First Singapore Woman to reach the South Pole

She has never dared to dream of herself, with six other woman from other countries holding and hugging the metal globe that symbolizes the geographical South pole one day. After all, she was just a petite woman only 1.54m in height.

But her perseverance in the trainings pulled off and her dreams had became a reality. Together with a group of women, they embarked on a 38 days journey to the South pole, and they made it. Mdm Sophia Pang was the first Singaporean woman ever to make it to the South pole.

The 37 year old was in fact the most petite amongst her counterparts from Commonwealth, but she completed the gruesome journey of 900km in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees celsius, as well as any of her peers could pull off.

The freelance IT and fitness trainer wasn't even qualified for the expedition when she first appealed to join the team. But her perseverance and determination mended her shortcomings - she was so hardworking in the training sessions that her strength almost doubled by the end of them.

One of the exercises in the arduous training course, which included a combination strength training, cardiovascular workouts, stretching and core exercises, required the trainer to pull a 120 kg heavy load across 40m. At first, Mdm Pang could only finish it in more than a minute. Now, she can complete the same task in half the time.

Mdm Pang's case is a good example of how perseverance and self-confidence can help achieve success. Although her built was initially not fit for the expedition, but with perseverance in the trainings, she improved her stature greatly and managed to complete her journey to the South Pole just as well as her fitter counterparts.

Although her legs and hands were numb from the cold and sore from the arduous journey, she still gritted her teeth and finished the 900km journey. It is really inspiring for someone like me who finds it tiring to walk a kilometer, that some things in life we find impossible, we can achieve as long as we have confidence in ourselves and persevere.

However daunting the journey ahead may seem, we can achieve anything if we defeat ourselves first. Once we can overcome our fears, worries and decadence, we are bound to succeed in anything we do.

X-team Party 28/12/09

In order to celebrate the return of our X-team (small church fellowship group for P5 to Sec 2 ) leaders from Cambodia, we held a simple party yesterday at church. We had great fun and fellowship time together.

Samuel and I had to go to school first for the second training session of the Sec 1 Orientation. At about 3pm, we finished and quickly took a bus to the Botanical Gardens, where the rest of the boys were playing.

The game we enjoyed best at the Botanical Gardens was Police and Thief. Some people were "thieves" who had to run away from us, the "police". It was fun because there were more thieves than police and they could run and hide around the whole big botanical gardens. It was easy to escape unseen.

Because of the unexpected drizzling, we headed back for church. The next session was devoted to a fun time of soccer at the small car park in our church. Because of space constraints, the other boys went to the kitchen to help out the girls in the cooking of dinner. After a tiring game of soccer, I also volunteered to cook the chicken nuggets.

Dinner was finally ready. When Mark, our worship leader, gathered volunteers for the singing session, I gleefully participated too because I personally enjoy singing.

We had a great sing-along session. Almost everyone sang together with the songs, and for those who were unfamiliar with the lyrics, they also clapped along with the rhythm of the songs.

We ended this wonderful gathering with a fantastic session of games - soccer passing, soccer juggling and poison ball. I was lucky to avoid many ball throws and was the last one standing on the "battlefield".

It was indeed a meaningful party. At first, I even wanted to skip this party so I can play my computer games...:), but it turns out that the party is much more fun.

I also found that I have improved relations with some of my friends, including Mark, Justin, Steven and Sean. It had been a great time of socializing.

I hope to have time to attend more of such gatherings in the future.

Zi Char to Paradise

A mini restaurant empire, two cars, one of which is a Mercedes, a three-room condominium apartment with lift access - this is a life Mr Eldwin Chua, 32, never dared to dream of before.

But this has become reality in merely 7 years for the once Zi Char cook. He is now the chief executive officer of the Paradise group of restaurant, including the newly opened Taste Paradise restaurant at Ion Orchard and 7 other Chinese restaurants.

From the age of 12, Mr Eldwin Chua already had experience working part-time at MacDonald's. By 16, he was juggling three jobs a day during the school holidays as a convenience store assistant, a hotel banquet helper and kitchen assistant at the seafood restaurant Palm Beach.

He did not think of the dining industry as his source of income, but just some extra money to buy the things he liked - then trendy things like cassette Walkman, pager and stunt bicycles for his own leisure.

But after National Service, he began to wise up and stop spending money chasing materialistic goods. A door of opportunity was opened to Eldwin in 2002 when his grandfather, Mr Chua Seng Kee, asked him to help run his coffee shop in Defu Industrial State.

Eldwin leased out the stalls, ran the drinks stall himself and soon after, took over the Zi Char stall when its owner quit. The quick-thinking business saw it as a business opportunity because if the Zi Char stall was popular, people would come for dinner, and this would at the same time, improve his drinks stall business.

He helped out in the kitchen, cooking simple dishes like fried rice and noodles. But the stall could not run till the evenings.

Undeterred, he launched value-for-money set meals priced from $16.90 for three persons, and new innovative ideas like the creamy butter crab. The set meals were an instant hit, and the new ideas drew crowds after positive reviews of the stall's food appeared on the Straits Times.

Gradually, with the increasing diners, the converted the once 50-seat stall into a 400-seat restaurant. His crew of staff also grew from three to ten.

Eldwin went on to opening the fine-dining Chinese restaurant Taste Paradise in Mosque Street in 2006. Equipped with 4 years of entrepreneurship experience under his belt, he repeated his time-tested strategy of launching new innovative dishes - this time, the shark's fin in Japanese claypot to maintain its taste and heat. This, alongside with another round of positive reviews, helped his new restaurant take off.

Today, Mr Chua has built a food empire of high quality chinese food. Successful entrepreneurship is really not just about luck, as they always say, but a combination of innovation, creativity and perseverance.

It has been my childhood aspiration to become a entrepreneur one day. I am not sure what kind of business I going to run, definitely not food, but this story has nonetheless greatly inspired me that as long as you have determination and flexibility, you can overcome any difficulty. This has been aptly proven by how Mr Chua's value-for-money set dinner instant hit solved the problem of the lack of customers.

It is indeed difficult to survive in a highly competitive and dynamic environment. Taste and trend changes more quicker than before, but Mr Chua's case has no doubt, motivated me that as long as you modestly take a step at a time, eventually with some perseverance, you would succeed one day.

GLCC Christmas Fiesta and Musical 2009

To celebrate Jesus' birth, and salvation, as well as reach out to those who are yet to be saved, our church, GLCC, organized a Christmas Musical and Fiesta yesterday.

It has always been our church's "tradition" to hold a musical and fiesta every Christmas. Every year, the whole auditorium would be totally full with church members and newcomers. This year was no exception.

The theme of this year's musical is "What is Christmas to you?". To many being interviewed, it is basically "just another holiday", it is "family time", it is "presents", vague words like "happiness". But do they really feel happy? To us, Christmas has a very special meaning - it is the saviour's birth and the start of salvation.

Casting in the musical were four people who were lost about what is Christmas to them. They try very hard to seek true happiness in the secular world - by partying, buying new toys, trying to organize a family dinner, by looking at temporary happy moments taken down by photos, but in the end, what they feel is only emptiness.

Pastor Mike simplified it in his sermon by putting it that everything in this world is temporary, including happiness, which everyone is so wanting to seek.

Jesus has came to this world to pay a debt and take a punishment for something he did not commit, but something we did yet are unable to pay.

In this world, there are only moments of happiness, and then it is just gone, and what follows is emptiness. The only way to true and everlasting happiness is through God. From this sermon, I really gained a deeper understanding of what is true happiness.

Coming to the Christmas Fiesta - it was different from past years' fiesta. First, the prices were much higher, haha, but food and items sold were much more interesting.

There was a special stall which sold hamburgers cooked straight on the spot in front of our eyes. My friend also set up his own stall selling art and craft pieces, as well as keychains which you can "bead" your name unto.

