Just.

Former opposition MP and former Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party, Mr JB Jeyaretnam, died of heart failure early Tuesday. He was 82 years old.

He was the first opposition member to win a Parliamentary seat in 15 years when he defeated the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Pang Kim Hin and the United People’s Front’s Harbans Singh in the Anson By-Election in 1981.

Credits

I remember even as a child, how passionate and fiery this man was about his beliefs and how he cared for the people, even though I might not have completely understood the issues then.

It was always about the people. One never saw JBJ seeking self glory. If there is one thing about JBJ, it is that he had always fought passionately and fearlessly for what he believed was good for Singapore.

Mainstream coverage on JBJ’s death understandably talks about his bankruptcy and disqualification from practising law. Not so understandably, they do not touch on why he was forced into bankruptcy and how he was wrongfully disbarred and deprived of his seat in Parliament. I am not linking to these reports out of respect for JBJ, whom I believe, fought the good fight.

May you rest in peace, sir.

**

The editors and writers of The Online Citizen would like to express their deepest condolences to the family of Mr JB Jeyaretnam on his passing.

Mr Jeyaretnam has been a true son of Singapore. A man who fought for his beliefs and whose determination, perseverance, grit and relentless pursuit of what is right is an inspiration for all of us.
Rest in peace, JBJ.

We will miss you.

Join the In Memory of JBJ group here.

*update – The wake is at Mount Vernon, Upper Aljunied Road, Funeral Parlour 1. Time: 7pm onwards. The funeral will be on Saturday.

Stylo – not so stylo after all

Given that it takes an estimated investment of US$150 million to host the F1 race, more thought and stringent screening should have been applied towards the selection of the organizer in the celebration party. Especially given the high profile media angle that will be bestowed upon the event.

STB’s Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive , Mr Lim Neo Chian, said the F1 was a “world-class event that could inject even more positive energy to Singapore”.

“Each season of F1 races attracts more than 500 million viewers worldwide. It is the third-most watched sporting event in the world after the Olympics and World Cup. More importantly, F1 appeals to all segments of society.”

“The Singapore F1 Grand Prix will attract an annual turnout of over 80,000 spectators, a large proportion of whom are expected to be visitors. During the race period, spectators do tend to spend on retail and F&B, especially those in the vicinity of the race venue. After the races, they will carry on partying and the various restaurants and nightspots all around Singapore, not just the Marina Bay area, stand to benefit from the many team receptions and after-race parties that will be hosted.”

And yet, Stylo, tasked as the event organizer of Stylo Fashion Grand Prix (SFGP), failed to deliver. Dick Lee, creative director of Stylo, might have pulled off a mean feat in the execution of the fashion show, but the other logistical nightmares that entailed signalled a major F9 flop.

Unexplainable screw ups

Simple valeting was badly mangled. Guests’ car keys were mixed up. Patricia Mok’s *friend’s car key was found in another guest’s car. Tell me how that happened.

One would also expect no less than a gourmet food layout for such a glamorous event, but well heeled guests like Celine Tan, a local socialite, was put off by the paltry offering of packet nasi lemak for the guests.

Background on Stylo

STYLO hosts the KL Fashion Festival for Malaysian designers to showcase their work. Other than their local fashion festivals, it does not have any experience in hosting other international or major events.

According to The Star (a Malaysian paper), even their core business of hosting the fashion festival was questionable – the 2007 Stylo festival drew flak for being poorly organized.

The person behind Stylo

Datuk Nancy Yeoh is the “president and CEO” of Stylo as cited in the website profile. In an interview with the New Paper in July this year, she openly admitted that she pulled strings to get into the London circuit – by asking her friend, Datuk Jimmy Choo (yes, that Jimmy Choo of the famous shoe fame) to “open doors and introduce (her) to people”.

It is perfectly fine to leverage on title and “who you know” to pull strings. It is quite another matter to deliver after the deal lands on your plate.

Datuk Yeoh was also interviewed on the local news channel. Her surprisingly poor command of language and poise made me wonder as to how she managed to clinch such a major project and if she did have the caliber to steer the direction of such a project.

