Social heritage, a soulful search

Image via WikipediaI am not a Singaporean, but seeing the same issues and problems one way or another besetting this nation where I currenlty reside, I would be very interested to see how things will be in a couple of decades more - if I live to see how different things will be by then.

An article already highlighting the cries and anguish of this nation's history being 'unknown', both to locals and foreigners, it being absent from the web - this medium of information passing being specifically identified - I would restrain myself from saying anything else, not adding or subtracting.

For what do I know after all?
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by Dr Faith Leong

A bus ride downtown in Singapore reveals a very sleek and polished look of buildings, shop windows and modern landscaping. It reveals the quantum leap Singapore has made as a developed nation.

We have arrived through the painstaking yet visionary policies of the founding leaders. With Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew well in his 80s, two generations of capable leaders are passing on their baton to younger members of the society.

The question is whether our education and social enculturation have developed capable Singaporeans who are visionary, prudent and ethically staunch to bring Singapore to greater heights in the midst of global challenges. A nation that reacts to the times, but which is not proactive, is in danger of being swallowed up by a tsunami.

Lately, the nation is saddened at the passing of Madam Kwa Geok Choo. We see in her a life well-lived and worthy of emulation. We should tap on the wisdom of the leaders who remain with us. There have been published interviews, books about MM Lee and his contributions to Singapore. But what percentage of the general public is aware of these?

My interest in the enculturation of our social heritage was spurred by an exhibition at the National Library on the late Senior Minister S Rajaratnam. Through the display, I got to know his role as a visionary writer and thinker in the founding decades of Singapore.

Of equal importance is the contribution of the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, who passed away this year. How much documentation has been done on the thoughts, principles and values of those who had been instrumental in shaping Singapore into what it is today?

The passing on of worthy figures without recording their legacy allows a notable era and its spirit to be swallowed up in eternal silence.

With the recent passing on of Senior Minister of State Balaji Sadasivan, obituaries, a blog and letters by Members of Parliament were posted in the Voices section of Today. These memoirs act to perpetuate in social memory the admirable qualities of the late Dr Balaji for a future generation to emulate. These actions also help to shape the national consciousness of Singaporeans. But shall we speak of these noteworthy people only when they are gone? It would be more helpful if their spirit and mind are tapped when they are still alive.

Singapore is fortunate that we have not undergone a cultural revolution. But as a migrant society with a survival mentality (mainly economical), we have developed into a narrow-minded society.

Economic prosperity has been the focus of the nation and her members for a long time. The driving force is to stay afloat in a highly-competitive world. Sad to say, the alleged $12 million fraud of two ex-employees of the Singapore Land Authority may be seen as an extreme example of how wrongly-directed material pursuit could have developed.

A recent report in Today ("Singapore's rich skip art for fast cars, diamond watches") reflects that "the millionaires in our midst prefer to splurge on fast cars, diamond encrusted watches and drink, rather than on paintings".

Using "paintings" as a figure for "soulful expression", we see Singaporeans lacking an engagement with meaning, values and thinking that expresses itself through a medium. If the public had complained about Phua Chu Kang (though it was an admirable attempt to reflect on life in Singapore), then some capable ones in our midst should take up the responsibility of growing the soul of the society in another admirable way.

"Soulful" interviews and artistic portrayals are examples of how the heritage of a society can be perpetuated. An example would be an extensive interview by New York Times with MM Lee (Today, Sept 13). In it, MM Lee responds very honestly to the difficult questions posed on life and nation-building.

Recently I saw the paintings of Cheong Soo Pieng at the National Art Gallery. The paintings were not what impressed me the most, rather the life behind the person who produced them. Stories of those who had made a mark speak of Singapore's heritage. I would not have known of this Singaporean painter, nor about the late S Rajaratnam, had I not visited the exhibitions.

Telling stories takes time, and so do listening to them, but in a narrative-starved society that is ever so busy, there is nothing more needful than the things that would spur us to think more deeply about life and civilisation, and of the wisdom and tenacity which our forefathers had exhibited.

In this way, if a tsunami strikes again, we would collectively be rooted and strong enough to withstand it.


