International Women's Day and Gender Equality

(Images courtesy of The Girl Effect, UN Women and HeForShe)

新加坡人讨厌中国人的真正原因

前几天在报纸上看到一篇报道，指中国有人写了一篇文章，企图说明新加坡人为何讨厌中国人。作者认为其原因是中国人抢了新加坡人的饭碗，因为新加坡人懒惰，不愿从事某些工作。我没有找出这篇文章的原文，但从报道中可以大略知道这内容。

报道原本可以针对文章好好地探讨新加坡人讨厌中国人的问题，只可惜它只是围绕着新加坡人是否真是懒惰这点，浪费题材。首先我要指出，新加坡人不因为中国人抢我们的饭碗而讨厌你们，因为那些被大多数中国人取代的工作本来就是由其他外劳做的。中国人要取代新加坡人的工作还是有限的，不管是政府规定还是商业考量。

中国人之所以可以取代其他外劳，抢他们的饭碗，是因为中国劳工相对比较便宜。要是中国劳工知道他们应有的价值，他们应该会不满而要求更高的薪酬。那时别人也会说中国人懒惰而取代他们，因此这里说的是一个钱的问题。

那到底是什么原因使到新加坡人会讨厌中国人呢？那就是大多数到新加坡的中国人让我们见识到了什么是没礼貌、不文明。他们破坏了，或最低限度影响了，我们的社会文化次序与习惯。我要问：难道排队买东西、搭公共交通很难吗？

我本身在上个星期就碰过这么一件事。我和我的同事在吃中饭，我的同事离座买吃的去。很多人过来询问可以不可以拿我的同事的椅子，有印度人，菲律宾人等等。哪知突然有个中国人不问自取地就把椅子拉走。我必须喊住他他才把椅子放回。

新加坡人其实不讨厌外劳，也不会针对任何一个国家的人。所谓入乡随俗，我们只是希望中国人能尊重新加坡的社会次序和生活习惯。当然，我们不能一竹竿打翻一条船。新加坡没公德心得人不少，好心的中国人也有。我就曾经碰过一对热心的中国情侣帮我截计程车。

Time to change our immigration policy?

In light of the discussions in the newspapers recently on Singapore becoming overcrowded, economic downturn with job losses, and crimes committed by foreigners, I think it is about time Singapore reviews her selection criteria of her immigration policy. IMHO, the selection criteria should base on three aspects:

1. Lack of minds - Singaporeans are known for our good minds on books and work processes but we do have a problem in finding a many number of creative and inspirational minds. We have no choice but to import and we always have use for people who can see things from different perspectives.
2. Lack of skills - So far, Singaporeans have been outstanding in manufacturing, engineering, financial, medical, and education but are still relatively weak in creative and performing arts, designing, advertising, etc. Even in fields we are strong in, we still have a long way to go in matching the developed countries and can use more external help.
3. Lack of businesses - If a certain business or industry requires resources that Singaporeans cannot provide, it will not be here. So if we want that business to gain a foothold here fast, then we really need to import wholesale, employers and employees alike.

Therefore, with such clarifications, we have no excuse to import workers for jobs which employers keep saying Singaporeans shun because the jobs are too menial or dirty. I am sure Singaporeans will take up any job as long as the price is right. Pay them enough for their efforts and their costs of raising a family here. When both the workers and jobs are valued highly, I am confident people will take pride in what they do and service quality will improve.

Sure, I can hear you screaming, two sentences earlier, "What about the cost? Higher salaries to workers means higher charges we consumers have to pay!" I say in the long run we will gain, because consumers will then appreciate anyone servicing them more and not treat them as though they own them. And even if consumers feel that by paying more means they can demand even more, is it worse than now?

And the bottom-line is, wouldn't it be more generous, more charitable, more patriotic to pay for the job of a fellow countryman, even if it costs more? Thus it's time. It's time to change. Put a cap to the number of foreign workers we import.

I feel for the Serangoon Gardens residents

The Ministry of National Development has decided to go ahead in the building of a foreign workers' dormitory at Serangoon Gardens and I can understand the concerns the residents have as well as their worries and anxiety, no matter whether they are rational or not, even though I don't live there. I am not saying we should discriminate against foreign workers and treat them differently but I will be lying if I say I won't feel threatened to my way of life when a large group of foreigners living within my community. I have no doubt that the government has done its homework, made the necessary feasibility studies, logical reasoning and logistical planning. However, it is missing the big picture, the most important factor of all, and that is the feelings of the residents: its people. What happens to the annual message of "one people, one nation" that comes around every National Day? What is being a Singaporean going to be like when we no longer lives in a Singaporean community?

