Social Ills of Singapore

New Social Faultline-Increasing intolerance of a more self centred generation

Askmelah — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 07:05:30 +0000

Singapore and many of us have lost our way along the way ......

"(Amy Cheong's) comments reflect a deep seated racist attitude coupled with contempt for those who are less well off, or who wish to spend less. There are deep fault lines in our society, based on race/religion." - Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam

"I live in Holland Village, and I just can’t understand why people from the heartlands want to come here. We people are cultured, and you heartlanders are definitely not cultured.” -a Samantha, caller on 91.3 FM’s The Married Men show

Remembered the "" incident? With the increased affluence, people living in the public housing are no longer the poor or under-privileged like in the past. And with a ever more educated and more vocal generation of HDB dwellers, we are increasing witnessing many frivolous complaints from these dwellers, from burning of incense papers (Taoist's practice), noise, building of aged care facilities, to the latest incident of a heartless neighbour who complained about a dying neighbours reliance on two dogs to pass his dying days. While Singaporeans are no doubt getting richer, they are getting more nastier and more repulsive. The materialistic pursue that the Government has unintentionally cultivated is going to do more harm to this once lovely and beautiful country that we call our own. The Singapore we once knew and the Singapore of today present stark contrasts.

"To me, the Government has chosen the path of monetary and materialistic emphasis, plus enhancing its global image, over its citizens’ quality of life. The surge in population, which strains infrastructure; rising costs as people compete for jobs, goods and services; and the emphasis on casinos and wealthy foreigners to drive growth, all impress on young people the need to increase their material wealth, and they are then trapped in a rat race to achieve this.” - A new citizen Kenneth Ling

Perhaps what Acting Manpower Minister, Tan Chuan-Jin, wrote in his Facebook about how he embraces and celebrates Singapore’s diversity best sum up what we mere mortals should emulate:

“As I write this, prayers from Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka, our oldest Mosque in Singapore, are being broadcasted. This is part of our life. It is part of our landscape…together with the burning of offerings, void deck funerals and weddings, increased parking during Friday prayers or Sunday morning worship.

“Yes, there are many of such activities that can seem to ‘intrude’ into our personal space. Individuals write in to complain.

“But we all give and take. Most live and let live. Many are proud of this colourful tapestry that we have here. This is part of what it means to be Singaporean.

“The reaction of some individuals do not reflect the values that the rest of us hold on to.

“I for one embrace and celebrate our diversity.”

F1 reveals ethical dissonance

Source: 4 Oct 2012, The Straits Times

THANK you, Ms Anna Quek, for so eloquently expressing the concerns about the Government's decision to extend the hosting of the Formula One (F1) race for another five years ("S'pore GP: Full disclosure, please"; last Saturday).

Singapore risks evolving into a country of contradictions.

We welcome casinos and try to teach values in our schools.

We host a clearly environmentally hostile race, while we make increasingly loud noises about sustainability.

We also claim great pride in our reputation for integrity.

Yet, integrity is about doing the right thing, even if it costs one personally.

It means having to make financial sacrifices in order to preserve and build a long-term reputation.

I am increasingly concerned that we are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices because we cannot see beyond dollars and cents.

If we do not watch it, we may one day be called ethical pragmatists, which is an oxymoron.

Mak Yuen Teen

Use halls properly, or enclose them to minimise disturbance

From Helen Lim

Source: Oct 08, 2012

Many of us may have had bad experiences when events were held at multi-purpose halls in public housing estates. My worst encounter was a birthday celebration near my block. The users had turned the hall into a private discotheque, with music and shouting that could be heard blocks away. Empty beer bottles littered the lift lobby and stairs.

My neighbours and I finally decided to contact the town council for assistance. However, we were told to contact the police instead for the noise disturbance.

It is puzzling why the town council does not take responsibility or action to ensure that users of the multi-purpose halls adhere to the rules, especially when they receive feedback during the event.

Police resources can be allocated to more important or emergency matters. In our case, the situation continued till close to 11pm, and we had no choice but to call the police. The event stopped after two officers came.

