Let me begin my post by ranting a little: I am demoralized by the repeated mistakes that I make during driving that eventually caused me to fail the first attempt of the test. I know it’s my fault but it’s not that I do not want to improve. Sigh. Since this is not the point of this post, let’s end the ranting right here.

This week has been rather interesting with what has been going on in the blogosphere of Singapore. Singapore Daily is an interesting “blog” that aggregates all the various interesting blog posts that has been made by Singaporeans regarding various issues. I’m going to look at some of them and perhaps air some of my own views.

First up, we have another one on the association of the press in Singapore and the government. Many have said that the press in Singapore is hardly one which you would call free. Let’s see what our closest neighbour, Malaysia, thinks about that.

Next up, we have a very well written article about the freedom of Singaporeans. It’s a bit long but nonetheless a good read.

Then what about the disturbing lack of a minimum wage law? True, the minimum wage law distorts the job market, … , then we shouldn’t really have a problem dealing with the effects of a minimum wage law, right?

I have to disagree with the call for the implementation of a minimum wage law. True, an absence of such a law will cause the wages of many to be low but to implement the law will cause some to lose their jobs. I would that it is better off to keep more employed, albeit with meagre wage, than to have some lost their jobs because the employers find it a liability to employ the same number of people while paying more for each.

This issue is a rather touchy one. It is a dilemma for the government because both implementing and not implementing a minimum wage law has their own share of problems. I think that they are doing the right thing by not implementing such a law and providing various subsidies to counter the rising inflation. But I think they are not doing enough on this part and they need to do more. Oh yes, they also need to take a second look at themselves to see if they really need another wage rise.

Other readers then responded to this reader, by claiming that Jehovah’s Witnesses were punished for refusing to abide by the law, not for their religious faith. This is a thin line that has been drawn here. True, they were punished for their violation of the law, and they paid the price by being punished under the Penal Code. However, their violation of the law took place on the grounds of religious obligations, and I don’t suppose it’s our position to debate the validity of the beliefs system of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

While I think that religious freedom is important, the freedom has to be restricted such that it does not violate any law in Singapore. I am sure that many will disagree with the previous sentence but let’s take a look at the specific problem of Jehovah’s Witness: if everyone who claims to be a Jehovah’s Witness can escape National Service, I can vouch that many will gladly become one to escape NS. I look at the people serving NS and I see that many are not exactly glad to be serving their time. I am not here to debate about NS though.

PAP and opposition is another great article in relation to MM Lee’s comments that Singapore will “fall” should the goverment PAP lose to the opposition in five years. And another one. I have always steered clear of this kind of political talk and I shall remain so and read in silence.

Tags: national service, singapore

After the famous Mas Selemat escape and a string of other events, Ministry of Home Affairs has done it again.

What annoyed me was not the fact that it has happened again but what the Minister has to say regarding this event. What it means is perfectly summed up here.

With the pay he is drawing (which many people, like myself, can only dream of getting), I am sure he can do a better job than to blame everyone but himself for this kind of screw ups. In another place, we can be assured that he will have either resigned or been sack. It seems like Ministers don’t have the word “resign” in their dictionaries in Singapore.

The Singapore government is rather screwed up. Suffice to say, it is still doing a relatively good job compared to other countries.

Tags: singapore

According to Eric, this is the last year where I’ll be a teenager because this is the last year where my age has the suffix “-teen” in it. And it so happens that my lunar birthday is today as well. What a coincidence which, again, according to Eric occurs once every nineteen years.

Had a drink just now and even though I am far from being drunk, I can feel the drowsiness seeping in. I need to hit the sack soon.

Mr Wong, Miss Lim and gang gave me a wallet for my birthday and the design turned out to be an imitation/parody of the Intel logo. Real nerdy. Thanks a lot guys!

And it just so happens that the soundtrack for a game I ordered arrived today. Another coincidence. I will probably write more about the game next time.

On a totally unrelated note, a good read about National Service of which we are all compelled to serve.

Tags: birthday, national service, the world ends with you

First of all, read this.

After I read this last Saturday, I was both stressed and at the same time disgusted. Stressed because these kind of “high flyers” are going to be competing with me for all the stuff that I am wanting to apply for and because I am reminded of the competition I face (for our excellent local universities). Disgusted because these “high flyers” claim that they are worried for their places in so-and-so and so they go all the way to Volunteer Street and volunteer themselves for services to spice up their C.V. How practical. If they are worried, what of the rest of us?

In case you were wondering, I will admit, honestly, that I don’t have “passion” for volunteering and basically everything you see in my “C.V.” was done because either I wanted to or because I was interested in them.

More reading materials: link & link

Inflation projected at 5% for the first half of next year.

