that if I'm not there, right?

BTW, for those of you who do not know what's a C-section (Caesarean Section), it's delivery via surgical incision on the abdomen and uterus to bring the baby out. BTW, I've watched a video clip somewhere in the internet where they video record the entire process and another that shows natural delivery :| both have the same effect of making me loose appetite and skip meals. For this reason, I did not put the link here...go search the internet yourself.

All I could do was to sit in the waiting room and...wait...hello?!?! Waiting Room! Well, indeed I waited...and waited...and waited... "Mr Ape, you can go in now!" the mi-si (nurse) informed me.
"Baby's out? Where?"
"No, you can go into the temporary ward, while we prepare the operating theatre. Go talk to your wife"
"... ... ..."

It has not even started yet and I had waited for just 10 minutes. So I went to talk to wifey and did what men would do in such situation - behave like a duck, that is, appear calm on the surface but paddle like hell. The temporary ward (I think there's a more proper description but I can't recall) is where all very-soon-mothers-to-be wait for the most appropriate time to be shipped into the delivery room and start that "push! push! puuuuush!" routine. In the case of wifey, wait for the operating theatre to be prepared for the C-section.

Finally, when everything had been prepared, I was made to go into the waiting room again and waited. I think it was about half an hour later, mi-si came to me and told me I can see my daughter. After being assured of the health of both mother and child, I proceeded inside to introduce myself to our daughter. Trixie's a beauty and my only regret was that I could not carry her (shingles, shingles! damn!). If it wasn't for the shingles, I would have held her up and kissed her. Surprisingly, I didn't hear her cries. She was just staring back at me, perhaps trying to figure out who's this guy. I spoke to her softly, introducing myself, explained the theory of evolution, the philosophy of Socrates, history of China... (don't tell me you believe all these).

Mi-si returned by the time I just completed the History of Kin Jio Leaf. She took some measurement such as head circumference but was faced with stiff resistance from Trixie. Trix actually managed to grasp the measuring tape and engage in a tug-of-war with the mi-si...spirited eh? When she lost to mi-si, she cried, a very sounding cry but only for a short while. That was the first time I hear her voice.

Shortly after, Trix was sent to the nursery while wifey to the ward where I met her there. She's tired, certainly. So was I. Good thing was, there was a couch beside her bed so I rested there till about 6 a.m. when I was chased out by another mi-si. Kissed my wife and went home to prepare for the new life!

Musings - Do We Have Soul?

2007-09-28T18:50:00.001+08:00

"...We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people...." (see here)

I was reading the blog by DPYadav. He posted the interview he had with David Marshall. You can find out more by following the link.

I haven't got down to reading everything, yet. I came across this paragraph and another before that - questioning our soul. I have always felt that living in Singapore is Good but somehow, I also feel that something is missing. The missing link keeps nagging at me and forbidding me from rating Singapore as Great. At times, it even seems to suggest that I need to rate Singapore as Average. I can't find fault with Singapore yet I don't feel any particularly strong attachment to this country. Why is that so? So what is this missing link?

Mid Autumn Festival

2007-09-27T11:44:00.001+08:00

Mid Autumn Festival has just passed us this year. It's celebrated by Chinese on the 15th of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar...the day when the moon is supposedly the roundest and brightest. Many people (Chinese included) who are not so into the Chinese culture may thought that this festival is called Mooncake or Lantern Festival. This is because we eat mooncakes and carry lanterns on this day.

Some relate the Mid Autumn Festival to a particular event in the Chinese History when rebels rose to topple the corrupt emperor. They pass secret messages hidden in mooncakes. So much for my knowledge of Chinese history :p However, the significance of Mid Autumn Festival is actually to have family union, sharing it with people you love - you know, round moon, round table, equality, gatherings, togetherness...

Well, on that day, had dinner with family and as usual, led some children downstairs to carry lanterns and play sparkles....and something hilarious happened... Ok, I admit that there's nothing particularly funny about this picture. What happened was my nieces (the one in pink stripes and the other in blue) were posing for the phototaking. I was preparing the lantern for my daughter. Wifey was the photographer. At the count of 3, at the precise moment when the picture was snapped, I happened to extend the lantern and covered on of the beauties.

Celebrating Mid Autumn Festival can be fun...and dangerous. Most people (adults especially, and certainly police and fireman) would have been happy by just walking around with lanterns. The children and teenagers would be more creative - they'll start lighting candles in a row, set off sparklers, throw it into the air, let it hang on trees etc ... potential killer litter or arson. Over the years, I've seen lanterns burn, tress burn, clothes burn etc because the kids lack adult supervision when playing with fire.

