1. "Asean, Russia can do more to build on links: Leaders - The Straits Times 21 May 2016
Addressing the commemorative summit of Russia & Asean, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong set out the significant role Russia can play in the Asia-Pacific.
"To fully harness the potential of our region, we should strive for a region which is characterised by, firstly, peace and stability. Secondly, building on that, growth and prosperity," he said.
But peace and stability require management of specific issues.
"In the South China Sea, we see a significant and worrying escalation of tensions... This bodes ill for a region that is highly dependent on maritime trade and commerce and on freedom of navigation," he said.
"On the Korean peninsula, the deliberate and provocative actions by (North Korea) can trigger its neighbours also to go nuclear and destabilise the whole region."
There is also the challenge of terrorism, with groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) recruiting many citizens in Asean and elsewhere to fight in Syria, and radicalising them to violent acts.
Mr Lee called on leaders to work together to tackle these issues. This means adhering to international law and peaceful resolution of disputes - including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes - and exercising self-restraint, and sharing intelligence and combating the spread of radical ideology.
Moscow, he noted, has been a valuable participant in ADMM-Plus, co-chairing its experts' working group on military medicine.
It has also engaged Asean partners in non-traditional security matters like counter-terrorism and combating transnational crime.
With peace and stability, Asia-Pacific countries have a chance to establish a growing and prosperous region, Mr Lee added."
Definitely a place to look for growth since the traditional growth areas are no longer growing! So, it is to the benefits of both sides to try to engage. Having said that, Russia under Mr Putin has not, to say the least, conducted itself in the international arena that promote trust. A Russia that is very much selfish when it comes to their benefits been threatened. A Russia that knows what brute force can achieve while others exclaim about 'conducts befitting a big power and international standards'.
So, explore we must. Trust will have to be won. Beware. Find the good Russians, and leave those lawless ones alone. They don't play nice if their interests are at stake.
2. "Tsai calls for both sides to 'set aside baggage of history' - The Straits Times 21 May 2016
A good part of her 30-minute speech was on reforms to boost a moribund economy, improve the social safety net and better prepare Taiwan's youth for the future.
Acknowledging that "the path forward is not a smooth one", Ms Tsai appealed to the Taiwanese people to work together with her.
Ms Tsai is Taiwan's fourth directly elected president and its first woman president."
For the ordinary Taiwanese, they are not concerned with the cross-straits relationship really though if PRC uses force to 'recover' Taiwan, their daily lives will definitely be affected much. For now, they are really concerned about 'boosting the moribund economy, improving the social safety net with lesser and lesser young people funding the bigger and bigger aged and better prepare Taiwan's youth for the future.'
Still, acknowledgement must be given to her and the Taiwanese voters. They have picked their 1st woman President. Hopefully, her government through her leadership will galvanise more like-minded people to ditch the 'out-dated and corrupt' political system, truly work for the betterment of the ordinary people, helping the people to be wiser and making good decisions not just based on personal self-interest.
All the best to Taiwan and her people, of whom I have a few friends there who can contribute to this historically significant transitional period.
3. "PSLE changes will be no silver bullet: Ng Chee Meng - CNA 21 May 2016
SINGAPORE: The idea is to promote a more holistic approach to learning, but make no mistake – the impending changes to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scoring system will be no “silver bullet”, according to Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng.
A true paradigm shift away from the stressful over-emphasis on academics would require parents, teachers, even students themselves, and employers to “move together”, he said, “so that overall, we create other opportunities for kids to have fun, to learn, and hopefully reduce the keen sense of competition”."
Yes. It will be insane, or naïve, to think that change the PSLE score will be the be-all-and-end-all silver bullet to solve a long deep-rooted mind-set of 'my-life-is-decided-by-the-PSLE-score' at 12 years old!!
The educational system in many countries of the world are just fairly useless ones if the educational system's main goal is to produce 'matching workers for the employers'. Much had gone to waste as you only need to have workers, blue- or white- or gold-collar ones, to know in general: how to read, write, count, speak, think, learn, adopt, adept and apply the learning to solve problems! These will be generic knowledge and skills required. For more specific ones like: medicine, laws, accounting, engineering, space travel, programming, AI, robotics, genetic, etc. etc., these needs specialised training. We can train them younger if the 'universal knowledge and skills' can be 'taught' or 'learned' from the age of 6-10. There after, send those with the gifts to the 'specialised training'.
That will leave many more who will NOT have a job and have to be educated on how to be a consumer, a responsible one, where: less is more on consumption, more is better on conservation/helping the poor and less fortunate, etc.
The whole idea of someone is good and deserved to have much more of the rewards to him or her will be discarded. Only then will the deep-rooted kiasu and kiasi behaviours go away.
Have I been smoking something to suggest the above? Nah. I am very much sober. Just being unconventional. If only our ministers can be bolder.
Good luck to the transition. If we keep at it for the next 20 years, we will succeed. Just don't change the policies after 2 or 3 years when new Minister is rotated in!
