Responsible Free Speech

Why should free speech be turned into free-for-all verbal assassination, reduced to our society's lowest denominator in civility?

There are voices on the Internet against recent governmental moves to bring back some semblance of accountability to online discourse, mainly by limiting anonymity and throwing the book against those who have written falsehoods. Is the government regressing by imposing these regulations?

Considering the level to which some netizens have stooped, I am one who would be very relieved to see people held responsible for what they said. While we all value the freedom and richness of what is available online, who actually benefits if falsehoods, defamation and cyber bullying are allowed to rule unchecked? Only the culprits themselves! The rest of us, who are willing to obey basic rules of decency in engagement, will only suffer at the receiving end of this behavior.

Rules exist to protect the peace loving from the aggressive, those who prefer order and stability from those who seek to disrupt and destroy. There is little to be said for the honor of those who insist on their right to speak without accountability. Perhaps honor has become an old-fashioned concept in this digital age. Personally, having no desire to defame or dissemble online, I would be happy to know that there is legal recourse for those who have fallen victim to the lawlessness that defines the cyberspace now.

FreeMyInternet? Certainly, if you come out from your hiding first. If barbs are received, the victim has the right to know who fired them. Why should the rights of internet trolls be protected above others' right to peace and safety?

Tuition: Less is More

I suppose, if a child is really failing in a subject, tuition could help to salvage the child's performance in crucial examinations. Beyond this fire-fighting assistance, is there really beneficial for a child to have extensive tuition even for subjects he can manage on his own?

Since time and resources are so precious, there are inevitable trade-offs for the benefits that tuition may offer. More tuition means less time for family bonding, for exercise, for pleasure reading, and for interacting with friends and growing in socio-emotional maturity. One may gain a little in academic performance but it seems to offer little else in the way of holistic personal development. If anything, it encourages a "crutch mentality" and excessive reliance on others' help. A child may have gained higher marks but has he really become better at learning?

I am pretty sure that entrepreneurs, pioneers in all fields, didn't get where they are because they had fantastic tuition. Rather, they probably had varied experiences, rich interaction with people, and occasions to put themselves to the tests, and yes, opportunities to fail.

Rather than trying to chase the extra point, the "plus" in the B, it may be better for the child in the long run to have the chance to become a more resourceful and resilient individual by relying on himself to improve his results.

Is tuition necessary?

Once again, there is renewed debate on whether tuition is necessary for students, and if it is, why are schools not doing what they are supposed to do? 

All things being equal, if two children possess the same amounts of ability and industry, we would expect the one receiving personalized expert teaching to perform better than the other who does not have this boost.

Yet this does not mean that the child who does not have tuition will not also excel. Surely the educational materials are not such rocket science that it takes many, many hours of revising, tutoring and drilling to master them. If the syllabuses in schools are adequately covered, and the child spends time on his own revising, is there any reason why he cannot perform his best in exams?

Tuition then, is usually used as a way for students to get an edge over others, to receive more than whatever their peers are having. If this is the goal, no matter what the school is doing, it would not be enough for one child to have an advantage over the next, and the only way is through additional instruction outside. 

For us to break the grip of tuition in our society, it is essential that some take the initiative to jump off the bandwagon. Yet because few are willing to be the first to do so, and risk losing out to the rest, everyone remains on the runaway train, reluctantly. 

Yet us not lose the purpose of education in the scramble for results. I have often felt that excessive tuition is rather like an intravenous drip - it keeps one functioning, even without much effort or will. How much long term benefit is there? Is it not better for a child to cultivate resilience and perseverance by letting him rely more on himself to solve problems?

FreeMyInternet? No, thanks

After my previous entry supporting government regulation on Internet discourse, someone asked me to provide evidence for my claim that self-regulation isn't working.

Well, evidence just happened.

Somebody impersonated as MP Irene Ng and published an article in her name on TRS (The Real Singapore), a website on political commentary. Did the website intentionally abet this fraudulent act? Would it just claim to be a victim of deception? At the very least, the editors of this website have failed to exercise due diligence in verifying the sources of their content. It has let its readers down by offering such sloppy control over the quality of what it publishes.

