Notable quote - What a Gem

What a GEM! To hold a by-election would be a waste of public funds and will be an invitation to political mercenaries to appear from the cold. They will promise the naive and the gullible the moon and the stars. Lionel De Souza (ST Forum) This is the most enlighten quote so far. If this has come out of Parliament, I will definitely insert it there. Once in a while wisdom speaks for itself.

Doing what's right, without fear or favour

This is the article by Lee Wei Leng in the ST today. She encourages people to speak up, speak up when it is right to do so. And speaking up is not necessarily being anti establishment. The fact that she has to say this is very telling. It tells on the stupidity or fear in the mind of Singaporeans, that they should not speak up and the fear of being branded as anti establishment for doing so. Redbean must be anti establishment. If Wei Leng were to say what she wrote in cyberspace, without disclosing who she is, some of the bloggers will tell her to leave if she is not happy. Some will brand her as anti establishment. And, would her article be deserving of a place in TOM?

So much fuss about foreigners

Everyday one is likely to face with some articles in TOM urging the people to treat the foreigners better, embrace them as friends, make them feel welcome etc etc etc. What about treating Singaporeans a little better? We don't even treat our Singaporeans well and we worried ourselves crazy that the foreigners be treated well. Just look at how Singaporeans treat each other, the neighbouring quarrels, the snubs in public places, the way they stared or glared at one another? But maybe that is the true character of Singaporeans. They are socially inept, callous, peasants with rude peasant manners. So what can we expect of them when coming into contacts with foreigners? The only people that can teach the Singaporeans how to treat the foreigners well are the SPGs. They are classic in the way they make foreigners welcomed here. Then there is another group, the counter salesgirls. Or even the taxi drivers. We should use them as role models, making some video clips and air them on TV.

Chinglish is the new English: Lian Pek

The author wrote about how crazy the Chinese were in their quest to learn English in an article in Today. And what actually turns out is Chinglish. They got it so confused that they even write their Chinese name sometimes the right way and sometimes the wrong way. Sometimes back first, sometimes front first. Now this author, is her name Lian Pek or Pek Lian? Is she a Miss Pek or a Miss Lian? Chinglish is really confusing. But that is progress in a way.

Merrill Lynch compensates Temasek US$2.5b

While we were all speculating on how much Temasek has lost in its bank forays, it is now reported that Merrill Lynch is compensating Temasek a sum of US$2.5b. This is about the amount Temasek has lost on paper at this point in time. So due diligence and contigency measures were built into the purchase. And if similar terms were included in the other purchases, then things are not that dire. And this must be expected from the professional managers at Temasek.