I hate to be proven right in this instance but the party on Friday night sadly did so.

Accountability

The question remains now is – who awarded the project to Stylo? On what basis did it justify the awarding to Stylo? Who is to be accountable for the faux pas?

*edit – Thanks to Jo (reader) for the heads up. The car key did not belong to Pat Mok but was her friend’s.

There is simply no excuse for abandoning your children alone at home while you go partying. No excuse at all.

Partying mom gets 6-year sentence
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2008/9/4

SAITAMA–A mother who abandoned her children so she could party with her boyfriend was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for neglect resulting in the death of one of her 2-year-old twins.

She left the twins in the care of their 6-year-old brother.

Megumi Shimamura, 30, of Misato, Saitama Prefecture, had even blamed her son for the death of his younger brother during her 11-day absence, according to the ruling at the Saitama District Court.

Presiding Judge Yujiro Nakatani told Shimamura, “Such a heartless and inhumane crime makes one doubt (your) self-awareness, affection and humanity as a parent.”

Prosecutors had sought an eight-year sentence for negligence as a guardian.

According to the ruling, Shimamura, who is unemployed, left her house on March 3 because she wanted a break from child-rearing and to hang out with her boyfriend.

She reportedly told her 6-year-old son, “I will not return so take care of things.”

She also ordered him not to allow her grandmother, who was living in the same three-story house, to enter the quarters where the three children were living.

The son called the mother’s cellphone several dozen times a day but was largely ignored.

Shimamura’s grandmother tried to enter the rooms after hearing the children crying. But the eldest boy stopped her, saying, “Mom will scold me.”

Shimamura left hamburgers, bread, cookies and other food at the entrance of the house once or twice a day. But the food was not enough for the three children, the ruling said.

The twins’ diapers were never changed and the rooms soon became covered in filth.

On the evening of March 12, the 6-year-old called Shimamura to say that his younger brother would not wake up.

Shimamura returned to the house but did not have the courage to enter the rooms. So she went to a pub and got drunk, according the ruling.

The next day, the son called her again, saying, “He still won’t wake up.”

Before dawn on March 14, Shimamura returned home and found the 2-year-old boy dead with his mouth half-open in a playpen covered in garbage and feces.

She slapped the eldest boy’s face and said: “You are disqualified as my child. Though mama’s to blame, you’re to blame, too. You shouldn’t have eaten all the food by yourself.”

The 2-year-old boy had starved to death on March 12, according to the ruling. His twin sister was found seriously dehydrated.

Shimamura’s defense team said she could not get her family members to help out with the children, which created a situation that made her abandon her child-rearing duties.

The 6-year-old had told prosecutors: “Mom told me I was fired because I didn’t take care of the twins. It’s all my fault.”(IHT/Asahi: September 4,2008)

Yesterday I was invited to SPH for an interview with ST reporter Jeremy Au regarding TOC, our social work and what we were looking to achieve.

To me it is very simple. My work in TOC has never been about fame, hits or government bashing. Where there is a voice from the ground to be heard, when the people have issues that the government is not addressing, that is when I, as a writer, craft my words in TOC to be heard. Trust me, government people are paying attention to that site. Whether they act upon our words is a story for another day, but they are reading.

Government Bashing?

The TOC team comprises of working professionals, entrepreneurs and tertiary students. We have no time to squander on frivolities for its sheer sake. Where there is a problem, we will address it and on top of that, present a detailed paper outlining solutions. In that sense, we are not interested in being empty vessels who make a lot of noise but offer no solutions. Also, where there is credit to be given, we will acknowledge and take heart that our voices have been heard and acted on.

My words to Jeremy were:

I am neither pro PAP or pro opposition – and I am not interested in being partisan. Essentially, I am pro Singapore.

Fame and Hits

Fellow bloggers will know that I hardly participate in any bloggers’ events or community get togethers. I am not interested to be a celebrity/ famous blogger. To be brutally honest, I am more interested in issues than the popularity game. My writing for TOC has always been centric on important social and political issues at hand. Penning off with my name signals a transparency and my conviction to stand by what I say – that it is backed with facts and research. My purpose and aim in writing for TOC has always been clear upfront – to make sure an alternative voice is heard.

