Human Rights versus Reality Check

I came across an interesting article posted on The Online Citizen today.

The main thrust of this article revolved around the pressing need and reasons why Singapore needs to actively enforce human rights. Based on the current situation and some of the comments left by other readers, it seems as though a large majority of us are just an apathetic and/or materialistic bunch that couldn’t really be bothered about this issue.

Perhaps this might be true, or perhaps some of us have given up caring because it has simply proven to be a futile effort. I applaud those before who have fought on this…but, realistically speaking, there seems to be little to show for it.

Whatever it is, as I was reading the article, one question that popped up in my mind is:

In the face of rising commodity prices (i.e. raw materials like food and fuel), some families are already finding it a struggle to meet their basic needs…and how many would actually place more significance on this human rights issue as compared to another that could potentially threaten our livelihood?

Somehow, I sense that this is going to be helluva fight – going uphill all the way.

“blogging” has gone to the dogs

if anyone has noticed, there seems to be a wave of old-time bloggers shutting down their blogs recently.

sad to say, quite a number of them are blogs that i read regularly.

i used to remember a time, not very long ago, where there were only a handful of people whom i knew were blogging. although lacking in quantity, most of these blogs were interesting, down to earth or, at the very least, worth someone’s time.

i don’t know when, or how, it happened. from a relatively obscure activity/hobby, blogging suddenly become the most talked-about “in” thing in town. everyone, who was anyone, started logging onto the internet and established their own blogs. from there, this phenomenon quickly developed into an unstoppable tidal wave - blog aggregators, blog advertisements… all types of blog “accessories”. you name it, someone has invented it.

and it didn’t stop there.

from being a pure leisure activity/hobby, blogging soon evolved into a money-generating tool with the popularization of blog ads. most of the blog ad mechanisms work on the general principal, as below:

the higher the traffic volume for blog = the more blog ad income for blog owner.

under such a mechanism, it will only make economic sense for the financially-motivated blog owner to try to increase the volume of traffic to his/her blog.

how? - is the next question.

now, that’s an easy question. what are people most interested in?

ans: sex. that’s why we have the saying - “sex sells’.

enter the proliferation of blog entries with sex-related titles.

coupled with the rise of blog aggregators, blog entries with such sexual innuendo quickly raised to the top of the most popular charts, once again proving the old adage.

sexual innuendo aside, these blog entries don’t even have any content - at all! some post links to websites of questionable nature, some are just pure lame nonsense…the list goes on. the contraversial titles are just baits to lure readers into clicking through and entering their blog sites to prop up traffic volume.

i’m not even saying that the quality of blogs has gone down.

what quality?!

although i’m not the ah kong of singapore blogs, like mrbrown, nor did i popularize blogging, like xiaxue. but i’ve been blogging for a relatively long time…from the time when people went “blog? what’s that?” to them going “oh yar, i’m a blogger too!”

i started blogging to find an outlet for things that i couldn’t express verbally, especially when my feelings were in a turmoil or going topsy turvey on me and words seemed to be the most effective way for me to express how i feel or vent those frustrations.

i didn’t want to tell people i had an online diary, right in the beginning, because i didn’t want to share that inner world - where i wrote down my honest, naked feelings under an anonymous guise. slowly, i begun to realize that there was a handful of others who were the same way, who expressed their thoughts and feelings in words.

it was refreshing to be able to share thoughts or opinions with them, without fear of being judged since we were all veiled by the internet. as these like-minded people got to know each other better, being anonymous no longer seemed that important. blogging had seemed to be a more-or-less accepted norm, abeit being a lesser known activity. it was good that way.

however, with the recent developments (or should i say “degradation”) in this area, the thought of uttering the word “blogger” rings so fake in my ears. blogging has turned into a fad…one that many people follow mindlessly, or do just for the sake of making money, trying to become famous etc.

blogging has gone to the dogs.

of course, this does not apply to everyone who blogs. there are still those who stick by their guns and blog on maintaining their own integrity or objectives. these, i admire and respect.

how can we return to a simpler time - where blogging was merely a true reflection or expression of how one feels?

377A - to stay or to go? it’s not your call.

i’ve just been on a weekend getaway to tanjong pinang - beautiful part of indonesia where you can experience and be engulfed by the open skies, clear seas and endless serenity.

however, the latest news that have been hogging the headlines of every mainstream paper in singapore have greatly disturbed me.

