Lu Keehong Singapore

Daily Lessons from Life 15 February 2012 - MP Yaw Shin Leong expelled from WP, Hougang by-election

2012-02-15T22:51:00.002+08:00

"MP Yaw Shin Leong expelled from WP, Hougang by-election - AsiaOne Feb 15, 2012

SINGAPORE - Workers' Party has expelled Hougang Member of Parliament (MP) Yaw Shin Leong with immediate effect.

At a press conference earlier today, the opposition party said Mr Yaw was expelled over his alleged marital affairs and is prepared for a by-election to be held in the single-seat ward.

Party chief Low Thia Khiang said on Wednesday afternoon that WP made the decision on Tuesday night because it felt Mr Yaw has fallen short of its expectations in being transparent and accountable to the party and to his constituents, reported The Straits Times.

WP chairman Sylvia Lim said that WP believes strongly in transparency and accountability, and expects no less from their party members, especially MPs.

Hence, by continuing not to account to the party and the people, especially the residents of Hougang, Mr Yaw broke the faith, trust and expectations of the party and people, she said.

Ms Lim added that other WP MPs will cover Mr Yaw's duties and that it is only fair for Hougang residents to have another chance to elect their MP.

She apologised for having to put them through a by-election and assured Hougang residents that they will continue to be served by the party until the by-election is called.

The Meet-the-People sessions (MPS) in Hougang will continue, with other MPs covering and town council services will continue to be provided under the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

Ms Lim thanked the public for its concern towards the party.

Rumours surfaced in January alleging that Mr Yaw had an affair with a married woman who is from the Workers' Party as well.

A week later, the 35-year-old's MPS were cancelled and he was also absent from the Hougang office of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

Earlier this month, Mr Yaw, who was the former treasurer, of the WP resigned from the position and was replaced by non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, the current deputy treasurer.

Mr Yaw remained a member of the WP until he was expelled from the party today."

A big THING in Singapore politics for sure. Singapore will have its 1st by-election in 20 years with this saga!

Lessons for me are:

1. there MUST be a lack of 1st class PR firms in Singapore as the government (arrest of the 2 top civil servants), the SMRT (the MRT trains broke-down incident) and this scandal involving the WP MP and WP ALL failed miserably on how to respond to the 'crisis'! This despite many world class, so-called, PR firms in Singaopre!;

2. Mr Yaw would have done himself a big favour by admitting or denying the rumours early on. IF they were true, he will win MANY sympathy votes by ADMITTING publicly his mistakes, ASK for forgiveness, and RESIGN from WP by saying that he has the interst of WP and the opposition's credibility in mind. He should also say that he will be BACK AFTER going through counselling and rehabilitation to come back and SERVE the people of Hougang as WP's member again!! That would have been melodramatic and totally in keeping with 1st class PR - with sincerity to boot;

3. WP leadership ALSO need to learn to DECIDE in such crisis instead of wavering. Now they are faulted for taking almost or more than 3 weeks before acting. If they did not expel Yaw, their credibility will be badly damaged. Now that they did, they will STILL pay the price for being 'too slow'! In PR for Crisis Management, you tell the public: What happened, Who were involved, Why/When/Where/How did it happened? Then quantify the IMPACT - to Yaw, his family, the other involved parties, the WP, the voters of Hougang. Follow by WHAT will be done to cover Yaw's, help for Yaw, and the possibility of him coming back!!

May WP keeps the Hougang SMC in the by-election.

Daily Lessons from Life 14 February 2012 - Visiting China VP urges US to "promote trust"

2012-02-14T20:26:00.003+08:00

"Visiting China VP urges US to "promote trust" - AFP 14 February 2012

WASHINGTON: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said Washington should adopt "concrete measures to promote mutual trust" at the start of a visit to the United States.

Xi, widely expected to become China's next leader, will later Tuesday meet US President Barack Obama in a key early test for Washington's relations with the man on course to lead the Asian power for the next decade.

"We hope the US side could view China in an objective and rational way, and adopt concrete measures to promote mutual trust, especially to properly and discreetly handle the issues concerning the core interests of China," he said Monday, in remarks carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

"We should deal with friction and differences in bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the spirit of seeking mutual benefits and win-win results through a positive and constructive way," he said.

Xi also expressed hope that US election-year politics would not have a "regrettable impact" on ties between the world's two largest economies.

China has watched uneasily as the Obama administration steps up military ties with its neighbors including the Philippines and Vietnam, which have turned to the United States amid heated territorial disputes with Beijing.

Human rights groups say that China has carried out a sweeping clampdown on dissent since last year, likely in fear of the influence of revolts that have overthrown authoritarian leaders in the Arab world."

The two countries have totally different political system though the Chinese has in recent years devoted itself to being a faithful, and sometimes innovative, student of capitalism.

Lessons for me are:

1. the quest for making money will make the Americans happy but the desire to have the Chinese embrace the democratic election manner, which some said USA's system is not really democratic, will greatly disappoint the Americans. It is an unrealistic dream!;

2. the jostling for power of influence in the Asia Pacific Africa region will mean both countries facing fractious and tense situations more and more. A lot of dancing around will be done. Military confrontation will not be eminent as long as the US does not push the Chinese to a loss of face situation;

3. will the Presidential Election Year sour the US and China relationship. Maybe if the race is too close and someone needs to one-up the other in the Presidential race. Otherwise, they are aOK as long as the Chinese knows that any 'strong words' are just political shadow dancing. If the Chinese took it too seriously, that will be sad. It will show cultural insensitive and immature. Not ready for the world political stage. Period.

May VP Xi goes on to be the next President/CCP Secretary General/Chairman of the CMC soon and focus on getting China out of a polarization of the poor and rich. This will be the one that topple the CCP government and NOT US/China relationship. But then again, when that point is near, it is a good distraction to have a bad relationship with the US and threat of war emerges.

Daily Lessons from Life 13 February 2012 - Football: Liverpool fume as Suarez says sorry for Evra snub

2012-02-14T01:04:00.002+08:00

"Football: Liverpool fume as Suarez says sorry for Evra snub - AFP 13 February 2012

LONDON: Liverpool chiefs have accused Luis Suarez of misleading them after claiming the Uruguay striker had guaranteed he would shake hands with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra before Saturday's clash at Old Trafford.

Suarez on Sunday apologised for his failure to acknowledge Evra's hand during the traditional pre-match greeting as he came face to face with United's captain for the first time since being given an eight-match ban for racially abusing the Frenchman at Anfield in October.

But Suarez's actions clearly infuriated Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre after Reds manager Kenny Dalglish and club officials were widely criticised for refusing to publicly condemn their player's behaviour.

Ayre insists Suarez had told them he would shake hands with Evra, only to change his mind on the pitch, and he revealed the club have given the forward a strong reminder of his responsibility not to damage Liverpool's reputation.

"We are extremely disappointed Luis Suarez did not shake hands with Patrice Evra before yesterday's game. The player had told us beforehand that he would, but then chose not to do so," Ayre said on Liverpool's official website.

"He was wrong to mislead us and wrong not to offer his hand to Patrice Evra.

"He has not only let himself down, but also Kenny Dalglish, his team-mates and the club.

"It has been made absolutely clear to Luis Suarez that his behaviour was not acceptable.""

Why do I comment on this sporting headline? Well. It is a big deal as the PM of UK is talking about the need to talk about football racism too!

Lessons for me are:

1. sporting heroes are not really the place to look for moral role model. Yet, there are many in the history of Liverpool Football Club that exhibited that exemplary Gentleman behaviours on and off the playing field. So, I agreed Suarez has let down his club! No doubt about that!!;

2. racism is an emotional thing. Just as football or soccer are. When emotion is allowed to be abused, rationality takes a back seat and things can get out of control pretty easily. The Man United Manager, Sir Ferguson was right to say that a riot and violence between the 2 bitter footballing giants in England could have broken up with such farcical behaviors by Suarez, and then Evra. Just glad that no stupid tragedy happened in this instance;

3. in Singapore, racism is tightly controlled. We recognize that it is an emotive issue and NO ONE is allowed to attack another race, language and religion without facing the full force of the laws coming down HARD swiftly and mercilessly. It does not mean there CANNOT be discussion, civil one, about race, language and religion. It simply meant there is NO room to put other down to show that your own is superior.

May Suarez, a gifted footballer for sure, regain his composure and check-in his self-centeredness and start thinking about Liverpool Football Club 1st. Otherwise, he should just got out of this beloved football club of mine!

Daily Lessons from Life 12 February 2012 - Whitney Houston dies at 48!

2012-02-12T12:23:00.003+08:00

"Whitney Houston dies - The Korea Herald/Asia News Network Feb 12, 2012

Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston was the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard'' and "Waiting to Exhale.''

She had the perfect voice and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy,'' Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone."

Celebrities are just normal human being, they come and go. However, every once in a while, the death of these celebrities does trigger some reflection on who they are, where did they come from and how did arrive at their celebreties status.

Lessons for me are:

1. the purpose of life decides if one lives a longer and more fulfilling life or not. For a successful superstar with so much going for her and she can literally has any man she wants she picked the 'bad boy' as her hubby. It was not pretty with alleged physical abuses and drinking and drug problems that developed probably as a coping or escaping the 'reality'. Love is blind and in this case her marriage is an Institute of the Blinds for her. She never did recover from this episode it seems;

2. when talented people with so much promises die young. Yes 48 is young. Even 50, the age when Michael Jackson died due to medical neglect by his personal physician, is young. It leaves with with lots of "what if's" and 'what could have been'! What if she is well and serving the charities that benefits millions? what if she grows into the evergreen presence and serenity of her aunt, Ms Dionne Warwick, or her God-Mum Aretha Franklin? etc. Well, we will never know now!;

3. life is short. At least for her she did have her moments. As I was listening to the BBC on the way back this morning, goose pimples popped on me when her songs were sang in the news tribute. Strange as it may be. I was truly sad that she has passed on. And in such a tragically young age.

May she rest in peace. May more talented artistes after her can think about the great things she had done/achieved, and after the lessons learned from her life experiences what to do right. Forget about the 'don't do' list!!

Daily Lessons from Life 11 February 2012 - 8 arrested in UK tabloid bribery probe

2012-02-11T22:12:00.002+08:00

"8 arrested in UK tabloid bribery probe - AFP 11 February 2012

LONDON: British police on Saturday arrested five employees of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun, a police officer, a member of the armed forces and a defence ministry employee in a bribery probe.

The arrests represented a dramatic widening of police investigations into Murdoch's British newspaper empire, following the phone hacking scandal which led to the closure of the News of the World in July.

"The remit of Operation Elveden has widened to include the investigation of evidence uncovered in relation to suspected corruption involving public officials who are not police officers," a Scotland Yard statement said.

Operation Elveden was set up last year in tandem with Operation Weeting, which is investigating the illegal hacking of mobile phone voicemails.

Police said five men aged 45, 47, 50, 52 and 68 were arrested in dawn raids at their homes in London and nearby areas on suspicion of corruption and of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.

The arrests were made following information provided to police by the Management and Standards Committee set up by Murdoch's US-based News Corporation, Scotland Yard said."

How persistence and belief in the uncovering of the truth make a difference when conspiracies and well crafted deception, misconducts and corruption are investigated.

Lessons for me are:

1. these type of activities must have been going on for a while. Despite careful and strenuous efforts to 'confuse and disorient' the public and the investigators, somehow someone somewhere will spill the beans! Sometimes from within the group that perpetuated the crimes!;

2. jealousy, envy, distrust or simple uneven distribution of the loots are enough to turn some of the perpetrators against each other! Such is the nature of such operation;

3. with the net cast wider, with more people in sensitive sectors of UK society being implicated, it can show one and for all, or at least to a large extent, the deep rootedness of such behaviors nurtured by self-centered people and behaviours. Some quite obviously turned not one but two blind eyes, cupped their ears and stuffed their noses, blacken their hearts and sold their souls! Yet, despite all the elaborate cover up, covert operations and what not, the truth will always be found when the deeds or misdeeds caused great public pains and are unethical.

May the Sun be brought down as well. May Rupert Murdoch and his greedy news media company be sanctioned severely. And may the Murdoch empire collapse unceremonially. Alright, this is too vindictive and one DOES NOT want to be as evil as the Murdoch Empire. So, let it die of natural death as decided by the readers and subscribers and the public!

God saves the Queen! (from an anarchist!)

Daily Lessons from Life 10 February 2012 - GE results due to economic issues, says Shanmugam

2012-02-10T23:43:00.004+08:00

"GE results due to economic issues, says Shanmugam - TODAY 10 February 2012

Washington DC: The outcome of last year's Singapore General Election (GE) has been likened by some political commentators as an Arab Spring, noted Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam.

However, he felt the results were due to economic issues, as well as specific local issues like housing and transport. Speaking at the Singapore Conference on the topic of "New Directions: Singapore Politics and Foreign Policy" on Wednesday, Mr Shanmugam said the GE results should be viewed in perspective.

"We had the ruling party stay in power with 60 per cent of the vote, 93 per cent of the seats," he added.

The Singapore Government will examine the election results "carefully", said Mr Shanmugam. But he assured the audience - comprising diplomats and foreign policy thinkers from Singapore and the US - that Singapore's fundamental economic and strategy policies "have always been rational and there is no risk of that changing anytime soon.""

Lessons for me are:

In a democracy, the government is elected by the voters to provide a safe environment with laws and orders, freedom (with responsible behaviours), education opportunities, adequate and need not be a 5-star health care, and jobs to live a decent (by UN standard) life.

High unemployment or under-employment of the 40+s able and willing voters is a problem.

High health care cost which falls on the sicked's family members 1st before the government will help is another since the family members have their own immediately families to take care of.

Low wages for jobs that are aplenty in the service sector due to the uncontrolled import of cheap foreign workers, who sometimes are exploited by unscrupulous Singaporean employers, did not really help the low waged Singaporean workers to live a 1st world lifestyle.

A supposedly world class educational system that CANNOT produce enough talents for the needs of our economic development and a batch of top class people willing and able to serve the nation without conceding too much on the material rewards is a glaring failure.

I can go on and on.

BUT yes. Mr Shanmugam is partly right as Singapore is STILL at the 3rd world nation stage. All the people care about are: do I have a job that I can live a comfortable life for my family and myself. We have NOT gotten out of the gate of 3rd world nation yet!!

As to his remarks that 'rational approach' is GOOD, we need to bear in mind that people are emotional being as well.

He who ignores the balance between rational and emotional consideration will FAIL!! Just like Adam Smith's theory of the invisible hands, PEOPLE are NOT rational when they make economic decision!! Hence the advent of 'behavioural economics'! Is politics any different?

Daily Lessons from Life 09 February 2012 - Educate public on need for social services

2012-02-09T22:26:00.002+08:00

"Educate public on need for social services: Chan Chun Sing - CNA 09 February 2012

SINGAPORE - More social services are needed as Singapore's population ages and demands evolve.

Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Chan Chun Sing, said this on the sidelines of a seminar on Thursday.

Mr Chan said the government will need to share and educate the public on such needs.

His comments came after residents in Woodlands and Toh Yi objected to proposals to build elderly-friendly facilities in their neighbourhood.

Earlier this month, residents of two Woodlands HDB blocks were up in arms over the proposed construction of an elder day-care centre at the void decks of Blocks 860 and 861 at Woodlands Street 83.

And on Wednesday evening, some residents of Toh Yi Drive shared the same sentiment when they petitioned against plans to build a studio apartment block for the elderly near their homes.

The residents are also concerned about the loss of communal space.

But given Singapore's ageing population, finding a common ground will be increasingly important.

Acting Minister Mr Chan said: "Some of the issues are real, some of the issues could be because they do not fully understand (the need for these facilities). We have many examples of many communities embracing many of these social services in their community.

"Many of the communities in fact come to embrace the work and help out in these centres, be it day activity centres for the elderly, (or) day care centres for the children. So I think there's great potential for everybody to work together."

"It doesn't mean...elderly will create nuisance but instead it will become a pioneer for the young to learn how they age and then help them to age gracefully.""

Any sane person old enough and have some commonsense will KNOW that there is a need to put Elders Care Home NEAR the main communities! Gone are the days where old folks homes are located in remote area. Gone are the days when death from old age is a standard routine as our population grow older.

Lessons for me are:

1. YES. Educate the people by all means. If they have not learned in their primary school education that to grow old is natural and that respecting and caring for the elderly is a big responsibility. No child play for sure!;

2. Educate the people too that they TOO will grow old and will need to be looked after IF their funcational health deteriorate a lot due to illness or careless lifestyles. Where do they want to be settled in? Away from the main communities? In an isolated, hard to access corner of Singapore or JB Malaysia?;

3. Engage in a 2-way manner with the dissenters sincerely but also FIRMLY. There is NO NEED to win them over as long as you explain the reasons why it makes sense to have the Elder Care Home constructed at the void decks of the HBD estates. Convenience, easy access, community care, and ammineties, etc. If the dissenters STILL do not get it, 'agree to disagree' and move on. On principle, the society, and the government, is RIGHT to do this. Do not be cowed as a certain hardliner, Philip Yeo, would say! I don't like the man too much but on this score, I have to agree with him!!

May Singaporeans realize that HDB flats are just a place to stay in and NOT to make money. If you want to make money, please move to private property if you can!

Daily Lessons from Life 08 February 2012 - India ministers quit after caught watching porn in parliament

2012-02-09T00:26:00.002+08:00

"India ministers quit after caught watching porn in parliament - Reuters Feb 08, 2012
NEW DELHI - Three Indian politicians from a morally conservative party, including a women's affairs minister, resigned on Wednesday after being caught watching pornography on a mobile phone during a session of state parliament.

News channels broadcast footage showing Karnataka state Minister for Cooperation Laxman Savadi sharing a porn clip with his colleague C.C. Patil, the minister for women and child development, while sitting in the state assembly.

The owner of the phone, state Minister for Ports, Science and Technology Krishna Palemar, also quit.

"We are requesting the honorable Speaker of the House to conduct an inquiry and we'll come out with a clean chit," Patil said, denying that they were deliberately looking at porn.

The three men said they did not want to cause any embarrassment for their party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules the state and is in opposition at a national level.

There has been outrage over the incident not just from rights activists and right-wing Hindu groups in conservative India, but also from the riling Congress party which called for the assembly to be dissolved.

"We live in a country where there already is this social mindset that women are disposable commodities and are seen as transferable properties," Renuka Chowdhary, a former federal minister for women's development and a member of the Congress Party.

"It really is troubling that the people who are in positions of power and have the responsibility to change things actually have the same mindset and are busy watching porn," she told the CNN-IBN news channel.

Girls and women in largely patriarchal India face a barrage of threats including rape, dowry-related murder, forced marriage, domestic violence, honor killings and human trafficking."

Well. What can TOP this act? This extreme stupidity or total disregards for propriety? I am not say watching porn is not good since the Indian created the karmasutra epic. Just that the occasion left much to be desired.

Lessons for me are:

1. KNOW why you are at certain place and behave with respect to that place. The place where you supposed serve the people by engaging in policies debates that will affect billion of people in your country!;

2. when you have a toy, beware of the destructive power it possessed when you try to flout it! Do not be slave to the technologies but let technologies work for you - for the good!;

3. respect yourself and the job your are holding even if it is just a job. A well paying one no less! If you are bored or disinterested, leave with dignity and honor instead of making a monkey of yourself when you are forced to resign for the most unglamourous reason. It will be hard to explain to your grandchildren why are you watching porn when the parliament is in session. Are you a sex addict or a sex maniac? If so, you probably should not be in parliament.

Sexual scandals are nothing new in politics. The ex-President of USA, the ex-PM of Italy all have their sweet and bitter tales to tell. But then, none of them, it seems, did it when the parliament was in session. This one takes the cake!

p/s: Sex is a necessary part of the holistic balance of life. Yet, there is a time and a place for it.

Daily Lessons from Life 07 February 2012 - Tributes pour in at Dr Toh's funeral

2012-02-07T22:35:00.003+08:00

"Tributes pour in at Dr Toh's funeral - CNA 07 February 2012

SINGAPORE: Family members and friends said their final goodbyes to the late Dr Toh Chin Chye on Tuesday morning at the Mandai Crematorium.

Dr Toh died at the age of 90 on 3 February.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who was one of the five, who delivered eulogies at the funeral service, reminded Singaporeans that without Dr Toh and his fellow Old Guard, the country, as "a modern and prosperous metropolis" would not exist.

It was fitting that the state flag was draped around Dr Toh's coffin. After all, one of his first tasks as then Deputy Prime Minister was to chair a committee to design the flag.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said it was not all about aesthetics, Dr Toh's life embodied the values symbolised by the national flag.

Mr Lee said: "Dr Toh and his committee came up with the red and white flag, with the crescent and five stars representing democracy, justice, peace, progress and equality. These were values that Dr Toh himself embraced and fought for all in his life."

Dr Toh was the founding Chairman of the ruling People's Action Party during Singapore's most tumultuous years.

After independence, Dr Toh was a key figure who transformed Singapore from Third World to First.

Mr Lee said Dr Toh dedicated himself to nation-building, and made significant contributions in his various portfolios.

Even when he retired from Cabinet, Mr Lee remembered him as backbencher who stuck fiercely to his beliefs.

For many, Dr Toh's life was a lesson for all.

Mr Lee said: "Dr Toh's passing reminds us of how we got here, how much we owe to him and his generation, and how heavy a responsibility we have to carry their vision forward and to take Singapore higher and further into a brighter future".

President Tony Tan and his wife, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Cabinet Ministers were also present at the funeral service to bid a final farewell to the man who left a deep imprint on Singapore.

The service ended with a short prayer, followed by a minute of silence and then the sound of the last post as a final farewell to Dr Toh."

I must confess that I do not know Dr Toh very well as he has been out of the limelight for so long though I have recently read a few of his parliamentary speeches as a backbencher providing feedback to some of the ministers' on their policies. I must admit I was impressed by the depth and the passion he shown.

Lessons for me are:

1. whoever you may be, however great things and deeds you have acheived, you will pass on. At that moment, how people remember you will define you. Not how you think you are. Of course, if you are a balance and sensible person, you will know that some will spout unpleasant comments or even downright disrepect while some will be your most ardent fans who cannot see any flaw in a man with many flaws!;

2. I guessed for public figures, it is important for them to leave behind a legacy that is admired by more people than not. If we just look at the bright sides of things, there must be many good things that Dr Toh had done and accomplished. At the same time, there might by some things that had he prevailed in those sessions where he saw CLEARER than the ministers then, Singapore may be a better place to live in besides the material sides of things;

3. when people of your generation slowly but surely passes on one by one, how would you feel? do one wonder when is one's time and how will others remember you? I guessed that must be something that is going through the leader of the 1st batch of PAP stalwarts. And then there are none ...

May Dr Toh rest in peace. He has done what he wanted. And then some ...

Daily Lessons from Life 06 February 2012 - MBS, RWS fined for breaching social safeguard requirements

2012-02-06T23:55:00.002+08:00

"MBS, RWS fined for breaching social safeguard requirements - CNA 06 February

SINGAPORE : The Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore (CRA) has fined Singapore's two casino operators for breaching social safeguard requirements.

Offences include allowing Singapore citizens or Permanent Residents to enter the casino without valid entry levies or with expired levies, as well as allowing persons on exclusion orders and minors (persons under the age of 21) to enter the casino.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) was fined S$255,000, while Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) was imposed financial penalties of S$130,000.

The casino regulator said the financial penalties were imposed on the casino operators for breaching regulations under the Casino Control Act during the period 28 October 2010 to 30 April 2011, and 15 August 2010 to 30 April 2011 respectively.

MBS had let in 14 Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents without valid entry levies, while RWS let in five.

MBS had also allowed two Singaporeans and Permanent Residents with expired entry levies to remain in the casino, while RWS did so with three persons.

Separately, MBS let in six persons on exclusion orders, and RWS let in one.

MBS was also fined for letting in two minors.

RWS was fined for letting in six minors and was also separately censured for five cases of similar breaches.

"The operators will need to improve their entry systems and processes, exercise more diligence in carrying out their checks, and comply fully with our laws and regulations. CRA will not hesitate to take firm action against the operators should such incidents recur."

This is the first case of disciplinary action taken since rules were tightened in November to ensure casinos here do not target the domestic market.

A study on the social impact of casinos here is expected to be released soon."

I will say the same thing I said before: DO NOT ever become too cozy wiht the casino operators!! Their job is to PUSH the limit and get as many gamblers into their casinos as possible. The Regulators MUST be above appearance of independence from the casino operatos. This is especially critical given the recent arrest of 2 top civil servants for potential IT procurment improper conduct issue!

Lessons for me are:

1. be sure of WHAT is your role and NEVER let down your guard to ensure independence of your role from those you are supposed to supervise;

2. adopt a healthy skeptical attitude to be casino operators and always assume that they will try to get MORE gamblers into their casinos by pushing the limits of the laws governing 'gaming' in Singapore!;

3. never step back from publicising any breach of the regulations and punish the offenders without fear or favor severely! There may even be a need to increase the quantum of punishment to the casino operators. Shows 'tough love' here!!

May CRA continue to police the casinos and ensure that innocent and unqualified person should NOT be given a chance to get into the casinos and that the casino operators truly implement the necessary social safety net duties seriously!!

Daily Lessons from Life 05 Februrary 2012 - Bitter exchanges highlight Hong Kong, China divide

2012-02-06T00:02:00.002+08:00

"Bitter exchanges highlight Hong Kong, China divide - AFP 05 February 2012

HONG KONG: A bitter family feud between Hong Kongers and their northern neighbours sparked by mainland China's increasing financial and political clout has led to an awkward debate about the former British colony's identity.

The glittering southern financial centre has been governed according to the "one country, two systems" formula since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, but recent incidents have made it look more like "one country, two cultures".

As both sides enter a year of leadership change and economic uncertainty, some are questioning whether the jangling nerves are evidence of a deeper unease among freedom-loving Hong Kongers about their status under Chinese rule.

"This is a period of difficult adjustment and confusion," said political analyst Joseph Cheng of Hong Kong's City University.

"About 20 or 30 years ago, Hong Kong people tended to look down on their Chinese cousins. Now there's a sense of inferiority due to the economic boom in China."

It took an incident as apparently small as a mainland girl flouting rules against eating on Hong Kong trains to set off the haters on each side of the Shenzhen River.

A video of Hong Kongers angrily berating the girl went viral online last month, drawing a blistering response from Peking University professor Kong Qingdong.

"What type of people are those who deliberately don't speak Mandarin? Bastards!" the outspoken academic, who says he is a descendent of Confucius, said in interview with a Chinese website.

"As far as I know, many Hong Kong people don't regard themselves as Chinese. Those kinds of people are used to being the dogs of British colonialists -- they are dogs, not humans."

A Hong Kong online forum hit back with insults of their own in the form of a newspaper ad, published last week in the widely-read Apple Daily, depicting mainlanders as "locusts" set to devour Hong Kong's resources.

Millions of mainland tourists and investors pour into Hong Kong every year, adding billions of dollars to the local economy.

But they also fuel property prices and take up limited hospital spaces, particularly in maternity wards which struggle to care for tens of thousands of mainland women every year.

"I think this tension between Hong Kong people and mainlanders is worsening. This is a ticking time bomb," Hong Kong politician Lee Cheuk-yan said."

An inevitable conflict that needs to be resolved. It would be easy though some efforts must be made to try to do so.

Lessons for me are:

1. needs to be civilized - when one is not, the civilized supposedly must be more understanding and patient to help the uncivilized one realized the better way to live and behave;

2. when the 'civilized' one starts to belittle or look down on the 'uncivilized' one, the credibility of the civilized one drops immediately. In fact, the civilized one LOST the moral authority to help the uncivilized one by then!;

3. conflicts start from 'conflict of interest' basically. When the people has all the resources available to deal with the urbane living, there is no issue. When there is shortage or need to ration and allocate these precious limited resources, envies and jealousy reels its head! That is exactly what had happened in this unsightly and highly charged situation between the mainlanders and Hong Kongers.

Will this be resolved? Probably not immediately. Should more civilized folks step forward to discuss the case WITHOU emotion? Maybe though we know we MUST leave emotion out of this so that the Rational mind has a chance to 'reason'!!

Daily Lessons from Life 04 February 2012 - Army attacks Syria's Homs, 200 killed

2012-02-05T00:53:00.002+08:00

"Army attacks Syria's Homs, 200 killed - AFP 04 February 2012

DAMASCUS: The Syrian army unleashed a massive attack on the city of Homs early Saturday, bombing the protest hub and killing at least 260 people in a bloody "massacre", activists and witnesses said.

The Syrian government denied involvement in the violence, blaming "armed gunmen", as television stations showed images of bodies on the ground and buildings destroyed in a city turned into a war zone.

The grim toll, if confirmed, would mark the bloodiest day of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, with the United Nations Security Council to vote Saturday on a resolution condemning the repression.

Protesters stormed Syrian embassies in Berlin, Cairo, Kuwait and London as the Syrian National Council opposition group called on the world to act to end a brutal campaign activists say has killed at least 6,000 people since March.

"Assad forces randomly bombed residential areas in Homs, including Khaldiyeh and Qusur, which resulted in at least 260 civilians killed and hundreds of wounded, including men, women, and children," said the SNC.

AFP was not immediately able to verify the authenticity of the videos nor of the opposition and residents' accounts because of restrictions on reporting in Syria."

The aftermath of the Arab Spring? Where does it leave the people of Syria?

Lessons for me are:

1. when is a domestic affairs a domestic affairs when the government is killing its civilians? Can the international commuity intervened forcibly or should it just plead with the government to stop killing its own people?;

2. what will become of a country IF international community is allowed to intervene forcibly? is there a tried and tested blueprint or action plans to intervene forcibly in an expeditious and effective manner leaving the nation's infrastructure and social fabric largely intact? History does not seems to provide a good answer as most intervention by 'foreign' or friendly and well meaning international community resulted in a fractious society when the people are NOT ready to govern democratically! A benigh dictatorial rule seems to work better from a practical standpoint!;

3. can there be an adapted approach to put in a STRONG Ruler(s) first and then mobilize the people through intensive education or re-education about what a democratic society citizenry can do to help the nation grow and develop peacefully and justly? OR should the international community intervened at all? Should it be left to the law of nature where eventually the surpressed will either accept its fate or revolt with a 'fight to the end' mentality? Maybe, in the final analysis, letting the oppressed fight its way out is the best way. At least the fate of the nation is decided by the people themselves!!

All to best to Syrians.

Daily Lessons from Life 03 February 2012 - Being poor is better if you are in Singapore?

2012-02-04T00:27:00.002+08:00

The PM supposedly made a comment that: "Being Poor in Singapore is better than being poor else where!" and a netizen expressed disbelief at hearing this.

Assuming this is true. Maybe there are good explanation on why the PM believes that this so. Of course, this is also assuming despite the best and honest efforts by the elected government of Singapore, the certain Singaporeans are still poor.

