Turning on either your radio or TV set to the English channels in Singapore, one might find oneself in the world or Aussie. Aussie accent is everywhere, the voice over especially, though the voice sound is great, side note to this VO person, I think he is Hossan Leong’s boyfriend, mark’s voice, but I don’t think it fit into our British colonial way of living.
We were encouraged to speak English; not American, not Aussie but true British English ever since I can remember. Singaporeans were taught to despise the American way of living, thinking, writing especially when it come to speaking. To have an American accent when we were growing up was to be frowned upon. The English educated were so almighty with their so call “English” that I think their noses were perpetually pointed upwards to reveal their empty brain in their skulls.
They were true to their preaching and stuck with their British accent on TV or radio but that phenomenon didn’t last too long. Recently, all you can listen to was only Australian accent. Now, my question is, are Singaporeans so tone deaf that they can’t distinguish between the two accents? Do they think that Aussie accent is British accent? Why are Singaporeans or, I should say, the government didn’t notice? What’s MDA doing? Can’t they tell the different between those two and do something about it?
The answer to all the above question raised is obviously a big NO. And since we are on the subject of accent, I would like Singapore to stop with their Singapore accent, by the way, having a Singaporean accent is nothing to be proud of, neither should anyone think that Singaporean accent is an identity. If sounding like an imbecile is an identity then by all means continue with your accent.
Speaking with Singapore accent is very much similar to the cockney accent of the brits, or the southern accent of the States. It was a fact that anyone carrying this kind of inflection is perceived as having “less then” mental capacity.
I remember that was invited to an opening party for product launch party, it was also stated in the invite as a black tie party. Hence everyone you can imagine was all decked out and dressed to the nines. As I parked my car and meandered my way into the reception, I saw a beautiful girl in her black satin “couture” waiting for her friends to join her before she made an entrance to pronounce her arrival. While she was loitering and waiting, her phone rang, and her “Milkshake” ringtone vaguely muffled into my ears. She picked up her phone and the first she utter out of her mouth was this Singapore hello.
Below is the transcript of the conversation.
“Hello, where you, why not here yet huh, quickly come, many people here, also waiting for him loh…”
That was just a taste of this unpleasantness; I don’t think I want to continue with the rest for it will make your stomach churn. Basically, anyone who feel proud to having this accent just eludes me. I remember when I was young growing up in San Francisco, I was teased so much with my Singapore accent that I promise myself to shake that image of stupidity away, and after that, it’s just no turning back for me.
Having said all these, I sincerely hope that Singaporeans can be mature and travel enough for Singaporeans to be secure enough to know that by having proper spoken English, meaning a choice between American or British English, less Australian English, doesn’t take away the identity but enhance your eloquence in English. People will stop making fun of you and respect you more. This is what I meant by a good representation of Singapore identity.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
AIG unfettered greed.
AIG single-handedly created this financial catastrophe. How is it possible that a Single company has that "supreme" power to create this financial calamity? The Answer is simple, unfettered greed.
The very idea that you can speculate on loans it just amazing how creative the Wall Street is when it tries to con the main street. Hell, if anyone can speculate on crude oil which created the recent gas price crisis we have just experienced not long ago.and other commodities that affect our daily live.
Every thing can be traded on wall street, from raw material to food items, from our daily sundries to odd sundries. They are the people that determine our cost of living. The higher the inflation the better they are. Think about it, inflation mean " A persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services." If you put that in plain terms like that, no wonder modest inflation is good for the entire economy and hence the deflation is bad for us, because we are dependent on the economy.
In Short if there is a deflation, the money in the pot of Wall Street shrinks, and it ain't good for the investors. They are not involve in production of anything but the exploitation of the production. In my opinion, they are the invisible middle man; parallel to the invisible hand of Adam Smith, that we can do without. The initial idea of trading commodities is noble but as like every trade, greed creeps into the equation and ruin everything. Much like the government of a small little island off Malaysia.
Speculation is driven by greed. One good and common example demonstrated is by the housing market. When the housing market was good, everyone, when I say everyone, I mean the stupid people who buy anything when everyone else is buying, hence inflating the price, those stupids bought more; but when speculation bites back, we have seen it so many time the collapse of the housing market in the last few decades, many were force to bankrupt. Are people so blinded by their greed that they can not foresee by examples?
I have to sympathy for those who committed suicide in the pass few months neither do I have sympathy for the bankrupt individual who foreclose their very own home that they owned before the credit crunch. They deserve all the turmoil they created for they are also the people who spoil the market for the people who deserve the house and can not afford it due to the speculation.
The very idea that you can speculate on loans it just amazing how creative the Wall Street is when it tries to con the main street. Hell, if anyone can speculate on crude oil which created the recent gas price crisis we have just experienced not long ago.and other commodities that affect our daily live.
Every thing can be traded on wall street, from raw material to food items, from our daily sundries to odd sundries. They are the people that determine our cost of living. The higher the inflation the better they are. Think about it, inflation mean " A persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services." If you put that in plain terms like that, no wonder modest inflation is good for the entire economy and hence the deflation is bad for us, because we are dependent on the economy.