As a whole, this year's Christmas event was a great success, especially with the number of people who trusted the lord as their saviour. I hope to run my own stall next year, selling drinks and tidbits so please come and support!

Friend, what is Christmas to you? If you are lost today, just remember Jesus is the only way to true an everlasting happiness.

Secondary One Orientation

It is approaching the start of a new year and the freshmen are coming in. It is a councillor duty to welcome these freshmen into the Hwa Chong family, and I was fortunate and privileged to be selected as buddy of a group in the Orientation.

To help us refresh our memory for the cheers, as well as learn some useful techniques of facilitation (being a buddy), the organizing team held a short training session for us last Wednesday.

The teacher-in-charge, Mr Teo, first gave us a crash course on what it takes to be an effective facilitator, including some techniques we can adopt to build rapport with the freshmen, and some rules we have to follow as buddies.

Some useful techniques involved - relating to the students, asking them about general things in their life and what is happening, asking questions to check their mood and help them learn, getting feedback etc.

The Organizing Team helped us refresh our memory of the cheers through prompting us when we forgot the lines. Most of us are still in holiday dreamland mode, so the enthusiasm of the Organizing members really helped us warm up to the mood. They also taught us some useful icebreakers we can use during the game times allocated to us.

The theme for this year's SSO ( Secondary One Orientation ) is Ignition Drive. In order to produce fire, one needs fuel (wood), heat and oxygen. Oxygen is something we cannot control, the freshmen are like dry wood fuel; we can't control their mood either, but one thing we can control is the heat, ourselves.

In order to warm up the freshmen and make them feel welcomed as one Hwa Chong family, we ourselves have to be passionate and enthusiastic. They must feel our passion and see the fire in our eyes.

I hope this year's Sec 1 Orientation would be a success. My buddies during last year orientation, had greatly inspired me and welcomed me to the school, so I hope I myself can be a blessing to the next batch of Sec 1s too. I hope I can gain their respect as well.

I can understand the difficulties of adapting to a totally new environment from the six years in Primary School. I hope to learn the skills of warming up and breaking the ice with people through this orientation. Building rapport with others is a extremely handy, useful and relevant skill.

Game on. (2)

Still remember my previous post about the Earth race - where all countries compete with each other who plays a bigger role in saving the Earth to prove their power?

Copenhagen has been described a failure because the meeting was being held for cooperation. But many countries were unwilling to sacrifice their countries' development ( especially the developing countries ) for the Earth.

The best way to spur countries to be willing to help cut down on global carbon emissions is to encourage competition between them, just like how Russia and US competed in the Cold War who can first put a man up on space.

Of course, the best way out of this global warming problem is to have leaders who can look at the bigger picture and greater vision of the whole world, instead of their own countries. Countries have sufficient leaders, the world need leaders.

Mr Obama also shouldn't have protected America's rights with his unwillingness to cut down on the country's carbon emissions. By setting a bad example, the developing countries will also be unwilling to sacrifice because even the developed countries are also not doing anything.

But, since the situation has been become one of protection of own rights, the best way to break the "stalemate" is to encourage competition amongst the countries who plays the biggest role and responsibility as a country in saving the world.

America should have already taken the lead way before it came to Copenhagen, as the leader of the world. It should have pledged drastic cuts before the Copenhagen meeting, and taken feasible and "noble" actions to cut its carbon emissions.

Copenhagen shouldn't be a place where unwilling countries meet and agree on specific cuts, Copenhagen should be a battle ring, where America, after much actions and promises, goes to the front and proudly showcases its achievements. This is after all, what a leader should do.

Everyone should prepare, take actions aimed at cutting emissions, plant more trees, set more goals, and look forward to the meeting, where they will compete who has done the most, compare their achievements, and ambitiously pledge higher targets against one another.

Those developing countries who are unwilling to sacrifice would gradually feel left out from this race, and competition, and they will slowly join in the fight against global warming. Though it is just a platform for countries to compete their powers against each other, it is actually unknowingly saving the Earth and all the people from rising temperatures.

Premier Wen (China) should also go up and push Mr Obama away, and proudly show many trees China has planted and showcase their future vision of polluted city, Shanghai, become a green city, the world''s most green and pollution-free city.

The virtuous circle will keep going on - India feels it is no where worse than China, it will also aim to overtake China in the competition. Brazil compete with India, Japan with Brazil, Russia with Japan, Germany with Russia, France with Germany........

In fact, we can even create a table of ranking and merit annually (America 1st, China 2nd for example), judged by the showcasing of achievements at Copenhagen, to transform this global responsibility burden into a hot subject of competition.

Game on.

Game on.

The Copenhagen climate meeting had been described as a failure, with the great polarity in opinions, perspectives, and national priorities, and disagreements over the procedures.

Many countries, especially developing countries, were unwilling to deepen cuts, or even maintain their committed cuts on carbon emission, while the developed countries felt there was a need to for all to play a part in saving the world.

Many disagreements and heated arguments ended in unexpected situations of leaders leaving the room halfway between talks. It as highly complicated talk, with no finalized decision.

Many countries also were unhappy that it was the BASIC (Brazil, America, South Africa, India and China) group of countries that decided for the world what should be done in a final hurried political statement.

It seems that countries are unwilling to look at the big picture of saving the Earth, instead, focusing on protecting their individual country rights. They did not want to contribute to a global effort in the expense of their own development.

It is a wonder why this situation didn't happen during the cold war when Russia competed against US on who can be fastest to put a man up in space. After all, astrology cannot help develop a country?

Of course, as we all know, it is a competition to prove the countries' power and abilities. If global emission cuts can be also be a subject of competition amongst the countries like back then, then unwillingness wouldn't be present.

What Mr Obama should do during the Copenhagen summit is to look straight right into Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao's eye and say in a serious tone, "Mr Wen, America is going to beat China in saving the world. We will have a deeper emission cuts than you. Game on." (Wink)

Following that, China will compete with America to prove its global leadership position and responsibility as superpower to save the Earth. India will compete with China, Brazil will compete with India, Japan with Brazil, and Russia with Japan, and so on...

Game on.

Facebook Usage

Start being careful with the friends you have on Facebook as well as the things you post on Facebook in future.

Research show that there is a growing number of cases of employees losing jobs due to their unwariness in status updates in Facebook.

Last week, an employee took a sick leave from work because his favourite band was in town. His friends took photos of them together at the concert, and a day after posted it to his Facebook page. Unfortunately, his colleagues saw his photos and word about his faked sickness spread to his supervisor. In the end, he was fired.

Other employee was ticked off by his boss after photos of him enjoying a steak dinner at a restaurant was seen by his boss. He was supposed to be on sick leave and resting at home due to diarrhea.

With this advantage networking sites bring, the police have also set up a page in Facebook to collect information about crime cases which suspects post on their pages.

Lawyers have also been using Facebook to their advantages. In fact, almost half of divorce cases being brought up to court have at least some association with Facebook information gathering.

Many netizens have been angry over such incidents because Facebook should be a place where people expresses their personal thoughts and feelings freely without any public invasion of personal privacy.

Facebook should also be something out-of-work for personal leisure and networking. It is certainly not a convenient tool of crime case-breaking, and a easy platform for employers to catch employees red-handed.

Where Facebook was once a place where people can freely relieve their thoughts, it has now become a restricted site by the police watching. Where Facebook was once a escapade and a getaway to relive stress, people must now carefully pen down what they are saying - the true purpose of a networking site has been destroyed.

It is indeed a pity employers have to turn to such methods to control their people. If they are motivated enough to work towards a common goal, I don't think a decent steak dinner would affect their performance, drive and effort in work the next day.