Poor to the extent that the government has to fully cover for his or her or their living, health care, and retirement costs.

I guessd the dismayed netizen wanted a Singapore with NO poor people at all given that the government is the best paid in the world. Yes?

This may not be realistic as the best government in the world, whether being paid above poverty level or not, CANNOT honest guaranteed anyone that the nation it governed will NOT have any poor people. However, if there were poor people, the government will take care of them FULLY as long as these people are NOT unable or unwilling to make a living by themselves. Rather, they CANNOT or DO NOT have the capability to make a living.

This is great as long as the government DOES NOT insist that that person's immediate family members MUST take care of his or her given that the immediate family members may have their own immediate families.

While it may be true that it is BETTER to be poor in Singapore, it is NOBODY's wish to be poor anywhere in the world!

Daily Lessons from Life 02 February 2012 - Young Singaporeans lack drive, confidence: CEOs

2012-02-02T23:47:00.002+08:00

"Young Singaporeans lack drive, confidence: CEOs AsiaOne Feb 2 2012

SINGAPORE - Young Singaporeans lack drive and the confidence to venture out of their comfort zones.

This was the feedback Education Minister Heng Swee Keat received when he had a meeting with a group of group of chief executive officers earlier this week.

Mr Heng was surprised by the assessment and expressed his concern on Tuesday to 300 students at a forum at the Singapore Management University (SMU), reported The Straits Times.

Mr Heng recounted his response to the CEOs: "I said, how can that be? Our students work very hard," he added. He had a long discussion with them, which did not throw up any solutions.

He recounted how one CEO had told him about the difference in responses between a Singaporean worker and a European one.

When the CEO told worker in Europe to try out a new role with new responsibilities, the staff asked "what sort of training will I get, how will you help me succeed, what will I do, and so on".

But when told the same thing, the Singaporean worker said, "what if I fail? Do I still have a job? Is there a support system, and do I get retrenchment benefits?"

Besides possessing drive, Mr Heng stressed that the young need to be hungrier, and cultivate two other qualities to achieve a meaningful career - the ability to adapt in a changing environment, and the ability to collaborate across cultures."

This is what the CEOs feel. It has to be taken seriously UNLESS the young people of Singapore can provide acceptable viewpoints on WHY the CEOs' were WRONG!!

Lessons for me are:

1. something is amiss in the educational system when Singaporean worker responded in the 'risk avert and seeking safety net' way mentioned by that particular CEO. Maybe we are too focused on 'not failing' rather than 'what if you succeed'?;

2. besides this particular example, which stood sharply out, are there other examples that revealed the other shortcomings of Singapore's young workers? e.g. quit when they are unhappy instead of digging in and make a fight of it? not being hungry vs. foreign students/workers? For me, it could well be a perception and values issue. e.g. valuable work/life balance over 'often-lipped-service' work/life balance! e.g. strong sense of right and wrong and resenting 'unfair' treatment?;

3. expecting 'students/workers' to be entrepreneurial is NOT realistic as being a good and excellent worker is NOT the same as being a successful, or even trying, entrepreneur since one must have the love to be in business!! Strategising, business development, sales and marketing, etc are very different from just working on a set role and responsibilities!

More work needs to be done to research in this area. There is a NEED to seriously look at changing mindset of the young Singaporeans. e.g. no pain no gain though the pain is from working smarter and not just harder. Positive mindset of working on worthy problems instead of judging too early that the problem is not worthy of trying!

Daily Lessons from Life 01 February 2012 - Residents upset over planned elder day care centre

2012-02-01T23:10:00.002+08:00

"Residents upset over planned elder day care centre - CNA 01 February 2012

SINGAPORE: Residents in Woodlands Street 83 are up in arms over the proposed construction of an elder day care centre in the neighbourhood.

They have petitioned their Member of Parliament (MP) Ellen Lee, in a bid to get the centre to move elsewhere.

The Ministry of Health plans to set up a 570 square-metre elder care centre at the void decks of Blocks 860 and 861 at Woodlands St 83.

But nine in 10 residents in the area are against the idea.

Some unhappy residents said the centre will affect the value of their flats.

One resident said: "Actually we are very squeezed for space here. There is a Residents' Committee office at the void deck, and next to it there is a childcare centre. So there is very little space left for children to play in."

MP for Sembawang Group Representation Constituency, Ellen Lee, said: "My conflict is how to balance the needs of these elderly who need this service -- not only the elderly but also their caregivers -- with that of residents who feel that their space has been violated, will be taken away from them."

To deal with a greying population, the Ministry of Health aims to build more elder day care centres in housing estates.

Currently, there are 54 such centres in housing estates, out of which, 41 are located at void decks."

First of all I like to KNOW for sure WHO conducted the survey that showed 9 out of 10 residents in that 2 blocks OPPOSED the building of the Elder Care Center? Also, did the poll cover ALL residents in that 2 blocks, if indeed there was a poll or survey being done?

41 out of the existing 54 such centers in housing estates are located at void decks. This fact tells a truer story of HOW residents in housing estates take to such centers. That they have NO problme with it!!

Lessons for me are:

1. we want RESPONSIBLE reporting from the main stream media. Investigative rather than sensationalizing! The sensationalizing bit can be left for the 'mystery woman' who 'brought down 2 top civil servants' type of news!! For goodness sake!!;

2. the MP should do what is right and try to explain to the 'unhappy' residents on the fact that the elders need MORE help than they. And that they TOO will one day by old and weak and needs such a center to cater to their needs in their twilight years. My block has a handicapped persons care center and I DO NOT believe the value of my HDB flat has been negatively impacted!!

In fact, it is STUPID to talk about VALUE of your flat when you are talking about elders who can be YOUR parents or grandparents. Are MONEY more important thatn your family members?

If so, maybe these residents have FULLY taken on the government's mantra that: money is very important though NOT the most important!! More important than human being!!

3. it is very sad, from my point of view, to learn of such a news. I hope that the reporter, after doing a more thorough investigation, will prove me wrong. That the story was sensationalized and that the residents, only a minority of them, objected to the building of such a center at the void decks of their blocks.

For the sake of Singapore, for the sake of human feeling, for the sake of goodness gracious, let this news be reversed to: residents welcome the building of such a elders care center.

Also, may this also spurs the MCYS to build 'lively elders care center' and CHANGE the perception of such center FOREVER!!

Daily Lessons from Life 31 January 2012 - China detains seven over river pollution scandal

2012-01-31T21:00:00.003+08:00

Could not believed that it is the LAST day of January 2012 today!! How time fly!!

"China detains seven over river pollution scandal - AFP 31 January 2012

SHANGHAI: China has detained seven company executives after suspected industrial waste discharges polluted a river with toxic cadmium, threatening drinking supplies for millions, state media said Tuesday.

The discharges have contaminated a 100-kilometre (60-mile) stretch of the Longjiang River in the southern region of Guangxi, sparking panic buying of bottled water in nearby cities, the official China Daily reported.

One company called Jinhe Mining Co. has been blamed for dumping cadmium -- a carcinogen which can seriously damage the kidneys, bones and respiratory system -- into the river, in a spill that was discovered on January 15.

But the government has decided to widen the crackdown to go after other polluters, inspecting more than a dozen factories on the river and stopping production at seven plants.

The initial spill happened in Hechi city but was now flowing downstream, endangering drinking water for 1.5 million people in Liujiang city. It was also approaching Liuzhou city, with a population of 3.7 million, reports said.

Authorities have mobilised thousands of soldiers to dump chemical neutralisers into the river to dilute the cadmium, but levels of the chemical were still more than 25 times higher than the official limit Monday in some parts.

Many waterways in China have become heavily contaminated with toxic waste from factories and farms, in pollution blamed on three decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of environmental protection laws.

Activists say officials often turn a blind eye to industrial pollution or even collude with companies to promote local economic development."

It is EASY to go for the immediate benefits and be BLIND to the threat and irrepairable damages in the future. This is SO when the 'culprits' can walk away from it freely! Of course, the fact that most do not have, or had lost their, conscience!

Lessons for me are:

1. 'short term gain without having to bear the long term pain' will PROMOTE irresponsible behaviours;

2. to stop this irresponsible short term behaviours, commensurate penalties MUST be meted out to those responsibel for the irresponsible short term acts;

3. when the AUTHORITIES themselves are NOT reminding shortermism is forbidden, then the PEOPLE, or the Victims, MUST exert this right. And they will as I alluded to in another piece of writing in this blog when there is NO other place to turn to to air their grivences.

May China's people realize how they can play a pivotal role to STOP the irrepairable pollution and poisoning of their waterway, and eventually the very precious underground water!

Daily Lessons from Life 30 January 2012 - Nothingness??

2012-01-30T22:50:00.002+08:00

There seems to be NOTHING worthy of being commented on on the news headlines today!

So, I just reflect on bumping into a long time friend at Hong Lim food center this afternoon.

Have not seen him for a while and by chance we met at the food center this afternoon. The conversation simply just flow as if we were in constant communication since our last meeting in Beijing 4 years ago!

This is the type of feeling one gets when you meet up with old chums whom you have spent quite a bit of time working and playing sports together!

Maybe it is just bacause we are all over 50 years old! LOL!!

I wil be meeting him before he leaves for Beijing. And I will bring along a few more long time friends whom I am sure will be keen to catch up with him as well.

p/s: no more updates on the 'lady IT sales consultant' who 'brought down' 2 senior civil servants in Singapore on the mainstream news media. Was told that TOC (The Online Citizen) and Temasek Review (TRE) have more updates. What's going on with the main stream media?

Daily Lessons from Life 29 January 2012 - Six members of opposition Singapore People's Party have resigned

2012-01-29T22:44:00.002+08:00

"AsiaOne Jan 28, 2012 - Six members of opposition Singapore People's Party have resigned.

A local news source said their numbers include former civil servant Benjamin Pwee and Wilfred Leung, who many were expecting to succeed incumbent party secretary-general Mr Chiam See Tong.

The resignations come ahead of SPP's Party Congress to be held on Sunday, where a new Central Executive Committee (CEC) is to be formed.

The members cited differences in opinion about party leadership styles and the future direction as reasons behind their leaving.

They also said deep and long-term relationships within key CEC members were broken down, the news source reported.

Mr Chiam See Tong said on SPP's Facebook page that the party respects the six CEC members' decision to pursue their own interests.

"There is no change at the moment and it's operations as usual.

"The Party under the leadership of Chiam See Tong will continue to seek new passionate and talented individuals who will pursue the opposition cause cohesively for the betterment of Singapore," the post read."

An unsurprising development in local politics. The 'traditionalists' vs. the 'new upstarts'?

Lessons for me are:

1. SPP is held together by the loyalty of the Potong Parsir voters over the last 2 decades where they consistently voted for their MP Mr Chiam despite carrots and sticks were offered to them by PAP, the ruling party. Some joking said that the voters have guts and are a tough lot that showed the way in Singapore that you can make PAP eats humble pie time and again!

2. at the same time, the PAP has not given up. Their man stuck in and persuaded the party elders to let him do it his way. Changed the approach. No big guns rooting for him during the last GE. Continued to work the ground throughout all these years when Mr Chiam ruled!! The fact that Mrs Chiam was put in Mr Chiam's place to contest the GE made it easier for the PAP man to win - by less than 100 votes, or something close. This is the begin of the end for SPP, the party chaired by Mr Chiam.

3. Mrs Chiam is probably too close to Mr Chiam to accept that SPP will be better off with the new upstarts. She is simply too close. The elders may be too traditional or unable to let go. Much like the old PAP members, some of which are still clinging on to the old PAP way. This probably lead to this situation where 6 of the most promising members of SPP decided to leave the party. This is REALLY the END of SPP. Period. Where does this leave opposition political parties in Singapore? If these 6 members can join the Workers Party (WP), this will be great. It will provide even more challenges to the ruling party. That can only be good for Singapore as long as ALL involved keep the civil manner in which ALL have demonstrated during the last GE and in the new parliament.

Indeed, it is good bye Mr Chiam. Good bye SPP!!

Daily Lessons from Life 28 January 2012 - Death toll from Brazil's building collapse reaches 17

2012-01-28T21:46:00.002+08:00

"Death toll from Brazil's building collapse reaches 17 - AFP Jan 28, 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO - The death toll from Brazil's building collapse reached 17 on Saturday after rescue workers found two more bodies under the rubble.

Authorities said that eight of the dead have already been identified by family members.

The number of missing now stood at 22. Rescue team had originally put the number at 26, but later adjusted it downward.

The three office buildings - of 20, 10, and four stories - collapsed late Wednesday near Rio's municipal theater on the city's Cinelandia square, a historic district bustling by day but nearly deserted at night.

Authorities said they did not expect to find more survivors."

Somehow I am NOT surprised by this collapse. Much as it was a tragedy, someone need to pay for this. A 20, 10 and 4 stories building CANNOT just collapse like a deck of cards killing innocent occupants.

Lessons for me are:

1. WHY is that construction companies and the industry CANNOT shake off the shaddy, cheating on building materials, careless (or corrupt) application of quality, etc. This type of tragedy has happened in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, etc. A cure? or just plain weak and corrupt practioners in the industry or the 'culture' of the whole industry?;

2. when such tragedy happened, someone has to pay for it. It is important to carry out the investigation without fear or favor so that the culprits are brought to justice for 'killing' innocent people. And then begin to change the 'culture' if it was the culture that stink!!;

3. one of the other forces for change is the victims, especially the 'fed-up' victims. Those who were on the receiving ends of things. Where they can only accept whatever had been dished out to them - good or poor quality! When they really exert their rights to safe buildings, they deserved to be compensated and given guarantee that ALL involved in the building industry be more accountatable. At least if some of them know that they will be charged for murder when occupants die from collapsing buildings, they may now be more careful?

Will the Brazillian authorities make sure this does not happened again? For their sake, they better!

Daily Lessons from Life 27 January 2012 - Various Reflections

2012-01-28T00:35:00.002+08:00

Forget about the headlines.

Just a few comments on the going on the last few days that caught my eyes:

1. the 2 top civil servants being investigated by CPIB

It emerged that a 'tall, pretty and vivocious' IT executive were involved with both men. Not sure what she was involved in with those 2 men. Let's wait though there are plenty of suggestions in the media and cyberspace! What can 2 men and a woman (married and with 2 kids and a hubby) do anyway!

If it is true, it really fits the Chinese saying: men (heroes) cannot get past beauty.

2. had a CNY dinner with ex-colleagues from my 1st job

Wonderful to meet up with them. A successful group of people too. Dinning at one of the golf clubs in Singapore. Many also voiced their disapproval of the 'high pay package' of the Ministers. So, even the rich are no longer happy with the performance of the government. May be because of the pay package the Ministers are commanding.

So, the truth is: if you ask for high pay, you better be held accountable for it. No hiding.

Most importantly, we have a good time catching up with each others. Damned the politics - for now.

3. stepped on a discarded envelop in the lift. I wondered what went through the mind of the person who did that? Or what did not go through the mind!!

If Singapore is a 1st world nation, as claimed by our government, no one will be responsible for throwing any litter. Of course, it will be unfair to say that since I do not live in an exclusive area where the rich and famous live. So, maybe this is how the general populace behaves. Unthinking and has no civil mindedness at all!

If so, it is still sad. A developed nation cannot count economic prosperity as its ONLY achievement. Yes?

4. Fury and controversy at a bonus just below 1m British Pound in UK

The RBS, a bank that was rescued by the UK government using taxpayers' money, and now 82% owned by the state announced a bonus of 900+ British Pound to its CEO and everyone are UNHAPPY, and some, angry!

The labour unionists, the opposition party members, and some observers said that the anger and disbelief are understandable especially when the same CEO cut thousands of jobs along the way.

This pay thing is really ugly. I just wonder when will men, and women, find a better way to measure a man, and a woman, worth besides pay. A long way off ... But we need to continue trying...

Daily Lessons from Life 26 January 2012 - Khaw Boon Wan on raising construction productivity

2012-01-26T22:19:00.002+08:00

"Khaw Boon Wan on raising construction productivity - CNA 26 January 2012

SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the local construction industry needs to raise productivity through standardisation and prefabrication.

In his latest blog entry, he said Singapore can try to build more flats with fewer foreign workers, if construction productivity is raised.

Singapore is adding another 25,000 public flats this year through the Build-to-Order scheme, and needs some 30,000 foreign construction workers to meet its building programme.

Mr Khaw said prefabrication technology is now indispensable in HDB's building programme.

Seventy per cent of public housing building components such as walls, floors and toilets are now precast.

These parts are fabricated off-site and then transported to the construction site for assembly.

But Mr Khaw added that at the next stage of development, prefab plants themselves also need to be transformed to up their own productivity.

He cited local company, Tiong Seng Contractors, as an example of how companies can raise their productivity by implementing the Construction Productivity Roadmap.

Tiong Seng has set up Singapore's first computerised and semi-automated multi-storey precast plant at Tuas, with some funding support from the Building & Construction Authority.

Known as Integrated Construction and Precast Hubs, these plants optimise land use and achieve higher productivity through automated production processes.

Tiong Seng's precast plant only needs a third of the workers to produce almost double the tonnage of precast components.

An existing plant would need 150 workers to produce 60,000 cubic metres of precast components, while a new integrated construction and precast hub only requires 50 workers to churn out 100,000 cubic metres of precast parts.

Mr Khaw said BCA will make more land available for such integrated construction and precast hubs in its masterplan.

He hopes more contractors will come forward to participate in implementing the Construction Productivity Roadmap to transform Singapore's construction industry and raise its productivity.

This, he says will help Singapore cut down on its reliance on foreign construction workers."

I am glad that the oft-repeated mantra of productivity gain actually had been achieved by this local pre-cast company.

Lessons for me are:

1. this call has been going on for years. It has changed its name a few times. Some productivity gains were achieved;

2. productivity improvement is a continuous process with no end. The mantra is: it can be better unless the cost outweighed the benefits;

3. the methods and processes are already pretty standard by now. The ideas that come out from such methods and processes like Lean 6-Sigma, Projection Management, Creative Problems Solving - Individually and in Team, etc are the differences. Use of technologies as they evolve or appear hasten the changes as well.

May this effort be a continuous process WITHOUT anyone havig to remind anyone else!! Not just in construction industry but everywhere!!

Daily Lessons from Life 25 January 2012 -

2012-01-25T21:53:00.002+08:00

A few headlines to comment on actually. e.g. more Tibetan protesters killed in China, Obama's state of the union urshering a tougher stand against China on trade (which may means more troubles in the world economy), will high pay deter corruption of the elite government servants, etc. At the end, I settled on the elites in Davos confronting failures of Western capitalism to comment on.

"January 25, 2012 - AFP Davos elite confronts failures of Western capitalism

DAVOS, Switzerland - Chastened leaders of the global business elite admitted on Wednesday that the Western free-market model has come up short and faces being shoved aside by emerging power state capitalism.

Five days of public debate and private networking began with a stark warning from a debating panel of experts that the historic motors of the 20th century global economy have been weakened by inequality and yawning deficits.

'I think we have three to four years in the West to improve the economic model that we have, and if we don't do that soon I think we've lost the game,' warned David Rubenstein, managing director of the Carlyle investment fund.

Global labour leader Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, urged corporations and governments to work with employees to develop a new economic model - and warned of a backlash.

'Let's get a seat at the table for the real economy. Will the real economy please stand up, because the financial markets are killing you,' she said.

'No-one will like the social unrest that will follow.

'We must redesign the model. We must reset it. Stop the greed. Unless employers and workers sit down with governments, the system will continue to fail,' she said, calling for higher minimum wages to secure a consumer base.

Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of French telecoms giant Alcatel-Lucent, said: "The consumer goes to the grocery shop and buys globalisation and then he leaves the shop with his two bags full of globalisation and turns to the government and says: 'Protect me from the results of this',' he said.

'We talk about doom and gloom here in Davos. If you would go to Brazil today and you were to talk to young people about where the world is they would have a quite different view,' he said.

Some 40 heads of government will join 2,600 titans of commerce and industry in Davos to discuss everything from the eurozone debt crisis to Iran's nuclear programme and trends in science and the arts.

Klaus Schwab, the founder and organiser of Davos, acknowledged that the line-up is not so spectacular as in recent years, as many leaders battle economic and political crisis at home."

I always look at this event and those who go to it as: egoeistic people. Seriously, it is just a time to be seen and be seen with in my opinion. Very much like to institution called: 'the Commonwealth' that I firmly believed has passed its useful date!

Lessons for me are:

1. Western capitalism as we practiced it today is broken. You cannot have a system where the WHOLE world is paying for the decisions by a few so-called bankers, more accurately called: gamblers, betting with other people's money without recourse and responsibilities when things go bad!! That is one reason why there is this: 'Occupy Wall Street' Movement in the USA and copycat elsewhere!;

2. you cannot have a situation where spending on credit or on future income TODAY as a norm. It is unsustainable and anyone who believes he or she can do it on a long term basis must be delusional or selfish to the point that he or she does not care about the dire consequences as there is NEVER any intention to honour any promises made!;

3. while welfare states are not desirable. Aged and unproductive old and older people are with us in this world. What can the Western capitalism do for them IF they have no saving and no money to pay for the housing, health care, etc?

The important question these very smart, supposedly, people that congregate at Davos should try to answer is: what is the sustainable economic model of the future 10 years that will serve the global population much better?

From President Obama's state of the union speech last night, more tension instead of cooperation, more protection of self-interest instead of collective interest are more likely than NOT!!

Daily Lessons from Life 24 January 2012 - SCDF & CNB chiefs removed from posts

2012-01-24T22:43:00.003+08:00

"SCDF & CNB chiefs removed from posts - CNA 24 January 2012

SINGAPORE: Commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Peter Lim Sin Pang and Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) Ng Boon Gay have both been removed from their posts, pending disciplinary proceedings.

The Home Affairs Ministry (MHA) said in statement on Tuesday that both are helping with investigations by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on allegations of "serious personal misconduct".

The statement follows a report by Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao, alleging that the case is believed to be "linked to money and women'.

The ministry said investigations began in end-December in the case of Mr Ng and in early January in the case of Mr Lim.

Both officers were placed on leave from their duties when the investigations commenced. Their duties have been covered by their respective deputies.

Both men are Public Service Commission scholars who rose through the ranks. Mr Lim was appointed as SCDF Commissioner in 2009. Mr Ng was a former director of the Criminal Investigation Department. He took on his current role early last year.

In separate comments to Channel NewsAsia, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean said: "All public officers, regardless of their position or seniority, are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity and conduct.

"If officers are found to have abused the trust placed in them, we will not hesitate to take firm and decisive action against them.""

Interesting news. Shocking that it involved such high ranking officers from two departments of the Home Affairs Ministry. HOPEFULLY they are CLEAR of all wrong-doing. Otherwise, these are serious violation of the trust the government placed on them and also a deep soul searching about HOW COULD this had happened in squeaky clean Singapore with HIGH PAY to keep corruption at bay?

Lessons for me are:

1. these 2 cases seemed pretty serious and real. Otherwise, the press are taking a big risk to publish the news now.

2. if these 2 cases are real and the investigation revealed serious misconduct, we are in for a deep soul searching exercise about how people of such responsible and sensitive positions are being monitored by our internal security or internal affairs department so the Home Affairs ministry?.

3. now that it hits the mainstream news media, the investigation, while private and confidential, will will have also consider how to release the finding to the public as public confidence have, or may have, been shaken by such scandals. This is especially so IF the investigation CLEAR the officers involved. We cannot afford to have poison letters that let us cast doubts on the integrity of our Home Affairs ministry personnel, let alone high ranking officers in position of great authority and trust!!

It is not a Dragon year thingy since the investigation started in last December for one case and in early January for the other case.

Let's hope the allegations were false!! For Singapore's sake. For the long held, but increasingly being questioned, policy of: 'high pay to keep corruption at bay' sake!!

p/s: This piece did compare with the news about Chinese police opening fire on Tibetan protesters and killing one of them in Sichuan province BUT it won as this is VERY MUCH CLOSER TO HOME. And it is a BIG SHOCK!! We have not had such allegations for a long long time.

Daily Lessons from Life 23 Janurary 2012 - Foxconn apologises over boss's 'animal' comment: report

2012-01-24T01:26:00.002+08:00

"Foxconn apologises over boss's 'animal' comment: report - AFP 23 January 2012

TAIPEI: Taiwan technology giant Foxconn has apologised over comments by chief Terry Gou allegedly comparing workers to animals, according to a report.

Gou drew criticism on online news forums and discussion sites after he was quoted by Taiwanese media as saying "I have a headache how to manage one million animals" at the company's year-end party in Taipei Zoo earlier this month.

Foxconn is the largest maker of computer components and assembles products for Apple -- including the iPhone -- plus Sony and Nokia. It employs about one million workers in China.

The company issued a statement over the weekend to apologise to "anyone who feels offended" but stressed that Gou's remarks were taken out of context by the media, according to the Taipei-based Now News website.

"Gou is aware that the media reports are misleading and offensive and he apologises to anyone who feels offended. However, Gou did not deliberately slander the workers as some media described," it quoted Foxconn as saying."

Poor Terry. Or more correctly Mr Terry Gou. Based on this little headliner, I would said he was careless instead of being deliberately insulting to his one million workers in China. Why did I come to this conclusion? Simple. He was talking about his company and his workers at the year-end party in Taipei Zoo!! He is known to be a quick witted businessman with a flair for using the nearest materials to make his points!

Lessons for me are:

1. the strength can sometimes be a cause for concern or bother! e.g. Terry's use of the Shengzhen-Guangzhou High-Speed Toll Road (i.e. Highway) (Strategies must go DEEP (Sheng), WIDE (Guang), from a HIGH vantage point (High), and to be executed with SPEED in Chinese to explain his strategy was briliant. Unfortunately, despite comparing the challenges and difficulties of pairing or grouping different animals in his factories or teams, it SIMPLY does not compute well!!;

2. when one realized someone is picking a bone with you. Especially when it is the media, and probably the unfriendly ones, the best strategy to handle it is to: apologize sincerely and unresevedly to the people who may be hurt. It is alright to accompanied the apology with the reason for comparing the workers animals as he was in a zoo then THOUGH some will advise to LEAVE this alone as it may trigger or remind the 'hostile' people or those who did not know about the history of this episode!;

3. this incident once again shows how POWERFUL the media and the internet 'gossip' or 'truth' can be. Yet, it also drive home the ritical cpoint of being media savvy and taking quick actions to defuse a potential tricky situation. No more. No less.

May Mr Terry Gou and his million of workers have a Meaningful (will be challenging) and Prosperous (depending on whose perspectives) Year of the Water Dragon ahead!

Daily Lessons from Life 22 January 2012 - Govt to grow families as first line of support amid economic uncertainty

2012-01-22T22:45:00.002+08:00

"Govt to grow families as first line of support amid economic uncertainty - CNA 22 January 2012

SINGAPORE: Singapore's fertility rate went up slightly last year, from a historic low of 1.15 in 2010, to 1.20 in 2011. This was revealed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his Lunar New Year message on Sunday.

He said the government's priority is to grow families and reduce the anxieties and burdens of parents.

While, the government is strengthening Singapore's social safety nets to help more families in need, amid global economic uncertainty, Mr Lee said that families must remain the first line of support.

"Singapore's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has been steadily dropping from 1.60 in 2000 to 1.20 in 2011, despite many government measures to encourage couples to have more children. This is especially true for Chinese Singa?poreans, whose TFR has dropped from 1.43 to 1.08 over the same period. Singa?pore's TFR picked up slightly in 2011 (1.20), compared to 2010 (1.15), but I do not think we have reversed the long-term downward trend," said Mr Lee.

There are grants and measures to help families juggle parenthood and work, and young couples get priority when buying their first home. What is needed now is a supportive social climate that will nudge couples into having more babies.

Growing families is a priority for the government because they are seen as the first line of support in times of hardship.

Mr Lee said the government will help families which encounter difficulties. It will also do more to help Singaporeans help themselves, and create more opportunities for them to succeed."

Filial piety is touted as one of the many virtues of Chinese tradition. Yet, this CANNOT be the reason why the government should and can take a back seat as the 2nd line of defence to support Singaporeans who fall into difficulties despite trying their level best to stay employable and productive.

Lessons for me are:

1. PM Lee mentioned lessening the burden of the parents for new babies or young children. This is great. The many past babies incentives and other grants and what not DID NOT seems to work very well as the TFR was still low. Maybe, as I have stated in the past, the incentives are NOT attractive enough or reassuring enough that the parents CAN afford to raise the kids (2, or 3 if you can afford them) up without struggling constantly;

2. at the same time, growing the families CANNOT be the 1st line of defence when the parents become aged and, sometimes unfortunately fall sick, when the children MAY NOT be able to take care of their OWN families!! Just like the old lady I gave S$50 to the other day who said her children are not well educated and cannot afford to support her fully. She needs to get help from the various NGOs and governmental financial assistance. With the increasing cost of living, more and more children with dependents will NOT be able to take care of the aged and sick parents without being bankrupt! So, the state MUST step in to help;

3. as some visitors commented: why do you have so many old people working as janitors, old job workers in the food/hawker centers clearing dishes, etc when in their own countries the seniors are normally well taken care of! Their costs of living are low and they DO NOT have to spend a lot of money to get the basic food and a healthy lifestyle of dancing/singing/retiring!! This is something Singapore REALLY need to think about - what happened in a 1st World Nation? Does a 1st World Country means everyone has to work to make a living till he or she expires?

A depressing thought to write about on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Water Dragon!!

May I wish all a Healthy, Happy (these 2 will keep the MOST expensive items for the aged), Purposeful (be able to do good and have a peace of mind) and Prosperous (if you still have means to generate income - passive or active) Year of the Water Dragon ahead!

Daily Lessons from Life 21 January 2012 - 1 Year Jail for Stealing S$32 ...

2012-01-22T00:35:00.003+08:00

Just a quick one on this case that I commented on 19 Janauray 2012.

The mosque has come forward to reveal the seqeunce of events leading to it making a police report and get that man charged and sentenced to 1 year jail.

It seems that the mosque has tried to help with providing him with lodging, food, and job but this person does not seems to appreciate the kindness and generosity. Instead he continued to ask for money from the staffs and congregation and sometimes behaved very rudely towards them spouting vulgerities and in a threatening manner.

He had been sentenced to corrective measure before and not responding to counselling, etc.

As to if his mother is indeed handicapped and need special assistance or not, the mosque said it will investigage and determine if special help should be rendered or not.

Lessons for me are:

1. the repeat offences do need to be taken into consideration;

2. the severity of the S$32 theft has to be put into proper light with all the previous convictions and the recalcitrant nature of this man. Maybe the counselling was not good enough. Maybe he was simply weak and unable to extract himself from the deep hole he dug himself. Whatever it is, he simply has to face the consequence of his latest action;

3. as for those who against for more compassion, maybe they can offer themselves to help this person. Maybe they have a better way. For those who agreed with the 1 year jail sentence, maybe they are right. You cannot change a person unless that person sees the light and the need to change himself.