Do have fun, but don't let celebrations turn into tragedy. OK, this is what it should have been...

Singapore Short stories - The Chengal Tree

2007-09-25T15:30:00.002+08:00

Sometime back in Aug 2002, Habitatnews, in response to URA's invitation to the Rustic Coast Draft Concept Plan, discovered a Hopea Sangal tree in Changi. It was the tree that was believed to have given Changi it's name. The Hopea Sangal tree was believed to be extinct, so naturally, it gained a lot of excitement within the botanical community. I suppose historians were equally excited since this tree was related to the naming of Changi. Unfortunatly, it was felled by a property developer on 20 Nov 2002. Subsequently, the developer was fined and ordered to pay to the state for illegally falling the tree. Prior to the discovery of Hopea Sangal, some other types of trees were also thought to have given the name to Changi. One in particular was known as The Changi Tree and was believed to the intricately tied to the fate of Singapore during World War 2.
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According to the Kin Jio Leaf, in 1942, with the threat of WW2 coming to Singapore, the British army believed that the Japanese army would use it as a marker for artillery fire at the military buildings around the Chengal Tree. (Apparently, they depended on the Monkeys for the intelligence gathering). So they decided to take down the tree, with explosives. (Wa lau! Explosives is to be used on the enemy not on trees! Don't they know what's a chainsaw, obviously, another stupid suggestion by the Monkeys ).

We, the orangutans, objected to this move because we know that the Japanese were using GPS oreadi (Yes, Ground Peanuts System, you just sprinkle some peanuts on the ground and the artillery shells will find its way there) so they don't need the Chengal Tree as marker. More importantly, the Chengal Tree had deep roots in Singapore and it's life was intrinsically tied to that of Singapore.

Well, the British didn't believe and went ahead to take the tree down...and eventually, Singapore had fallen into the hands of the Japs. Good thing was, we managed to save a seed and planted it in Changi. It took years before we can even see the seedling sprout - it's a special tree afterall and so the years passed by. The Japs surrendered, the British balik kampong, Singapore merged with Malaya, Singapore got kicked out of Malaysia and Singapore gained independence...at the same time when the seedling grew to a young tree and need not depend on our tender loving care and can survive on its own. (Makes me feel like a proud parent watching his child grown to be a man ). However, like I mentioned, since the Changi Tree is intrinsically tied to the fate of Singapore, how did Singapore flourished in a leap while the tree grew slowly?

Well, although we planted that one special seed, there were also several not-so-special seeds from the Changi Tree. By itself, those seeds would not flourish (not enough special power, ya?). So, we place them all into a single spot and let them compete naturally. If there'll be one that manages to outgrow the others, by itself, proving survival of the fittest, it will be stronger and largi more powderful than the one special seed that received our tender loving care.

Somehow, the Monkeys got wind of it and wanted to disrupt our plans. They went to psycho the gahmen and ensure that those seeds would never grow. They made an elaborate proposal to the gahmen to build an airport around there. Well, airport has many aircrafts and tall structures are not allowed except certain predefined place. That got us worried, very worried indeed. Fortunately, the Khirsah then was very smart - if the monkeys can sway the gahmen, so can we. Eventaully, he managed to convince the gahmen to build a Singapore icon, the Changi Tower, right at the spot where we planted the seeds. As luck would have it, the seeds grew into saplings, the roots tied to the foundation of the Changi Tower and grew along with it. (Some magic happen there la, don't ask me why the Changi Tower don't have leaves and branches la, it's magic ok?)

The result is more than what we had intended-not only do all the not-so-special seeds managed to grow, they grew to be much taller and faster than what they could have been. And so, Singapore's growth sprinted like the Changi Tower or Tree...whichever way you want to call it.

Singapore Short Stories - Japanese Occupation

2007-09-18T21:18:00.001+08:00

In World War II, Japan invaded

China

in 1937 to bolster it’s meager stock of natural resources and extend it’s colonial realm, to ease it’s population pressure. Subsequently, the Empire of Japan advanced into Southeast Asia and eventually attacked Singapore (a major British military base in SE Asia) in 7 Feb 1942.
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According to The Kin Jio Leaf, the real motive behind the Japanese Imperial Army’s invasion was to find the elusive Banana Leaf Fan (芭蕉扇) owned by Princess Iron Fan (铁扇公主). The Banana Leaf Fan, which originated from China was somehow delivered to Japan and was use to repel the Mongol invasion of

Japan

during 1274-1281. Storms (Divine Wind) were created using the Banana Leaf Fan to repel the Mongol’s navy.

