That's how humour should be...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
LOTR: The Two Towers...
I thought I shared this on my facebook account- but I will publish this here anyway..
The best scene anyway...very moving.
The best scene anyway...very moving.
Role Models and Heroes- Inspiring Figures
I guess there are a few role models whom I think are great inspirations for anyone. My list would be shorten to just three people.
The first one would be Benjamin Franklin, a diplomat, a scientist, and a statesman.
My reason is this: when he served the country, he served his country and his fellow citizens for the greater good and not for himself. How did he demonstrate it? Well, all of his inventions were social inventions and he never did apply for any patent for any of these inventions. His motto was that his inventions was for the people in general and therefore the more people use these social inventions, the more this young country will be better for it.
This was the ultimate example of selflessness by any individual.
The second one would actually be a fictional character, but nonetheless most of us would have heard of. He's actually one of the major characters in the most recent popular films which had actually won 11 oscars in a sweep. Yes he's Aragorn.
Why did I choose him? Because he emboldens everyone in past history, such as Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wallace and many others who have faced great odds and yet managed to triumph despite of it. He also represents the never-say-die attitude that all leaders should have, and is willing to make huge personal sacrifices so that his country can survive the difficult situation they were in.
Plus, his love story with Erwen was just so touching in both the book and especially in the movie. His scenes with Erwen, especially in the final film, just made me very emotional.
Third, my final role model would be the social workers, such as nurses, community organisers who help disadvantaged people overcome their handicap to become self-reliant, and to ensure that these people have an equal seat on the table. I think good ordinary people, when you set standards for them to reach, most will try to reach the expectations others expect of them. Its the same here.
The first one would be Benjamin Franklin, a diplomat, a scientist, and a statesman.
My reason is this: when he served the country, he served his country and his fellow citizens for the greater good and not for himself. How did he demonstrate it? Well, all of his inventions were social inventions and he never did apply for any patent for any of these inventions. His motto was that his inventions was for the people in general and therefore the more people use these social inventions, the more this young country will be better for it.
This was the ultimate example of selflessness by any individual.
The second one would actually be a fictional character, but nonetheless most of us would have heard of. He's actually one of the major characters in the most recent popular films which had actually won 11 oscars in a sweep. Yes he's Aragorn.
Why did I choose him? Because he emboldens everyone in past history, such as Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wallace and many others who have faced great odds and yet managed to triumph despite of it. He also represents the never-say-die attitude that all leaders should have, and is willing to make huge personal sacrifices so that his country can survive the difficult situation they were in.
Plus, his love story with Erwen was just so touching in both the book and especially in the movie. His scenes with Erwen, especially in the final film, just made me very emotional.
Third, my final role model would be the social workers, such as nurses, community organisers who help disadvantaged people overcome their handicap to become self-reliant, and to ensure that these people have an equal seat on the table. I think good ordinary people, when you set standards for them to reach, most will try to reach the expectations others expect of them. Its the same here.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
What I feel about things currently
Now as I've been away from Singapore the last two months, I look back at the news back home, and majority of the time, I'm dismayed on what I have heard.
From the recent collapse of the stock market, to the ever rising costs from public transport, to food, and then the recent contamination of certain brands of milk back home, to the bubble burst in the property sector to the recent overhype of the F1 race, I have to say that the leadership that we have, as Singaporeans, have not been impressive nor inspiring in a long while.
Let's put it honestly: they have been pretending for a long time, and have shown to be lacking honesty more frequently than ever. And even as things began to collapse on their own shaky foundations around the world, the leadership has been trying to blatantly mislead fellow Singaporeans in saying that we will be, in effect, immune to the world economy breakdown.
Take for example, the property bubble burst. For the last 3 years, the government has 'liberalise' the rules so that more couples can borrow more money from the banks and from their CPF, without the need of showing some collateral, in order to prove they can pay for it. As a result of cheap credit, HDB flat demand began to soar, and young couples began to accumulate more debt in order to pay for a flat that is way out of their budget, overpriced at S$400k, and is only on a 99 year lease.