A case for all of us to reflect upon. A good case for making tough decision.

Daily Lessons from Life 20 January 2012 -

2012-01-20T22:24:00.002+08:00

"Govt moves urgently to expand aged care services - CNA 20 January 2012

SINGAPORE: The government is moving with urgency to significantly expand care services for the aged, to cope with the expected surge in demand by 2020, due to a fast ageing population.

It estimates that by 2030, there will be 117,000 seniors who are semi-ambulant or non-ambulant -- more than 2.5 times that of today.

Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong announced Friday morning a slew of initiatives at the Ministerial Committee on Ageing dialogue session with stakeholders, to seek their ideas on the way forward.

Mr Gan said: "More than 85 per cent of the 600,000 seniors in 2020 are expected to be functional and healthy. We will be aggressively pushing for preventive screening and promoting a more healthy lifestyle among seniors, so that they can remain active and healthy for as long as possible."

On its part, the Ministerial Committee on Ageing -- set up in 2007 to promote active ageing as Singapore's population rapidly ages -- will enhance care for the aged here.

It wants to at least double the outreach of home-based healthcare services, from the current 4,000. The government will also increase the number of seniors who are eligible for home-based social care, from the existing 2,000 to 7,500.

Besides these, it wants to expand the number of day social and rehabilitative care places to about 6,200, from the existing 2,100. Currently, there are 42 Seniors Activity Centres that serve 18,000.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said it intends to build more Seniors Activity Centres, so that they can reach out to the growing number of vulnerable seniors.

Mr Gan also announced plans to ramp up the number of nursing-home beds by some 70 per cent, to 15,600.

"By 2020, some 600,000 people, 15 per cent of the cohort of the population, will be above 65 years old, and from there, the pace of ageing will start to accelerate.

Other ideas the government is exploring is the development of more aged care facilities like day centres and nursing homes, under a Build-Own-Lease model.

Mr Gan said the ministry will develop manpower for the sector.

So, the ministry will also have to expand new care services, including stronger transition care after discharge from hospitals, as well as further develop transitional convalescence facilities, to rehabilitate seniors.

He added that the committee will review care financing schemes to make aged care more affordable.

To help raise productivity, Mr Gan is prepared to work with stakeholders to study how information technology can be maximised to help achieve better integrated care and greater efficiency.

Over the years, MOH has gradually shifted its focus to the aged care sector.

But with a rapidly ageing population, this has now become an immediate task of enormous proportion. The ministry thus, has its hands full, as it tries to play catch-up on a massive scale."

This is the type of issue the government has to tackle. Look 10 years ahead and start working NOW!

Lessons for me are:

1. running a nation needs visionary. Look 10-20 years ahead. Some of them are easy to project while some are more difficult. Ageing is the easier one to project so we SHOULD be able to respond pro-actively and early!;

2. like building a budget, depending on the primary number. In this case, the no. of aged person by year, we build in: what are the expenses for EACH aged person, what do they really need, how to fund them, what can we do differently to keep the aged healthy for a long period of time, what happened when the aged become immobil and dependent, the standard: people/materials/method/machine/technologies/SPACE/etc come into consideration, etc. All these will required careful financial modelling!;

3. while we build the infrastructure, the education of aged care helpers, etc, we MUST also inculcate and inbue a sense of care for the aged NOW. Let the young starts to think of the aged person as someone to cherish and care for, even when the aged can sometimes be temperamental, uncooperative, or even rude. It will take time for this value to seep into the national phsychic, so it MUST start now too.

It is a grave question. Someone supposedly had started on this back in 2007 drawing millions. Now it is supposedly in an urgent state and the government is playing catch-up. Let's hope the soft side of the solution is not forgotten!!

May I wish all aged Singaporeans a Healthy, Happy, Purposeful and Prosperous Year of the Water Dragon!!

Daily Lessons from Life 19 January 2012 - Man jailed for stealing S$32

2012-01-20T00:29:00.002+08:00

"Man jailed for stealing S$32- CNA 19 January 2012

SINGAPORE: A 40-year-old man was sentenced to a year's jail on Thursday for stealing S$32.

Noraizam Abdullah admitted to stealing the money from a donation box in a mosque to buy food for his family.

The court was told that the donation box at the entrance of the Darussalam Mosque at Commonwealth Avenue West was found missing on December 11 last year.

Police investigations showed that a woman had earlier spotted Noraizam moving the donation box to the second floor.

When questioned, Noraizam told her he was just following instructions. This was later found to be false, by which time Noraizam had left the mosque.

A check found the padlock on the box tampered with and S$32 cash missing.

Investigations revealed Noraizam had used his lighter to break the padlock at a staircase landing in the mosque.

Noraizam, who has a string of previous theft offences, pleaded for "a last chance" and leniency. The court also heard that Noraizam, who has a handicapped mother, stole the money to feed his family.

In sentencing, the District Judge warned Noraizam he may face corrective training if he is sentenced for a similar offence in future.

For theft, Noraizam could have been jailed up to seven years and fined."

One of my buddies felt that the sentence was too excessive and devoid of compassion given that the man stole to feed his family with a handicapped mother to bear!

It can be looked at that way when some of other sentences we came across in the last few years appeared overly lenient for some crimes.

Lessons for me are:

1. the man has a string of previous theft offences. So, we are not sure if e had already paid for those offences or were these taken into account when passing THIS sentence?;

2. the amount of S$32 stolen this time might be because that was what were in the donation box that day. The amount stolen from his previous crimes will need to be taken into consideration and if he had already paid the penalty for them;

3. it is reasonable however for the judge to order some social welfare agencies to look into his handicapped mother and the family's needs when he is put behind bar for a year. Does he has a spouse who is able and willing to take care of the family and his handicapped mother? were there genuine causes for this man to be in this predicament? Had help being rendered to him but did not yield the desired results?

A seemingly heartless sentence by a 'tough' judge or a judge that perhaps could have explained a bit more, may be he did but not reported in this news report, about why the man was sentenced to jail for a year for stealing S$32 to feed his family. Notes: It is standard fare for theives to claim they did it out of desparation.

Daily Lessons from Life 18 January 2012 - Wrap Up on Ministerial Salaries Review Parliamentary Debates

2012-01-18T23:16:00.003+08:00

No specific headline to comment on but a general wrap up on the hotly debated Ministerial Salaries Review

Lessons for me are:

1. the incumbent continued to hold on to its central theme of: you need to pay high enough salaries to attract capable and committed Singaporeans to serve the public;

2. that the incumbent was eager to adopt the Ministerial Review Committee's proposal of a NEW Pay Scheme with a lower pay (fixed + variable), but NOT, in my opinion, a 'pay cut' as some argued it shows that it too understand the the OLD Pay Scheme was not, despite 17 years of pointing out its MERITS and desirability in order for Singapore to NOT fall into a banana 3rd world state, is NOT acceptable by the voters!;

3. flaws or holes were detected in the many defences put up by the incumbent:

e.g. pegging to the PRIVATE sector's pay and claims of sacrifices of loss of personal time with family - well, many CEOs or senior executives of the private sector TOO work very long hours, flying here and there, and have VERY LITTLE TIME with the family too! So, where is the 'sacrifice'?

Also it is important to focus on the +ve instead of the perceived -ve. That one is making a BIGGER impact serving as Ministers instead of just a highly paid CEO or executives of a private enterprise. Yes?

In addition, managing priorities will be a KEY skill of a minister. So, he or she SHOULD be able to juggle between family time and public time well. IF NOT, he or she needs to improve in this area. Just like the busy executives who achieved monetary successes but suffered a broken marriage and family who DID NOT or COULD NOT manage his or her priorities.

Besides, when the children are grown up, they would want to have their own lives and families. So, the family time will be quality time instead of quantity! Yes?

e.g. claiming that high enough pay is important to attract capable and committed Singaporeans to step up to serve as ministers as they too need to provide for their families, put their children to good universities and live a good quality of life.

We have a missed opportunity to set the standard for: what is 'good quality of life'? Can S$500k/year tax free be able to afford the ministers and their families this? As to putting their kids to good university, it is not about money but about abilities and Singapore DOES has a fairly good scholarship system where even the PM's children have access to!

In political office, COMMITMENT must be No. 1 consideration followed by CAPABILITY.

e.g. while the PM cited a few current ministers who did suffered a drop in income, we need to look at EVERYONE of them IF we really want to say for sure that ALL the ministers take lower total pay home when they join the government from the private sector.

e.g. about having a clean wage and that ministers should not be made to suffer as they DO NOT have as much avenues to generate income after they left office. Unlike in the USA where the ex-President can go on a speaking circuit and command US$250k an appearance!

The fact is: MANY retired (or gracefully asked to exit) ministers are assigned to Advisers or Board of Directors or whatever high power job. This is a fact. Of course, if the government wants to clear ALL doubts that Singapore ministers DO NOT have much opportunities to make MONEY, it can show HOW little these ex-ministers are paid for their jobs after retiring from office. e.g. ESM Goh, Ex-MM Lee, ex-DPM Wong, ex-FM Yeo, etc...

e.g. it is a THANKLESS job and mistakes may be mades since the ministers are human being afterall

Well. Nobody is perfect. As long as there is no lack of trying and be as transparent as one can be, the public will know who is really trying to create a greater good for the majority of Singaporeans though the results may not be a satisfactory as one planned for.

4. for whatever it is worth, the democracy process has kicked in. The parliamentary debate has been conducted and Singaporeans get to read and learn as much as they care to read and learn. Most agreed that this is the step in the right direction. I believe the ULTIMATE test will be: will this be another emotive and hot topic comes GE 2016?

If it is, then perhaps the government has ONCE again failed to CONVINCE Singaporeans that 'high enough pay is critical to attract high calibre and 'committed' people to serve in the government'. Or simply that Singaporeans are NOT intelligent or educated enough to know WHAT is good for themselves!!

Holes are still there for some to see. Will the government tries to influence the mindset of the next generation of political aspirants that 'sense of public duty is No. 1 while fixed pay of S$500k/year tax free is the national standard for a 'good quality of life, putting children to good universities, and providing for the family!'

Daily Lessons from life 17 January 2012 - Not possible to have pre-set formula or KPIs: PM

2012-01-17T21:53:00.002+08:00

"January 17, 2012 The Business Times - PARLIAMENT: Not possible to have pre-set formula or KPIs: PM

It is not possible to have a pre-set formula or KPIs to determine the performance bonus of ministers, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Lee explained that ministers have responsibilities in many dimensions, many intangible. Thus, it is 'not always a simplistic formula or set of KPIs'.

'Hence, it's not possible to have a pre-set formula to determine performance bonus,' Mr Lee said, adding that he has to make an overall subjective judgment of the performance of each minister after consulting his senior colleagues.

'As PM, ultimately my responsibility is to ensure that individually each minister is performing up to expectation and collectively the Cabinet delivers the best government for Singapore,' Mr Lee said."

This statement is going to generate a lot of controversy, I think, right after the hotly debated ministerial pay review.

While it is a very complex job that the minister has, it is still an admission of defeat that he or she cannot have a set of SMART KPIs to gauge his or her own performance so as to determine if he or she is deserving of an Individual Performance Bonus!!

Lessons for me are:

1. Singapore has achieved MANY impossible dreams in the past. To acknowledge something as fundamental as criteria for performance management is simply betraying the 'nothing is impossible' mentality of Singapore!;

2. even if it is VERY COMPLEX and DIFFICULT, a set of SMART goals MUST be determined for the Individual Minister and his or he ministry so that assessment and appraisal CAN be determined based on evidence. Also, if the person being assessed has NO IDEA what he or she is supposed to be measured on, where does he or she starts?;

3. the more accurate statement and one that will perhaps solicit less controversies may be: it is very COMPLEX and DIFFICULT as it involves the tangible and the intangible. Hence we will determine as many tangible SMART goals as possible and assigned a certain weightage to the intangible ones when we finalize the overall assessment of if the Minister and his or her ministry deserves an Individual Performance Bonus or not!!

I hope the short report by the Business Times DID NOT covered ALL that the PM said in the parliamentary debate this afternoon. And the the PM actually said something in line with item 3 above!

Impossible will push us to be innovative and creating to come up with a set of SMART goals. Impossible is NOT acceptable in Singapore. Just like overly high salary for political office bearers are NOT acceptable by a significant number of voters.
T

Daily Lessons from Life 16 January 2012 - British government sinks royal jubilee yacht suggestion

2012-01-16T23:28:00.001+08:00

"British government sinks royal jubilee yacht suggestion - AFP 16 January 2012

LONDON - Britain's government on Monday torpedoed suggestions by a minister that taxpayers could pay for a new royal yacht to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Education minister Michael Gove made the proposal in a letter to Culture minister Jeremy Hunt, saying the queen's "highly significant contribution" to Britain and the Commonwealth deserved a "lasting legacy".

But a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out the suggestion, saying it was not in keeping with the tough austerity measures brought in by his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

"On the issue of a royal yacht, clearly when it comes to the issue of public money, I don't think this would be an appropriate use of public money, given the state of the nation's finances," the spokesman told reporters.

"In the first instance, the entire question of whether or not there should be a new royal yacht is a question for the palace not the government."

The main opposition Labour party said Gove was "out of touch" to think such expenditure was appropriate when school budgets were being cut as part of the austerity measures."

I never thought I would ever say this about the British government: Well done! You have proven me wrong that you can actually make sense!!

Lessons for me are:

1. what lies or muddled-headed arguments one can come up with to spend 60m pounds on showing appreciation for the Queen's 'great' contribution to UK and the Commonwealth when school budgets were cut and the economy in dire straits! This from a Minister!! He is totally a sick sentimental person with no sense of responsibility as he probably CAN afford the cut school budget!!;

2. there is NO place for sentimentality. Muddled-heading thinking has NO place in the cabinet!! He should be roundly reprimanded by the PM and send for corrective training to get his bearing right. That he is to serve the people and NOT suck up to Royalty!! LOL!!;

3. honestly, WHAT contributions has the Queen done for UK and the Commonwealth except to spend the money that the royal household still gets from the public? It is not for me to fight this battle as I am NOT a royalty friendly person. The British public has to decide if they still want to keep this out-dated anarchy thingy.

One up for the British government. :-)

Daily Lessons from Life 07 - 15 January 2012 - Friends and Others Interesting News ...

2012-01-15T23:27:00.002+08:00

Was in PRC from 7 Jan till 14 Jan 2012 and has no access to this blog.

SO, a quick reflections on the past few days ...

1. Meeting long time friends in Beijing - fantastic to meet and catch up with long time friends who took the time and trouble to meet up. This time I got more one-on-one time vs. the usual one-to-many sessions due to time constraints! I am thankful that I am able to do this in the 1st month of 2012!!

2. admiration of the group of learners from a client in Beijing - this group of 6 out of 22 impressed me with their opening remarks when asked to share what will work best for them to learn during the workshop I am delivering and their response is: 'To empty whatever they had in the mind, to fill up the void that they had emptied, and to apply whatever they find agreeable and useful after the workshop!'. There are 2 PhDs in this group and fairly senior people. I was impressed and believe that they had taught me a lesson too - to be able to learn one must be humble enough to leave any previous learning aside first before new learning begins! I am thankful for this group of people for setting the stage of the 3-day workshop (which worked out fairly well!).

3. read about an Acting Minister trying to emphasise that PAP members are not primarily here for the pay. Unfortunately, his analogy used was not appropriate in my opinion. He said something to the effect: "if you go to a restaurent to eat a S$10 fried carrot cake you may be satisfied due to the service, ambience and quality of the food. But if you go to a hawker center for a S$1.50 fried carrot cake, you may not be satisfied if the quality if poor."

This persistent, or even stubburn, linkage of 'money with quality' is perplexing to me as the goal for any progressive company or business is to provide: 'high quality with lower cost' though it is smart marketing to get the customers to pay the HIGHEST price for the quality that it actually produced with low cost!!

It would have been better HAD the Acting Minister said: 'if you go to the hawker center and have a good quality fried carrot cake at S$2.50 or S43, which is the MARKET PRICE, you would be just as HAPPY and satisfied!'

4. Opening of Myanmar or 'normalization' of diplomatic relationship by USA with Myanmar is a significant development. Hopefully, the 'capitalist' practice does not mean a runaway real estate market in Myanmar!!

5. this morning news of an Italian cruise ship running aground and losing 3 confirmed deaths is sad news indeed. Such unfortunate accident is simply mind boggling! How could a full equiped cruise ship ran aground in a calm sea within 3 hours after setting sail? The captain of the vessel has been arrested as he supposedly abandoned ship (1st?) and may be charged for culpable mass homocide! For some of the passengers, the twisted fate certainly applied to them. It is NOT a curse but just something that happened. They have to move on quickly. May the deads rest in peace and may those responsible be brought to justice and may the lessons be learned and NOT repeated (hopefully!)

One more week to the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Dragon!!!

Daily Lessons from Life 06 January 2012 - MRT president and chief executive officer Saw Phaik Hwa has resigned

2012-01-06T20:39:00.002+08:00

" AsiaOne Friday, Jan 06, 2012 - SMRT president and chief executive officer Saw Phaik Hwa has resigned.

The company's board of directors has accepted her resignation, which will take effect today, SMRT said in a statement this evening.

Ms Saw, 57, will remain with the SMRT Group to assist the relevant investigation teams and the Committee of Inquiry (COI) reviewing the disruptions to train operations in December. She will also help with the transition to new executive leadership.

Mr Tan Ek Kia, one of SMRT's board members, will assume interim executive responsibility for the management of SMRT, while the Board conducts a search for a new CEO.

Chairman of SMRT, Mr Koh Yong Guan, said, "On 7 December, Phaik Hwa spoke to me about her desire to move on during 2012, after having served nine years and led SMRT through considerable growth."

"During her tenure, SMRT has delivered strong results, and is regarded as one of the world's leading public transport operators," Mr Koh added.

Ms Saw said that she acknowledged the time was right for the Board to look at new leadership for the organisation.

Under her leadership, SMRT's net profit grew from $56.8 million in 2002 to $161.1 million in 2011.

Rail ridership has also gone up, averaging a combined 1.79 million a day in September."

She has resigned after steadfastly proclaming that to 'resign' will be irresponsible and she wants to 'right the wrongs' first.

Well, things change quickly I guessed.

Lessons for me are:

1. key is to find out WHY there were that many train stoppages in December 2011 that cauased inconveniences to commuters and cost the nation a fair bit of money in productivities lost. Also, while these incidents did not involve any safety and securities issues, it cannot be left to chance. So, we were lucky nobody get hurt;

2. she can STILL 'right the wrongs' working with the various investigation teams and the government appointed Commission of Inquiry (COI) over the next 2-3 months to find out WHAT exactly went wrong on those occassions so that remedial and preventive measures can be implemented and monitor to ensure non-recurrence;

3. it must be very difficult to backtrack on what you have said publicly at the critical moment. At the same time, realizing this is jut par for the situation, one can overcome the bad situation and move on from there. Life MUST continue. Mistakes were made, someone has to take responsibility for the bad consequences and right them and move on. It also tell me that the BEST PR tactic is: don't over-promise when one is in a very dire situation though DO state what one will DO to correct the situation. DO NOT refer to personal circumstances.

May SMRT Copr continue to run a world class public transportation company with monopoly or semi-monopoly status with profit and unrivalled services.

Daily Lessons from Life 05 January 2012 - Egyptian prosecutor urges death sentence for Mubarak

2012-01-05T23:20:00.002+08:00

"Egyptian prosecutor urges death sentence for Mubarak - AFP 05 January 2012

CAIRO: A prosecutor in Hosni Mubarak's trial on Thursday demanded the death sentence for him and his former security chief, saying the fallen Egyptian president had ordered the killings of anti-regime demonstrators.

"The law foresees the death penalty for premeditated murder," prosecutor Mustafa Khater told the court during the trial of the former president, who was toppled in a popular uprising in February.

In wrapping up the three-day case, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said for his part that "the president of the republic is responsible for protecting the people, and the question is not simply one of whether he ordered the killing of protesters, but to know why he did not intervene to stop the violence.

"How could the president of the republic not be aware of the demonstrations that broke out on January 25 in 12 places in several governorates," Suleiman added, rejecting claims that Mubarak was not informed of the seriousness of the situation.

He also argued that then interior minister Adly, who is also on trial, could "not have given the order to fire on demonstrators without having been instructed to do so by Mubarak."

Expanding on that, he said two interim ministers that followed Adly had testified that the "interior minister does not have the power to give orders to shoot, and that he cannot take such a decision without consulting with the political leadership."

During Wednesday's hearing, Suleiman said he had strong evidence against the fallen dictator in arguing that Mubarak had ordered the killings, and accused the interior ministry of hampering the case.

"The prosecution has confirmed that Mubarak, Adly and his aides assisted and incited" the shooting deaths of protesters, the official MENA news agency quoted him as saying.

But Suleiman said the "state apparatus had deliberately refused to cooperate with the prosecution" in the case.

The ailing 83-year-old former strongman is accused of involvement in the deaths of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in February.

Mubarak is in custody in a military hospital on Cairo's outskirts, where he is being treated for a heart condition. His lawyer says he suffers from stomach cancer."

He was stretchered into the court. Once the most powerful man of the land. How sad!

Lessons for me are:

1. you can claim all the glories you want while you are in power. If the people do not hold you in such glorious light AFTER you stepped down, probably it was just a delusion!;

2. if one can picture how sad the ending can be, perhaps one may not do what would brought such sad ending to oneself?;

3. the change of 'rulers' may not be as smooth as the 'revolutionaries' think. This country just had its, again, parliamentary election. Hopefully there will NOT be any more bloodshed due to military firing upon its own citizens, brothers and sisters, parents and relatives!

Will he get death as wished for by many? Maybe. If that is what he truly deserved, he will not escape it.

Daily Lessons from Life 04 January 2012 - PM, ministers face pay cut of 36%-37%

2012-01-04T23:14:00.002+08:00

"PM, ministers face pay cut of 36%-37% - CNA 04 January 2012

SINGAPORE: The committee reviewing Singapore ministers' salary has recommended cuts of up to 53 per cent -- the biggest reductions since salaries of office holders were pegged to private-sector pay in 1994.

This was disclosed on Wednesday by Ministerial Salary Review Committee chairman Gerard Ee at a news conference.

The eight-member committee was appointed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after the General Election last May.

The committee said the new pay formula is "more transparent and Singapore-centric". Describing the pay reductions as "severe" and "substantial", the committee said it was fully aware of the impact the cuts will have on the government's ability to attract talents.

But ultimately, the committee believes the recommended salary is a "reasonable" figure. The committee said it was guided by three principles.

Mr Ee said: "While it is a severe cut, (the pay) should be able to attract, not all, but some of the talents to come forward, but preserving the message that you're coming forward to serve in a political capacity and there are some sacrifices to be made."

"There is a significant cut and you've seen from the last general election, we could hardly get anyone from the private sector," he said. "So it's going to be a challenge and the emphasis is now going to be how strong is your calling to want to come and serve the nation."

CEO of Venture Corporation Wong Ngit Liong agrees. "This will be the real test that leaders stepping forward will be those that are keen in making great contribution to society and to Singapore at large."

The committee met 10 times over seven months, poring through hundreds of recommendations, including those made by past office holders, opposition MPs, academics and the man in the street.

The proposed pay formula takes into account a wider pool of top earners. It is based on the median salary of the top 1,000 earners, who are Singapore citizens, with a 40 per cent discount. The discount is to reflect the ethos of political service.

The committee said that with the discount, the pay is actually closer to the top 1,400th earner.

Currently, ministerial pay is calculated based on the median salary of the top 48 earners of only six professions, with a one-third discount.

The committee also recommended that pensions be scrapped. "We have decided to remove pensions altogether," Mr Ee said. "Political appointment holders appointed on or after 21 May 2011 should not receive any pension. That's our recommendation."

"Those appointed before 21 May 2011 should have their pensions frozen, no more accrual of pensions, so if you continue working, there is no more entitlement to it," added Mr Ee.

"What is really important here is whatever pension that has already been accrued, where previously once you reach 55 you are entitled to receive your pension, we say 'no'. It should only be paid when they step down or retire.

"So, you can continue working and the fact that you reach 55 doesn't mean you are going to touch your pension, you are not going to touch it until you step down."

The committee also recommended the GDP Bonus be replaced with a National Bonus that takes into account the socio-economic progress of Singaporeans.

That includes the real median income growth rate, the real income growth rate of the bottom 20th percentile and the unemployment rate of Singapore citizens as well as the real GDP growth rate.

Ministerial Salary Review Committee member Stephen Lee said: "It is quite logical to say that the minister's bonus can go up if Singaporeans, especially the medium and lower 20th percent, are also doing better."

So if the new formula is applied, the prime minister's pay will be revised to S$2.2 million from S$3.07 million a year -- a 36 per cent pay cut.

Ministers' annual pay will be reduced by 37 per cent to S$1.1 million, while a junior minister's annual salary could start at S$935,000.

The president's pay will be cut by 51 per cent to S$1.54 million.

The Speaker of Parliament will get the deepest cut of 53 per cent to S$550,000 a year.

With the new pay structure, the proposed variable component made up of bonuses and the Annual Variable Component (AVC) is capped at 13.5 months, down from the maximum of 23.5 months of variable pay a minister can earn presently.

Currently, ministers can earn an AVC of up to 1.5 months, a performance bonus of up to 14 months and a GDP Bonus of up to eight months.

Under the revised framework, the AVC will range from zero to 1.5 months, a performance bonus of up to six months and a National Bonus of up to six months.

However, there is no change to the current scheme of benefits. All political office holders receive S$70 a month -- credited into their Medisave account, capped at 17 months or S$1,190 per year -- to buy Medisave-approved medical insurance; outpatient subsidies of $350 a year; and a maximum subsidy of S$70 per year for dental care.

There is no hospitalisation benefit, no housing perks and no tax exemptions.

Despite the significant cuts, the committee stopped short of saying that ministers have been overpaid.

"The past is the past; we made no reference to it, we just look at what we thought moving forward should be the case," Mr Ee said.

One of the toughest challenges, the committee admitted, was to agree on the right benchmark.

"You are quite right in worrying whether we'll be able to find enough people or not, so this is about the limit that we think we can go to and if we go way below that, I think Singapore will head for a disastrous time in trying to get talents," Mr Ee said.

The new ministerial salaries will be backdated to 21 May last year when the new government took office.

In a letter to the committee, Prime Minister Lee said the government intends to adopt the recommendations.

The 47-page report will be put in a White Paper and motion-tabled in Parliament for Members of Parliament (MPs) to debate the issue on January 16.

The report can be downloaded from www.reviewcommittee2011.sg"

1st of all congratulation to the Ministerial Salary Review Committee for issuing the report just before 31 December 2011. It is long time coming.

Lessons for me are:

1. when you say Pay is the incentive to serve Singapore, it will be the case. If not, it will NOT.

2. it is obvious that the OLD pay structure was greatly FLAWED! Performance Bonus of up to 14 months! What is the JUSTIFICATION? Who are auditing these payments? How are these performance bonuses being determined and paid out? What about the pension scheme? Is it true that the incumbent who is entitled to it gets the pension as well as the current working salary? If so, this is so so wrong!! No?

3. when we talk about PAY, we MUST talk about: Fixed and Variable. If there is NO FIXED pay cut, there is NO CUT of PAY! Period!! Variable bonuses fluctuate. That is why it is called: variable bonuses. We MUST be very clear about this and NOT make the mistake of speaking about pay as if they are the same!!

Based on the previous batch of PAP candidates in the last GE, it is clear that it CANNOT attract talents from the private sectors except those from the GLC and NTUC-linked entities. Are they NOT paid enough because they are USED to being paid HIGH? Maybe the 'high pay to get "clean" talents' since 1994 had bred such expectation? BUT then what about Mr Chen of WP who were paid handsomely in private practice. Why DID he forfeit the HIGH PAY to become a WP MP? He with degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Standford!

Let the debates begin ... It is a start though I like to see Transparent Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Key Result Areas (KRAs) for each Ministry, minus the sensitive ones like Ministry of Defence and maybe Home Affairs.

Daily Lessons from Life 03 January 2012 - 'Sorry, your child is not bright enough'

2012-01-03T22:23:00.004+08:00

Decided that I should be cooking dinner instead of letting my wife does her 30-min meals rush since I am at home!! Reach a consensus that the kids will let me know what one dish they want when I cook so all will have something they like. :-)

"'Sorry, your child is not bright enough' - TODAY 03 January 2012

SINGAPORE: As the tuition landscape here evolves - with a burgeoning market for helping children who are strong academically to become even better - the practice of some enrichment centres of holding entry tests for children as young as six has raised hackles among some parents.

But centres which hold such tests defend it as a way to screen prospective students and understand their abilities better.

Even so, observers TODAY spoke to said that these tests could add more pressure on parents and affect a child's confidence at an early stage.

An investment consultant, who is her mid-30s, questioned the motivation of enrichment centres that are solely focused on helping students who are already strong academically to do better.

When contacted, several enrichment centres, which hold entry tests, reiterated the need for the entry tests and pointed to the results they have achieved in helping children who have the aptitude for accelerated learning.

The Learning Lab, for instance, said that each year, 70 per cent of its students see their grades improve by 10 percentage points. It added that 297 of its students scored 260 and above in last year's Primary School Leaving Examination.

Apart from entry tests, the centre also conducts pre-enrolment interviews "to appraise the student's drive and desire to improve, and fit with our school's learning ethos".

Its spokesperson Ling Cheah told TODAY: "We want to ensure that when we admit a student, we can indeed add value, we can indeed help him improve on his personal best."

Mountbatten Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, dismissed the practice of having entry tests as '"marketing gimmicks".

Said Mr Lim: "Some centres obviously just want bragging rights. If top students come in, they obviously would be good to begin with. Such practices drive up the pressure unnecessarily."

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Intan Mokhtar, who also lectures at the National Institute of Education (NIE), added that these enrichment centres play on parents' fears that their children would lose out if they are not stretched from a young age.

She said: "I guess with the current state where there's a lot of competition to enter university, parents take extra precaution - if the child is good, he can be even better."

Noting the psychological impact on children who fail the entry tests, she added: "It would instil in the child a sense of belief that everything boils down to (getting) the 'A's, when learning really isn't just about that.""

A sickening development. And disappointing responses from the 2 MPs quoted!

