Brutal attack on a 3 year old

Anyone read the brutal and cruel attack on a 3 year old child by the mother's lover in the paper today? He punched the child's face, slammed his head against the wall, bit his penis and scrotum etc. These went on and on for months. The poor child eventually died. The punishment was seven years imprisonment and 12 strokes of rotan. The guy who kissed and suckled another boy's organ, without causing hurt got 12 years imprisonment and 12 strokes of rotan. Which is a more severe crime? Why was the mother not punished for letting the brute attacked her child in such a vicious and deadly way?

The Presidential Address

Nathan was a key administrator in his younger days, holding very important appointments in the govt that no fools will be allowed to get near to by the miles. To be in those positions, he must have proven to be a man of great intellect and brilliance. His writing skills is on par with that of Devan Nair. His understanding of social and political issues of the land is as good as any politician worthy of his salt. We heard the Presidential address. It was very mechanical in the delivery. There was no flair, no passion, nothing that gets it near to what Nathan would have written it. No ohmm! It was just a prim and proper motherhood statement. Maybe that is what one can expect from a President's Address. Obama would not have it that way. How different would it be if Nathan would to write his own speech, use his own style, speak on issues that were close to his hearts, and deliver it the way he knows best, the style of Nathan. I am presuming that the President's speech was prepared for him by his staff. And I stand to be corrected on this. I still feel that Nathan would be able to make a more punchy and lively speech if he were to be himself and set aside the protocol of what a President should be.

New session in Parliament

What impresses me most during the keynote speech by the President is Nathan's health. He seemed to be getting more youthful by the day. He was so radiant, relaxed, well fed, and looked like he will live for another 50 years. The fountain of youth must be somewhere in the Istana. His motherhood speech was comprehensive and covered everything that needed to be said. Now comes the implementation part which the ministries are expected to do the due diligence. One recommendation I have in mind is to raise property prices, both private and public. This is the best strategy 'in helping companies stay viable and continue to employ workers.' It will 'strengthen our revenue base', and the excess profits can be accumulated as reserves for a rainy day. With higher prices of properties, the private developers can make more profits, provide better jobs and pay their employees very well. In the public housing sector, the profits can be used to help those who needed help. Never mind if the buyers would have to pay a lifetime for the little space they bought. They can feel good to live in a half a million or one million dollar flats. Compare to Hongkong, our flats are still very cheap and very luxurious, endearing homes. In Hongkong one will have to pay a fortune for a 90 sq m. Here it is so affordable. Our 3 rm flat is like a mansion! So liveable. Our standard of living (and cost of living) is improving by the day.

The new 9 tier hospital bill system

It guarantees smaller bills. The subsidy ranges from 10% to 75%. A family with an income of $5,600 will still get a 10% income. Great, finally someone realises that a family income of $5,600 is nothing and bearly sufficient if spread across several adults with such a high cost of living. The question is whether a family income of $5,600 would translate into some money to be set aside to pay for hospital bills of $5k, $10k or $50k if the family is so 'sway' to be hit by a major illness. The article in the Today paper by Neo Chai Chin also includes an example of a Mrs Wong, 65, 28 days in a 8 bedded ward and a family income of $4000. Her bill of $2,500 today will become $2000 with a 40% subsidy in July 1. The best part is that she does not need to pay any cash. Wow, my mother will say 'free ah, no need to pay ah, govt so good!' In Mrs Wong case, $800 will be paid by MediShield and $1200 by Medisave. See, not only smaller bills, but no bills actually. Go in and stay and all paid for. Where on earth could one be so fortunate to stay in a world class hospital and literally for free? Only in paradise. For those with bigger income, they will have to stay in more expensive wards and a comparatively more expensive bills. Whatever the ward they choose, if income is above $5600, no subsidy. But they should thank god that they have bigger incomes to pay the bills. Lucky fellows.