I hope there would be clearer lines between work and play... Play shouldn't involve stress from work and the pressuring monitor from employers.

Christmas Celebration

Hi all, I recently took part in a Christmas Caroline @ Orchard as CIP event. Rather fun and exciting to stand in front of the whole crowd. I have seen such performances many times before but it was my first experience standing on stage and playing the piano in the public.

I was helping out our school's choir as pianist for a christmas caroline our school organized, for the experience, joy, and of course, most importantly, the CIP hours, haha:) We had three days rehearsal and practice before we went to Orchard on the 18th so I was quite confident I can perform well.

We planned to perform simple and well known songs like Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, Hark the Harold Angels Sing. We had some free time in between the final practice and the real performance itself, so I made se of the time to make some friends. To my surprise, there were actually volunteers from other CCAs that participated as well.

The first location we performed at was Tangs Orchard. There was a mini stage for the choir to stand and sing, and we set up the piano at the side of the stage because it was near the audio cables settings.

It was not as simple as I thought - the technicians had to connect the piano to the damper / pedal, set up the audio amplifiers and cable the amplification wires into the piano. The volume of the piano had to be tested so it would not be too soft yet would not override the choir sound.

The crowd that gathered around was, to our pleasant surprise and fear:), quite big. We were performing beside the road, and with the crowd, it was really hot. Everything went fine except for a technical glitch in the middle, where the piano suddenly went mute.

Nonetheless, the choir continued singing, and I calmly tried all ways to fix the problem before the next song started. Finally, the keyboard sound came back, and we all let out a huge sigh of relief, including my parents who were watching me.

Fortunately, the final stop at Wisma went fine.

I feel that through this event, I have learnt how to coordinate as a team member, and how to stay calm when there are difficulties (the technical glitch). It is indeed a good exposure for me to perform in front of the public, as well as a effective platform to build up my confidence.

I am looking forward to my next performance at Wisma Atria again next Monday, 8pm. Please come and support us if you happen to pass by. Thanks.

Killer Litter (2)

Watch your head when you are walking at the foot of a HDB flat in future.

Just yesterday, it has been reported in the newspaper another fatal killer litter incident where a inconsiderate woman killed a wedding guest when the flowerpot she threw landed on his head.

In response to the rising number of killer litter cases in Singapore, the HDB is now taking more serious actions against offenders.

Over the next few months, it will send out warning letters to about 900,000 HDB residents, urging them to remove dangerously-placed items at high-rise buildings, and to report neighbours who fail to do so.

Warning posters would also be placed in strategic areas in the residential areas to send out a clear message - There would be zero-tolerance to offenders who litter dangerously. The maximum punishment for offenders would be now heightened to $2000 fine as well as 2-years jail serving term.

It is comforting to see that at least the government is taking actions to curb this dangerous threat, but I still personally feel that punishment and stern warnings on one particular matter is not the best approach to solving this problem.

The bigger and greater picture the government should see is the tackling the root of the problem - inconsideration for others. Most killer litter case are either caused by inconsideration, or because the offender is mentally ill.

If I am very close to my neighbours, even if I am inconsiderate, I wouldn't want to throw dangerous and bulky items down my window and threaten my good friends' safety. But if I don't know my neighbours and they are strangers, I probably would't care. So, rising killer litter case might indicate a lack of unity and comradeship amongst the residents.

Some solutions to deter offenders:

"Soft" solutions to the bigger problem:

• Town council to organize more resident-bonding events like games or walkathons
• To encourage residents to get to know each other
• Educate residents on the importance of caring and thinking for others

"Hard" solutions that solely focuses no killer-littering:

• Heavy fine
• Long jail term
• Step up on security - installation of secret security cameras to identify culprit

Of course, the most ideal solutions are the "soft" solution. The mindset of the people is the most important. When people start becoming more considerate, kind and caring for others, many other problems in the society caused by inconsideration would disappear too.

Only when people are more considerate, then can we achieve the great vision of being a gracious society.

Are we controlling technology, or is technology controlling us?

This is a million-dollar question. There is no doubt, great polarity on this issue; some think in a technologically-advanced world, life cannot go on without technology, while some think it is better to refrain from technology.

I can still vividly remember my father telling me firmly at the start of the year, "I don't believe humans cannot survive without technology". When I reminded him of what he said yesterday, he couldn't believe he actually said that.

That proves a clear point that technology really, indeed make our lives more comfortable, and make work more convenient, and lastly, humans are depending on it more and more.

We are controlling technology - this is mainly what is happening to the working class, who think technology in their lives, is merely a tool for greater ease and convenience at work. They think they can do without it, just that things get less convenient.

Of course, the correct thing to do is to control technology, and correctly utilize it to our benefit appropriately. But most children nowadays enjoy being controlled by technology - they are addicted to fun games in their PSP, XBOX and Wii.

In fact, they are so addicted to this sedentary games that they think about it when they are doing their homework, when they are in school and even in the exam room. Technology has became the root of all evils in the minds of the children.

It is not wrong to get "controlled" by technology once in a while to rest and relax, but we should maintain a degree of self-control and instead letting it take over our lives, and become the main subject of all our thoughts, we should intelligently utilize this effective tool to our benefit in making friends, doing work and completing projects.

Killer Litter

Believe it or not, it is a fact proven time and again that we are selfish people. Just last saturday, another shocking incident has once again revealed the selfish nature of human beings.

For months, residents of 206D Compassvale Lane in Sengkang had to live with heavy and sharp glass bottles, half-eaten food, and sometimes even sanitary pads raining down on them. Worried that this inconsiderate and dangerous act of littering would one day seriously injure or even kill someone, residents have been complaining to the town council since three months ago though they did not know where exactly the culprit was living.

With this missing information, the town council could only send members and volunteers to each unit of the HDB block to warn them of the dangers of killer litter. When they reached the last flat on the top level, which was the culprit's house, it was found to be locked. The volunteers who did not know it was her residence, left upon seeing it was locked.

Last Saturday, the resident's worst fears finally came to pass. A two-day wedding was being held at the foot of the block.

A wedding guest who was standing at the foot of the block, was struck on the head by a flowerpot. Mr Kasman Samat, 48, suffered from sever fracture to his head, and injures to his face.

Several other guests, including a four-year-old girl had close shaves with fatal injuries. They were almost injured by a heavy glass chili bottle and a another flowerpot.

It was indeed very inconsiderate and irresponsible of the woman to litter bulky and heavy object from her floor. Whether it was deliberately planned, or just mere dumping of unwanted items, this selfish acts proves a extremely dangerous threat to the people.

I feel that this is not a alienated case on its own. When tackling this problem of killer litter, the government should not just solely find solutions to solve the problem of killer litter. I feel everything that has been going on ( killer litter is just one of the many cases ), is associated with the basic core selfish nature of humans, if not, Singaporeans.

Just as the chinese saying goes, "对症下药 ”，the government should solve the basic problem of selfishness amongst Singaporeans, and with it, many other problems caused by selfishness would be solved ( including killer litter ).

Maybe the fact that people are just taking care of their personal needs shows the lack of unity amongst Singaporeans, which explains the public lack of concern for everyone's "common interest and benefit".

The town council should plan more residents-bonding events like ice-breakers etc. to unite and bond the residents so a spirit of 守望相助 would be developed.

The Right Mindset of Keeping Fit

With the increasing number of deaths being reported in NS, and the recent decision to extend basic military training, it has became a foregone conclusion that we are indeed an unfit lot.

It is really a worrying though because young men in their late teens should be in the peak of their physical health, yet compulsive indulgence in unhealthy modern technology and games seem to have taken the upper hand in the order of nature.

It is quite pathetic to see many putting in their last-ditch effort in the gyms working out in the holidays right after their A-levels examinations. According to statistics, 20 years back, there were only 4.2% of new recruits who were obese. The number has since jumped to a gaping 10%.

