charity fund raising

there is a limit of 30% for the cost of fund raising for charitable organisations. the nkf had exceeded this amount. others claimed that they were able to keep cost to 30% which is well and good. in the case of a charity fund raising show like those on tv, many of the cost will have to be incurred up front. and then the donations from the public will come in during the show. how could the organisers of such charity shows maintained that they can keep cost down to 30% of fund raised when the cost is a pre show expenditure while the donations is unpredictable and depends on so many variables? an expenditure of $1m must bring in a donation of more than $3.5 mil to keep cost down to 30%. what happens if the donation does not come in? in a charity show, there is no way to guarantee that the cost will be less than 30% unless the organisers can guarantee a minimum sum before the show starts.

malaysian/singapore education system

the main difference in the approach towards education in malaysia and singapore, other than the emphasis on different language used in teaching, is the quality of the student intake and output. the malaysian system, affected by political interests, resulted in a levelling down in the academic standards of its products. on the singapore side, because of the emphasis on quality and economic interests, the result is more of a levelling up, catching with the best. outstanding students from neighbouring countries were given scholarships to the schools and universities. and the local students have no choice but to compete with the best foreign students. in malaysia, the best would have to slow down in a cohort made up of many very average students. the best students thus would hardly be challenged and probably got the impression that they were already outstanding with minimal effort. from another perspective, the general perception of all students, including the outstanding students, is the constant doubt whether their good results were real. this kind of image is unhealthy and unfair to the really good students and the whole education system.

how rich are singaporeans?

according to the statistics dept, there are about 3.5 million residents in the island, ie citizens and prs. a guess, our population for citizens may not be more than 3 million. this will give an adult population of maybe 2 million ie above 21. if we divide our reserves of $200 billion it will mean that we have $100,000 for each adult singaporean in the reserve alone. and if each poor household is still owning an asset worth of $100,000 plus another $50,000 est in the cpf, i think on a per capita basis, singaporeans must be one of the richest people in the world. given that, it is unthinkable and perplexing to see so many singaporeans in financial difficulties. is it because of our wrong policies in the allocation of wealth or the management of the wealth of the citizens? why are singaporeans not able to live more comfortably like the rich nations in europe? with the wealth that we have saved, how can we account for 200,000 families looking for state assistance. where is the problem?

western view has made china into a hostile expansionist state

the western media, scholars, analysts and leaders have been constantly painting the picture that china, as the emerging superpower, is hostile, aggressive, expansionist and dangerous. on the other hand, the current number one superpower, the usa, is friendly, benevolent and deserves to bash everyone around, and is not dangerous. let's see where are the chinese military forces and which country they have invaded and which country they are planning to invade. taiwan, yes they threaten to take taiwan by force. now next? where, which country? are they going to attack the usa or japan? by the way, taiwan is a renegage province of china and china has declared that it will try to reunite taiwan peacefully as long as taiwan does not declare independence. in other words, they will not attack unless taiwan provoke china. and taiwan is not a sovereign independent nation. let's see what the friendly usa did. they invaded iraq. have their forces fighting in afganistan and some east european states. they are planning to attack north korea, demanding that north korea accept their terms on nuclear disarmament. they are planning to invade saudi arabia, syria, iran, sudan. all these are on their cards. how many countries in the world today has invaded another country and planning to attack a whole list of countries? now is china a dangerous expansionist power or usa? on what basis is china expansionist and on what basis is usa not dangerous?

general election - the image of invincibility

there was a time when a grc was as good as won the moment a minister's name was entered for the grc. and after the walkover, all the new mps were be so jubilant but lamented that they would love to have a contest. big names like lky, choktong and tony tan were sure win tickets. and so were the names of several other ministers. this image of invincibility seems to have lost some of its glitters. today, only a handful of ministers are still able to carry this badge around. hsien loong, chee hian and george yeo are the few countable safe bets. wp better stay clear from aljunied and george yeo. for the rest of the new ministers, they have yet to develop that kind of authority and aura around them. all of them are still finding their footings and will have to fight for their own rights to lead a grc. they are yet to become the sure win candidates, wearing the badge of invincibility. then we have the proven ministers who have jaded or are fading away. with some controversies and controversial decisions and policies, some appear quite vulnerable and may lead to some unexpected results, provided of course, the oppositions are able to put up some respectable challenge. this general election is going to be fought with many new faces and new challenges. all the old myths and paradigms, and all the things that were taken for granted will now be seen in a new light. the old belief that you can hang the pap badge on anything and it will be elected no longer sounds convincing anymore. this could prove to be a watershed election, a change that is waitng to happen.