Many years later, the Banana Leaf Fan was lost and the Japanese thought that it must have returned to China. Thus they invaded China to search for it. They found Panda and His Diaper Bears and their sacred text The Bamboo Shoots where it indicated that further south, there is a clan called Khirsah and His Hairy Apes who owns The Kin Jio Leaf. Thinking that The Kin Jio Leaf is the Banana Leaf Fan, the Japanese Imperial Army diverted south and attacked Singapore. It was due to this reason, The Kin Jio Leaf faced a shortage of banana leaves yet again. It was also during this trying period, the Khirsah then had to retreat further into the forest with his fellow orang utans and in the process, lost quite a few leaflets from The Kin Jio Leaf.

The Imperial Japanese Army had to keep this particular mission as top secret so as not to let anyone know their vulnerability. However, they also need to remind their soldiers of their primary objective thus they printed currencies with motifs of banana tree. These notes became more commonly know as banana money. The print of banana money was without serial money and uncontrolled which resulted in high inflation and severe depreciation of it’s value.

For 3 years and 8 months, the Japanese army searched frantically for The Kin Jio Leaf and hoping that it would provide some clues to locate the Banana Leaf Fan. Their secret police, Kempeitai, questioned and tortured the locals for the location of Khirsah and His Hairy Apes but no one knew. Needless to say, those who knew the real objective were executed. The Khirsah then had wanted to step out of the forest to prevent further lost of lives but he knew the Japs wanted to locate the Banana Leaf Fan but the Kin Jio Leaf do not have that information. He had contemplated sabo-ing the monkeys and tell the Japanese that the monkey's sacred text, The Coconut Husks, would have the record but like they say…Tree Fell Monkey Scram (树倒猢狲散)… all the monkeys had disappeared also. So, surrendering themselves would not help in any way but exterminate the Khirsah clan. The banana trees were not spared though…the Japs cut down every banana tree they can find, Pontianak or no Pontianak, they came, they sawed and they eat bananas.

When the Allies counter attacks became more intensive, the Japs had no choice but to create their own Divine Wind (Kamikaze) without the Banana Leaf Fan by making their pilots go on suicidal mission…with little success. Eventually, the Japanese surrendered on 15 Aug 1945.

Even now, no one knows where is the Banana Leaf Fan.…

Mr Bombastic

2007-09-13T22:28:00.000+08:00

Introduce Mr Bombastic...isn't he kind of cool? Sent to me by Frog Prince...thanks Froggie. I was told his afro can keep bags and bags of peanuts...my favourite. Alas, that's not an orang utan but a monkey...snow monkey, I think...I'm not too close to the monkey clans.
I hope everyone remembers...orang utans are not monkeys...orang utans belong to the Great Apes...like gorillas and chimpanzees :p

Singlish...Uniquely Singaporean

2007-09-13T17:01:00.000+08:00

Saw tis girl helping out at the coffee stall and totally clueless at the way we ordered our drinks. She's an FT from China, can speak very good mandarin and fairly good in english but simply cannot understand what we ordered...I was queuing behind 3 people who happened to be an Indian, Malay and local Chinese...

"Teh susu, please...not so thick"

"Teh tarik satu, kopi kosong satu"

the order from the Indian and Malay was still quite simple and direct. It became challenging when the Chinese place his order,

"Kopi si puay, yat pui dai pui, tak kiew sua, teh kosong gao"

A language (or slang for those who prefers it that way) that we use so commonly and taken for granted can be totally alien to the uniniated. Allow me to dissect the orders placed.

The most common hot beverages we have in a typical kopitiam (coffeeshop) are coffee and tea. In Singlish, these are known as kopi and teh respectively. Even a simple "teh" can sound a bit different if spoken by a Chinese or a Malay or Indian. Now, let's take it a bit further... we can have coffee/tea with milk or without milk. Normally, if you ask for kopi/teh, you'll be served with coffee/tea with milk. If you don't want milk, you should say kopi/teh Oh... I'm not exactly certain but I guess Oh comes from hokkien Or which means black. Now, let's come back to the Indian's order "Teh susu, please...not so thick!" Susu is a Malay word for milk. The Indian could have just asked for Teh but he added susu as confirmation that he wanted tea with milk. The addition of susu is more often used by non-Chinese or ang mor educated Chinese (I'll tell you more about the usage of "ang mor" or "ang moh" in another posting).

