Manual Labour

In Wine-bottle Opening, I wrote about the story of the man straining against the rock. It was a test by God to help the man grow stronger.

Here in OC, we have to carry furniture-tables, chairs, armchairs, patio umbrellas etc every week, heavy trays, buckets of ice, racks of glasses etc every day and walk to and fro plenty every day. This job builds and tones our muscles. As Mel said earlier, she's "going to be buff" by the end of our time here and now, she said she's got "calves of steel". Haha. We are building calves of steel AND arms of steel here.

About 2 weeks after I came here, I'd to carry the entire tray of bud vases ie. an entire tray of glass flower vases with flowers and water in them, from the Grill to upstairs. Then, I had to get help from one of the kitchen staff to help me carry those bud vases. Wed-24/6, I had to do that again. I got a co-worker to help me. Yesterday, Thur-25/6, there was no one to help me so I tried lifting the tray myself. To my surprise, I was able to do it and bring the entire tray upstairs. I had been building my muscles for the past weeks and I did not realize I'd grown stronger. Had I known, I need not have gotten my co-worker to help me with the bud vases on Wed. I am reminded of the story of that man who pushed against the rock. Eventually he grew stronger without himself realizing it. God was preparing him for greater things.

Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) IX

Michael Jackson died on Thursday. We learnt of it yesterday, Fri-26/6. He died young at 50.

In my Feb post of Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) VII, I mentioned Ster said Grandpa's time was nearly up. I'd forgotten I wrote about this. Grandpa has been dead for a while now. It wasn't a surprise. You can learn a lot about people from a death. From the time one is in the hospital to his death to the funeral to the rites after the funeral is over, the time and kind of attention he gets from the people around him tell us a lot about those around him.

Death makes me morbid. Thinking about death makes me wonder if I'd have the chance to do things for the people I love before they die.

Recently, someone I once knew well told me a part of her died when she was forced to let go. This is death of the heart. This death CAN be revived. Ms Ng said when you take away something from the heart, you have to replace with something else. Otherwise, the human heart will feel the loss and emptiness because we have the capacity to love. We were created to love and to give love. Death of the heart is reversible. But a physical death is irreversible. Even if I were to give up all the years of my life in exchange for someone else's, after exhausting my lifespan, the other will still die. I think of death and I feel sad.

Giving II

Asian societies do not believe in welfarism and I live in such a society. The PAP tells me we are not a welfare state and that the state will not give out handouts. I, too believe that we, as abled human beings, should work for what we want.

I don't know if the mentally/physically disabled in Singapore get any disability benefits. I don't think they do. The unemployed in Singapore definitely do not have any unemployment benefits. You just gotta depend on yourself, man. That's what the government says. I think society should help the mildly mentally/physically disabled to get back into the society. Regardless of the severity of the disability, disabled people already are at a disadvantage when looking for jobs because there are limitations to their job opportunities by dint of their disability. These people are also likely to spend more than the average mentally/physically well people because the former have to go to special schools, require special transportation when travelling around eg. taxis in the case of physical disability, or need a maid to take care of them. However, society has not given them much support although this group especially needs help. For the mildly mentally disabled, they can only find low-skilled jobs with low pay. If they cannot find an employer, then they continue going to the special school. In the meantime, they continue paying the school for each day of taking them in.

Our CPF system is a contribution-based system. Only those who pay in to CPF get CPF. The disadvantage of this system is that those who cannot pay CPF do not have money when they are old. These people either have to work past retirement or depend on their family. The physically/mentally disabled, the poor and the unemployed fall into this category. The government has already come up with training schemes such as SKILLS and SPUR for the professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET) and the unemployed, it is time to help the often-overlooked portion of society. I suggest the government come up with government training schemes for the mildly physically/mentally disabled and the poor/unemployed to help more of them get back to the job market. Upon completion of the programs, the government can contribute CPF money into these individuals' accounts. There are several benefits to this. First, unemployment can be reduced and these people can contribute to society. Second, these people who have to spend more because of their special needs will have more CPF money to offset these expenses when they age. Third, we reinforce the idea that citizens should be self-reliant by helping them with the training schemes and CPF contribution. Fourth, by giving a leg-up to the disabled/poor to look after themselves, we can proudly claim we are an "inclusive" society doing our best not to leave anyone behind.