Addressing the commemorative summit of Russia & Asean, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong set out the significant role Russia can play in the Asia-Pacific.
"To fully harness the potential of our region, we should strive for a region which is characterised by, firstly, peace and stability. Secondly, building on that, growth and prosperity," he said.
But peace and stability require management of specific issues.
"In the South China Sea, we see a significant and worrying escalation of tensions... This bodes ill for a region that is highly dependent on maritime trade and commerce and on freedom of navigation," he said.
"On the Korean peninsula, the deliberate and provocative actions by (North Korea) can trigger its neighbours also to go nuclear and destabilise the whole region."
There is also the challenge of terrorism, with groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) recruiting many citizens in Asean and elsewhere to fight in Syria, and radicalising them to violent acts.
Mr Lee called on leaders to work together to tackle these issues. This means adhering to international law and peaceful resolution of disputes - including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes - and exercising self-restraint, and sharing intelligence and combating the spread of radical ideology.
Moscow, he noted, has been a valuable participant in ADMM-Plus, co-chairing its experts' working group on military medicine.
It has also engaged Asean partners in non-traditional security matters like counter-terrorism and combating transnational crime.
With peace and stability, Asia-Pacific countries have a chance to establish a growing and prosperous region, Mr Lee added."
Definitely a place to look for growth since the traditional growth areas are no longer growing! So, it is to the benefits of both sides to try to engage. Having said that, Russia under Mr Putin has not, to say the least, conducted itself in the international arena that promote trust. A Russia that is very much selfish when it comes to their benefits been threatened. A Russia that knows what brute force can achieve while others exclaim about 'conducts befitting a big power and international standards'.
So, explore we must. Trust will have to be won. Beware. Find the good Russians, and leave those lawless ones alone. They don't play nice if their interests are at stake.
2. "Tsai calls for both sides to 'set aside baggage of history' - The Straits Times 21 May 2016
A good part of her 30-minute speech was on reforms to boost a moribund economy, improve the social safety net and better prepare Taiwan's youth for the future.
Acknowledging that "the path forward is not a smooth one", Ms Tsai appealed to the Taiwanese people to work together with her.
Ms Tsai is Taiwan's fourth directly elected president and its first woman president."
For the ordinary Taiwanese, they are not concerned with the cross-straits relationship really though if PRC uses force to 'recover' Taiwan, their daily lives will definitely be affected much. For now, they are really concerned about 'boosting the moribund economy, improving the social safety net with lesser and lesser young people funding the bigger and bigger aged and better prepare Taiwan's youth for the future.'
Still, acknowledgement must be given to her and the Taiwanese voters. They have picked their 1st woman President. Hopefully, her government through her leadership will galvanise more like-minded people to ditch the 'out-dated and corrupt' political system, truly work for the betterment of the ordinary people, helping the people to be wiser and making good decisions not just based on personal self-interest.
All the best to Taiwan and her people, of whom I have a few friends there who can contribute to this historically significant transitional period.
3. "PSLE changes will be no silver bullet: Ng Chee Meng - CNA 21 May 2016
SINGAPORE: The idea is to promote a more holistic approach to learning, but make no mistake – the impending changes to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scoring system will be no “silver bullet”, according to Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng.
A true paradigm shift away from the stressful over-emphasis on academics would require parents, teachers, even students themselves, and employers to “move together”, he said, “so that overall, we create other opportunities for kids to have fun, to learn, and hopefully reduce the keen sense of competition”."
Yes. It will be insane, or naïve, to think that change the PSLE score will be the be-all-and-end-all silver bullet to solve a long deep-rooted mind-set of 'my-life-is-decided-by-the-PSLE-score' at 12 years old!!
The educational system in many countries of the world are just fairly useless ones if the educational system's main goal is to produce 'matching workers for the employers'. Much had gone to waste as you only need to have workers, blue- or white- or gold-collar ones, to know in general: how to read, write, count, speak, think, learn, adopt, adept and apply the learning to solve problems! These will be generic knowledge and skills required. For more specific ones like: medicine, laws, accounting, engineering, space travel, programming, AI, robotics, genetic, etc. etc., these needs specialised training. We can train them younger if the 'universal knowledge and skills' can be 'taught' or 'learned' from the age of 6-10. There after, send those with the gifts to the 'specialised training'.
That will leave many more who will NOT have a job and have to be educated on how to be a consumer, a responsible one, where: less is more on consumption, more is better on conservation/helping the poor and less fortunate, etc.
The whole idea of someone is good and deserved to have much more of the rewards to him or her will be discarded. Only then will the deep-rooted kiasu and kiasi behaviours go away.
Have I been smoking something to suggest the above? Nah. I am very much sober. Just being unconventional. If only our ministers can be bolder.
Good luck to the transition. If we keep at it for the next 20 years, we will succeed. Just don't change the policies after 2 or 3 years when new Minister is rotated in!
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