A formal reply from MDA

I have received an email from MDA, making a formal explanation to my feedback (see my blog entry two posts ago). As usual, their formal explanation reads just as much as any template, relegating all responsibilities to Mediacorp being a commercial entity. So does that mean being a commercial broadcaster can shirk all social responsibilities as the only national broadcaster? Below is the text from the actual email:

2. MDA provides funds (received from Radio and TV licence) to Mediacorp Ch 5 (the dedicated National sports channel) to carry significant sporting events. The individual channel will then, decide on which event to cover and what not to. The bigger and more important events will take priority, some of which are the Olympics Games, the Asian Games, and the Southeast Asian Games. Since most live-action sporting events command high licensing and telecast costs, it is unfortunate that it has been Mediacorp's commercial decision to drop the World Cup's 3rd round of qualifier between Saudi VS Singapore. As you may know, in the case of the Pre-World Cup Qualifiers, there are four contenders in the 3rd round, namely, Singapore, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan. Each country will meet their three other opponents in a total of six “home and away” matches. For example, Singapore will play three “away” matches against Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan in their respective home countries and three matches at “home” in Singapore against the same opponents. We have decided to cover all the home matches as they will feature every other country in the group. The first of these home matches will be on 12 March when Singapore meets Lebanon followed by the matches against Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan in June. Hope you will tune into the upcoming matches that will be held in Singapore on Channel 5

Update on May 1, 2011: The govt has finally abolished the Radio & TV licence.

I got a call from MDA

I excerpted part of my previous blog entry and filled it in the feedback form I found on the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) website last week. Then today, I received a phone call from the Media Development Authority (MDA) asking me whether I am serious about cancelling my TV licence. Haha, how funny is that? The MCYS actually did take notice of my feedback and apparently redirected it to the MDA. However, what I wrote was a sarcastic complaint, not a service request! Hello, anybody home? Anyway, I am heartened to see that the feedback function in a governmental website is not just for show only although more care and seriousness can be taken to attend to any reply.

Open Letter to LTA

Below is an email I wrote to My Paper in hope of being published as a feedback letter to LTA.

--- START OF LETTER ---

Re: Time to tweak the COE system and improve public transport

A lot of discussion and grievances has been aired recently about the new ERP gantries and most of the points raised by various have been valid in my opinion. Hence I will not go into anymore details about LTA's decision to set up more ERP gantries. Instead, I will like to focus on the overall congestion problem on our roads we are facing now.

Singapore has a lot of roads. However, I sometimes question whether it is necessary for us to build so many roads, roads that occupy precious land space that can be put to better use otherwise. COE is established with the foresight to limit the number of vehicles on the road and it is a good system.

However, it seems that LTA has not been actively restricting the number of certificates released, resulting in a steady growth in the car population to a state where our roads can no longer sustain. I understand that LTA has explained before a formula they use to calculate the number of COE to release to the market but apparently, it is not working.

Therefore I wish to propose a few changes to the COE system:

1. Instead of basing the formula of releasing the number of COE on the amount of road space we have, we should calculate the appropriate number of COE base on the number of households we have. Perhaps the number could be proportional to a set of households with substantial income.

2. Allow households that do not own a car to have priority in bidding for COE. Only COE not utilised then will be opened to two-time buyers.

Of course, the COE system cannot solve the congestion issue by itself. One reason why people still want to purchase cars is that our public transport system are been taxed to the limit with our increasing population. Our MRT barely move fast enough to cater to the peak-hour crowd. If the government is looking at increasing Singapore's population to six million by the next decade, it needs to design and maintain a more efficient public transport system.

Thank you.

--- END OF LETTER ---

我报特约专栏读后感

今天读了卓炜峰在我报特约专栏文章《里有余而心不足》，对其内容有同感，但也觉得他还有很多要点可以写出来，可能是碍于版位的限制才没写吧。

我覺的新加坡现在正在失去自我，越来越没有家的味道，只是一个国际城市罢了。我也曾问过，为什么我会有这种感觉呢?我看了他的文章后，突然有个想法。

我认为问题出在新加坡的移民政策。不要误会，我是欢迎外来客的。我本身就有许多外国朋友。
我有意见的是，新加坡的某些移民政策，使到外国人很容易就得到新加坡公民权。这使到我失去了做为新加坡土生土长的人应有的独特感。

另一个问题应该是外国人（包括永久居民）和新加坡人的比例严重失衡。现在乘搭地铁，听到的语言和口音越来越多种类，有如身在异国，新加坡人成为少数人。虽然这并不是一件坏事，但也未必见得是一件好事。

＊＊＊以上观点，纯属牢骚。若有不妥，敬请原谅。＊＊＊

Civil Servants and Ministers Pay Rise

Dear Prime Minister,

I understand your concern in retaining talents for the public sector for the benefit of serving fellow citizens. Hence there is a need to peg the wages of civil servants and ministers to the professionals of the private sector.

However, how can we know that these civil servants and ministers (apart from you, of course) are actually performing at the same level as their private sector counterparts to justify the pay increment? I feel that there is a need to demonstrate that the very civil servants we are trying to retain are displaying high work attitudes.

