August 2012 | SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

Friday, August 31, 2012

PM Lee Hsien Loong’s call for work-life balance is good BUT ….

PM, in his rally speech, has called for employers to reinforce work-life balance in the workplaces but reality in the workplace is not that ideal. In my work place, after the official work closing time, most of the employees do not want to leave as they want to score some “points” doing some “face time” overtime work. Many will take the opportunity to send out an email they have written hours ago to their bosses in a bid to “impress” their bosses; others will deliberately go and see the bosses after the closing time for the same reasons though they spend most of their work time earlier chatting and surfing the internet.

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PSI readings: I doubt the accuracy

This afternoon was really hazy, the dirt and smog clouded the vision of the faraway. Wow, the PSI must be very high, I thought to myself. Curious, I opened up my internet browser and surfed the authorities’ website, only to read that the PSI was still in 20-30 plus range!

Teachers, Education Support Staff get pay rise

Teachers and Education Support Staff will get pay rise with effect 1 Sep 12! I congratulate teachers and education support staff for their pay rises!

I noted since Education Minister Heng Swee Kiat came aboard to helm Ministry of Education, there have been many monetary incentives! I am not sure whether it is because he was Singapore’s central bank banker before as the former Managing Director of Monetary Authority of Singapore, that monetary-incentive rewards seem natural to him. Take for example, the monetary incentives to reward good behaviour among students which drew brickbats! This came from Mr Heng! And now teachers and education support staff will get pay rise too!

While teachers and education support staff will receive increments in their salaries, we hear of so many cases of teachers involving in bad conduct and sex-related cases. The latest comes from a PCF Kindergarten teacher who shamed her female student by asking her to stand stark in front of her classmates!

HDB CCTV to deter high rise littering: an intrusion of public privacy!

The government authorities announced that CCTVs will be installed at a number of HDB flats here in Singapore to deter high rise littering.

Save Pearl Centre: the unorthodox jewel of predictable Singapore

Once Pearl Centre is pulled down to make way for Thomson MRT Line, Singapore will be 100% predictable with no unorthodox shopping centre offering a unique perspective of Singapore.

Pearl Centre & Thomson MRT Line

Pearl Centre, a neglected building in Outram became the talk of the town yesterday with the government announcing details of the construction of the Thomson MRT Line. Similar to the fate that befell Rocher Centre when the government indicated that the building would need to give way for Downtown MRT line, Pearl Centre will have to give way to Thomson MRT Line and in its place will be another integrated mega development.

One Eye Dragon & Four Eye Dragon: the Most Shocking Point of National Day Rally 2012 [National Day Rally 2012 afterthought Part 3]

Many, as reported, hailed PM Lee’s National Day rally speech as one of the best ever. I also feel that PM Lee not only spoke well, he connected well with the audience. However, there was one point in the rally where I almost fell off my chair as I was suddenly shocked at what PM Lee said.

Meaning of Carrefour and what Carrefour should do before closing down Carrefour Suntec and Carrefour Plaza Singapura

With the announced closing down of French’s Carrefour in Singapore, I believe beside discounts, Carrefour should do one thing before pulling down the shutters at Suntec City and Plaza Singapore. It is to teach Singaporeans to pronounce the word “Carrefour”. Since it set up its stores 15 years ago, I still hear people saying “Carrie Four”. The correct pronunciation is “Ka Fu” (in Chinese Hanyu Pin Yin).

What causes hot housing and intense tuition for children? [National Day Rally 2012 afterthought Part 2]

This is my second post of my afterthought on PM Lee’s National Day Rally 2012. My first afterthought post is quite well received and you can refer to the previous post to read it.

Carrefour to close down Singapore outlets by year end

I am disappointed to read that Carrefour will be closing down its Singapore outlets by the end of the year.

Singapore’s National Day Rally 2012: it’s all about LOVE

Similar to previous years, I listened intently to the National Day Rally 2012 yesterday night. Though there was a change in the format of the rally this year, my focus was still on what the Prime Minister said instead of the speech by the 3 cabinet members.

City is so empty today

My family and I went to city hall for shopping today, only to see very little human traffic in the shopping centres or around the city areas as compared to the normal weekends. Why is that so? Well I reckon that it has to do with the NATAS travel fair that is ongoing at the Expo. Singaporeans are tour fanatics and I think it has to do with our small land mass.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Singapore Air Quality Last Year worse than 2007

Singapore's air quality last year was actually worse than in 2007 (reference). I think no doubt we have award-winning tourist attractions which serve more to attract tourists than serving locals, we really need to improve our air quality lest we become like Hong Kong.

National Day Rally 2012

It was announced yesterday that in the upcoming National Day Rally, the format of the rally will be differ from tradition: 3 cabinet members will share the stage with Prime Minister during the rally. The 3 cabinet members are Heng Swee Keat, Lawrence Wong and Halimah.

