What it could have been

A clean and good looking young professor packing his two kids into his car and driving them to school on a bright morning. On the way to the college he drops his wife to work. Back in campus, standing in front of bright eyed and eager students delivering his lecture, and the young ladies swooning over him. A lawyer in court mesmerising the judge and his opposite counsel with his brilliant oratory skills. And at the end of the day drinking at the Cricket Club with all his peers to make merry. These could be the wonderful lives of Dr Chee Soon Juan, JBJ and Gopalan Nair. Life could be so beautiful and easy. All these are gone now. Is it worth it? They have paid very heavy price to want to participate in the political system of the country. And not only they are suffering, their families are equally badly affected. The wives and children don't deserve all these. Paradise can be hell for some.

Quality FTs coming

(SINGAPORE) Thousands of job cuts in US and European banks - a fallout of the sub-prime mortgage crisis - are forcing bankers in those countries to seek jobs further afield. And they are showing interest in a region still relatively insulated from the crisis: Asia, particularly Singapore. 'It used to be difficult to get any senior finance professional in the US interested in moving to Asia. Now we are getting way too much interest!' This is the best news for Singapore. Real and quality FTs from the US are coming here. Let's start to be more selective and pick the best instead of any donkey that carry a foreign passport. This is a great opportunity for the banks to upgrade their mediocre talent pool and transform themselves into real international banks. As for the not so talented locals or those not so talented FTs who are already here, please make way or seek employment elsewhere. The best are coming.

When no one wins

ldzmyiiqThis is my observation on the civil suit against Chee Soon Juan recently. The Chee siblings lost, simple as that, and had to spend a few days behind bars. Did the plaintiffs win? They only won the judgement of the court. Otherwise they lost in all counts in the court of public opinions. The big loser is the Judge if what was heard in the gossip corners and cyberspace were to go by. Oh there is a bigger loser, make your guess. There is a common saying that one can win a battle and lose a war. This is an unnecessary skirmish that should not have happened. Not worth a minute to be spent on it. But people can have different opinions and think it is important and the show must go on. This is at best a hollow victory with an immeasurable price.

The disaffected Singaporeans

After the front page news of Singaporeans being kept out by a niteclub in favour of foreigners, I was expecting more reactions from Singaporeans to stand up for their rights. Or at least there should be some letters appearing in the msm forum. Nothing. Singaporeans no longer bother about such stuff. Take their money, treat them life serfs, take away their rights, no sweat. They don't mean anything to them. Such an attitude of disinterest only shows that they do not identify with the things taken away. And you cannot take things away from them when they don't take ownership of them. Mentally or psychologically, they do not think they are the owners of this island anymore. This is also reflected by a recent blog on why doing NS did not make the blogger more Singaporean or wanted to defend Singapore. Singaporeans have given up on Singapore by default. They are treating this land of theirs like the guest workers, as a hotel. They probably will run or fly off when things are not going the way they want. If Singaporeans are feeling this way, soon any foreigners can walk into their HDB flats and ask them to get lost and they will. There is no belonging, no ownership and no commitment to anything here. With so many things happening that affect them directly, were there any reactions? No. Let it be. Singaporeans can be pushed around in Singapore by anyone. We have failed miserably in nation building. Or maybe that is not what that matters. Let it be. Let this island be a no man's land. Free for grab. When nothing matters, nothing matters.

Ugly Singaporean maid abusers

Singaporean couple jailed for maid abuses Husband to be jailed 4 weeks and wife 6 weeks for beating and abusing maid. They even imposed fines on the maid for every mistake she made when the maid's income is so miserably low. We need more severe punishment for such cruel behaviour. There is no excuse to abuse maids. The msm should make it a standard practice to print mug shots of maid abusers on their front page when found guilty by the courts. This will be an effective deterrence for such inhuman behaviour.