From TODAY, Voices - Friday, 08-Oct-2010
Social heritage, a soulful search
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HOSPITAL BANS BURQA TO PREVENT THEFT

Somebody has thought of the burqa's other creative use... theft with concealed identify...

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DHAKA - Bangladesh's largest state-run hospital has banned staff from wearing full-face burqas after an increase in thefts of mobile phones and wallets from wards, a hospital chief said yesterday.

Female staff have been ordered to wear standard uniforms, which do not cover either the hair or face, while on duty at the Bangabandhu Medical University Hospital in Dhaka, said senior administrator Abdul Majid Bhuiyan.

"We decided to enforce our uniform regulations after discovering instances of stealing by veiled staff," he said, adding some burqa-wearing staff had also been secretly sending unqualified "proxy workers" to cover shifts for them.

Only a small number of women working at the hospital wear the full-face veil, he said. "Doctors have also said burqa-clad women who travel to work on crowded public buses then do not change into regulation uniform could carry diseases into the hospital." 

Bangladesh has the world's fourth-largest Muslim population. Islam is the state religion although only a minority of women wear the burqa. AFP
From TODAYOnline.com, Tuesday, 23-Mar-2010----------

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Too much, or simply just barbaric?

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'Shaming' her in-laws costs 19 year old her nose, ears

"When they cut off my nose and ears, I passed out," 19-year-old Bibi Aisha of Afghanistan says with chilling candor.

Her beauty is still stunning and her confidence inspiring. It takes a moment for the barbaric act committed against her to register in your mind and sight.

Wearing her patterned scarf and with roughly painted nails she shares her story.

"It felt like there was cold water in my nose, I opened my eyes and I couldn't even see because of all the blood," she remembers.

It was an act of Taliban justice for the crime of shaming her husband's family.

This story began when Aisha was just 8 years old.

Her father had promised her hand in marriage, along with that of her baby sister's, to another family in a practice called "baad."

"Baad" in Pashtunwali, the law of the Pashtuns, is a way to settle a dispute between rival families.

At 16, she was handed over to her husband's father and 10 brothers, who she claims were all members of the Taliban in Oruzgan province. Aisha didn't even meet her husband because he was off fighting in Pakistan.

"I spent two years with them and became a prisoner," she says. (Watch more of the interview with Aisha)

Tortured and abused, she couldn't take it any longer and decided to run away. Two female neighbors promising to help took her to Kandahar province.

But this was just another act of deception.

When they arrived to Kandahar her female companions tried to sell Aisha to another man.

All three women were stopped by the police and imprisoned. Aisha was locked up because she was a runaway. And although running away is not a crime, in places throughout Afghanistan it is treated as one if you are a woman.

A three-year sentence was reduced to five months when President Hamid Karzai pardoned Aisha. But eventually her father-in-law found her and took her back home.

That was the first time she met her husband. He came home from Pakistan to take her to Taliban court for dishonoring his family and bringing them shame.

The court ruled that her nose and ears must be cut off. An act carried out by her husband in the mountains of Oruzgan where they left her to die.

But she survived.

And with the help of an American Provincial Reconstruction Team in Oruzgan and the organization Women for Afghan Women (WAW), she is finally getting the help and protection she needs.

Offers have been pouring in to help Aisha, but there are many more women suffering in silence.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 90 percent of Afghanistan's women suffer from some sort of domestic abuse. This in a country where there are only about eight women's shelters to provide sanctuary from the cruelty they face. And all of the eight are privately run.

"Bibi Aisha is only one example of thousands of girls and women in Afghanistan and throughout the world who are treated this way - who suffer abuses like this, like this and worse," says board member for WAW, Esther Hyneman.

In 2001, the situation of Afghan women and Taliban brutality received plenty of attention. Now organizations like WAW say the international community is strangely silent on the issue.

Hyneman says not enough is being done to help the women in Afghanistan and that feeds into the hands of the insurgency.

"When you have ... 50 percent of a population on their knees, it's very easy for extremists, tyrants to take over a country," she adds. "They have a ready-made enslaved population."

Aisha is reminded of that enslavement every time she looks in the mirror.

But there still times she can laugh. And at that moment you see her teenage spirit escaping a body that has seen a lifetime of injustice.

