singapore's golden years

it was a time when confidence was high. everyone was thinking of a better tomorrow and actually expecting it. pay rises were huge and frequent. year end bonuses were equally enormous. everyone was upgrading and every residential project was swarm by prospective buyers. other than house huntings, the other thing worth doing is playing golf all over. playing in singapore and malaysia is not good enough. australia, china, thailand and other distant golf courses were frequented by singaporeans. those were the good times. the golden years of singapore. when i was told that, i thought otherwise. there were more golden years to come. that was just the beginning. a peek to what more good things will come the singaporean way. but we also wondered whether that would be the end. and it seemed so. it came so fast and furious, only about 10 years ago and vanished in less than 10 years. now what happens? even hdb flats nobody wants. selling cheap also no takers. and the govt has to give out $1 billion to help 240,000 people, countables, who are in hard times. the number of not countables and facing hard times is unknown. but the rich are getting richer and faster. the ugly face of greed is popping out everywhere. a huge house build on weak foundation will collapse on its own weight.

renaisance in science and technology

the world is on fire, firing all three engines instead of 2 and 1/4. for the last few centuries the advancement of science and technology was basically supported by the european civilisation. then this splitted with a strong branch growing in the usa and a little branch in japan. today, usa, europe and asia are pulling in their weights together with china, india and korea joining japan as the full asian branch. with all three engines firing together, the rate of growth and progress in science and technology are likely to be in leaps and bounds. the impetus of such a powerful combination of human energy and resources can propel the world at a pace not seen in history. however, these energy must be carefully harnessed for peaceful economic growth and competition and not in war. the consequence of a third world war will be more devastating as the promises of tomorrow.

red packet or gold paper

i read that gold packet is getting popular and is preferred more than the traditional red packet for the lunar new year. one of the reasons may be novelty, to be different. and gold seems a more expensive item to hold. and gold prices is surging again. why not give gold packet instead of red packet? this reminds me of the attempt to have tiger dance instead of lion dance in malaysia a few years back. in their craze for something different, to be different, to be creative i supposed, people will try out new ideas. but trying out new things must be a result of improving something and not going backwards. the idea of fuzzy logic is good for those who build it from a base of logic. otherwise fuzzy logic is nonsense. all the man in the street has fuzzy logic as their thinking and thoughts are unstructured and totally fuzzy, with no logic. what has this got to do with changing angpow to kim cua(gold paper) or next time geen cua(silver paper)? a lion dance is built on the fabled and mystical lion which is an auspicious animal. the tiger in the chinese tradition is a vicious animal and anything but auspicious. during chinese new year there will be lion dances to ward away bad luck and welcome good fortune. tiger is most inappropriate for such purposes. the red packet, the colour of red during the lunar new year is also for a specific purpose. to ward off bad luck and the mystical beast or nian. red is everywhere, in clothing, pasted on the side of doors, in food presentation, and of course red packet for good luck and protection. red is more than a colour of choice but with traditional significance. what's wrong with kim cua? nothing wrong unless the mind wanders a little to include geen cua. kim cua is used in prayers to the deities and geen cua for the dead. sometimes kim cua is also burnt for the dead. how does it sound giving kim cua on chinese new year? last year when we gave kim cua or gold packets, we did received some not very favourable comments. some people may be offended by it on such an auspicious day when saying the right thing, right words and right sound mean so much. it will be disastrous if someone utters the word kim cua instead of kimpow. the latter is so unfamiliar while kim cua is a common usage and may be splurted out. happy chinese new year!

speaking the truth loudly, by adverts

Derogatory Adverts By Paul Chan's 'The Craftsman's Forge'This ad "How long more must I take this bus to work?" upsets some commuters.Jan 13, 2006 I saw an advert on my drive to work today which made me a little indignant with the people who put up the advert. As you can see from the photo, OCBC seems to think that its shameful to take a bus. ... The advert screams out to people outside to compare themselves to the “unsuccessful people sitting in the bus. How much more insensitive and derogatory can one get? I hope the advertisement censors get to this really soon. I don’t have a problem with OCBC trying to drum up business for its wealth management portfolios. Just don’t do it by putting people down. the above comment is by seah chiang nee in his littlespeck.com hey chiang nee, got to face reality man. when a man is poor he is poor. what is the difference with the naming of budget terminal? luckily they don't call the bus system and mrt as cheap transport system for cheap people. never mind lah. let people poke a little is ok. take it as a reverse motivation and work harder to own a car and fly by sia. and they can count themselves lucky that they will get a $1 billion workfare bonus. it is quite good and respectable to be a little bit poor in this rich nation. there will always be crumbs falling off the table. must thank ocbc for the motivation. see, can look at things positively : )

the impending attack on iran

allowing a rogue nation to possess wmd is a nightmare. the concept is a very powerful one. many will be easily frighten by the possibility of a mad leader like hitler or bush who will be trigger happy to use it anytime he pleases. iran must not be allowed to own nuclear weapons. on the other hand, who is the rightful person or state to pin a rouge nation title on any country? who is morally good enough to earn that right? the next question is, why are some nations allowed to own wmd and some not allowed? why are are some allowed to threaten others with war and some not allowed? the israelis are very confident that they will be able to launch a successful attack on iran's nuclear facility. success always builds confidence, some times blind arrogance. we have done it and we will continue to do it successfully. our formula works the last few times and will work again and again. the opposition are weak and unable to think of better counter moves or strategies. this is the mindset of all victors. they always think that things will not change and they will win again and again. the iranians were once an empire, the persian empire. they are not fools. just like the chinese and indian empires, battered for many centuries and written off as backward and unprogressive people, hopeless and no talent. today they have stood up to regain their places in the international community as respectable people. the uae is also proving that arabs are no fools. will the iranian be able to stand up to the impending attack by the israelis and the americans? and would they be able to turn the tide? iraq said they will be smashed. iraq is a good example to all ambitious arab states that they are poorly equipped to fight a conventional war against the mighty forces of the empire. but would iran prove to be a bridge too far?