Personally, I am already starting to prepare for NS, and I'm trying to maintain a healthy body fitness to balance with my unhealthy indoor lifestyle of computer games, PSP and XBOX. I would run for 2.8 km everyday in the gym.

My friend once criticize me with his own opinion, "Why spend 6 years (Secondary School and JC) preparing for just 2 years." At first thought, it does seem strange, but after some reflecting, I finally understood that all the exercise is not just for NS, but is a early start to maintain a life-long healthy lifestyle. That is a bigger picture than the mere 2 year framework. Of course, a benefit by-product of this regular exercise would be a easy time in NS.

Many have the incorrect mindset that BMT is the place to keep themselves fit, and thats the main objective of NS, so they prefer to spend their growing up years engaged in modern, sedentary pastimes.

After NS, they would let out a huge sigh of relief, then "convert" back to the old sedentary lifestyle. This time, maybe, doing work in front the computer 10 hours a day. Exercise would be forgotten as people get more and more decadent.

If our youths are already unfit in their prime, what will happen when they grow up?

It is indeed a worrying trend because the NS slimming centre can only provide slimming service for 2 years in an average lifespan of 80 years. What people really need to do is to start from young , and continue their healthy and active lifestyle even after NS.

The Foreign Talent Dilemma

This is a hot topic being discussed over the internet and being reported in the newspapers recently.

As a developed country, Singapore faces a aging population crisis problem where there are insufficient newborns to replace the older generation. With women focusing more time and energy on career nowadays, it seems many of the solutions of encouraging birth are futile.

A measure the government has been taking these years was to import foreign talent to aid and maintain a sufficient number of working population to support the country.

Foreign working population assistance have proved itself to be quite effective and helpful over the years. According to a survey, companies that rely on foreign labour want the government to grant allowance for the quota of foreign workers that can be hired to be raised.

Calls have came strongest from Contractors and Manufacturers, from which Foreign workers form 70% of the working force.

But even as almost half of the companies surveyed are unhappy with the quota being set, it seems that the government is still unwilling to compromise on this matter.

Some disadvantages and fears the government have in mind include:

• Dilution of national identity with the unhealthy mix of foreigners
• Dying away of our own local unique culture with the "Westernization"
• As more and more foreigners take up jobs in various sectors, there would be less jobs for locals who are perceived as less capable as foreigners, aggravating the problem of unemployment
• Expected pay for foreigners would be different from local pay. Gap present would cause much unhappiness amongst the employees of mix nationalities
• Cost of living would be raised unhealthily as foreigners increase property prices

My take on this matter is to have a healthy balance of foreign talent intake and at the same time, help the foreigners to get use and adapt to the local lifestyle and culture. The newly proposed Nationality Test for foreigners who wish to be a Singaporean is a timely action.

Meanwhile, the government should continue its efforts on the most "healthy" solution, that is to encourage more birth amongst local mothers.

Church Camp 7-11 Dec Melaka

Hi all, I just went to Melaka, Malaysia for our church annual camp. I have learnt many things from the camp which I feel is definitely worth sharing.

It was a 5 day 4 night camp. It is our first church camp to have its own children worship ministry. It was my privilege to be selected to be part of the organizing team of the children worship, and we are all extremely excited about making the sessions captivating for the children. I shared a room with the team leader - Jeremy.

The first day was devoted to worship and getting used to the new environment. We started a detailed planning of what the sessions would be like for the next few days the moment we got there. It was important because there were two sessions of worship everyday.

The first session was relatively simple - it was a icebreaker session for the kids to open up and have fun. Our team leader, Jeremy, lead the worship and games first so we can get a good idea of what is expected of the next few days.

The dinner buffet provided by the hotel was fantastic - there were a huge variety of Malaysian, specifically Melaka food served, and they were to my delight, mostly spicy food.

The next day, we initiated the daily morning routine of praying to our God for help and dependence on him. He really blessed the morning sessions by working in the hearts of the children. It was the first time I saw the two troublemaker twins - Jeremy and Louis sing so happily and enthusiastically to God. We truly felt his presence with us.

We went to a peranakan heritage tour in Melaka old town in the afternoon. Peranakans are basically the offsprings of Chinese immigrants and Malaysian women. We went on a in-depth tour around a rich Peranakan house, and learnt a lot from the tour guide who explained in great detail the lifestyle and arrangements of this special group of people. Their culture is a unique and pleasant mix of Chinese and Malay.

The subsequent afternoon was again a pleasure to my friends and I. We went to Melaka's Go Kart track for 4 games of racing. It was honestly the first time I experience such speed in the driver's seat, and unexpectedly, in the second last round, I beat the best rumored racer Uncle James and finished first. Apparently, he went so fast that his car crashed into the tyres flanking the track.

The rest of the worship sessions were simply impromptu and spontaneous planning. We really did not prepare much before the camp, most of the work was actually done half an hour before each session, but to our pleasant surprise, the sessions turned out to be quite successful.

We had team leaders stepping up to lead their group. The usual quiet children were excited and turned out to be the loudest when it came to team cheers. Everyone had fun, and looked forward to the next session. Noah, a 5 year old kid, would never fail to ask me, "Jonah, is there children worship later on? I like it, I want to go."

Before the camp, I thought organizing an event was about holding numerous meetings, doing very detailed planning, and getting everything prepared. But after this camp, I began to relax and tell myself to rest everything in the hands of God. As long as the team is motivated and united to work towards one goal, everything is possible.

I am still learning to be a better leader and to look at the bigger picture always and I will reflect and seek improvement the next I am given the opportunity and privilege to organize an event. Hope to be a better person than I am a second ago.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

My friends and I have just went to the Traditional Chinese Medicine EXPO 2009 hosted by Singapore. The trip was interesting and it is worth sharing.

There were 5 long rows of Chinese medicine distributers from famous brands all over the world today. We interviewed professionals there and took down vital information of chinese medicine. We also took many photos of the exhibits. There was a big lingzhi mushroom the size of a big jeep car tyre.

There were famous brands like Tiger Balm, and yurenshen there to advertise their chinese medicine products. They kindly accepted our request to interview them regarding the various uses and benefits of traditional chinese medicine.

We even talked to the chairman of the organizing committee who agreed to accept our short interview regarding the reason why chinese medicine is so widely popular in Singapore. Traditional medicine is doing a roaring trade here these days, with imports growing by 63 per cent over the last five years to hit US$35 million (S$49 million) last year.

Samuel and I took many photos of the herbs and amazing medicine displayed. We also learnt something new that chinese medicine actually came from animals, and natural herbs. But what makes it chinese medicine is the human add-on and "refining" process.

In a speech by the chairman of the exhibition, he pointed out that chinese medicine is on the uptrend in Singapore as more of the younger generation turn to complementary medicines and companies start tailoring products to suit them.

We videoed down the opening speech, as well as the interview. Looks like it would be a difficult editing work later:)

My friends and I are planning to do our project based on the promotion of chinese medicine - its uses, benefits, advantages over western as well as its long history. We feel it is a worth-while idea to work on.

Chinese Learning (continued)

Yesterday, PM Lee gave a speech overseas regarding the learning of chinese. He noted that times have changed, more students are from english-speaking backgrounds today than in the past, and the government would have to change its teaching approach to best suit the children.

In a press conference, he pointed out the trend of learning is changing constantly, and changes would have to also change constantly to flexibly fit the trend.

It is a foregone conclusion that most students are uninterested in old chinese teaching methods that is still being practiced today. A tailor-made approach by keeping up with the trend would work best to engage the children's interest at school.