377A

there have been much heated discussions, on and off the political scene, regarding penal code 377A.

extracted from wiki:

 377A (”outrages on decency”) states that:

 any male person who, in public or private, commits or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years.

all legal lingo aside, what i understand from this statement simply is that:

gay sex is against the law.

some members of the public, and even certain celebrities, have stepped up and voiced their disagreement / disapproval of this penal code. appeals, video and web-logs have also been established and publicized in an attempt to repeal 377A.

and what was the result?

377A stays.

for a city-state that is aiming to cultivate an “open and inclusive” society, these dissent voices seemed to have been ignored on the grounds that our society is not yet ready to accept such a radical move. concerns regarding the probable disintegration of our basic family units (deemed to be normal) and the active promotion of a homosexual lifestyle have also been raised as reasons for 377A to stay.

we’re not ready yet, they said.

yes, i can accept that. we might not be ready for now.

but when will we ever be if nothing ever changes?

let’s look at it in another context.

in the past, singapore’s economic strengths used to lie in its manufacturing and electronics sectors. however, with globalization and the rise of other economic superpowers such as china, our competitive advantages were rapidly eroded.

they told us: to progress and survive, we must innovate, initiate and accept changes. hence, we struggled and strived to transform ourselves from a manufacturing-focused economy to one that is services-based.

even when there was a misfit between our workforce’s skills and those that were required of a services-based economy, they said we had to upgrade ourselves. only through constant skill-upgrading and adaptation can we continue to grow and prosper.

programs, initiatives and incentives were put into place to encourage and facilitate this great change but still, it wasn’t easy with the onslaught of various challenges such as structural unemployment etc.

maybe it’s still too early to say that we’ve successfully transformed ourselves 100%, but it would be fair to say that we’ve gained significant amount of ground on this path.

moral of the lesson?

we’ll never be ready if changes are not allowed to take place. how can we ever progress if things remain status quo? it’s just like keeping a baby chained down for fear of him falling and hurting himself - he’ll never learn to walk, much less run.

applying this to the 377A saga, don’t you see a similarity?

i’m not advocating homosexuality and to me, it’s neither right nor wrong. it’s a personal preference / choice that individuals make with regards to their lifestyle. since heterosexual individuals have the freedom to make their choices, why are we depriving homosexuals of this right? are they lesser than others? do they not deserve to enjoy the same rights and privileges that are given freely to others?

we might have come far in our pursuit of economic well-being but have we really progressed in a holistic manner?

have we truly become better people or did we just mask our “ignorance” (as opposed to being more open and accepting to a wider range of views) behind dazzling material gains?

i ponder.

maybe it’s time we took a cold, hard look at where we’re going

last week, i caught a long-anticipated show - sicko.

judging the movie by its title initially, i had imagined that this will be a movie akin to those like scary movie 1, 2 or 3 which were lame and featured slapstick, copy-cat humourless jokes. however, upon reading the film’s description from the net, i realised that this was more of a reality-type of movie.

although it will be too much of a stretch to call sickoa documentary, this film paints the hard reality of how the health-care system operates in the united states. using an often sarcastic but humorous way, michael moore explored and portrayed how the less-than-privileged (i.e. those with no health insurance) were suffering in the states.

you might ask “why didn’t these people get health insurance then? wouldn’t it make things easier for everyone?”

yeah, like they didn’t think of that huh. things ain’t so simple. to buy a health insurance, you’ll need to go through approval processes which are determined by the health insurance companies themselves.

as for those who are privileged enough to have health insurance, there are still barriers such as the scope of their insurance, under what circumstances did you fall sick etc etc. fail any one item - your insurance is rendered invalid - and that means no compensation.

the most horrifying thing is that these health insurance companies actually hire people to employ scare tactics to “persuade” the patients not to claim their insurance (from what i interpreted from the movie). doesn’t this sound like mob-like?

the movie also revealed the following scenes:

• some major health insurance companies have their fingers and toes dipped in politics to lobby for health bills to be passed so that they could make more money off their drugs or treatments.