Regarding the severely disabled, more can definitely be done to help them if they are unable to work. Subsidies for transport, medical fees, hiring a maid to take care of them could be given to the family of these disadvantaged people. The government should definitely do more to help the disadvantaged given the bad economic times now.

Opportunities

ST reported today that some condo owners have turned their condos into “hotels” and called them “condotels”. Apparently, it’s illegal under URA regulations since condos are meant for long-term residential stay, not the few days’ tourist stay. Also, condo management have expressed concern that tenants may be irresponsible and not take care of facilities because they have no ownership.

The condo owners are enterprising. However, I believe that the article missed out another point of view-that of other condo owners. Some condo owners would have bought their condo for security or privacy reasons since there’s a security guard house which ensures privacy from salesmen, thieves, trespassers, stalkers etc. The short-term stay of tourists in the condos would compromise the security of other condo owners who have bought their condo for the above reasons since bad people can pose as tourists and commit housebreaking, thefts etc. They need only rent a room for one night, commit the theft and leave the next day. And you’d never know where to find them. If they are Singaporeans, there’s a chance they may still be caught. If they are real tourists, then they’d have left the country before you even know who robbed you. The opportunities for enterprising condo owners create opportunities for crime.

I do support entrepreneurship. However, I don’t think condos should be rented out for short-term stays. From the point of view of condo owners who bought their condo for more security, condotels would compromise on their security. But HDB flats as an alternative to condotels may be considered. HDB flats are already so open to the public ie. there's no security guard house to prevent salesmen from knocking on your door everyday. In this bad economic time, people who rent out their HDB flats to these tourists would have another source of income. Since majority of Singaporeans live in HDB flats, this could help some ease off their financial woes during this period. Further, the cost of a night’s stay in a Singapore hotel is on average $200++. The cost of a 2D1N trip to Malacca is about half of it. If I want to have a night’s getaway from my house, based on economic reasons, I’d choose Malacca over a Singapore hotel stay. Currently, a condo room is being rented out for $40 to $150 per night. Allowing Singaporeans to rent out their HDB rooms to these tourists would bring down the cost of hotel accommodation in Singapore. This would in turn attract more tourists to come to Singapore.

Expectations II

Today's ST reported that China is having more frequent Meet-the-People sessions. City officials have to meet the people once a quarter and county officials once a month. These sessions will allow citizens to raise their grievances with the local authorities first before they take the more drastic step of going to Beijing to petition to higher ranking authorities like the President or the Premier. It is hoped that these sessions will solve some of the people's problems and reduce the frustrations of the people. In other words, calming the tensions provoking social instability.

In Singapore, we've got more Meet-the-People sessions as compared to the once a month/once a quarter ones in China. Singapore is nowhere compared to the size of China yet we've more regular Meet-the-People sessions, maybe because Singaporeans are better at complaining. I can meet my MP every Tuesday except the fifth Tuesday of the month and public holiday. I've never had the need to meet my MP because I've been quite comfortable living in Singapore plus I'm not particularly fussy. Another reason which many Singaporeans can identify with me is that it seems that the government doesn't listen to us since it's an authoritarian government and has the final say. In that case, there's no point talking to them. However, that's not to say that I totally agree with everything that's being done here. The last time I spoke out on an issue, I didn't go to the Meet-the-People because the MP can't do anything to change the entire system. You've to petition to the higher authorities, the ministries/statutory boards, the ministers, the prime minister to change flaws in a system. My experience with this tells me that the government adopts the stance of "Sure you can petition but I have the final say. I may not adopt your proposal."