Some notable trends:

• Instead of writing the chinese characters out, students are now more interested in typing out the characters in the computer through hanyupinyin input systems.
• Students enjoy learning chinese through acting, show-and-tell, competitions, and games rather than traditional teaching methods.
• The computer internet is a widely preferred medium of learning amongst the students.
• Most students enjoy doing projects, learning and exploring themselves rather than just listening to one person talking at the front.
• Group discussions are preferred to doing things individually.

PM Lee acknowledge these trends and promised that the government do their best to tailor their teaching methods and approaches to best capture the students' interest.

He also brought up the strategy of different strokes for different folks, pointing out the possibility of conducting higher difficulty lessons for those who come from chinese-speaking families.

One current program is the bi-cultural program for those who have the required ability and are interested in learning more about China culture. It is presently being practiced in elite secondary schools.

Being a Celebrity

It has been childhood dream to become as famous as Michael Jackson, but as I grew up and I knew how "haunting" the life of a celebrity can be, I immediately changed my mind.

Michael Jackson, as we all know, is one of the most famous pop artist, in fact, the "King of Pop". He has many fans and supporters and it seems that there is nothing more he can wish for.

But life is really sad for him. Just because he has so much fame, he faces tremendous stress and pressure everyday to perform. It is known that Michael Jackson is a perfectionist who conducts rehearsals everyday consecutively to make sure nothing goes wrong in his performance. This has somehow taken a toll on his health - he has lack of sleep because he is under so much pressure everyday.

The "King of Pop" has never fail to turn to medication whenever he needs sleep. He uses increasing numbers of it, exceeding health limits, to calm himself down before performances, until one day his fame and stress finally killed him.

Recently, Tiger Woods, the world no. 1 golfer, again faces tremendous pressure from tabloids and reporting that he has an affair with two ladies.

The media has "haunted" him, invading his privacy. A small car accident outside his house was being described the tabloids as a desperate attempt to escape from his wife after a violent argument over the rumors about him.

Whether the rumor are true or are simply lies, Woods faces a great stress from the extent the media invading his personal privacy. He expresses his despair and shock that the media is "scrutinizing" his personal privacy and closed-door family discussions. Personal family matters have to turn into public confessions. There is really no family time, space and privacy for celebrities.

With the numerous time taken away by golf tournaments and handling of rumors, I am unsure whether Woods has enough time with his family. Although he is filthy rich man, I doubt he has time to do what a normal family can do - spend time with their children, play with them, teach them, and bring them out for a simple vacation. What is the use of money then?

An Unfair Edge for PAP?

Parties who wish to summarize their points and promises will have to do it on another day than the usual Polling Day eve.

PM Lee announced a new system yesterday to help voters cast votes in rationally. From the next election onwards, which is expected to be in 2011, there would be a "cooling day" on the eve of Polling Day.

In a press interview, PM Lee said that campaigners will not be allowed to campaign on the eve so emotions would not get the better of the voters. Instead, they day of reflecting would help the voters think through the situations, weigh the pros and cons, reflect, rationalize and walk into the voting room in a calm and steady state of mind.

Many voters still recall the past elections where everyone is overwhelmed with emotions and rush in a disorderly manner to cast their votes. The whole situation was extremely disorderly.

The reflection on the eve would help alleviate the problem of disorderliness because the voters are in a calm mindset, and would cast their votes rationally.

This voting system has already been adopted in countries like Sweden and America where the "cooling period" extends to up to 2 to 3 days.

However, there is "grey area", quipped PM Lee, "the internet" where parties can post their messages and points on websites to campaign. But on the whole, the "cooling day" would act as a spirit of reflection for the voters to vote in a rational manner.

Opposition parties seem to be very unhappy with the new system. Unanimous opposition was being expressed over this issue.

Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang pointed out that the PAP can especially turn to TV to campaign, by disguising it as 'news' items from the Government.

'This will effectively give the ruling party an extra day of campaigning to the disadvantage of the opposition,' he said.

The opposition also argues that Singaporeans are rational voters and that opposition rallies are not prone to pose public disorder concerns, after arguments by PAP members that the voters would have time to think through rationally after an exciting campaigning and cast their votes calmly.

Chinese Learning (continued)

The difficulty level is not an issue to students turning off Chinese. According to my experience as Primary School students, I suspect the main factor is that the teachers who are teaching the kids are too old-fashioned and cannot appeal to the students at their level.

As I mentioned earlier, I am a very fortunate kid. My teacher back then was a humorous teacher, and he would make a joke out of every word, and strangely because we find his jokes funny, the words have silently clinged themselves to our "sponge minds".

My level was a fortunate one, I should say. The chinese teacher next door played pop songs in class after discovering the students' passion in pop music. He then explained the meanings of words in the songs. I think this is a very creative solution.

The other levels had old-fashioned teachers, I remember, who instructed (forced) the students to memorize and write the words 50 times should they get it wrong in tingxie. Our scores, to my upmost delight, were always much better than them. They have to spend more effort than us yet the result is worse.

This reveals that kids nowadays (sadly including me) are more and more spoilt by their parents and demand more. They will give up easily and turn the language off if the lessons are not interesting, unlike the old days.

In order to help the students in their chinese learning, we have to change our strategy:

• Hire more new and younger teachers who experienced boring lessons in the past. They would understand how the students feel.
• Require them to plan lessons flexibly with the modern trend in a ever-changing world.
• Test out what the students like and have interest in
• Plan the lessons in a flexible way according to majority interest (e.g. pop song) so that the students wold be interested in the lessons.
• Once the students interest is captured, they would enjoy the language and their learning ability would be enhanced during the learning process.
• The students' interest would change every class and level, so teachers selected must be flexible and have at least a sufficient knowledge in modern technology and trend

Compromising on difficult level of chinese is not the long-term solution, but we can be flexible and appeal to the students' interest by engaging them at their level.

Importance of Reading

I am not a chinese advocate, but I have to admit I am hooked on a book most think would be boring - shediaoyingxiongzhuan, a chinese martial arts novel. That may prove a new point: yes, I am a martial arts fan.

It is understandable that many find reading boring. Of course, doing something in real-life is much more realistic and fun than just reading about someone else doing it, but just like how food is what gives us life, reading is the bread and butter of learning a language.

When reading, your brain's reading circuit will be activated and trained, the more you read, the deeper understanding you have of the language. In the exciting midst of reading your intriguing mystery adventure, your brain would automatically remember and process new vocabulary, as well as how already-known vocabulary can be used in new ways of sentence structure.

This year's top student in the Primary School Leaving Examinations could barely speak any English when she moved here from China in 2006 with here family. She was already Primary 3 by then.

Biqing said she improved her English by reading a lot. She now has direct school admission place in Raffles Girls Secondary School. From somebody who cannot even speak English, she can now scored an A* in her English exams because she reads.

PSLE is a local Primary School exam to test local students' ability in the various subjects. Why don't Singaporeans find it embarrassing that a foreigner tops their own local exam? Is it because while she was putting all her effort reading, the rest are still playing away on the computer?

Reading can be easy, if one is willing to put in the effort. I heartily agree with the chinese proverb: There is nothing difficult in the world, it is only a matter of whether you are willing to put in the effort to do it. It seems to reflect the spirit of this year's top PSLE scholar, as well as previous years' top PSLE scholars too, may I guess.

Reading can be interesting too. Whether you are a soccer fan, baseball fan, martial arts or mystery, books all over the world by different authors can cater to your interest.

Reading is convenient, I am sure there are community libraries located at shopping malls near your home. And they are free! - its just the matter of whether you have the heart to improve your yourself.

It is no wonder why the government puts so much emphasis on reading in Primary School syllabus. I hope the new syllabus MM Lee mentioned would continue to put reading as an important component of chinese learning.

The Long-term strategy to Chinese Learning

After weeks of MM Lee's new strategy to chinese learning, the argument still lingers on. Many support MM Lee's opinion, saying it will benefit them because chinese learning would be much more fun and interesting.

