11/05/2008
Another issue ,another Tan Kin Lian in the making
The neglect or non recognition of the pre school teachers is starting to stir. Dr Christine Chen, President of the Association for Early Childhood Education is making a call for all the childcare teachers to come together to fight for their neglected cause. And since no one is interested in them except for some lip service, they would rather take the future of their profession into their own hands.
Don't be surprise that the next group of people mounting the mounds of Hong Lim Park will be your childcare teachers. Many of them are quite well qualified, with diplomas and degrees and even PhDs but chose to look after children for the love of them and passion.
Let's see whether their cause will be taken up and who will take the lead.
Melamine in our backyard?
While the world is engrossed in the melamine scare, do we have the same problem in our backyard? I am not too sure. From some of the snippets that I have heard, the story goes like this. In order to keep goreng pisang and fried chicken wings from turning limp after hours on the shelf, the hawkers just throw a plastic bottle into the boiling oil before throwing in the pisang and chicken wing. And the melted plastic, probably melamine, will coat these foodstuff with a layer of plastic to keep them hard and firm. When you bite into them you know that it is not the natural crispyness, but hardness.
The AVA should take a look at the pasar malam stalls selling such products and ensure that they are not plastic or melamine coated.
Freedom of choice and association
Freedom of fear and free to live life. These are the things that make America a great country. I feel so impressed by the way the Presidential Election is being conducted. Both candidates were free to run their election campaign the way they want it without any bureaucratic obstruction. Obama was allowed to buy network time to reach out to the people. In some countries these will definitely not be allowed.
And the bureaucracy, the law enforcers, the election committee etc etc, all play an impartial role in allowing both candidates equal room and space, without any favour. And the two candidates fought each other aggressively but without resorting to any threats or underhand tactics.
Somehow, while I am immensely impressed by the American ways of democracy and equality in the eyes of the law, I got this feeling of shame.
11/04/2008
Tempering with land sales and property prices
The govt is withholding the sales of land for the moment as demand for properties have fallen. That makes good business sense. Sell when the demand is high, to command higher price and also to prevent prices from escalating. Very logical.
A letter by Ee Teck Siew in Today questioned the tempering of the supply and demand of land as it will artificially prop up prices but will not allow prices to fall to their real values. His reasoning is that people are complaining that properties and rentals are too high. Shouldn't we let the market determine the price? We have a free market don't we?
Now property owners will be up in arms against him. How can he suggest that we let property prices to fall? My property is all I got, my HDB flat is all I got.
But the young who are looking for a cheaper flat will be supporting him. Ya, let the market decides the true value of properties. Stop meddling with supply and demand. We cannot buy expensive flats at sky high prices. Let it drop the natural way.
Who is tempering with the free market forces?
Looking for an Ethics Committee?
The Bioethics Advisory Committee(BAC) does not agree that women who donate their eggs for research should be reimbursed except for expenses like cab fares, loss of earnings and loss of time. 'They should not, however, expect to be paid for the inconvenience, the pain they undergo, nor the risks involved in egg extraction.' BAC said.
The procedures involved in egg extraction go something like this. Women go to hospital daily for 2 or 3 weeks, undergo tests and hormone injection to harvest their eggs, put on sedation and needle injected to remove eggs in a 20 minute operation.
I have seen how guinea pigs were handled in the lab. Not much difference. And it is ethically correct that women should be carefully scrutinised and those who gave their excess unwanted egg should not ever think of being reimbursed. The BAC is very clear about using money as an incentive. The amount reimbursed should not be so big that it becomes an inducement.
Inducing people to do things with money and more money is unhealthy and unethical. People who are induced to do things because of money are money minded, to say the least.
So as for the Ethics Committee that I am calling for yesterday, look no further. The people in the BAC are just the right people to sit in that Committee. These are ethical people that will not be induced by money to do unsavoury things.
PS. If I am a woman, I will demand my price for the trouble that I have to go through. And if my genes are of graduate quality, I will demand a ransom for them.
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