Now, let's explore the order placed by the Malay - "Teh tarik satu, kopi kosong satu". Remember? Teh is tea...with milk, right? So what is tarik? It is a malay word for "pull". I don't know who invented teh tarik but I got the impression that it originated from Indian-Muslim sarabat stall). It is tea (with milk) with lots of foam on its surface like...cuppacino. The foam is created by pouring the tea to and fro the cup and the mug several times, thus creating the frothy top. The process of pouring requires the "pourer" to increase the distance between cup and mug, giving an impression that he is "stretching" or pulling the tea. (Good thing that the stall owners do not adopt the method from cuppacino or we might see him placing a straw into your tea and starts blowing bubbles into it :P ) Back to the topic, the Malay also mentioned satu which means one. So what she actually ordered was one tea-with-milk-with-frothy-top. Now, she also ordered kopi kosong satu. By now, you should know what is kopi and satu but what the heck is kosong? Kosong is a malay word for zero or none (correct me if I'm wrong, my friends). What she meant was she wanted black coffee without sugar...

Kopi is coffee with milk and sugar, Kopi Oh is black coffee with sugar and Kopi kosong is black coffee without milk and sugar.

Now, the real challenge came from the Chinese because his statement consists of malay, hokkien and cantonese...and some kopitiam code. It's not that he was trying to be difficult but that's how Singlish is spoken sometimes, especially when you're involved in a conversation with people from different races and backgrounds. Now, let's dissect it piece by piece...

"Kopi si puay..."
kopi - a malay word for coffee
si - hokkien for the number four. One, two, three, four - jit, neng, sa, si (hold on a second here, hokkien and teochew has many similarities yet there could be several variations of saying the same thing such as for the number one, it can be jit or yeo, or yoh...)
puay - hokkien for cup

"yat pui dai pui..."
yat pui - is one cup in cantonese.... and dai pui is "big cup" (yes, we have regular size coffee and large size coffee like any fastfood restaurants. This time round, he had switched to cantonese because his cantonese friend had requested for a bigger cup of coffee...with milk. That distraction cause to to temporary switch to cantonese mode)

"tak kiew sua..." - Basically this is in hokkien (although I dun know the origin of sua, perhaps comes from jit lang jit puah, kum jeng beh suay) and this is one of the many coffeeshop "codes". Tak kiew in hokkien means "kick ball". It originates from the beverage Milo because of it's TV advertisement showing footballers drinking milo! (Do you recall? "It's marvelous what milo can do for you!) and sua indicates that he wanted two cups.

"teh kosong gao" I hope you haven't forgotten what is teh kosong? So what is "gao"? A hokkien term that means "thick"...no sugar, no milk but thick tea...like espresso, only it's tea.

Phew...I'm a bit lost myself. There's a lot more to Singlish and I've only touched on the tip of the ice-berge. At least, I hope you'll not fret should you need to get your morning cup of coffee at our local coffeeshop..."Aunty! Kopi Oh jit phuay!"

P/S Teh tarik, cappuccino and kopiccino are all different drinks....ever tried "dinosauar"?

Singapore Short Stories - Bt Merah Naming

2007-09-12T12:36:00.001+08:00

Legend has it that Bt Merah (or Redhill, or Ang Sua...depending on which dialect, formal or informal name of the place) was named because the hill was stained with the blood of boy who was wrongly murdered for saving the villagers from garfish attacks.
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Actually, the legend is true according to The Kin Jio Leaf. Also, because many banana trees were transplanted, that also caused a shortages of banana leaves for us to write our sacred texts...

Many years passed and the people in olden Singapore lived in tranquility until a shoal of garfish came here and kah jiao the villagers. Many villagers were attacked and they complain to the King. The King then ordered his soldiers to get rid of the garfish but the soldiers were equally helpless because the garfish are foreign talents and can do better than the locals. "We need a scholar to solve this problem!" declared the King.

"But Sir, we have no scholars yet...we don't even have schools yet"

At this point, a young boy piped from the back,"I have a solution! Plant rows of banana trees along the coast. When the garfish leap out of the waters, they'll get stuck on the banana tree...the soldiers can move in then and kill the fish"

"But banana trees got pontianaks leh," the King's aide said.

"Well, you and all your ministers can volunteer to stand there instead...so how? you wanna get satayed or you want garfish fin soup? "challenged the boy.

And so, everyone went into the forest and start transporting the banana trees to the coast. The Khirsah then decided to let them have the trees since it was for a good cause and withdraw the guards.

The boy's plan went through and the garfish problem was resolved. But then hor, the King buay song liao. "How can we allow a peasant to offer a solution? Only scholars can have good solutions mah...must get rid of him..." and so he ordered the soldiers to kill the boy. When the boy was stabbed, his blood kept flowing and stained the hill where he lived...and thus, that hill was named Bukit Merah (Red Hill).