K Shanmugam on reckless driving on Singapore’s Roads

Law Minister K Shanmugam and his wife experienced some reckless drivers while driving on public roads yesterday. Shanmugam posted their encounter on his Facebook page and within hours, his post has garnered many comments from netizens and his post made news on TV yesterday night.

ITE Fiesta

ITE East is having a Great ITE Fiesta next Sunday. I am attracted very much at the free workshops! For more details of the ITE Fiesta.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Christopher Neo of NSP passed on due to heart attack

Christopher Neo of NSP has passed on due to heart attack. This is the second case in a row that heart attack has hit a prominent Singaporean. Only recently, Dennis Ng, a well-known financial personality passed on due to heart attack.

K Shanmugam vs Sylvia Lim over Woffles Wu

I watched the parliamentary highlight on Channel 8 yesterday featuring the “verbal sparring” between K Shanmugam and Syvia Lim over the case of the fining of Dr Woffles Wu over a traffic incident he was involved in. The TV footage showed both legally-trained Law Minister and Sylvia Lim exchanging their comments eloquently and finally ended with K Shanmugam’s comments.

Though I do not want to take side with either of them, from the TV footage, it seems that the Law Minister wins the argument and some newspaper editors seem to have a field day featuring this exciting argument today.

Living Life to the Fullest

My job is getting more and more mundane with no job prospects, bad colleagues, poor management and many politics. Faced with these, it is really very disappointing hence I told myself I will just need to do more in other areas of life and excel in them; the fact that I am blogging at this time is a testament to my determination not to concede defeat though my career is at its nadir.

Feng Tian Wei looking for a boyfriend, potential Singapore PM Chan Chun Sing becomes matchmaker

Singapore's newly-minted Olympic medalist Feng Tian Wei who won a bronze medal in the Olympics is now looking for a boyfriend. Singapore Table Tennis Association Er Lee Bee Wah has asked Acting Minister of Community, Youth and Sports, Chan Chun Sing to help Tian Wei look for a prospective boyfriend in MINDEF according to the Chinese media website.

NSF LCP Muhammad Fahrurrazi Salim reported missing in Brunei training area

The search for LCP Muhammad Fahrurrazi Salim who went missing during training in Brunei this morning is currently on. I hope that he will be okay. This incident made me recall the gruelling training I had overseas during my National Service Days. I have "chong suan" (i.e. charged through the mountains), charged through the dense forests, climbed the challenging mountains and terrains, dug self-scapes and did physically and mentally exercises without much sleep in Thailand, Taiwan and Brunei.

of McDonald's Breakfast & Double Queue

It has been some time since I last blogged really about myself. So this blog post will just do that.

This morning, I went to McDonald's to buy sausage and egg mcmuffin for my family. I used the discount coupons for the purchase as with these coupons, prices are definitely lower. I treat McDonald's breakfast as a luxury as I do not earn much. With my modest salary and inflation, I choose bread over other much better meals for my breakfasts on weekdays, but on weekends, I try to my very best to give myself and my family a treat.

What Happens to Google employees if they die

Google's perks for its employees are the best in the world: free hair cuts, gourmet food and so much more! Singapore can also emulate the practice of Google by implementing paid leave for husbands as well, read this:"new dads working in Google enjoy six weeks of paid leave while moms can take 18 weeks after the birth of a child!

Katy Perry - Part Of Me

Days like this,
I want to drive away
Pack my bags
And watch your shadow fade

Free Museum Admissions in August

The National Museum of Singapore will be waiving all its admission charges (except for some galleries) for visitors to its eight musuems this month!

This admission charge waiver must be in conjunction with the celebration of Singapore's birthday. However, if I were to utlize these free admission charges and visit the musuems, I would do it before next Friday.

NUS Fire

A huge explosion rocked block E3A, Engineering Faculty of National University of Singapore (NUS) this afternoon.

While the cause of the fire has not been determined, I wondered whether the explosion which came one day after our National Day was due to the ignition of fire-crackers to celebrate National Day?

Sasuke Singapore

I enjoyed the debut of Sasuke Singapore yesterday night right after the National Day Parade telecast on Channel 5. It has really been some time since I enjoyed a local game show.

National Day Parade 2012: Singapore's politicians in Red and White

I am happy to see that in today's National Day Parade, many of our politicans from the ruling party and worker's party don red and white to celebrate our Nation's parade instead of the white and blue colours that are representative of their political parties.

Lee Kuan Yew

I was shocked this afternoon when a colleague asked me whether I have heard that something bad has happened to Lee Kuan Yew. He told me that in the internet, rumours have been spreading like wildfire. I went to do a search on Lee Kuan Yew and indeed found so many related threads, I will just list some of them here:

National Day Awards 2012 recipients

National Day Awards 2012: congratulations to the following Singaporeans for being conferred the National Day Awards 2012 on 9 Aug 2012. For the full list of National Day Awards 2012 recipients, please click this link

Singapore Olympics 2012 results: Best showing ever or Self-fulfilling prophecy?

