6/26/2006

please pity the poor road bullies

A controversial US research indicates that road bullies are suffering from a serious mental disorder. And Cheow Xin Yi in his article in Today paper asked, 'Spare a kind thught for that horny blasting, expletive spouting road bully?' According to the US study, it suggests that the idiot behind the wheel may be the victim of an obscure mental condition described as intermittent explosive disorder(IED). Poor chaps, they are violent not because they wanted to but because they are sick and unable to control themselves. Or maybe they should send these IEDs to Iraq as a counter measure against the Iraqi IEDs, Improvished Electronic Devices used to kill American soldiers. I believe the American IEDs will prove very effective. A local pyschiatrist, Dr Ang Yong Guan, spoke about the case of a young man who would overturn table because people stared at him and would want to beat up the other person. When asked, he said, 'I have always been like that, but I didn't know why I am like that.' Another victim of IED. What a pitiful guy. The only thing that is common among these bullies is that they seemed to be picking only on guys that are smaller and easier to beat. And I think that probably points out to the right solution to prevent them from going into a rage. I would strongly recommend that these poor bullies be caned at least 24 strokes by a guy bigger than them when they fell victim to their own sickness. I think that is the only way society can help them to help themselves. I really, sincerely, honestly, feel very sorry for them. And if 24 strokes of the cane still cannot help them, double the caning. Up to a point I think the pain should wake them out from their sickness.

6/25/2006

myth 25

This myth has been on the lips of many people for a long time. There have been rumours and speculations that the PAP has at least two factions competing for dominance, one led by Choktong and another by Hsienloong. And many hope, and have been hoping still, that a split in the party will see two equally balanced parties coming out of it which is good for Singapore, something that Singapore really needs. But all these hopes were in vain. The PAP remain as united as a party as ever. Choktong was elevated as the SM like LKY and behaves like LKY did when he was a SM, taking orders from the PM. The PM is the undisputed captain of the team and decides who should do what. The best example recently was the dispatch of Choktong to Potong Pasir and Hougang which Choktong did like a good soldier. That is party discipline and conduct which should be enough to dispel the thought of a party divided. Maybe after Hsienloong, as for now there is no way that the party can split into two factions. Hsienloong is too strongly entrenched in his position as the PM and with a new team and the summary retirement of some old guards would make his position doubly secured. And dissidents within the party, if any, will now be too small a force to make any impact and splitting is no longer a viable option.

more high paying jobs for singaporeans

Toilet Specialist is a novel and innovative way of creating jobs for the oldies that are no longer worthy of their existence in our young society. And to train them in a polytechnic and getting a diploma in toilet fineries will put them in good stead for many more useful years in jobs that Singaporeans shunned. I can immediately see the potential of these specialists. We can export them as foreign talents to countries like China or India or other Asian and Southeast Asian states to teach them how to manage their toilets and raise their standard of public hygiene. The Indonesians and Phillippines export their domestic helps, we can export our uncles and aunties, oops, I mean Toilet Specialists, armed with diplomas to lend them more weight in what they say or do. This is a second career for retired bankers, managers, engineers etc who are no longer employable in our young and vibrant society. They could eventually contribute another source of foreign exchange to our economy, a kind of a second wind. We have done another first.

6/24/2006

another reason to hire native English teachers

Chua Mui Hoong wrote her piece today explaining the need for native speakers. Her reasons, why not, as long as they are trained and capable. Then why not trained Singaporeans who are capable? If the conditions are capabilities and being trained to do the job, you don't need native speakers. She then argued that with native speakers, you can create a conducive environment for the language to flourish. True, how many do you need to create such an environment? 5 native speakers in a school? Here is her answer and the main problems that our society will have to deal with. 'Students need good speech models. Hiring a few more hundred English lanuguage teachers can help create a good English speaking environment in neighbourhood schools. Students will benefit.' Sure I also agree. Just have 100 native English speaking teachers should be sufficient for a school to provide such an environment. Just a minute, how many teachers are there in a school, 50? How many schools are there? There are 178 primary schools. Just primary schools alone we will need to recruit 17,800 native speakers to provide the environment. And do we still have room for local teachers? If training the teachers is the solution, maybe recruit a few native speaking teachers if we can't find any local teachers good enough. But this will not be able to create the conducive environment as required. Or like some local international schools did, hire a few foreign looking teachers and print their faces on the school magazines, that will give some credibility that the schools are really international and world class with world class foreign looking teachers.

singaporeans are sick to the core, idiots really

I was glancing over some snippets in the Straits Times this morning on the growing trend in blogging and the flourishing of blogs and forums in cyberspace. Several writers commented that it is self defeating and a dead cause to think of regulating cyberspace. Actually all the laws on scandals, libels, seditions etc are there and any bloggers or forumers who flirt in these areas will have the law to reckon with. There is no need to set up a new ministry and a manual of new laws to tie up the netizens. What is appalling among the snippets is this statement by Khoo Li Han, I think a journalist by profession. He said, 'Even as the Govt considers giving more leeway to bloggers at the next GE, they should practise self discipline and not post nonsensical comments. Only when Singaporeans cooperate with the govt and give it the confidence that bloggers are blogging appropriately, can they be given more freedom...' Why can't people post nonsense and lighted hearted comical stuff on the net? Why can't people indulge in fantasies and escapees? All the Ah Peks in the neighbourhood kopitiams are engaging in intellectual and no nonsense comments, or they need to be regulated as well? But the disgusting point is the acceptance that freedom does not belong to the people. Freedom of the people is for the govt to dish out if it so pleases. And the people must behave, then only shall the govt allow them some freedom. This also means that the people went for an election to vote for a govt to control their freedom, or to surrender their freedom. For goodness sake, Freedom is our natural right. Why must we behave in a way that the govt thinks is good and only then can we be given more freedom? How sick can Singaporeans be? If from the first principle, they already accepted that it is the right of the govt to regulate their freedom, they are as good as dead meat. Finito! You are slaves with no freedom to talk about. Is it the fault of the govt? Or is it the fault of our political system, culture and education system, that we believe that our freedom is conditional on the good grace of the govt? I think the govt is quite happy with this state of affair, that the people think that their freedom belongs to the govt. And there is no need to educate the people to the fact that freedom is their natural right as a human being. It is a happy state favouring the govt. And the govt can use this mentality to decide or manage how much freedom to give to the people. When the govt is not happy with the bloggers and forumers, it is only a matter of how to manage or regulate it. Our freedom is like our money in the CPF, to be dished out to us at the mercy of the govt. It we are good and cooperative, we will get a bit more. This is indeed a sick society when the people does not think freedom is their intrinsic right. Are we first world?