Parliament in session

Parliament will reconvene again this week and there were expectations of change in view of the global economic crisis and its severity on the life of the average Singaporeans. This group in my definition will be those living in 4 and 5 room flats. The 3 roomers and smaller flat owners were obviously hit more. And the middle income, even in the lower end of the private housing sector were also not spared as well. I have only one wish for a change. The Ministry of Housing and Development needs a new minister and a new set of policy that is pro Singaporeans, does not eat up every cent of a Singaporean's income and then ask why Singaporeans do not have enough savings for old age. The grotesque profits as seen in Duxton Pinnacle do not go down well with a govt that is caring and wanting to give every Singaporean a decent home and stake in this country. Unless some jokers think that a decent home in Singapore is a 3 room flat. My endearing home to Singaporeans must mean better and afforable homes relative to their income. Singaporeans used to aspire to a 5 rm flat or better. At the rate that prices of public housing are being pushed upwards, many could only be contented with just a 3 rm or 4 rm flat. Maybe that is the reason why HDB is building more smaller flats for the people. My endearing home of bigger flats, private properties should be a message for the rich foreigners being invited here with red carpets. Singaporeans should count themselves lucky to have a 3 rm or 4rm flat as their endearing homes if this is the way things are moving.

I missed the pinkdot party

Oh dear, I was caught up with running an errant and missed the party altogether. I would love to share the pictures if I were there. About a thousand people were there. Anyway, the pics at TOC and a few other blogs were marvelous. Now I am kicking myself for not being there. The message is simple and clear, from the pics. The pink people are a happy lot, and beautiful too. If only we have more pinks among us, we will definitely be a happier place. Make love, not war. The same message from the sixties. Congrats to the authorities for approving the event. Definitely no violence or social security problems to be expected. The pink people shall also be happy that the non pinks were not there to jeer at them or pick a fight. It is inclusiveness and acceptance.

Mas Selamat's beard and....

The privilege of owning a blog is that one can write anything one likes, the most trivial, and paste it as the main news. You can't do it in the major media when readers paid for what they read. So here I am, on a Sunday morning, writing about the beard of Supermas. There are many angles I can approach this serious topic. I can compare how long it has grown since his escape, measurement can be in inches or centimetres. I can also talk about how handsome he looks, with or without his beard. I can also talk about his barber or hairdresser. He could have received a cut from a famous one in Orchard Road or Scudai. But this must be kept as a secret or his hairdresser will become as popular as Supermas overnight. Maybe he is already thinking of a poster or putting up an advertisement in the paper of his famous client. Should I go one step further and spin a theory that he cut his own beard and hair? Would anyone want to prove that this can be done? I am still waiting for the Mas Selamat look to become a fad. If that happens, you will see the images of Supermas all over the streets, in Singapore, JB and Batam. They may even hold swimming contest or Selamat look alike contest, or competition on overcoming the obstacles that Supermas had to go through in his escape. Now thie latter should be a good TV live serial. Contestants can compete with each other to see who can complete the obstacle course first. The first obstacle must be climbing out of a toilet window. Next, dashing to the fence. This should be followed by climbing over barbwire fence. I presume that security fence should have barbwires. Next, a 26 km limping run to the woodlands. The grand finale should be the river crossing with a choice of flotation devices. Contestants can choose whichever is suitable for themselves. And for this grand finale, there will be spotlights shining across the river, police patrol boats and civilian boats that can hit or crush the contestants to knock them out. Would that be an interesting proposition? How handsome Supermas looks with his beard and moustache.

Exploring and making red herrings real

It is so comical today, and everyday, to see people floating red herrings in the media, and you will have professionals trying so hard to make these red herrings look real, even experimenting with them, holding out trials to say, yes it can be done, it is the tooth. The sad part is that the more they try to prove the fallacy or incredibility, the more ridiculous they make themselves to look like one. The other sad part is that some section of the public would really be led or misled into believing them as the truth when they are obviously only the tooth. Guess the red herrings that we have read in the media? Unbelieveable to the point of insulting the intelligence of the public. I am also guilty of posting red herrings. But anyone reading my red herrings will know what they are, as they often came through with a big dosage of cynicism. My red herrings were never meant to convince the public that they were the truth, but to provoke thoughts of how ridiculous is the nature of things, unlike the commercial truth, the tooth that were fabricated to make the public believed. Thank god we have alternative media to separate the truth from the tooth.

