Kit Chan does this best. First composed and sung for National Day thirteen years ago. Excellent even when you don't always feel welcomed in your own country. I am glad I have this blog. Wonder what the feeling would be like when I come back here again a long time later. Perhaps I would feel more welcomed in my own country then.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Our Economy
You can become rich more easily on real estate and finance than through innovation in Singapore. What dismal things does this tell you about our economy and hence our future?
Things are good now but they are quite unsustainable. We have been very lucky, a fact which Goh Keng Swee appreciated more than any founding father. Just look up his final speech in 1984 when he retired.
We will always need more than a fair bit of luck than most countries. Many nations destroy the gifts from God with self-sabotage. Remember he clothed them before exiling them from Eden. Naturally it would appear that against other economies we have chosen wisely and worked harder. We would have drawn the poorer lesson which comes with a glass ceiling.
We need to emphasize more on innovation than we have bern doing, especially creating the right infrastructure to tear down invisible barriers and also bring down the cost of failure and production.
Man almost always waste God's gifts to him. So God uses those who are given less to teach those he had been more generous lessons about the nature of this world and himself.
The rich gets richer even as the poor become more impoverished is a temporary situation that in the time frame of man looks persistent. Now if we do not reverse this trend ourselves, he will do it for us, possibly violently.
I am encouraged that led by the Gateses and Warren Buffet, some of the world's richest have committed to giving at least half of their wealth away eventually. This is a promising beginning elsewhere, but what about Singapore and the rest of Asia?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Things are good now but they are quite unsustainable. We have been very lucky, a fact which Goh Keng Swee appreciated more than any founding father. Just look up his final speech in 1984 when he retired.
We will always need more than a fair bit of luck than most countries. Many nations destroy the gifts from God with self-sabotage. Remember he clothed them before exiling them from Eden. Naturally it would appear that against other economies we have chosen wisely and worked harder. We would have drawn the poorer lesson which comes with a glass ceiling.
We need to emphasize more on innovation than we have bern doing, especially creating the right infrastructure to tear down invisible barriers and also bring down the cost of failure and production.
Man almost always waste God's gifts to him. So God uses those who are given less to teach those he had been more generous lessons about the nature of this world and himself.
The rich gets richer even as the poor become more impoverished is a temporary situation that in the time frame of man looks persistent. Now if we do not reverse this trend ourselves, he will do it for us, possibly violently.
I am encouraged that led by the Gateses and Warren Buffet, some of the world's richest have committed to giving at least half of their wealth away eventually. This is a promising beginning elsewhere, but what about Singapore and the rest of Asia?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, August 9, 2010
National Day Dinner
Singapore celebrates 45 years of Independence
This little island state turns 45 today. Economically we have come quite far. Socially and culturally we have ways to go. Our future will always be uncertain given our small size and global exposure. We will not always succeed at being far-sighted. So we shall always have to be vigilant, even against ourselves. Time to remind ourselves not to take anything for granted. The more the PM smiles and he is always doing that, the more we need to learn to look after ourselves better. We are so well educated, why then do we need so much government help?
'If I go to jail, my family is trapped here. That’s my biggest fear’
Just read this sad story of an indebted family stuck in Dubai. There must be quite a few like him. Globalization has create more opportunities but with it had come many unfamiliar dangers catching many unaware. Closer to home we had the Lehman minibonds debacle. On the surface they appear as two separate issues but they are both the outcomes of liberalization.
There are some lessons we only learn by making mistakes. E.g., seat belts had to come many years after automobiles were made, and after many tragic and unnecessary deaths. In the meantime you just have to look after yourselves.
There are some lessons we only learn by making mistakes. E.g., seat belts had to come many years after automobiles were made, and after many tragic and unnecessary deaths. In the meantime you just have to look after yourselves.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The PM's National Day Message
I would just like to quote and comment on a paragraph from the PM's speech.
Our education system caters to all students, and not just the most outstanding ones. Our schools go beyond book learning to teach students how to solve problems, and imbue them with sound moral values. We create multiple pathways for students of different abilities and interests to progress. We help every neighbourhood school to be a good school, with its own strengths and specialities. We identify and develop each student’s talents, and give him every opportunity to excel.
The above is not true for my family and at least one other. When were overseas, they fail to live up to the requirements for the LOA scheme. We got practically nothing from both schools to help my children keep up with their work.
They have good intentions, but their execution is really wanting.
Our education system caters to all students, and not just the most outstanding ones. Our schools go beyond book learning to teach students how to solve problems, and imbue them with sound moral values. We create multiple pathways for students of different abilities and interests to progress. We help every neighbourhood school to be a good school, with its own strengths and specialities. We identify and develop each student’s talents, and give him every opportunity to excel.
The above is not true for my family and at least one other. When were overseas, they fail to live up to the requirements for the LOA scheme. We got practically nothing from both schools to help my children keep up with their work.
They have good intentions, but their execution is really wanting.
Another place from our childhood going
 |
| Sunday Times, Aug 8, 2010 |
The time has finally come for yet another place of my young days to make way for more futuristic plans. We had lunch practically every Sunday when I was with the church further along Margaret Drive. Some of our favorites were the duck noodle stall and the mee siam stall. My primary classmate parents ran it, but I didn't know it until many years later. Sometimes after a hard ball game in the neighbourhood, we would drop by for sugar cane drinks. Come early next year in February, the place would be demolished.
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