In Short if there is a deflation, the money in the pot of Wall Street shrinks, and it ain't good for the investors. They are not involve in production of anything but the exploitation of the production. In my opinion, they are the invisible middle man; parallel to the invisible hand of Adam Smith, that we can do without. The initial idea of trading commodities is noble but as like every trade, greed creeps into the equation and ruin everything. Much like the government of a small little island off Malaysia.
Speculation is driven by greed. One good and common example demonstrated is by the housing market. When the housing market was good, everyone, when I say everyone, I mean the stupid people who buy anything when everyone else is buying, hence inflating the price, those stupids bought more; but when speculation bites back, we have seen it so many time the collapse of the housing market in the last few decades, many were force to bankrupt. Are people so blinded by their greed that they can not foresee by examples?
I have to sympathy for those who committed suicide in the pass few months neither do I have sympathy for the bankrupt individual who foreclose their very own home that they owned before the credit crunch. They deserve all the turmoil they created for they are also the people who spoil the market for the people who deserve the house and can not afford it due to the speculation.
What has China done to deserve this???
I'm watching TV, a program produced by BBC called China Secret War, "as we speak". It’s basically a story about the arm supply to Sudan by the Chinese government that ended up in Darfur. You might now be able to derive what the content of this documentary is all about. If you don’t you might want to utilize your internet for this information. This topic has been widely discussed hence I won’t dwell upon the statistics of the war, nor would I want to state the specific of the history of this civil war.
Stories have been pouring out of the western media since the war begun but out of all the controversial elements in this civil war, reports on China secret arms deal with Sudan has been constantly reported. In fact 89% of the weaponry comes from Russia, on the contrary only a mere 8% from China. The propaganda launch to attack China is evident from this fact.
One question I always like to ask my western or western influenced friends, by western influenced I meant western colonized friends, when they made an attack on moral issue like this is; What have the Chinese done to you what make the west felt so threaten and insecure, that you have to attack our policies repeatedly?
Have they apologized for their wrong doings after the several raids and genocide that happened throughout the last two centuries? For those ignorant folks out there please check out the “Opium War” to start, and that’s just the Chinese Massacre by the English. How about also do a research on “the Eight Power Allied Force” that launch an attack on China just because they feel like it. Why haven’t they report on that? Why haven’t they returned all the treasures they have stolen during the war back to China yet?
The war on terror were later change to “liberalizing Iraq” after the weapon on mass destruction isn’t anywhere to be found. If the west is so good attacking a country for no good reason, why hasn’t the west done anything and take down the tyrant yet? Why is the suffering still going on at Darfur? Can you see the irony?
I JUST WANT THE WEST TO STOP THEIR BIGOTRY DOUBLE STANDARD, AND UNDERSTAND CHINA BEFORE they MAKE ANY BIAS COMMENT ON CHINA.
Where did all the Stalent (Singapore Talent) go?
All year round, in Singapore press and the media, talks about how to maintain Singapore competitiveness have been expressed. The main concern in these reports and broadcast has been centered on foreign talent; how to attract and keep the foreign talent. Singapore, so is many countries in the world, is experiencing the worst economic downturn since WWII. Singapore unemployment has surge to an unprecedented level, as of February 25th 2009, it is at 4.8 percent, and we have not seen the worst yet. DBS predicted that the worst will hit in 2010, of course it is absolutely arbitrary, they themselves would know and there is no way to be certain at this point. So far, their prediction has been off the mark for as long as have seen.
I am a Singaporean who has been working abroad all my life. Every country that I have worked in has a certain amount of job market protectionism for their citizens. Normally a citizen of a democratic country elect a government, one might assume that the elected government should shield them from any day to day insecurities, having a job will provide these citizens with at less the income they can use to pay rent or mortgage, basic food and sundries.
Where is the so call protection from the government for their people? Singapore government should take Alibaba lead and adopt their Talent Attraction Policies. The CEO of Alibaba, MaYun, flew to the Silicon Valley to recruit workers for the company’s expansion. In his recruitment seminars, he told the room that he welcome race or creet to join him but his ultimate dream is to have Chinese returning to China.
I have already stressed many times and sometimes I feel like scream on the top of my lungs to shake up Singapore leaders, and by the way, to even use the words like Singapore leaders is completely oxymoron. Newsweek International's Fareed Zakaria noted Singapore's success on international math and science exams, but asked Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam why Singapore produced so few top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors, business executives and academics. "We both have meritocracies," he replied. America's "is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. There are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well -- like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas where Singapore must learn from America."
With the above statement, I can’t understand why when there is a flaw in Singapore education system, the Singapore Board of education didn’t do anything about it. Knowing the fact that Students in Singapore is only good at test score and lack the ability to apply to the real life situation, why didn’t the government encourage internship even at the collage level?
I have experienced both Singapore and the U.S. education system. I’m proud of my American education, which made me who I’m today. I don’t think I would even be who I’m today without America. I’m able to think out of the box, better at my public speaking. There are only good things that comes from a system that never oppress your thinking, questioning the authority and challenging the system or the professors are encourage.