Lessons for me are:

1. the 2 MPs should also be, if they did not, offering RADICAL suggestions like:
1.1 NO tuition center is ALLOWED legally IF Singapore claimed to have a World Class Educational System!;

1.2 enrichment programs, if any, SHOULD be run by the Ministry of Education for those WHO fall through the World Class Education System gap!!;

2. the 2 MPs, especially both seemed qualified to comment AUTHORITATIVELY, should be saying:
2.1 these are not 'marketing gimmicks' but unhealthy development that should be STOPPED at all cost!!;

2.2 the 'fear of NOT being stretched at the young age' is a ridiculous and irrational excuse to be offered by the parents. The parents MUST be educated and made to NEVER use this excuse again!! Ok. I am overreacting here. So be it!!;

3. this thriving S$ billion dollar industry REALLY need to be looked at with all SERIOUSNESS by the government and the Ministry of Education. All these will add, willingly or otherwise, to the parents who have to or 'frithened into' or 'peer pressured into' sending their kids to such MONEY MAKING enrichment tuition centers and adding to ONE more COST of 'raising kids' in Singapore. One of the MAJOR ROOT CAUSES of WHY Singapore government is decrying the 'lack of babies in Singapore'!!

So, to all those in position of power and authority in the Educational arena. RAISE your standard of teaching in the World Class Educational System in schools. STOP the money making enrichment tuition industry and help Singapore parents to have more babies and NOT worry about one more heavy cost - and emotional trauma for kids and parents!!

Daily Lessons from Life 02 January 2012 - Don't Expect Too Much from the Government!

2012-01-02T21:55:00.003+08:00

Huimin gave a treat to her grandmother, sister and cousins with her 1st pay check today! I was the driver and we had a good time!!

"The Business Times Monday, Jan 02, 2012

Singapore has to take the expected economic slowdown in 2012 in its stride, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said a day after delivering a sobering New Year message.

'I think that the economy goes up, goes down, we have to take it in our stride,' he said at the launch of Chinese New Year festivities in Chinatown yesterday evening.

He cautioned against expecting too much help from the government.

'2008/09 was very different,' he said, referring to the global financial crisis. 'That was a once in a generation, maybe once in two or three generation event. So we have to go all out.

'The normal business cycles, some years will be better, some years will be slower. I think we have to take it in our stride.'

He was non-committal on measures to address concerns about high inflation, but noted that the 'Grow & Share' package - a comprehensive set of tax and living expenses-related measures - was effective in helping to deal with rising costs in 2011.

'That had already given considerable help both to businesses as well as to individuals for dealing with what we expected to be a high-inflation year, and it's turned out to be quite high-inflation year. So I think the Grow & Share package has been of some significant help. (In 2012) we'll have to see how things are.'

Mr Lee's comments came a day after he reported an advance estimate of 4.8 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) growth for 2011 in his New Year speech, which was slightly below the 5 per cent forecast."

It is good to be candid about what the government can do for its citizens, especially during bad time. At the same time, to ask them NOT to expect too much from the government is not realistic at all.

The question is really: who are those who REALLY need help? and help them!

Lessons for me are:

1. business cycle comes and go. It is normal. At the same time, whether it is one in a generation or two, the people who need help WILL need help. The old, the very young, the sick, and the unemployed. This is the social responsibility of an elected government. There is no two way about this;

2. who REALLY need help will be the big question. I am sure the government throught the past experiences have come up with many schemes to help those who really need help. Those who really need help will need to go through stringent checks to ensure that they are NOT free loaders, a group that the government fears most as they will simply drain away the precious trillion of resever that the nation has so painstakingly built up;

3. the cost of living in Singapore has NOT gone down despite the so called 'tough' time. One of the main cost for retailers or hawker centers or food courts, especially those NON-government controlled type, is RENTAL. The food, as much of it was imported, is high despite S$ being kept high. So, these will impact ALMOST every Singaporean who are NOT rich. Those that are or will be out of job for a period of more than 6 months will be in need of financial help for sure. The mdical cost is another frightening expense for the normal Singaproean let alone in an economic bad time.

So, PM Lee and his government will REALLY have to work doubly hard to 'educate' Singaporeans who FEEL that they REALLY need help 'why they do not deserve it'?

If not, discontent will build.

Time to think harder about how to use the part of the natioanl reserve that can be used legally. Hopefully we do not have to go to the 'untouchable' part of the national reserve in 2012...

Daily Lessons from Life 01 January 2012 - New Start to ...

2012-01-02T00:52:00.003+08:00

This is the 1st day of 2012. Many are recovering from hangovers. Some are wondering if they had conceived while intoxicated. Some were totally sober and worrying about the financial fortune of theirs in the much feared slowdown and looming recession talked so much about by eminent people in commerce, politics, and banking arena.

Whatever it may be, each will have to tackle his/her demon in his/her own way! Ultimately each is responsible for the consequence.

For Singapore, the much talked about 'dwindling population' issue is still there. A lot of things have been tried to no avail.

It is obvious that the many fiscal and financial incentives offerred by the government, which normally work quite well in money-focused Singapore, simply are NOT hitting the targets. It is obvious that the ROOT causes have not been identified or been dismissed as they were NOT what the government thought they were!! e.g. the financial burden of raising a child in Singapore till 18 years old, the high cost of housing to house a family of 4 or 5 (2 or 3 kids0, the stress of working to make ends meet to afford a reasonable lifestyle for a family of 4 or 5, etc...

The short term solution of 'importing' foreigners and hope that they will become citizens that embrace Singpaore way of life, culture, custom, etc. The short sightedness of comparing raising local Singaporeans to the ease of getting foreigners without including the social and integration costs DENIED the government from seriously consider how best to use the trillion of national reserve to get a generation of 30-50k Singaporean babies.

There will be takers if you promise to provide free education, medical care, and food and drink to this special batch of Singaporean up to 18 years old. If all the incentives are at cost, it may be something Singapore can afford.

It sounds crazy. At the same time, do we have another solution that may work so far?

May 2012 be a bumper year for Singaporean babies WITHOUT my crazy incentives mentioned since it is going to be a Dragon Year in the Chinese Lunar Calendar!!

Daily Lessons from Life 31 Decmber 2011 - 2012 Resolutions

2012-01-01T00:25:00.002+08:00

To round up on how I do on my 2011 Resolutions and set up my 2012 Resolutions.

1 Life Long Pursuit always:
- at personal level, to be a good father, husband, son and human being; 2011 'C'
- at work level, to be a professional; practising the 7e Way of leaders; 2011 "B'

For 2012 - to keep to the same resolution.

2 To continue the holistic healthy lifestyle of 'eating right and exercising regularly' so as to keep the weight at 73-75kg and off HBP medication;

2011 - managed to stay off HBP medication but struggling with weight at 75-77kg!

For 2012 - to keep to the same resoluton.

3 To continue to find ways to promote the 7e Way of Leaders, to generate revenue from at least 3 sources, and to get article published in established publications;

2011 - No success with the 7e Way of Leaders though managed to generate revenue from at least 3 sources and got letters published in McKinsey Quarterly and other online forums.

For 2012 - to keep to same resoluton.

4 To continue to contribute as Volunteer Probation Officer (VPO) with the Probation Services Branch and volunteer for 1 more charitable organization;

2011 - managed to volunteer with Health Promotion Board (HPB) as Senior Health Ambassador (SHA) and continued actively as VPO with the Probation Services Branch.

For 2012 - to keep to the same volunteering opportunities and do more where possible.

5 To invest wiser and trade wisely to profit from an uncertain 2011;

2011 - still down by 64% overall and also did not make realized profit too!

For 2012 - continue to fine tune and brace myself for more ups and downs in a year that most are predicting to be uncertain, full of turbulences, and challenging!

6 To complete the 2011 SCMS on 04 December 2011 under 6hrs 24mins!;

2011 - exceeded the target by finishing in 5 hrs 53 mins and 05 sec thanks to good preparation in the last 2 weeks! Also raised record S$7.2k for Singapore Cancer Society with overwhelming supports by friends!!

For 2012 - to aim to go under 6 hrs for 2012 SCMS on 02 December 2012 and raise at least S$5.5k for Singapore Cancer Society.

7 To always has space for the Unexpected.

2011 - nothing manjor though I lost one of my dearest aunties to cancer.

For 2012 - continue wih the same resolution.

A time to reflect on the year just past and look forward to the plan for the year that is coming and do what need to be done each day to make the plan a reality in 2012!!

Daily Lessons from Life 30 December 2011 - Singaporeans wealthy but unhappy

2011-12-30T22:23:00.003+08:00

"Singaporeans wealthy but unhappy - tabla! Friday, Dec 30, 2011

THEY are among the world's wealthiest, ranking sixth highest in net wealth with a mean value of US$284,692 (S$370,170) per adult according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2011 (net wealth is defined by a person's financial and real estate assets without debt; however, experts say it ignores wealth distribution).

But Singaporeans aren't necessarily a happy lot.

The median net wealth figure - which is less vulnerable to being pulled up or down by the very rich or the extremely poor - sees Singapore ranked eighth out of 160 countries, at US$101,033 (S$131,368) per adult.

The only countries that outrank it are Australia, Japan, Belgium, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom.

Despite the fairly high ranking, The Business Times reported that Singaporeans were a gloomy lot, worried about property prices, taxi fares and the inconsistent public transport, with much of the angst stemming largely from the middle class."

My take:

1. it all depends on how you define: wealth. Money only or not? While Singapore has, as supposedly shown in this report, wealthy people, we KNOW there are many that are still finding daily living a challenge and struggle. The 'average' does not help these people at all. Maybe the unhappiness came from this group of people/citizens?;

2. for me, to be Wealthy is to be Healthy and Happy (or vice verse) while doing something Meaningful and Fulfilling (one or two) as well as some silly/crazy things (one or two that do not create any negative impact to the greater good) with family and friends! It is likely that the Happiness comes from "free from the fear or worry of being 'out of money' when one lives in an urbanized commercial society"!;

3. Health is the foundation of Wealth or at least to create and to enjoy the wealth one creates through one's own good fortune or skills or whatever at no detrimental cost to the greater population!

Overall does Singaporean has any right to complain when compared to many less fortunate citizens of other nations? Probably not. Then again, when you want to set the world best standard of living, we cannot settle for 2nd best. So, there are much more work to be done in 2012 ...

Anyway, it is the 2nd last day of 2011 and let's start the countdown till tomorrow midnight!!

Daily Lessons from Life 29 December 2011 - MRT breakdowns: Committee of Inquiry appointed

2011-12-29T23:13:00.002+08:00

"MRT breakdowns: Committee of Inquiry appointed - CNA 29 December 2011

SINGAPORE: Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew has appointed a Committee of Inquiry (COI) to look into the two major MRT breakdowns earlier this month.

Heading the COI will be Chief District Judge of the Subordinate Courts, Mr Tan Siong Thye.

The other members of the committee are Professor Lim Mong King from the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University and Mr Soh Wai Wah, Director of Prisons.

They will look into the sequence of events that led to the disruption of train services on the North-South Line on 15 and 17 December, make recommendations to minimise the recurrence of such incidents and suggest ways to improve the management of similar incidents.

Chairman of the committee, Mr Tan Siong Thye, said: "The two MRT service disruption incidents of 15 and 17 December are quite unprecedented. They caused significant disruption and inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of commuters.

"Such incidents can also potentially pose a public safety issue if they are not well managed. As a daily user of the MRT myself to and from work for more than ten years, I share the concerns of many who want to know what went wrong and how to restore confidence in our MRT system.

"I will do my best to fulfil the Terms of Reference which Minister Lui Tuck Yew has given to me and my fellow COI members, Professor Lim Mong King and Mr Soh Wai Wah.

"We will take a comprehensive and systems approach to understand the underlying causes that could have contributed to the problem and propose improvements needed.

"My immediate priority in the next few weeks will be focused on fact-finding and also speaking to relevant experts."

The committee will be gathering information from rail operator SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA). Its work will be separate from and independent of the investigations being carried out by SMRT and LTA.

The committee is also inviting the public to present evidence at the inquiry."

Indeed the 2 breakdowns were very high impact and visible. Public agitation were aroused. The disquiet need to be answered.

Lessons for me are:

1. the COI has a huge job to do. And a thankless one if I may add;

2. the length of the inquiry must be short enough before anyone starts having unclear recolllection that may hinder rather than make clear what actually happened so that a better insight can be had on what could have caused the massive costs inflicted by the 2 incidents;

3. the impartiality of the COI must be absolute - real and in appearance. The focus must be on finding out the root causes rather than fixing blames though anyone found negligence or carelessness will have to answer for their actions.

May the COI has a smooth journey in finding out the bumps along the MRT tracks.

Daily Lessons from Life 28 December 2011 - Snow and tears mark funeral for N. Korean leader

2011-12-28T22:07:00.002+08:00

"Snow and tears mark funeral for N. Korean leader - AFP Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011

SEOUL - North Korea's military staged a huge funeral procession in the snowy streets of the capital, Pyongyang, on Wednesday for its deceased "dear leader,"Kim Jong-il, readying a transition to his son, Kim Jong-un.

A hearse carrying the coffin was led by a weeping Kim Jong-un, accompanied by Jang Song-thaek, his uncle and a key power-broker in the transition, and Ri Yong-ho, the army chief of staff.

One of the myths surrounding Kim Jong-il was that he could control the weather and state media has reported unusually cold and wild weather accompanying his death.

The video of weeping civilians, who swayed with grief and shouted "father, father", appeared to be out of synch with the audio on the broadcast. It was not clear whether it was live or recorded as black Lincoln and Mercedes limousines as well as army trucks streamed past the crowds.

"Kim Jong-un is clearly the head of the new leadership but, in terms of hierarchy and influence, Jang appears to have secured considerable position," he said.

It would seem, however, that little is set to change for the 25 million citizens of a country that has staged what many analysts have dubbed a "Great March Backwards" over the past 20 years."

A lie to the last! That the man can CONTROL the weather. That the PEOPLE are heart broken at his death. That the nation is NOT 'Great March Backwards'!!

Lessons for me are:

1. whenever will be will be. The lies will not last. Truth will prevail eventually. This especially so in such an advance information world;

2. the age-old internal grab for power will most likely take place, hopefully contained internally and not spill into the open and dragging the rest of the world into it as a collateral damages! Young untested anointed 'ruler' with matured minders who may have different ideas about serving the son vs. the father!;

3. will the young outmanuveour the matured minders? Never say never though unlikely. Whatever it is the nucleard nation must be handled with care and watch intensely. It will be uneasy time for the next couple of months.

While this death of a dictator unfolds the labour unrest in China is growing and happening more frequently then anytime in the past decades. Is it really that bad a deal that the workers are getting from the employers? Is the 'market rate' for labour so out of tune with reality? Is it true that labour is no longer cheap whether of a high quality or not in China?

As we wobble towards the close of 2011, does 2012 hold a better prospect? I hope so ...

Daily Lessons from Life 27 December 2011 - Man jailed for causing hurt to three police officers

2011-12-27T17:51:00.002+08:00

"Man jailed for causing hurt to three police officers - CNA 27 December 2011

SINGAPORE: It started off as a skirmish between two friends but ended up with one of them sentenced to jail for causing hurt to three police officers.

Factory production operator Idris Husin received nine months' jail for hurting a staff sergeant, an assistant superintendant and a police sergeant as he was being arrested.

The court heard that Idris, 55, had fought with a friend at a coffeeshop in Woodlands Avenue 6 on August 4, in the presence of police officers.

They were both arrested but the trouble did not end there. As Idris was being escorted to the police vehicle by Assistant Superintendant Phang Chiew Shia, he elbowed her in the stomach and spat at her.

As he was being led into the police car, he kept hitting Staff Sergeant Stanley Png on the chest with his head and tried to bite his chest. Idris continued to be violent even though he was handcuffed. He kicked Police Sergeant Tan Boon Leng in the right leg, spat and swore at him.

Pleading for leniency on Tuesday, Idris said that he was drunk and was not aware of his actions.

However, District Judge Low Wee Ping, who told Idris he should not drink if he cannot control himself, said he deserved a deterrent and long sentence."

A simple cut and dry case. IF you cannot control yourself after you drink, DON'T!!

Lessons for me:

1. I always maintain that there is NO stupid people but people doing STUPID THINGS. Those who are mentally handicapped at birth are NOT stupid people. This gentleman in this news report definitely is a person doing STUPID things!;

2. I normally do not agree with judges who are too liberal or too strict. For this one, I simply could not help but to applaud his or her judgement. Indeed, if he cannot control himself, DON'T drink! Simple as that. No 'IF' and no 'BUT' about it. A grown man MUST take responsibilities for his action;

3. I also wonder what IF the police officers behaved, as would many we have watched on TV or in the movies, aggressively against this man who did stupid thing? will this man be given a lenient judgement? Or would he even sue the police officers for police brutality? A sue often repeated in the USA - at least in TV and movies? Great that the Singapore police officers behaved in a restrained manner and allowed the laws to take care of this man who did stupid thing! Well done!!

May those who think they can blame others for their stupid behaviors think again - assuming they can think!!

Daily Lessons from Life 26 December 2011 - Toxin found in Chinese milk

2011-12-26T23:57:00.002+08:00

"Toxin found in Chinese milk - AFP 26 December 2011

SHANGHAI: China has discovered excessive levels of a cancer-causing toxin in milk produced by one of the nation's leading dairy companies, the firm said, in the latest in a series of food safety alarms.

The government's quality watchdog found high levels of an aflatoxin, which is caused by mould, in milk produced by the Mengniu Dairy Group, the company said in a statement issued Sunday.

Mengniu said the milk, produced at one of its plants in the southwestern province of Sichuan, was tested before being sold so the contaminated milk never reached the market.

China is trying to crack down on product safety violations to reassure citizens and restore faith in the government after a series of high-profile scandals.

Milk was at the centre of China's biggest food safety scandal in 2008 when the industrial chemical melamine was found to have been illegally added to dairy products to give the appearance of higher protein content.

At least six babies died and another 300,000 became ill after drinking milk tainted with melamine.

Product safety problems have been found in goods ranging from pharmaceuticals to cooking oil. In September, the government arrested 32 people over the sale of cooking oil made from leftovers taken from gutters.

Aflatoxins can be found in milk after cows consume feed contaminated by mould and can increase the risk of cancer, including liver cancer, according to the World Health Organisation.

Mengniu said the products had been destroyed, and apologised to consumers.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine made the latest discovery in nationwide testing of 200 dairy products made by 128 companies, the agency said separately."

Hardly a month passed by without food safety issue taking headlines in China in recent years. So prevalent that the Chinese laughed at themselves by coining a saying: Any Chinese that is still alive are probably immune to poisons since they are subject to eating, drinking and consuming lots of poisions in their daily life!

That joke aside, they are some who swore that they will NOT consume Chinese milk and dairy products. They will go to the extent of getting them from overseas while making sure they do not have a 'Make in China' label!!

Lessons for me are:

1. at least in this case, the product reportedly never get to leave the factory. At least the quality inspection system put in place is working due to primarily the integrity of the people operating the system with the support of the company! Yes?;

2. also the State Quality Inspection personnel are taking their duties to the people seriously without being corrupted. The most powerful motivational is probably self-motivation here since many may have young babies that consume the products they are inspecting!! If so, that is wonderful. ONLY self-motivation will keep people COMMITTED to do the Right Things when ON ONE is watching!! That is the ONLY way to get rid of unscrupulous merchants and business people who put profit ahead of human safety and life!!;

3. this revelation and inspection effort will have to continue relentless until the 'risk takers' realized that it is NOT if I will get caught but WHEN I will get caught. And the 'when' must be 'sooner than you think'!! When the legal punishment befit the crimes committed - swiftly and decisively - will those who may be tempted to try their luck FROZE in their thought can this campaign for sustainable food safety be successful.

May Chinese food safety campaigners will the WAR soon...

Daily Lessons from Life 25 December 2011 - Gorbachev urges Putin to quit

2011-12-26T00:13:00.003+08:00

"Gorbachev urges Putin to quit - AFP 25 December 2011

MOSCOW: The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, on Saturday urged Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to heed protester demands and quit politics instead of seeking a third term as Russian president.

"I would advise Vladimir Putin to leave now. He has had three terms: two as president and one as prime minister. Three terms -- that is enough," Gorbachev told Moscow Echo radio in an interview.

Gorbachev's call came as the second mass protest in two weeks against fraud-tainted legislative polls ended in Moscow and on the eve of the 20th anniversary Sunday of his resignation as the Soviet Union's last president.

The 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner pointed out that he himself decided to quit after it became clear that the Soviet system could no longer survive and urged Putin to follow his example by bowing to popular discontent.

"He should do the same thing I did. That is what I would do. That way, he would be able to preserve all the positive things he did."

Former KGB agent Putin served two terms as president between 2000 and 2008 before being appointed prime minister by his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev.

The ruling duo has since announced plans to swap jobs after March presidential elections that Putin had seemed destined to easily win in the first round until his support began dropping on news of his impending return.

His ruling United Russia party managed to cling on to a narrow majority in disputed December 4 parliamentary elections that had been seen as a test of people's support for his decision to come back as president.

Several recent opinion polls showed Putin struggling to break the 50-percent margin required to win the presidential vote in the first round.

But no single figure from the opposition has yet emerged as a serious contender to Putin despite the wave of protests that have rolled through Russia in recent weeks."

Interesting development in Russian with this call from the last President of USSR. This with another news headline that said: Putin's team is definance in the face of protests. This also on Christmas day, the day for peace and joy to the world. Will there be joy to the discontented people of Russia or will the die-hard supporters of Putin cling on to power with whatever mean it will take?

Lessons for me are:

1. if you overstay your welcome, it will be a sad sad situation;

2. few truly great leaders are able to leave the brightly lit stage at his or her height of success willingly. That is why they earned my utmost respect. Will Putin be one of them? I doubt seriously. He has too much to lose. The facade, the appearance, and desperate need, to be 'loved' and 'appreciated' by 'his' people for the great things that he had done for the 'people' (forget about those abuses, corrupt practices, etc. Those do not count!) that he craves simply will NOT let him let go!;

3. will this be another 'revolution' in Russia just as North Korea starts to rattle the sabre furiously at how South Korea has reacted 'disrespectful' to the demise of the 'Putin-copied' dictator? Will the world be even more unstable if Russia falls into chaos? Who knows! It is possible as Russians are not afraid to die in the name of revolution. It is part of their culture, though distant now.

One's glory for the future of a nation. Which will he choose?

Daily Lessons from Life 24 December 2011 - Quakes overshadow Christmas in New Zealand

2011-12-25T00:43:00.002+08:00

"Quakes overshadow Christmas in New Zealand - AFP 24 December 2011

WELLINGTON: Aftershocks continued to rattle the earthquake-shattered New Zealand city of Christchurch Saturday overshadowing Christmas preparations for weary residents in a "hellish year".

The unrelenting series of tremors, several stronger than magnitude 5.0, had the city on edge again 10 months after a devastating quake claimed 181 lives and destroyed much of the inner city.

Emergency services Saturday were rushing to restore electricity and water supplies and an army of 2,000 volunteers were helping clean up the worst affected suburbs by Christmas Day.

"There is a real determination in our city not to let the events of the past 24 hours ruin Christmas. Our crews have worked overnight and will be working all today to restore services to the city," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said.

"Our goal is that by the end of the day we will have made the necessary emergency repairs to our water, wastewater and roads.

"It has been a hellish year. I am determined to get as much as we can fixed by tonight so that our staff, apart from a skeleton team, can spend Christmas with their families.""

It is a distressing thought that such a natural disaster is ever present now for the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. A country where I did my univeristy degree study and now have relatives living there on a permanent basis though in Auckland city.

Lessons for me are:

1. would people move out of such an unstable geographical location now that it seems likely the earthquakes will continue to happen and the magnitude is not something one can predict if the BIG ONE will hit or not? It is logical and perfectly understandable if they do. Yet, many emotionally could not pull themselves to make such a life changing decision;

2. will the faith of the people who stay be repaid with good fortune or will they suffer even more pains and heartbreaks or even lose their lives IF the BIG ONE did come along? Will they are happy to go in such a manner? to be with the home and the land they have grown to love? An unthinkable question that I hope will NEVER have to be answered. Distressing for me...;

3. can a city of 300+k people be relocated to another place maybe just far enough to be away from the frequent tremors and allow people to have a reasonably stable environment to build their homes again? Maybe another 100-200km away from the present city of Chritchurch? Would the people consider such an option? It can be done if it is planned that way. No?

On this Chirstmas eve, I just hope things will be better for the people of Christchurch. I will never know how it is like to be there. Yet I know it will appreciate anyone who expressed care and concern for them.

Peace to the world.

Daily Lessons from Life 23 December 2011 - Farewell 2011 Welcome 2012

2011-12-24T00:29:00.002+08:00

Thought I shared my Annual Farewell and Welcome email with you.

"Dear Long Time and Newly Made Friends (Use ‘Reply’ instead of ‘Reply All’ when responding. Thanks)

Another year will soon pass us by as we look back to reminisce the good time, learn and move on from the bad experiences, and look forward to another new year with things to do, places to see, people to meet/cherish and make a difference in whichever manner we so decide.

The ‘free’ capitalist world and its stellar cast of ‘Noble’ prize economists, multi-million and –billion compensated central bankers and bankers (some are ‘gamblers’ masquerading’ as bankers), the weak but greedy politicians, and some ‘unenlightened’ citizens who feel that growth through credit/irresponsible consumption based on ‘future’ income and wealth is SUSTAINABLE are STILL not getting IT.

That what they have in mind is simply UNSUSTAINABLE. Period. No ‘if’. No ‘but’.

Next come to Asia, a continent much closer to most of us. It has not been pretty too with natural disasters (and the resultant man-made ones) in Japan and in Thailand, to name but two. The ever growing menace of CORRUPTION in China and India, two of the biggest developing economies, are disturbing and destabilizing the foundation of potential prolonged prosperity if they are NOT ‘controlled’ properly.

In Singapore, the watershed ‘gain’ of 4 more Member of Parliament (MP) by the Opposition in the General Election shook the complacent and increasing ‘arrogant and detached’ ruling class, the People’s Action Party (PAP), is some form of progress or ‘pay back’ by some of the voters. Will things change for the better on the ever escalating public housing prices, the ever congesting (and now ‘broken’?) public transportation system, and the fierce competition of the foreign workers (white and blue collars) in the already discounted ‘doom and groom’ 2012?

Many questions remain unanswered. Hopefully we have some good answers to them in 2012.

At a personal level, I am still GRATEFUL for whatever I have/achieved in 2011 as I look ahead to 2012.

1. I give myself a ‘C’ for being a Good Human Being, Father, Husband and Son – my ongoing personal vision;
2. It has been a good year on the work fronts and I like to thank Lon Gee of Tricor, Jacinta/Rehkha of Ken Blanchard, Gavin of BMC, and Jessica/Boon Yaw of ILS Performance for the opportunities given to me. These are meaningful work and enjoyable work!! THANK YOU;
3. Haw Ngee and I celebrated our 25th anniversary of our Registry of Marriage and I am VERY LUCKY to have the best gift to me – Haw Ngee, my wife. And the 3 reasonably well behaved and OK kids – Huimin, Zhengjie, and Huijun. All of us have our differences at times but we are aOK most of the time. ;

4. I was able to add one more volunteer opportunity by being the Senior Healthy Ambassador (SHA) for Health Promotion Board (HPB) this year in addition to my Volunteer Probation Office (VPO) work. For that I want to thank Patricia and Meiting and their team at HPB. It is meaningful and enjoyable!!;
5. Some friends have their moments in 2011 with some facing new health issue, some having their loved ones departed from this earth (and this life to eternal life for the Christian friends), some have new addition to their family in the form of grandchildren, and some with their most challenging year. Whatever it maybe, I know they are good. We are good. It is TRANSITIONAL for most of us;
6. I lost one of my closest aunties to cancer this year. I read out the eulogy to her at her last journey. I pay my respect to her each time I jogged past the temple where her ashes is placed on my charity marathon training run. I am glad that I made this year charity marathon on 4 Dec 2011 under 6 hours and raised S$7.2k for Singapore Cancer Society with the INSPIRATIONAL supports by long time friends. A BIG Thank You again. I will try to keep my original goal of doing this till I am 60 years old, healthy permitting;

7. I am blessed with friends who still want to meet up with me whenever I travelled to their part of the world where they are living and working in. Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. Not forgetting those in Singapore. Also many NEW FRIENDS made in Vietnam and Thailand and Malaysia this year. Thank you for your continued friendship.

There were some friends I did not get to meet this year. E.g. SG in Korea, Ben in Taiwan, and Yan in USA, etc. We kept in touch with the occasional skype, emails. That is good enough!!

8. Huimin, our eldest daughter, started work on 1 Dec 2011. This after I had tried very hard to solicit helps from many long time friends to get a job for here. Many had offered unconditional help and referrals. Strangely, she found the job on her own as her university Professor looked her and her classmates up for an opportunity. It just shows, as a very dear friend said: ‘the young has her/his idea and it won’t work if we want a job for her/him that she/he is not keen on!’. Whatever it is, Haw Ngee and I are simply glad (or relief) that she has embarked on the next stage of her personal journey. I want to THANK ALL of the friends who had helped. Thank YOU!!

As I look forward to 2012, a year that had some senior people in politics, commerce and academia predicting to be ‘turbulent, uncertain, and ever challenging’, I ask for:

1. To continue my ongoing personal vision: to be a Good Human Being, Father, Husband, Son, and Friend;
2. To be sufficiently gainfully employed to do what I enjoy most – sharing and learning with Tricor, Ken Blanchard, BMC, ILS Performance, and any other suitable opportunities;
3. To continue to volunteer as SHA with HPB and VPO with MCYS Probation Services Branch (PSB);
4. To complete my 5th charity marathon on 2 December 2012 and to raise fund for Singapore Cancer Society with my friends’ inspirational supports again;
5. To continue to meet/cherish my friends, do things and see places as best I can and be appreciative of whatever I am given.

May I wish those who are religious, Merry Christmas.

And ALL of you and your loved ones a HEALTHY, HAPPY (or Vice Versa), Purposeful, and Prosperous 2012.

To be Wealthy is to be Happy and Healthy and doing Purposeful (one or two) and some SILLY things/deeds with Family and Friends. 

Thank you 2011 and welcome 2012…

Yours humbly
Lu Keehong in Sgp"

Daily Lessons from Life 22 December 2011 - China police arrest protesters in south, say witnesses

2011-12-22T21:34:00.002+08:00

"China police arrest protesters in south, say witnesses - AFP 22 December 2011

HAIMEN, China - Police have begun arresting protesters in southern China after two days of violent clashes, witnesses said on Thursday, as the local government warned against further "illegal" demonstrations.

"There are lots of plainclothes police officers on the street and the government has started to arrest people," a resident surnamed Zheng told AFP by telephone from Haimen.

"We don't dare go outside, but I heard a small group of people will still go to the highway today," he said, referring to the road where witnesses said police fired tear gas and beat demonstrators on Tuesday and Wednesday.

An AFP reporter in Haimen said the town was calm on Thursday. A large group of residents had gathered at a service station near the highway that was the scene of violent clashes on Wednesday, but they were not protesting.

A witness to the Wednesday riots told AFP he saw protesters throwing rocks at the police who responded by firing tear gas.

