we will have our warren buffetts. just wait.

The Today paper has an article talking about the lack of Warren Buffett charitable spirit in Singapore. It was reported that many still have not made enough and so are still busy making more monies. And when they are ready, they will become our own Warren Buffetts. We have to be realistic and compassionate when we compare these 'poor' people to Warren Buffett. That guy got something like a hundred billion US$ and adding on to it daily. It is unfair to expect our nouve riche to part with their hard earned money. It is so difficult to make them and it is only right that they hold on to them or for their families. But I am very sure they too will part with their billions, like Warren Buffett, when they found their hundred billions. Singaporeans are generally very generous. Look at the amount of people donating to NKF and other charitable organisations. Many heartlanders have very big hearts. And they will empty their pockets when they find people in need. But for Warren Buffetts, we will still have to wait. Maybe if they have accumulated about 10 ten million bucks bungalows and a couple of billions in their bank accounts, then they might start thinking about it. Just wait patiently. Singaporeans will give when they have. The more they have, the more they give. Or is it the other way?

cyberspace hitman

I read a posting in the YPAP forum that there are forumers and bloggers out there whose main interest in posting is character assasination. Many bloggers and forumers have fallen victims to such vile characters. I too have one who even impersonate me, using my nick to post in my blog. Fortunately he was discovered immediately and exposed. What is more disgusting is that these people could be on a payroll. They are the latest hitmen in cyberspace. They go around harassing, provoking and tearing other bloggers and forumers to pieces when they could. Or maybe it is just my imagination that organisations would actually pay such hitmen to disrupt a blog or forum. In the days of poverty striken China, banditry, pickpockets, cheats, swindlers, joining triads were good enough professions as they feed the hungry stomachs at home. Today, with affluence, when there are hardly any hungry stomach to feed, would people stoop to such unethical professions to make a living? You be the judge.

a sunday observation at a foodcourt

A Sunday observation at a foodcourt. Mr Rich was sitting alone in a table filled with food and food and food. And he was stuffing everything into his mouth in double quick time, oblivious to the fact that everyone was watching at his greed. His face was bulging with all the food, some dripping from the corners of his mouth. And his stomach was a swell 60 inch. Probably he weighed as least 150 kg. Around the table there were many hungry faces staring at the way he stretched out his two strong arms to grab at anything in sight. The lean and hungry faces were quite a pathetic sight. Wanted to ask for a little helping but afraid to do so. And they would not dare to just walk over and help themselves. Probably Mr Rich would be telling himself that these people deserved not to have the food on their tables as they were either lazy or not very smart. They should be like him, just grab at anything that he could reach without shame. And probably he would tell these useless people to tighten their belt and drink lesser water if they could not afford it. The foodcourt was doing great business and many people appear to be eating and oblivious to what was around them. Superficially everyone was having his fill, except that some have more of the share than others.

myth 49

'Complaining is bad' I was reading Kan Seng's speech on foreign talents and the need for them and the complaints that appeared everywhere. I don't think people disagree with the concept of having more foreign talents here. The complaints are more on certain specifics that people see as either overdone or overkilled or simply putting Singaporeans at a disadvantage. And in the same speech Kan Seng added, 'Worse, we should not become dissengaged armchair critics and simply complain when we do not like something.' Now compare this with people who are paid to complain, the professional critics who are not even affected nor dislike anything, but just their job to complain. Complain has a very important role in life and living. Our body complains when we are not feeling well. Our stomach complains when hungry. This is a natural mechanism that helps us to rectify any wrongs or problems. Just imagine we can't feel pain, hunger, thirst, we can be dead the next minute. Complaining has a vital role in society especially about things that affect the people and country. We as a first world country, should grow up from third world mentality and accept complain in the true spirit. I posted earlier about learning a thing from the World Bank/IMF inviting people to demonstrate against them. They want to hear the other side, an opposing view. This is maturity, a higher level of thinking. They know that they are not god and will not have the best solution for everything. Complains when taken positively, helps to smoothen the corners and rough edges of policies and decisions. In the absence of complains, we don't even know that we are suffocating the people. Another word for complain is feedback. Maybe we should use the word feedback instead of complain. What's the dif? Or maybe we should all shut up and believe that we are living in utopia, govern by gods and all things are fine.

telling half truths?

Now, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wants Singaporeans to show their best side to the international financial community.

In June, he launched a `Four Million Smiles' campaign, urging Singaporeans to smile more during the IMF-World Bank meeting - though only a month later, a Friends of the Earth survey showed that Singaporeans ranked as the unhappiest people in Asia.

Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 taxi drivers have attended a three-hour training course on how to provide better service for passengers during the meetings.

An accompanying handbook instructs taxi drivers to keep their hair neat, avoid fidgeting, ensure they don't have body odour, and not clutter their taxi with too many accessories.

"They also told us not to talk about sensitive issues like criticising the government and racial issues," taxi driver Choy Kok Wai, 49, told Reuters.

The above is a report from AFP/REUTERS posted in littlespeck.com

Now, presenting a picture of 4 million smiles when we were found to be one of the unhappiest people in the world, show our best side, which means now showing our ugly side, taxi drivers used to criticise the govt but told not to, would my double here condemn these as telling half truths?