The China government is quite clever in having the Meet-the-People sessions once a month/once a quarter. The frequency of such sessions in China will definitely not be enough given the size of China. However, it goes to meeting some expectations of the people, hopefully enough such that social stability is maintained. The same logic can also be applied to the Singapore government. To meet the expectations of Singaporeans who are great at complaining, we've got a chance to complain once a week to the MP. We can complain all we want at the Meet-the-People sessions so that we give vent to our frustrations. But not all our complaints/proposals/suggestions will be taken to by the government. But we at least have a chance to complain once a week to the MP and social stability is still maintained.

Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) VIII

DBS CEO, Richard Stanley died on Sat-11/4. Mrs Morris died on Sat-11/4. Richard Stanley died indirectly of cancer-leukemia. He was undergoing treatment for that when his body caught an infection and he died due to the infection. I don't know what Mrs Morris died of but she'd cancer too and was taking a lot of drugs for that when she was alive.

When I learnt of Mrs Morris' death on Sun, I'd informed Ster. She wanted to go for Mrs Morris' wake but she'd wanted to do some work on Sun. I do know she's busy. Yesterday night, when Ster came over for the wake, it was over. Mrs Morris was cremated yesterday late afternoon. Ster said had she known, she'd have come over on Sun. I find it ironic that people say "If I'd known this, I'd have done that". It is only when things have happened that we can say that. If things hadn't happened the way they did, can we still say "If I'd known"? Of course we can't! We wouldn't have known anything. How can we know when someone will die? We don't even know when we'll die for that matter.

Felt sad for Ster because she was close to Mrs Morris. Ster checked the obituary page in the papers and we found out that she was cremated yesterday. Ster said not being able to attend the wake is 她一生的遗憾。Ster could only cut out the obituary notice of Mrs Morris in the papers and keep it away quietly. Since Richard Stanley didn't know us, we left the Richard Stanley photo in the obituary page of the papers.

Ster made me realize that we should cherish our loved ones. Work should never take precedence over our loved ones. If we give work priority, when we turn around, we'll find that the time for us to spend with our loved ones is gone. Perhaps, even the person is gone. In Ster's case, she couldn't even see Mrs Morris one last time. It is a scary thought when you think of how you can't see your loved ones for the last time.

Mrs Morris' death also reminded me of something. When I speak to people about Mrs Morris, I say she's a nice person, I talk of how she helped out in the schools, of what a kind soul she is. I asked myself then how I want to die. What do you want people to remember you for? What is the legacy you're going to leave behind?

Education IX

I do believe that parents these days are paranoid over their kids. A friend of mine went to a talk organised by the primary school for parents regarding the Direct Admission program. If your kid has some talent or skill in some sport like swimming or badminton, he can gain direct admission to a Secondary school in Singapore which is strong in that particular sport. According to my friend, the number of secondary schools with this Direct Admission program has increased from 40+ to 50+. Apparently, there were a lot of parents who attended the talk.

Frankly, I think such talks are a waste of time. First, it is common knowledge that even with average grades, if a child has a talent in sports or arts or music, he would be able to gain special admission to any Secondary school, even if the Secondary school is not strong in that particular sport or art or music. Schools wish to gain reputation and such students will help the school boast of its "highly talented students".

Second, if a child has average grades and does not have any talents, rich parents can offer to make donations to the secondary school. I've heard of someone who donated an entire computer lab to a secondary school. Yes, make the school indebted to you and your child will be able to get in.

If a child has average grades and no talents and the parents are not rich, it's okay. There's still a chance. Parents can always volunteer their time at the school.

All the above measures are real and taken by parents to give their child a good place in Singapore's education system. Parents go to great lengths so that their child can get into one of the top secondary schools in Singapore. Of course, it's something to be proud of and which parents can boast to other parents/relatives about, especially at family gatherings like Chinese New Year.

