SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

The general common perception is that experience comes with age and hence as one grows older and learns from his previous experiences and failures, he will grow to be more mature and wiser. But this may not often be the case. From my daily interactions with people, I have observed a relatively large number of people who display a sense of maturity and wisdom which falls short of their age. The common problem for them is their mannerism and demeanour. Some behave, talk like a child. Some enjoy fun like there is no tomorrow and do not plan for their life. Some exhibit the undesirable traits of the ‘K’s of Singaporean: Kiasu and Kiasee. Others have unhealthy mindsets. It may also be too simplistic to associate age with maturity and wisdom. The values inculcated in the person since young, the life experiences undergone by the person and the attitude the person himself makes out of life are equally critical to shaping his character. I cannot emphasize more strongly the point of learning. Le

Life is never fair. This fact of life always holds truth to a certain degree even as society progresses. The notion of fairness derives principally from the assumptions of our moral values that we have been inculcated since young. Such assumptions include ‘Hard work will translate to success one day’, ‘Good character and good values will deserve good returns’ and etc. These assumptions though may be true are constantly being challenged in these times. For instance, the notion of ‘hard work will translate to successes may no longer be true nowadays. Though performance counts in many companies these days and thus hard work which results in good performance will merit promotions, salary increments and the like; mergers, divestments, outsourcing constantly displace employees from their workplaces. These almost immediately reduce them to zero (being jobless), erasing off their significant achievements made to the companies over the years completely. To these displaced employees, life is nev

While it is applauding that the National Environment Agency (NEA) has banned smoking in many public places, it could do more to prevent non-smokers from passive smoking. Like the majority of Singaporeans, I live in a HDB flat. Every night, my neighbour living one storey below me would light his cigarette up in his balcony. The smoke emanated from his cigarettes would never fail to ascend and enter my unit through the windows. Every night, my family and I would have to bear the unbearable smell of the unhealthy cigarette smoke as my unit is engulfed by it. While the smoker is having a pleasant time indulging in his activity, my family and I have to suffer from the dreadful effects of passive smoking. What made the fact worst is the reality that we do not choose to be exposed to passive smoking, we are in the place we love most: our home. Daily, I return home after a heavy day at work to rest in my pleasant home. It is indeed unthinkable that the health of my family is being compromised

There are millions and millions of books in this world, containing tons of useful knowledge to be imbibed, learnt and applied by man. The experience of human, the wisdom of sages, the worthy thinking of the philosophers are encapsulated in these tomes. In this global era, information is rapidly growing at a phenomenal pace. One must constantly make sense of the information presented right at his face and be discerning enough to discern the worthiness of the information. Information can only be transformed into knowledge with the right framing of the information by the perceiver of the information. The knowledge, once applied will generate possibilities beyond the imagination of the perceiver. Knowledge is power in this era too. Reading is one route to gaining information and acquiring of excellent knowledge. Youths are the pillars of the future of our society, they should be reading more than their predecessors. It is alarming to witness that more and more of our youths are besieged by

Singapore saw another group of citizens, mostly the aged, graduating from the YAH Community College today. The YAH (Youth At Heart) programme was a brainchild of the community institution with the aim to promote livelong learning among the senior citizens. Its other thrust is to render learning opportunities to those who were not privileged to attend schools in their younger days. The objectives of the programme are noble. For this programme, though the graduates don a mortar board and receive their scroll on stage, much alike the graduation ceremonies in the universities, they did not graduate with a bachelor in any discipline. Critics were quick to jeer at the senior citizens for donning a fake mortar board, wearing an inauthentic graduation gown and wasting time to earn a useless certificate. Some critics went as far as to suggest that this programme was a money spinner to generate mileage from this group of learners. What these critics fail to recognise is that the graduates of the

Singapore has clinched the hosting right for one of the F1 tournament games next year and coming on its radar is its bid to host the inaugural Youth Olympics. Singapore has also expressed interest to host the upcoming Volvo ocean race and Red bull air races. The benefits of hosting these international games of such stature are tremendous: it will inject a further boost to the Singapore’s economy and also stand Singapore in good stead in attracting tourist dollars and raising the awareness of our country. Together with the completion of the mega-projects such as the IRs and the Singapore Flyer, these international events will create a sense of vibrancy in the local community and may inject some excitement into the lives of Singaporeans. Never has our country been more exciting before. These are certainly changes in this new era where globalisation is the buzzword and competition is greater than before. In this new era, it is not only countries that must be constantly on the vanguard of