Singapore Short Stories - Pontianaks

2007-09-10T12:13:00.001+08:00

For those of you who are still pretty clueless about the Kin Jio Leaf (The Banana Leaf), it is actually a sacred text recording the history of Singapore by a tribe made up of Orang Utans where the head is called Khirsah (Khirsah is a hereditary name given to the elected orang utan and he will have the sole responsibility of recording the accounts and protecting the Kin Jio Leaf). The Kin Jio Leaf actually went through several trails, (resulting in some lost leaflets, thus the incompleteness of the records :P) and the earliest one is retold here...
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Heard of pontianak? Legend has it that pontianaks are woman hantu (ghost) who supposedly die during/after child labour and turned into vicious spirits. They are normally seen in white/red clothes, long hair, with fangs and claws etc...much like M Jackson. During daytime, they're thought to hide in banana trees and only come out of the tree to hunt at night...they don't like to be too tanned you how...

Actually their origin relates to the Hairy Apes in Mandai Forest and The Kin Jio Leaf (KJL). Well, you see, our sacred text (KJL) had to be written on real banana leaves and it's not just any type of banana leaves. Only certain banana trees fit the criteria and we can only use the leaves of those trees.

But then hor, the locals have so much use of banana leaves like, wrap nasi lemak, otah, bah chang, tutukueh, weave baskets, for laying tables, as mattresses etc so we had to compete with them for banana leaves. (Note: Flo did point out that bah chang and several other items do not use banana leaves...but they do, in the past until banana leaves until the pontianak scare incindet so the locals use the alternatives :P)

One day, we buay tahan liao. Come one, we don't need ALL the banana leaves...we only needed those from certain trees and the humans simply don't understand and just go chop chop chop all the banana trees. So some of us stand guard at the trees, even at night to make sure that they don't touch the leaves of those trees that we need. But the stoothpick, superstitious, shortsighted humans mistaken my guards as long haired, ugly women wanting to rape them, went screaming back into the village howling that they saw hantus ....

Many moons passed since then and humans seldom disturb our trees. So we standdown our guards and things went peacefully for a period of time. One of the apes called Innu Weisen thought that it's is quite difficult to identify those banana trees that we want so he thought, "why don't we mark those trees? Just poke a needle into the tree and tie a red string into the needle so that the leaves gatherers can work faster!" It was a very innovative idea and so we adopted it. However, some young punks of the villagers wanted to hao lian their courage and impress the pretty village girls, started venturing into the forest again to dare the "banana tree ghost" . They discovered the red string and started pulling on it and one of us who happened to be there jumped out and yelled at them...and again the stoothpick, superstitious, shortsighted punks mistaken my guard as long haired, ugly women wanting to rape them, went screaming back into the village howling that they saw hantus ....

So over time, they learned to leave the banana trees alone, especially those with red strings and ignorance became legend that pontianaks live in banana trees and will haunt anyone who goes near it.

Angel and Devil In A Night

2007-09-08T22:53:00.002+08:00

No stories today...just sidetrack a bit into REAL life events...

Went to watch a play yesterday (Friday night)...hmmm, the last time when I watch a play was like....2 decades ago?!?! Anyway, it was called Real Men, Fake Orgasm by Chong Tze Chien, starring Chua Enlai and Claudio Girardi. It's a play about gays. Before you start to have any funny ideas about me, I went to the play with my pregnant wife. I'm not one who know how to appreciate a play (but I do appreciate the importance of foreplay very much) but then hor, I think I can understand abit la...

These two guys seemed to be lock in some kind of prison and everything about them are fake, or rather, a fiction of their imagination. They drew and imagine everything about them. Then they sort of escape and went to lead a life that is as normal as they think they can be but...

In the beginning of each scene (after they escaped the prison), it always show them to be normal like casual friends but...

It even showed them trying to lead normal gay life, although not with each other but...

There is always this "but" feeling in the whole play so I don't kind of like it but...

Anyway, that's so much for the earlier part of the night. The main focus was that I met my wife for dinner, near her workplace and we took a leisurely stroll to watch the play and simply enjoy the night until about 9:30p.m. Well, it's about being able to enjoy the little niceties of life and sharing it with that someone you love. We walk leisurely, we talk about mundane topics and it was so lovely but...

I had to leave (with her permission of course) and insisted she take a cab home but she wanted to take the train instead...well, we took the train together and I alight at Outram while she continued towards home.

