Reply to Miss Ooi: Why opposition MPs can't be advisers to grassroots bodies

So today I read a reply on the ST Forum from the People's Association and it really reeks of stupidity. You can read it here, and I will reproduce it here for archive sake:

Why opposition MPs can't be advisers to grassroots bodies  

WE REFER to Mr Muhammad Yusuf Osman's letter yesterday ('Advisers to
grassroots bodies should be elected MPs'). 

The mission of the People's Association (PA) and its grassroots organisations (GROs) is to bond the community and connect people with the Government. PA and its GROs serve all residents regardless of their political affiliations in fulfilling their role. 

Grassroots advisers are appointed by PA, a statutory board. Besides connecting people to people, grassroots advisers are required to help the Government connect with people and help promote government policies and programmes such as anti-dengue and active ageing. 

Hence, the Government has to appoint grassroots advisers who support its programmes and can play this role well. Opposition MPs cannot be expected to do this and thus cannot become advisers to GROs. 

Ooi Hui Mei (Ms)
Director
Corporate and Marketing Communications
For Chief Executive Director
People's Association

I  really find this reply super bizarre, and in no place did she substantiate anything. So I wrote her an email, and let's wait for her reply. My thoughts are in the email, so have a good read! Oh yeah, email her too if you want!

#####


From: Kie Zin Teng
Date: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Subject: Reply to your Forum Letter
To: ooi_hui_mei@pa.gov.sg


Dear Ms Ooi,

I read with fascinating interest your reply to Mr Muhammad, in which
you tried to explain why opposition MPs can't be advisers to
grassroots bodies. I am sorry but I do not quite see your explanation
there. You just claimed in a sweeping statement that "opposition MPs
cannot be expected to do this", without explaining why. Can you please
let me know why oppositions MPs cannot do this, instead of a sweeping
statement. And you also need to proof prove that only the PAP members are
capable of doing this.

You might have confused the term Government with party politics. The
government currently consists of PAP members, and there will come a
day where it consists of members from different parties as they form
the government of the day. Therefore it is only right for all parties
to be involved in this process. Oppositions parties are not there to
oppose every action of the government, they are called opposition
because they run against the incumbent. If the policies and activities
mean well, oppositions MPs have and will fully support it, hence it
being in line to promote government policies and programmes. I mean
unless you mean to accuse Worker's Party MP as being against dengue
prevention and active ageing, I struggle to see your point.

Which leads me to wonder why is the People's Association appearing to
favour one political party? Look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
Scott Teng

J'adore Paris! (Part 2)

I know that I am usually very slow at things, but now that I have some time, I guess its high time I continue on my Paris posts, and then after that get down to writing the Melbourne post that I took with Fabby =D


History

One of the many things I love about Paris is the rich history and the deep heritage that only so many nations in the world can boast about. I mean compare to Singapore, where our history is a brief 6 lines, the thousands of years of history there, is just amazing. Of course the first thought that came to me was that: "It must be VERY difficult to be a student studying the history of their own country". I mean just the name of the Kings alone must be confusing enough.

With a place so steeped in History, there are so many places to go and visit. And honestly, one trip to Paris is definitely not enough to see them all. We picked a few choice places and set out on our journey.

One of the first few places that we went to was the Sacré Coeur Basilica. 

On the steps outside the Sacré-Coeur Basilica

It took us a while to find it, because all we had was a little city map, and we used the general direction, and some road signs to help us find our way. Its not too difficult to get there really, and it is really worth the walk up. Inside the Basilica was just the most amazing interior, with all the glass windows and beautiful and grand design. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed inside (or that my iPhone was just not good enough to capture good enough shots), so there are no photos of the insides. One thought that was constantly buzzing in my head was: "How did they do this so many years ago". These buildings were at least half a millennia old, and they do not have any form of modern technology. 

At the Château de Versailles, this sense of awe continued. 

The Château de Versailles

The garden view

This place was the palace where many of the Kings used to stay, and it was also where the infamous French Revolution March on Versailles took place, and drove the monarchs back to Paris. But that's history lesson which I shall not touch on. Stepping into this building, is no mean feat - you first need to get past the throng of tourists, which comes by the busloads. But if you put aside these annoying tourists (Yes I am talking about the majority of the Chinese tourist), and rent the audio-guide, it will be an unforgettable experience, and an exercise in the art of "Zen".