This story is part of CNN's Impact Your World project.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.

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More Frequent, Less Strong Storms...

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'TROPICAL STORMS TO BE MORE INTENSE BUT LESS FREQUENT'

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PARIS - Tropical cyclones may become less frequent this century but pack a stronger punch as a result of global warming, a paper published yesterday said.

The study is an overview of work into one of the scariest yet also one of the least understood aspects of climate change.

Known in eastern Asia as typhoons, tropical storms are driven by the raw fuel of warm seas, which raises the question about what may happen when temperatures rise as a result of greenhouse gases.

Mr Tom Knutson and colleagues from the United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation looked at peer-reviewed investigations that have appeared over the past four years, when the issue began to hit the headlines.

Their benchmark for warming is the "A1B" scenario, a middle-of-the-road computer simulation which predicts a global average surface temperature rise of 2.8C over the 21st century.

"It is likely that the global frequency of tropical cyclones will either decrease or remain essentially unchanged," says the paper.

But storms could have more powerful winds - an increase of between 2 and 11 per cent - and dump more water, it warns. Rainfall could increase by 20 per cent within 100 kilometres of the eye of the storm.

In addition, some storm basins will "more likely than not" see a big increase in the frequency of high-impact storms. AFP

From TODAY, Monday, 22-Feb-2010

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RETURN YOUR SHOPPING TROLLEYS AFTER USE

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I have been seeing some old folks and some house helps pushing these trolleys along the road - definitely already out of the supermarket's allowed usage vicinity... and I was thinking, what on earth? Perhaps a lax policy on misuse, or simply an inconsideration on the perpetrators' part? Are they even aware of it?

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Sheer laziness and inconvenience. A survey by supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice found these were the two reasons why customers do not return shopping trolleys after using them. The result: Some 200 trolleys go missing each month, with 2,403 lost last year.

This has led to a needless $150,000 bill in replacement and repair costs for FairPrice each year - not to mention the more-than-10 retail assistants deployed each day just to collect trolleys dumped by inconsiderate shoppers.

FairPrice is now working with the Singapore Kindness Movement to educate shoppers to reverse this trend. EVELYN CHOO
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From TODAY, Thursday, 11-Feb-2010

Driving over speed limit, beating amber lights top dangerous driving habits

By Zhang Tingjun, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 09 June 2009 1836 hrs

Traffic in Singapore (file pic)

SINGAPORE: A nationwide road safety survey has revealed that Singapore drivers are less inclined to signal when switching lanes or overtaking, but are more careful when it comes to drinking and driving than European motorists.

The month-long survey by AXA Insurance was conducted with more than 500 Singapore drivers, made up of private car owners and taxi drivers.

The survey showed that 60 per cent admitted to committing at least one dangerous driving practice. Driving at more than 10 kilometres per hour over the speed limit and beating an amber light topped the list.

Drivers were more prudent, however, when it came to drink driving, with 24 per cent saying they do not drink at all before taking the wheel.

When asked what would deter them from dangerous driving practices, the top three reasons cited pertained to law enforcement. Personal safety came in fourth, and the safety of others fifth.

Another notable finding was that the only dangerous driving behaviour that women are more likely to engage in than men is answering the phone without a hands-free kit or text messaging while driving.

Drivers who were married with young children were also found to be more likely to engage in unsafe driving practices compared to those married with older children.

Younger motorists between 18 and 34 years of age were also found to be less likely to perceive a breach of safety rules as dangerous driving compared to motorists aged 35 and above.

According to AXA, the most surprising finding, however, was that over 75% of those surveyed gave the wrong answer to the question "What is the speed limit on normal roads?"

Some did not know, whereas others guessed 60, 50 or 30 kilometres per hour. The correct answer is 50 kilometres per hour.

AXA said that going over the speed limit is not only dangerous, it can also be costly when it comes to filing claims.

Henri Gurs, CEO, AXA Insurance Singapore, said: "Between an accident at 50 km/h or an accident at 70 km/h, the damages will be more than doubled."

According to AXA, accident claims have risen from 13 to 16 per cent over the past four years. - CNA/ms

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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A disparity in job expectations?

