nkf: forgive and forget

a forumer, carol chua siew gek, wrote to straits times asking the people to forgive durai as he is human after all. (i hope people will not take this as an admission of guilt.) and he had done a lot of good in transforming nkf into what it is today. personally, forgiving a wrongdoer is acceptable, especially for such a great talent. what i think durai should do is to make a public apology to the people, especially the donors and those kidney patients whom he had turned away. and then pay back whatever ill gotten money he took from nkf. he can then be reemployed by one of the glcs to raise fund or make money for the country. he can also sell his memoir and produce a film on his adventure in nkf. that will bring him a lot of money from royalties. he could also go on a world tour to give public lectures on motivation and creativity. and the govt can showcase to the world that we are a very forgiving nation and we really value talents, including fallen talents. and he can be the poster boy for the yellow ribbon project. the forgiveness shall also extend to all the board directors and excos and all the employees who received extra ordinary pay and bonuses. but they must also make a refund to nkf for money not rightfully theirs. and apologise as well. we must also engage chia teck leng as the senior consultant for our two casinos. pin on him a yellow ribbon as well.

corporate governance: transparency not necessary

this is the view of a writer in today paper, chong lee ming. his view is that good government, ie honest, trustworthy, incorruptible govt, will bring about good governance. i am wondering what is he trying to say behind this argument. does he have a different agenda? but one question which he did not address and could not appreciate, how to know whether a govt is good, honest, trustworthy and incorruptible without transparency? just like nkf, without transparency, you will never know. and by the time you know the truth, it is too late. transparency is the key to good and honest governance. or at least it is one of the keys to it. without transparency, everything is in the dark. you can't see anything in the dark.

education: mixing wine with vinegar

the moe is under pressure to respond to the public's whinning about 'problem' gep kids. i just hope our politicians do not behave the same way as their counterparts in the north, playing to the gallery and compromise on why certain programmes and policies were put in place. the gifted programme is introducted for a specific purpose, not to hold back but expedite the progress of a small group of highly gifted children. there are pros and cons, but generally it is a practical solution to a practical problem. these are very different individuals and they are expected to be different. the problems that are being harped, that they have lost touched with realities and the less fortunate is true. but how to overcome them is another matter. i hear immersion loudly. mix them with the less gifted and all will be well. try mixing wine with vinegar and see the result. the objective is laudable. but the result may be undesirable. mix the good students with drug addicts and see what you get. the same kind of thinking appeared in the ypap forum where one forumer suggested that because students of different races do not mix well in schools, so there must be enforced mixing for them to understand each other. this kind of thinking is so superficial. it is like putting as child in a room full of books and he will learn and be more scholastic. can serious people please look at issues seriously and apply some serious thoughts before implementing changes? a person who wants to learn, just point it out and he will learn. a person who refuses to learn or unable to learn, will not learn even if you shaft it into their mouth. people are all different. some are gifted academically. some in sports and arts. all are talents. but the gifted must mixed with the less fortunate to understand them better? what rubbish. so we put the less academically endowed together with the bookworms for them to appreciate and understand the bookworms better? or like the forumer who posted racist remarks and forced him to work with other races to learn to be nicer to them. it could work. it could become worst as his hatred could be intensified. imagine some of the protected children enlisted for national service and dumped together with a platoon of pai kia or drug addicts and ended up like them. how to answer to the parents? understanding another group does not demand immersion or physical togetherness. it is what education is all about. what good will it do to force einstein to play ball with the punks in the street? their life missions are different. they have different roles and responsibilities to play.

opposition talk

heard this in the kopitiam. the slogan for opposition parties. 'we will donate 50% of our pm and ministers' salaries to charity if we are elected to parliament.'

searching for singapore's soul

this was a heading in an article on edwin thumboo's search for singapore's soul in the today paper. my immediate reaction is that we have sold our souls to the god of money. our new soul is money and nothing else. just look at the comments on durai. nothing personal. many are still praising him for his brilliance in raising so much money for nkf. for the sake of money, the issues of morality and ethics are no longer important. many people in high positions even vouched that they respected him for what he had done. do you have any soul? oops, i mean do you have any money?