I never thought I would see this kind of inflation figure in Singapore.

And the Minister says “buy cheaper products!”

Tags: singapore

Catherine Lim, a rather famous Singapore author, now has a site with all her writings posted and archived.

A great read for everyone who is concerned about Singapore.

Not your usual bread-and-butter post!

Tags: singapore

GlobalIssues.org is a pretty good site with very well sourced articles managed by a single soul alone. Do check it out.

Useful for GP, KI and for general knowledge. We are too well fed to know of much of the suffering the world is submerged in.

There is something interesting with one of the headline articles in today’s papers. You can look it up under the title “$6.3b solar plant to be set up in S’pore by 2010″.

Anyway. the first thing of note is this paragraph which made me laugh when I read it. A quirky sense of humour, no doubt.

That means that the future is looking bright for Singapore’s ambition to become a shining light in the global marker for solar and other clean energy.

When I looked at this paragraph and the article title, I can’t help laughing.

And the second pick comes from someone who has studied too much. The journalist quoted the units “gigawatt” and “megawatt” wrongly as “Gw” and “Mw” respectively. According to some organization that governs the SI units:

This SI unit is named after James Watt. As for all SI units whose names are derived from the proper name of a person, the first letter of its symbol is uppercase (W). But when an SI unit is spelled out, it should always be written in lowercase (watt), unless it begins a sentence or is the name “degree Celsius”.

Basically, it should be “GW” and “MW” instead!

Alright, I was just bored.

The Singapore government likes to do the weirdest of things, like erecting an ERP gantry outside someone’s condominium!

Anyway, I think I made a comment recently that might have hurt someone else’s feelings. It was made out of an attempt to make a joke, but it went awry and it was misinterpreted. I am ashamed of it and I apologise. For those of you who do not know what is going on, don’t bother.

This leads me to my other point: what of those jokes directed at yours truly? It seems like there is a trend for me to be the joking subject of many situations. I just take them on and don’t really bother thinking about them. I used to be very affected and was too sensitive in the past but due to the efforts (I don’t even know if these efforts are for the good or for the bad) of certain individuals, I’ve grown to just shake them off after a laugh. But it is precisely this attitude that the jokes are sometimes overboard and I do get affected by them, just that I do not show them.

I’m not pointing fingers at anyone. I’m just trying to say that please be considerate to me as well when you make some passing remarks. I’m fine with them most of the time but you could say I am somewhat a rather sensitive person. I think that my personality type shows that as well, somewhat.

An ESFJ who has developed in a less than ideal way may be prone to being quite insecure, and focus all of their attention on pleasing others. He or she might also be very controling, or overly sensitive, imagining bad intentions when there weren’t any.

So here ends one of the rare personal posts I’ve made in a while.

Tags: singapore

The Straits Times “Letters to the Editor” template. Use the template below to compose your letter. The publication of your letter is guaranteed! All you need to do is to fill in the blanks. What could be simpler.

—————————-

Dear Editor of the Straits Times,

I fully agree with the govt’s stand on ______________.

The Singapore govt has led Singapore to become one of the most successful nations in the world. This would not have been possible without the leadership provided by the govt since independence.

Mr. __________, in a letter to your forum dated ________, said that we should allow more freedom and more political space in the area of_____________________. He also suggested that__________.

I do not agree with him at all. Singapore’s political situation is unique and to take a more liberal stand regarding____________ would be playing right into the hands of Singapore’s enemies.

We are very fortunate to have the PAP govt to lead the country through_____________. Without the PAP, Singapore would still be a fishing village.

To Quote the Hon BG___________, Minister of ____________, Who stated….”_________________________”. I agree with the Hon BG___________ 100%.

We are lucky that we have people like him who are loyal and committed to Singapore.

Had he decided to go into the private sector, he would be earning a lot more. However, he was willing to make considerable sacrifices in order to be given the opportunity to lead Singapore.

Let us not be mislead by people like __________ who claim that Singaporeans have no political freedom. The fact that free and fair elections are held every few years shows that the country is democratic.

Ideas such as those proposed by ______________ should be nipped at the bud. To allow such ideas to take hold would cause the country to fall apart.

Singapore is my home and I have 100% faith in the govt to lead us through________________.

Let us all rally behind the govt. They have the interests of all Singaporeans at heart.

TAN TU LAN.

– Source: http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=286045
Note: The original source include some… eyesore content. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

1. The PAP and the people – A Great Affective Divide – Catherine Lim
2. LRWC’s report on Singapore’s judiciary and legal profession
3. Keep377a.com vs Repeal377a.com

I will put off commenting on these stuff for now. Too lazy to type and express myself.

Tags: singapore