More NMPs needed

In our open and inclusive society, when organisation of 200 members deserved to be represented in Parliament, we can look forward for more NMPs to be in Parliament to represent their little corners of interests. Now we have arts rep, sports rep, academic rep, medical profession rep, foreign talent or new citizen rep, it is time to open up Parliament to be more inclusive. The first rep or NMP I have in mind is the LGBT. There are definitely more than 200 members out there, maybe 20,000 or more. Surely they deserve to have a NMP to speak up for them. Then there are many other groups and professions that were not represented in Parliament. I could simply rattle off a few here, the silver hair, parents group, the retirees or jobless, pasar malam hawkers, motorworkshop, insurance agents, housing agents, stockbroking agents, loanshark association or moneylenders, newton food centre, the infamous shopowners of Lucky Plaza and Sim Lim Square, oh, the bloggers, and the small and smart children who are worldly and well read, thanks to internet and want to decide what is good for themselves without their parents or anyone imposing their values on them. Now who else should deserve a place in parliament? Charity organisations, yes, there are plenty of them and managing huge sums of money. Then CPF members. They have been victims all these while with people deciding for them on how to spend their money and they completely have no say, helpless, and no MPs or NMPs speaking for them or their interests. We need more NMPs in Parliament for it to be more representatives and for the people to be really represented, to speak out and protect their own interests. The MPs are too busy, with so many commitments and hats to wear that it is only natural that they could not give off their best, their full attention and devotion to their constituents. They are the most hardworking group of people, and the people must understand, that they only have 24 hours a day. They just cannot be anywhere and everywhere at the same time. They are advisers to so many grassroots, sports and community organisations. Poor chaps, truly supermen and superwomen. The NMP shall have a nice job cut out for them, to fill the gaps that MPs could not cover.

Sexual assault or tender loving care?

This guy hid in public toilets to wait for little boys to enter the toilet alone. When a lonely boy came, he would help the boy to remove his trousers and to pee. He would then fonder the boy and perform oral sex on the boy. Why is he charged for sexual assault? He was being nice to the boy, showing the boy some tender loving care. He didn't beat nor bit the boy. Isn't it unfair to him? He may be sentenced to imprisonment or given 12 strokes of the cane. Where is the inclusiveness? The guy was exercising his right to an alternative lifestyle.

The media tick off

After being unleashed for a few weeks to write partisan articles and comments on the Aware saga, Kan Seng has finally spoken to take the media to task for their less than proper reporting that were found wanting in some areas. It was so stark that the reporting was one sided, with journalists and reporters taking sides in the sorry and deplorable episode. Where was the professionalism to be impartial and objective? Why were they unleashed for so long to make those kinds of reports? Beats me. Someone behind the scene pushing some agenda? And no one knew that this was happening and everyone behaved like the 4 probervial monkeys! The impact was so fierce that the conservatives were in some way cowed to oblivion and afraid to make their stand on the issue of homosexuality. Or was it that the conservative views were not given a chance to be aired, not given any space in the media? Why was the media ending up like that, that it appeared to be serving the interests of some groups? I have read several letters of despair by the conservatives to the church and to Hsien Loong, calling for fairer and more objective reporting. And you can only read them in cyberspace, through emails and blogs. This highlighted how important cyberspace has become to provide a more balanced view of issues when TOM failed to do its job in impartiality. And look at the amount of postings on the NMP nominations! Again it is the netizens that are taking the lead to voice their concerns. This you cannot find in TOM. And TOM is now reporting the happenings and the numerous concerns of the netizens postings in blogs and in Reach. Why was there an absence of such letters of concerns in the TOM? The cyberspace and netizens are speaking out. Bloggers and netizens know that only in cyberspace can they expressed fully what their views were and be heard.

Motor Insurance - Must be the govt's fault.

In a discussion on the high motor insurance course the workshop, lawyers and insurance companies all denied that it was their fault. So if all of them are not at fault, so it must be the govt's fault lah. Logical right? Everyone is so innocent. The govt must come down hard on the culprits to clear its name and help motorists from being fleeced. The best part is to hear recommendation that motorists should negotiate with insurance companies or go shopping for the best rate. Really, can do such thing meh? In a cartel like industry, and without insurance one cannot renew road tax or drive, who is calling the shot? The motorists deserve a fairer system, reasonable premium and the govt to step him since no one is owning up. Would the govt come in to help the motorists or is it a buyers beware and free market system? Should we tell the motorists that it is there problem?