The Olympics game in London is coming to a close soon. Singapore’s medal haul in this Olympics is two bronze medals. I still remember before our Olympics team set off for London, the head of delegation gave a prediction of two medals, though it fell short of saying what colour the medals are. Now we know that these 2 medals as predicted are bronze medals. Self-fulfilling prophecy has kicked in and our Olympics team really delivered as what has been set as a prediction: two medals. Self-fulfilling prophecy becomes self-limiting belief, our Olympic team delivered no more or no less, just right as what the self-fulfilling prophecy says: two medals.

Singapore Female Olympics Table Tennis Team: No more excuses please

I read today’s The Straits Times which highlighted the defeat of our female Olympics table tennis team. It was reported that our female team were surprised at the improved performance of their Japanese counterparts which led to their defeat. I really think that our female paddlers are really finding an excuse for their defeat. Instead of saying the Japanese team has improved in form, why not acknowledge that our Singapore team plays poorly?

Lee Chong Wei: a model for Singapore Olympics sports

Just as some Singaporeans are still (feeling) euphoric about Feng Tian Wei’s bronze medal win in the ongoing Olympics games, our female table tennis team comprising Feng Tian Wei, Wang Yue Gu and Lee Jia Wei were defeated by their Japanese counterparts in the semi-finals today (2 a.m today) with no winning game at all in the match as consolation.

LTA is looking to fill 129 positions within 1 month after SMRT’s COI!

The SMRT’s COI has just been completed recently. After the COI, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, who relinquished his portfolio as Foreign Affair’s 2^nd Minister on 1 Aug 12 acknowledged that LTA is to share the blame for the slew of SMRT breakdowns.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim the next Malay PAP Minister?

The latest Singapore’s cabinet shuffle has thrown the spotlight on two matters:

a) political renewal within PAP

b) female PAP leadership

Singapore’s Olympic Bronze Medal in Table Tennis should be shared with Singaporeans

The local media seems to hail Feng Tian Wei as a heroine after she clinched a bronze medal for Singapore, the first by a single in 52 years. With National Day being next Tuesday, I think this bronze medal is a good gift for Singapore.

National Day Awards 2012: will Feng Tian Wei be conferred a PBM after clinching an Olympics Bronze Medal?

Feng Tian Wei clinched an Olympic Bronze Medal for Singapore in yesterday’s Olympic Table Tennis bronze medal play-off. This is the first Olympic medal clinched by a single for Singapore in 52 years.

Brompton Bicycle & NParks

All Thanks to NPark’s procurement of 26 Brompton bicycles at $2,200 each, now I think many Singaporeans would now know of Brompton bicycles. There should be a study conducted to see how this incident of NPark’s purchase of Brompton bicycles which has caused a massive outcry among Singaporeans has affected the sales of Brompton bicycles. Personally, I think the sales of Brompton bicycles as a result of this incident might have increased as Singaporeans now know that Brompton bicycles is more durable than its other counterparts as highlighted by NParks in its justification of the purchase.

Elixir of Youth at City Hall MRT Station

We all know 1 minute is equal to 60 seconds and 2 minutes is equal to 120 minutes, right. But how come this simple law of time was defied at City Hall MRT Station?

Parc Olympia: Tan Howe Liang and not Feng Tian Wei should grace Parc Olympia’s launch

Recently, a new condominium in Pasir Ris was launched. This new condominium was called Parc Olympia and in line with its name, developers launched Parc Olympia in an Olympic-fashion, inviting Feng Tian Wei, Singapore’s best hope for an Olympic medal in an individual event to grace the event instead.

Why ICA’s profits will at least double

I just realized that the validity period of Singapore passports has become half of the original period. Initially, Singaporeans passports have a 10 years validity period but nowadays, the validity period of Singapore passports is halved to 5 years.

Feng Tian Wei vs Ding Nang: why our Table Tennis team always lose to China players

Feng Tian Wei managed to make it to the semi-finals of the Table Tennis yesterday, facing off Ding Nang. The match was telecast “live” 11 pm yesterday. By that time, my eyes were already closing and when I saw Feng losing two matches, one after another to Ding, I simply switched off my television set and headed to slumberland. I knew that Feng Tian Wei would lose to this world No. 1 player and she did so when I checked the result this morning!

Singapore’s Cabinet reshuffle: of Chan Chun Sing, Grace Fu, Tan Chuan-Jin, Lawrence Wong, Lui Tuck Yew and Singapore’s next Prime Minister

Yesterday, the government announced a slew of changes and new appointments in its cabinet make-up. As expected, the three young political high-flyers: Chan Chun Sing, Tan Chuan-Jin and Lawrence Wong were promoted.

MCCY, MSF n MCI

MCCY will represent the Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth here in Singapore as Singaporeans learnt the news that the 2 Ministries MICA and MCYS will become 3 Ministries:- the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) respectively.

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