The interior is just so opulent, and so gorgeous. And the paintings on the ceilings left me breathless. I mean, how do they paint these things? It is literally on the roof, look at the pictures. The pictures are breathtaking, and detailed. With the ancient techniques, they make it look almost life-like.

One of the many grand halls

Painting ON the roof

Look at how they 3-dimensional and real they look

Of course no trip to Paris is complete without a visit to Musée de Louvre. 

The requisite shot

The tunnel leading to the Louvre

As expected, it was swarming with tourists, and to be very honest, I am more annoyed with them than the Parisians. In fact, like I said earlier, the Parisians are far friendlier than I expected. It is the tourists, armed with the digital cameras who go around taking a snap of EVERYTHING that really upsets me. I mean we are there to soak in the atmosphere and understand the paintings and the history. What is the point of going to place, not knowing anything about it, but leaving with 2,000 photos that one will never look through again?

The Mona Lisa was one such painting that EVERYONE was trying to get a million shots of. And frankly, it was underwhelming. However the painting right opposite Mona Lisa, which was such a great work from Paolo Veronese. It was The Wedding at Cana, just about the largest piece of art in the Louvre. But of course no one paid attention.

Of course I had to get a shot of the Mona Lisa 

The interior of the Louvre

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to spend there, one need weeks and months to finish everything, and if you have the time, try to allocate at least one full day there. Don't get the audio-guide though, it is useless.

Well of course along the way we passed by other historical monuments, it is Paris after all.

Cathedral de Notre Dame

The Concorde

The Pantheon

That concludes my 2nd post on Paris. There's really a lot to share ain't it? Well let's hope I find time to blog soon. A bientot.

Quote for thought

"Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived." - Dalai Lama

Sam Tsui - Jars of Hearts

Sam Tsui will never fail to deliver a great cover. Here's him performing one of my current earworm that I couldn't stop listening to while driving down the Melbourne Streets.

Hope you like it as much as I do. 

Still Alive!

It is so easy to lose track of blogging, especially when one is TRAVELING!

Hahaha, yes I was away in Melbourne for 2 weeks. And why didn't I blog much? Well I was out a lot, I was everywhere actually, so that leaves me with little time to type. But anyway, I'll be back shortly with updates. But yes I am STILL alive!

- kiez.

J'adore Paris! (Part 1)

[Disclaimer: When talking about Paris, or any country for the very matter, it is easy to generalize because its a one snapshot view of the country, so here's my perspective of the lovely city]

There are many things to love about Paris, and Europe in general. Well I haven't been to the entire Europe but in the few places that I visited (Paris, Maastricht and Amsterdam), I can tell you that I liked what I saw. Or it could also be that I went there with little expectations, especially after hearing all the horror stories of how "unsafe" Europe is! C'est vrai! At one point in time, I was almost convinced that India, or god forbid, Johor and Kuala Lumpur would be safer than going to Paris!

You know with all the pickpockets, thiefs, scammers and big burly men who will do the unimaginable to you. But I am happy to report that I'm safe and to my surprise, Parisians are generally more friendly that I thought!

People:

The Parisians are Parisians (yes I know I sound like Prime Minister Lee). Most of them really live up to their stereotype of being tall and blonde and good looking. But surprisingly, it was the guys who are really the stunners. The cute to normal ratio is very high. Everywhere you go, you're bound to see at least a couple of really cute French boys. The nice floppy hair, in a lovely shirt and pants, with a scarf sometimes (because it was spring).

And here's a picture of a cute french boy who was our intern! Fabien! We met up with him in Paris and it was lovely to catch up!

At Shakespeare & Co. with Fabien

What surprised me most about the Parisians is that they are surprisingly very friendly. There was one lady who saw that @alexischeong and I looked lost and offered to help, in French first of course. When we told her that we don't speak good French, she immediately conversed with us in English. She was such a lovely lady and showed us the way to our destination, walking with us a for big part of the way as she was heading in the same direction.