I beg to differ. Compromising on the learning standards is not a long-term solutions. It is age-old wisdom that a good disciple is only trained by a strict teacher. Similarly, only high standards of chinese learning can season a bunch of students with high standards of chinese.

By lowering the standards because MM Lee thinks old chinese learning is too "difficult", the students' standard will also decline, and slowly it will be a vicious circle where the students will even find the newly lowered standards increasingly difficult.

Creating a vicious circle is definitely not the long-term solutions; compromising has never been. Instead, the government should constantly seek to improve and raise the difficulty level of chinese learning especially amidst the rising of China.

MM Lee has expressed his regret that chinese standards were too "difficult", and in the old times, they had to memorize words without even knowing the meanings of the words.

I am sure Ting Xie nowadays are much better. At least, when I was in Primary School, my teacher explained to us the meanings of the vocabulary very thoroughly, and this helped us understand and remember the words easily. In addition, his lively examples were interesting and this made the lesson fun and engaging. This can be one of solutions to this problems.

Some argue that times are different - according to statistics, more and more students come from english-speaking families, and they lack chinese speaking with the parents before going to Primary School - which is the foundation to the learning of a language - and cannot immediately skip the speaking part to learn the next level of writing.

I heartily agree with them that learning a language requires speaking mastery first, and students nowadays have no exposure to chinese speaking, that is why schools need to settle it for them and have not enough time to do more difficult things like writing, thus lowering the standards.

I was a fortunate one - my father speaks english, while my mother speaks chinese to me. For those who have english-speaking families, I think the chinese-speaking part should be done in the nursery and kindergarden stage from peer influence (those who have chinese-speaking families) and teacher. Learning this foundation during Primary School would be a little too late.

For the matter of making the lessons more fun and engaging so that the children would not turn off the language at a young age, I think there are alternative solutions to lowering the standards.

We can engage them at their level. Kids nowadays enjoy computer games tremendously - why don't create a interesting computer game like Freddie Fish in chinese learning edition, where they can learn vocabulary through the fun process of playing.

At the end of the day, the learn what a normal boring lesson offers them, yet brings back a simple message: Chinese Learning is fun, I am looking forward to the next Chinese lesson.

Child Raising is Difficult

Child-raising is no doubt, a difficult task to accomplish. Chinese proverbs and sayings have already, since 5000 years ago, praised parents for the love and care they show for their children. But what is really the cost of raising a child?

I heartily agree with a study by Salary.com, which calculated that house wives should be paid a high salary of $162,000 for everything they do for their children.

Everyday, my mother takes on the world with the same zest.

From 6am in the morning, my mother has to sacrifice their sleep, rub her weary eyes to start preparing breakfast for me, and when I leave for school, she has to immediately do tedious housework – mopping the floor, cleaning the windows, drying the clothes, washing the bed sheets, preparing lunch – then be my mentor, teacher, disciplinarian, and chef – perpetual succor rolled into one, before retiring for the day.

My mother had given up and threw everything she held dear – her job, her leisure, her sleep, to take care of her most precious dear. She often jokingly comment that she has already become the house maid! Whenever I call “Mum!”, she would come to my service – a glass of water, a plate of fruit, a piece of chocolate or even just some company – she has to do it.

It is especially difficult to imagine happy smiley moments the government advertise on TV or newspaper when young kids are so demanding and unreasonable, when youths are so rebellious, and when teenagers want so much freedom. It requires a great deal of patience and tolerance – EVERYDAY for a long period of time!!!

We should really appreciate whatever our parents have done for us. It is not wrong to say it is impossible to repay for life the difficult period of child-raising our parents have gone through. I do hope I can give back even more than the annual $162,000 as recommended by the website study – this is what she deserves. Until then, I can only give a heart-felt thanks.

Gambling - boon or bane?

With the two IRs expecting to open in one or two years time, some welcomed its opening as a effective way of boosting our tourism industry, while many argued it's negative social impacts should be carefully taken into consideration.

It is foregone conclusion that casinos are "tourist-magnets". Normally, developed cities would have one or two casionos that would greatly boost their tourism industry. Singapore, being no exception, is alread half-way through its construction.

Many support the IRs because it would help alleviate the problem of unemployment, amidst a pressing unemployment problem. But statistics seem to show that more than half of the workers planned to be employed are actually foreigners, who are well-perceived for having high global standards.

With the IR just at our doorstep, what social consequences would it cause. Not only does it seem to be unable to alleviate problems of unemployment, it also brings a troublesome lot of problems with it.

This year sees a great jump in suicide cases, according to statistics, and most of the suicide cases are related to huge debts brought by gambling addiction.

It is clear that gambling is against the long-standing moral teachings of earning money the honest and modest way. It is also common knowledge amongst the more experienced visitors that out of ten games in a casino, you would lose nine games.

We have seen newspaper reportings almost daily, showing casees of people jumping to their death, couples getting a divorce, and many more... all because of gambling debts.

Many have the common psychological mindset that one day, they would earn it big. But history has already revealed to us the truth - it is impossible to win in a casino, people just keep losing until they accumulate a huge debt, and when they are unable to repay the debts, they usually jump and escape from it all. Yet people are just the way they are - stubborn and unable to learn from history mistakes.

Today, without the Integrated Resorts, the world is a chaotic place, and life is a nightmare for compulsive gamblers. In two years time, I cannot imagine what Singapore would become.

RE: Chinese Standards Should Not Be Dropped

To the Straits Times:

Dear Sir / Mdm,

I am writing to express my opinion on the issue of Chinese Learning. I understand that MM Lee Kuan Yew has recently expressed his regreat regarding the issue of Chinese Learning, that he did not take note to make Chinese Learning fun and as a result, many have totally turned off the language.

MM Lee feels that the learning of Chinese should start with speaking and hearing the language, instead of the old way of memorizing words without understanding them. His opinion seemed to have triggered a series of comment calling for chinese marks to hold a lesser percentage in PSLE examinations.

Chinese learning standards should not compromised. It seems that the people are avoiding the issue that their children are weak in the subject, and are compromising on the problem by lowering the mark percentage, rather than find a way to tackle the problem.

The government and people's "solution" to the problem is to lower the standards of Chinese. But is we constantly compromise and lower the standard of Chinese, wouldn't the next generation chinese standards constantly drop. Every generation would then see a great gap in chinese standards. By then, the students with lower standards would even find the easy syllabus difficult and turn off the language.

Chinese language is the same as English language. Every language has to be put in sufficient effort to master it. Vocabulary is difficult, but necessary. The students would find the vocabulary they learn in Primary School extremely handy when they need to use them in future essays, reports, especially when China, as we all know, is a global market of rising dominance.

Why does the government leave out the compromising of standard on the English part? As I know, may are also struggling with English.

If the reason is because more and more students are from English-speaking family backgrounds, then maybe the first stage of speaking for the Chinese part that the parents did not do should be done in Pre-school learning, like nursery and kindergarden. The government should make sure pre-school education includes the basic foundation of the speaking of Chinese language. It would be too late to do it in Primary School.

The current module, I think, is already very simple and insufficient, it is would be too simple and severely insufficient if we do the basic speaking foundation in Primary School. In Primary 1, we just have to learn hanyupinying, and in Primary 2, just a few simple words.

What the government, I think, needs to do is not compromise on the difficult vocabulary learning part, and change the module to a more oral speaking learning, if the main concern is rather that students turn off the language. Teachers can make the students understand the meaning of the vocabulary before requiring them to memorize, so the students would know when and where to use the particular word. This is different from plain, boring memorizing without understanding the meaning.