From my experiences with both the U.S. and Singapore, I can comfortably derive the fact that. Singapore is a young country where the leaders are not wise enough to combat their own inner fear and insecurity. The leaders in the developed U.S. are much more stable without having to prove to the world that they score high in their test and exams, and yet they churn out more talent then Singapore despite having more holidays then Singapore. I don’t think we went to school more then 6 months in a year, and look at us now, people will hire people like me before they will give Singaporean nerds a chance. OH!!!! BTW, SPEAKING PUAH CHU KANG, AND NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD UNDERSTANDS YOU, DOESN’T TAKE TO GUYS TOO FAR EITHER.
I am a Singaporean who has been working abroad all my life. Every country that I have worked in has a certain amount of job market protectionism for their citizens. Normally a citizen of a democratic country elect a government, one might assume that the elected government should shield them from any day to day insecurities, having a job will provide these citizens with at less the income they can use to pay rent or mortgage, basic food and sundries.
Where is the so call protection from the government for their people? Singapore government should take Alibaba lead and adopt their Talent Attraction Policies. The CEO of Alibaba, MaYun, flew to the Silicon Valley to recruit workers for the company’s expansion. In his recruitment seminars, he told the room that he welcome race or creet to join him but his ultimate dream is to have Chinese returning to China.
I have already stressed many times and sometimes I feel like scream on the top of my lungs to shake up Singapore leaders, and by the way, to even use the words like Singapore leaders is completely oxymoron. Newsweek International's Fareed Zakaria noted Singapore's success on international math and science exams, but asked Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam why Singapore produced so few top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors, business executives and academics. "We both have meritocracies," he replied. America's "is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. There are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well -- like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas where Singapore must learn from America."
With the above statement, I can’t understand why when there is a flaw in Singapore education system, the Singapore Board of education didn’t do anything about it. Knowing the fact that Students in Singapore is only good at test score and lack the ability to apply to the real life situation, why didn’t the government encourage internship even at the collage level?
I have experienced both Singapore and the U.S. education system. I’m proud of my American education, which made me who I’m today. I don’t think I would even be who I’m today without America. I’m able to think out of the box, better at my public speaking. There are only good things that comes from a system that never oppress your thinking, questioning the authority and challenging the system or the professors are encourage.
From my experiences with both the U.S. and Singapore, I can comfortably derive the fact that. Singapore is a young country where the leaders are not wise enough to combat their own inner fear and insecurity. The leaders in the developed U.S. are much more stable without having to prove to the world that they score high in their test and exams, and yet they churn out more talent then Singapore despite having more holidays then Singapore. I don’t think we went to school more then 6 months in a year, and look at us now, people will hire people like me before they will give Singaporean nerds a chance. OH!!!! BTW, SPEAKING PUAH CHU KANG, AND NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD UNDERSTANDS YOU, DOESN’T TAKE TO GUYS TOO FAR EITHER.
Defecating on Civilian War Memorial Park in the Name of Money
Recently, as I drove by the Civilian War Memorial Park, I chance upon an unsightly hideous temporary structure, erected for the sole purpose of F1 race as an audience observation tower, on the very premise we, Singaporeans, view sacred.
Civilian War Memorial Park is a sacred area reminding us on the unity and the humiliations brought upon by the Japanese during their occupation.
Hence when one steps into the compound one should have the etiquette to be respectful for the many departed souls witness during the occupation.
When the race comes and as people staggered into the tower, they are going to drink, talk loudly, possibly smoke, dance a little, throwing up or defecating in the compound… ignoring the significant status it holds in all Singaporeans heart.
What has Singapore government become? As long as there is a profit to be made, they would turn a blind eye to almost anything, and anything goes if they can make a quite buck.
Where are the humanity and decency our government once had? What on earth are they thinking?
The message from our government to us is that, as long as there is money to be made, we can forgo any form of principles, humanities and decencies. We can basically flush all the Confucius teaching of “忠孝仁义礼义廉耻” down the toilet.
What a shame that Singaporean harvest this kind sort of government body. I propose to tear down the structure immediately and leave the sacred ground or the Civilian War Memorial to its peace and quite it deserves.
I’m hoping that Asiaone.com netizen please join me in the partition and write on the thread, the more respond in this thread the more we will catch our government’s attention.
Civilian War Memorial Park is a sacred area reminding us on the unity and the humiliations brought upon by the Japanese during their occupation.
Hence when one steps into the compound one should have the etiquette to be respectful for the many departed souls witness during the occupation.
When the race comes and as people staggered into the tower, they are going to drink, talk loudly, possibly smoke, dance a little, throwing up or defecating in the compound… ignoring the significant status it holds in all Singaporeans heart.
What has Singapore government become? As long as there is a profit to be made, they would turn a blind eye to almost anything, and anything goes if they can make a quite buck.
Where are the humanity and decency our government once had? What on earth are they thinking?
The message from our government to us is that, as long as there is money to be made, we can forgo any form of principles, humanities and decencies. We can basically flush all the Confucius teaching of “忠孝仁义礼义廉耻” down the toilet.