Hong Kong media showed photographs from Wednesday of a police officer with a bloody head injury and an overturned police car surrounded by bricks.

Witnesses told AFP on Tuesday that a 15-year-old boy and a middle-aged woman had been killed in the clashes with police, although this could not be independently confirmed.

Oriental TV, a Hong Kong-based television station, said six residents had died and nearly 200 were injured in Tuesday's violent confrontation, which led local authorities to announce the suspension of a plan to expand the plant.

Local government officials declined to comment when contacted by AFP."

Another protest and another suppression. It seems to be happening with such regularity that one could not help but to ponder when will it become a tsunami-size that will bring enormous devastation to stability, peace and prosperity!

Lessons for me are:

1. some people are concerned with their health even when promised wealth and prosperity - which the expansion of the power plant supposedly will bring to these residents. No?;

2. when 'progress' clashes with 'basic human righ to have a safe and healthy environment to live so' so that 'one can ENJOY the prospority that progress supposedly bring, which one should be given the priority? I guessed it depends on which side you are on! For if you benefit financially and not impacted by the potentially harmful environmental damages since you do not live here! Against if your health will be threatened and may not be around to enjoy the material wealth!;

3. is it just a 'problem' with the people in the South? Who supposedly are a lot more merchantile in nature and love commerce and material wealth more than the Northerners? What happened to that 'love for economic and material progress'? Maybe they realized that fundamentally you cannot enjoy your wealth if your health is ruined! Simple logic really. Yes?

If the number of clashes and unrest mentioned unofficially is true, maybe 2012 is not a good year for the new leadership to take over at the Central Government. Maybe we will have problems in the last great Yellow hope to pull the world out of an economic recession. Maybe it is a good thing as the Chinese slow down, draw a deep breath and re-strategize for a sustainable model!

Daily Lessons from Life 21 December 2011 - Hillary interfering and China racing the defuse unrest

2011-12-21T21:23:00.002+08:00

Well. Some follow up on yesterday headlines commented by me.

1. Egypt accused Hillary Clinton of 'interfering' with domestic affairs by criticising the horrible treatment of the female protester who got her blouse pulled off to reveal her bra.

Maybe Mrs Clinton can qualify her comments as: these were expressed in her personal capacity as a private citizen and a global political figure though not representing the stand of the USA?

Is this even possible? NO. What she said is true for her and her nation. How she felt about the treatment descried is also something that will NOT be tolerated by any other self-respecting human being towards the female population.

So, I think the Egyptian authority need to re-word their protest. That they are sorry about what happened and promise that it will not happen again to their mothers, sisters, wives, daughthers and nieces!

2. Chinese authority racing to defuse unrest in the wealthy South

It is none too soon. The 20,000 villagers are NO wealthy folks though they are located in the so-called wealth South!!

While racing to defuse is fine, the ROOT causes must be identified and addressed properly. Otherwise, it will be just putting band aid on a serious wound that need major surgery and treatment. It will come back to bite the doctor!!

Authoritative regime can kill one or two or one hundred or two hundred of its people without too much fear of world wide condemnation. But killing a thousand or two will trigger internal revolt even if it can ignore the worldwide condemnation from outside China.

Careful careful does it...

Daily Lessons from Life 20 December 2011 - Gutter Oil in China and Rough Treatment of Women Protesters in Egypt

2011-12-20T21:33:00.002+08:00

"Gutter Oil in China - AFP Tuesday, Dec 20, 2011

BEIJING - Chinese police have arrested 52 people for making and selling cooking oil dredged up from restaurant gutters, state media reported on Tuesday, in the latest food safety scandal to hit the country.

Investigators found that a company in the southern province of Jiangxi had made more than 2,000 tonnes of "gutter oil" since 2010, which it sold to a feed-processing firm in the neighbouring province of Guangdong, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The oil was then sold to restaurants around the region after"being mixed with quality cooking oil and labelled with unregistered trademarks", the report added.

China has struggled to rein in the health safety violations in the unruly and vast food sector despite tough penalties and repeated vows to crack down."

AND

"Clinton blasts Egypt's shocking treatment of women - AFP 20 December 2011

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced Egypt's treatment of women as "shocking" and a "disgrace" to the state after troops were shown ripping off a female protester's clothes.

In unusually strong remarks, Clinton accused Egyptian authorities of failing the country's women since the revolution that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak, both by excluding them from power and humiliating them in the streets.

"This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonors the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people," Clinton said in a speech at Georgetown University.

In images widely seen over YouTube, helmeted troops were shown beating a veiled woman after having ripped her clothes off to reveal her bra and stomach.

Beating women on the street "is not cultural, it's criminal and it needs to be addressed and treated as such," she said to applause."

Both were, or still are?, the oldest civilization on earth. Yet, did they advance very far? Not really be these accounts!!

Lessons for me are:

1. things changed and cultural habits should change as well. When the cultural habits do not change, they are likely to be irrelevant and become a hated thing. Not good isn't it?

2. when things changed TOO FAST disorder and uncivilized behaviors develop. Would any civilized men and women tried to poison their own kinds for money like they did in China? When things changed too fast WITHOUT an anchoring principle like: fortune I shall seek but only if it is ethically done!! Nah. Too radical an idea? Or too naive?;

3. where are these 2 civilizations go from here? Further self-destruction? Maybe. Likely in fact IF nothing is done.

May we see civilization grows again!!

Daily Lessons from Life 19 December 2011 - North Korea's Kim Jong-Il dies

2011-12-19T23:36:00.002+08:00

"North Korea's Kim Jong-Il dies - AFP 19 December 2011

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died aged 69 of a heart attack, state media announced Monday, plunging the nuclear-armed, famine-ridden and deeply isolated nation into a second dynastic succession.

North Korea urged people to rally behind Kim's youngest son Jong-Un, describing him as "great successor" to the leader who presided over the deaths of hundreds of thousands from hunger but still built an nuclear weapons arsenal.

Kim's funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang but no foreign delegations will be invited, KCNA said. National mourning was declared from December 17 to 29.

North Korea's propaganda machine has rolled into action to build up the same personality cult for Jong-Un that surrounded his father and late grandfather Kim Il-Sung, the founder and "eternal leader" of North Korea who died in 1994.

"The North Korean elite has a vested interest in maintaining the system and will assess Jong-Un's ability to protect its interests," said Bruce Klingner, a Northeast Asia expert at Washington's Heritage Foundation.

Kim took over after his father and founding president Kim Il-Sung died in 1994, coming to power with a reputation as a playboy with a taste for the finer things in life.

But in the mid- to late-1990s he presided over a famine which killed hundreds of thousands of his people. Severe food shortages continue and the UN children's fund estimates one-third of children are stunted by malnutrition.

Kim still found the resources to continue a nuclear weapons programme which culminated in tests in October 2006 and May 2009. The country is believed to have a plutonium stockpile big enough for six to eight weapons."

Well. Even the 'God' has to die. He was, somehow, revered by some of his people as God! Through isolation and threats!!

Lessons for me are:

1. again, the powerful will evetually die and move on. There is really a futile attempt by some men to claim immortality and invincibility. That lie will has the same ending - death. Sometimes earlier than one hopes for!!;

2. a ruler that presided over a famine that killed hundred of thousands of its people while successfully created a nuclear arsenal (supposedly) cannot possibly be a good one though in this warp time, that seems to be the trump card each time North Korea shakes the nuclear bombs around to get some candies from the concerned world community. Yet his people, some of them anyway, know how unGodly he was. Truth never lie!;

3. will the young Kim be forced to use the nuclear arsenal to show who is in charge after his father's death? It is anybody guess though rational minds said he won't risk it. At the same time, North Korean regime has not exactly being known for being rational! Games they will play. I just hope someone know how to call a bluff properly!

Long live the dead senior Kim for he cannot accidentally activate a war of great destruction though his rd son can, if he is not careful!!

Daily Lessons from Life 17-18 December 2011 - More SMRT Breakdowns and 'Confession of A Crime'

2011-12-18T23:25:00.002+08:00

More SMRT breakdown and 'Confession of a Crime'

Well. Missed yesterday night blogging due to fatigues. Seems to be happening more often than I like. Still, key is to get back and get the momemtum going.

1. More SMRT Breakdowns

Not sure what exactly is happening or had happened. Suffice to say there are a lot of experts offering all kinds of reasons for this and that, the why and why not, etc.

With the recent frequent breakdown, has the tracks, especially the old ones, hit a critical tilting point of 'overlooked' issues. As was described by the documentaries: 'Minute before disaster', major breakdown or disaster occurred often due to neglect to small issues and snowballed into a big bang?

This morning the LTA and SMRT teams that combed the tracks found some broken 'claws' along some stretch of the tracks. That is a good start.

May they find the root cause (or causes) and begin to address the issues from a holistic approach.

As for who is responsible, everyone! As for who is MORE responsible, that is another story. Whoever wants to be responsible can be unless there were criminals sabotaging the tracks and equipments. Let's hope NOT!!

2. Confession of a Crime

Happened to watch this documentary - 2 episodes of it. All about how ex-hard core criminals who were in and out of prisons like taking vacations confessed to their previous life of crimes. Inevitably, loved ones were hurt, some passed away to shake the die-hard criminals to see their errant way and turned over a new leaf.

A laudable attempt to let another would be criminals to watch, reflect (if they do reflect) and decide what kind of life do they want for themselves - to be like these ex-offenders profile before turning over a new leaf or to stay in the straight without going through this predictably painful, hurtful and unncessary journey to grow up?

Another day another chance to make good...

I await the new week with hope and renewed enthusiasm ...

Daily Lessons from Life 16 December 2011 - SMRT CEO apologises, will consider resigning if necessary

2011-12-17T00:37:00.002+08:00

"SMRT CEO apologises, will consider resigning if necessary -AsiaOne Dec 16, 2011

SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa apologised today for Thursday's five-hour long evening disruption on the North-South line.

Speaking at a press conference at SMRT Headquarters on Friday afternoon, she said SMRT was very sorry that the disruption had happened.

An online news source quoted her as saying that she will consider resigning if necessary, but would reserve her opinion on the matter for the time being.

She was commenting on public calls for her and other senior management to resign.

No effort would be spared in preventing a recurrence of the incident, Ms Saw told reporters.

According to The Straits Times, Ms Saw said it was important that SMRT improve its incident management plans and crowd management.

She also promised her personal attention on improving how SMRT gave timely and better information, an online news source said.

SMRT said in a statement on its website that 300 staff were activated to assist passengers and resolve the fault.

"The disruption is caused by a damaged third rail between Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall MRT stations.

The faulty third rail damaged the collector shoes of four trains, which caused all of them to stall," the statement said.

Thursday's disruption was the second breakdown in as many days and affected some 127,000 commuters."

Good to learn that some top managers are taking responsibilities for the shortcomings of their organization. It has been a long time coming!!

Lessons for me are:

1. SMRT is a hot potato. You will need to be quite foolish if you think you can 'control' it. In fact, so many things can go wrong in a MRT system. Maybe everyone needs to chill out and not taking the ocassional breakdown too seriously!;

2. while it may not be reasonable to expect the top management to resign due to this unforeseen breakdowns, it is good leadership to take some responsibility about it by announcing some actions like: cut or no bonuses, etc;

3. the recent spates of breakdown with our supposedly world class metro train system may be indication that we have sacrifice quality for speed. I hope not but it may well be!

May SMRT be as effective as one can hope for. As for the resignation of the CEO, maybe. If she insists!!

Daily Lessons from Life 15 December 2011 - Prince William to visit Singapore

2011-12-16T02:15:00.002+08:00

"Prince William to visit Singapore - AFP 14 December 2011

LONDON - Britain's royal family will tour the globe, including Singapore, next year to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee marking 60 years on the throne, Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday.

Prince William and his wife Catherine will travel to the Asia-Pacific region, while heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will visit countries including Australia and Canada, it said.

"Members of the royal family will travel overseas representing the Queen throughout the Diamond Jubilee year, visiting every Realm as well as undertaking visits to Commonwealth countries, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories," a Buckingham Palace spokesman said in a statement.

The 54-nation Commonwealth comprises mainly former British colonies; Crown Dependencies include the Channel Islands; while the Falklands and Bermuda are examples of British Overseas Territories."

As a Singaporean, I like to register my disapproval of receiving this Prince from UK as Singapore is NO LONGER a colony of UK and this Commonwealth thingy is WAY PAST its use-by-date!!

Lessons for me:

1. if he or they want to visit Singapore, MAKE SURE Singaporean taxpayers are NOT paying for ANY of it!!;

2. if there are royalists who WANT to see their Prince and Princess, they SHOULD foot the bill themselves. I have NO PROBLEM with this as long as taxpayers' money are NOT used to welcome or host them. Period!!;

3. if someone wants to oppose their visit, I will gladly join as at this day and age I SIMPLY COULD NOT accept that someone is a royalty while some others are just nobody!! Everybody is somebody. Somebody's child. Somebody's friends. Somebody's parents. GOT IT??

Long live the Queen, at your OWN EXPENSES please. Thank you.

Daily Lessons from Life 14 December 2011 - China to keep property rules, follow 'prudent' policy

2011-12-15T01:26:00.003+08:00

"China to keep property rules, follow 'prudent' policy - AFP 14 December 2011

BEIJING: China vowed on Wednesday to maintain property market restrictions and "prudent" monetary policies after a major meeting to set the nation's economic course in 2012, at a time of global uncertainty.

China's leaders also agreed to "guarantee steady growth" and keep the yuan "basically stable" at the close of the annual Central Economic Work Meeting, chaired by President Hu Jintao, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The annual closed-door meeting in Beijing - the last before a once-in-a-decade leadership transition begins next year - was held against a backdrop of turmoil in China's biggest export markets of Europe and the United States.

Analysts said the statement was a strong sign Beijing will move cautiously to ease tight credit restrictions put in place in the past two years to curb surging prices and property costs."

I applaud this move by the PRC government. I hope it is for real and they have the resolve to carry this out and through as having properties prices high SIMPLY is not a sustainable growth model to pursue.

Lessons for me are:

1. get the direction and basic principle RIGHT. Designate the 'each citizen with a home', make it 'afforadble 1st home', as the fundamental principle of nation building and you have one less evil to deal with. This is especially imporant for a nation which desired to continue to urbanize and move more of its NO-1st-home citizens into cities!!

2. the authorities MUST wane themselves off the 'drug of fast growth through properties development since it does pull along many industries that support it'. When the drug is addictive, the users must be careful. Not geting hook is the way to go. Don't start something that you may not be able to control!!;

3. PRC MUST set the standard for itself and NOT be allowed to measure itself using the Hong Kong or the Wall Street's standard in treatment of property development. It has SEEN the damages each property boom and bust cycle in recent history in the USA. It CANNOT be avoided IF you allowed property purchases to be bankrolled by CREDIT. This is especially true when the LENDERS get bail out by the TAXPAYERS!!

I wish PRC all the best in setting the NEW standard in treating property development and lead it to a sustainable developmental success!!

Daily Lessons from Life 13 December 2011 - Chinese captain stabs Korean officers, killing one

2011-12-13T21:42:00.002+08:00

"Chinese captain stabs Korean officers, killing one - AP 13 December 2011

(SEOUL) A Chinese fishing boat captain stabbed two South Korean coast guard officers yesterday, killing one and injuring the other, after his boat was stopped for illegally fishing in South Korean waters, officials said.

The Chinese captain pulled an unidentified weapon after officers from two coast guard ships boarded the fishing boat over suspicions that it was illegally operating in Yellow Sea waters rich in blue crabs, anchovies and croaker, coast guard spokesman Kim Dong-jin said.

A South Korean officer stabbed in the side was taken by helicopter to a hospital in the port city of Incheon but later died, Mr Kim said. Also brought to the hospital were an officer stabbed in the abdomen, who was to undergo surgery, and the Chinese captain, who had minor injuries from the fight, he said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry summoned China's ambassador in Seoul later yesterday and lodged a strong protest over the fight.

Last week, Foreign Ministry officials said they asked the ambassador to make efforts to prevent illegal Chinese fishing from undermining bilateral ties.

'Eradicating Chinese boats' illegal fishing in our waters is a most urgent task to safeguard our fishermen and fisheries resources,' South Korea's Yonhap news agency said in a recent editorial. 'The government should mobilise every possible means and continue the crackdown on illegal fishing.'

Besides the captain, eight other Chinese fishermen on the boat were arrested and taken to Incheon, the coast guard said in a statement.

The coast guard says it has seized about 470 Chinese ships for illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea so far this year, up from 370 last year. The coast guard usually releases the ships after a fine is paid, though violence occasionally occurs.

In 2008, one South Korean coast guard officer was killed and six others injured in a fight with Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters."

Did not realised that it had happened before. There is really no excuse for this incident. I am sure the Chinese authority knows what are the right things to do!!

Lessons for me are:

1. keep the focus on the facts. That this is an illegal fishing captain who had committed murder! Period. No nationalistic sentiment allowed here. The Chinese committed a murderous crime. Period!!

2. the Chinese authority should either strongly supports the actions by the South Korean coastguards or just keep quiet. There are already protests by some South Koreans at the Chinese embassy in Seoul, South Korea. The Chinese should be calm and rational and not drag in nationalism unnecessarily.

3. It sure makes a lot of sense if both countries addressed this repeat offenses by the Chinese fishmen into South Korea water. When the South Koreans up their defense, things can get ugly for the illegal Chinese fishermen. They could be facing 'fire 1st and ask later' action by the frustrated South Koreans if nothing is done!

May there be peace in the Yellow Sea!!

Daily Lessons from Life 12 December 2011 - Nothing Doing ...

2011-12-13T01:43:00.002+08:00

A lazy day for me as I sufferred a bit of the lingering flu that had threathen to flare up a week of so ago just as I prepared for the Charity Marathon on 4 Dec 2011.

Luckily it did not and I was able to complete the charity marathon safely in 5hrs 53mins 05 sec and raised S$7.2k for Singapore Cancer Society with the inspirational supports of my friends.

Had dinner with a long time friend and his wife at the world famous Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, and enjoyed the experience thoroughly. A cool December evening and pleasant night, especially after the recent catastrophic flooding of Bangkok.

Came back to rest and prepared for tomorrow workshop.

Lessons for me? Listen to your body and rest well to go the distance.

Daily Lessons from Life 11 December 2011 - France won't use state funds to shore up banks: minister

2011-12-11T23:26:00.002+08:00

"France won't use state funds to shore up banks: minister - AFP 11 December 2011

PARIS - The French government will not use state funds to assist banks in their efforts to build up capital after being hit by the eurozone debt crisis, Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse said Sunday.

"The state will not put money into French banks," Pecresse, who is also the government's spokeswoman, said in a joint interview with Europe 1 radio and i>TELE television.

"The French (banks) can recapitalise to the tune of about 7 billion euros with their own funds, their own profits," she said.

France's major lenders are seen as overexposed to risky Greek, Spanish and Italian debt, and one, the Franco-Belgian specialist bank Dexia, has already been dismantled and partly nationalised.

The EU's banking regulator said Thursday that Europe's banks must raise an extra 114.7 billion euros (US$152.5 billion) in new capital, while the Bank of France said the amount for French banks is around 7.3 billion euros.

Ratings agency Moody's on Friday downgraded the debt of leading French banks BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole, warning of funding problems and the worsening economic environment.

The Moody's downgrade came shortly after rival ratings agency Standard & Poor's put a large number of European banks on review for a possible downgrade, including BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.

The French public has opposed state aid to the banks, with a poll of 1,028 people for newspaper L'Humanite in October showing 59 percent of respondents against the government contributing financial aid to help with bank recapitalisation."

At least someone, in my opinion, has the 'balls' to do the right thing. And if she is a lady, good on her!!

Lessons for me are:

1. banks that are non state-owned should be left to the shareholders and the management to take care of their own affairs. IF they needs government's help, then the government MUST have a very clear rules about WHAT these 'leaders' who led their banks into such a disaster stage will get and be responsible for. Bonuses due to the rescues are OUT OF THE QUESTION!! No need to talk about it at all. It is DEAD. NO. NO. NO.!!;

2. governments everywhere should learn from the NEGATIVE EXAMPLE set by the almighty, at least ONCE upon a time, USA's FED and Treasury Department did during the 2008 financial crisis where they aided some of the non-state-own banks with trillions of taxpayers' money only to be toothless and appearing idiotic, or worst, CORRUPT, when these bankers issued billions of dollar worth of bonuses to themselves as their COUNTER PARTIES survived and the transactions they were in MADE LOTS of money!! Who needs to be genius when the money of the world is used to salvage YOUR deals that could have gone sour???? Does it not smell of 'corruption'?;

3. To be honest. I was surprised that it is the French that takes up this stand. The men and women in the streets definitely feel that the banks DO NOT enjoy any privileges when they made risky decision after careful, one assumed, consideration went wrong. Hence, the objection % is hardly surprising. The surprising thing is: how will the government actually behave? Thankfully in this case thus far, the reasoned won!

Thank you for the lady minister of French to speak the truth and hold her stand!!

Daily Lessons from Life 10 December 2011 -

2011-12-10T23:36:00.002+08:00

"Radioactive water leaked at second Japan plant - AFP 10 December 2011

TOKYO: An Japanese nuclear plant leaked 1.8 tonnes of radioactive water from its cooling system, the government said, heightening worries over nuclear safety as an atomic crisis continues at another plant.

The leak, discovered Friday, caused no enviornmental impact as it was contained within an idled reactor at the Genkai nuclear plant in Saga prefecture in the southern Kyushu region, officials said.

The operator of the Genkai plant, Kyushu Electric Power, said Friday that one of the water pumps connected to its number three reactor was taken offline after it sounded an alarm for increasing temperature.

But the utility did not announce leaked water at that time. The utility was not legally required to report the water leak, but the mayor of the small Genkai town hosting the plant voiced concerns.

The utility's officials told newspaper the Mainichi Shimbun that water leaks can take place even in a safe operating environment.

But public concerns about nuclear safety came to the fore after the Fukushima crisis forced evacuations of tens of thousands of residents and left large areas of land uninhabitable."

Do we or the Japanese folks living around this small town need to be worried? Hopefully not.

Lessons for me are:

1. once bitten twice shy. With the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown so fresh in everyone's mind, it is naturally to be concerned and to be doubtful of whatever 'official' explanation and assurance provided by the 'authorities'!;

2. hopefully this one is as claimed: safe even with the water leakage. Who can put the doubts to bed permanently? An independent nuclear expert or institution of high credibility can do an imprompto examination and certification quickly. That should do it! YEs?;

3. do mankind really know what to do with the nuclear waste or any nuclear leakage or whatever from any nuclear plant mishaps? Honestly. While we are lucky that we do not have too many of such mishaps due to the seriousness and hence extremely careful and tight safety measures adopted by the nuclear power generation industry, there is no telling what actually will work to contain such a disaster. In theory the measures should work. But then again, we know what happened to the 'should work measures' that failed in the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami-induced Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown!

May human being rides its own luck and that they will NEVER have to prove that the theoritical defenses set up to handle a truly full scale nuclear disaster works! Ignorance may, indeed, be bliss!!??

Daily Lessons from Life 08-09 December 2011 -Self-immolation death in China's Tibet: campaigners

2011-12-08T23:28:00.004+08:00

"Self-immolation death in China's Tibet: campaigners - AFP Friday, Dec 09, 2011

DHARAMSHALA, India - A former Buddhist monk who set himself alight in Tibet to protest against Chinese rule earlier this month has died of his injuries, an India-based Tibetan rights group said on Friday.

His suicide bid followed a series of self-immolations by Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibetan-inhabited regions of China, where ethnic Tibetans have long chafed against Chinese rule.

The rights group, based in the Indian hill town of Dharamshala which is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said there was no news on the fate of Phuntsok's wife - missing since his suicide attempt.

According to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, Phuntsok was a farmer who attempted to kill himself after being caught for illegally chopping down trees last month.

But rights groups reported that he had handed out leaflets critical of Beijing and shouted anti-China slogans before setting himself alight.

It was the first reported self-immolation in the Tibet Autonomous Region after nine monks and two nuns set themselves on fire this year in neighbouring Sichuan province, which is home to many ethnic Tibetans.

Most of the suicide attempts have taken place around Sichuan's Kirti monastery, which has become a flashpoint for the mounting anger at Chinese domination over Tibet."

Who is telling the truth and who is lying? Is everyone fighting fair or just one side, especially the Chinese authority, fight dirty?

Lessons for me are:

1. life is worthless when what one treasures most is deprived. That is perhaps what came across those who self-immolate. Yes?;

2. as I shared in the past and will do so again that the Tibetan's language and culture is so different from Chinese. I wondered if it should be part of Mainland China or not sometimes. Then again, it is strategically important as it supposedly buffer the North West part of China from direct invasion by foreign power if they come by land! Out-dated arguments created by out-dated foreign and domestic experts?;

3. can economic success bridge the gap between the Chinese and the Tibetan? Can they see themselves as the citizens of a prosperous and FAIR People's Republic of China (PRC)? For those who are not religious, as long as one can live a not so hard life, he or she probably does not care about the distinction of citizenship! At the same time, when religion is brought into the equation, it becoms very emotional!! Rationality will not stand a chance to be heard in this instance!!

May the Chinese and the Tibetans somehow find a balance to live harmoniously with each other. Otherwise, more unneccessary suicides and deaths are to be expected!!

Daily Lessons from Life 07 December 2011 - Additional buyer's stamp duty for private property from Dec 8

2011-12-07T23:53:00.002+08:00

"Additional buyer's stamp duty for private property from Dec 8 - CNA 07 December 2011

SINGAPORE: The government has imposed an Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) for private property of between 3 per cent and 10 per cent for Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and foreigners to moderate investment demand for private residential property and promote a more stable and sustainable market.

The changes take effect on December 8.

Foreigners will pay 10 per cent Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) for any residential property.

Permanent Residents owning one and buying second and subsequent properties will pay 3 per cent ABSD.

Singaporeans owning two and buying a third and subsequent residential properties will pay 3 per cent Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty.

The ABSD will be imposed over and above the current Buyer's Stamp Duty, which are 1 per cent on the first $180,000 of purchase consideration or market value of the property (whichever is higher), 2 per cent on the next $180,000 and 3 per cent for the remainder.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Finance and National Development ministries say the government's objective is to promote a sustainable residential property market where prices move in line with economic fundamentals.

They said prices of private residential properties have continued to rise, albeit more slowly in the last two quarters.

Prices are now 13 per cent above the peak in the second quarter of 1996, and 16 per cent above the more recent peak in the second quarter of 2008.

They said that even with the current economic uncertainties, the demand for private residential property remains firm.

Given the uncertainty in stock markets and with interest rates remaining low, private property in Singapore continues to attract local and foreign investors.

They added that excessive investment demand will make the property cycle more volatile, and thus increase the risks to Singapore's economy and banking system.

The government said the higher ABSD rate for foreign buyers in particular is necessary, in view of the large pool of external liquidity and strong buying interest from abroad, and the relatively small size of the Singapore market.

The government said foreign purchases account for 19 per cent of all private residential property purchases in the second half of 2011, up from 7 per cent in the first half of 2009.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam, said: "We have always had open markets and must keep them that way. However, the reality is that investment flows into our property market are now larger than before, and unlikely to recede as long as interest rates remain low.

"The additional buyer's stamp duty should help cool investment demand, and avoid the prospect of a major, destabilising correction further down the road.""

A surprise to me that the government pro-actively took this step to continue to TRY to cool the market! Some people do not believe that the government has the stomach to enforce such cooling measures. So, kudos to them.

Lessons for me are:

1. the 1st roof over the family is just that: for owners' occupation. Not a short cut to upgrade. Not a money making venture! Period!!;

2. the property market was,and never is, an open market given that the government owned the majority of land in Singapore. So, this continued alludes to an 'open market' is simply baffling for me. Are we trying to 'cheat' ourselves?;

3. the government MUST enter into a fundamental change in mentality and thinking to tackle the perpetual or perennial challenge of providing YOUNG COUPLES with a reasonably priced HDB-Public flat. If not, 'war' may occur in the market'!

So, Singapore government, please hold courts and stick to doing the right thing for FUTURE!!

Daily Lessons from Life 06 December 2011 - Russia holds Putin critics, deploys troops after rally

2011-12-06T21:11:00.002+08:00

"Russia holds Putin critics, deploys troops after rally - AFP Tuesday, Dec 06, 2011

MOSCOW - Russia deployed troops in central Moscow and held opposition figures on Tuesday after an unprecedented protest against polls that critics said were rigged in favour of Vladimir Putin's party.

Several thousand people took to the streets in the capital late Monday despite freezing rain for a rally against the results of Sunday's elections in which Putin's United Russia party won but with a sharply reduced majority.

After the protest, the interior ministry sent troops into Moscow and increased the alert level of security forces in an apparent bid to ensure order was preserved amid warnings of more demonstrations.

Throughout the morning, Russian bloggers posted videos and claimed they saw columns of armoured vans carrying the troops heading down the main avenues into the city. Their numbers were not immedtiately clear.

Police said they arrested 300 people including prominent activist Ilya Yashin and opposition blogger Alexei Navalny in the protest Monday when participants headed towards the Lubyanka Square that houses the feared FSB security service.

During the rally - called mostly through social networks whose use has boomed in Russia in recent years - protesters chanted "Russia without Putin" and "Putin should be in prison."

Navalny has won a huge following on the Internet for exposing corruption at state-owned firms and he coined the phrase, which has now been taken up by all the opposition, "swindlers and thieves" to describe United Russia.

It was the largest protest in many years and a boost for Russia's embattled opposition which traditionally struggles to mobilise protests in a country which has lost its taste for street politics in the turbulent 90s.

Putin suffered his worst ever setback at the ballot box on Sunday as United Russia's majority in the State Duma was sharply reduced. The opposition claimed the results would have been even more dramatic in clean elections.

Vladislav Surkov, first deputy head of the Kremlin administration described as the architect of Russia's current political system, admitted the country required reform to ensure its future stability.

"An open system is more turbulent but also more stable no matter how paradoxical this is. And we are in favour of stability, right?"

United Russia obtained 238 seats in the 450-seat State Duma in Sunday's polls, down sharply from the 315 seats it won in the last polls in 2007. It polled less than 50 per cent of the vote, down from over 64 per cent in 2007, which translates into the loss of 13 million votes, according to estimates.

Monitors led by the OSCE said the polls were slanted in favour of United Russia and marred by "frequent procedural violations" including ballot stuffing. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised "serious concerns".

The opposition said that the authorities had used unprecedented dirty tricks to keep the ruling party's dominance in the State Duma despite falling support.

The website of the independent monitor group Golos, which exposed violations in the campaign, was down after a week of harassing of its leaders by the authorities."

Mr Putin is perhaps one of the most blatant power grabers one have ever seen in this world. His obnoxious posing and photos so obviously staged and in extreme poor taste, in my humble opinion, are simply vomit-inducing! Just gross!!