Apart from making lesson interesting by cutting away the most essential vocabulary learning, I feel that there are probably other ways to make the lessons interesting. Many teachers are adopting online E-learning as a more interesting and appealing alternative to teach vocabulary. They design fun games they would attract the students to play, but the content of the game is learning, for example, some new vocabulary or sentence structure.

At the end of the day, the students learn the same things they would learn in a boring lesson, and at the same time, they bring back a simple message - learning chinese is fun, I like chinese, I am looking forward to the next, fun chinese lesson. In addition, because the learning process is fun and interesting for the children, they can also not only memorise but also learn the meanings behind the words better and faster.

At the same time, I hope the government would also not leave out the oral speaking part because this, no doubt, would be a inevitable part of the students life in teh future as they grow up, but it is best to have a healthy balance of oral and vocabulary. Vocabulary should, I think, should still be the top priority, like in other any languages. I hope alternative solution to make lessons interesting to the students can be adopted. Thank you.

Yours Faithfully,
Jonah Heng

Repeat after me... lah, lor, aiyah!

Foreigners who wish to obtain Singapore citizenship may have to go through a pre-citizenship test in the near future before gaining approval.

The government is now considering setting a pre-citizenship test that includes general knowledge on Singapore. It is following the footsteps of England, where foreigners there have to pass a test should they want to gain citizenship.

This new measure is effective in helping the foreigners integrate better. Instead of helping them, the foreigners themselves have to grasp as much knowledge about Singapore as possible in preparation for the test. This helps them better understand and integrate into our multi-racial society in a short time should they gain citizenship.

This suggestion by a MP is timely amidst pressing problems of low birth rate in our country. Foreign talent is needed and a way to test for talent and ability would be the pre-citizenship test.

The test, if approved, would most likely cover the areas of multi-racialism, housing, history, and other general knowledges.

Here are some possible questions:

• Expand the acronyms - ERP, CPF, GRC, AYE, PIE, HDB...
• What is the percentage of population living in HDB flats?
• What are the public holidays of Singapore?
• Who founded colonial Singapore
• What is the most common place of food in Singapore?

In America, Thailand and some other countries, they are taking up the method of naturalization, which I think is very effective way of integration. Permanent Residents woul have to stay in the country for a fix numbers of year - 3 to 5 years - to "naturally" obtain their citizenship.

In the years of waiting they would have already mix into the society and be part of it, understand the country very well, and when they obtain citizenship, they would very easily integrate into the society.

But Singapore cannot afford to lose so much time in this slow process of naturalization so it has to adopt the pre-citizenship test faster alternative - to "force" Permanent Residents to learn about the country in a short period of time of test preparation.

I hope the test will not include Singlish Fluency Criteria...!

No maid would be better?

Many hesitate over the question - would having a maid be a better-off decision?

Many choose to hire a maid because having a maid at home would help them focus on their career. While they are out at work, their children back at home would be taken care of in safe hands.

The maid can also help them cook dinner when they come back from work, so the wife does not need to worry about setting aside time for cooking. She will help do all the housework, and all these weighs surprisingly lightly on one's pockets, considering the work she has to juggle - a mere salary of $500 to $600.

The greatest benefit is having somebody experienced to take care of the children. But many have argued that is exactly the greatest adverse effect too.

It is common knowledge that relationship requires time to develop. With the children spending most of their time with the maid, would they drift apart from their busy parents whom they should rightfully be closest with?

The parents risk their child being spoilt - especially with the child taken care by a paid maid who is most likely compromising to the wants of the child as he grows up.

Personally, I wouldn't want to leave my children to the care of a maid. First, I would not want to risk finding the wrong maid; the newspaper has been constantly reporting cases of maid abusing children while their parents are away. What if that happens to my child? I do not want to imagine.

I also personally feel that it is more important to teach my child the right moral values and precious life experience than focus so much on work.

I also hope my wife would be capable and willing to stay at home with my children instead of working, to guide them in their learning journey, and like my mother did, help me prepare for exams, and take care of me when I am sick.

When parents personally take care of their children, it is probably easier to control him, train him to be more independent, and teach him how to prioritize his wants and needs.

These, no doubt, a maid cannot achieve.

Seniors to Get Wired

Ah Peks sipping from their coffee cups, gathering around the old round table, talking about Mousehunt?

It may seem like an impossible scene to achieve, but we might soon be proven wrong.

Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Mr Lui Tuck Yew had recently released information about a government plan to help the elderly keep up with technology - by helping making it even easier for them to be computer-savvy.

Assisting the seniors to be tech-savvy is extremely important to keep them connected with the society in a constantly evolving world of information and technology. It is a foregone conclusion that the internet will be the future medium of information.

The minister praised retiree KW Chan who set up a facebook account to share some vacation photos with his friends.

The 66-year old spent a week mastering the online social networking site, and he nows updates his account daily. Mr Chan's example has proven that it not a 'Mission Impossible' for the elderly to master the computer and internet.

The government has decided to set up hotspots around Singapore that would provide sufficient computers for free at places such as community centres and places that provide elderly care services. This is a terrific platform for the elderly living nearby to learn computer-usage conveniently.

To make learning even easier and more convenient for the elderly, the government is planning also to send volunteers ad workers to the hotspots to teach the seniors basic knowledge on computers.

This plan is timely, especially when Singapore is facing an aging population problem. Demographics show that the majority of people are slowly shifting towards the higher end of the age population. Coupled with the good healthcare our country has, there would no doubt, be increasing numbers of elderly roughly between the ages of 50 and 60.

The new plan would aid the seniors greatly in keeping connected to the society and probably contributing to the society for those who are still working, especially when the government is slowly pushing back the retirement for senior workers.

Is the Internet Affecting Our Ability to Read?

Many have argued that it is the same, I am of no exception. But is it really the same? After reading an article that provided scientific research and insights, I begin to doubt so.

It is a foregone conclusion that internet reading is a much preferred medium of reading compared to print. It is also a much convenient for multi-tasking.

Many ( including me ), thought that reading is just reading. Whether reading on a phone, newspaper, book, or the internet, it is just the same language and words.

Some argue that reading on a computer via the internet would affect our eyesight. The harmful rays and waves emitted from the screen that cannot be seen, are extremely harmful to our eyes.

Putting the matter of eyesight damage aside, will it affect reading? Internet has become the preferred medium of reading, since it is much more convenient to do research on the internet. Finding certain things by rummaging through books, is equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack.

But recent scientific research has proved that our mind reading circuit is susceptible to whatever the medium - internet or print emphasizes.

It has proven that while reading on print, our brain can train and develop our reading ability / circuit, from the first level of processing a word, to the even higher level of connecting words together and their meanings, analyse the word, make an inference out of the word and adding in contextual knowledge, and finally the apex of reading, where we can instantenously add in our own personal thoughts.

This is how effective print-reading can develop and train our reading ability. That is why it takes time, sometimes even years to develop our reading abilities fully.

On the other hand, internet reading will never give us sufficient time to learn and go deeper into the text after the first decoding, because young brains would be pulled by the medium to ever more distracting information, sidebars and even videos on the webpage.

That is the main concern of neuro-scientists, that kids nowadays are engaged in online reading at too early a age, before their print-reading can fully develop their reading circuit. Once they are stuck to online reading, they would most probably be stuck in the early stages of reading development for life.

This could mean that the next generation of young people could have weaker reading abilities. Luckily I used print to read until I was around 12, hope that is enough time to develop my reading circuit! :)

In addition, as I mentioned earlier, multi-tasking may be more of a con than a pro. According to research , people who habitually multi-tasked were worse at focusing, remembering things and moving from one task to another than those who focuses on task at a time.

Qualities an Entrepreneur Should Have.

Hi all, this time is about some of my thoughts on what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur, but not a employee. I was intrigued to pick out the special qualities entrepreneurs have but employees did not have, and I think some of my discoveries are worth sharing.

