DREAMING

There are tenebrous socio-economic changes all over the world in the past 20 years. On a brighter note, pre-primary and primary educational system has undergone a tremendous change in Singapore. Policy makers have come and go. New and on-going changes are being made at every school, teacher, principal and child. Continually, there are repercussive bearings on the young mind, both psychological and physiological. As parents, we want our children to do well in studies. We want them to excel in their work and be successful individuals in society. Even as a parent, we agonised over which primary schools to send the child once they reached the school going age. Do we send him to a popular one or neighbourhood school? Some parents choose a school based on academic achievements, teaching staff and facilities. I personally believed family background and parental upbringing are the more important factors than choosing a school of academic excellence for a growing child. With a stable family, he...

OUR OVERBURDEN SYSTEM One of the ways Singapore addresses its declining birth rates is to allow mass immigrants to settle here, hopefully, grow roots, become its citizens and contribute to its economic growth. Its main rationale is to augment our already aging population in order to reduce social and financial burden on future generations. The aim to increase population without enhancing the basic support system and infrastructure is tantamount to gorging oneself with food on a full stomach. We are now facing a crisis of scarcity. For a start we have limited land and food resources. It is a fact that we don’t have a big piece of land to grow food for our own sustainability. We need to buy food and water form others. Neither do we have the natural energy resources such as natural gas and oil to fuel our ever-increasing population needs. Our transport and healthcare system are crumbling under heavy burden due to overpopulation. Every day our trains and buses are jammed-pack during peak a...

The recent furore in the local newspapers about the Primary One registration has stirred my heart once again. The issue is even more hotly debated in the Internet. I have previously written in about this matter but had not received any official reply from the Ministry of Education. Perhaps as I am writing this article, they are already in the midst of a strategy review to tackle this perennial issue. The increasing number of Primary One registrations’ numbers and stressed-up parents are more than sufficient reasons for MOE to address this issue expeditiously. The CPF board has tweaked their system time and again. They have refined the CPF minimum sum and withdrawal rates for aged 65 and above constantly over the years. No policies are cast in stone. MOE should follow suit. Continually, MOE should do an assessment of the situation on hand and improve their policies to best suit the changing times and needs. No doubt the phases have been in place for many years now and used to serve u...

Friendship more important than kinship In the olden days families cluster together and stay in one single household. For economic, security and traditional reasons, three or more generations used to stay under one roof. Towards the end of 19th century in the developed cities, nuclear families are formed. Small familial clusters are formed everywhere, mostly in cities. In 21st century, children move out from family and prefer to stay on their own or with friends. With greater earning power, those twenty something and thirty something can afford to buy or rent their properties. They need privacy and need space of their own. Friends can be anyone in the social circle namely, colleagues, neighbours or anyone who can offer them new leeway or have been connections to specific jobs or business deals are deemed more important priorities over the latter. If you are working miles away from your family in another country, of course neighbours and close colleagues are of paramount importance to yo...

Oversimplification of Case’s Price Survey Study Dollars and Sense of Breastfeeding I find that the recent price survey (5 August 2008) done by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) oversimplified. The price study revealed mothers who exclusively breastfeed their baby during the first six months can save an average of $710. CASE calculated the average prices of buying infant milk powder would be ‘around $735, while breastfeeding equipment costs as little as $25.50’. However, I beg to differ. I feel that the price survey is not truly reflective of the total costs of breastfeeding. Nor does it consider other inherent components of breastfeeding costs, comprehensively. It is a misnomer that infant formula milk powder costs money but breastfeeding is free. Contrary to the notion that breastfeeding saves money; I feel that the savings are minimal or even non-existent. During pregnancy many women eat much more than usual. After childbirth, what the mothers eat is even more important f...

Too many CCTVs in the streets We are deploying more CCTV (closed circuit televisions) on our streets. Such CCTVs are actually high-tech cameras in disguise. They are well poised to catch all the ‘live actions’ that goes on daily by keeping watch on places such as Orchard Road, Boat Quay, Little India, Geylang and the surrounding area of Raffles City and Suntec City. In fact, the Singapore police force is looking into new "SMART" cameras that can recognize suspects by their facial features. We could rationalize if thousands of surveillance cameras are in used for occasions such as the Beijing Olympics Games. The live video-stream from surveillance cameras could be fed into the system software to monitor acts of terrorism or other serious crimes. But what I cannot understand is the usage of CCTV cameras in, say, Orchard Road, a shopping haven? Are we keeping watch on shoplifters? Or are we trying to spy on the people or tourists who shop there? What about the thousands who thro...