As I mentioned earlier, the primary school talks about the Direct Admission program or measures to gain indirect admission to top secondary schools are a waste of time. Such talks do not provide new information on what has been done. It's not as if it's a talk about the reform of the Singapore education system. I'll be the first to support a talk like that. The Singapore education system needs to be overhauled! Talks such as the Direct Admission and "Indirect Admission" only serve to perpetuate one of the flaws in the Singapore education system-that our students should only be concerned about getting into top schools. Also, how many parents have kids who have a talent or have been able to develop their talent in the particular sport/art/music after the number of hours they spent in school and on after school tuition classes? Yet, according to my friend, there were many parents who attended the school talk.

I didn't get into a top school and I'm not rich and I've no talent in the sports or the arts or music. I came from a neighbourhood primary school which has since merged with another neighbourhood primary school and I was happy studying in my primary school because the culture was conducive for studying even though it was a neighbourhood school. The students worked hard and the teachers gave free supplementary classes to weaker students and even welcomed students who were not doing badly in school to join the classes. I didn't go to a top secondary school. As it is, I didn't even choose to go the JC way because it's just an extension of the rote-learning, exam-based primary and secondary school system. I've had enough of mugging for exams at the end of Sec. 4. I don't believe in getting into top schools nor schools with too low rankings unless the school culture is a friendly and learning-conducive one. Top schools produce students under tremendous stress such that some of them steal. Schools at the tail-end tend to have more playful students who are not concerned with their studies. However, if a top school or a tail-end one has a good studying culture and do not have too much stress for the students, that is one school which your child will be happy learning in.

Recently, a scheme was started to subsidize students from low-income homes for tuition at CCs and RCs for up to 90% of their tuition fees. During my primary and secondary school time, tuition wasn't so necessary. Unless I couldn't understand a subject, I wouldn't have tuition for that subject. Now, I think we have a tuition country because there are even subsidies for tuition fee. That is a result of too many kids going for tuition such that tuition has become something that's necessary, rather than a supplement to helping the kids to understanding a subject. I never heard of tuition fee subsidies. If I'd, I'd have applied for them! How ridiculous this country is. In future, we're going to have subsidies for Mozart classes for babies when they are born and parents will start making sure their babies have a place in a top school through the "Indirect Admission" scheme.

Freedom IV

In the movie "V For Vendetta", V tortured Evey to free her from fear. I couldn't believe it when I was watching the show. Like Evey, I thought V was sick. But when I watched the show a second time, I understood in some part why V did that. In order to be free from fear, you have to go beyond fear and death is one way of doing that. Aren't we all afraid of dying? If you're not, then you must be fearless. Yes, we all want to live when we know that our end is near.

W said that the Myammar people don't like Asean which includes Singapore. This is because the government is a military one and oppresses the common people. The revenue that flows into the government coffers belong to the government alone and not to the people. The money then goes to the military. The people remain poor. W said America has imposed economic sanctions on Myammar and if Asean hadn't helped Myammar, the military government would run out of money and collapse of the government would have been inevitable. But because Asean is helping the government, it is hard for the government to fall on its own. I asked W doesn't the common people benefit from Asean's help? W replied that only the military government benefits from it. The government doesn't invest in the people. There is no difference in the living standard of the people if Asean hadn't come into the picture. Without Asean, the people could still survive on what little they have, on the grains they plant. If Asean hadn't come in to help Myammar, the government would have been toppled in a few years for sure. But for Asean. In giving Myammar economic freedom, Asean had inevitably caused the loss of political freedom for the Myammar people.

W said he once asked about Aung Sang Suu Kyi in IRC and his IP address was blocked from IRC. The Myammar government blocked it. This is worse than China because at least in China, netizens are still able to post the “草泥马”video on Youtube. Haha. Although Youtube was recently blocked in China and for the longest time, you can't access the BBC website or google "Taiwan", "Falungong", or even "xxx". For that matter, you can't even come to blogspot.com (including this blog) or blogs based overseas. How ridiculous! Back in China, I thought it was really an oppression of individual freedom. After discovering about the military government in Myammar, I must say that China is nothing compared to Myammar. But I do not support the Great Firewall of China.