But like the one in the US, where cheap credit was extended to people who couldn't afford it, and then these credit programs were re-packaged as CDOs, and sold to other investment firms, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Let's face the facts: when was public housing ever part of the free market in the first place? As these flats are built on taxpayers money, it should be sold based not on market rates, but on the terms of affordability and reasonableness. Public housing, is essentially a service provided by the government, a public service, by a natural monopoly: the HDB.
And if the market was allowed to operate in such an environment, prices will only shoot through the roof, making purchases and rentals of flats unaffordable to more and more people annually.
That should not be the case. HDB flats, as public housing, is not the same as freehold properties like condos and landed property.
That's not the type of people leadership that anyone can believe in.
In the end, ladies and gentleman, my view is that when it comes to leadership in issues like this, we have to be clear on certain things:
1. We have to be honest more often than not and be prepared to tell the truth, in a polite, but firm, honest fashion.
2. We cannot use the market as an excuse to extend it to everything else, including in markets that are almost always going to be controlled by natural monopolies. Public housing, public transport and utilities are such examples.
The same applies vice versa for markets which should remain as markets, and not be controlled by monopolies for political gain. For example, telecommunications, and grocery shopping.
3. We have to understand that we should not politicise every single market for political gain and political protection. To politicise the HDB demand, and to gain extra cash, and to treat the demand for more flats as a excuse to make HDB into a corporation when it shouldn't be is wrong. The HDB organisation is not there to serve the government; its to serve its people and to service, they are to build flats and sell them for cheap rates.
4. Last of all, we, on good faith, shouldn't be recommending people to overuse their CPF funds to buy flats. After all, the CPF fund for each Singaporean is to better guarantee that they will have a basis of a retirement fund when one's old. But when young Singaporeans use too much of it as collateral, or as loans to buy a HDB flat, and leave little for retirement, they will be in a difficult position many years to come. Financial independence should be an attainable option to everyone, not just the well privileged.
And if the government allows that, and decides to restrict people in using their CPF funds to buy what's an overpriced flat, then they will make more people financially independent, and feeling more secure.
Lastly, when it comes to leadership, I always look to, not just God, and JC, but also to people in history who have inspired us to great levels of progress that one may not be attain before. People like Martin Luther King, Jr., to Mother Theresa, to Gandhi, to the head of Grameen Bank, to Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein to politicians like Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, and now present-day leaders like Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Obama, for directions on where one and we should go.
I hope Singapore will have such leadership in the future. It just saddens me when we have not.
From the recent collapse of the stock market, to the ever rising costs from public transport, to food, and then the recent contamination of certain brands of milk back home, to the bubble burst in the property sector to the recent overhype of the F1 race, I have to say that the leadership that we have, as Singaporeans, have not been impressive nor inspiring in a long while.
Let's put it honestly: they have been pretending for a long time, and have shown to be lacking honesty more frequently than ever. And even as things began to collapse on their own shaky foundations around the world, the leadership has been trying to blatantly mislead fellow Singaporeans in saying that we will be, in effect, immune to the world economy breakdown.
Take for example, the property bubble burst. For the last 3 years, the government has 'liberalise' the rules so that more couples can borrow more money from the banks and from their CPF, without the need of showing some collateral, in order to prove they can pay for it. As a result of cheap credit, HDB flat demand began to soar, and young couples began to accumulate more debt in order to pay for a flat that is way out of their budget, overpriced at S$400k, and is only on a 99 year lease.
But like the one in the US, where cheap credit was extended to people who couldn't afford it, and then these credit programs were re-packaged as CDOs, and sold to other investment firms, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Let's face the facts: when was public housing ever part of the free market in the first place? As these flats are built on taxpayers money, it should be sold based not on market rates, but on the terms of affordability and reasonableness. Public housing, is essentially a service provided by the government, a public service, by a natural monopoly: the HDB.
And if the market was allowed to operate in such an environment, prices will only shoot through the roof, making purchases and rentals of flats unaffordable to more and more people annually.
That should not be the case. HDB flats, as public housing, is not the same as freehold properties like condos and landed property.
That's not the type of people leadership that anyone can believe in.