Working adults usually look forward to a peaceful night and the weekends for a good rest.

For families with children, the worst fear is to face such a situation during the examination period.

There will always be inconsiderate people. If town councils cannot ensure proper usage of multi-purpose halls when they rent out the place and are unable to resolve problems on the event day, the halls should be converted into enclosed, air-conditioned halls.

This would make the event more comfortable, and the noise level would be minimised.

Neighbours complain, so man dying from cancer can't keep his 2 beloved dog

Source: STOMP, 11 Sep 2012

STOMPer Bernard sent in a video about an old man dying of cancer who is forced to give one of his two dogs away due to his neighbours' complaints. He feels that HDB should let the man have his last wish -- to live with his two dogs.

Bernard said:

"The man in the video, known as Mr Tan, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and his only companions are his two Schnauzers but each HDB flat can only keep one toy breed dog, so he has been trying to stay under the radar.

"However, his foreign neighbours kept making groundless complaints about his dogs being a nuisance. Now he is forced to send one of his dogs away.

"Although it is against the law to have two dogs but I feel that in circumstances like this, concessions have to be given.

"I sincerely hope Mr Tan will be given a chance to live out his days with his two dogs."

STOMPers Sharon and Ester also commented on the dying man's plight.

Sharon said:

"I came across this article and felt that this is not fair for the dying man.

"HDB would rather want a person who may have the possibility of death to give away his dog than leave the dog in a home filled with love.

"What has Singapore and our society become? Tearing families apart and only listening to one side of the story?

"Please be flexible. You are only listening to one side of the story and not even helping our fellow Singaporeans.

"You should learn to look at each case individually and not just follow your rules and regulations!"

Ester said:

"How compassionate are we? A dying old man with lung cancer only wants to spend his last days with his two beloved dogs.

"But this is not allowed? He may only have another six more months to live.

"Can't the law be more lenient towards a dying old man? How much stress is this society giving to this poor old man?"

The Amy Cheong Incident

extracted from Yahoo!News, 8 Oct 2012

"In her post on Sunday evening, (Amy) Cheong had put up a public status on her personal Facebook timeline, complaining about a Malay wedding that was being held at a void deck near her home.

Among other things, she related Malay weddings to high divorce rates, and asked how society could “allow people to get married for 50 bucks”, peppering her post with vulgarities.

In a separate post, she also allegedly wrote, “Void deck weddings should be banned. If you can’t afford a proper wedding then you shouldn’t be getting married. Full stop.”

She has since been fired from her job by NTUC and also made multiple apologies after her profanity-laced post went viral online, triggering an angry backlash from both Malay and non-Malay communities alike."

Past Incidents of Religious Disrespect in Singapore

Askmelah — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 02:46:46 +0000

Askmelah's Note: In a multireligious society such as Singapore, one should be mindful and respectful of each other's religion. There are always certain religion's practices that may look ridiculous in other religion but there is no need to belittle or disapprove their practices. As a Budha saying goes: "Buddism does not require other religions to be wrong in order for Buddhism to be right."

(this page is still work in progress)

Disclaimer: Askmelah is a free thinker. This post is not intended to target at any one religion. Do email me any other such incidents which have been reported by the mass media which I may have missed so that this post will be more inclusive.

NUS group's 'disrespectful' mission trip posters

Posters and online comments denigrating other religions have sparked an outcry at the National University of Singapore (NUS), leading to their removal and a reminder by the university's provost yesterday to respect the religion and beliefs of others.

The posters and comments were made by the NUS Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), which has since apologised and promised to be "watchful of future actions". The Singapore CCC is a Christian non-profit organisation active in tertiary campuses.

The posters were to spread awareness of the group's coming mission trips and contained comments about the pervasiveness of Buddhism and Islam in Thailand and Turkey respectively. (Source: Todayonline)

Outrage over NUS disrespectful mission trip

Paster Rony Tan

2010: Pastor Rony Tan made headlines when videos of him belittling Buddhist precepts such as rebirth, karma and nirvana were circulated on the Internet, creating an outroar. This led to the authorities warning him, after which he apologised.