In writing for TOC, the hope is that I reach out to a wider audience whose primary interests (as signified by their reading TOC) are political and social centric. In that aspect, yes, the more hits the better, as it shows that we are reaching out to more people effectively.

A case in point would be my recent article on Melamine. It reached to more people than it would on my personal site alone. And that is what is important – the effective and swift dissemination of important news. And by the way, I don’t think I ever saw a comprehensive list in ST or other media. Do give me a heads up if you did.

Hesitation, Anticipation

Although this is not my first media exposure (previously my articles appeared in magazines like Young Parents and Vanilla), it is my first foray into mainstream media like ST. I was apprehensive, hesitant, excited, anxious, confident and hopeful. A strange myriad of emotions, you might think, but all for different reasons.

I am excited that with this ST exposure, we will be able to reach other to even more people and harness a greater voice. I am confident that I can present my thoughts and opinions succinctly and with articulation. However I am apprehensive, anxious and hesitant that there may be a heavy handed editing.

I hope for our words and objectives to be presented as they were spoken and not edited to suit a certain news pitch or angle. Most of all, I hope that we will not be blatantly misquoted.

The article will be out tomorrow in People and Perspectives. Do let me have your thoughts then.

*update – we got informed that the report has been postponed to next Friday.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE PASS ON TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

*latest update – here and here

*update – here*

What is Melamine? It’s a cheap compound composing of nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen. When combined with formaldehyde and exposed to extreme heat, melamine creates a moldable material that, when cooled, is virtually unbreakable and dishwasher-safe. As a plastic it is very safe, but it is dangerous when ingested over time.

Due to its high content of nitrogen, it has been added to milk in the milk powder scandal in China to fool the detection devices into thinking that it is normal milk. The devices do not actually detect protein itself, but the nitrogen content in the protein. When the milk farmers sell their milk to the middlemen, these middlemen dilute the milk with water and add Melamine so that they can sell more volume of milk to the big producers like Sanlu. These producers then sell their milk products to make things like infant formula, chocolates, ice cream etc.

In Singapore, the AVA has positively detected Melamine in 3 products so far. These are:

(more…)

I think it is time that the McCain brigade to focus on the real issues at hand and stop harping about the “lipstick on a pig” remark.

For crying out loud, it’s a frigging common analogy. Milking it for all it’s worth as a sexist weapon and gender discrimination is not only demeaning to women, it is insulting. I am a woman and I am not the least bit offended by Obama’s usage of this analogy in his speech. You are not doing women any favours.

Marc Ambinder shows that Obama is fond of using this analogy, way before the McCain team attempted to make it all about Palin. McCain himself has used it on Hillary Clinton too. Is he, by virtue of parallel argument, being sexist then?

If anything, Palin’s floundering in foreign policy is cause for concern. Her lack of knowledge (Bush doctrine, anyone?) and experience showed up in her interviews with the press. In terms of experience, she has nothing up against Biden’s 37 years of experience. Focusing on nitpicking of inconsequential comments at this point of time seems to indicate an inability to align importance to the real issues at hand. Or perhaps it is a smokescreen to defray attention from the real issues at hand?

Her policy positions are also cause for worry. She opposes abortion and will move to abolish abortion rights, even in cases of incest and rape. (more…)

I wouldn’t miss it for the world because

1. My kids get to tear around the garden and the yard with their aunties and uncles of similar ages. I am too old to do the “let’s see how many lanterns we can burn” stunt.

2. I get to be called ‘fat’ relentlessly and mercilessly which happens in every family outing – while my mother piles on more food on my plate.

3. It’s a combined birthday celebration for my dad and Gean.

This is my one and only brother. He is as retarded as he looks. And no, it does not run in the family.

This is my mama. Her hair is messed up by the useless fan which did nothing to alleviate the heat.

This is my dad and my two offsprings. BTW, my new nerd image – “teacherish”?