SuperMas

How talented is Mas Selamat? He has outwitted the whole Home Team and literally walked away in broad daylight with thousands of men and women chasing him but without a clue where he was for a year. And he lived the life of a free man in Johore without the Malaysian police knowing that he was there. He must be a man of exceptional talent, easily better than 10 or 100 of our supertalents put together. How else could one compare him when two police forces, three, if we are to include the Indonesians, could let him slipped away and be out of sight for so long. It was just unfortunate that Mas Selamat was born in Indonesia. If he is a full blooded Singaporean, he would probably be shortlisted for the Gifted Programme. This would be followed by an educational path taking him through RI and RJC and a string of straight As. And being an exceptional brilliant minority, he would definitely be handpicked for an overseas scholarship, even a President’s Scholarship could come his way. And you know what that would lead to? A political career and a minister in time to come. Such is the wasted talent in Mas Selamat. He was not given that kind of opportunity a talented Singaporean like him will be given. And he had to find his opportunity in a terrorist organisation where his talent were given a free hand to blossom. He is now a celebrity and well respected by the elite Singaporeans. Another opportunity is now presented to Mas Selamat. Fame, wealth and glory are knocking at his door. Hollywood could easily offer him US$10 million for his story and the right for a book and a movie. With that kind of offer, Mas could buy a big landed property in district 10 or Orchard Road and live next to a minister. I am very sure he will be most welcomed in the company of supertalents. The IISS or LKY School of Public Policy can offer Mas Selamat a chair as Professor in International Terrorism and JI. Mas can go on a circuit giving talks on terrorism like Clinton and Al Gore and pocket a million per talk. In addition he can conduct courses on how to escape from detention to our men in uniform. I am getting my autograph book ready for him to sign.

Who is responsible for educating our children on moral values?

Who is responsible for educating our children on moral values? Going to school for a secular education, to acquire knowledge in whatever fields, can be quite straight forward. Given the complexities of organized societies, the multiplicity of race and religion, and now sexual orientation and lifestyle choices, it is simply too obvious that what is right or wrong, what is good or bad, what is normal or abnormal, is not the same to different groups of people. Who shall be responsible to teach children the proper or normal values? Who should be authorized to impart their values to the children? Teaching about the birds and bees may look simple enough. What is not so simple is the morality and values ascribed to them. Who is arrogant enough to think that he/she, his or her organization, shall be the one to decide what to impart to the children as The right thing? Should Aware be authorized to do this part of a child’s education? Or, should any religious group be authorized to be the One to impart its values as the acceptable or right values? Or should there be a consolidation of agreed values by the various groups, a common set of values for all children? Or should each group or parents be the authority to impart their own values to the children? Who is responsible or ultimately be responsible for how these children will turn out eventually? Does the state have a set of values for the children? I think there is and parents do expect that these are the values that their children should be taught and not any other variants of it no matter which group thinks its values are superior or the best for the children. The MOE thus is responsible to ensure that the right values be taught in schools, not someone’s private agenda or values. Failing to ensure that this is done is unacceptable. The parents have certain expectations and they must have confidence that MOE shall deliver what it is expected to deliver.

Notable quote by Obama

'We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we've been travelling for so many years, with costs that are out of control.' Barack H Obama Obama was referring to the high medical cost in American and his health care plan to cut it by US$2 trillion. And we are happily plodding along the same path, with the US as our reference point. As long as we are cheaper than the US, we are ok. Our health care is affordable.

If there was no Thio Su Mien and Josie Lau...and gang

Yes, Thio Su Mien and Josie Lau and gang were booted out of Aware. Everyone clapped. Everyone happy. The majority have spoken. What if this event did not happen? Would the Aware CSE curriculum still be taught to the school children?

Year 2025 - A wedding

Now it is year 2025, and I am still alive. All my friends are still kicking around too, not mati yet. And I got a call from my anonymous friend. Hi Redbean, my son is getting married next Sat. You are invited. OH congrats. He must have found a beautiful bride. Ahem, not like that man. My son is the bride. And the groom is a tall and handsome Greek god, bronze in colour man. Wow, that must be exciting. So, you aren't planning to be a grandpa? Not really, they said they will adopt one from Kampuchea and one from Mamiya. So I will have two grandchildren. And I am truly happy to see them together. My son is so happy when he is with him. It is all about finding true happiness man. Great. So is the event formal or informal? Redbean, you are really 'swa koo'. This is year 2025, where got formal or informal. OK, then I will come in my tux top and jeans bottom. Would that be cool enough? Just come in whatever you like lah, as long as it is pink. Ok, no problem, I will just bleach one of my red shirt overnight. That shall do the trick. Oh, just for your info, the wedding is approved by the govt. How so? What has the govt got to do with the wedding. You son or son in law must be somebody important huh? It is like that lah, they are holding it at Hong Lim Park. Anything held there is approved by the govt. Oh, that's true huh. So clever. I am really looking forward to the wedding. I have been shooting orchids and dragonflies all my life. Now I have something real exciting to shoot at. Will be there. The above could be the reality of the future generations. Don't pray pray.