What a shame that Singaporean harvest this kind sort of government body. I propose to tear down the structure immediately and leave the sacred ground or the Civilian War Memorial to its peace and quite it deserves.
I’m hoping that Asiaone.com netizen please join me in the partition and write on the thread, the more respond in this thread the more we will catch our government’s attention.
My 20 cents on Brule's opinion on Singapore
Dear All
Here is a list of Monocle 20 most livable cities in chronological order.
Copenhagen
Munich
Tokyo
Zürich
Helsinki
Vienna
Stockholm
Vancouver
Melbourne
Paris
Sydney
Honolulu
Madrid
Berlin
Barcelona
Montréal
Fukuoka
Amsterdam
Minneapolis
Kyoto
I’d like to take this opportunity to share my experience after living and visited many countries around the globe. Here is my twenty cents.
First of all, Tyler Brule is a trend setter. He has a track record to prove it. I was fascinated by his vision in a, well, revolutionary magazine back then from the first Wall Paper publication till it was sold to Time Warner, and because not many people has his vision, including people that took over the magazine, all the faithful has since kiss the magazine goodbye.
Secondly, he is a true citizen of the world class. I met him twice in Taipei and New York, and each time I have a short but insightful conversion with him, of course I don’t even dream of hogging his time, as lot of people wanted a share of his time. The fact of the matter is that he is always understanding and keen to learn what we have to say, and trust me he is not into small talks.
Just with the above mentioned points, I’m very confidence that his base knowledge of the world is just what we can’t contain in our lifetime. He is not famous for being famous like Paris or Britney. He really has something to offer. If you read most of my thread in this forum, I’m not very easily amused by people. I would vote him as our PM if he wants to take over Singapore as a leader. He has the same vision how we want our world and the place we live to become.
Enough said, what he has pointed out so far, and I don’t think the he has a trace of white supremacy in his bones, in his speech regarding Singapore is down right to the Tee. The followings are some of the points he expressed.
1. Gay Tolerance
What he meant on this is that if a governance of the city, in this case city, have been more tolerance on gay issues, MDA can just stop it’s bigotry on the gay censorship, Singapore will appear to be a more diverse, not only ethnically but “creatively”. I know compare to the mid-east countries, North Korea and the list goes on but do we really want to compare ourselves to these countries though.
2. Changi Airport
I adores Singapore Airport, and the trip between the airport and destination.
I’m very much in awe with Singapore’s airport except for one aspect; it’s one of the most eyesore of all newly built airport, and I’m even more impressed with Taipei 2nd terminal then our airport. There isn’t architectural element in it.
My question is why would Singapore has so many great architecture, much more then Hong Kong, and yet the airport is to be puke on.
3. City that doesn’t Sleep
I’m not worried about that. Singapore is one of the more robust cities in the world when it comes to nightlife.
Imagine, England’s curfew on alcohol is at 12am. The U.S. excluding Nevada have their last call for alcohol at 2pm; don’t get me wrong, they have after or after after hour, but no alcohol served.
Don’t even get me started with their drinking age, U.S. is the worst, with a legal age of 21, and so far none of my friends started when they turn legal and they allow kids to drive at the age of 16??? You can see why I hate the U.S. now. The more you see the world and understand human, the worst the States sounds by the minutes.
4. Farris Wheel
I really have to question what Singapore is thinking about building that hideous wheel. This doesn’t score any points for Singapore architecture wise.
There are so many thing we can build but Farris Wheel? What a waste of tax payer money. This is trying to hard to impress without thinking things through. Again, how can they justify the extreme high pay of the ministers when that’s the result they show. Singapore wake up!!!
5. Invention that is uniquely Singapore
Sighting the example toilet he gave regarding the cleanliness of Japan’s toilet. I think is too extreme but there is a point there regarding the invention that can make a statement of the country.
I’m still thinking what’s uniquely Singapore that can be invented. Please tell me if you can think of any. I need input on this.
6. Farmers Market
This to me is all about educating Singaporean. What government can do is to encourage some cottage industry that can produce things like Kaya, Noyna curry paste, display them in a beautiful cart that they design, that’s packaged beautifully that people will be enticed to bring them home, in a recycled bag.
7. Japan Lawson
8. Encourage Production
9. Design Benchmark
10. Taipei
11. Outdoor Cinema
12. Public Pool
13. Public Transportation Choices
14. Incorporating River into Singapore Living
15. Outdoor Seats
16. Public Housing
17. Hanging Garden
For those who are interested the other opinion in these issue please indicate can I’ll continue with my twenty cents
Here is a list of Monocle 20 most livable cities in chronological order.
Copenhagen
Munich
Tokyo
Zürich
Helsinki
Vienna
Stockholm
Vancouver
Melbourne
Paris
Sydney
Honolulu
Madrid
Berlin
Barcelona
Montréal
Fukuoka
Amsterdam
Minneapolis
Kyoto
I’d like to take this opportunity to share my experience after living and visited many countries around the globe. Here is my twenty cents.