Lessons for me are:

1. supposedly smart people continued to think that they can 'manipulate' people as they wish and for as long as they want and refused to see the inevitable truth that if you bluffed and deceived people you will be found out. Not IF but when!!;

2. when your intention is to benefit yourself and your cronies primarily your bad intention will be exposed and your final destiny will be a tragic ending. You will get no respect, a commodity you so desperately wanted through the power grab and meting out of favours. You will buy some praises while you are on the ascendency, for a while anyway! You will never, dare I say, get a sustainable lead though!;

3. will the surpressed Russian people overthrow this regime? Do they still have the stomach for blood shed for their own destiny? will any new regime, if there is one ready to do the good job of a new government, be truly working for the greater good of the majorty of the people? Hopefully so. Or else, it is another shop without anchor!!

Let's see what will transpire in the days to come. Maybe something magical is happening? or maybe not??

Daily Lessons from Life 05 December 2011 - Chinese man stabs to death four children

2011-12-05T23:57:00.002+08:00

"Chinese man stabs to death four children - AFP Monday, Dec 05, 2011

BEIJING - A man in central China kidnapped five children from a park over the weekend, led them to a storage room and stabbed four of them to death, a local official and rights group said Monday.

It was the latest in a series of violent assaults on children in China - often involving people with suspected psychiatric problems - which experts have blamed on rapid social change as the country's economy booms.

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, a 22-year-old man grabbed the children from a park in Henan province's Shenqiu county and took them to a nearby storage room.

An official at the government of Huaidian, a small town in Shenqiu where the crime took place, told AFP the suspect killed four of the children and seriously wounded another on Saturday evening.

The centre said the victims were all stabbed, adding they were around 10 years old. The suspect has already been detained by police.

"The suspect is a young man from Anhui (east China) and he lives with his mother in Shenqiu," said the official, who refused to be named. He would not provide further details.

A spokesman for the county government, surnamed Yang, said the suspect was unemployed. "As for why he did it, I can't say anything as police are investigating," he said, refusing to comment further.

The centre said the suspect was a former policeman from the area who had been sacked and wanted to exact "revenge on society", but both officials denied this.

China has been hit by several violent attacks against children over the past two years that have forced authorities to increase security around schools and brought calls for more probes into the root causes of such acts.

In September, a farmer with mental health problems killed six people, two of them children, with an axe as they made their way to a kindergarten in Henan.

A month before that, eight pupils were hurt when a staff member at a day care centre for migrant workers' children in Shanghai went on a stabbing spree.

Last year, at least five major attacks took place at schools in China, killing 17 people - including 15 children - and wounding more than 80."

Thought this type of senseless killing has stopped and got away. Guessed I am very wrong about this!

Lessons for me are:

1. is it the price for rapid economic proress and urbanization where some people simply could not cope with the pressure of the change?;

2. as a percentage term it looks harmless but then again if you were the loved ones of the young innocent victims even 1 death is too many!! what can be done to eliminate this type of violence? To creat more awareness? To create sensitivity to report on mentally unstable loved ones? To equip those who need to spot the potential crackpot with knowledge and skills to identify such cases? Is anyone even bothered to think about this as a REAL issue?;

3. if the murderers are copying past reported killing, can they still claim to be insane or mad when they did what they had done? Perhaps not! Dangerous mentally unsound people are to be avoided? Or to be understood and be given special attention for any violent inclination. This can only starts to turn IF someone in leadership position see this as a long term problem that need fixing today as long term benefits can ONLY be assured when we fix it NOW!!

Condolences to the dead children' families. May there NOT be another such cases.

Daily Lessons from Life - 04 December 2011 Charity Marathon

2011-12-04T23:40:00.002+08:00

No headline comments but just my personal experience with the 4th SCMS Marathon.

"Have a goal to guide you. Have a plan to help you achieve your goal. Work the plan for it to become a reality. No amount of praying will help you if you do not work the plan! :-)"

Dear Friends and Inspirational Supporters

I completed the 2011 Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMC) this morning just under 6 hours, in one piece, safe and healthily. It was a surprise to me considering I had clocked 6hr24min in 2010 and 6hrs20min in 2009. It is also sad to learn that a 21-year old man died after completed the half-marathon. Bless his soul. I am aware of the risk and concerns some of you have when I attempt this annual marathon. I am mindful and careful not to push myself too much.

Here is the journey I want to share with you:

This marathon is a good goal as it is held on the 1st Sunday of December and it will keep me honest and focus in the year to be mindful of healthy eating and not put on too much weight. The fact that I am getting your tremendous supports to raise fund for Singapore Cancer Society provides that extra impetus. Many of you have done this over the last 4 years and I truly grateful to your generosity and charitable spirits.

I do my usual minimal preparation throughout the year with twice a week jog of 10-15 km as often as I can even when I am on business trip. The final 4 weeks see me doing two 20-km jogs. Definitely inadequate if you ask some serious marathoners.

The last week leading to this year marathon is perhaps better managed by me.

It started with the last minute decision that I will focus on jogging and walking the marathon instead of taking photos along the way since this year route is the same one as last year! I also got the 7-hr sleep on Saturday night by going to bed at 9 p.m. and getting up at 4 a.m. Drinking a glass of 100Plus isotonic drink and 2 bananas and clearing my system helped in the start. The advice by a client to bring my own small bottle to fill up is great as there were stretches when I rely on the water from the bottle to help me along.

This year marathon is really quite uneventful for me as I could not spot the lady in Santa Clause custom, the steady but surely Japanese lady, and other weird characters. The stretch of Orchard Road where the full marathon starts is well decorated with Christmas lightings. Great for tourists to take photos, which this marathon is becoming, in my opinion, another commercial marketing event for Singapore tourism! Off we went at 5 a.m. and the 1st 10 km went in 70 mins. I downed my 1st pack of GU Energy Gel at 12km. Come the dreaded 16km where I had my cramps onslaught in 2009 and 2010, nothing happened! Still, I slowed down to a walk and job routine by now. At the half way mark, my time is about 2 hrs 45 mins. No cramp still! The walk-jog routine continued.

This year I did not missed the official energy gel and the bananas stations! The drink stations are well used as I filled my bottle with drinking water and gulped down 100Plus isotonic drink happily. I consumed a total of 5 packs of energy gel this time (3 from my own stocks and 2 from the official supply!). I think that helped too.

Oh, I must not forget the Tiger Muscle Rubs. I missed them too last year but this year I managed to help myself to a few of them along the way. The burning and numbing sensation on your calves and thighs when you have cramps coming on definitely ‘cheated’ your brains that you are NOT having cramps! LOL!! Whatever it is, I am able to continue my walk-jog routine for the rest of the race.

It is much hotter this year as the sun comes out at around 9 a.m. though shielded by cloudy sky. By 10 a.m. the sun is already beating down on the runners mercilessly. It was hot. The Motorola beach cap I had from GCPSD trip to Gold Coast shielded me from the sun. Pouring water from the water bottle to cool my head is simply the perfect plan!!

The stretch just before the Marian Barrage which I described as ‘hell’ last year came and gone without too much drama as I am able to trod along and quickly get out of the open space with no shelter from the mid-morning sun.

Then came the aptly named: Heartbreak Point where everyone has to climb up the Benjamin Sheres Bridge next to Marina Bay Sands, the Casino. I simply just walked it. It is about 37km. The longest 5.195km awaits.

I felt good come round Fullerton Hotel and into St. Andrew Road with no cramp. I let out a loud cry of: “YES! I DID IT.” as I crossed the finished line with the official clock showing under 6 hours! That is a BONUS!!

Will I do it again in 2012 on my 55th years on earth? Most likely. The last 10km has been tough in all the 4 marathons. Maybe something I can aim to overcome though I am ready to go on a full 5-day training delivery this week starting from tomorrow!!

Once again, THANK YOU very much for your strong supports.

Daily Lessons from Life 03 December 2011 - America's lending to IMF and China NOT helping?

2011-12-03T20:18:00.003+08:00

Today is the eve of the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS). I am ready for the 6 hrs - 6 hrs 30 mins jog and walk! For health, Singapore Cancers Society charity fund raising and the bunch of strong and loyal supportives friends since 2008!!

News Headlines

"The USA will not lend to IMF and China refused to use its forex reserve to 'rescue' countries in financial fiscal troubles in the West'!"

Lessons for me:

1. how is US going to LEND money to IMF when it is DEEP in debts? Is it a case of 'will not' or 'cannot'? :-) Is someone smoking something when this statement was uttered or the person(s) was/(were) so self-conceited that he or she or they still think that US is the model for the developed world? Sigh...;

2. why should China use its forex reserve to 'rescue' the EU countries in troubles due to blatant incompetence or worst corruption of the politicians in handling the insatiable appettide of its voters for 'easy money and cushy lifestyles' while the Chinese are toiling to make their meager wages to produce products/THINGS that the EU consumers can consume, even when the EU consumers are clearly broke? China should or MUST help because if it does not, there will NOT be a market for its export oriented industries may be the argument. Question is: is this sustainable? will this set the precedent that causes future generation of citizens of EU to simply spend itself into troubles and look for SOMEONE to bail them out? Dangerous precedence to set. Do you know agreed?;

3. if the world is looking to US to provide the leadership to get EU out of troubles, it is looking at the WRONG place!! Not even China can solve this dilemma. ONLY the citizens of these EU countries can solve this challenge. It will require them to ask the basic question: Can I spend what I have NOT earned? If the answer is 'Yes'! then there is NO HOPE for EU!! Simple as that as it is UNsustainable. Period.!!

Onwards I go for the SCMS 2011!!

Daily Lessons from Life 02 December 2011 - Workers Strike at S'pore Owned Factory in Shanghai

2011-12-02T20:13:00.002+08:00

We read about workers' unrest and strikes on the newspapers quite a bit recently. Especially in China where workers, migrant workers, supposedly toiled to make unattractive remuneration and in not very good living quarters.

It NEVER happened to a Singapore-owned business in China. That's until now! Hi-P Internationl has the distinction, at least for one that made news, as the 1st one!

The clarificaion by Hi-P International management currently are:

1. only less then 5% of the total workforce (around 200) and not 1000 protested. Also, the clash was between these workers and the police though no one was seriously injured;

2. the Company has to move as the current factory land leased will expired in April 2012 and the local authorities have other developmental plan for it and will not extend it. Hence, it has closed the current plant and moved to another location. It does offer re-location package to affected workers.

Lessons for me are:

1. IT can be you and I or us!! Just beware of it!!;

2. quick and transparent information updates are critical to establish credibility with ANYONE who care to read since the initial reporting of 1000 workers went on strike and clashed with the police implied the conflict or issue to be much worst that it was!! The critical question of 'citizen's journalism' is raised again - who is responsible to make sure the FACTs are ACCURATE and collaborated/verified?;

3. from whatever I read, it seems the Company has done all it could to inform the workers in advance of the forced decision to move away from Shanghai. In this situation, keeping the workers FULLY informed and engaged and the 'nosey publics' with hard facts will go a long way to strip the unpleasantness of the 'inevitable last resort action of laying off workers!

Problems? There will always be. Insolvable? Not really. With openness, quick decision and open 2-way communication, such 'problems' can be tackled with satisfactory results.

Daily Lessons from Life 27 November - 01 Decmber 2011 - Summary

2011-12-01T22:59:00.002+08:00

Well, I was not able to log on to blog while in Shanghai from 27 November till 30 November 2011. The inconvenience of being in China until I find a way around it. Like using some VPN facilities? :-)

Anyway, a quick summary of the last few days for my reflection and learning:

1. Bad air quality is a given in Shanghai. A mega city of more than 20m (a friend of mine said it is more like 20m official and another 20m unofficial!). Really progressive or are we regressing with more material wealth? This applies to other Mega cities around Asia!;

2. met up with old colleagues from Motorola's days. Both are doing good. One of the are still with Motorola China since I hired her. Wonderful to see how she has grown in the company over the years. The other has become a Canadian citizen and has a good balance view of both China and Canada lifestyles and environment. A tough choice to pick between material progress and some peace and quiet?;

3. another old colleague from my stint in Shanghai during 2002-2005 is under chemotherapy for breast cancer. A shock to me. Was very glad that I was able to talk to her on the phone since it is not appropriate to visit her physically what with her immunity capability being weakened by the chemo treatment. She sounded well and I am very comforted to hear her strong voice and optimism. If I am a religious man I would have loved the Gods to bless her. Since I am not, I can only wish the best wishes for her to recover fully and live her life fully with her hubby and her daughter whom I know personally. They are good people and deserve the best!

4. Another friend became the CFO of a prominent listed company in Singapore. He shared that it is the last achievement before retirement. Glad to have the opportunity and still has the desire. That is wonderful to learn. I know he will be right on this latest career move after being with a prominent bank for many years contributing all over the Asia Pacific region!

5. finally I went to collect my Charity Marathon race-pack this afternoon at the Sands Expo Halls. It is more days to go before I start the 42.195km jog and walk on 4 Dec 2011 Sunday at 5 a.m. or thereabout. The 4th marathon for me and I am eager to do it. For the supports provided to me by many long time friends and for the fund that I will, again by raising for the Singapore Cancers Society.

I am blessed in that I can still jog and walk with little pains in the knees! Thank you.

Daily Lessons from Life 25-26 November 2011 -

2011-11-26T23:23:00.002+08:00

Missed 25 November 2011 write up. Seems to be happening more often than I like! Need to change this and get my hectic schedule back on normal term!

"Jackpot-winning hawker gives away $280,000 to charity - AsiaOne Nov 26, 2011

SINGAPORE - Jackpot-winning hawker Choo Hong Eng donated $280,000 to 26 different charities and causes, reported the Straits Times.

That is more than half of her winnings of $416,742.11, which she had promised to give away.

She received the prize from Marina Bay Sands two weeks ago. Ms Choo, 58, won the money on Oct 18 at MBS, but was told by a manager that there was a glitch with the machine.

It offered to compensate her with $50,000 and a car worth $258,962, but she refused, and complained to the Casino Regulatory Authority.

Among the charities that Ms Choo donated to were the Singapore Buddhist Federation, the National Kidney Foundation, free clinics such as the Public Free Clinic Society, schools (Manjusri Secondary and Maha Bodhi School) and homes for the aged.

She also made a donation to the Royal Thai embassy in aid of the flood relief efforts.

The staunch buddhist received a token of appreciation yesterday from National Kidney foundation chairman, Mr Gerard Ee and MP Tin Pei Ling, at a special dinner organised by the Singapore Buddhist Lodge in Kim Yan Road."

This lady has quite a life story after her trouble with MBS Casino. Colourful and interesting indeed. In a good way though.

Lessons for me are:

1. she has a heart of GOLD for sure. It seems that this is NOT the 1st time she donated money from winning from lotteries and gambling. One only hope that she is the 'great self-controlled and smart gambler' that knows the limit of her losses. Which she must be judging from her life story!;

2. what would make her donate more than half of her 'good luck win'? It has to be the values that she possessed. Being a Budhist help though I am not sure if a Budhist should be gambling at all! LOL!! Still, one need not be a purist to practice religious belief I guessed;

3. will some of our highly paid ministers do what she had done? Maybe they are already doing it on the quiet. Still, would have been good to be led by such leaders as with their millions what do they do with it besides buying more properties and/or more expensive cars and/or more expensive and exclusive holidays and/or expensive cooking lessons at some renowned cooking schools with some 'over-rated commercialized' Michelin chefs? OK, I sounded like a sour grape. Like I said maybe they are giving some of their millions to charity via their own foundations.

May she be blessed with her 2 adopted kids that will, hopefully, be influenced positively by her role modeling in this area. As for gambling, better be in self-control mode, otherwise one can lost a fortune and be in debts and lead a miserable life!!

Daily Lessons from Life 22-24 November 2011 - Portugal paralysed as workers protest austerity measures

2011-11-24T22:24:00.002+08:00

"Portugal paralysed as workers protest austerity measures - AFP 24 November 2011

LISBON: A general strike against austerity measures grounded flights and paralysed public transport in Portugal Thursday as workers protested a tough 2012 budget aimed at helping the country pay its debt.

"The strike is a sacrifice for the good of the country," said Manuel Carvalho da Silva, secretary general of the CGTP union, which along with Portugal's other main union the UGT had called the strike action.

"It is a red card to the government for its actions that are driving the country to poverty," da Silva said as he stood in front of a billboard listing cancelled flights at Lisbon's airport.

Other public services like education, health and the judiciary were also affected and some 30 demonstrations were planned for around the country.

The forecast for 2012 looks no better, after the announcement by Finance Minister Viktor Gaspar Monday that its economy is expected to shrink by three percent in 2012.

Unemployment is also set to rise to a record rate of 13.4 percent.

Thursday's strike follows protests earlier in the month by civil servants and soldiers and a public transport strike in Lisbon and Porto on November 8."

I am confused. This is like one after another. Same problem. Same perplexed angers by the masses. Same blames!! Yet, what have human being learned on how to manage the finance of a country?

Lessons for me are:

1. do citizen truly understand where all the money budgeted goes to?;

2. do they know the simple truth that if you spend more than you earn, it will not be sustainable and someone has to foot the bill eventually? or they know but choose not to remember or they know but feel that the politicians have misused or abused the money? They better find out and deal with the identified root cause(s);

3. can some very very smart people come up with a NEW economic model that is viable and sustainable? Or just have the courage to say: we MUST spend responsibly and cut our expenditure by half as we truly do not need that half that we are cutting away to live a comfortable life!

I have been guilty of overworked and stretched. So much so that I just dozed off in bed after dinner over the last 2 nights! I better get back to the disciplined way as a full marathon awaits me on 4 December 2011!!

In the meantime, forgive me for the confused writing on the Portugal thingy!! :-(

Daily Lessons from Life 21 November 2011 - Rochor Centre residents appeal for dialogue with HDB, LTA

2011-11-21T23:57:00.002+08:00

"Rochor Centre residents appeal for dialogue with HDB, LTA - CNA 21 November 2011

SINGAPORE: MP for Moulmein-Kallang GRC Denise Phua said in Parliament on Monday that she has received 25 appeals from residents of Rochor Centre to have a dialogue with the authorities over the fate of their homes.

This after the area was slated for the construction of the North South Expressway.

Some 20 residents said they want a dialogue session with the Housing and Development Board and the Land Transport Authority to air their concerns over the land acquisition and subsequent move to Kallang.

The residents have also been busy collecting views on the issue to bring it up to the authorities.

Some are also concerned about the compensation they would receive, as some have recently spent thousands of dollars renovating their homes."

It has been rumoured in the past that compensation for land acquired by the state for state purposes were not reflecting the true 'market value'. In recent past, such complaints have not surfaced in the press nor in the new media too much hence suggesting that maybe the 'rumours' are just 'rumours'.

Lessons for me are:

1. it is good to have the authorities to listen to any concerns that the authorities might not have thought of though it must still keep focus on WHY it wanted to acquire the land in the first place firmly;

2. it is a good test of how the authorities will handle the minority of residents who have 'some issues' with the land acquisition. Hopefully it will not result in the total capitulation by the authorities to the popular pressure as feared by ex-top mandarin of the government;

3. so far 25 residents out of a thousand is not significant overall though one has to be careful in not dismissing this minority in today's context. Personalization of response to each will need to be adopted and applied to satisfy each one of them. At least with consistency from the authorities' perspectives and narrow any gap in perceiption through continuous dialogue and reasons as well as appealing to the emotion.

I will watch with great interest how this episode will play out as it will reveal how well the 'new' government will handle 'complaints' or legitimate push-back by Singapore voters...

Daily Lessons from Life 20 November 2011 - Thaksin speaks out after Thai royal pardon reports

2011-11-21T05:32:00.002+08:00

"Thaksin speaks out after Thai royal pardon reports - AFP 20 November 2011

BANGKOK: Thailand's ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra Sunday played down suggestions that he would get special treatment from his government allies following reports he would be proposed for a pardon.

Thaksin lives abroad to escape a two-year jail term for corruption, but a cabinet meeting this week reportedly drafted a royal pardon that could allow him to come back without serving his sentence, prompting an angry response from the opposition.

In a letter to his fellow Thais, forwarded by email to AFP by his lawyer Noppadon Pattama, Thaksin spoke of the "rumour" that his name would be included in a list of those proposed for royal pardons next month.

"I trust in the principle that the government will not do anything that will benefit me or any individual specifically," said the 62-year-old in the letter from Dubai, where he lives.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, said any action now taken should be "to bring national reconciliation to our country and to overcome the crisis" of Thailand's current floods, which have killed more than 600 people.

Reports of the pardon came at a delicate time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is Thaksin's younger sister and widely considered his political proxy, as she faces criticism for her handling of the flooding disaster.

Royal pardons are granted each year on King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday on December 5.

This year's decree, which would need to be approved by the king, would apply to "convicts who are at least 60 years old and are sentenced to under three years in jail", the Bangkok Post English daily said on Wednesday.

Yingluck, who missed the cabinet meeting at which the draft was allegedly approved, did not deny the reports when asked at a news conference Wednesday.

Without mentioning her brother, she said such a decree was "a common process".

Thaksin remains a deeply divisive figure in Thailand and the reports have already sparked street action by both his opponents and allies.

His "Red Shirt" supporters said they were rallying this weekend in their northeastern strongholds in favour of the decree, while hundreds of nationalist "multi-coloured shirts" protested against the pardon in Bangkok on Friday.

Thailand's influential and anti-Thaksin "Yellow Shirt" movement is also planning to demonstrate in the capital on Monday."

Is this the right thing to do for 'Big Brother'? So soon after taking power in the recent General Election and in the middle of an unprecedented flooding disaster?

Lessons for me are:

1. it is for the Thai people to decide what type of government and what type of justice they want. One for the rich and powerful and one for the common people?;

2. is it possible for the man who is so divisive to simply just live and let live for the unity of the nation he spoke of so fondly? Sure he must have felt aggrieved and being 'unfairly and unconstitutionally ousted' in the relatively peaceful coup a few years ago when he was under the cloud of being corrupted. Yet. Can he be magnaminous for the sake of a nation he professed love?;

3. will this be another trigger for the 'all so tired' serial protests between the 2, not now should be 3, colors? The 'Red', the 'Yellow' and the 'Multi-colored'? How are these squabbles going to help the nation to prepare for the next BIG FLOOD in 12 months time? how about the improvement of the 'governed' who elected the government and the parliament to take care of their wellbeing?

May this not be a start of another round of fruitless 'hurting Thailand for the good of Thailand' folly!

Daily Lessons from Life 19 November 2011 - Thousands strike at China factory: Rights group

2011-11-19T17:34:00.002+08:00

"Thousands strike at China factory: Rights group - AFP Saturday, Nov 19, 2011

BEIJING - More than 7,000 workers went on strike at a southern Chinese factory making New Balance, Adidas and Nike shoes, clashing with police in a protest over layoffs and wage cuts, a rights group said.

Dozens of workers were injured on Thursday as police tried to break the strikers' blockade of the main road in the factory town near Dongguan in Guangdong province, China Labor Watch said in a statement late Friday.

The strike at the Yucheng factory in Huangjiang township took place in the wake of layoffs last month of 18 managers, a move seen by workers as a preparation for the factory's relocation, the New York-based group said.

One of the fired managers told the China Business News his departure was part of a plan to shift production north to Jiangxi province to save on rising costs in the Pearl River Delta around Dongguan, a key manufacturing centre.

The strike was the latest in a series of incidents involving labour disputes and perceived social injustices in Guangdong, known as the workshop of the world for the tens of millions of migrant workers who toil in factories there.

Workers at the Yucheng factory were also angered by the recent elimination of performance bonuses and a ban on the overtime they said they need to meet the cost of living.

A report in the Yangcheng Evening news quoted a worker surnamed Zhang complaining about the changes.

"Our basic monthly salary is only 1,100 yuan ($173), and we earn our pocket money by working overtime," she said.

The newspaper said that the Huangjiang government had interceded, telling the factory managers to repeal the ban on overtime.

Calls to the factory, which is owned by a Taiwan investment group, went unanswered.

Li told AFP that according to his sources, the strike had ended after management agreed to allow workers to work overtime."

Increasingly we are hearing and seeing such protests by low-waged workers, who one must acknowledged took the job with the compensation package clearly understood by them, protesting about no overtime work and moving of the jobs to even lower waged parts of this vast country called: China!

Are the decisions to strike rational? Surely not as businesses have to think about protecting their profit if they cannot raise prices while their cost continues to go up. Alas, such arguments are merely rational ones and failed to take into account the emotional feeling about the workers impacted by these business decisions.

Lessons for me are:

1. 7000 workers going on strike is NOT a small number by any Singapore standard. They must have their reasons to strike. They are right from their perspective. At the same time, is there an obligation to keep paying them when the company is not making money? Reasonable human being will say: Yes. At least for the first 6-12 months while the company and the workers try to see things from both sides and come to a compromise. Dumping the workers in one fell scoop or striking and creating a mess at the shop floor does not serve anyone any good;

2. what can the company do if it cannot raise the wages of these workers without making big losses? what do the workers expect to do if they were in the employers' shoes? Will the 'worker-employers' continue to hire themselves and pay themselves overtime wages and how are they going to get the funds from to support all these on a longer term? If this situation can be reversed, perhaps striking will help. If not, striking merely prolong the pains of the businesses going belly up and unable to pay the workers who supposedly continue to produce goods that nobody want or can afford!;

3. I have not lived in China during the pre-WWII or during the initial years of the Communist regime so I do not know if the migrant workers are better off staying in their home town to continue with the traditional way of making a living - be it farming or what-not. If living homes hundred or thousand of miles away to eke out a living in the so-called industrialised towns and cities DO NOT mean a better standard of living, maybe something is missing from the economic model!!??

Stay and you are damned. Move away and you are damned too. Such life sucks!! :-) :-(

Daily Lessons from Life 18 November 2011 - Former Philippine president Arroyo arrested

2011-11-18T22:22:00.003+08:00

"Former Philippine president Arroyo arrested - AFP 18 November 2011

MANILA : Philippine police arrested ex-president Gloria Arroyo at her hospital bed on Friday on charges of conspiring with a feared warlord to rig an election, an offence that could lead to life in jail.

The decision by the Commission on Elections to charge her on Friday with rigging the 2007 senatorial elections also marked the high-point in President Benigno Aquino's campaign to hold his predecessor to account for alleged graft.

"Mrs Arroyo is compelled to stay in the country and face the charges of electoral sabotage," Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters after a Manila court issued an arrest warrant against the ex-president.

"(This case) has great implications not just to the integrity of our electoral system, but also to the very principles of democracy.

"It is our desire... that the Filipino people are finally given the justice they duly deserve."

Arroyo, the country's second female president who is now a congresswoman, had been accused of many corrupt acts, such as bribery, and efforts to rig elections during her time in power from 2001 until the middle of last year.

Aquino vowed after winning landslide elections last year that one of his top priorities during his term would be to bring Arroyo to justice.

The election commission said on Friday that Arroyo had ordered the wide-scale tampering of ballots in the 2007 senatorial elections.

It said the ballots that had been switched were in the southern province of Maguindanao, which was then ruled by the Ampatuan family.

The Ampatuans were close allies of Arroyo and had a reputation as warlords who enforced their rule of the province for a decade with a brutal private army.

Arroyo was eventually forced to sever ties with the Ampatuans after the family was accused of orchestrating the massacre of 57 people in 2009 to eliminate a rival's political challenge.

The patriarch of the family, Andal Ampatuan Snr, who is on trial for those murders, was also charged on Friday as one of three other people who allegedly conspired with Arroyo to rig the 2007 election.

Arroyo's lawyer, Raul Lambino, denounced the charges against his client as an injustice and a desperate effort to prevent her from leaving the country.

"They are violating the basic rule of due process. It is clear this (decision) was railroaded (forced through) from the start," he said."

Is she lucky or not? It depends on how she looks at things really. If she looked at Egypt, Libya, etc, she probably did not do too badly given that ex-leaders of those countries were either die a violent death or from uncurable illness! At least she is not being physically abuse. Not yet anyway.

Lessons for me are:

1. powerful people tend to want to clinch to power as the power they had made them lots of ill gotten wealth. They also have a bunch of 'Yes People' around them to make them feel that they are doing the RIGHT THINGS. It is called self-delusion!!;

2. when powerful people did something they know if wrong, they will rationalize it and say to themselves: we are different. We have a reason (or reasons) to this or that!! They have this: it will never happen to me blind faith if you like. Hope against hope that the earth's graviational force is just a figment of their imagination! Well, they are wrong. The bad things they did do come back to bite them!!;

3. would them do it again IF they are given a chance to start all over again? If they can see clearly into the future the situtation that this ex-President is in now 5 years ago, would she had done the same things and behaved the same manner? Probably yes. This is so especially if she does not hold to the fundamental belief that: I want to be President so that I bring more peace and prosperity and happiness to those who needed help most!

Will this change this current President Aquino? Will he be spare this treatment when his time in the office comes to an end? I hope so. Otherwise, it just shows that human being NEVER LEARN!! That will be truly sad...

Daily Lessons from Life 17 November 2011 - Ai Weiwei turns tables on China's Communist regime

2011-11-17T22:11:00.003+08:00

"Ai Weiwei turns tables on China's Communist regime - AFP 17 November 2011

BEIJING: Artist and fierce government critic Ai Weiwei has turned the tables on China's Communist regime by transforming a crippling tax fine he says is designed to silence him into a huge wave of solidarity.

The painter, sculptor, architect and activist was a thorn in the side of the government even before he managed to pay a 8.5 million yuan ($1.3 million) bond thanks to money raised by some 30,000 Chinese people in record speed.

The burly artist disappeared into police custody for 81 days earlier this year. He was released in June, but on November 1 was ordered to pay 15 million yuan in back taxes levied against a company he set up.

Days later, a spontaneous online movement to help Ai began. Supporters sent him money orders, cheques, Internet transfers, and even rolled bank notes into balls and threw them over the walls of his Beijing studio.

Visitors flocked there -- some from as far away as Hainan island in the south, some 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) from the capital.

Within 10 days, 8.7 million yuan had been raised from artists, dissidents and ordinary Chinese, who accounted for the bulk of the donations.

Ai, who denies that he evaded tax, has used the money raised from supporters to allow him to lodge an appeal against the fine, but pledged to pay it back when the case is over.

On Wednesday, he said the donations had made him realise that he was "not alone" in his struggle, calling the case a chance to "make the world understand what kind of system they are working with".

"They (authorities) were hoping to reduce him to silence but on the contrary, they showed that there is support for Ai Weiwei," said Jean-Philippe Beja, a sinologist at the Paris-based research centre CERI SciencesPo.

"Ai Weiwei... has managed to transform this fine into an expression of defiance and into support for his cause."

Even the state-run Global Times recently admitted "some donors say they see the donation as an act of voting" in a country with no real elections.

The Global Times newspaper has warned Ai could also be charged with "illegal fundraising" - even though he did not instigate the donation wave - saying he would "probably spend more time in politics than in arts in the future."

