local talents can do well

look at mardan mamat! look at him! how much did we as a nation supported him financially to this big success? i think panwest paid him more. thank you panwest. this is the homegrown talent that we should be supporting and put our money in. even if mardan be as big as vijay, wherever he goes, he will call himself singaporean. those bought talents, unless they are from countries with traditional and cultural links with us, many will throw away our passports once they move out. an african will go back to call himself african again. we need to save all the precious money to nurture our own talents and in sports where we stand a chance of winning. football and athletics are two sports that we can forget about. we are physically not build to compete internationally in these sports. spend some money for the sports, but don't put too much hope in them. the football and footballers shall be an industry on its own, a commercial enterprise and supported by the money it can generate. let them have their fun. but be more careful on spending taxpayer's money on this sport.

tudungs not compulsory in malaysian schools

hishamuddin, the malaysian education minister, a potential pm, said muslim girls should not be forced to wear tudungs in schools. 'according to education ministry rules and regulations, it is very clear there is no compulsion for students to wear tudung.' in the same article reported in the straits times, marina mahathir even said that 'muslim women here are only going backwards...only in malaysia are muslim women regressing...it is all politics. there's a kind of race to see who is more islamic. it is unfortunate because the more conservative voice has become louder while the progressive ones find it harder to speak. it's scary.' it is scary indeed. a fatwah might be issued against her, just like against muslim madonna for stripping her veil to reveil her bikini. the threat against conservative muslim is very serious. what perhaps can be done is for the muslim leaders to form a body to outlaw extreme groups as non muslim or anti muslim. this will turn the table and allow them to point their fingers instead of being pointed at.

education in transformation

we are seeing rapid changes in the way we educate our children. in fact the change process had started at least a decade or two ago. the progressive changes accumulated over the years and the recent bout of changes have resulted in a transformation of the whole education system and process. we have changed the quality of the teachers. we have changed the infrastructure/equipment of the schools. and we have changed the teaching content as well. our kindergarten children are learning things the children of the past were learning in primary schools. our primary schools are teaching things that we used to teach secondary schools. and secondary school students are now being taught things that polytechnics students are learning. and jc students are doing things that university students are doing. and in certain schools, when L1R5 would be more than sufficient, students were made to take not 8 subjects, but 10, and some 12 or 13 subjects. and we ask ourselves why are our students so stressed out. are we killing our children without knowing it? but one fundamental mindset has not been changed. we still stick to the belief that at 16, students must sit for o level and 18, for a level. with the amount of information and knowledge being taught, why can't we shave off one or two years off the education system for the very bright students instead. why do 10 or 12 subjects for o level and remain at o level when they could do higher level subjects with the extra time and effort? the extras that the students put in should be translated into something more tangible. the bright students should do their primary/secondary education in 10 instead of twelve years and proceed to university at 16. this could compensate the time loss for ns. we are spending too long, too many years, educating our children. those who can take a shorter route should be allowed to.

when prs are locals or de facto citizens

with prs being regarded or treated like singaporeans, and even treasured more, would the govt consider allowing singaporeans to opt to become prs? as the difference in the two categories is mainly an issue of how much obligations and liabilities one has towards the country, there will be singaporeans who would readily opt to become prs than citizens. why be a citizen when all the privileges are given to the prs and still be burdened and be subjected to all the laws and restrictions of a citizen? sigh....

55% of new jobs went to singaporeans! really?

this is the headline that screams out of the today paper. then below it, a sub headline states 'more than 55% of th 110,800 jobs last year went to citizens and prs, says minister.' so, how many actually went to singaporeans? how many of the 55% went to singaporeans? are prs singaporeans? can singaporeans be angry about being treated less favourably than prs? can singaporeans feel that they are second class citizens in their home land? when prs, without the responsibilities and obligations are regarded in every way, like a citizen?