islam tested in europe

the current rift in denmark over the caricature of the prophet mohammed is gearing up for an ugly fight. according to islam, no image of the prophet is allowed. this is banned. and the danish paper made caricatures of the prophet is a violation of islamic laws. this is now a boiling issue and could become nasty as the muslims felt very offended. the european papers' position is that it is freedom of the press to write or present whatever to the readers. and they defended themselves by asking whether islamic law applies to non muslims. if it is banned by islam, does it mean that it is banned to non muslim as well. now this is a little tricky. islam bans the eating of pork. when non muslims eat pork does it offend the muslims? obviously it does. but does it allow the muslims to demand the non muslim not to eat pork? where is the line drawn? it is reported in the press that a cleric said the danish paper's caricature was not done for press freedom but to offend muslim. does this distinction means that if it is done not to offend but say for a genuinely decent purpose like the teaching of islam, would it then be ok for non muslims to use images of the prophet? when does the sensitivity of muslims stops and why should non muslims be subject to the same restrictions as muslims?

banks are not for poor people

we used to have a people's bank or a poor man's bank. it started as a poor bank and accept poor man's money. even school children's pocket money of a few cents and pasted as stamps. that was how the poor man's bank started. today this poor man's bank has forgotten all the poor men who helped to build it up into a rich bank and becomes a rich man's bank. it does not welcome children's little savings anymore. or it does but make sure that it is more than a certain amount. and any poor man who thinks of putting a few hundred dollars into the bank may end up with no money after paying administrative fee for having too little money in his bank account. instead of earning an interest, the bank levy a fee for putting too little money there. this is the price of progress. no money no talk. the poor man's bank now would not even want to know you. so poor people with a few dollars of savings better keep it under their pillows or in plastic containers and hide them somewhere at home. would there be a day when the banks go back to woo the poor man? ingrates?

not govt's responsibility to help the poor

we have heard this statement many times. it is not the govt's responsibility to help the poor. the govt will only help the poor when there is a surplus in the budget or in the govt's investment. is such a position acceptable to the people? what is the role of the govt towards the poor of the country, assuming that there is no surplus to be given away?

the poor indians in singapore

There are many complaints and unhappiness among the Singapore born Indian community. Tamil phrase: "Mattam mana allu" English translation means the old man Lky is a lousy cheapskate fellow. Tamil phrase : "Mavan vanthe methevangalum othevee saye oode mathan avanum oothevee saye mathan" English Translation : The "son" Lhl is a more cheapskate fellow than the father, he also wont help the others much and does not let anyone help the other's much also Tamil phrase : "Lalle velai vangete adimai yakirvanu" English translation: They make use of you do the work for them and make you a slave and pay you very little or play games and don't pay you at all or give useless gimmicks. What is going to be done to help livelihood of the "groups" and societies of Singapore particularly among the Singapore born Indian community ? Where is the action required, where is the help, where is the closure on unresolved problems , where are the results ? Who or which People should be held answerable ? Jason Vincent i have extracted a part of jason vincent's article posted in soc.cul.spore. what jason has posted is that the indian community is feeling very neglected by the govt. he even suggested building 2 shopping centres and several other facilities for the indian community. now this is a problem isn't it?

wage gap will continue to widen

there is this peculiar practice in singapore that will ensure the wage gap will continue to widen. it is entrenched in the system. the more important or senior a person becomes, he can expect to be appointed to many chairmanship positions or figure head positions and be paid extremely well but without much to do. some of these positions are just honorary, but still pack a huge pay packet. so it is very easy to earn several chairmanship pay and leave the job of running the company to the professionals. what a nice perk! how then can the wage gap gets narrower? it cannot be helped? is it? this is what unequal distribution of wealth is all about. you got more money, people give you more money. and what's wrong with that? why can't these important jobs be really important and the incumbent has to contribute time and effort to justify his huge pay so he can only assume one position and more can be pass around? but then there is a dearth of talent in this nation where the high density of people with high paper qualifications are found to be lack of talent. so only a few rare breed have the talent to receive such easy remunerations. do these positions really need highly qualified people in the first place? but, come to think of it, there is nothing wrong. this is the natural order of things. even a genius will tell you that it is perfectly normal and the correct way to do things.