There was another gentleman who asked Alexis and I where we were from, as we were pretty tall for Asians, and he just wanted to let us know that we looked really good. Such a pleasant surprise isn't it?

Food:

As the introduction of Ratatouille says: "While other countries may dispute this, we French know that the best cuisine in the world comes from France, and the best food in France comes from Paris..." And to be honest, I suspect they are not lying. The best food I ever had in my entire was in Paris, and I'll let you know that my favourite cuisine in the world, is still good old Chinese food, so that says A LOT.

Without a doubt, Chez l'ami Jean was the biggest highlight of our trip, and in terms of gastronomy experience, the highlight of my life thus far

queuing for food despite reserving 3 months in advance

This is a quaint little restaurant located in the heart of Paris, but not in the famous stretches. The chef is what you imagine to be a grumpy chef who will clap his hands loudly to get his waiter's attention and will bark loudly. But all this was because he wants to serve excellent food to the customers. And boy we were delighted with the really excellent food. We ordered 2 carte blanche, something like degustation menu where we get to try many different dishes, and a normal set dinner for 4 of us to share. The thoughtful staff knew that we were sharing and made sure that the food was divided into 4 portions and we were all served at the same time!

The highlight of the night has got to to be the lamb rack, the scallops and the rice pudding. They are simply heavenly and done to perfection. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The scallops that was finger licking good

Lamb rack! The most heavenly thus far

This is the rice pudding

close up of rice pudding

For breakfast, there's nothing much to shout about as it is not a big thing for the Parisian, most of them don't even eat breakfast, but if they do, it will be the usual pain au chocolat (chocolate bread), pain aux raisins (raisins bread), croissant, tartine (baguette with butter and jam) and that will come with a cup of espresso and orange juice. Simple but it was very lovely to be able to just sit, facing the road I must add, and just sip the coffee and have breakfast.

A typical French Breakfast

Tartine

I also read a while ago on New York Times about this ice cream place called Berthillon, and it is as legendary as people make it out to be. Its located on one of the little isle on the Seine, so pop over there for an awesomely creamy ice cream. This is the original shop, so come to this one instead of the many other little modern places that serves Berthillon ice cream.

Berthillon

I suspect it was Dark Chocolate ice cream

And yes Paris is all about desserts, so who can forget Laduree and Pierre Hermé. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of Pierre Hermé. But having tried both their macaroons, I declare Pierre Hermé as being the better one of the two. The taste integrates so well and it is so much softer and elegant. It is also a lot more expensive. I had this floral one which was light but very yummy! Not to say that Laduree is not good, it is really really good too! And the queue is long and all, but it is not at the same level as Pierre Hermé

Rows and rows of sweets!

List of places you need to to try:

Chez L'ami Jean

27 Rue Malar,

75007, Paris France

Tel: 01 47 05 86 89

Le Fumoir (for their awesome risotto) 

6 Rue de l'Amiral de Coligny
75001 Paris, FranceTel: 01 42 92 00 24

Pierre Hermé

72 Rue Bonaparte, Paris

Tel: 01 43 54 47 77

Laduree

21 Rue Bonaparte, Paris

Tel: 01 44 07 64 87

Berthillon

31 Rue St Louis en l'ile

75004 Paris

Tel: 01 43 54 31 61

That concludes post 1 out of a few different posts I will write about Paris! Stay tune!

Paris Trip - A preview

Hello! So I've been back from Paris for more than a week now, and its back to the daily grind. Sorry for the lack of updates but they will be coming, this weekend when I have the time to blog. But for those of you who are reading this, here's a lovely picture of the Eiffel Tower!

Random Updates

Some random mid week updates. I've got a new polo tee! Courtesy of fabz who got it for me at the Zouk Flea! Its the normal red polka dots (which are so cute) and the double buttons (as you can see down in the picture below) is really a very special and unique feature!

- loves the polka dots -

And this week @alexischeong and I had lunch at The Plain @ Craig Road! Blogged about this place earlier on, and we still love the ciabattas there. And yes there's this drink that I secretly really like: Aranciata Rossa. Secretly because I think anyone who drinks San Pellegrino (like sparkling water) is totally pretentious, so I try my best to dissociate with the brand. But alas, the blood orange drink is so YUMS!!