By Alicia Wong | 05:55 AM Jun 08, 2009

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Minister of Manpower Gan Kim Yong (centre), with Tanjong Pagar GRC MPs, scaling fish during a community visit to Bukit Merah View.
Photo by WEE TECK HIAN

ARE locals really unrealistic in their job hunt?

For restaurateur Amelia Kang, hiring Singapore citizens and permanent residents has not been "that ideal". Out of 10 local workers, mainly in clerical work, it's typical for only two to last more than three months, while out of 15 locals, only three have stayed in the job for more than a year, she shared.

Some Singaporeans do not have industry-specific knowledge, but expect to earn their previous salary. Said Ms Kang: "It doesn't make sense."

But when Mr Andrew Tan applied for a job he was over-qualified for, his interviewer told him: "If you come in, I don't know what I can teach you, but you have a lot to teach me."

Mr Tan, who had used the Manpower Ministry's job matching system, suggested that it be improved.

The expectations of workers and employers was one of the issues at a dialogue session yesterday at the Tanglin-Cairnhill division, and with Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong visiting, it was not long before foreign workers soon became the bogeymen.

Mr Gan reiterated the need for a "calibrated approach" in hiring foreign workers. Reserving jobs for locals during hard times would affect our long-term economic position, he said. Measures such as foreign worker quotas and the Jobs Credit scheme protect Singaporeans, he added.

One participant among the 300 residents and grassroots leaders, however, pointed out that Singaporeans "do not quarrel with the fact that we need foreign talent" but with the marketing of foreign talent as "saviours of Singapore".

"You have to look at things in perspective," he said, as foreign workers come to eke out a living and can survive on less, unlike Singaporeans who have families to support.

Foreign workers in the production line are also more willing to work overtime compared to Singaporeans, added Mr Tan.

Speaking to the media later, Mr Gan said the foreign-local divide "will remain" and is a "stress point that ... is heightened during the recession".

"It's important for Government and community to continue to explain why it's important to do the right thing, rather then to do the favourite things (by keeping jobs for locals)," he said, and added that the Government is working to assimilate foreigners into society.

Other issues raised during the one-hour session at Singapore Management University included feedback on the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience. Mr Gan urged residents to go to the Community Development Councils or their Members of Parliament for assistance.

From TODAY, News – Monday, 08-Jun-2009

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MC? I don’t want

Well, I'm working in Singapore, but I'm not practicing this; I take whatever MC I am given, but only happens very rarely

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As recession bites, S'pore workers are showing up at work despite being sick

05:55 AM May 13, 2009

IN AN ominous finding, a workplace survey has shown that employees here are turning up for work despite being sick, even as Singapore braces for the arrival of the H1N1 virus that is rapidly spreading across the globe.

According to the results of the 2009 Workplace Survey released yesterday by human resource specialists Robert Half, 61 per cent of Singaporean respondents cited a fear of falling behind on their workloads as their greatest concern for showing up when ill, highest among the more than 6,000 polled in 20 countries including the United States and Japan.

Some 52 per cent of the local respondents fear that too many sick days could go against them, while 50 per cent did not want to be perceived by superiors and peers as not working, the highest rates among those surveyed.

And as Singapore's worst recession continues to bite, workers here are feeling increasingly stressed.

Globally, Singapore ranks only second to Japan, with 69 per cent and 71 per cent of respondents, respectively, who expect workplace stress levels to rise this year.

The main reasons cited for the expected increase in stress levels are worries about job security and excessive workloads due to under-staffing. According to the respondents in Singapore, the main effects of rising stress levels are lower staff morale (64 per cent) and lower quality of work or service (37 per cent).

Some 32 per cent also feel that decreased productivity due to stress-related issues would be the most significant cost to the company, followed by increased employee turnover (24 per cent) and a drop in the quality of work or service (19 per cent).

Rising stress levels at work are also taking a toll on employees' personal lives and welfare.

And Singapore again ranked highest globally when it comes to employees checking company emails outside working hours, with 26 per cent spending on average 30 to 44 minutes a day doing this.

From TODAY, Singapore – Wednesday, 13-May-2009

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