In the end, ladies and gentleman, my view is that when it comes to leadership in issues like this, we have to be clear on certain things:
1. We have to be honest more often than not and be prepared to tell the truth, in a polite, but firm, honest fashion.
2. We cannot use the market as an excuse to extend it to everything else, including in markets that are almost always going to be controlled by natural monopolies. Public housing, public transport and utilities are such examples.
The same applies vice versa for markets which should remain as markets, and not be controlled by monopolies for political gain. For example, telecommunications, and grocery shopping.
3. We have to understand that we should not politicise every single market for political gain and political protection. To politicise the HDB demand, and to gain extra cash, and to treat the demand for more flats as a excuse to make HDB into a corporation when it shouldn't be is wrong. The HDB organisation is not there to serve the government; its to serve its people and to service, they are to build flats and sell them for cheap rates.
4. Last of all, we, on good faith, shouldn't be recommending people to overuse their CPF funds to buy flats. After all, the CPF fund for each Singaporean is to better guarantee that they will have a basis of a retirement fund when one's old. But when young Singaporeans use too much of it as collateral, or as loans to buy a HDB flat, and leave little for retirement, they will be in a difficult position many years to come. Financial independence should be an attainable option to everyone, not just the well privileged.
And if the government allows that, and decides to restrict people in using their CPF funds to buy what's an overpriced flat, then they will make more people financially independent, and feeling more secure.
Lastly, when it comes to leadership, I always look to, not just God, and JC, but also to people in history who have inspired us to great levels of progress that one may not be attain before. People like Martin Luther King, Jr., to Mother Theresa, to Gandhi, to the head of Grameen Bank, to Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein to politicians like Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, and now present-day leaders like Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Obama, for directions on where one and we should go.
I hope Singapore will have such leadership in the future. It just saddens me when we have not.
2 Months- and 1 week- in Australia
Hey all,
Another update from me here....
If you may not have known, I have been in Perth, Australia for slightly more than 2 months now. I'm now studying in the Diploma of Commerce, UWA stream, at Canning College. This means that my first year at Canning would be the equivalent of my 1st year in UWA, and pertaining final total results at the end of my 2nd semesters, I would be studying at University of Western Australia next year.
Anyway I have been doing fine here. I have attached a few pictures here, as I feel, as the old cliche goes, a few pictures will say more than a thousand words.
And of course, I got a new phone from 3. Its the LG U990 and its almost a smartphone with 3.5G coverage..
The website for 3's mobile services is below:
http://store.three.com.au/mobiles/LG-Viewty(U990)-Internet-Key-49-combo
Thanks and cheers, guys
Another update from me here....
If you may not have known, I have been in Perth, Australia for slightly more than 2 months now. I'm now studying in the Diploma of Commerce, UWA stream, at Canning College. This means that my first year at Canning would be the equivalent of my 1st year in UWA, and pertaining final total results at the end of my 2nd semesters, I would be studying at University of Western Australia next year.
Anyway I have been doing fine here. I have attached a few pictures here, as I feel, as the old cliche goes, a few pictures will say more than a thousand words.
And of course, I got a new phone from 3. Its the LG U990 and its almost a smartphone with 3.5G coverage..
The website for 3's mobile services is below:
http://store.three.com.au/mobiles/LG-Viewty(U990)-Internet-Key-49-combo
Thanks and cheers, guys
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Hi there!
Greetings from Perth, Australia everyone and welcome to my blog.
Because this is my very first post in a new blog in a long time, I hope I would be much better than what I have done in the past. I also hope to expand my thoughts about issues of the day, and also about my life so far, and life in Australia as an overseas student..
For now, I will give my thanks to my friends back in Singapore, in Hope Singapore, and hope they continue to receive the Lord's blessing...
Peace out, mates.
Because this is my very first post in a new blog in a long time, I hope I would be much better than what I have done in the past. I also hope to expand my thoughts about issues of the day, and also about my life so far, and life in Australia as an overseas student..
For now, I will give my thanks to my friends back in Singapore, in Hope Singapore, and hope they continue to receive the Lord's blessing...
Peace out, mates.
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