First of all, Tyler Brule is a trend setter. He has a track record to prove it. I was fascinated by his vision in a, well, revolutionary magazine back then from the first Wall Paper publication till it was sold to Time Warner, and because not many people has his vision, including people that took over the magazine, all the faithful has since kiss the magazine goodbye.
Secondly, he is a true citizen of the world class. I met him twice in Taipei and New York, and each time I have a short but insightful conversion with him, of course I don’t even dream of hogging his time, as lot of people wanted a share of his time. The fact of the matter is that he is always understanding and keen to learn what we have to say, and trust me he is not into small talks.
Just with the above mentioned points, I’m very confidence that his base knowledge of the world is just what we can’t contain in our lifetime. He is not famous for being famous like Paris or Britney. He really has something to offer. If you read most of my thread in this forum, I’m not very easily amused by people. I would vote him as our PM if he wants to take over Singapore as a leader. He has the same vision how we want our world and the place we live to become.
Enough said, what he has pointed out so far, and I don’t think the he has a trace of white supremacy in his bones, in his speech regarding Singapore is down right to the Tee. The followings are some of the points he expressed.
1. Gay Tolerance
What he meant on this is that if a governance of the city, in this case city, have been more tolerance on gay issues, MDA can just stop it’s bigotry on the gay censorship, Singapore will appear to be a more diverse, not only ethnically but “creatively”. I know compare to the mid-east countries, North Korea and the list goes on but do we really want to compare ourselves to these countries though.
2. Changi Airport
I adores Singapore Airport, and the trip between the airport and destination.
I’m very much in awe with Singapore’s airport except for one aspect; it’s one of the most eyesore of all newly built airport, and I’m even more impressed with Taipei 2nd terminal then our airport. There isn’t architectural element in it.
My question is why would Singapore has so many great architecture, much more then Hong Kong, and yet the airport is to be puke on.
3. City that doesn’t Sleep
I’m not worried about that. Singapore is one of the more robust cities in the world when it comes to nightlife.
Imagine, England’s curfew on alcohol is at 12am. The U.S. excluding Nevada have their last call for alcohol at 2pm; don’t get me wrong, they have after or after after hour, but no alcohol served.
Don’t even get me started with their drinking age, U.S. is the worst, with a legal age of 21, and so far none of my friends started when they turn legal and they allow kids to drive at the age of 16??? You can see why I hate the U.S. now. The more you see the world and understand human, the worst the States sounds by the minutes.
4. Farris Wheel
I really have to question what Singapore is thinking about building that hideous wheel. This doesn’t score any points for Singapore architecture wise.
There are so many thing we can build but Farris Wheel? What a waste of tax payer money. This is trying to hard to impress without thinking things through. Again, how can they justify the extreme high pay of the ministers when that’s the result they show. Singapore wake up!!!
5. Invention that is uniquely Singapore
Sighting the example toilet he gave regarding the cleanliness of Japan’s toilet. I think is too extreme but there is a point there regarding the invention that can make a statement of the country.
I’m still thinking what’s uniquely Singapore that can be invented. Please tell me if you can think of any. I need input on this.
6. Farmers Market
This to me is all about educating Singaporean. What government can do is to encourage some cottage industry that can produce things like Kaya, Noyna curry paste, display them in a beautiful cart that they design, that’s packaged beautifully that people will be enticed to bring them home, in a recycled bag.
7. Japan Lawson
8. Encourage Production
9. Design Benchmark
10. Taipei
11. Outdoor Cinema
12. Public Pool
13. Public Transportation Choices
14. Incorporating River into Singapore Living
15. Outdoor Seats
16. Public Housing
17. Hanging Garden
For those who are interested the other opinion in these issue please indicate can I’ll continue with my twenty cents
Stupid Government Breeds Stupid People
Stop advertizing to the world that Singaporeans are stupid
Attracting foreign talents to work in Singapore has been our government’s priority for many years. The government felt that we don’t have enough talented Singaporean work force to fulfill the demands of our job market. Since Singapore is facing an aging population much like the rest of the first world countries, inviting foreign talents to fill the gap of this disparity of our rate of population replacement, seems like a natural and idealistic path any country should adopt.
The most direct short-term solution includes having an open door policy for foreign immigrants but this is only scratching on a superficial face. Yes, the population might increase but the real question is where the royalty to the country lies? First generation immigrant will never pledge royalty to the country. They have no idea how we have helped built the Singapore society? How our country is molded to be socially harmonious, or how our civic duties and responsibilities are toward Singapore. We can always be proud to call Singapore our homeland. Can they say that? Will they want their children to be integrated to our society or education system so that we have the responsibility to teach them our civic duties at school? Please show me data otherwise. How many immigrants I know told me that they are going to be using Singapore as a stepping stone, a ticket to a better life somewhere else.
First generation immigrants do not have to serve the national service, but the second generation will have to protect the country by serving the military service. My question is, if the first generation does not feel patriotic enough to commit themselves to a 2 years mandatory service, what make you think that they are willing to allow their children to protect their country. Don’t forget, more and more Singaporeans feel that they need fulfill their duty as citizens to protect their own country, by being part of the military service. The kind of patriotism doesn’t come within 2 generation of immigrants. It takes time to propagate the thought into their minds.