The first thing I recognized was that employees working in a company normally have a stable income, and secure and comfortable life. Although most of them might not earn as much as entrepreneurs, the stable, consistent and regular income they receive every month gives them a deep sense of security.

Entrepreneurs are totally different! They first step they decide to start their own business, they were forced to consider if their business will fail, if they had enough capital to develop their business, if their product can survive amidst strong competition and a thousand and one other risks and uncertainties they will run if they started a business.

Starting a business is equivalent to stepping into murky waters, and being a new player of a game where experienced players with much more starting advantages have already been around for decades. Without doubt, entrepreneurs should be people who enjoy adventures and risk. They are risk-takers.

In a world full of opportunities, an employees may not have the foresight to see how what the company's direction should be. He must be flexible and change the company's direction and focuses anytime based on the trend and opportunity then.

A good entrepreneur must be always smelling new opportunities that can aid the company in its overall growth and development towards its goal. He must carry more long-term plans and directions that can bring long-term benefits to the company, than focus more on short-term fufillments just because of public disapproval or immediate gains.

Because most human beings will support whatever popular vote goes to, and fail to have the determination to carry out what he thinks is best for the company. An entrepreneur will whatever he thinks will benefits the company the best (long-term plans), no matter how others think, he will do it because he knows its good.

After all, it is his company. Of course, he is the one most concerned about it. Employees who disapprove or put pressure on him to do what seem most pressing at the moment (short-term fufillments) may after all just be fighting for their own personal selfish benefits and comforts.

Determination must be present in this kind of situations. In addition, a good entrepreneur NEVER SAY DIE! He will pick himself up from where he had fallen. And because his resilience, he would learn something new everytime he fails, and along the way, he will become increasingly less bound to fail. Success is the opposite of failure, that is why determination = success.

Normal human beings (employees) would probably just give up.

As you would have guessed, my aspiration is to be a business man. I believe being a business man not only earn you a lot of money, but along the way as you encounter small failures, each time you pick yourself up, you would learn a new life philosophy from it. (For example, not to be too greedy, prioritize your needs and wants etc.) That, I think is the best thing I can tap from entrepreneurship.

Making a Pitch for Older Workers

When we enter a electronic store, do we approach the younger sales assistant, or the older and more experienced sales assistant?

Mr De Payva, president of the NTUC, and Mr Ong, its assistant secretary general were making a pitch to 20 managers to retain older workers as they have valuable experience.

This pitch was timely, amidst difficult times of unemployment. According to a research, most employers would rather hire younger employees then older ones. Many even fired older workers in order to find younger ones to replace them.

Yes, younger employees may seem more energetic and hardworking, but experience is definitely important because one effective worker can be better than three inexperienced workers. Keeping older workers can actually save money and improve overall performance, compared to hiring new younger staff.

It is actually quite ridiculous to fire someone just because he is old. It just like throwing time and hard work away training the staff. They have been groomed from young to old in the company and just when they have reached their prime age where they have the richest experience, are trained fully and can achieve maximum performance, they are being fired. Then , what is the use of staff training and grooming?

Age is not a factor. That was the main message the NTUC president tried to convey.

A new scheme was released three days ago, calling for companies to offer workers turning 62 continued employment. If they have no job to offer, they should offer a one-off-payment to help workers while they find a new job.

The guidelines will form the core of a law to be passed by 2010 for re-employment up to the age of 65 and later 67.

The pushing of retiring age to a later age seemed to be strongly prompted by Singapore's ageing population. Should workers retire at an early age, it would weigh heavy on the working population to support the increasing non-working aged.

However, a major problem Mr De Payva spotted was that employers would try to find all kinds of ways and excuses to "get rid" of the aging employees before they turn 62, so that they do not have to offer the one-off-payment.''

It seems that there are always loopholes in schemes the government releases, so it is vitally important for the government to explain why employees should follow with their plans ( in this case, because older workers have more experience ) This pitch by NTUC three days after the guidelines were released, is therefore definitely timely.

Jump, die... again?

Another suicide incident reveals yet again the selfishness of human nature.

A 36-year-old threw away half of his human life, and whole of his only son's future, when he fell to his death at the foot of Block 287 Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 on April 24, bringing his sole child with him.

Mr Farook came to Singapore to seek employment shortly after his marriage i India in February 2001. Hist wife joined him about a month later. After giving birth in India in 2002, she and her child came to Singapore and became permanent residents in 2003.

Naheem, their only child, had a problem of delay development, and underwent therapies from as early as the age of five. Teachers in school discovered that he was unable to concentrate during lessons, and was an attention-seeker.

Doctors warned the parents that the child is probably highly autistic, and may display frequent behaviours of severe violence.

The parents received a complaint from the teachers that the child was unsuitable for normal school curriculum. The complaint seemed to be prompted by an incident whereby Naheem used a pair of scissors to snip his classmate's uniform while attending a Tamil language lesson. This deeply troubled his parents, who were afraid of his potential violence in the future.

On the April 12, Mr Farook told his wife he is bringing his child to a temple to pray, but never returned.

It was definitely a quick way to escape from all the frustrations and troubles he faced, but maybe Mr Farook should give a considerate thought to his widow:

How would his wife survive on her own? If I jump, I would make her broken-hearted for life, is it just a matter of money? How would she feel in front of her friends in future? Who knows what my son can achieve when he grows up?

If everyone considers these questions before jumping, and have some sense of responsibility, maybe this world would be a better place.

Chinese Learning

Learn to listen and speak, not just memorise and write. Make chinese learning fun and interesting.

Those were the basic outline of his speech at the opening of the new Chinese Learning Centre that provided a totally new module from the usual vocab memorizing and chinese word tests we are so used to in Primary School.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew emphasized the need to engage the student's interest at a young age. He quipped that learning a language starts from hearing, listening then speaking, the writing part comes at the later stage.

He is resolute to change the current module to fit in this teaching method. It will also be extremely handy in future conversations with Chinese especially in times of China's emergence as a market giant.

The minister mentor expressed his regret that in the old days, students were forced to read and write, and memorize many words without knowing why. This, he said, totally turned off the students at a very young age, causing them to lose their interest when learning Chinese in Secondary school and junior college. Some even turned off the language for life.

He was confident that the basic to learning a language is to first have interest in it. Only with interest, the students can be more actively involved and enthusiastic about learning the language.

On the other hand, will this new module affect the student's writing abilities?

Besides speaking, the government must make sure there is a healthy balance of lessons aimed to improve the students' writing and reading ability. The future trend of information transmission is no doubt, the internet, and emails will most likely hold an extremely important position in the students' lives in the future.

Chinese is just like English. Learning and memorizing new vocabulary is an inevitable process so that the students have enough word-bank to use when suitable as they grow up and work.

Reading is equally important, contracts, letters of request, reports, proposals etc. might turn out to actually be an significant part of the students' lives in the future.

The government's main concern is that writing and reading and learning new vocabulary is too difficult for the mediocre batch of students, resulting in total turn-off in the subject. This is a correct issue to tackle, but the government must take note not to cripple those not so verbally well-versed, but extremely talented in writing group of student's platform to further develop their talent.

It may be more difficult for the students to adapt from oral-speaking Primary School Module to a totally different secondary school module, where tests, memorizing and learning new vocabulary dominate the spotlight. If the government wishes to change the Primary School module, it must take note to smooth the transition between Primary School to secondary school.

There are also other ways to make lessons more interesting. For example, teachers can create fun and interactive flash games like the Freddie Fish game I enjoy tremendously when I was young, but include a academic content related to the syllabus where after the game, they learn a ten new words + a new sentence structure. At the end of the day, they learn what normal lessons can offer them yet have fun and find lessons interesting. Why not?