So what is so special that I can't bring my wife there? In fact, I bring my wife to almost anywhere but...

it was STAG NIGHT, for a friend of ours! Well, what do people do in stag night? *Hooooooowl* Well, I don't think I want to place details of the event here...people can see you know. Of course I have nothing to worry about... just not so good if my friend's fiancée reads this.

I haven't been to a pub or disco for...decades? Ok, ok...haven't been to these places for the sole purpose of letting our hair down and binge. Also, for the first time, felt what's it like to be in a smoke free disco and I like it but...

Well, you see, I'm a smoker. I really do enjoy being in disco where you don't get choked by cigarettes smokes or smoked until you dunno if that girl in short min-skirts is pretty ugly. However, I have to consistently squeeze myself all the way outside to get smoke and then squeeze myself back in to get a drink. So, all through the night, besides getting the groom-to-be to behave like a monkey, I'm squeezing in and out of the place. I certainly won't mind the squeezing part if the place is packed with babes but...

Who says there's more women than men in Singapore? Also, I had realised that I could still hold my liquor relatively well. Given the number of years I abstained from alcohol, I thought I would start practising 黯然消魂掌 after a glass or two but...

well, let's just say I managed to drink more then that. Could still manage to take a cab back after that and remembered to charge my handphone and bath after I got home...just like last time when I was younger but...

the signs of age reveals itself this morning in the form of seven monkeys marching around my bed, clashing cymbals, blowing trumpet and howling like...monkeys - I had terrible hangover...

Singapore Short Stories - Governor's Grand Big Balls

2007-09-05T12:53:00.001+08:00

In 1826, the Straits Settlement was formed as a collection of territories of the British East India Company in SE Asia. It comprises main of Sinapore, Malacca, Dinding, Penang and Province Wellesly. With this formation, the first Governor, Robert Fullerton, was appointed.
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According to The Kin Jio Leaf, the governor wanted to throw a ball to celebrate his appointment and so he invited people form all the places and as far as Europe. It was said that the governor's ball was the biggest, grandest, most lavish and everybody wants to have their hands on his ball

So happen that in Europe, the Evil Step Sisters (Ah Huay and Ah Lian) of Cinderella were invited also.

"Lian eh, since we got no chance to be Princess Charming, why not we go Singapore to see the governor's ball? Can feel and have a taste of what his ball is like!"

"Ons la! BTW, I heard Raffles will be attending and he's a fine charming man...maybe we can try our luck with him"

And so, the Evil Step Sister's set off for Singapore after they'd done some research on Raffles.

At the ball, they were contemplating how to approach Raffles. "Eh, I heard that Raffles talk very little nowsadays...something to do with hypothermia and tired of talking after all the negotiations for Singapore. How ah?" asked Ah Lian.

"Stand back and see me perform!" boasted Ah Huay as she make her way to Raffles. "Hello ham som...my sister and I made a bet that I can make you say more than two words. What do you think?"

Raffles looked at her, blurted "You lose!"

Singapore Short Stories - Ah Kong's Land

2007-09-05T12:50:00.002+08:00

After a brief survey of the Karimun Islands, Raffles discovered Singapore to be a place where there was no Dutch presence which made Singapore suitable for the British to to set-up a free trade post. Noting that the Sultanate of Johore was in bad shape at that time, Raffles took the opportunity of sign an rudimentary treaty with the local Temenggong. Few days later, a formal treaty was signed with Tengku Long, who claimed to be the lawful sovereign of this region.
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Sometimes, you may hear Singaporeans retort "You think this is your Ah Kong's land/street/house etc ah!" Well, the roots of this phrase can be traced back to Raffles time...

According to The Kin Jio Leaf, shortly after Raffles identified Singapore as the place to set up a British trading port in this region (and dried himself), he set about the administrative aspects to formalize it. During that time, the Johore Sultanate was in bad shape and no longer had control over this place which gave Raffles an opportunity. He didn't know who to approach initially so he consulted Farquhar and asked if he can just plant the Union Jack and cliam his prize!

"You think this is your Ah Kong's land ah!" yelled Farquhar but paused immediately in deep thoughts. He continued,"Actually, I think this is really Ah Kong's land...let's look for the Temenggong!"

And so, they proceeded to make the first official contact with the local authorities...and eventually managed to formalise a treaty Tengku Long, the man who had supreme nominal authority over this area at that time.

Well, you can see, the first person who used the phrase with gusto was Farquhar...
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Major William Farquhar, was the British Resident of Malacca. One of his tasks was to negotiate commercial treaties with the local chiefs of the Riau Archipelego. After the founding of Singapore with Raffles, he was subsequently appointed as the first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore from 1819-1823.