It was highlighted in today news that a British judge has ruled that the award-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” by former US Vice President Al Gore had presented some misleading facts and figures on global warming. The whole world seemed to be lapping up what Al Gore had presented in his documentary and took in completely the veracity of the facts outlined in his documentary. This brought to the point of the important role that mass media plays everyday in our lives. Many of the people has assumed that information purveyed by media are not error-free and fail to distinguish fact and fiction, opinions and facts. Statistics, bar chars, and other graphic tools used to present information are often impressive enough and it can look quite convincing to readers and audiences. One must be discerning enough to analyze the source of the data, the means of gathering the data, and whether the data presented are one-sided and without bias. In this age of information, technology and kno

Organizations depend on people and managers are critical to organizations. Managers need to be credible people, who are good leaders and who is able to motivate subordinates to excel in their work. There are tons of management tenets and mantras which I will not repeat here, one can read on these elaborated text. It is stifling and irritating to work under bad managers when you know you may be better than him or her and when your talents are constantly being stifled.

The grand prize of $5.5 million for the TOTO draw is shared between 2 lucky winners, each bagging about $2.75 million and they have become instant millionaires, joining the ranks of the 666 000 millionaires in Singapore. To win the top prize, one must obtain the correct 6 numbers out of a pool of 45 numbers and that mean a staggering 8145060 possible combinations and a razor-thin 0.00000123% probability of winning. If one is gungho enough, one can buy all the possible combinations at 50 cent each and that will be to the tune of $4,0725,30. This will definitely be foolhardy as the top prize may be shared by as many as 10 or more, thus one who adopts this tactic will definitely be at a losing edge. People who become instant millionaires via TOTO will not succumb to this rhetoric, they just need excellent luck and they got it. Others may rely on scientific means as they study the patterns, the combinations over many previous years and there may even be others who resort to unorthodox spir

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is doing a marvelous job in putting a stem to the perennial light up of cigarettes in public places like the coffee shops, bus interchanges, pubs etc. The thrust of the initiative, key to ensuring that non-smokers’ health are not jeopardized by passive smoking is well-founded. However the question is whether this initiative is sustainable? The machinery of enforcement, fines and monitoring is cranked up and set to full gear but at times where there are no officers to monitor and enforce would-be offenders, the basic instinct of smokers, kicks in and it is still not uncommon to see smokers smoking at public places at times. The effective success of the anti-smoking regulations can only be achieved through a mindset change albeit with the heavy fines, a certain deterrent effect can be achieved. All public places may be covered with anti-smoking regulations and fines meted out to offenders when necessary, but the regulations may not be able to cover h

“It is only during crisis or losses that people usually treasure what they have.” “ It is only during difficult times that leadership ability is being tested “. These two sayings are commonly heard and the veracity of the sayings are often attested to. These same sayings apply to common objects around us. One often finds that the objects around us have not much of a value unless one needs to use them urgently. For example, we may possess many pens around us but many people may have to source for a pen urgently when he has to use it in an emergency situation and realizes he does not have one. Many of these aforementioned problems can easily be solved by being ready: e.g. bringing a pen with you when you are out and bringing an umbrella to prepare for a sudden rainy weather. I observe such practices and often find it bewildered on seeing scores of people stranded in one place during a heavy rain, wasting valuable time to wait for the rain to cease, as they are unguarded with umbrellas. O

Sleep Sleep is paramount to one’s health and well-being. However as the society progress more and more rapidly, people are generally getting busier, juggling work, family life and other commitment within the same fixed 24 hour day. As one gets busier, sleep is even more critical, a busier person shall be getting more sleep for his body to ‘recover’ from the onslaught of the daily chores. However, this may be impossible in today’s society where the pace of life is mind-boggling, and I am talking about metropolis and cities in general, including Singapore. Sleep is at a premium to me too and I do not sleep enough. Signs of insufficient sleep are often shown on the next working day when one yawns repeatedly and needs that constant repeated jab of caffeine from teas and coffees; however this caffeine jab does not work for me anymore. Over time, insufficient sleep will exert adverse effects on one’s mental and physical health. The best cure is to obtain a sufficient sleep by turning into be