With an uncle like that, who needs enemies? LOL

Two candles – one for meimei, one for gong gong

Singapore has won its first gold medal in the Beijing Paralympics! Yip Pin Xiu has won the first gold medal in the 50 metre backstroke finals. She also clinched Singapore’s first silver at the Paralympics, in the women’s 50-metre freestyle finals.

Laurentia Tan has won 2 bronze medal in the equestrian events. This is a girl who had been diagnosed as “spastic” and refused educational opportunities here in Singapore. Thankfully for her parents who never gave up, she blossomed in UK and now, even “has a career, drives a car”. Stories like these always inspire me and give me hope. But I digress, again.

I can’t begin to describe how proud I feel of these wins. Contrast this lump in the throat reaction to the distinctively different reaction to another win.

Setting the pride and happiness for this win aside, I feel positively outraged that Yip is getting only S$100,000 for her gold medal under the Athletes Achievement Award (AAA) set up by the Singapore National Paralympic Council.I am outraged at the lack of publicity, hype and importance placed in the Paralympics. Laurentia is getting S$25,000.00 for her bronze wins.

Yes I am furious at this sublimate message that our disabled athletes are somehow and somewhat less worthy than the able-bodied ones.

A Paralympic gold medal prize = S$100,000.00

A Olympics gold medal prize = S$1,000,000.00

Even the trio who brought back the silver Olympic medal pocketed S$750,000.00.

Even if you might argue that both prize categories can never be equal, do you not think the disparity is simply too wide? If we were to be a truly inclusive society, surely this one glaring issue should be disserted for change?

Andrew Loh of TOC says

Thus, if the private sector had not put up the rewards, Yip and her winning colleagues would have been rewarded with … nothing? Pressed by NMP Eunice Olsen on whether the Government would consider “topping up the reward”, Mr Teo said that, in future, “cash rewards would still be solicited from the private sector and community.” It would thus seem that the Government would not be contributing monetary rewards to these Paralympics athletes. It makes one wonder why.

We were hanging out with the dogs the other day. They were namely, TK, Bear and Bruno.*sniggers*

There is a terrible misconception about big dogs. People seem to assume that they are all aggressive beasts who will bite at the drop of a hat. Actually small dogs can also be guilty of this. It’s a matter of training.

And well trained the dogs are. They waited patiently for us when we were having our dinner and again when we were having ice cream at Haagen Daz.

Look how docile they are with the girls.

Poor TK has to repeat the same old tired spiel to every single person, all 13,238  of them, who would stop and ask if the dogs will bite. Do we all look like people without common sense? Then again, there are many people who seem not possessing of a brain, so I try to empathize.

And he is really patient and passionate about educating people about his dogs, even those idiotic ones who made disparaging remarks. It does take an inordinate amount of patience to repeat the same thng over and over and over again.

From The Dawgs

I cannot emphasize enough though, that not all dogs are as well trained as TK’s dogs. That is why I always tell the girls never to assume as such.

As you can see, my kids really adore the boys.

Even random strangers love them. These students spend quite a few minutes playing with the boys and taking pictures of them.

I think it would be a fine day when the time comes that more dog owners are responsible and sensible like they should be, and people become more accepting and less judgmental of dogs.

credits to Wikimedia Commons

We brought the kids to check the much lauded Singapore Flyer the other day. To our utter delight and expectation, we were very much let down.

Save for taking shots of views like this,

we had to endure a rather boring circular journey that takes place at a slower than tortoise speed. It was exciting for like 0.14 seconds.

It is, I suppose, one of those things that you have to try once in order to claim that you have tried it and it totally did not rock your socks off.

Thankfully, I did not feel too hard done by as the kids had free tickets from the Bear a Bear birthday party for Germaine. But still, we had to buy two adult tickets which cost S$59.00. S$59!!!

Prices of tickets (for now):

Adult: S$29.50
Child: S$20.65
Senior: S$23.60

Indeed it got so boring that we took to making faces

S$59!! I think I’d rather spend the money on getting up on a hot air balloon. We went today, but were sadly disappointed – the weather did not permit.