• patients and people in dire need of medical treatment being brutally thrown out of hospitals because they’ve no money for medical bills. one of the scenes included an old lady patient being discarded from a hospital onto a cab and later, onto a public road from the cab some distance away. disorientated and lost, the old lady just wandered around along the busy road until a volunteer from a shelter found her.

moore also compared the health-care systems in the states against those of canada and other europe countries where they practised universal health-care (i.e. free health-care for everyone - paid with the people’s taxes).

apparently, in the past, there were some voices in the states which advocated the implementation of universal health-care. these voices were, however, quickly silenced by the all-powerful health insurance companies who claimed that it was a socialist movement which is inefficient and ineffective while we all know that it’s just because this system will be detrimental to their bottomlines and profits.

in an attempt to validate this claim, moore also interviewed health-care stakeholders in these countries. through analysing his findings, the universal health-care system does seem to be more satisfactory compared to a free-market system.

oh no, i’ve given away too much on the movie.

anyway, i must admit that i don’t know how much of these information from the movie is true and realistic. however, even if only 25% was true, the thought is pretty chilling…

…even much more so when i could, in my head, imagine singapore going the same way in future.

sometimes, in our haste to progress into a first-world country like the states, we sometimes forget that not everyone is able to keep up and accelerate at a comparable speed. in this case, we risk leaving them behind which will result in a heavily segmented society. is this what we really want?

moreover, it’s a generally-known fact that a large portion of our younger generation looks towards the west (especially the states) as the ideal state/environment/society. wouldn’t such attitudes propel us toward that direction even faster?

looking at our present health-care system, i’m worried - very very worried.

does it not resemble the situation that is being portrayed in the movie?

i don’t want to become old…and have to worry about whether i’ll have enough money for my medical bills when i fall sick or whether i’ll be kicked out of the hospital anytime.

that’s just too sad. what quality of life are we looking at?

i’ll strongly recommend this movie to everyone…. maybe it’ll help us gain some perspective. personally, i really feel that this movie is like us looking into a crystal ball - like a preview of how our future system will be like.

i ish saded.

movie rating: 4.5/5 - a must-watch!

Looking for - The Consumer’s Voice

Recently, one of my favourite meta-blog, Tomorrow.Sg, has been served a lawyer’s letter by a timeshare company. I’ve been reading about the case and here’s what I’ve gathered so far:-

• Tomorrow.Sg publishes someone’s entry on his/her negative experience with the timeshare company.
• The alleged timeshare company served a lawyer’s letter to the editor of Tomorrow.Sg on defamation grounds (based on the blog entry).

So now, what? We, as consumers, can’t have an opinion about the products or services that we’ve bought/about or considering to buy? Oh, you mean, we can’t EXPRESS such opinions to others since it might be taken as defamatory comments?!

I have no background in law, so I’ve absolutely no idea as what does count as defamatory or otherwise… but this just doesn’t adhere to common sense, does it?

Anyway, I can’t say for sure how this case’s going to turn out to be but one thing I know for sure - that timeshare company is doing some REALLY bad PR. This, coupled with the high level of awareness and publicity that this incident is generating, might prove to have devastating effects on their revenues/returns or whatever.

It’s such a lose-lose situation. Even if they win this case, they are going to lose so much more - reputation, goodwill etc. Now, more people will be aware of such timeshare “plans”, and will be able to make “better-informed” decisions. Score.

It will be interesting to watch how this event will unfold itself. I’m beside myself with anticipation.

Consumers’ right / Freedom of speech vs Corporate “tactics” - who’ll triumph?

Stay tuned.

Singapore graduates - Unfeeling alumni? Think again.

There has been much buzz in the media after NUS placed an appeal for its alumni to donate and contribute to their alma mater.

Much of these discussions revolved around the reasons why many local graduates do not seem to identify themselves as stakeholders of their universities.

The million dollar question that frequently popped up was… Did our education system churned out a bunch of ungrateful graduates?

Coming from a local university myself, I followed this topic quite vividly.

While reading today’s TODAY, an article caught my eye. The headline screamed, “And the millions roll in… for SJI International’s aid kitty”. One of the points that jumped out at me from the article was that the SJI old boys had contributed 1 million dollars to the scholarship kitty.

Is this an act that “unfeeling students” would have done? I don’t think so.

And if we are not unfeeling, why then, did we not extend our generosity towards our universities?

I think it all boils down to one simple reason - Do we feel a sense of belonging to the school when we were receiving our education there?