In order to be fair to the male population in Singapore, government should at least make us feel better and not betrayed by having the first generation immigrants, age below 30, to serve in the military service like Taiwan or Israel.
We will be discriminated in the job market by having to follow up with our re-service obligations. What have the government done in order to protect us from the discriminatory act by companies that the heads of the department are new immigrants who doesn’t see the necessity for their employees, allowing them to take leave, of what is equivalent of an leave of absent, just because they are practicing in the field for combat reason as oppose to finish up their work for the company.
Right now, we as Singapore male citizens feel that we have been treated unfairly by the government. We have been nothing but patriotic to your country but in returned, the opportunities are in favors of the immigrants. Government should derive a compensation for those who has sacrificed for the country. For those who are serving the army, the wages they obtain from the government is dismal compare to their counterparts who are given a two-year head start. Compensation can come in many forms,
• 100% Education Subsides for all candidate if they are admitted to the university of their choice
• Healthcare Coverage Benefits for every male citizen who is still under the active or reserve mandatory services
I think this is the least our government can do for his citizens who have been actively participating in the military and police service.
I would very much appreciate if our government can stop mentioning that we need to import talent to fill the discrepancies that we are in so calls a “talent deficit” situation. Did it ever cross our government mind that by constantly stating the opinion, they actually think that we will welcome the foreign “talent” with our arms wide open? No, instead, they are making Singaporean feels inadequate, dump, less then and the list can goes on. The resentment between the people and the government will intensify. This is not a way to boost Singaporean’s morale. We have been constantly bombarded with the idea that we are not a talented nation. Even if we are not, Singapore is better not selling herself as an incompetent nation to the entire world.
So what say you when we are faced with a “talent deficit” situation? You know every thing is relative that includes the proportion talented civil servant vs. the basket of talent deficit population.
Government should try to find talent within its own country men or women first, instate of looking somewhere else for replacement. I have been living in many countries for over 20 years. I have been very sensitive toward each country’s policies that I have lived in; I have never seen a country that is so pro-outsiders in my life. People in the countries that I have come in contact with, almost all, except Hong Kong, can’t obtain a work visa as easy as Singapore, hence the citizens of these countries feel that they are protected by the government, they feel safe, each of them feel like their country is taking care of their welfare.
China is facing a talent insufficiency condition similar to Singapore, but do they open their doors so easily to the foreigners? No, they didn’t. Instead, they sent their own people out to be educated abroad so that they can fill the talent discrepancies in the future. Why is our government not looking at similar options for their people instead seeks shortcut for a short-term gain.
Importing people is not a long-term solution to replace the dwindling population. If incentives are not given to their own citizen to breed the next generation, who will be even more loyal to the country, the population replacement rate crisis will never be overcome. Has our government ever think of the situation where the rate of replacement keep declining, and we keep replacing them with immigrants, in a few decades, Singapore will be crawling with almost all new immigrants. Is that what we picture Singapore to be in the future? Where are we going to go in the future? What is there left for our next generations to do when not so talented but unpatriotic immigrants and foreigners occupy the entire country? Will our next generation afford to take care of us? If you can put this situation into perspective, we can picture class segregations, social unrests and how is this deterioration goes is up to your imagination.
One of the long-term solutions we can adopt is obviously increase population from within our country. If the government really wants the rate of population replacement to work, they have to simply compensate them more. This can be tackled on healthcare and education level, giving the citizen, full or almost full, subsides.
As more immigrants and foreign talents has increased through the years, higher job positions have been taken by the ever increased demographic, the gap between the poor and rich has become more and more polarized. It is part of the psyche that if one can’t provide quality to one’s children, they are reluctant to give life to the next generation. My brother is constantly worried sick from the fact that they have three children, and they might only be financially adequate to send one of the three kids to collage and not university.
Before the government give us a lip service that importing people to replace the aging population will not effect the job opportunity of local Singaporeans, I urge that our government to please convince us that they have run out of options and they are in dire need to import people to further diminish our odds of obtaining a job in the employment market.
Encourage adoption from abroad is also another route to achieve this goal. This act of adoption might not correct the lack of talent in the short run but it will certainly give the people, you call your own, a chance to work the problem out themselves. With brighter future, I doubt that any reasonable Singaporean will turn away any opportunity away to bare little patriotic Singaporeans.
My father used to tell us how poor Singapore is, and he had to leave Singapore to places like the Philippines and Malaysia to get work, I have been through some precious lessons on droughts, black-outs, racial and social riots, HDB stages of improvements and the list just goes on and on. We felt bad for our older generations; we promise not to repeat the mistakes. We know our civic duties, we have to conserve water, never waste it. We have to conserve energy because we are not living in country drowned with natural resources, and that the only natural resources are ourselves. Please give your own people a chance, do not diminish our spirit. I remember the Song; Count on Me, Singapore, on the same token, we should be able to count on Singapore, but so far if you really listen to the grass root civilians, you will be surprise how many people feel by avoiding of what they can do to make Singapore a better place anymore because they don’t see the reason why they have to help maintain Singapore for those immigrants who don’t even know their civic duties. The new immigrants didn’t know what we have been through, e.g. many don’t even know that we have to import water to our country.