I am sick of all these politically-motivated websites, with their half truths, cunning insinuations and hidden insults. And disgusted by the comments fanning their extreme views - comments which are uncouth at best, and often vulgar and obscene. Tell me, how does this enhance the democratic processes in Singapore?

If people demand freedom of expression, then we should abolish anonymity. Let's see how many people will still indulge in hate speech then. After all, in Hyde Park, when people speak their minds without incrimination, they put their person and identity on the podium for all to see. If one is willing to be responsible for what he says, then he has the right to expect freedom of expression. If not, we are letting the basest  in our society dictate the rules of social interaction. Why should we make it so easy for people to spew vitriol since this does nothing for the quality of life for the rest of us?

Self selection

I stopped visiting Sharejunction.com's forum for stock investors, and it isn't because I am no longer interested investing.

Over the years, there is a general decline in the quality of the comments made in the forum. It doesn't matter that many of these are simply efforts to cheer a stock rally. If that makes an investor in the red feel better, I cannot fault them. However, many of the comments are tasteless, or even lewd. Then there are the inevitable doomsday soothsayers, who are probably don't even own stocks, since they delight in prophesying stock market crashes. And last of all, petty keyboard wars frequently erupt, with childish barbs that fill up the spaces meant for stock analysis.

I can't help attributing this degeneration to the fact that the platform is free, since the free forums have gone down the same route. Anyone can go in to post whatever they like, and if they get banned, they simply create a new avatar. In comparison, the quality of the discussion at another paid forum is far more thoughtful. People post only when they have meaningful comments to make, and don't give silly answers to my questions.

When free platforms are abused in this manner, it only drives the serious investors into gated communities, where people do not misbehave under the cloak of anonymity. Then these free forums would be abandoned by investors who may have genuinely useful advice to give, and whose loss is it?

Kopi Kia

In my old home, we befriended the kopi-kia (coffee boy), as regular customers at the coffeeshop. By and by, we learnt of his life story - he left his family behind in China to work here, to provide better for them. He had a two-year-old daughter. Every day he worked from 12am midnight to 12pm the next afternoon, 7 days a week, and earned $2000 a month. Isn't there a labour law somewhere to prevent such inhumanly long hours?

So when the newspapers started discussing the possibility of self-service in coffee shops, as compared to having a kopi-kia deliver the drinks to our tables, this man came into my mind again. 

While we all appreciate the convenience of having this service at the coffee shop, we cannot ignore the fact that this is an exceedingly menial job that pays the worker far less it should. I had always wondered how many miles a kopi-kia has to walk in one shift. We don't want to have to pay more for our drinks, yet no one should have to exploit his strength for so little in return. 

So, DIY is probably the best way to go at the coffee shops. That would free up manpower for more productive work, which would be more financially rewarding for the worker.

Whatever happened to saving up?

The new tough rules on car loans have unleashed yet another public outcry. New car buyers now have to fork out 50-60% of the total amount. In the past, one used to be able to waltz into a car showroom and come out with a car without much immediate cash payment, since we could get a 100% loan.

Isn't such easy financing one of the biggest reasons for the astronomical COE prices we are seeing? If people actually feel the pinch of coughing up cash for the car, we are less likely to see such indiscriminate bidding for the precious COE, and then everyone would get to pay less for the certificate. What is the problem?

Don't forget that whether you get a loan, or pay upfront, the money eventually comes from your own pocket. Seen in this light, a loan is simply delayed pain, a form of self-delusion even. Can't afford the cash payment? Then save up for it. Eventually, you would accumulate enough, right? And if you can't, why are you even thinking of buying a car?

In favour of PSLE

There are increasing calls to remove the PSLE from our national school system, because it is causing too much stress to our children (and parents).

Many complain that our education scene is no longer a level playing field for all children because rich parents can afford more resources and tuition for their children. But would removing the PSLE change that? If anything, I have always thought that the exam hall is the place where, stripped of all external help, each child gets a fair shot at doing his very best. 