- Salami Ciabatta -

- The Aranciata Rossa -

And lastly, I am always distracted by colours, and here's @alexischeong 88 colour eyeshadow palette! Pretty!

/end of bimbotic post

Standing up for "Gay Parents Bashed"

Today I came across this video on my tumblr, and I teared uncontrollably when watching this. Please watch the video embedded before reading on.

What really surprised me was that a place like Texas (where the homophobic Bush came from) showed us that in times like this, solidarity for humanity will prevail. Nobody could stand around and watch the waitress insult and demean the lesbian and gay parents. And what really gets me is the guy that we all think looks like a gangster turns out to be filled with so much love, it puts all of us to shame. When he went out to write a note to let the lesbian parents know just how beautiful their family is, means so much to the actress that it made her cry, because it spoke to her in real life.

"In the end, you will not remember the words of our enemies,

but the silence of your friends" - Martin Luther King, Jr

The quote above defined the gesture because like it says, if a friend sees you in trouble but chooses to keep silent, it will be more hurtful than anything else. Day in day out, a big group of homosexual people faces either overt discrimination (like the video), or silent discrimination. Not to say that homosexuals have a harder time than other people, but definitely there is a bigger baggage to carry. I've been there and its not easy.

Was there any point in time where you could have made a world of a difference to your gay friends by standing up for them? Or by supporting them in your own ways? Make it happen and don't stay by the side and watch.

It is also a particularly poignant topic for me because late last night, the boy and I were watching the movie "The Love of Siam", and we have a very long conversation after that which we talked about pretty much the same issue. He has been struggling to come to terms with himself, and the invisible pressure that he faces from society can really be too much to bear even for the strongest individual.

On the other, I am so glad I have survived and are now in the stage of my life where "it is better". I do not have any fears of judgment from anyone about my sexuality because this is who I am, and I make no apologies for it. But I cannot stand by and not share what I've been through. I want to let every individual, gay or otherwise know that humanity will shine through, each and every time.

Don't be afraid to be yourself, and be who you are. Because you are beautiful just the way you are.

I am a thankful boy...

..for the great things and people that have entered my life and made it the way it is today! What prompted me to write this? Its this video here:

This video is made for this year's Pink Dot! And it reminds of the many different times in my life, and the different stages I had to go through to be who I am today. A gay man who is very comfortable with my sexuality, have my friends love me for exactly who I am, have my mother who tells me that my happiness is more important than anything else in the world, and to work in a company where my heterosexual boss can joke around with me. I am grateful.

The first scene of the clips reminds me of Jeremiah. He's this very peculiar friend of mine, and peculiar here carries no negative connotation. I knew Jere in PRIMARY SCHOOL! (Can you believe it) but it wasn't till junior college that we got close, close enough for me to come out to him, and it was with much fear. I will never forget how he defended gay men in camp. Jere told me about the jokes and things that his army mates will say, and oftentimes, even I would let it just pass and allow them to make derogatory remarks. But not Jere. He told them that not all gay men are like that, one of his besties (that's me!) is nothing like what they say, and it is through little actions like that, that people can stop viewing gay people through tinted lenses. So thank you Jere!

And its not just him, all my friends have been nothing but loving - too many to name, but you know who you are. You've all been through my ups and my downs, listened to me cry over man, or men (depending on when you knew me), and it was never with judgement nor disapproval, aside from the disapproval that I allow myself to get hurt. There's so much love from so many of you. You've even been through my coming out process with my mom.

It was not actually a coming out process because mommies always know. Trust me. And it started out really as a power issue which then led me to officially come out to her, and boy was it nasty. After a couple of weeks of not talking to me, and me writing a very long and heartfelt letter to her, she asked me one evening what I would like to eat for dinner. Its her way of saying things are going to be fine now. Eventually she told me that she wants me to be happy, and she cannot bear to be like the other moms who forced their sons to get married, and end up with 3 unhappy people and a broken family.

