Don't provide us with more ammunition

These days PAP seems to provide free ammunition for the opposition, netizens, online community and bloggers. The more they try, the worse it seems. Many of us have to work, mind you. We can't keep on blogging.

We are having a field day online seriously. I have never seen so many online postings. Go check out the 'Other Reads' links on my right.

You know you are second-class citizens when...

...my Prime Minister gives credit to foreign workers instead of locals. I was peeved by this sentence when I read his speech during the opening ceremony of IMFlash, a high-tech electronic plant (read here).

"For every one foreign worker, we have created 1.5 local jobs in this project" Should it not be "For every 1.5 locals, one foreigner has a job"?

You, sir, have put the cart before the horse. And that shows a lot about your respect for our citizens. You have no respect and bonding kinship with us. No wonder people lamented that PAP is totally 'disconnected' from the ground.

A mystery unto itself - advice to young readers

Let me share with you, especially to the young readers. This is a real scenario. If you are a Singaporean, you might want to chew on this:

Many Singaporeans I know who had left Singapore to work overseas in Western countries (Australia, US, etc) took huge pay cuts. Some were paid less than 50% of their previous salaries. One of the main reasons cited by the recruitment firms and potential employers was that they did not have enough local experience. I am sharing from my interviewing experience when I migrated to Australia. Though I did not have a pay cut, I knew many did.

Wake up to the new media

Read this online (link here).

New faces flamed online
But they say they will focus on working the ground for elections
By Rachel Chang & Robin Chan 

NEW People's Action Party (PAP) candidates may have been prepared beforehand for a frosty reception in cyberspace, but the speed and malice with which some of them are being picked apart online have come as a shock.

Within days and sometimes hours of their introduction to the media as PAP candidates, private pictures and even court documents have been dug up and disseminated online, and forums lit up with debate and speculation.

Although the new candidates admit that the sound and fury of cyberspace has taken them aback, they say they are trying to tune out the most vicious comments and focus on working the ground for the coming general election.

About time for a change

You know you need a new political climate change when you smile while watching it. This classy video took a dig at the so-called 'clean, white' image of the PAP. The intended pun was subtle yet it drove a strong message.

This is way better than the usual 'I have been around for the past 20 years' slogan that every PAP candidate and member had been practicing and regurgitating... like a pathetic broken record.

Looks like this GE is gonna pose a real challenge to the PAP with this kind of campaigning. About time for a change, don't you think?

We were in Japan when the earthquake hit!

There are two parts to this post - the first one is my personal account experiencing the earthquake in Japan. The other is a reflection of how the earthquake experience surfaced my true loyalty for my country.

----- Earthquake experience in Japan -----
I am still in Japan, Kyoto. My family is with me. This is our ninth day of our first holiday trip to Japan. I had more than I bargained for.

We experienced the effects of the earthquake on our first day. Having touched down at Narita Airport, we took the Narita Express train to Tokyo. We felt our first tremours when the train stopped at Chiba station, 45 mins away from Narita Airport.

The carriage we were in rattled quite violently. I seriously thought that we were changing lines but it became clear when I looked out the windows and saw lamp posts swaying to and fro! People we all scrambling out of the buildings nearby and there were loud siren sounds.

I think I cracked a toenail

The Straits Times reported (link here):

PM: Lower hurdle for opposition parties
Smaller GRCs and more single-seat wards offer more scope for contest
By Elgin Toh and Li Xueying

POLITICAL parties planning to contest the next election have to clear a lower hurdle than at previous polls, the Prime Minister declared on Friday in his first comments on the new electoral map.

He pointed to key changes in the way electoral boundaries are demarcated this time round, in line with guidelines he announced in Parliament in May 2009.

As a result, the average number of MPs per group representation constituency (GRC) has come down from 5.4 to five. The number of six-member GRCs has been whittled down from five to two, while that of single-member constituencies (SMCs) goes up from nine to 12.

'This should lower the hurdle for parties intending to contest the elections,' Mr Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday in comments to the media.

How about this, Mr Gan KY?

Reading Today's article on "Higher Levy for Higher Leverage" (see below) baffles me. I fail to see how "higher levies will encourage companies to reduce their reliance on foreign labour and invest in productivity improvements" as quoted by Mr Gan, Manpower Minister.