Pastor Mark Ng

2010 (2008): Pastor Mark Ng has apparently made insensitive comments on traditional Chinese beliefs. In the 10-minute audio clip (which has since been removed at the request of the church) was posted on YouTube. In it, the church pastor, Mr Mark Ng, can be heard joking with the congregation about Chinese rituals; in one instance, he compared praying to Taoist deities to 'seeking protection from secret society gangsters'.

The church later apologised on his behalf: 'Pastor Mark offers his unreserved and unmitigated apology to the public for his insensitive comments... He humbly appeals to those whom he has offended to forgive him for this serious indiscretion.'

Pastor poked fun at Chinese beliefs

The unhealthy tuition phenomenon

Askmelah — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:00:56 +0000

Many parents in Singapore give their children tuition not because they can not cope but to get better (hopefully prefect) scores. No wonder enrichment classes and tuition centres is a billion dollar in Singapore here. Sometimes I wonder if the role is reversed and the parent is the student who was asked to attend all kinds of tuitions and enrichment classes, will he (mostly she the mother) like it? Why does something to the children what they themselves would not like to treated that way?

Too many foreign maids died unnecessarily

Askmelah — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:01:19 +0000

photo:KUAH BOO INN (Souce: AsisOne)

Relate articles:

Yet another maid had died unnecessarily, this one fell from 8th floor condo to her death. Over the years, there were simply too many maids fell down from the apartments. Some are accidents, some are oblivious to the danger of cleaning the windows of high rise flats, but there are definitely a sizeable clean-obsessed employers who ordered their maids to clean the windows despite knowing the danger. How often do you hear of Singaporeans and residents falling from their flats accidentally due to cleaning or otherwise? It is time for these unscrupulous employers to do serious soul searching. As for the maid, they are protected by law to not to endanger their own lives, it is simply not worth the money to lose one life over a few hundred dollars a month, much less if you consider one has to pay 8 months of their salaries to the agents.

"Declining to be named, she told The Straits Times on Monday that the desperate woman's eyes, wide with fear, have been seared into her memory."

[Updated 4 Apr 2012: Todayonline - the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday rejected calls for stricter work safety legislation for the FDWs as doing so would not address the root of the problem. The MOM instead pledged to enhance safety training for new FDWs. It also called on employers to be more vigilant and supervise the FDWs more closely in their work.... According to the MOM, there were six fatal falls - all involving maids who were cleaning windows or hanging out laundry - in the first three months of the year. In comparison, between 2007 and last year, there were a total of 24 such cases.]

Indonesian Maid Dies in 30-Storey Plunge in Singapore - "the maid had lost her balance and fallen out of the window, but managed to cling to it. She shouted for her employer, but fell before the woman could reach her."
Maid falls to her death from Jurong East condo Yet another maid falls to her death, 8th case this year

9th Indonesian Maid Falls to Her Death in Singapore This Year
Make homes homes safe for maids (The Straits Times May 12 2012)

Employers 'must work with maids'

Control the costs, not more subsidies!

Askmelah — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:00:39 +0000

The writer hits the nail right on the head. Why tax the poor citizens with high GST then give them offset packages and vounchers to offset his sufferings for a few years! Isn't that more works for the civil sevants unless the intention is create more jobs! Likewise whenever there is an increase in utility bills or school fees, this Government is always quick to announce 1) offset package to help the citizens 2) an increase in bursary and proclaim that "no student will be deprived of education due to cost". But a small increase here and there will not kill the frog instantly, if I may draw the analogy, the poor frog just got boiled slowly in a cooking pot until such time before it realises it, it has been cooked.

The Budget and what citizens want: Lower costs

Letter from Peter Loon Seng Chee

Source: Todayonline Feb 21, 2012

There are steps in this year's Budget to improve the lives of the elderly and the less well-equipped in dealing with the rising cost of living. The plans to lift incomes are also welcome.

The main question is: Will these incomes keep up with costs? I think more can be done to keep costs stable, especially those within the Government's control.

For food prices, this could be achieved by controlling the rental process at hawker centres.