Every time I recount this story I will tear, like how my mom told me, after a very messy breakup, that even if the sky falls down, she will hold it up for me. How can I not be thankful to an incredible mommy like her. And my other family members too!

And things today can't be any better. My mom loves fabby and we practically live together for more days of the week than I can count, and he's been the sweetest boy (he made my mom a Mother's Day card), my work environment is loving and accepting. I can't think of a better personal life yet.

So dear friends, won't you join me this June 18 at the Pink Dot, so that we can show everyone that there's nothing wrong with my love, it is the same love as your love and the same as everyone's else. And tell all the gay people you know that you love them for exactly who they are.

Love,

Scotty

The week

Sometimes routine can be comforting, and its nice when things have sorta settled into a nice rhythm. Of course this cannot come with the usual taken for granted bullshit, and one must always be appreciative, and I am thankful that this is indeed what's happening.

Grateful that after such a long journey, I'm not walking this path alone anymore =)

- late dinner with the boy. ayam penyet FTW -

- a packed shelf with too many little things -

A very gorgeous video

Timelapse - The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.

I really love this video so much that I have to share it here. Also so that I can remember what I've been watching. Keep watching till 2:45 or so, it'll blow you away.

I want a Singapore with a Soul and not $ingapore Inc.

I haven't written much for this elections, which is a peculiar case because my friends know that I have a lot to say for this election. But the poll is just slightly more than 24 hours away and write I must because so many things are at stake. Stakes that I would eternally regret if I know that at least one of you might be inspired by this simple piece but made the wrong choice because I didn't write.

What is it about this particular election that fills me so much passion and makes me so involved? Its the fight for Singapore, specifically the Singapore Soul and not $ingapore Inc.

My dear friends, just take a moment to think back about 5-10 years ago, about what life was like, what did you see around you? How did you feel? Do you recall seeing old folks, or very old folks cleaning the toilets, working 24 hours shifts at hawker centres wiping tables with dirty cloths and wearing glum faces while you are having supper? Do you feel hopeful about life, or do you feel worried and stressed out?

$ingapore has always been run as a business and if money can buy us everything in this world, then its great, go ahead. But unfortunately in life, money can't buy us everything. Singapore has moved to a stage (thanks to the founding fathers of Singapore - note I did not say thanks to PAP) where a sizeable portion of us don't have to worry about a roof and food, and we realized that we are not children anymore, we need to grow and we want to grow. And we don't want to leave another Singaporean behind.

Because there are many Singaporeans left behind. When I do my volunteer work on Sundays, where I cook a hot meal and distribute rations to the elderly, I am almost in tears when I see the uncle with NOTHING in his rental flat. And I mean nothing. I see the lady who needs to crawl to the door to receive our rations, I see families living in the corridors illegally because they have nowhere to go, and I wonder why nothing more is being done. Why are the policies not going down to the people who need it the most?

I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT understand how Vivian Balakrishnan can take his millions of dollars of salary, get hundreds of thousands of dollars of pay increment and 8 months bonus, but simply REFUSE to help any of these people. His now famous words when the deeply respected Dr Lily asked for more money for the poor were simply: How much do you want? Enough for a hawker centre, food court or restaurant? He then increased funding from $260 per month, to $290 per month. A $1 a day increase. We are talking about people who CANNOT work for a multitude of reasons, and $290 a month, all in. How does he sleep at night?

WHERE did our soul go? Where did our heart go? What is happening to my country?

How did citizens become just a number in a factory environment churning GDP figures? GDP is a terrible measure of the standard of living, easily affected by outliers, because it measures the average and not the median (this would be an entire article, so please wiki/google). I don't want the next generation to grow up in a country where being anything other than an Engineer, Doctor, or god forbid, a Lawyer, is being looked down on. He/she cannot think that "I want to be a carpenter", or "I want to be a musician" and be told to be more practical and get a real job. Because these are passions and these are dreams. Without passions, and without dreams we are nothing.

What is life to live if life is just an empty chase of money?