What are MOE's and Aware's positions?

The MOE had investigated and had banned the Aware CSE programme for the time being and is reviewing the contents from all the service providers of these programmes. MOE has also made its stand clear, that it follows the govt's policies of promoting healthy lifestyle with the family as the basic building block of our society. What the MOE needs to do is to clarify how the CSE programme was given the go ahead to be taught to school children. Was it an oversight or was it approved initially as acceptable until parents complained? As an oversight, it can be corrected by doing more due diligence. What is worrisome is that MOE could actually support such contents. Parents need an assurance that it is not. And MOE owes the parents who don't approved of the undesirable contents an explanation on how it came about. What is the true position of MOE on this? Similarly, Aware needs to publicise its position on the teaching of such material to school children. The Aware's content promotes homosexuality, anal sex and pre marital sex as normal. Is sodomy normal? Would Aware clarify where it stands on these issues? Is it for, against or neutral?

Mas Selamat – The Superman

We have heard it over and over again, Mas Selamat is a Superman. Not only that he could slip out of a heavily guarded detention centre, right under the noses of officers and guards, in broad day light, and disappeared for more than a year, terrorist experts are heaping praises on him, that he is an expert in terrorist acts, in making bombs, a determined man, a highly intelligent operator and what ever you can make him out to be. Basically he is smarter and more intelligent than any of the security officers we have in service. He is Superman! His latest exploit was to swim across the Straits of Johore, using improvised flotation gear. From what we read in the media, it was very likely that he strung together a pile of plastic bottles, tied probably with raffia strings or lallangs, and swum across the strait that was heavily patrolled by the coastguards in search of him. Ok, swimming across the 1.2km strait is no problem as school children could also do it easily. I definitely can’t. In the case of Mas Selamat, his comrade disclosed that he was a bad swimmer. Added to that, he has a bad leg that limps. So how could he swim across with such disabilities and handicaps. The obvious answer is that he had the help of some kind of propulsion. I think all he needed was to fart all the way and for an hour or so. That would take him across the strait. The only precaution he needed was to ensure that his farting was not too loud to be heard.

More transparency and less hostility

We have all heard calls for more inclusiveness and homosexuality is normal. It is also normal to teach children that homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle, and sexuality is normal, including pre marital sex. I have ventured into Catherine Lim's blog and read her article which suggested that parents should not imposed their values on their children. But is the Aware CSE programme imposing its values on children? The general impression I got is that many sophisticated adults, with many years of experience and widely read and travelled, assumed that children, in the early teens, are smart, well informed like them, and mature enough to make life choices on value loaded issues like sexuality, premarital sex, etc. And in her blog, there was one Beka who claimed to be a youth and very knowledgeable about such things, implying that all children are as knowledgeable and well informed as him/her. I asked him/her for his/her age as a 'youth'. From her post, I believe he/she will be a youth in her late 20s or 30s or older. There is no comparison to a child in her lower teens or pre teens. At those tender age, they are very vulnerable. Anyway, I got a few presumptious responses for my post in Catherine's blog that were clearly hostile and arrogant. Of course they called me presumptious, arrogant and ignorant. And I can clearly see where they are coming from. To be fair, to be transparent and open in our discussion over such 'normal issues' it is better that we know the background of the person speaking. I mean just the person's sexual orientation. This will help to make one understand why things were said in such a manner, and the values and experience that formed the basis of the positions taken. I am straight and hetero. I am normal. I do not feel ashame or any need to hide this information. And if the homosexuals do believe that they are normal, than they too should not feel ashamed to reveal their orientation. Then we can have a healthy discussion, with a better understanding of why the other is taking such a position. And this is a discussion between mature adults, not between arrogant and demanding individuals who only want others to see their points of view as the only right view. Homosexuality and heterosexuality are not something that we can ascribe right or wrong to them. Let's talk about them with some civility without getting emotional as if one who does not agree is an enemy and going after the other's lifestyle.