If there isn't such objective yardstick anymore, we would have to rely on other measures that could require far more resources, such as cultivating niche skills, or elaborate project work (which parents won't be able to resist helping in). 

Some mentioned the possibility of a through-train system from primary to secondary school so that children do not have to take an exam so early. Wouldn't that mean even greater stress at the annual P1 registration? Imagine if one registration determines the child's experience for the next ten years! At least our present system allows children again, a fair shot, at getting into their preferred secondary school, where admission cannot be influenced by their parents' volunteer work or other such advantages. 

I come to realise that the stress does not come from external factors in the system but inherently from parents' keen desire for the best for their children. Come on, as long as resources are finite, one always wants a headstart over others and be in a position of strength. Isn't this the true source of anxiety? 

While we shouldn't be afraid to reexamine sacred cows and slay them if necessary, we cannot become trigger happy! These are features in our educational system that served us so well for so long, for good reasons. Remember that once Humpty Dumpty has a great fall, all the King's horses and all the King's men cannot put him together again. 

富不过三代

After such a continuous stretch of prosperity, it is not surprising that people no longer remember, or never knew, that life can be one of struggling for subsistence and frustrated aspirations.

Somehow Daddy, despite his learning in Classical Chinese, Tang poetry and history, ended up driving a cab for 20 years. How galling it must have been for him, at the beck and call of customers perhaps less learned than him, and very often less rational too. Yet he stuck to it because he couldn't find a better paying job, though I am sure it was never his ambition to be a taxi driver. Ideas like 'self-actualization' are alien to him, just as his sacrificial labour is inconceivable to us these days.

We certainly hope never to return to the harsh circumstances of our founding fathers, but they are reminders that the good things we now reap were sown painstakingly.

Sometimes I wonder what expectations and hopes young people have when they are looking for a job. Do jobs always have to fit our training, aptitudes and interest? They expect to find professional jobs as befitting their degrees. Everyone they know works in air-conditioned offices, and aspire to own a car after a few years of work.

Then because modern life gets stressful, people now call for a slower pace of life, wanting to trade some of our nation's excellence for leisure. But friends, do you really think that you can have your cake and eat it too? It seems that cocooned in present comforts, we have become complacent enough to think that the good life will always be there, even if we slacken our efforts. More disturbingly, these calls for relaxation come together with ever increasing demands for public and welfare provisions.

I put two and two together, and decided to increase the investment in my retirement fund.

One woman's art is another's vandalism

It amazes me that there should be any controversy about the lady vandal's charges, and now there is even an online petition on her behalf!

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/vandal-behind-mystery-graffiti-signs-arrested.html

Which part of illegal is difficult to understand? It doesn't matter how creative her work is (to me it looks jolly like vandalism), it is only right that she confines any pretension to art to her OWN property, not public property. What did she think she was painting on? Her grandfather's road?

Lest you think me harsh, friends, consider if you really want the law to be a matter of negotiation, and worse, to bow to populist pressure. Is it not the reason why Lady Justice is often depicted with a blindfold over her eyes? We need the law to be objective, precisely because it exists to protect the rights and property of every one in the society. Erm, basically it means you obey the law, I obey the law and there would be peace. I obey the law, you decide the law can be bent for you, there won't be peace.

Anyway, I am not impressed by online petitions, because of the anonymity. If everyone petitioning has to give their IC number and personal address, I wonder how many signatures there would be.

Bad news is good news

Say what you want about her being a bimbo. To be able to parley all the cyber bullying into a full page cover story says more about the lady's savvy. Some celebrities don't even get that. 

Now there are mutterings of a lawsuit against her, apparently on the grounds of copyrights, since she used photos taken by others without their permission. 

But guys, you really don't want to take the matter further. For a blogger thriving on notoriety, a juicy lawsuit would give fantastic boost to her career. But normal guys holding normal jobs don't want further attention of this unsavory nature. Imagine those priceless photos reproduced in mainstream media as part of the coverage for the court case. 

Besides, don't forget what triggered the whole saga. I am quite certain that falsely calling someone else a prostitute amounts to defamation. And no matter what the outcome of any legal proceedings would be, the winner is obvious. 