In public transport, the additional buses are welcome, but fares for buses, trains and taxis could also be kept low if taxi rentals were lowered and the costs of the new buses and trains are not passed on to commuters.

In public housing, the authorities should tighten controls on the sale of flats and release them at affordable prices.

If such essentials are left to the market and profit-driven private operators, there would always be a lag between wages and living costs.

If we constantly fight to stay afloat, we would never be gracious but entrenched in the mentality of fending only for ourselves.

Unhappy people are not productive, and they do not make babies, either.

Some broken laws in this country that need to be fixed FAST

Askmelah — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:35:56 +0000

This thread contains some examples of the many broken laws in Singapore that need to be fixed.

On a side note, in a Straits Times 16 Feb 2012 titled "Judges do justice, not politics", Chief Justice proudly announced that "judges here do not let political considerations influence their decisions" in response to critics who charge that judges here make decisions that tends to favoured the Government. We shall hold him to that statement. Personally Askmelah is not convinced.

Matthew Chua - Does Singapore still have justice or not? (source)

I read with horror on the report that a public figure, albeit a TV personnel, was given 15 months’ probation for clashing with a cab driver.

It was a big pay day for Quan Yifeng’s lawyer and psychiatrist as their successful, virtually insanity plea managed to “con” the judge into offering probation. Mind you, this mentally distressed person was all this while still appearing on TV! So, one of the questions is, why is Mediacorp forcing us to watch a program hosted or guest-starred by a lunatic?

But more importantly, to audiences all over Singapore, did we see a distraught or even slightly mentally unstable Quan on any of the shows that were aired? The answer is a simple NO! So good job, District Judge Low Wee Ping!

Many years ago, I followed the OJ Simpson murder trial in the States. Back then, I proudly told all my friends that such craziness in the court’s decision will never, ever happen in Singapore. Oops, boy did I get it wrong! Quan is but one of the many increasing number of cases that demonstrate our prosecutions’ inability to process or punish the truly guilty!

Some weeks back, there was this lady who crashed her Mercedes into 4 stationary cars! How come you may ask? Because she was totally wasted! Despite her drunken state, she was still able to offer $20,000 bribe to cops to let her off easy. She too hired some big shot lawyers and got a psychiatric report. Her sentence? Jail for 8 weeks. Her sentence is really a joke because she could have killed someone while driving!!

All these examples have clearly shown that the rich and powerful are making a mockery out of our judicial system. They can hire fancy lawyers or psychiatrists and all go for the insanity plea. But, what about those people on the streets like you and me? Sometimes, we can’t even fork out the money to get proper legal advice or counseling, less employ them to fight out long court battles.

I ask myself why is the lady justice blindfolded? It is suppose to show that the same justice is meted out regardless of whether you are rich or poor. But, sorry to sad, the blindfold on our little city-state’s judicial system has been removed and it now only serves to protect the rich!

To me, the thing is simple. To keep crime rate low, we have to harshly punish those who do dare to test our justice system. The more lenient the court sentences, the bolder the criminals become. Whether you are rich or poor, should never be part of this equation.

Maybe it’s time to look at the judges and prosecutors who have dropped the ball and let all of Singapore down! I say let’s revamp our judicial system before we all lose faith with it.

So you want to be a Singapore "Scholar"?

Askmelah — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:16:39 +0000

Yes, it comes with big money and prestige, and may be even fast track promotion. But if your Bazi is no good or you step on the wrong toes, you may end up doing miserable things that you do not like and waste your most productive years doing unproductive tasks such as writing papers or becoming a highly paid PA. So at the age of 18, think doubly hard or triply hard before you sign on that dotted lines. There is no free lunch afterall in this world. I have seen some miserable "scholars".

Letter from the family of the late Dr Allan Ooi

Source: AsiaOne Mar 31, 2009

We write in response to MINDEF's ST Forum statement on 23 March regarding Cpt (Dr) Allan Ooi Seng Teik, who ended his life on 3 March 2009.

Allan was proud of his SAF study award and pursued his studies and housemanship enthusiastically. His 12-year bond was to include two specialisation courses, and that it could be terminated, subject to liquidated damages.