Sorry for being so negative but I simply have heard so many examples of inefficient, inflexible and sometimes even ignorant civil servants that often hinder than help us.

Your Concerned Citizen

Mahjong Tournament Not Able To Be Staged!!!

Aiyo... why like dat? Just because a dodo complained to three newspapers, the police has decided not to give out permit for the Yishun Community Club to hold the tournament! This is stupid. Exposure brings knowledge, knowledge brings power; the power to better prepare oneself against doing anything stupid or being easily influenced by others. Besides, mahjong is a more strategy-needed game than poker and yet the world poker tournament is held here! I say this is bias. To the person who complained, I say you go play the game first; know the game and you will see the beauty of it and not be blinded by one-sided reports and hearsays.

What Say You: Sex Sells?

Someone posted in the STOMP Forums that using scantily-dressed girls to promote IT as in the Tech Chick section or any other products as a matter-of-fact, is degrading and should be prohibited. In other words, this girl below should be banned. I feel that whether to ban such 'exploitation' should depend on how the pictures are shot and the concept of using them is drawn. Obviously one should be able to differentiate between tastefully done and downright cheesy. But then again, that is my brain talking, other parts of me may not agree...

What a downpour!

According to an article in STOMP（http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/viewPost1020.aspx), the storm over the past two days has resulted in one of the heaviest rainfalls in 75 years in Singapore's history! Floods galore. There was some sunshine to be seen today and it was definitely welcomed.

Can English has simpler spelling?

What if the English we know today undergoes a revolutionary reform? Whut if we all rite like this and spel wurdz the wae thae sound? Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about the shorthands we used in actual abbreviations, SMSes and emails. I am talking about spelling English words phonetically. Allow me to point you to this interesting article by CNN.com, "Puush for simpler speling perzists".

Note: You may get a headache reading that article but you will applaud the effort the writer put in to use a totally new spelling system for a third of the article.

How to pursue?

Channelnewsasia has an article on the situation that local undergraduates are reluctant to pursue PhDs. It gives some reasons as to why local students choose not to continue studying and that universities are trying to rectify the issue by giving out more grants and stipends. However, I think there are other concerns the students have.

One reason I feel that is very much relevant is a clause in the agreement for students accepting a stipend. This clause states that if a student fails to complete the study and graduate, he or she has to pay back every single cent he or she has received. I feel that this is a great concern and pressure that is holding potential postgraduates back.

Why is this so? It is because doing a PhD is unlike doing other courses. You may never know whether you can graduate as it depends on inspiration as much as hardwork on a thesis. It thus becomes a huge gamble with big odds. The commitment is great too as it requires 4-6 years. If we are talking about a $2K per month stipend for 4 years, that amounts to $96K. Not every one will have the ability to pay back that amount. And this has yet to include the money one could have earn if not studying; the salaries are for us to keep in exchange for our hardwork.

Therefore, to help alleviate the situation, the stipend for the first one or two years should be given without any condition. After two years, one will have known whether he or she can make it. Then there will not be any unhappiness or regrets. More people will thus be encouraged to at least give PhD a shot.

[争锋相对] 新加坡人笨吗？

我觉得新加坡人笨。你一定会说新加坡有许多世界第一，在不同的领域都有杰出的人才，怎么会笨呢？我同意新加坡人在政治，经济，管理及处理问题等方面非常聪明。可是新加坡人在社会，人文和待人处事方面却真的是很笨。

Pssst...我才刚刚被我的弟弟说我笨...sheesh...

Help Tsunami Victims

The result for my final two modules is out. I am given 2 B's, a result much better than I have expected. This effectively brought my C.A.P. score to 3.20 and with that, I met the requirement for graduation. I can now celebrate my attaining of a master's degree.

The massive earthquake (9.0 on the Richter scale) off the island of Sumatra, Indonesia and the tsunamis (tidal waves) subsequently triggered by it have so far claimed almost 70,000 lives. The whole world is now conducting the biggest relief effort ever to help the affected countries and their people. Let's hope that help can reach the victims in time and the death toll can be kept to the minimum by preventing diseases from killing more people.

Anyone who wishes to make a donation to help the people, please refer to here for more information.

Apology Forthcoming?

How usually does one react when someone offended him/her with words? For me, I will wait a couple of days for an apology before commenting, in case I aggreviate the problem more than I should have. However, it has been about five days since the Taiwan Foreign Minister insulted Singapore and yet no apology has came from him. It's totally unacceptable, with him being a person of an important position. So Singapore should demand an apology which is only right. But then again, Singapore should not go into a war of words with him or his government. That will just be degrading ourselves to his level. So now I just feel pity for the people of Taiwan. I am so sorry that they have such a person representing them to the world. And my sorry is definitely not an apology :)