Often, the most difficult and awkward stage of our lives tends to be the teenage years. It is this period when we were desperately trying to cultivate our own identity, to find out where we belong and to whom to pledge our “allegiance” to. Hence, very often, most of us would find that the most turbulent time of our lives largely occurred during our secondary school days.

Coincidentally, a large percentage of school-related disciplinary problems also arise from secondary schools. In the midst of searching for ourselves, we are often misled and trod along undesirable paths, wrecking havoc and mischief in school, at home or even in public.

Since a large portion of time is spent in schools, teachers naturally took on one of the most burdened roles - to become the shepherd guiding a flock of lost lambs. Facing stubborn and defiant students, they scolded, punished, cajoled, reasoned and tried ways and means to persuade wayward teenagers. They sacrificed their time, money, efforts and sometimes, even their tears.

Coming from a secondary school that possesses many less-than-desirable type of students, and mayhap being one myself, I have seen the worry-lines on my teachers’ faces. When I had refused to repent or bulge from my stand, I have witnessed their frustration and tears.

At these times, they think that they had failed in their guidance roles, in their job duty and most importantly, they think that they had failed us.

Undeniably, a small number of them gave up, citing us as lost causes. But there are those who persevered, trying again and again despite us slamming the door in their faces.

There was no fairy-tale ending. We did not suddenly become model students after their numerous attempts but sometimes, we can’t help but be touched by their efforts and in one small way or another, we attempted to improve and mend our ways bit by bit, a little at a time.

They had tried to reach out to us, to try to bridge the gap between a teacher and a student. The bond was made, the ties were gradually established.

I can’t say that all of us turned all goody-two shoes or became ace scholars but I can, most definitely, tell you that most of us remained accepted within the mainstream educational institutes and not in the girls’ home, with clean records no less.

Certainly, our families also played a part in the positive ways that we have turned out, but who can deny the important roles that our secondary school teachers/ principals have played in our lives as well?

As an adult looking back, I think that most of us will feel rather strongly for our secondary schools. Because they listened to us, because they showed us that they cared and simply because they made us feel that we were a part of the school.

Small wonder why most of us will want to pay our dues and contribute to our secondary schools in whatever ways possible now.

If the article isn’t enough to convince you, take a look around and count the number of ex-students spotting their secondary school car decals on their vehicles.

And this is why I will always remember my secondary school motto…and recall, with great fondness, of my school days back then.

*Please note that this entry is a personal account and does not attempt to portray all schools as above-mentioned.

brokeback mountain - singapore version.

the latest, hottest and most juicy news of singapore blogmisphere now is the coming out of two young gay boys, colin and kero.

barely 21, these boys have bravely came out of their closets to the whole world via a lovers’ blog that they jointly contribute to. in this blog, they write about their daily lives, their views of homosexuality and most importantly, their explicit feelings towards each other. as a result, this blog has seen high volumes of traffic and generated much controversy amongst its readers. reactions from readers greatly differed from displaying strong support and encouragement to these boys to expressing great disapproval of their actions. in the midst of such mixed reactions, these boys continue to blog on.

***

my take?

these boys are barely 18, what do they know about homosexuality? don’t give me that bullshit about how love should be free, how instinctive homosexuals are about their sexual preferences. these boys are barely out of the schoolroom and are still dependent on their parents. do they know the repercussions of their actions now?

they might think it’s a heroic action now, to stand out and declare themselves to be homosexual. it’s a romantic notion, the “us against the world” idea, but do these boys realise that such “romantic” notions die along with time as we age and grow into adulthood? such is our world.

i do not have advice for these boys. i only have questions. questions that they need not answer to me, to society or even to their parents. they only need to be able to answer it to themselves honestly.

1. how can you be sure that you are truly homosexual? in teenage years, it is very common to have crushes on someone of the same gender and these crushes normally seemed like love at that point in time. 

2. have you truly thought about the repercussions of your public coming out? have you thought about how it will affect your futures, in both your working and family life? it’s easy to disregard the world when you don’t depend on it to make a living, but what happens when you do? we might not be the most conservative country around here, but we are indeed still a long way off from being liberal and open minded. homosexuality is still not widely accepted as a norm, if you didn’t realise.