It’s time for our government to stop living in their own truth. Making comment, which sometime make us feel like they are scolding their 5 year-old. Playing Almighty by deciding what is good or bad for us. We as a nation has growth and don’t need your protection anymore. Most importantly stop making us look stupid and STOP YOUR LUDICROUS BIGOTRY.
The most direct short-term solution includes having an open door policy for foreign immigrants but this is only scratching on a superficial face. Yes, the population might increase but the real question is where the royalty to the country lies? First generation immigrant will never pledge royalty to the country. They have no idea how we have helped built the Singapore society? How our country is molded to be socially harmonious, or how our civic duties and responsibilities are toward Singapore. We can always be proud to call Singapore our homeland. Can they say that? Will they want their children to be integrated to our society or education system so that we have the responsibility to teach them our civic duties at school? Please show me data otherwise. How many immigrants I know told me that they are going to be using Singapore as a stepping stone, a ticket to a better life somewhere else.
First generation immigrants do not have to serve the national service, but the second generation will have to protect the country by serving the military service. My question is, if the first generation does not feel patriotic enough to commit themselves to a 2 years mandatory service, what make you think that they are willing to allow their children to protect their country. Don’t forget, more and more Singaporeans feel that they need fulfill their duty as citizens to protect their own country, by being part of the military service. The kind of patriotism doesn’t come within 2 generation of immigrants. It takes time to propagate the thought into their minds.
In order to be fair to the male population in Singapore, government should at least make us feel better and not betrayed by having the first generation immigrants, age below 30, to serve in the military service like Taiwan or Israel.
We will be discriminated in the job market by having to follow up with our re-service obligations. What have the government done in order to protect us from the discriminatory act by companies that the heads of the department are new immigrants who doesn’t see the necessity for their employees, allowing them to take leave, of what is equivalent of an leave of absent, just because they are practicing in the field for combat reason as oppose to finish up their work for the company.
Right now, we as Singapore male citizens feel that we have been treated unfairly by the government. We have been nothing but patriotic to your country but in returned, the opportunities are in favors of the immigrants. Government should derive a compensation for those who has sacrificed for the country. For those who are serving the army, the wages they obtain from the government is dismal compare to their counterparts who are given a two-year head start. Compensation can come in many forms,
• 100% Education Subsides for all candidate if they are admitted to the university of their choice
• Healthcare Coverage Benefits for every male citizen who is still under the active or reserve mandatory services
I think this is the least our government can do for his citizens who have been actively participating in the military and police service.
I would very much appreciate if our government can stop mentioning that we need to import talent to fill the discrepancies that we are in so calls a “talent deficit” situation. Did it ever cross our government mind that by constantly stating the opinion, they actually think that we will welcome the foreign “talent” with our arms wide open? No, instead, they are making Singaporean feels inadequate, dump, less then and the list can goes on. The resentment between the people and the government will intensify. This is not a way to boost Singaporean’s morale. We have been constantly bombarded with the idea that we are not a talented nation. Even if we are not, Singapore is better not selling herself as an incompetent nation to the entire world.
So what say you when we are faced with a “talent deficit” situation? You know every thing is relative that includes the proportion talented civil servant vs. the basket of talent deficit population.
Government should try to find talent within its own country men or women first, instate of looking somewhere else for replacement. I have been living in many countries for over 20 years. I have been very sensitive toward each country’s policies that I have lived in; I have never seen a country that is so pro-outsiders in my life. People in the countries that I have come in contact with, almost all, except Hong Kong, can’t obtain a work visa as easy as Singapore, hence the citizens of these countries feel that they are protected by the government, they feel safe, each of them feel like their country is taking care of their welfare.
China is facing a talent insufficiency condition similar to Singapore, but do they open their doors so easily to the foreigners? No, they didn’t. Instead, they sent their own people out to be educated abroad so that they can fill the talent discrepancies in the future. Why is our government not looking at similar options for their people instead seeks shortcut for a short-term gain.
Importing people is not a long-term solution to replace the dwindling population. If incentives are not given to their own citizen to breed the next generation, who will be even more loyal to the country, the population replacement rate crisis will never be overcome. Has our government ever think of the situation where the rate of replacement keep declining, and we keep replacing them with immigrants, in a few decades, Singapore will be crawling with almost all new immigrants. Is that what we picture Singapore to be in the future? Where are we going to go in the future? What is there left for our next generations to do when not so talented but unpatriotic immigrants and foreigners occupy the entire country? Will our next generation afford to take care of us? If you can put this situation into perspective, we can picture class segregations, social unrests and how is this deterioration goes is up to your imagination.
One of the long-term solutions we can adopt is obviously increase population from within our country. If the government really wants the rate of population replacement to work, they have to simply compensate them more. This can be tackled on healthcare and education level, giving the citizen, full or almost full, subsides.