Singapore Short Stories - Raffles' Statue

2007-09-05T10:39:00.002+08:00

Having covered the ancient founding of Singapore...we'll look at the modern founding. Well, we know that Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819. Many years later, a statue of him was made to commemorate him. Have you wondered why the statue shows Raffles stood with his arms folded and wore knee length pants? Here's the story...
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According the The Kin Jio Leaf, Raffles wanted to look for a suitable port in this region to break the Dutch monopoly. He went to several places and every time the ship reached a fairly suitable coast, he had to roll up his pants. You see, he needed to find a new an untouched coast so of cos no jetty also. They had to jump off the boat, walk in knee deep water before they can reach the beach. After a couple of times and sick of rolling up his pants, he simply cut the lower part off. He searched for several places around the Riau islands but couldn't find a suitable location. In one particular hot afternoon, hungry and tired after all the searching, he started whining like the horse.

"Wa lau! I need some chicken!"
"Got your CPF already huh? Heard that people take their CPF and go Batam for chicken...you wanna go?"
"Batam have nice chicken rice meh? How come i didn't know?"
"...oh...chicken rice ah...then we should go Singapore. A Hainanese from China serve very good chicken rice there. Best in Singapore and JB and some say Batam. Wanna try?"

So, off they sailed again, heading for Singapore. Upon reaching, Raffles thought the waters were knee deep so he just jumped in...and got himself all wet...underwear also wet wet... because the waters here was deep...so deep that he was fully immersed.

"That's it! *gulp* This is the *gasp* place! Very deep water *gulp* for a port *gasp*. Large ships can sail right in!"

When his crew fished him out, he was so cold that he had to wrap his arms around himself while they got him a blanket. Meanwhile, a budding artist saw the scene and painted his drenched, cold, arms folded, shivering in that silly knee length pants picture.

Many years later, when people wanted to make a statue of Raffles capturing the very first image when he arrived. The grandson of the artist showed them the painting.

"This cannot la...he looked so miserable and wet...but we don't have any other picture...sculptor! Can you do something about this, at least make him look smart or something"

And so...we see the smart looking version of Raffles in the statue.

Note: CPF-Chicken Procurement Form...you see, Raffles' employer dun wan their overseas staff to anyhow leave seeds. Only under special circumstances the staff were issued with such forms...one form per visit. They had to fill it up so that they can trace any claims.

Singapore Short Stories - Origin of Merlion

2007-09-05T10:35:00.002+08:00

The Merlion, a creature with the head of a lion and body of a fish, was designed as a symbol to represent Singapore for the Singapore Tourism Board in 1964 (so that we can tok the chai tou of tourists and sell Merlion souvenirs) . The Merlion was chosen because it relates to the ancient founding of Singapore by Sang Nila Utama (who thought he saw a lion when he first arrived, thus name this place Singapura) and Singapore's ancient name Temasek (sea port).
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According to The Kin Jioa Leaf, Merlions actually do exist. However, they are not born from nature but out of the mischief of the Monkeys...

Several years passed after Sang Nila Utama named this place Singapura, the Monkeys start to become restless. Apparently, they heard something about a great Monkey King somewhere up north is creating havoc in heaven and so thought that they are the greatest primates in this world. Jealous that we the Orang Utans have a sacred text, they created their own text called The Coconut Husk and claimed that our version of Singapore naming was false. (see previous story). A great war broke out and obviously the monkeys lost...what do they know anyway beside monkeying around

Sidetrack a little. We recorded this great war into the Kin Jio Leaf and sometime during the 1960s, that particular leaflet came off and was lost...the previous Khirsah never maintain properly A couple of years later, a french by the name of Pierre Boulle published a book called Planet of the Apes...wonder where he got the ideas

Anyway, where was I Oh, ya, the great war and monkeys lost...They retreated far north in search of their Monkey King for assistance only to realise that the King was imprisoned under the Wu Zhi San (Mt 5 Fingers). Our spy reported that they kena scolding somemore "!@#$, can't you see lim peh kena lock and I'll have to be here for another 500 years and wait for someone call Tang San Zhang to free me! Scram!"

So the monkeys LL. However, one wise one thought that since they got nothing to do now, why not go Africa and bring one lion here secretly so that they can prove lions do exist in SE Asia. I dunno how they arrived in Africa but when they do, the lion bo hiew them "Wa lau! I heard the Khirsah there very fierce one leh ! ".

The monkeys LL...again... but then hor, the wise one spoke again. "Lion dun go, we create one ourselves...look, I've been doing some experiments and something call DNA...clone...need to get his juice...long walk so cross with fish...can swim..."