It has been pouring the whole of today. After the rain, the smell of the night was made even more palpable, sending my mind back to reminiscence mode as flashes of memories streaked past in my mind, reminding me of the yester-years. It was the smell of the night, but more aptly, the smell of the jungle; when boys become men, when command and control were given to a few men who were supposed to be good officers and commanders. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Command and control when given in a military setting, when left unchecked and used to control a bunch of innocent young men who did not have any inkling of the military law soon became hell. Abuse, humiliation, unfair treatments were the norms of the days…… the commanders were naïve to think that young men in their early 20s could not distinguish between strict regimen and plain ‘tekaning’. In my two years’ stay at the now notorious army camp, I could not recall the numbers of incidents when I was subject to absurd humiliation, tau

This morning, I had the good opportunity to visit an autism care centre on a guided tour and had a better understanding of autism and persons suffering from autism. In the context of our visit, we are being introduced to the term that the centre uses for the patients: clients. The general public does not have a good understanding of these clients. When one sees the clients in the public, the general consensus that one gives to this disadvantaged group of people is that they are not normal, and what one will usually do is to stare at their behaviours, and at time, some unkind folks may even jeer at them. This is understandable as many of us do not comprehend their actions. I really treasure today’s guided visit to the autism centre and I would like to share with all what I have learnt from today’s visit. Autism is hardly detected in affected young toddlers and signs of autism in a young affected child only surface out when he or she reaches 3 years of age. When these signs are detected,

Turning the pages of my diary, I suddenly realised that year 2007 is coming to an end suddenly. January is just like yesterday and here we are welcoming Christmas and then the Chinese New Year very very soon. People like to make New Year resolution and with the coming close of the year, many people will tend to reflect on the new year resolutions that they had made for themselves at the beginning of the year, and whether they have been fulfilled. Unfulfilled goals will most probably become new resolutions for the New Year for them. What have you achieved for this year so far? I believe achievements cannot be defined solely in material terms and tangible terms alone. Achievements to many will be to earn money, get the next promotion, get a better paying job, buy a bigger car or house, there is indeed a continuum of wishes …….these achievements are definitely some achievements for the individuals and the wishes to fulfil these achievements are understandable and inevitable in modern and

Reported in the news not too long ago was the fact that Singapore’s population has reached a figure of 4.68 million! This number includes the close to 1 million PRs and foreigners living and working in our island. The government has in the months before, unveiled its land use plan to cater for a possible population of 6.5 million. This created some ruckus among Singaporeans who have questioned the feasibility of accommodating this figure on our tiny island. With the population increase, is it any wonder if I find myself being in the midst of an increasing crowd these days on the MRTs, in the shopping centres on weekends and even in my neighbourhood? I find myself lost amidst the increasing throngs, outside of the hectic schedule of work, I need a breather. I need some place quiet, some place remote to do this ……. The place for such sacred places is getting more and more scare ……… I do know of one sacred place for to take a breather and imbibe in the natural surroundings and be complete

Charles Darwin’s evolution theory postulates that it is not the most intelligent man who will survive, and neither the strongest, but the one who is most adapt to changes. In this rapid changing era where change is the buzzword, man always find himself adapting to the new era. It is no longer a choice to be adaptable in this century, it is a MUST. Technologies keep outdating itself, new knowledge is relentlessly being created, new things are always on the move. Faced with the vortex of change, man has to learn, unlearn and relearn to make sense of the changing world. Today’s winners are learners. But not all learners are winners, the crux depends on what things you learn. Today’s economy is geared towards future, man has to learn about future, predict future and control future rather than being held hostage by the unknowns of the future. Singapore is entering into an exciting era. Singapore is entering into new industries like the IRs, the biomedical fields, and imbibing new ideas into

Singapore is a haven for food lovers, with a whale of food centres and restaurants offering a host of cuisine, pampering the tastebuds of the mass. Food centres have been renovated into spacious, hygienic dining places for all. Caterers have to pass through stringent checks on hygiene, food processing etc. The image of food centres is constantly been revamped. Though all measures seem to be in place to ensure a good quality of food and dining place, I still lament on the quality of food being served in the food centres. The benchmark of quality in my opinion is neither the taste of the food, nor the hygienic standard. Though these two criteria are paramount, another key criteria is how healthy the food is. I believe some of the food served in our food centres may be too oily, or loaded with too many salt, MSG. It will take a discerning tastebud to discover the excesses of oil, salt, MSG present in food. With the majority of Singaporeans working and hencefore eating out lunch and someti

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