It won't happen!

Imagine a couple of happy grandparents proudly walking their first grandchild. The toddler is happily toddling ahead, a step at a time like any child learning to walk does. It is a moment for the photo album. A perfect sight of a happy family. Then out dash 5 rottweilers and they descend on the little toddler. In a flash of second they were tearing away the hands and legs of the toddler apart, right before the eyes of the stunned grandparents. It is so swift and over in a few second. During the aftermath press conference the owner of the rottweiler calmly said it is natural for the big dogs to attack small things. Period. They are prepared to pay the $5000 fine. It cannot be. It cannot happen. Too much dramatisation. Neither can 5 strong young men, strong swimmers, died in an ordinary dragonboat race in a calm river in front of thousands of spectators and helpers. It cannot be. It can't be. But it happened. It is not fiction. It is real. It can be!

It is only natural!

I read some comments in the report on the rottweilers biting the Jack Russel. The silliness of these comments is not surprising. It is someone else that will be hurt. In this case it is a small dog. The dog lover did not want to see the rottweilers put to sleep. The owner of the rottweilers said it is only natural for the big dogs to attack small dogs. It is only animal instinct. So everyone is happy. It is only natural that the dogs will attack small animals, including children. Do we want to see a toddler being torn to pieces before we act? No amount of money and compensation and words of sympathy and empathy can take away the horror and mental anguish of the parents should a child be torn to pieces and ended up as meal for the dog. Please do something before something ugly happens. Animals are animals and they have no intention to kill or maul little children. They did that naturally.

Temper rising

Bus drivers refused to stop their buses for foreign workers. Commuters squeezed their noses when foreign workers approached and gave them a disgusting look. What more? Human beans are human beans. Not many are saints. The little irritation in life can become a big issue to some. Some have higher tolerance level, some are more kind, some more forgiving and some more friendly. But some are more nasty and have very low tolerance. And this will apply to both sides of the equation. Bus drivers can drive off. But they may end up as the punching bag of angry foreign workers. People may squeeze their noses or walk away. One day they may get slap and punch by angry foreign workers as well for being rude. Then what?

Petrol prices up again

This is the second increase in two months. Petrol prices of 95 and 98 are over $2, at $2.006 and $2.080 and premium 98 is $2.246. But this increase is definitely due to external factors and no one can do anything about it. I wonder if there is any exceptional talent that can bring oil prices down. With petrol prices up, all things must go up accordingly as transportation is a major item in many businesses. We will just have to get use to higher prices of everything.

Singapore has a stronger case

In the editorial page of the Straits Times today Andy Ho wrote an article on the legal arguments in Hague. He concluded, like all Singaporeans, that Singapore had a stronger case. With selective hearing and vested interests of course. And this is bad. We owned the islands for more than 130 years and we only have a stronger case to retain it. We should be in a position to say there is no case. A stronger case can still lose and we stand to lose ownership of the islands. I am getting jittery.