"What I need is the ethical support of everybody," he said of the recent donation drive."

It is a beautiful sight to behold. That strangers donate to him for his cause. It will be a great tragedy if Ai and his carers are careless in handling this donation money.

Lessons for me are:

1. when you are doing something someone feels are the right things and supports you without condition, you have a greater responsibility to do good and validate the trust and support showered;

2. while you may NOT ask for such trust and supports, you are still obligated to honour the trust shown regardless. It is a cure if you like. Of course, you will do the right things but you must make sure that your inner circle know how to behave - always about doubt! So, those inner circle folks MUST know their responsibility to you and to themselves and to the many 'someone' who trusted Ai and his cause;

3. as for the 'authorities', they will NOT know better. They will continue to try all ways and means to discredit, dishonour, and destroy Ai and any like-minded people who are doing the right things - to tell the truth based on facts and figures and the ensure that justice is served though this one can be more difficult to determine in view of the dymnamic way the laws are interpretated in China!

It is NOT a one man's crusade but a cause that resonate with many when the truth is some people in authorities were not upholding the universal ideal of: and justice for all!

Daily Lessons from Life 16 November 2011 - New measures ahead to keep at-risk youths away from gangs

2011-11-17T00:07:00.002+08:00

"New measures ahead to keep at-risk youths away from gangs - CNA 16 November 2011

SINGAPORE: A slew of measures will be introduced to help at-risk youths stay away from crime and gangs.

These include diversionary measures to help youths who are at the early stages of associating with gangs and enhancing existing anti-gang legislation.

The initiatives were announced by Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli at a security conference on Wednesday.

The comprehensive set of measures addresses youths at different stages of their involvement with gangs.

Among them is getting youths to attend a mandatory intervention programme in lieu of prosecution. This means those who complete the programme successfully could be let off with only a warning.

They will be monitored for attendance at school or the workplace, be subjected to curfew hours and have restrictions on places they can visit, as well as people they can associate with.

Anti-gang programmes within Correctional Institutions will also be improved.

The Singapore Boys' Home will soon have a standardised orientation programme for new residents.

More inmates in the Reformative Training Centres would be placed on rehabilitation programmes to help them deal with anger management and related issues.

To prevent youths from re-joining gangs after their release from the institutions, a period of community supervision will be imposed.

Existing anti-gang legislation will be enhanced.

They include giving police more powers to disrupt gang formation, recruitment and congregation in public entertainment outlets, such as billiard saloons, computer gaming centres and amusement centres.

Persons who recruit youths to join gangs will also face stiffer penalties.

Police will also set up a Youth Offenders Unit to formulate guidelines and deal with youth crime.

Recognising the importance families play in the lives of young offenders, the authorities will involve parents in the various intervention programmes.

The working group's recommendations come after two cases of youth violence last year.

The Working Group on Measures to Deal with Youth Gangs noted youth crime in Singapore is under control.

Even so, these range of levers and programmes are needed to ensure the authorities continue to remain on top of the youth gang situation.

Most of the recommendations should be implemented by the end of next year."

A lot of initiatives at the same time. Not impossible as each has an anchor key driver if you like.

Lessons for me are:

1. take them out when they are young and impressionable;
2. make sure there is NO romanticing gangs like in Hong Kong or Taiwan or Japan where gangsters wear Prada and flowing longcoats!!;
3. make sure the interventionists are ALL properly trained and most importantly with the right heart. It cannot just be a job. It is a vocation and calling to help these kids at risks. Not an easy task as it is a thankless one really.

May these measures be effective and may the kids lead a healthy, happy, and productive long life!

Daily Lessons from Life 15 November 2011 - Nothingness?

2011-11-16T00:46:00.002+08:00

Thought I meander a little on 15 November 2011.

Read about 'a boy buying lottery tickets', about 'Europe going down if Greece and Itay are not saved', about 'no more silly attires parade at APEC', etc...

Life indeed is full of diversity and variety.

'Boy buying lottery tickets' - does he know what he is doing or just carrying out his parents or some elders' request for help? Will he be influenced into gambling when he grows up? Maybe. Maybe not. Though he has a higher probability to get involved with gambling. Maybe the lottery sellers SHOULD turn him away. This seems to make a lot of sense. Case closed?

'Europe going down if Greece and Italy are not 'saved'' - a big issue of earth crushing impact. One truly need to examine where have all the trillions of earlier bailout gone to? Are there real justification why the ordinary men and women in the streets of these countries say: 'NO!' to austerity if they are already living a very reasonable 'hands-to-mouths' manner? Of course, reading and learning about how the citizens of both countries seemed to have a habit of living lavishly and wastefully, they are being unreasonabel. Or more accurately, they are UNABLE and unwilling to change their unsustainable lifestyle of 'spend on borrowing guaranteed by future income'? What a mess! Beyond me ...

'No more silly attires parade at APEC' - strange that the tradition of the attendees wearing the national custom of the host nation is called: silly attires. Guessed someone must have blown a fuse somewhere. It is just a show. Surprised that the press think that the tie and suit of the American in Hawaii is not considered national custom or silly attires of the USA? Maybe they were thinking of President Obama's African origin custom?

Another day passed as I look forward to tomorrow...

Daily Lessons from Life 14 November 2011 - Obama to China: Behave like 'grown up' economy

2011-11-14T22:50:00.002+08:00

"Obama to China: Behave like 'grown up' economy - REUTERS November 14, 2011

HONOLULU - President Barack Obama told China on Sunday that the United States was fed up with its trade and currency practices, as he turned up the heat on America's biggest economic rival at an Asia Pacific summit.

'Enough's enough,' Mr Obama said bluntly at a closing news conference at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting where he scored a significant breakthrough in his push to create a pan-Pacific free trade zone.

Using some of his toughest language yet against China, Mr Obama - a day after face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao - demanded that China stop 'gaming' the international economic system and create a level playing field for US and other foreign businesses.

'We're going to continue to be firm that China operate by the same rules as everyone else,' Mr Obama said. 'We don't want them taking advantage of the United States.'

Mr Obama insisted that China must let its currency rise faster in value, saying it was being kept artificially low and was thus hurting American companies and jobs. He said China, which often presents itself as a developing country, is now 'grown up' and should act that way in global economic affairs.

In a clear rebuttal to President Obama, a Chinese official said China would play by the rules of international agreements that it had been party to negotiating.

'First we have to know whose rules we are talking about,'said Pang Sen, a deputy director-general at China's Foreign Ministry.

'If the rules are made collectively through agreement and China is a part of it, then China will abide by them. If rules are decided by one or even several countries, China does not have the obligation to abide by that,' Mr Pang said at a news conference after the Apec summit in Honolulu.

Mr Pang also said that China would 'earnestly study' the Trans Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, which Canada, Japan and Mexico have asked to join giving a major boost to the US-led initiative.

The summit's final communique said, with growth and job creation weakened not only by the euro zone crisis but by natural disasters like Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami."

Interesting that Obama used such 'strong' language against China. Looks like he is under great pressure to play to the voters that count to win re-election for himself!

Lessons for me are:

1. China is NOT a 'grown up' in economic terms yet. Not at all actually if you looks at how it has been growing in the past decades, and especially in the last few years. Heavy investment in infrastructure whether they need it or not! Much growth from the overheating and overpriced property market whether the prices make sense relative to the annual income of the general population or not. Reckless investment regardless of the great and potentially permament damages to the environment. So, how 'grown up' is China's economy really?;

2. not forgetting the heavily export dependent part of China's economy. Those parts of the economy where labour cost forms a big chunk of the total production cost, the Chinese are KINGs. The consuming world loves it as cheap Rmb means cheap import for the overseas consumers!! The Chinese labour wages and benefits are rising and rising fast. The Rmb has appreciated quite a bit vs. 2 years ago. SOme of the importers are finding Chinese products getting more and more expensive. So, it is not really a one-way street now;

3. is Rmb undervalued? If you looks at the per capital number in almost every category, the numbers are puny! Nothing close to the USA's or even Singapore's standard! So, how can the Chinese economy be a 'grown up'? Obama and others may have conveniently ignored or played down the risk of China imploding with the widening gap between the haves and have-nots. The sense of haplessness when faced with rising cost of living, especially the home ownership front. The fairly protected and still inefficient state owned enterprises' performance, etc...

China still has a long way to go. One of the pressing need if for the Chiense government leaders to figure out a GROWTH MODEL that does not build on the old and broken USA model. Growth for growth sake simply won't cut it. Consumption is not good enough if it is not helping sustainability!

Mr Obama, perhaps you are barking up the wrong tree knowingly as you need to get some votes in the USA for your re-election. How sad that you did not choose to risk it by saying and doing the RIGHT THINGS - admit that USA's model is broken and that the world, not just China, needs to find a new sustainable model going forward.

Daily Lessons from Life 13 November 2011 - Showman Berlusconi makes ignominious exit

2011-11-13T22:17:00.002+08:00

"Showman Berlusconi makes ignominious exit - Reuters Sunday, Nov 13, 2011

ROME, Italy - Silvio Berlusconi dominated Italy for 17 years with a unique mix of political talent and brazen behaviour but in the end the born showman was humiliatingly jeered from office, brought down by pressure from abroad.

A man who had rejoiced in his ability to talk directly to ordinary Italians looked pale and isolated as he was forced to resign on Saturday after his broken promises and crumbling power brought Italy to the brink of financial disaster.

In scenes reminiscent of the departure of his mentor, Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi in 1993, the 75-year-old media magnate was harried by angry crowds hurling insults and coins at his limousine after he handed his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.

Berlusconi slipped out of the Quirinale presidential palace by a side entrance as thousands of demonstrators chanted "Clown! Clown!" and consentaneous street parties erupted.

A remarkable week, that started with Berlusconi adamantly refusing to resign, ended a remarkable political career that began when he burst on to the scene in 1994 promising a fresh new approach after a corruption scandal that swept away Italy's postwar political order.

His demise was a far cry from 2008 when a landslide victory gave the media tycoon his third and strongest electoral mandate.

He had been prime minister for longer than any postwar leader, painting himself as the only choice for the dominant conservative voting bloc and a bastion against communism."

It was long time coming as some of his 'enemies' and critics would proclaimed. He has overstayed his welcome. Or, as in most overly 'successful' people, fell into the trap of self-indulgence or narcissism. One step too far and fell from being 'self-confident' to being 'self-conceited'!

Lessons for me are:

1. if you are looking for short term success, you can by manipulating others and thinking that you are smarter than them all. However, if you are looking for a lasting legacy, you must look long term. Even if your rein will be short term, people will remember you long term!;

2. how things can change in 3 years! From his strongest mandate gained in 2008 to his ignominious exit now! How he could get away with a few choice quotes and some unflattering scandals easily to now being humiliated by this forced exit. How things can change even in a week as described in this news piece! From being adamant that he will not resign to quietly resigning and exiting from the side entrance to escape the 'hateful', and ungrateful?, Italian public!;

3. It is totally interesting, though for me, not unsurprising since I do not trust politicians very much, that his promise of a 'new start' when he first burst into the scenes was not encashed. The irony is not lost when the news reported that 'the response to his resignation was unlike that of his predecessor whom he replaced. I guess when politicians became National Leaders not to serve the people but to serve themselves, they all ended inevitably in the same sad manner.

Euro is still under threat by the impending collapse of the 3rd largest economy in EU. A tragedy with impact many times larger than Greece. Let's hold our breaths and see what will happen in the coming week!! Amen!!!

Daily Lessons from Life 05 - 12 November 2011 -

2011-11-12T21:26:00.002+08:00

Yes. You guessed it. I was in China from 05 to 12 November 2011 morning and could not write my blog. Sad but still true! The authority in China is still reluctant to let people write blog in case they penned damaging reports on the government and how corruption and abuses of power seems to have taken root in this 'prospering giant'!!

Anyway, a quick summary of my feelings over this period:

1. watched REAL China TVs on reporting like the cowed husband who hid while his wife were abused by a bully who turned fire fighter, someone he knew since young, before calling the police after an hour. Many cyberspace writers were quick to condamned that man as gutless whimp among other hard hitting comments.

The background check by some news media subsequently revealed that the offender was a bullying the man since they were primary school mates. He also threatened the man that he will harm his family if he resists. While the bullied failed to respond properly and on a timely basis, he did get his man after the police were called.

Another case of person in an official capacity, though acting on his own, soiling the uniformed group's reputation! The higher authority has promised to treat this offender as hard as the laws permit.

Bullied must remember that once you submit, it will be hard to resist the naturally next bully, which will become progressively more abusive!

2. 11.11.11 - the day when the date shows 6 1s! Many couples got married on this day as it will be another 100 years before this will happpen again! I am not into 'numelogy'. So it does not bother me. At the same time, for those who belive this myth, I wish them good luck and that they wishes come true on 11.11.11 day!

3. as I travelled from Beijing to Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) and then from Beijing to Shanghai, I can truly say that these areas/cities are very dusty. I can also see how they have transformed again with new high rise building and infrastructure popping up all over the place. The familar massive traffic jam seems normal and resigned to be accepted by the people. Is this progress or it is just hapless reacting to the situations? If this type of delay and chaos persists for a week or two, there is no telling if the frustrated people will trigger another 'revolution'! Except that this time it may be bloodier than another other times!!

4. nothing beats touching down in Singapore this morning and I went for a 70 mins jog around 7 a.m. It was great as I could not do this at all due to lack of facilities in the hotels I stayed in and the cooler temperature prevented me from running on the road, even I was prepared to do.

I look forward to a week in Singapore and prepare further for the 4 December 2011 Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore!

Daily Lessons from Life 04 November 2011 - 14-year-old girl who slapped mum also stole jewellery for cash

2011-11-04T23:44:00.003+08:00

"14-year-old girl who slapped mum also stole jewellery for cash - AsiaOne Nov 4 2011

SINGAPORE - A 14-year-old girl who boasted on Facebook about slapping her 'naggy' mother twice, has now been exposed by netizens for stealing her mum's jewellery and pawning them for cash.

According to a Stomp reader, the girl's misdeeds have been exposed by a netizen on Facebook who knows the girl.

The acquaintance said that she stole her mum's jewellery and pawned it for $10,000 before taking a photo of herself with the cash to show off. She supposedly bought a branded wallet with the money.

She was also allegedly robbed of more than $6,000 by her own friends thereafter, which was reported to the police.

The netizen also condemned her for "being so brainless and pathetic".

The student's confession about slapping her mum has been trending worldwide on Twitter and appeared as one of the top Twitter trends in Singapore.

Since then, more girls have come forward on Facebook to share that they have slapped their mothers too.

"I'm very disturbed by the fact that some netizens, despite following the story of the infamous mother-slapping girl, are still stubbornly giving her support by saying that they too have done the same thing to their mothers," said a Stomp reader.

But others have voiced their support for the girl and say what she said and what others are saying about her are untrue. Some even asked netizens to "stop pursuing the matter" and "give her a break"."

Where do we stand on this? The society, the educators, the parents, the teenagers, the public and anyone who care about the progress of human race.

Should we under- or over-react?

For me, it is clear as daylight:

1. if it is true about what this young girl has done and what were done to her by her 'friends' of which a police report was made, she needs a lot of help. Of course, that will include investigation into the family background of this girl and the whole 9-yard of work. Who is to do this? The police? The social wellfare department? Whoever it may be, it must be someone who are in position to do a proper job.

2. as for those who 'supported' her, what would be their justification and how did they come to that conclusion assuming they know all the facts behind the situation that lead this young girl to such behaviors? What will be their responses if they were the 'victims' i.e. the mothers who were slapped and had things stolen from them by their child/children?;

3. as for those who 'crucified' her, similar questions should be asked of them. How much do they know about the facts and background of this girl and her behaviors. The behaviors are surely NOT natural. I have a bit more sympathy for this group as even if there were valid reasons for the girl to behave in such an, shall I say, 'unconventional' fashion towards her own, I am assuming the mother is the real biological mother, mother and subjecting herself to 'violence by her own friends', she has to face the consequence and admit responsiblity FIRST. Then, the other helps, if needed can be meted out.

Is this a TREND as claimed by the Twitter world? REALLY? I hope not. If so, maybe we need to look at our First World Educational System, our home educational system, the training of our next (and current) generation of parents on good parenting must begin in earnest. Of course, if this is just a drop in the ocean, an anomoly, then focused action can be taken to isolate, contain, and eradicate.

Any peers shaming going on her or peers admiration egging her on?

Daily Lessons from Life 03 November 2011 - Minister Khaw on Bhutan?

2011-11-04T01:03:00.002+08:00

Read in the AsiaOne.com forum that a Bhutanese supposedly replied to Minister Khaw's remark about how Bhutan is not so great compare to Singapore despite the nation having the highest Happiness Index.

I do not know what has transpired and I do not want to know really.

Suffice to say that: Happiness is definied by each individual differently. Hopefully none of them involves building their happiness by trampling on others' happiness. If that is the case, then any Happiness Index measurement is fine with me. If not, we need to get a common or a closer alignment of what is Happiness.

Lessons for me are:

1. when we try to justify our position, there is absolutely no need to put others down. Work on the strengths of our points of views will do nicely;

2. do recognize the topic one is making the point on. We are talking about Happiness and there is really NO COMPARISON unless we come to an agreement on what is Happiness as each see it. Putting others down just won't cut it!;

3. If, like some claimed that, Minister Khaw is a Buhddist. Then perhaps he is not there yet. Just like many of us. A Buhddist, as I understand it, is one who is at peace with himself, his environment and empty of desires. Peaceful mindset. No comparison needed.

May Bhutaneses continue to be happy as they can be. May Singapore be a 'happy' with whatever the nation collectively aspired to be. For those UNHAPPY Singaporeans, find your own solutions. Too bad. Relax. Be happy - somehow...

Daily Lessons from Life 02 November 2011 - Adjustment of mindsets needed in changing economy: DPM Teo

2011-11-02T21:55:00.002+08:00

"Adjustment of mindsets needed in changing economy: DPM Teo - CNA 02 November 2011

SINGAPORE: Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister has urged companies and individuals to adjust mindsets in a changing economy.

Mr Teo Chee Hean said companies must be prepared to hire older workers, while such workers, in turn, must be flexible, and learn and adapt.

Mr Teo was speaking at a leadership lecture organised by his alma mater, St Joseph's Institution.

He said for Singapore to continue succeeding, strong institutions and leadership must be in place.

Mr Teo said the country's leaders don't have a monopoly on wisdom, and will need to draw upon the knowledge of those being led.

"Where we have been able to be successful is because we have been able to minimise the disadvantages of being small and maximise the advantages of not being big. And that allows us to be tighter, more nimble, more flexible, more able to respond to changes in the world than other people have been," said FPM Teo.

During a dialogue session, Mr Teo was asked if Singapore should set up a national body to look into the interests of professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) in the workforce.

Mr Teo said he did not think it was needed, as workers in the group were better educated and prepared to seek out their own future."

Leadership makes lots of difference for sure when it comes to minset change. While the best motivation is self-motivation, sometimes the leaders can spark the imagination of those being led. Of course, it is much better if those being led came up with their own vision.

Lessons for me are:

1. 'government has no monopoly on good ideas' mantra has been chanted regularly lately. This is good. Hopefully the 'domesticated' Singaporeans can rise to the challenge and exercise their rights to speak out and make contribution to the ideas pool from which the most appropriate ideas can be implemented for the good of the people and the nation;

2. mindset change must be anchored on clear and appropriate principles like: be responsible with what you say by doing your research, be aware that you must listen to dissenting and differring views without attacking the person(s) who brought them up, be clear about the final decision making criteria and to support and execute well the ideas even if they are not yours. Will these principles be present and observed? I hope so. If not, mindset change cannot happen;

3. as for specifically relating to hiring older workers by the employers and the older workers being flexible and learn and adept, the principles to bear in mind maybe: old means you need to learn and know the new tasks, old means you go about earning the respect of the younger ones, old means you can be better than the younger ones if you truly apply yourself, old means you get paid according to the market rate for your peers!

May the older workers get employed more and may the employers never live to regret that!

Daily Lessons from Life 01 November 2011 - Greek PM stuns eurozone, markets with referendum call

2011-11-01T23:56:00.004+08:00

1st day of November 2011 - 2 more months of 2011 to go. How time flies!!

"Greek PM stuns eurozone, markets with referendum call - AFP 01 November 2011

ATHENS - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou plunged the euro and stock markets back into crisis on Tuesday with a shock announcement that he would put a hard-fought rescue deal to a referendum.

With leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies getting ready for a summit from Thursday focused on the economic crisis, Papandreou's unexpected move triggered fears that the rescue efforts could begin to rapidly unravel.

The premier also announced a vote of confidence but his narrow parliamentary majority was then cut by the defection of a deputy.

Athens witnessed a meltdown as stocks plunged 6.31 percent amid warnings that a rejection of a deal that is deeply unpopular in Greece would force it to leave the 17-nation bloc which uses the euro single currency.

"The command of the Greek people will bind us," Papandreou said as he made his stunning declaration late Monday.

"Do they want to adopt the new deal, or reject it? If the Greek people do not want it, it will not be adopted."

In a survey in the To Vima news weekly on Sunday, 58 percent of Greeks termed the deal 'negative' or 'probably negative', although over 72 percent of those polled said Greece should remain in the euro."

What a twist and turn by the Greece's PM. That after all the big POWWOW by the European leaders last week to 'rescue' Greece!

Lessons for me are:

1. another force of hands so that we can confirm that human being is sucker for pains?;

2. that no amount of intelligence and rationality can beat emotional responses or the fear of losing the mandate of the people by politicians? Hardly as I think most dishonest politicians only care about their own interests and pockets! i.e. they have more to lose by losing the popular supports hence the need to stoop low to gain approval by the voters, who unfortunately only ask: what is in it for me and damned responsible consumption and paying taxes!;

3. it is intriguing to read the many forecasts and analysis from the learned analysts and very intelligent bankers/economists/academadians on 'how safe it can be now that the EU has agreed to help Greece with its debt problems' and then this bombshell! Personally I believe this will drag on for a while as after Greece, the market or speculators will turn to Spain and Italy. Who knows who will be next!!

May the wise Greek Gods and Goddesses help the great Greek people. Though I did note that the Greek Gods and Goddesses behave very much like human in their fairy tales - warts and all!

Daily Lessons from Life 31 October 2011 - Policeman in China charged over deadly accident

2011-10-31T23:41:00.002+08:00

"Policeman in China charged over deadly accident - AFP Monday, Oct 31, 2011

BEIJING - A senior police officer in China could receive the death penalty after he killed five people and injured another three in a traffic accident that sparked violent protests, state media said Monday.

Wang Yinpeng was allegedly drunk when he collided with two streetlights in the central province of Henan on Saturday, which fell on a group of migrant workers waiting to catch a bus, the Global Times newspaper said.

Wang, head of the police station in Liangzhu township, has been charged with "endangering public security by dangerous means" and could be given the death sentence if convicted, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Migrant workers waiting to catch a bus to the eastern province of Zhejiang to pick oranges started to protest after police ordered a funeral home to remove the bodies from the scene, reports said.

Fearing police were trying to destroy evidence, the workers smashed several police cars and hearses and riot police were called to "maintain order", the Global Times said.

Witnesses reportedly found a box of baijiu, a potent Chinese liquor, several knives and a police uniform in Wang's car.

Gruesome photos published by state media appear to show dozens of people standing around a severely battered police car and at least two people crushed underneath a streetlight.

It was the second violent protest in China in less than a week.

Hundreds of people clashed with police and smashed cars in eastern China after protests over taxes turned violent on Thursday.

Several police were hurt in the riots, which began as a protest by business owners over taxes in the eastern city of Huzhou in Zhejiang."

This is about personal responsibility as public servant. As leader or person vested with authority to maintain laws and orders by the nation and supposedly look up to by ordinary people, the senior police officer simply should not have, if true, being drinking and driving! Now that he has unwittingly killed 5 migrant workers, he must face the full consequence of his foolish and irresponsible behaviors. If the authority did in fact tried to 'destroy' evidence by removing the bodies as feared by the bystander migrant workers, he or she must be brought to justice too as that kind of behaviors are totally unbecoming of a police force!

Lessons for me are:

1. when you are given the power and authority to maintain laws and orders, you MUST be totally above reproach. Such is the curse of the job and the responsibility that comes with it. If you cannot heck it, better leave such job to other who can!;

2. when you think you can BUT you could not, you MUST face the dire consequence of your actions. There is no room for 'if or but'. The only way to get out of trouble is to stick to your role of a public servant who were given power and authority to maintain laws and orders to serve the public;

3. when you did commit mistakes and created a mess for yourself, you MUST own up instead of trying to 'destroy evidence' and cover up (probably a Standard Operation Procedures given that the railway authority HAD to dig up a carriage that fell from the overhead railroad after the high speed train collision incident in Ningbo a few months ago!), you will get due punishment doubled! At least!

May such incidents be revealed as soon as possible and may the power of Weibo and other Internet media continue to expose such irresponsible behaviors of people in authority. May the Central and the Local government leaders do the RIGHT THINGs if only to preserve their own privileged positions. When there is MASSIVE RIOTING all over the country or places, they will not be privileged anymore!

Stick to doing the right things and leaders will be leaders for a long time! Simple rule and can be done!!

Daily Lessons from Life 29-30 October 2011 - Qantas chief Joyce determined and uncompromising

2011-10-30T21:53:00.002+08:00

I was too tired and also not able to access the internet last night. So, catching up on 2 days of reflection and writing.

"Qantas chief Joyce determined and uncompromising - AFP 30 October 2011

SYDNEY : Alan Joyce has defied death threats and proved willing to risk the ire of Australia's most powerful politicians in his steely campaign to restructure iconic national carrier Qantas.

Joyce, who took over as chief executive of the "Flying Kangaroo" in 2008, has been determined to lower the airline's cost base, partly by axing 1,000 jobs and refocusing it on Asia with the launch of two new airlines.

The 45-year-old took the most drastic step in his campaign on Saturday when he grounded all Qantas flights in an effort to break crippling industrial action from three unions.

It was also the boldest move of Irish-born Joyce's career, which he started by working up the management ladder in his homeland with Ireland's national carrier, Aer Lingus.

He transferred to Australia 15 years ago to join the now-defunct Ansett airline, then joined Qantas in 2000.

Joyce was appointed chief executive of Qantas' low-cost arm Jetstar Airways in 2003 and became an Australian citizen around the same time.

His successful reign at Jetstar, where he jostled with other budget airlines in the increasingly competitive Asian region, helped form his uncompromising views on lowering costs.

Qantas's media team revealed early this month that Joyce had received death threats as the industrial tensions escalated.

While the airline would not reveal the details, Sydney newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported he had received warning letters that were also laced with racism.

Joyce's campaign has also raised alarm bells with the union-affiliated Labor government.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese indicated he held a heated conversation with Joyce following the shock announcement that Qantas had grounded its fleet.

"I think it is certainly a breach of faith with the government, the fact that there was no advanced notice of this action being taken by Qantas. I indicated that very clearly to Mr Joyce this afternoon," Albanese said.

But Joyce has maintained that the restructuring is vital to ensure Qantas survives, with regional rivals already operating off a far lower cost-base.

He also insisted Saturday that the unions should be blamed for the unprecedented chaos.

"If the (industrial) action continues as the unions have promised, we will have no choice but to close down Qantas part-by-part... killing Qantas slowly would be a tragedy.""

I was shocked to learn of the news last night while in Hong Kong. Watching the news reels over BBC, CNN, CNA (Singapore-based), etc and listening to the frustrated paying passengers of Qantas, it just felt totally unreal!

Lessons for me are:

1. could Mr Joyce and his management team done differntly in the way this is handled? the death threats are totally uncalled for and the person(s) should be prosecuted under criminal laws for issuing such a threat for sure. Still, are defying these threats and having the determination to 'break the unions' called for such an action? I am not sure...;

2. it will be interesting to see if emotions totally run out of control or will rational problems solving mindset and actons reign soon? Is this decision in the realm of the recent 'is there an absolute right or wrong?' article I read where the question was: do act on absolute principle or on 'whichever produces the maximum impact'? Here: is it right to make sure that the unions' unreasonable demands (assuming for a moment that is the truth) are not met regardless of the inconvenience to the 'ambushed' paying Qantas passengers and to the Company and Australia?;

3. I am not sure unless both parties are willing to reveal in whole ALL the points of view FOR and AGAINST each other in the industrial dispute/negotiation up to the 'shocking decision to ground ALL flights without any grace period or advance notice'! IF Mr Joyce and his team has the 'reasonableness' edge, the Australians will decide. IF the unions have the 'reasonable' edge, the Australians will tell too. For me, it is a tragic event for Australia. Some compare to Mrs Margaret Thatcher breaking the all powerful coals unions during her time. I think the comparison is a bit off as coal miners' strikes only inconveniece the British folks mainly while grounding ALL flights without any notice to unsuspecting and paying passengers is simply mind boggling. Brave for sure but I wonder if it is wise!!

God, if they believe that (or maybe the Queen of England), blessed Australia!

Daily Lessons from Life 28 October 2011 - Faye Wang Brushed Off Waiting Fans...

2011-10-28T23:29:00.002+08:00

Read the headlines that: "Faye Wang, the Chinese 'super star', went straight to her van without acknowledging her fans who had waited at the airport to welcome her".

Lessons for me are:

1. I am not a fan of anyone though I can like and admire someone's work or integrity or whatever;

2. Fans are a mystery to me as I am not able to understand why they go 'gaga' over another human being regardless of their talents and what not;

3. is the so-called celebrities right to 'ignore' their fans? who knows. If the fans are willing to be ignored and still cling on to their 'idols', who am I to say who is right and who is wrong!

My advice, unsolicted and maybe even unwelcome by some, is: enjoy the talents of some fellow human beings. That's all. If not, whatever!!!

Daily Lessons from Life 27 October 2011 - S'poreans must be prepared for uncertain times ahead: PM Lee

2011-10-27T23:40:00.003+08:00

"S'poreans must be prepared for uncertain times ahead: PM Lee - CNA 27 October 2011

PERTH, Australia: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged Singaporeans to be psychologically prepared for the uncertain times ahead.

Referring to the economic turmoil in Europe and the US, Mr Lee said Singaporeans must fasten their seatbelts and be ready for whatever happens.

"We must remember we are in an interdependent world. And if the developed countries, if America, Europe are having difficulties, it's going to affect us in Singapore," said PM Lee, who is in Perth, Australia, to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which opens on Friday.

On Thursday evening, he met more than 130 overseas Singaporeans living or studying in Perth.

Mr Lee said Singapore has worked hard to give its citizens opportunities to explore the world. But he also urged overseas Singaporeans to maintain closeness with their home country and to one day, head home."

It is good that the PM informs Singaporeans they need to be prepared for uncertain time ahead and that the world is an interdependent place and things happening in other parts of the world can affect us. I really believe that the citizens of a First World Nation should have known it without being told by its political leader!