In the first instance pro-foreign labour policies were drafted out by the Manpower Ministry which you, Mr Gan, and your predecessors had endorsed. The sudden U-Turn can only be related to the coming election. It definitely was not our call to 'invite' these foreigners into our country and then impose levies on them. But then I foresee there will be tweaks again to revert to pro-business post-election.

Brilliant con artists or intelligent morons

Let me share this simply story.

A certain Peter allowed Paul to safe keep his money. When Peter requested it back, Paul not only returned his money, Paul slapped Peter with an interest.

Does this make any sense to you? Does Paul need to charge Peter any interest when it first belonged to Peter? In addition Paul had the luxury to use the money to invest and reap the profits. In fact I'd reckon Paul should pay profit dividends to Peter for using the money.

That is how the stocks of a company work for me and pay me dividends.

So GE is coming soon

This is a short entry... I hope.

The usual daily activity for me is to check through the other blogsite links. While doing so, it dawned on me that I have been blogging since 2006. Wow... that's a good five to six years! Of course my readership pales in comparison to Mr Wang or mrbrown. It does not concern me because I never intended to compete with anyone.

So I started reading my first entry. Then the next and the next. I laughed at the cheeky entires when I blogged about games and missus. I treasured the innocence back then. Nothing heavy and thought-provoking. It started as a 'journal entry' blog which was hugely popular for startups - a capture of a significant footprint in one's life journey. Actually it was more like trying to fill in the pages. It felt like flipping through a photo album reminiscing past memories.

Indonesian maids' salary overtakes cleaning aunties' wages

More pay for new Indonesian maids by Saifulbahri Ismail

SINGAPORE - Indonesian domestic workers will soon cost more as agencies try to get more of them to work in Singapore.

MediaCorp has learnt that 17 employment agencies, who are major players in the market, will be increasing the monthly salaries of Indonesian domestic helpers from $380 to $450. The increment will take effect by this week and will only apply to new Indonesian maids.

Over the years, the supply of such helpers to Singapore has been dwindling as competition from places such as Hong Kong and Taiwan intensifies. Employment agencies indicate the shortage is severe. One solution - following a recent meeting between the agencies and maid suppliers from Indonesia - is to provide better salaries.

Nation Employment group director Desmond Chin said: "They are requesting us to match what is being paid to domestic helpers in Hong Kong, which is $650, and what is being in Taiwan, which is $800." - Today Online (read full report here)

Indonesian maids now have a minimal wage policy in Singapore but my local aunties and elderly folks cleaning toilets and clearing tables at hawker centres do not get them. Wow... just wow. *shakes head at the absurdity of it all*  

Unfair study fees - prove me wrong

(Update 28/12)
Latest: Does anyone how many foreign students get the subsidy vs the local students?

The MOE website (click here) states that the subsidy is S$2,400 for both foreign and local students. But the initial entry school fee is different, ie local pays S$3,600 while a foreign student pays S$7,200.


In essence a local student has a significant lower school fee. This is a very encouraging perk being a Singaporean citizen. Well done, MOE. It killed the niggling doubt in my mind and put it to rest.


PS. Thanks to those who have responded. I am glad it was clarified. :)

He came knowing He would die. Yet He came

Luke 2:11 "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

1) Jesus came to die.

- Cloth Linen. Jesus the babe was wrapped in swaddling cloths. When He died, He was wrapped in burial cloth. "So Joseph (of Arimathea) bought some linen cloth, took down the body (of Jesus), wrapped it in the linen..."

- Manger. Jesus was lying in a manger. During that time, a manger is a concrete trough cut out of rock. When Jesus died, He was placed in a concrete cave. "... and (Joseph) placed His body in a tomb cut out of rock."

- Feed. A manger is where horses and animals feed from. Jesus came to be fed upon when He said, "This is My body broken for you. Eat this in remembrance of Me."

Winning winners, not losing winners

I was reading the latest entry in My Singapore News (Redbean's blog). I usually pen my thoughts down in a notepad that comes with Windows. I had such a lengthy reply that I decided to blog about it.

It is every parent's dream to see their kids grow up successfully. This is especially more prominent in Singapore when the paper chase has gone to unprecedented levels. We know it when the tuition and enrichment classes have become money-making million-dollar industries.