All that glitters is not gold

I'm very concerned whenever I see young children playing with iPads, iPhones and other electronic gadgets. Of course we all know that these toys make fantastic baby-sitters - the flashing colours and ease of use make them irresistable to any kid. And there are calls to introduce them to pre-school, because nowadays kids cannot sit still. Please...

In this era of space-age technology, I have an old complaint against technology. Isn't anyone worried about deteriorating eye-sight in our population? On a trip to Nepal, one Nepalese once remarked to me, "Singaporeans are very clever. You all wear spectacles."

Isn't it obvious that most things are beneficial only in moderation? A good thing given at a wrong time may cause more harm than good. I have already decided my future children will grow up helping me to take care of the rabbits, because spoilt rabbits are cuter than spoilt kids.

Mulling a second property

It is either a sign of an unusually wealthy middle class, or a dangerous bubble in the making.

Suddenly, my peers are all looking into buying a second property for rental income. I can't deny that it is my aspiration one day too. A spare home pulls in passive income, and helps to preserve the value of your savings in these days of heady inflation. Who could have thought that such a time would come for our little nation, when we salaried working folks can hope to join the formerly exclusive club of property investors? No wonder property prices defy gravity despite all of our government's cooling measures.

But somehow for me, the Math isn't adding up favourably. Don't forget that interest rates never remain static, and a typical mortgage loan is likely to stretch through times of higher financing costs. This means having to save up a huge sum for refinancing, does it not?

Besides, if everyone is looking for tenants, who is going to be the tenant? Our country's population is already exploding. What are the chances of further significant increases to soak up the spare housing capacity that is frantic construction now?

Yet maybe human nature is such. These considerations aren't stopping me from lingering fondly over lavish condo advertisments, and worse, checking out condo prices every week. Hm...it is such a struggle to keep a cool head in a hot market. Luckily I'm held back by a lack of resources anyway, hahaha.

Thoughts on taxes

This is going to make me sound like a scrooge.

I seem to be reading about new increases in public expenditure every day - more funding for social welfare, subsidies for more people in more areas of their lives. Funny that all the largesse never seem to satisfy the vociferous demands for more. It is well and good that we are such a compassionate society, but I am expecting my tax assessment in the mail any minute, and can't help wondering what the bill is going to be.

Before you stone me, I'm not one of the 1% super rich. Just a working girl paying off my mortgage.

The truth will set you free

I’ve never seen a time when silence is so deafening.

Unlike noise, which always dies away, silence grows over time. In the vacuum that it exists (or does not exist), a cacophony of accusations and questions echoes. Will he continue to answer with a non-answer of “No comment”?


Difficult as it may be, revealing the truth is the best and only way to put an end to the saga. Things could get sensational for a while, but when the truth is clear, there is nothing more to speculate about, and there has to be a natural end to imaginary details. People will eventually lose interest, and find new stories in the media. Life could move on for everyone.

Besides, to attempt to deny without being able to deny is such flimsy defence.

Goodbye Rabbit Year...and rabbits

If you were one of those who abandoned a rabbit this year...

Which part of the planet had you been living in? We all know last year was the Year of the Rabbit, and all animal welfare groups had been reminding every one - DON'T BUY A RABBIT JUST BECAUSE IT IS RABBIT YEAR! Did you not hear the message, which was repeated everywhere, even at the petshops? Did you not realise that a rabbit lives for much longer than one year? It might still be around the NEXT Rabbit Year!

So why do people still buy and then abandon rabbits? Even they didn't want the rabbits anymore, why did they just leave them lost in our concrete jungle? Would they themselves (the humans) be able to survive if they were thrown out into the streets without protection and food? No right? Then how did they expect the rabbits to cope?

We are entering the Year of the Dragon. Thank goodness people can't keep dragons as pets.

Perth: Reflecting on Productivity

The alternative to cheap labour - education and multi-tasking.