I have no fear, because I am not stupid. The incumbent paints nightmare scenarios: women being maids, children getting raped, we'll all be jobless. But the incumbent has not shown how or why this will be the case. Their manifesto says nothing, and they forget that the ever strong civil service will run with or without them, and they will work hand in hand with whoever is in the Parliament to make it work. And if it doesn't work, that's fine because we Singaporeans know now that we are empowered and we will make it all work, together.

The incumbent asks for track record, well WP and Mr Chiam have 20 years behind them. And just for the record, neither do the majority of your newbies have any track record to speak of. Which also brings me to my next point dear PAP, your track record for the past 5 years is nothing but fail. We look nice on the outside, but we are rotting on the inside. Many people have already touch on this, so I'll skip it.

Benson tells me not to cry, but cry I will, tears of joy when Worker's Party emerges victorious, or tears of disappointment when PAP does a clean sweep of the Parliament.

The time has come, and I can feel change is in the air, I don't want to see my country rot anymore, and I will be the change that I want to be.

#####

You need to read some of these excellent writings that I've been reading:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lin-shiyun/taking-a-step-back-and-looking-at-this-ge-fondly/10150239449639612

https://www.facebook.com/notes/benson-tan/what-it-means-to-be-singaporean/213059685378370

https://www.facebook.com/notes/verdy-wildcard/what-you-can-vote-for-updated-may-5th-impt-disclaimer/10150235776081474

And this is a MUST read -

https://www.facebook.com/notes/theonlinecitizen/i-suspect-we-have-started-to-believe-our-own-propaganda/395224663963

Thank you.

Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan

Some people articulate things better than I do, and I find myself lacking the time to write an insightful piece at this point in time. So I direct you to read this excellent article: http://kirstenhan.me/2011/04/25/dr-balakrishnan-y-u-no-play-fair/

Eisen Teo asked me to write him

So I read this article that day (see it here: http://cjcpig.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/gen-y-think-outside-that-kate-spade-box/) and I was suitably upset and I tweeted. Eisen himself replied and asked me to email him, so well I did and here it is:

----

Dear Eisen,

I wasn't going to write you an email, but since you replied my tweet asking for an email, I guess there's no harm writing. I've also written to your uneducated forum editor Mr Yap, but didn't receive his reply. I still however hope to receive yours. Anyhow I say that Mr Yap is uneducated because of his responses to Mr Samuel Wee, which clearly demonstrated to us that he has no comprehension capabilities, basic grasps of mathematics, or both. And going by the coverage of this election, I say both.

But that's enough of him.

I must say that initially I was very appalled, and even angry to read your editorial piece, because I find the thinly veiled attempt to defend Tin Pei Ling an insult to Singaporeans, and also I question who gave you the authority to represent us, Gen Y, to lecture us.

The Gen Y did not attack Tin Pei Ling because of her youth. This is clearly evident in your own editorial where you made a huge contradiction. You said that the Gen Y flamed and virtually-lynched Tin Pei Ling, dug through her then-public Facebook and Twitter account because she is young and took a photo with the now infamous "twist" and a Kate Spade box. And you then noted only ONE comparison of her and Mr Chen, amongst the many other younger candidates, that Mr Chen has been "mislabeled" by his peers as being troublesome and attention seeking. And that's it. C'est tout, pas autre chose.

I am not sure if it is immediately obvious, but for the rest of us there is a huge difference - NONE of the other young candidates have been "flamed" or "lynched" by the Gen Y netizens online. And no, this is not because Tin Pei Ling is a girl. I assure you if she was a guy she would have been flamed more, and definitely the poor guy's sexuality will be even pulled to the forefront. It is because Tin Pei Ling, through her own actions, her own speeches previously, her Facebook, her interviews and etc have shown herself to be useless.

This has nothing to do with her gender nor her age, and if any of the OTHER young candidates did anything remotely similar to her, we would have torn them asunder online as well. And less we forget, during the last General Elections, something as minor as a form being filled up with one error raised more ruckus than this.

So what did she do? She has no opinion of any issues firstly, she does not think that the rich-poor divide is any of the government's responsibility, her biggest regret in her life is to have not yet brought her parents to Universal Studios, and then she stomped her feet petulantly on national television.