Eh...dun ask me how they got the lion's juice...I dun know and I really dun wan to know any monkey business.

Apparently, they managed to cross breed lions with fishes and sailed back to Singapore to suan us...but then hor, you know la, lion cannot tahan the sea, even if it's a merlion, so the moment they reach shore, all start to vomit from seasickness The monkeys, seeing that their newfound allies couldn't help them, fled into the jungles again, leaving the merlions to die on the beach (fish can't go on land mah). The silly humans got all excited over the merlions and tried to save them but alas, only one survived (the one that's related to Rochor Mermaid...but that's another story).

Many years later, even the last one went e-lang so the villagers made a Merlion statue near the shore where they first saw them for remembrance sake.

We of course didn't bother the merlions bcos we know they are the innocent ones and life went on...

Introduction - Beginnings Of Kin Jio Leaf

2007-09-04T23:13:00.000+08:00

In case you really wonder, what is Kin Jio Leaf? Who's the author? Where can I buy? Is it available in leading bookstore? When was it published? Who is the publisher?...

Well... it is just a blog, containing fictional stories, life account, rantings, views etc like any other blogs. If you notice any posts with the pretext Singapore Short Stories in it's title, well, it's all fictional. Although you might also note that I would normally start off with some facts. As soon as you see that According to the Kin Jio Leaf... don't use whatever that comes next to answer you school's history exams.

I have not decided on how I would eventually like the Kin Jio Leaf to be...perhaps I would like to talk about Singapore's social issues *shudder* or maybe politics *shiver* or socio-political issues *shudder and shiver* but like what a friend suggest, I think such issues is best left for coffee break talks.

Or perhaps, I might want to talk more about myself (narcissist!) or rather share my life experience as a normal, common, Singaporean growing up in Singapore.

Whatever the case, I continue to write ape stories for the time being.

P/S Singapore Short Stories are really ape stories - all fictional. Well, I think it's time to take a turn to more serious (and boring) blogging. (dtd 22 Oct 2007)

Singapore Short Stories - Ancient Discovery

2007-09-04T23:11:00.004+08:00

Sang Nila Utama is a legendary Malay Prince who founded ancient Singapore. Legend has it that he was a prince of Sumatra. Wanting to find a suitable place for a new city, he went to the Riau island and eventually arrived in Temasak (Sea Town). Just upon arrival, he saw a beast and was told by his Chief Minister that the beast was a lion (Singa). Thus, Temasek was renamed Singapura.
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According my ancestor, Khirsah I (or was it III?) and recorded in our sacred text - The Kin Jio Leaf, what actually happened was this. When Utama arrived, there was actually a small fishing village consisting of people from different races. He was curious as to the name of this place so he asked for the name. Just before that, someone actually stole the sarong of one of the village woman. The name of that person was Gurmit Singh or Ah Seng (the text was a bit hazy on the identity of the thieve, sorry there). Now, when Utama asked for the name, the malay woman shouted "Singh/Seng kah po!"...and so we have this name...Sing-gah-pore.

However, the Monkeys couldn't agree with our texts...they claim that according to their sacred text - The Coconut Husk, Utama actually saw a tiger but he claimed that to be a lion. His aides didn't want to disappoint him (after all the stormy sailing and having to loose his crown to appease the gods), agreed that it was a lion.

Of course, the monkey's version is gibberish. First, how does one write on coconut husks? Secondly, we all know that lions can only be found in Africa and zoos and surely Utama, being a prince should know this fact. Thirdly, even the humans have recorded texts to show that there were clearly signs of early settlements in Singapore and the people came from different parts of Asia.

Thus, ends the first part of my Singapore Story...more to come if you guys are interested.

My First Blog

2007-09-04T22:41:00.000+08:00

Ooh Ooh...I'm so excited about my first blog!

Well. I have been wanting to start a blog for...years? Didn't really get down to it cos I really don't know what to write. Then come late last year when I went through several life shaking experiences...the tremble is still felt now. Those are very personal matters and I really have no one to talk because those matters relates to the very people whom I can talk to...got it? Anyway, that was the time when I thought I should start a blog.

Well, I didn't cos I thought who would like to read the ravings of a miserable person.

But I do now, for very different reasons. I have been participating a certain local forum and sort of adopted a particular character there. Well, I thought I should let those friends there know about me...if they bothered in the first place :p

Anyway, I'll start off with some stories about Singapore (and let you find out where are the facts and what are the fiction) and in time I'll dedicate this blog more to matters relating to growing up and living in Singapore from a perspective of a simple Singaporean man.