Tuts My Barreh

A friend of mine showed me this. Pretty amusing. The original song is Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body". To be honest, when I first saw the video, throughout it, I was wondering what the heck "tuts my barreh" is and I'm not trying to be sarcastic.

Freedom III

This video is a response by the Chinese netizens to the CPC's censorship of the Internet in China. The River Crabs (河蟹) are a parallel to harmony (和谐) which the CPC has been trying to promote. I just feel like putting this up today, in protest of my freedom of speech.

Freedom II

From now on, I'll write exactly what I feel like as and when I feel like it. Since what words I write belong to me and me alone, no matter what medium I use, I will write words which I want when I want and I will NOT, repeat will NOT take down my posts unless I feel it's necessary and justified. For eg. because I've offended or embarrassed someone. However, I do not believe I will put myself in such a disadvantaged position in the first place because I believe in exercising responsibility when one writes.

Some people live their lives in their own world, expecting others to give in everything to them, including blogspot and not excluding Facebook.

And now, I will give the finger.

Love, Hate (+Hurt) IV

Happy Valentine's Day to all! For all the people who've ever loved me and whom I've loved in return, for all the fools in love, the lovebirds, and even the unloved, Happy Valentine's Day to you and may your life be filled with love.

I've always believed that love is forever but today I'll ask myself if it really is so. Sometimes, love seems transient. When we were born, for most of us, our parents loved us. Then we grew a little bigger and found that our siblings and friends love us too. As we shed our childlikeness and step into teenhood, adulthood, we find our parents don't love us that much as we thought. And we probably don't love our parents or our friends as much too because new objects of fancy now capture our attention. We fall in love or for some of us, we fall in like. We've crushes. Others crush on us. And then we find our soulmate and have kids and perpetuate the cycle of transient love.

Love is sweet and bitter at the same time and bittersweet sometimes. All kinds of love are. Sometimes things go wrong and we bash each other up or we hurt each other. But after we thrash things out, things are fine again. And because we've successfully resolved a conflict, hopefully, we progress in our relationship and understand each other a little deeper. Yet for some, the conflicts never really get resolved. The cumulative effect of them is potential cause for ruining the relationship. But the funny thing is that because you've loved before, there's still those sparks of love which can remains.

Sometimes, there isn't much/any love between you and another but by virtue of the fact that you are tied to the person by blood, no matter what this person does, you'll still help him and accept him. That is another kind of love. A weird type which I'm still trying to figure out.

Have you ever met a teacher or mentor or someone who is unrelated to you yet gives you his time and effort unconditionally? That is another kind of love. I've seen many great teachers like that and kudos to them for their relentless effort in reforming, teaching, guiding, training us to be more useful than we were.

At last, we can also love inanimate objects or things. Having a hobby like gardening can be a love for someone. Eating is a love for someone else. And sleeping is definitely something many people I know love.

Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) VII

Today, I entertain a curious notion. Parting is a part of living. A part of the life cycle. What I don't understand is why people cannot accept parting in that case. For myself and for everyone else, I believe, the closer you are to someone, the deeper the hurt you're going to feel when the time comes for parting. It really upsets me at times even when the situation is not one in which your loved one parts into eternity but the other version of parting in which you know you've to move on with another phase of your life.

Ster said when you see Grandpa, you know his time is nearly up. I feel sorry and maybe I'm trying to make amends for the past so I will visit him before he leaves this world. Though I don't like him, I know I'll feel sorry for him and sad when his time comes. It's very weird because we are not even close and for the bulk of my life, he didn't even exist in my consciousness. And it is so very weird because it is not his children who visit him but his grandchildren who are doing so now. Maybe it came back to him for all that he's done. Life comes back full circle.

I try to live my life as best as I can even though I admit sometimes I don't do well. Thinking of death makes me morbid but I know I've to face it someday. Death really tears people up. How would you feel if you know your close one is dying? I find it hard to imagine it unless it's reality. What can you do actually? Nothing. As always, whatever kind of parting it is, I only ask for more time. Kamisama, mo sukoshi dake.