The "noise" that is heard online is not noise but its the sentiments of the electorate. It is saying that we do NOT want a person like that to represent us, and what is flaming all this anger is because the Gen Y Singaporeans know full well that unless something catastrophic happen, she is going to march in to Parliament, Kate Spade bag and all, with ease. If this was a functioning democracy, we could use our votes and make sure that Tin Pei Ling does not get voted in.

But in this unique GRC system where she happens to be running for Marine Parade together with Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (the last time I checked, this was the case), we can safely say that if we vote for SM Goh, she will definitely get in, and other more credible opposition candidates will not. Simply because. And a more active youth, who has done much more than her, can present a better case than her and be so much so much more, has to climb Mount Everest, and this is the anger.

The anger is not towards her per-se, but at our inability to make sure that Tin Pei Ling doesn't get into Parliament, and this frustrates Singaporeans, that our votes can only do this much. I am not sure how many people will sacrifice SM Goh to make sure Tin Pei Ling does not get in.

So no, we are not going to be any nicer to anyone just because they are in our demographics, as I am quite sure that you are not asking us to vote for one race because we are of one race, because this is a very dangerous implication in a harmonious society like ours.

So how do I feel about Tin Pei Ling as a Gen Y? Let's just say that I don't want my taxes to pay for her internship. She can go do her internship somewhere else.

Sincerely,

Scott

-----

It turns Yahoo is giving much better election coverage than the other mainstream media http://sg.news.yahoo.com/generalelections/

I am going to blog soon

Note to self and readers: I am preparing to write about:
1. Reply to http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110407-0000374/Room-for-religion-in-public-discourse
2. A few words on the election.

See you soon dear readers!

An Open Letter To Singaporeans

I found this video online, and while I would not use the word screwed, I think it does really highlight the disconnect between the powers that be and the ordinary citizen. Perspective is important when reading and watching everything online, but form a justified opinion for yourself.

I fondly remember the pre-election words and then the subsequent increase in GST...... will we see that this year?

They even brought out the carry-a-baby-photo arsenal, who knows what's next?

Letter to ST Forum: Request for explanation of your explanation to Mr. Wee

Dear Mr Yap,

I am not writing in to the forum but rather writing to you as the Forum Editor. In light of that, I sincerely hope you will not massacre my email by editing it to one that does not convey the meaning it is supposed to convey, and then reading it back to yourself thinking that this email is being written to praise you of your excellent work that you have done thus far. It is not.

Rather this letter is written by a very perplexed reader of The Straits Times, who is wondering about what really happens in the newsroom of our national broadsheet, and also about your education level, specifically in Mathematics and in understanding the semantics of what is being written. Correct me if I am wrong, but did you pass your PSLE Mathematics? And did you actually graduate? I'm asking because, I'm not sure about you, but most of my friends who read Mr. Samuel Wee's original letter knew full well what he was trying to say.

Which then really surprised us when we read your edited version (or whoever the editor was and since your title is the Forum Editor, I assume that to be you) of his letter to be diametrically opposite of the intended meaning. I can go on about educating you on semantics, but if many years of education by our excellent schools, which your paper brings glowing report on every now and then, cannot teach you, I sincerely doubt my one email will be able to do that.

I'm writing for an explanation of your explanation/justification to Mr. Wee. You pointed out that there was a "factual error" when Mr Wee claimed that 90% of children from one-to-three-room flats do not make it to university, and you then "corrected" it to 50% of these children made it to university AND POLYTECHNIC. A factual error means that the facts were wrong, and ironically, Mr. Wee was quoting a statistics that your paper wrote, and you "corrected" it while referring to the same statistic but using a different group (university VS university & polytechnic). So can you please explain where his factual error is? Unless you are implying that the statistic that Mr. Wee and yourself cited is wrong, in which case, aren't you repeating the so-called "factual error".

Also, you claim "sense" as a reason for this edit, because it did not made sense for Mr. Wee to be elated at this statistic. I suppose sarcasm and irony are difficult concepts to grasp, and your demonstration of your understanding of his letter, and of course your poor mathematical skills, underscores this. To explain this concept to you, I refer to the dictionary:

Sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or convey contempt : his voice, hardened by sarcasm, could not hide his resentment.