The following is an excerpt of his last email:

"My job was terrible - no joy, no satisfaction, 10-14 hours a day of nothing. A prison. One of my own forging, perhaps, by signing a contract with the SAF at the age of 18. Youth was not an excuse, yes, but I refused to accept being deceived into believing things about the nature of my employment that were simply untrue. 12 years of bonded service became potentially 15 or 16, became unbreakable. How can a bond be unbreakable? How can it be extended at will by an administration, simply by passing a paper?

And how can the people subject to this bond not even question it, but instead sit in silent resentment and ultimate dissatisfaction?

I was angry, so angry, which stemmed ultimately from a sense of waste and imprisonment so profound that I had no choice but to leave it entirely. To the people within this system, please change it to better benefit yourselves and future generations, instead of creating a self-perpetuating cycle of, at best, painful obligation, and at worst, utter despair.

That was certainly the main cause for my severing of ties."

Other speculative reasons have appeared detracting from the real reasons for his drastic action so plaintively explained by Allan himself.

We ask for details of Allan's discussions with his superiors and how a contract is subject to policy changes, including prolonging his bond by three years for one six-month specialist course.

Importantly, why would a bond be breakable only in "strong, extenuating circumstances" when this was not stated in his contract? What are these? We now know Allan wrote to HQMC Manpower in July 2008 with the intention of breaking his bond. What was the outcome?

We feel Allan's concerns can only be addressed effectively via an inquiry by an independent panel with oversight powers. We hope to help bring possible deficiencies to light in order to avert a similar tragedy and pain to other families.

Family of the late Cpt (Dr.) Allan Ooi

IT for IT sake? An unhealthy rush to adopt new technologies by schools here

Askmelah — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:38:22 +0000

“Without conclusive findings, heightened usage of ICT might not necessarily mean better-quality education for our students … [there is a] a plethora of unreliable information online, instances of plagiarism, and an assortment of distractions – for both teachers and students”.

ICT In Schools: Blind Obsession Or Genuine Necessity?

The recent furor over the River Valley High School to adopt the IPAD2 by requiring all students to buy the IPADs at unsubsidised rate begs the following questions:

Why there is no coordinated efforts from the MOE on the IT adoption?
How can a school push a blanket adoption when the benefits are not yet proven?
Is it right to mandate the adoption of a particular brand rather than brand neutral?
Is it right to adopt a proprietary technology (iOS) in this case rather than an open system such as Android where competition will drive down prices and encourage innovation?
Why the set is sold at unsubsidised rate (at a "special" bundle of $7++ for the cheapest model with inclusion of screen protector etc vis-a-vis $668 available in many stores islandwide)
What assistance has the school give to the students from poor family? What if the family who are poor but not eligible for school assistance? Will it add to the financial burdens of these families?
Will the students using the IPADs addicted to Facebook and games, other than for school works used? Will the addictions outweigh all the benefits of the IT learnings?

The cost is not a one-time cost, how about cost associated with frequent hardware upgrade, battery and other hardware problems associated with IPADs? (Apple is notorious in nudging their users to upgrade their hardware years after years with their annual refresh of the product lineups! You can bet that the students will ask their parents for an upgrade when their batteries wear off) While some students (Student to parents: Lay off the incredible iPad) are quick to embrace the concept, it pays to think hard from the educators and parents point of views as well. The benefits of using ICT is yet to be proven, history has been laden with some high profile and expensive failures such as IDA's BackPack.NET program (using Windows tablet with IDA "investing" $20m).

As pointed by Guanyingmiao which has written an excellent article on this topic, "the novelty of the iPad (and ICT in general) will tempt educators to adopt them as the easy way out, under the guise of expressions like “collaborative education”, “interactive, user-based lessons”, “academic-scholastic breakthrough”, “innovative implementation of activities” et cetera. The assumption that technology automatically enhances teaching-learning experiences is extremely fallacious; so unless schools are willing to take more calculated, sound and practical approaches, we must remain wary."

Just because we can afford, it doesn't mean that we have to!