Our day-trip coach driver

• Handles the 4-wheel drive
• Shepherds our group of 17
• Teaches us how to do sand boarding
• Deflates, then inflates the tires of the vehicle when necessary
• Introduces the places of interest we come across
• Tells jokes during the long drives,  AND 
• Cleans up the coach at the end of the trip

That's all in a day's work for him. Considering that the day's excitement made us sleep through most of the time on the coach, I can't imagine what stamina he had to keep going like that. 

Yet I see in him an example of how productivity could be raised so that people could get good wages, without incurring higher costs for businesses. 

In places where labour is plentiful but poorly paid, such jobs would typically be shared  out among 2 or even 3 workers - one to guide, another to drive, and a third man to...sort of be useful. While their work requirements are naturally lower, their pay would correspondingly be so too. Unfortunately, these men would have each worked the same number of hours as our multi-tasking guide, except that the value of the work they produced is lower, having shared the duties among the three of them. 

To order to merit higher pay, these workers have to increase their productivity, but notice that this is not done by putting in longer hours. If they could be trained to carry out a wider range of duties, and if some of the superfluous demands could be streamlined, they too could command better pay. 

This seems to me to be the right direction for a well educated population to move towards. After all, no one likes being stuck in low-paying, poor-value jobs, but we can't give graduate salaries to everyone unless they deserve it. 

The City Never Sleeps

God made two lights, the greater one to shine brightly in the day, and the lesser to glimmer softly in the night.


Then Man invented the light bulb, and now the city never sleeps.

Saw in the newspapers that many spas are open 24 hours a day so that we can get massages whenever we want, since Singaporeans work such late hours. I’m not sure that this is a good idea. It may mean greater convenience for customers, and the business owners can maximize the use of their premises. But it disturbs me to think of the human costs to keep our economy humming even when it is time to rest. Who is going to work these graveyard shifts, pummeling sore muscles and helping others to relax so that they can sleep well? Seeing the toll exacted on my father as a night driver, I don’t think anyone really ‘gets used’ to such topsy-turvy hours.

Maybe I am being too sentimental and sensitive about it. I just can’t see myself going for midnight massages anytime soon.

Another hard truth

Only Mr LKY could say it in such an matter of fact way.

A high-flying young woman, a phd student, expressed concern for social cohesion in the immigration we see here, and our former minister mentor advised her to have children, thus making the point that we Singaporeans aren't having enough children. So if we aren't multiplying, and we don't want foreigners, who is going to keep the economy humming along?

Then I wryly observed that I don't quite feel the aging population phenomenon. Could it be true that our reproduction rate has dropped to a new low of 1.01! But I seem to be surrounded by kids - kids in church, kids in my cell group, kids in the extended family, screaming kids in my estate, and kids stomping on seats in the Mrt.

It struck me that one way to encourage women to have kids is to get existing kids to behave better so that we feel less daunted. But as people always tell me, kids will be kids. I think I shall go and have a couple so that they can do their fair share of dashing through our estate.

Presidential Election 2011: Postscript

On the 'almost president': 

With all due respect, there is a time to speak, and a time to be silent. Will the next 6 years turn into a protracted election campaign? How galling it must be to suffer the fate of being the ‘almost president’, yet it is so unseemly to publicly agonize over what should be and what could had been. The fact is the tribe has spoken. During the election campaigns, much was said about uniting the people. Now is the time for him to make good these words, by acknowledging the results graciously and pledging his support to the elected. We don’t want a shadow Istana, please. That would be the very last thing for social cohesion.

On the 'wannabe president':

To quote Shakespeare, has been ‘hoist with his own petard’. The vindictive criticism of his opponents, so fiercely flooding online forums, has abruptly turned against him. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea who these people are. But you see, once the culture of sliming, mudslinging and heckling has been unleashed, there is no way to control the direction of the attacks. And it has come full circle after all.

I'm very tired of politics. So relieved that we would (or at least should) have peace for the next few years. To all who didn't make it, don't continue to stir up public discontent and incite resentment with endless nitpicking and criticism ok. Things will never be perfect, but newspapers recently said that Natas Fair's trips were heavily booked! It must mean that life is pretty good, right? If the opposition folks are so clever you propose better policies la! If everyone is shouting the same time, who can listen?