Irony: the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite.

Which suffice to say, Mr. Wee was trying to say that he was NEITHER elated, NOR was it heartwarming that 90% of children from one-to-three-room flats DID NOT make it to university. To write in a way that you would understand what he meant: "It is disappointing that only 10% of children from one-to-three-room flats make it to university".

"Factual errors" aside, which I believe readers of The Straits Times can pardon now that we know your level of intelligence, to rewrite a writer's opinion and substituting it with one of your own on the basis of "contextual error and sense" is really hard to understand. I mean, maybe your understanding of opinion differs from mine, but we have always been brought up to believe that forum was to allow Singaporeans to voice their opinions, not for you or your team to edit the meaning into your own, because then it would be your opinion, or your assumed understanding of the writers' intended opinion.

If you have felt that the author was making that much error, then as your auto-reply suggests, with more than 70 letters received a day, I am sure you can always choose to publish another letter.

I am actually not hoping for a good explanation from you, having seen your weak and feeble attempt to Mr. Wee, but I am sincerely hoping that you will try, and perhaps let me know in the process that you have sufficient educational qualification to be a forum editor. If not, I surely hope that you will stay only as a forum editor and not move on to any other position because really, I only read The Strait Times for the Regional and World news (most of which are syndicated anyway) and I want to continue to perform my patriotic duty and support The Strait Times. Now that's irony for you

Sincerely,
Scott Teng

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For those who needs background and context:

1. http://visaisahero.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/more-straits-times-wizardry/
2. http://visaisahero.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/sts-justification-of-its-liberal-editing-of-forum-opinions/

Love, is a temporary madness
Erupts like an earthquake and then subsides
And when it does, you gotta make a decision

You have to work out whether
Your roots have become so entwined together
That it is inconceivable that you should ever be
Apart

Because this is what love is

Love is not breathlessness
Not passion
Not excitement
And not the promulgation of promises

That is just being "in love"

Love itself is what is left over
When being "in love" has burned away

A fortunate accident




One of my all time favourite songs

I can't write anything!

I realized that it is hard for me to write something when I don't feel any extremities of emotion. In fact the lack of this "emotion" that makes me write, is making this particular blog entry a bit tough to put together.

I can't quite figure out why though. I mean I have an opinion about a lot of things, well except the Israel and Palestine situation because I really don't know anything about it. Lynette can enlighten us on this however, I believe she wrote either an essay or her thesis on it. But that's besides the point.

So this got me thinking, about why do people write what they write. And some of you might know that I am extremely interested in motivations of behavior, i.e., why people do what they do. So I started to question why I write on this blog.

Once upon a time (and this was REALLY long ago, and I'm talking about like geocities, angelfire era, circa 1998 like OMG old right?) I created my first website, and there was some semblance of writing there. I remember that I started by writing about my life. It was like a diary of sorts. Almost like those you would hide under the bed/pillow/insert wherever you hide your diary. I remember we bloggers even had a manifesto, which is to respect what others wrote, if you didn't agree with the writer, or didn't like what you read, well please stop reading.

I remember that I blogged all about my school life, my crushes and everything in between. Family, relationships, broken relationships and what have you. Then slowly and slowly, I wrote less and less frequently. And then its shorter and shorter, and it became more and more cryptic. And these days, I just post up my thoughts on issues and even that its still far lesser. WHY?

I don't know really. I guess one could easily say that its because we are all "grown up" now, and thus we are more busy with the corporate life, busy in the rat race, fighting for I-don't-know-what. But it is also that sometimes I feel that as we grow up, we get more private, or we feel a lesser need to share our emotions. At least no publicly. Because frankly, what purpose does it achieve right? But then I realize that this reason does not hold because when I feel emotional about social causes I would still write it down.

I think perhaps its just the relationship part. Indeed the older we, or rather I get, it seems to feel very different. On the heart. It is true that you really feel something on your heart. It is a heartache because you actually feel that pain. Even the joy, the passion, the depth, the intensity is oddly different.

Maybe this is what growing up is? Learning to take things in your stride.