myth 24

'The Ministry worked under the misguided belief that native languages and mother tongues are determined by descent, and that languages are monolithic rather than variable in nature.' by Yvonne Lim of Today Paper. Now let me try to grasp the meaning and implications of this statement, or myth. The Ministry, must be the Ministry of Education, the authority in pedagogy, in the education of the nation's future, could not understand the difference or meaning of 'native speakers' and believes that native speakers are by descent? If this is true, indeed we have a serious problem. And now every man and woman in the street is saying so, that the definition adopted by the Ministry is questionable and nobody agrees to it. And the teachers and would be teachers are very sore. No lah, I don't think the Ministry really misinterpreted the meaning of native speakers lah. Shall we call this a misplaced myth? And for trainee teacher Meenakshi Narayanan, don't feel slighted just because she does not come from England or North America or white by birth. Incidentally, the bumiputras of those countries speak English and not Malay. Language is a living instrument and should not be used in a rigid way. And words like bumiputra, son of the soil, means different native of the soil in different land.

myth 23

'The govt is harrassing and threatening bloggers' This myth is inspired by an anonymous blogger here who threatens me that because I am posting myths, my existence will become a myth. And I believe our govt will not stoop so low to do such things. So my guess is that this guy must be paid by some party or organisation out to discredit the govt and go around blogs planting the seed of fear, threatening bloggers with severe actions. Now this is a nice myth. I will have a few more myths inspired and in a way contributed by this blogger.

a nation of specialists and foreign talents

Soon Singapore will become a nation with the most specialists after the restructuring and retraining excercises bear their fruits. All our mature citizens will be specialists in their own right. Toilet specialists, crockery distillation specialists, environment specialists, roadside specialists, voiddeck specialists etc etc. And soon we will have more professional bodies registering with the Registry of Societies to accommodate all these maturing specialists. We have, as a nation, upgrade ourselves in the skills of our workforce. We can then boast of having foreign talents and local specialists. Foreign investors will be spoilt for choices with the talents and specialists we are offering to them. And rightly, all these talents and specialists will see a higher income to commensurate with their specialist and professional skills. We no longer have to compete with China and India in trying to pay lower. Our workers will now command a higher pay.

french PM on key visit to Africa

read this headline in le monde by agence france presse.

myth 22

'Soldiers die in battlefield' This is a truism until it becomes a myth. Today's soldiers don't die in battlefield as war is not a common occurrence in peaceloving nations. Soldiers die in battlefield only because their country wages war for whatever reasons. Today, soldiers die without going to war. They die in swimming pools, bathtubs or inside their dormitories, reading books. At the rate it is going, we are going to see more soldiers dying without fighting the enemies but killed by friendly forces or own troops. Maybe the military organisations should consecrate a new medal for soldiers who die without going to war but in the service of the nation. Soldiers or young men who need not die if they do not have to don on uniforms for the country.