Balloon Flight Information Launch Pad : @ Bugis (Tan Quee Lan Street) Operating Hours : 11.00 am to 9.30 pm Flight Duration : About 13 mins for 180m über flight About 10 mins for 150m standard flight Flight Altitude : über flight @ 180 metres (48 storeys high) Standard flight @ 150 metres (40 storeys high) Flight Capacity : Max 29 pax per trip Tour Fare: über 180m Flight : $29.00/ Adult (>12 yrs) $17.0/ Child (3-12 yrs) $2.00/ Toddler (<3 yrs) Standard 150m Flight : $23.00/ Adult (>12 yrs) $13.00/ Child (3-12 yrs) $2.00/ Toddler (< 3 yrs)

Flying to a height of 48 stories (which trumps the Singapore Flyer’s 42 stories in height), the balloon offers an additional thrill of sensory exhilaration. It is due to stop operations in end September. I wonder if it is a directive to protect the operations of the Singapore Flyer (after all it did cost a whopping $240 mil to build.. )

Isaiah has written a very well written and reasonable article on this and is of the opinion that while some factors that make for an interesting blog, such as good content and a good dose of opinions, are rather universal, the rest are subjective. That being the case, he says we’ll never be able to actually agree and line up the blogs into two distinct columns labeled ‘interesting’ and ‘irritating’. Such a simple and glaring truth and we need to point it out.

The wonders of blogging is that – one is free to articulate one’s thoughts, voice, opinions and whathaveyous freely though balanced with responsibility. You are free to blog however you want to, just like I am free to blog however I want to.

While I do not like certain blogs, I don’t demand or issue rules. I am much kinder and merely click that little x at the top right corner. After all, it is not very difficult to understand that if you do not enjoy reading a certain blog, feel free to disengage from it.

There really shouldn’t be rules, policing or regulation of how or what a blog should be. And I agree with My Grey World when she said:

1. Blog what you want.
2. Blog responsibly.

Of course as “consumers” and readers, we can wish for better content and degree of engagement. I agree that I would like to be engaged more in how people think and I am interested to know their opinions on different topics. There is certainly room for improvement when it comes to blogs that offer CoPy liKE tHIs (damn, it is hard to type like this!) and blogs that have little content to speak of. It says a lot about our youths who blog like that – and I wonder why. Well, there is always that little x in the corner.

On the other hand, I am glad that there are bloggers who are fighting the good fight to deregulate the internet and to encourage creative growth and responsible freedom of expression.

Power to you guys.

Racism, like any other obstacle in life, can either work against you or in your favor. What does not kill you will make you stronger. The Jews and the Malaysian Chinese have recognized these very well and have worked it towards their advantage by shining instead of whining.

An excellent article which takes on the pro-active approach versus passive aggressive verbalization who accomplishes nothing.

I know the feeling of being marginalized and fragmentation. I know the feeling of being judged and segmented, the air of superiority foisted on me when there is none – I know how it feels.

But I refuse to give in. And that is why I wholeheartedly agree with – “What does not kill you makes you stronger.”

Do you?

Article first published in TOC

From The Online Citizen

If there is one thing I have noticed about the culture of Singapore bureaucrats, the government ministries and government-vested companies, it is that there is a common love. The love of using money to solve every given little problem.

Inflation and fuel hikes? Push for a public transport hike. This is despite SMRT having posted record net profit of S$150 million last year. How much is enough?

Want an Olympic medal? Buy one.

Traffic jams due to poor policies and planning? Increase taxes.

‘When ERP was increased, we also reduced road tax and improved public transport. As a result, many more Singaporeans can now own cars. With more cars on the road, we need to increase ERP to keep traffic flowing.‘ Lee Hsien Loong – Prime Minister of Singapore

This is a parallel argument and I am ashamed it came from our Prime Minister. Can anyone see the flawed logic in this?

Being a small country, car ownership is logically a privilege, and not a right. Instead of legistrating measures to restrict car ownership, likely by per capita in each household, COE was lowered. Whether it is a calculated move to engage more car dealerships as a sweetener deal or as a bait to create higher percentage of car ownership – it remains that the “stop gap solution” of ERP was then offered by the cabinet and ministry in question. This is the ERP that was implemented because of a questionable policy. This is the ERP that has to be increased due to more cars on the road.