Lessons for me are:

1. if we are educated right, such basic knowledge should be the basic!;

2. informing the people is simply not good enough as the people need to know what it meant by: prepared for uncertain times. e.g. spend after your have earned your keeps, set a standard of living that other nations talked about and want to emulate - one that is NOT following the broken American way, especially the way of the American banking industry! or that of the advocates of 'housing prices should be high so that your assets are valuable and prices should only go up!' school of thoughts;

3. what does it mean to be 'we are one of you' when you are the leaders of the 'you'? That the leaders do not need to be paid 1000x the lowest compensated person in the nation to live a 'reasonable and happy' life!

All these must be seen in the leaders' personal behaviors for the people to believe that the leaders meant what they say. Are our political leaders there yet? Many don't think so and so vote so!

Daily Lessons from Life 25 October 2011 - Gaddafi's properties reflect life of wealth and excess

2011-10-26T02:51:00.004+08:00

"Gaddafi's properties reflect life of wealth and excess - Reuters 25 October 2011

Its ransacked grounds strewn with private photos of Muammar Gaddafi, a luxury villa in central Tripoli is the latest vestige of his fallen rule to be pillaged by angry mobs.

A luxurious home belonging to Aisha, Gaddafi's daughter, was also set on fire. The walls were destroyed after they were sprayed by bullets.

Large swimming pools, bedrooms with lavish decorations, and a private plane are examples of the luxuries the former leader and his family enjoyed."

It sounds so familiar to me whenever some dictators who were overthrown and, sometimes killed, and the 'victims turned victors' peeped into the properties of the desposed - big mansion with too many rooms, walls and rooms adonned with treasures or expensive ornaments or painting or what-have-you. Yet, does it matters to the desposed and deads?

Lessons for me are:

1. the powerful, or so they thought, crazed for such luxuries without understanding that these are just transient stuffs. They don't last. Hopefully they did enjoyed these things when they have them. Otherwise, it will be tragic!! A tragic mistake by them and showed how careless and thoughtless their acts;

2. will there be more of the same after the Gaddafi's clan among the eager new political leaders of this country? Hopefully not though it is forgievable to be pessimistic given that such temptations are always present. One only hope that the new leaders will be wise and alert to resist such temptations;

3. how will the people play their roles if the new leaders start to show similar behaviors as the deposed and dead Gaddafi's regime? Will they wait and tolerate such behaviors until it become entrenched and 'part of the culture and tradition'? Again, hopefully not so that the PEOPLE and the country do not go through another wrecked experience like the one just concluded.

Greed is ever present to tempt human being. People in power need to know how to behave UNNATURALLY to establish a legacy that will last after they are gone - in a nice way and not that of the pitiful end Gaddafi and his clan ended!

Daily Lessons from Life 24 October 2011 - No more pain as little fighter dies with a smile

2011-10-25T01:39:00.002+08:00

"Monday, Oct 24, 2011 The New Paper - No more pain as little fighter dies with a smile

IN DESPERATION, a young mother pleaded with the heavens to take her child: "In all my life, I cannot believe that I will actually be begging heavens to take my child and free her of all the pain and suffering...but I am now.

"Heavens, please have mercy on my child. Please. I don't want her to suffer any more... Free her and let her be the happy girl she has always been..."

This heart-wrenching post by Ms Cynthia Lim, 31, on her blog on Thursday was spurred by the discovery of yet another new tumour inside Charmaine's cheek.

This tumour bled so profusely that her daughter's mouth was filled with blood.

Ms Lim's prayers were answered. Hours after the post, just past midnight yesterday, Charmaine finally gave up her two-year-battle with advanced neuroblastoma.

She was six years old.

She had touched many people when local newspapers chronicled her brave fight against her cancer.

The New Paper wrote about how she, her brother, Jase, and their divorcee mother were desperately trying to raise money to go to New York for treatment."

Indeed a wrenching and desperate plea for mercy to let her little one rest in peace and be freed from any further sufferring.

It will be unrealistic for me to say I know the pains and struggle that the brave little one has gone through. It will be too presumptuous to say that I know how the single mother and her brother feels and had gone through too. At the same time, it is only human to feel the same sense of haplessness and heartbreak when the mother asked for such help from heaven to take her little one away from further pains and tortures.

Lessons for me are:

1. fate, if one believes in it, which I don't, though if something happened, I will accept it and deal with it, is fickle and bring the worst of fate to someone innocent or otherwise for no 'bloody' reason. One can fear it or one can just take it as it comes. Striped out the emotion and the rationality. Just deal with it with the occassinal outbursts of 'why this or that or why me?';

2. while another young life has left us and there is a sense of pity that the little one did not get to live a full life. A life that could have hold so much that we don't know. At the same time, it is a relief to her, her mother and brother and those who had tried hard and earnestly to help her cope with the treatment and the after-effect and hurts. The best efforts had been expended and there is no regret really by the care-takers;

3. may the mother and the brother live their lives to the fullest. They must move on and hoepfully they will as they had done whatever they could and there is no regret. Let go and move on knowing that the little one left this world a happy girl that she is! That is good enough.

Rest in peace the little one. You have fought the good fight.

Daily Lessons from Life 23 October 2011 - Sports & Life?

2011-10-23T23:07:00.003+08:00

Someone told me today is a significant day as there are the football match between Manchester City and Manchester United in the English Premier League and the Rugby World Cup Final between the All Blacks of New Zealand and the 'Les Blues' of France.

I was excited as I studied in New Zealand during my university day and I likes the sport of Rugby. A hooligan game played by gentlemen as some learned people exclaimed. My eldest brother and sister-in-law and their three kids are Kiwis too. So that gives me another reason to be cheering the All Blacks to win this final. Of course for the city of Christchurch that were devastated by the earthquakes earlier this year and the just developing Bay of Plenty oil spill that threatened to destroy many natural marine life and the birds that live on the marine life. Not to mention the tourism money that will be lost.

So, I was livid when the hotel I just checked into said: we don't have the live telecast channel in our hotel! I asked for help to find out where can I watch this. The intensity of my request was not appreciated by the hotel concierge. I left without waiting for them to find out and found myself at a pub in Lan Kuai Fong area. It was a close match and All Blacks won 9-8 over the Les Blues.

In the evening, I watch the Man City vs. Man United game and Man City won 6-1 against all pre-match expectations. I was happy for a while as Man U is not my favourite club!

Yet, I also watched and learned on TV of a MotoGP rider died in an accident in Malaysia race. The horrible flood in Bangkok, Thailand. The tragic death of the 'twice hit and run' accident toddler of 4 in China that triggered rage and deep soul searching by the Chinese. So, are sports really that important?

Lessons for me are:

1. I need to put things in proper perspective. Maybe I can be less passionate about sports. Maybe it is just an outlet for human being to exercise and express themselves. It is never more important than life and death!;

2. maybe the truly passionate and fanatic sports buffs are just escapists from life's brutal hardship and truth?;

3. whatever others feel I should respect, I just need to focus on my own responses. Like what I read before: do I react or do I respond? Reaction is just an instinct while response is a considered reaction. Of course, when I practice enough times how to react to a certain situating or stimulant, I can react instinctively the proper way!

Congratulation to the All Blacks for winning and the Le Blues from putting up a tremendous competition. May those affected by the floods, the death, etc have proper help and find peace in their own mind.

Daily Lessons from Life 19-22 October 2011 - Death of Gaddafi!

2011-10-23T00:08:00.002+08:00

Was in China from 19/10 morning till 22/10 evening and has NO access to this blogger.com at ALL! Sad but true. China is still weary of bloggers!!

Anyway, like to do a quick reflection on the biggest news in the Middle East or North Africa - the death of Col Gaddafi! The 'King of Kings' of that part of the world and ruler of Libya for more than 42 years!!

Lessons for me are:

1. it depends on what time frame are you talking about when you praises someone as being 'successful and powerful and what-not'! He ruled for more than 42 years. Surely many adored him and wowed or awed by his power and mystics or 'charisma'! He would never have thought that 'his' people will turn against him and that he would ended up hiding in a drain or tunnel like a rat that he called the enemies of his final days are!;

2. if you are doing the right things, it is possible to extend your legacy for a long long time. When you rule with fear, this is unlikely to happen. However, if you are ruler that people admire genuinely, it is a definite possibility. At the same time, I have to warn that you MUST remain sincere, firmly grounded and not grown to become self-conceited! This is very difficult to achieve as most of us are naturally easily flattered by all the good things said about us when we are successful and powerful!;

3. the world may debate if he should had been handed alive to the International Court of Justice to face trial for atrocities and murders committed by him or by his blind followers on his people and 'enemies' and some totally innocent outsiders e.g. the Lockerbie airplane bombing incident, it is NO LONGER relevant.

Will future leaders learn from this tragedy? Maybe. At least for the next few months as this tyrant's pitiful end linger in people's mind for a while. Only the most sincere and bright future rulers will do the right things and remind himself or implement processes that will keep him level-headed and humble and grateful for the power the people vest in him!

Rest in peace Col Gaddafi. Sorry you got to go in this manner. Not what you had expected. But then ...

p/s: The little girl that was hit by a van and a truck but left to die by 17 (or was it 18) passerby ignored her fate died from this tragedy. This incident has stirred much emotional and triggered vigorous debates within China's cyberspace on if the Chinese has lost its soul in pursuit of economic successes. May she rest in peace - truly. Her death definitely provoked deep soul searching by many. Hopefully such incidents will never happen again. It has to be. Otherwise ...

Daily Lessons from Life 18 October 2011 - Acting MCYS minister outlines plans on social support

2011-10-18T19:20:00.002+08:00

"Acting MCYS minister outlines plans on social support - CNA 18 October 2011

SINGAPORE: The first front-bench minister to join in the debate on the President's Address, Acting Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing said his ministry is prepared to exercise greater flexibility at the margins and at local levels to extend more support where needed.

He said he sees three challenges to social cohesion - a possible socio-economic divide, social stratification or immobility, and greater diversity including differences in aspirations and expectations.

Mr Chan said every rapidly-developing society has to deal with widening social inequity, but added that Singapore has done well in this respect so far.

Mr Chan said: "Our system enables the majority of our people to succeed through their own efforts. For those who are unable to keep up despite their best efforts, our society must find a way to bring them along. These include those with disabilities, the chronically ill, vulnerable seniors with no family support, families who need guiding hands beyond financial help, children without positive home environments and other examples.

Mr Chan said his ministry is committed to doing more to not only help the "in-risk" groups, but also carefully watch the "at-risk" groups.

He said this was the reason behind enhancing accessibility to pre-school among low-income families, funding programmes for at-risk youth and promoting active ageing among seniors."

It is VERY important for the leaders to have a view of the future, what can be done to get there bringing along the largest number of people who are informed, engaged and decided to come along!

Lessons for me are:

1. people need to know what is meant by: "Success"? e.g. making a lot of money regardless of impact to others? having a caring heart but not much money?;

2. what is regarded as 'fair'? e.g. the majority of the people's interest overridie that of the minority as long as the disadvantaged minority are taken care of with the surpluses from the majority?;

3. what is the basic 'acceptable standard of living in Singapore'? e.g. a S$500k 3-room HDB flat for a 5-member family with combined household income of S$20k/month?

Maybe the Acting Minister likes to define some of this in the SMART manner where SMART, as many in the corporates have learned means: Specific and measureable, Motivational, Actionable or Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound or Trackable. Only then can one reasonably assess how one is progressing against the SMART goals!

Maybe it is time for the REST of the Cabinet to reveal their SMART goals for the next 5 years until the next General Election?

Daily Lessons from Life 17 October 2011 - Outrage as bleeding toddler left on street in China

2011-10-17T22:49:00.002+08:00

"Outrage as bleeding toddler left on street in China - AFP 17 October 2011

BEIJING : More than a dozen passers-by ignored a two-year-old girl as she lay critically injured on a street in southern China after being run over twice, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

The incident has sparked outrage on China's hugely popular social media sites.

Surveillance cameras showed a series of people walk past the girl, named Yue Yue, after she was hit first by a van and then a truck outside her family's shop in the southern Chinese city of Foshan.

Xinhua said a rubbish collector who finally came to the girl's aid, moving her to the curb and shouting for help, was ignored by several shopkeepers before he finally tracked down her mother who took her to hospital.

In response, one netizen on Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro-blog similar to Twitter, wrote: "This society is seriously ill. Even cats and dogs shouldn't be treated so heartlessly."

But others linked the incident to an earlier case in which a man who tried to help an elderly woman after she fell over was prosecuted, apparently because his intervention broke government rules on dealing with accident victims.

Doctors said Yue Yue was in a coma and unlikely to survive the ordeal.

"She would not be able to survive any operations. She's very close to brain death," a spokesman for the hospital treating her told AFP.

Police have detained the drivers of both vehicles involved in the incident, Xinhua said."

Sickening news indeed.

Lessons for me are:

1. keep the kids off the road to prevent such tragedy. Maybe an oversight by the parents who were manning the shop? Also whatever happened to the 1st driver? Blindsided? What about the 2nd driver? Seriously negligent or too busy driving or talking or what?;

2. regardless of how this could have been prevented, the fact that nobody came to the help of this injured child is simply mind-numbing! is it really because of the other infamous tragedy when the good samaritan who tried to help a fallen old lady ended up be prosecuted as claimed? has the miscarriage of justice so deterred people that the do-gooders have to challenge his or her own sense of what is righ just to do right? If so, what has the laws makers and the judiciary and the laws enforcement agencies got to say to this and remedy this tragic issue?;

3. it was terrifying and heart breaking to watch the video clip on the newsreel tonight. I am sure many will watch it over and over again in Weibo or Youtube and what have you. An innocent young life is probably ruined or dead in this accident. Hopefully the furies it created will send some shock waves into the ordinary people's minds that something is terribly missing in today's China - an economically prospering (for some places anyway. Places most public to foreigners!) nation that has perhpas lost its heart!!

May the injured girl be saved or rest in peace if she should perished.

Daily Lessons from Life 16 October 2011 - Less than 20 turn up for Raffles Place rally

2011-10-17T00:22:00.002+08:00

"Less than 20 turn up for Raffles Place rally - AsiaOne Sunday, Oct 16, 2011

SINGAPORE - Less than 20 people turned up at Raffles Place yesterday for Singapore's version of the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests in New York.

The local campaign, launched on social networking site Facebook, called for the public to take part in a rally.

"Occupy Raffles Place" was intended to be a 'peaceful movement' to demand accountability and change.

The event's unidentified organisers argued 99 per cent of Singaporeans' wealth is in the hands of '1 per cent' - Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

S'pore police warn against Raffles Place protest

The Facebook event, launched earlier this month, had almost 3,000 followers on Facebook, with 75 indicating they would attend.

Organisers instructed potential attendees to gather at Raffles Place MRT from 2 pm with placards and musical instruments and to "make as much noise as possible".

They planned to march towards SGX Centre after meeting fellow protesters at the open space outside Raffles Place MRT Station.

But instead only a handful turned up, most of whom were foreigners and members of the press.

Some netizens are now labelling the event as a joke while others are praising those who did turn up as 'heroes'."

Yo, the Singapore Police has WARNED against such a protest. So, will Singaporeans turn up? Of course not though I was surprised that the infamous opposition politician, or was it ex-politician, Chee Soon Juan did not turn up!

Lessons for me are:

1. there is no need to copy anything that seems TRENDY. e.g. the so-called 'Slut Walk'. What is the point?;

2. Singapore corporate chiefs are getting paid more and more and there were a few instances where the total package of fixed and variable compensation exceeded S$20m. Is this greed? Is the total package obscene? Probably. At the same time it is important to note objectively that that corporation is NOT in dire straits (OK. Yet if you must insists) unless those bankers in Wall Streets who were BAILED OUT by the government to 'prevent systemic risk to a global financial meltdown' that will RESET the financial order with those wealth and rich folks OUT OF MONEY and become as poor as the church mice and the many ordinary folks! Well. The rich and wealthy MUST be protected at all cost. So, here we are fooling ourselves while no one has the gut to shout out the obvious root causes - reckless credit granting and reckless risk taking in betting in the innovative financial derivative instruments concocted by the Wall Street geniuses!!;

3. having defended the million or multi-million dollar total compensation package of some of the corporate chiefs in Singapore, I do want to highlight that the trend of such multi-million dollar package MUST be stopped. It will be a total twist of logic to claim that the CEO is worth 100x the pay of his or her lowest paid employee/associate.

May 'Occupy Wall Street' and those copy-cats in Rome and elsewhere succeed as in those places, corporate GREED is indeed out of control. As for government cut-back, it goes back to basic finance for EVERYONE - you CANNOT spend what you have not earned! Period. YES?

Daily Lessons from Life 15 October 2011 - Preferential treatment during National Service?

2011-10-15T22:52:00.002+08:00

"Preferential treatment during National Service? - CNA 15 October 2011

SINGAPORE: The Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Defence intends to raise in Parliament several defence-related issues highlighted in public recently.

In addition to points in the Defence Ministry's addendum, the GPC will raise issues like perceived preferential treatment during National Service (NS), deferment and disruption policies as well as concerns that children of new citizens or permanent residents give up their citizenship to evade NS.

The chairman of GPC for Defence, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, told Channel NewsAsia that for next week's Parliament sitting, he has filed a question on perceived preferential treatment during NS - something highlighted during the recent Presidential Election.

He has asked Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen to "clear the air" on the matter related to Dr Patrick Tan's prolonged disruption from NS.

Dr Patrick Tan is President Tony Tan Keng Yam's son.

Dr Lim said: "There shouldn't be any doubt in Singaporeans' mind as far as Mindef's policy is concerned (that) there must be fairness in terms of who get disrupted and who doesn't get disrupted. As a result, it doesn't cause resentment, it doesn't divide the society."

Dr Lim hopes his fellow MPs would raise more questions during the debate in Parliament."

I applauds Mr Lim's action to raise burning questions raised by the people. The controversy surrounding President Tan's son's long disruption from NS is a troubling one and need to be put to rest.

Lessons for me are:

1. when you are in position of public trust and with power vested by the public to act for them as national leader, you MUST be seen to be independent and not just being independent! This is the price to pay for being a publicly elected leader!;

2. Singaporeans are upset that sons of PRs and new citizens DO NOT serve NS but instead choosed to leave the country permanently! This anger and displeasure are understandable. It is borned out of strong sense of fair treatment and national loyalty. It must be properly dealt with for sure!;

3. being flexible and in tune with the changes occurring in the real life, the deferment and disruption policies do need to be updated to reflect reality while keeping to the solid foundmental principles of NS. That NS must be respected and not a loophole to jump through for convenience of PRship or citizenship!!

Indeed, may more MPs raise sharp questions in the coming parliamentary remarks!

Daily Lessons from Life 14 October 2011 - Fair play when re-drawing election boundaries: Gen Y voters

2011-10-14T23:50:00.003+08:00

"Fair play when re-drawing election boundaries: Gen Y voters - CAN 14 October 2011

SINGAPORE: The general elections was over five months ago, but interest remain on how future polls would shape up and how electoral boundaries are drawn.

These subjects were discussed at a forum organised by the Singapore Management University's Political Association (SMU Apolitical), whose members come from Gen Y.

The 50-odd participants at the forum are in the 21 to 35 age group. Since the polls in May, there has been much discussion on how they voted, which was a key topic of the forum, titled "When Gen Y marks X".

Mohamed Irshad, president of SMU Apolitical, said: "There is a lot of political apathy among the youth and so we are basically trying to get people to know about politics, and it is good as it is within the school framework and it is all student-initiated."

Mou Hui, a student at SMU, said: "Diversity is good, it allows for more robust discussion for the best possible policies. At the same time, it would remain in Singapore's best interest for the debates to be constructive."

Observers said one issue the younger generation is keenly watching, is the re-drawing of boundaries before an election.

Assistant Professor Eugene Tan from SMU, said: "Singapore voters would be more concerned with fair play in the political system, it is something the government would have to pay attention to and something which the opposition parties can easily pick on.

"Singaporeans want to see a fair contest where parties are not unnecessarily advantaged or disadvantaged through the rules in place."

For now, all eyes are on the Parliamentary debates beginning Monday and the arguments from the new MPs, from both the ruling party and opposition."

While this report seems to suggest the Gen-Y voters have an issue with the way the re-drawing of electoral boundaries, this issue has long being roundly condemned by my that it is unfair. So, it shows that the younger generation can see the truth when lies were told. That the re-drawing of electoral boundaries were fair!

Lessons for me are:

1. you can fooled someone some time but you cannot fool everyone all the time!;

2. you can suppressed and denied that truth but the truth will eventual come out of the shadow or emerged from the tonnes of lies. You are merely fooling yourself that other people are fools when you were the no. 1 fool!;

3. the quality of the parliamentary debates will further influence how the younger generation of voters will vote in the next General Election. At the same time, let's not forget to work on the quality of the voters as well. When all voting are done in the 'what's in it for me? (WIIFM) fashion, rationality will be buried and decisions made to satisfy instant gratification will take hold and that will be the beginning of the fall of democracy!

Daily Lessons from Life 13 October 2011 - Eight killed in California hair salon shooting

2011-10-13T23:19:00.004+08:00

"Eight killed in California hair salon shooting - AFP 13 October 2011

LOS ANGELES: Eight people were killed and one remained in critical condition on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire in a packed hair salon in a small California beach town, police said.

The suspected gunman, a white male, was arrested a short time later about half a mile away from the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, on the Pacific Coast Highway south of Los Angeles.

KCAL9 television reported the shooter was related to one of the hairstylists in the salon, but police could not confirm this. "There may be something to the motive as to a relationship with somebody in the salon.

The shooting is the most deadly ever in Seal Beach, a small town of 25,000 people some 30 miles south of Los Angeles, said Bowles, calling the attack "unusual and tragic."

Multiple shootings are an all-too-familiar occurrence in the United States: only last week a gunman killed three people at a quarry in California's Silicon Valley, while three were also killed in Carson City, Nevada in September.

Among the most notorious, and deadly shootings of recent years are the Columbine massacre in April 1999, when two teenage boys shot and killed 12 students and a teacher.

In April 2007 a student shot 47 people at Virginia Tech, killing 32 before he commits suicide, in the deadliest mass shooting in the United States."

A tragic senseless killing. Whenever this type of mindless massacre happened, the debate of if the freedom to own arms resurfaced. Then, die down. No punt intended!

Lessons for me are:

1. in a civil society, there is no need to own arms. Is USA a civil society? I think the answer is: Yes. Yes?;

2. in a rational manner, the need to own arms as a tradition has no place in modern society. In the early days of Wild Wild West, the need to own arms to protect your family and possession is quite real. Surely USA has progressed past that stage after more than 250 years. No? If not, USA must STILL be a developing nation and NOT the only super-power it claims to be!;

3. it is always interesting to learn how those who advocate freedom to own arms will respond when their own flesh and blood were the victims. Will they still insist it is not due to freely available arms that caused the arms to kill but the people are irresponsibly used the arms to kill! Will winning that technical argument help them to bring back their innocent lost ones?

Overcoming tradition is hard unless the incumbents, enough number of them, realize the need to change. When that happened, making the 1st step to change easier will be critical. May USA be free from owning arms privately and that the mass mindless massacres stop! No more innocent loss of lives.

Daily Lessons from Life 12 October 2011 - Russia's Putin leaves China with no gas deal

2011-10-13T01:40:00.003+08:00

"Russia's Putin leaves China with no gas deal - AFP 12 October 2011

BEIJING : Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin left China on Wednesday after a visit that yielded US$7 billion in trade pacts but no breakthrough on a long-delayed gas deal with the world's top energy consumer.

Putin held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao in Beijing on his first foreign trip since he announced plans to reclaim the Russian presidency.

Russia is the world's largest producer of energy, and Putin said progress had been made on a 30-year deal to pump gas to China that was signed in 2009 but has been mired in disagreements over pricing.

"We are close to the final stage of work on gas supplies to the Chinese market," Putin told journalists on Tuesday of the agreement.

China became Russia's top trading partner for the first time last year and the two countries want to increase trade from US$70 billion this year to US$100 billion by 2015 and US$200 billion by 2020.

China's sovereign wealth fund signed a deal during Putin's visit to invest in a new Russian state-backed fund, to encourage foreign direct investment in Russia.

The China Investment Corporation will put US$1.0 billion into the Russian Direct Investment Fund, founded in June with backing from Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Putin has paid frequent visits to China in his capacity as president and prime minister since he took power in 1999.

His latest two-day trip to Beijing follows last month's announcement that he plans to reclaim the presidency in a bid that may keep him in power until 2024.

Putin is well known in China, where businessmen and politicians consider him the top figure in the Russian political pecking order. On Wednesday, Hu called him "an old friend of China.""

Russia still matters. That's what matters to Putin and his supporters. Russia and China can counter-balance the weakening USA! I think that is what I can conclude from Putin's trip.

Lessons for me are:

1. politics do not care who is the 'right' guy or gal as long as someone in power is or are happy with certain arrangement. Mainly to preserve their own power!;

2. national pride still matters to some people. So, keeping a tough stance with the public enemy, USA, in China and Russia will score political points;

3. while the 2 nations try to work together to counter the power of USA, there is no guarantee that their 'structured' relationship can last. In fact, this type of 'trading of benefits and power' relationship cannot stand up to stresses normally. A lasting relationship normally has the foundatin of - mutual benefits, mutual sacrifices, and mutual trust!

May the game continue as long as it works against USA - for now ...

Daily Lessons from Life 11 October 2011 - China's 'wealthiest village' of Huaxi

2011-10-12T01:02:00.004+08:00

"A new landmark skyscraper, Longxi International Hotel, has opened for business in China's 'wealthiest village' of Huaxi, situated in Jiangsu province. The 74-story hotel screams for attention at 328 metres and raises the skyline of the otherwise low-lying village to a new height.

AFP, China Daily

The building ranks as the 15th-highest skyscraper in the world, dwarfing many famous buildings such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and New York's Chrysler Building. There are around 10 taller buildings in China - including the Shanghai World Financial Center, the third highest in the world - but all of these are in major cities.

The five-star hotel cost US$470 million (S$606 million) to build and was partly financed by the villagers. On the 60th-floor of the tower, a solid gold bull weighing a tonne greets visitors at a viewing area, a testament to the wealth of the village.

Guests walk in the lobby of the new skyscraper tower of Huaxi village before its official inauguration, October 7, 2011. According to China Daily, the building has more than 800 suites, which could accommodate about 2,000 people.

The high-rise also features an exhibition hall, meeting rooms (above), revolving restaurant, rooftop swimming pool and gardens, reported China Daily.

Huaxi is still classed as a village in east China's Jiangsu province despite having expanded significantly over the years, engulfing nearby villages and its population growing to 50,000 from 1,600 in the 1960s. Once a poor farming community, it has boomed during the past 30 years of China's economic reform.

Dubbed a "model socialist village", Huaxi's wealth is based on the collective funds of registered households who have amassed money in industries such as steel and textiles. Most household revenues are reinvested into further projects on a mandatory basis, keeping the cycle going.

200 village households are shareholders in the hotel, each providing 10 million yuan (S$2 million) in capital for the project. "The building is a symbol of collectivism," Zhou Li, deputy Party chief of the village and manager of the Huaxi Village Tourism Co, told China Daily.

But some critics dispute the village's "socialist" labelling, saying it has instead become a symbol of capitalism in the communist state. Huaxi Group, the corporation that manages the village's business, has 2,000 shareholders - all registered residents. Non-residents are not allowed to be shareholders, even if they work there.

Work on the five-star hotel began in 2007 and was completed in less than four years."

Well, need I say more about this 'model village' of developing China?

Lessons learned?

1. the best is YET to come?;
2. meaningful consumption?;
3. sutainable?

Let's check in on this 'model village' in 2021!!

Daily Lessons from Life 10 October 2011 - Our diversity must not divide us: President Tan

2011-10-10T21:20:00.002+08:00

"Our diversity must not divide us: President Tan - CNA 10 October 2011

SINGAPORE: President Tony Tan Keng Yam has called on Singaporeans not to allow diversity to divide the country.

A key theme of his Opening Address to the 12th Parliament is how Singapore has to manage an increasingly diverse population, with different demands, expectations and needs, and still remain a cohesive society.

Dr Tan acknowledged that Singapore's politics is becoming more diverse and open, as more people are contending to represent different groups and interests.

"This is positive for Singapore. But in the heat of the political tussle, we must not forget that we all share the same goal, namely serving the people," he said.

"Hence all sides must take a long-term, national perspective, put society's interests above their own, and find the right way forward together despite different views and preferences. Only by getting our politics right and keeping it constructive and responsible will Singapore make progress."

"Our diversity must not divide us. Fault lines in our society have to be carefully managed. We have done well in strengthening racial and religious harmony. Now we must try hard to prevent a new fault line from forming between local-born Singaporeans and recent immigrants," he said.

"Singaporeans are active partners in our shared future, not passive bystanders as we progress. Citizens need to make the effort to think through the issues, weigh the options, and make the compromises and choices," he said.

President Tan also mentioned senior citizens and the younger generation. He said the underlying objective of the government's programmes for the people is to ensure that all citizens will always have a place in Singapore regardless of their background, religion or race.

He added: "Our success is defined not just by material progress but also by our values and ideals. We want a fair and just society that ensures the well-being of every citizen; a gracious and compassionate community whose members care for one another; and a truly special Singapore, where our children can grow to be the best that they can be."

Concluding his address to the Parliament, President Tan said that very few countries have been able to achieve what Singapore has done and he called on every Singaporean to build on the strong foundation together for a better life and a brighter tomorrow."

Finally the President has spoken and the parliament convened. What the President had said is great. If he sets the direction, then hopefully all the politicians in parliament can help to execute well and realize the vision articulated.

Lessons for me are:

1. diversity is good when the diverse participants know they own needs must be measured against the bigger good. It is not 'every Singaporean for himself or herself' but 'listening to all justification and accept the decision of authoriy if the majority gains!;

2. this will required citizens that are discerning, thinking and able to make well informed independent and intelligent decisions! Will our world class education produced such voters? I am not sure. Even the ruling government was not sure after the debacles of the last General Election! This is sure sign that our educational system is not well and truly need another re-look. One with long term objectives clearly set up, debate vigorously, and properly execute;

3. many diverse needs have to be fulfilled and satisfied. Do we have unlimited resources to do that? NO! Can we spare some to do that? YES as long as we know we are NOT depleting the national reservce without any means to replenish it. Some sacred cows may need to be re-looked at and even sacrificed! To have affordable public housing for 1st time owners, the public housing policy must be anchored on the premise that: "public housing is the basic option for owner-occupier ONLY and NOT a ticket to 'upgrade' to more expensive public or private property! Building more expensive building does not necessarily means better hospital/school/offices.

May the 1st World Nation with a 1st World Parliament supervised by a 1st World Citizenry begins the journey in earnest!!

Majulah Singapura!!