As more immigrants and foreign talents has increased through the years, higher job positions have been taken by the ever increased demographic, the gap between the poor and rich has become more and more polarized. It is part of the psyche that if one can’t provide quality to one’s children, they are reluctant to give life to the next generation. My brother is constantly worried sick from the fact that they have three children, and they might only be financially adequate to send one of the three kids to collage and not university.
Before the government give us a lip service that importing people to replace the aging population will not effect the job opportunity of local Singaporeans, I urge that our government to please convince us that they have run out of options and they are in dire need to import people to further diminish our odds of obtaining a job in the employment market.
Encourage adoption from abroad is also another route to achieve this goal. This act of adoption might not correct the lack of talent in the short run but it will certainly give the people, you call your own, a chance to work the problem out themselves. With brighter future, I doubt that any reasonable Singaporean will turn away any opportunity away to bare little patriotic Singaporeans.
My father used to tell us how poor Singapore is, and he had to leave Singapore to places like the Philippines and Malaysia to get work, I have been through some precious lessons on droughts, black-outs, racial and social riots, HDB stages of improvements and the list just goes on and on. We felt bad for our older generations; we promise not to repeat the mistakes. We know our civic duties, we have to conserve water, never waste it. We have to conserve energy because we are not living in country drowned with natural resources, and that the only natural resources are ourselves. Please give your own people a chance, do not diminish our spirit. I remember the Song; Count on Me, Singapore, on the same token, we should be able to count on Singapore, but so far if you really listen to the grass root civilians, you will be surprise how many people feel by avoiding of what they can do to make Singapore a better place anymore because they don’t see the reason why they have to help maintain Singapore for those immigrants who don’t even know their civic duties. The new immigrants didn’t know what we have been through, e.g. many don’t even know that we have to import water to our country.
It’s time for our government to stop living in their own truth. Making comment, which sometime make us feel like they are scolding their 5 year-old. Playing Almighty by deciding what is good or bad for us. We as a nation has growth and don’t need your protection anymore. Most importantly stop making us look stupid and STOP YOUR LUDICROUS BIGOTRY.
What has China done to deserve this???
I'm watching TV, a program produced by BBC called China Secret War, "as we speak". It’s basically a story about the arm supply to Sudan by the Chinese government that ended up in Darfur. You might now be able to derive what the content of this documentary is all about. If you don’t you might want to utilize your internet for this information. This topic has been widely discussed hence I won’t dwell upon the statistics of the war, nor would I want to state the specific of the history of this civil war.
Stories have been pouring out of the western media since the war begun but out of all the controversial elements in this civil war, reports on China secret arms deal with Sudan has been constantly reported. In fact 89% of the weaponry comes from Russia, on the contrary only a mere 8% from China. The propaganda launch to attack China is evident from this fact.
One question I always like to ask my western or western influenced friends, by western influenced I meant western colonized friends, when they made an attack on moral issue like this is; What have the Chinese done to you what make the west felt so threaten and insecure, that you have to attack our policies repeatedly?
Have they apologized for their wrong doings after the several raids and genocide that happened throughout the last two centuries? For those ignorant folks out there please check out the “Opium War” to start, and that’s just the Chinese Massacre by the English. How about also do a research on “the Eight Power Allied Force” that launch an attack on China just because they feel like it. Why haven’t they report on that? Why haven’t they returned all the treasures they have stolen during the war back to China yet?
The war on terror were later change to “liberalizing Iraq” after the weapon on mass destruction isn’t anywhere to be found. If the west is so good attacking a country for no good reason, why hasn’t the west done anything and take down the tyrant yet? Why is the suffering still going on at Darfur? Can you see the irony?
I JUST WANT THE WEST TO STOP THEIR BIGOTRY DOUBLE STANDARD, AND UNDERSTAND CHINA BEFORE they MAKE ANY BIAS COMMENT ON CHINA.
Stories have been pouring out of the western media since the war begun but out of all the controversial elements in this civil war, reports on China secret arms deal with Sudan has been constantly reported. In fact 89% of the weaponry comes from Russia, on the contrary only a mere 8% from China. The propaganda launch to attack China is evident from this fact.
One question I always like to ask my western or western influenced friends, by western influenced I meant western colonized friends, when they made an attack on moral issue like this is; What have the Chinese done to you what make the west felt so threaten and insecure, that you have to attack our policies repeatedly?
Have they apologized for their wrong doings after the several raids and genocide that happened throughout the last two centuries? For those ignorant folks out there please check out the “Opium War” to start, and that’s just the Chinese Massacre by the English. How about also do a research on “the Eight Power Allied Force” that launch an attack on China just because they feel like it. Why haven’t they report on that? Why haven’t they returned all the treasures they have stolen during the war back to China yet?
The war on terror were later change to “liberalizing Iraq” after the weapon on mass destruction isn’t anywhere to be found. If the west is so good attacking a country for no good reason, why hasn’t the west done anything and take down the tyrant yet? Why is the suffering still going on at Darfur? Can you see the irony?
I JUST WANT THE WEST TO STOP THEIR BIGOTRY DOUBLE STANDARD, AND UNDERSTAND CHINA BEFORE they MAKE ANY BIAS COMMENT ON CHINA.
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