This is the ERP that is raking in S$160 million for the government.

After all, there has got to be a stream of income for ministerial salaries, buying medals and the likes.

**

Inflation has gone up by 6-7%, the highest in 26 years.

Oil prices escalated to a high of US$140 a barrel this year before stabilizing at US$115 a barrel. Compare this with the US$20 a barrel in 2000.

What is the impact?

• Lower income workers will have problems coping with the public transport hike.
• Vehicle owners pay more for their fuel usage.
• Some car owners might sell their cars as a cost saving measure. This in turn will contribute to the congestion ratio in public transport.
• Some folks might cut down on taxi rides due to the taxi fare hike .

Suggestions

• Cut down on commuting. Where possible, work near home or from home. This not only cuts down on transport expenses, it also contributes to lesser congestion on public transport.
• Lower taxi rentals. Comfort Delgro operates a fleet of 15,000 cabs or so under its Comfort and Citycab umbrellas. At a daily rental of S$90.00 (lowest) a day, the turnover for the company is at least S$40 million a month. The raison d’être for the taxi fare hike is because the taxi drivers find it hard to cover their rental daily and make a decent income after deducting rental costs. Again, it is a circular argument to push for taxi fare hike so as to break even with the rental. The solution is to lower the rental and if possible, to cap it at a monthly amount, instead of the current daily amount. This will address the concerns for days when the drivers are not able to drive
• Carpooling – personally I am a big advocate of this. Being a full time working mother, my pre-schooler goes to day care at about 8am. I have to pick her up after work before 7pm (closing time of day care centre). It does not make sense for us to take the bus or the train because of the time constraint – it would be stressful rushing around everyday. Secondly there is no direct route to our destination via either bus or train. Thirdly, it costs me $15 odd per trip in taxi fares but only S$5 per trip if I car pool – savings of more than S$500 a month.

The benefits of carpooling are as follows:

1. You reduce transport expenses.

2. You save on travelling time (direct route, no stops etc).

3. There is no driving stress or fatigue if you are the passenger.

4. You could read/ check emails/ work etc if you are the passenger.

5. You enjoy co-savings on petrol costs if you are the driver.

6. It is environmentally friendly.

7. It reduces traffic congestion.

8. It reduces parking problems.

My ideas may or may not work, but my point is, one does not require a million dollar salary to be creative and take risks in problem solving.

But if one is drawing a million dollar salary and not coming up with concrete or viable solutions – in the private sector, they say it is time for a review.

If you thought this was hilarious..

you should watch this one.

Very succinctly different when it comes to money and politics, mind you.

Lesson One

Man selling kidney due to poverty and circumstances – this one gets two weeks jail plus one more week for not being able to pay his fine, the loser.

Man buying kidney because he has the money and “had no intention to exploit the poor and socially disadvantaged.” – now Mr Tang who of course has no problem paying a measly fine of S$17,000 gets to walk away after only one day in jail – and even that is discounted to three hours.

Lesson learnt – if you are rich in Singapore, you can get away with anything, even someone else’s kidney. Money talks, bullshit walks.

**

Lesson Two

When it comes to politics, there is a big difference between EAST and WEST. And it’s all WP’s fault for not applying to have the cycling event in WEST Coast Park. Tsk.

Of course it has nothing to do with double standards, dictatorship, oppression and suppression.

Professor Ho (Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law & Ministry of Home Affairs) said to Mr Low Thia Khiang of WP, ‘You may be well-behaving, but there may be other people whom you come across when you cycle who may stop you, may want to debate with you and that may attract a crowd, and therefore will result in problems the police want to avoid.’

Of course, people will not do this to the PAP team! Who, in their right mind, would debate with people who simply 1. do not listen and 2. do not accept any other views except their own?

Conversely, following the same line of argument, it is correct of Professor Ho to assume that Singaporeans would then love to engage with WP . So astute, this Professor Ho.