(Updated: according to a RV student I know, he said majority of his classmate have actually placed the orders for the IPAD2. It is kind of surprising as almost every family that I know has at least one IPAD, but on deeper analysis if the IPAD is to be used for school works, it can not be shared, so these students are forced to buy one more just for the school's IT learning. This is over and above the more than $400+ that they already spent on books. Thus it is indeed a heavy burden to students belonging to the lower income families.)

Some of the most unusual "western" names (work in progress)

Askmelah — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:22:48 +0000

Many younger generation of parents like to give their kids an English (or more commonly known as Christian or western) names, irregardless of whether they are Christians or Catholics or not. This phenomenon is especially pronounced in the Chinese community (as one forumer commented: it seems Chinese worldwide are using it. The Koreans and Japanese don't do it. Are Chinese more susceptible to cultural attack?) and a small minority in the Indian and Malay communities as well. It is a free country and anybody can call whatever names they like for themselves or their children, just that please spare some thoughts for the poor kids who may have to bear some unusual annoyance due to the poor choice of the names by their parents. Some of the ridiculous and famous ones are Monica Chng (touch your backside in Hokkien), Jasmine Gwee (What are you eating?), Michael Tan (egg seller in Cantonese). But the trend is many are outdoing one another by inventing new names by changing a letter or two to make it "uniquee". Some are down right weird or hard to pronounce, here are some examples that I have come across:

Honey,Atomic, Nuclear,Baby, Ezekie, Izael, maximus, visa, Faymond (a play on Raymond)

Some of the weirdest English names that I have come across from the younger generation of mainland Chineses include:

Welcome, Lipton, Summer, winter, spring, German, Lotus

This article is still work in progress as I come across more and more weird names.

Reated links:

Need to clamp down on subtle profiteering

Askmelah — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:27:12 +0000

It has been known for years that many companies, private and government linked companies alike, are always quick to attribute the cost to the slightest rises in cost but are mum when the cost recedes and happily profiting the extra profit. While this phenomenon may also be practising elsewhere, but "honesty" and "integrity" have been extolled by our leaders and foreigners alike, we ought to do better than that. Government is also guilty of "closing one eye" and allow such practices to go on for years. Sometime, a warning or subtle nudging will be able to tame such unscrupulous behaviour in the long run.

Why prices stay up when costs go down

Source: The Straits Times 4 Feb 2012

WHILE the media often reports on price rises in essential items and foodstuffs such as rice, wheat and coffee, subsequent falls in the prices of such items are reported less diligently, affecting the country's fight against inflation.

For instance, in 2010, the media rushed to report on the doubling of onion and garlic prices owing to bad weather in China and India.

Housewives hoarded onions and garlic and restaurants raised their dining prices.

And around this time, coffee shops increased the prices for coffee and tea citing a hike in commodity prices.

Today, garlic and onion prices have crashed to prices below those publicised in 2010 because of good weather, and the increased planting brought about by the earlier jump in prices.

Prices for tea and robusta coffee, the kind normally used in our daily heartland cuppa, have fallen by up to 15 per cent.

However, the media has been silent on such drops in prices, and restaurants and coffee shops have not reduced their menu prices despite the lower costs.

It may interest readers to know that cocoa prices had fallen by 50 per cent between March and December last year.

Yet, I doubt if we shall ever see Cadbury's 250g chocolate bar again, although the cocoa price spike was given as a reason for reducing the per bar weight from 250g to 200g, while the price per bar stayed the same.

Rising raw material prices are often cited as the reason for increasing the prices of end-use products. This contributes to a higher rate of inflation in Singapore.

Failing to publicise falling commodity prices is detrimental to consumers' welfare, as they are not kept informed of actual market conditions and prices, and suffer higher household expenses even when the reasons for the price increases have diminished or disappeared.

Reporting on commodity price trends is difficult and speculative. But one-sided reporting of just price increases - without alerting the public when prices drop - will feed into increased expectations of businesses and the acceptance of higher food costs by consumers, to their own detriment, and fuel inflation.

Lim Wei Jan