Apart from that we have parents who will fork out sums of money and savings to buy and live in overpriced housing locations near good school zones. It has also become increasingly stressful for parents to get a chance to parent volunteer because it is the first step for a secured place in the school.

Who says we need an A-team to come up with a sound policy?

Many of us need a car. Some of us more urgently than others.

My prediction is many may not see their cars until the Chinese New Year is over if I read the COE price graph correctly. The recent astronomical hike in the COEs provided little explanation other than if you need a car urgently, cough out the extra money.

Many of us need a car. Some of us more urgently than others.

It may be for whatever reasons ranging from transporting elderly, near-immobile parents to sales-line job to simple travel convenience to a show-off to impress someone who might not even care. In Singapore it does not matter if you live in the prime District 10 area or in the rural Sembawang heartlands, the COE knows no name or location. It speaks the language of dollars. No money, no COE.

Many of us need a car. Some of us more urgently than others.

I just don't know where to start... smells fishy?

I happened to read an article (read here) about a cyclist being 'bumped' off while he was cycling in the early morning at 5:15am along Holland Road.

Hmmm more suitable words would be 'kena bang' (Singlish for 'woefully hit by car') and 'bwang until jialat' (Singlish for 'thrown off badly') because the driver thought it was a large tree branch! And to say that the continued scapping noise she heard in the undercarriage for the next 2km was that same trunk branch is an understatement. That MUST have been a SUPER-DUPER-KINGSIZED trunk branch of a tree! This 'cock-eyed' driver should have been banned for life for a complete failure to differentiate between a trunk branch and a human being.

Most of us, if not ALL of us, would have stopped and stepped out to check. Why? Because we all know how riduculously expensive cars are in Singapore. To ignore the sound is so incredulous.

Food for Thought: The lowest denominator

Read this story and it struck home deeply.

I'm not trying to be noble or magnanimous in spirit when I penned this blog entry, nor am I attempting to resolve world hunger issues. But one principle I strictly adhere to with conviction in the army and also in my work environment is:

Everyone has a crucial part to play and the team is only as strong as the lowest denominator.

Recently a taxi driver shared his condition and predicament with me while driving to my customer's site. He is a 65-year-old Malay diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and hypertension. His wife is very sick and bed-bound. He drives to support her and himself. His income is largely used to pay for his medical expenses. His children are not financially well-off to support their parents. He complains of fatigue and wishes he need not work so hard because he wants less stress and to live a simple life. He is definitely NOT getting it right now.

I confess watching the YOG opening ceremony...

...and utterly regretted it.

Pre-teenage cousins and young kids glued their faces to my TV box (we had a family gathering), having been told by their schools to support the YOG. If they aren't participating, at least give their support in spirit by watching the YOG opening ceremony.

I was in the same living room with these starry-eyed future generation of Singapore, accompanying them in their eagerness. I was all ready to give credit and accolade to the organisers, the working committee, the supporters and the event itself.

Deep down I hoped it to succeed. I wanted it to succeed.

(Old Classic) I am a Singaporean, by Dan E

Read the post by Under the Willow Tree on an old classic.

Brought back nostalgic memories. Blogging was a raging fever in 2006 and the government then was 'apprehensive' and 'suspicious' on the new internet media. During those times Mr Wang's blog was just 'Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma', and mrbrown was just er... mrbrown and the 'tur kwa' man!

Anyway this is an absolute wonderful piece of old classic which I am re-producing here. I remembered reading and immediately felt kinship with the author. Wow... how many of us go through life in Singapore like he did?

---
I am a Singaporean, by Dan E

I was born in 1970 at the KK hospital and grew up in a kampong near the old airport. My parents stopped at 2 after having my younger sibling.

Where is the line?

Before people start a 'flame war' about my post, let me put forth a few choice words:

• This is MY blog and my personal opinion. I do not represent any of the churches mentioned.
• This post is NOT to justify an apology, nor is it to apologise for being a Christian.
• I understand the Religious Act. I do not intend to offend anyone and I will not tolerate offensive remarks to other religions in the comments.

I refer to this article "New Creation Church pastor apologises" from Today (read here).

To the recent witch-hunts on Christian churches and organisations especially Lighthouse Evangelism, City Harvest and New Creation Church:

What is your problem?!!