3. are you ready to face all consequences and bear the blunt of it all? to face up to the possibility of rejection at every turn in your career path? i agree that love is great but it does not put food in your stomach.

if you are able to answer these questions with conviction and absolute belief, then i congratulate you sincerely for finding your other half and applause you for your courage to stand up for what you are.

but if you have the smallest hint of doubt nagging at you, i suggest you take a step back to think about what you have done and what you might do to remedy this situation.

x-factor no more.

when i was new and fresh in the world of blogging, i used to enjoy reading other people’s blogs tremondously. i read without judgements and without pressure, reading purely for pleasure and curiousity’s sakes.

however, as i stayed longer in the world of blogging, straying further and deeper, i’ve gotten to know many of the faces behind these various blogs, even have build up varying degrees of friendships with these bloggers.

although i am thankful for these relationships that i’ve cultivated in this circle of friends, i can’t say that it has been all gains and no loss. as i ploughed through many blogs today, i realised that i’ve lost the desire to read many of them. they no longer excite me as they used to.

did meeting the real person behind these words make them lose their x-factor?

or was it the loss of the air of mystery that makes it so much less exciting?

it wasn’t as though the blogs became less interesting. it was just that reading some of these blogs became so tiring.

because once you know the person behind the blog and is involved some way or another in his/her life, nothing is simple anymore. you can’t read the blog in a detached manner, like it isn’t any part of your business.

i’m talking about 100% detachment.

it has lost the fun element.

the easiest way to understand this would be through the example of gossiping. imagine you’ve heard a rumour about so-and-so, whom you do not know at all. it’s easy to share this piece of juicy gossip with your friend, spicing up your conversation. but what if you are acquainted with this so-and-so person, you probably wouldn’t feel very good about gossiping about this person, and most probably, would not get involved to sabotage this person’s reputation.

it boils down all to a matter of your level of involvement with the other person.

now, who understands what i’m talking about?

of campus superstar 2006

oh my god, these kids really can sing!

initially, i had dismissed the whole programme, thinking that it was channel u’s way of squeezing the superstar fad to its maximum so i didn’t bother to watch until i was forced to do it one day while i was at home and my aunt had to absolutely watch it or she will faint.

so i watched.

and watched i did!

im impressed by these kids. barely out of their teens, these kids can carry a tune that will put any adult to shame! omigosh.

i was particularly rooting for two of the contestants, adriano and cheeyang. yes, i do have a thing for supporting underdogs and they were underdogs at first!

plus they were cute. geeky, nerdy kind of cute. i like. hurhur.

if i’m not mistaken, both made it quite far, adriano was forth-last to be eliminated in the boys category and as far as i’m concerned, he lost out in the looks department compared to the other boys who were the classic cute type. the type that young girls swoon over. yucks.

not to be disappointed, cheeyang went on to clinch the champion title for campus superstar with his absolutely electrifying duet with xinhui (which electrocuted me as well, i was swooning) and ended off on a grand note with his soulful rendition of some very difficult song with high pitches (can’t remember the song title now).

hey, you record companies, hurry produce an album for him…..i’ll definitely buy a copy. that’s high praise from me, if you don’t know it yet. hurrrrryy!!

of v for vendetta

i’ve finally watched the v for vendetta.

initially, i thought it was going to be a dry and heavily laden political show, somewhat like a documentary. to my surprise, it turn out to be everything…not.

the show depicted uk being ruled by a communist-like political party. this party played on citizens’ fears of diseases and wars to gain their absolute obedience. under the cruel ruling party, its citizens cowered and continued to live their mundane lives, closing their eyes, minds and hearts to their environment, to their feelings.

only one man had dared to think freely, to embrace ideas that he deemed to be worthy. he undertook a mission, an ambitious and seemingly-unachievable mission - to wake all of his fellow countrymen up. he wanted his fellow countrymen to think for themselves, to decide for themselves their fates and not to live in fear of their government.

to accomplish his mission, he sacrificed his identity, his life and his love.

truth to speak, i’m really quite moved by the storyline. no, not by the love story that the scriptwriters had painstakingly woven into the plot. i’m moved by the fact that the hero in the show did not try to take credit for his mission. the hero had no name. he had no face. he had no identity.

all he wanted, was to be seen as an idea. he said “that the man might die, but the idea will live on”. it was a truly un-selfish act.

how many of us can claim to be like him? to claim that whatever we are doing is for a greater good, and that there are absolutely no selfish ulterior motives behind.

i can’t say that. it will be a lie.

for heaven’s sake,if you haven’t watched it, try your best to find it. it’s truly worth 160minutes of your time.