Running away

Floods in Singapore

Let's start of this blog post with a short video of Singapore flood at Orchard.

This video was made as part of an entertainment of the recent flash floods that occur in several parts of Singapore, mainly in Orchard and Marina area. Singapore used to be known as a country that is free from disaster but recently flooding have broken that record.

Freak floods that happen only once in 50 years have struck the nation 4 times in just 2 months.

A lot of damages has been done and shops like Starbucks, are incurring a lot of losses. In times like this, who is to be blame for this?

We can't really pin-point who is really at fault. The reason? This is a situation where we can't really control. We cannot control the weather. We can't simply put the blame on PUB. Everyone have a part to play in this matter. We can't control but we can prevent it from happening again. Like Mr PM Lee said "Singapore is not a zero flood country."

Labels: Amirul

Racial Harmony? Does it still exist in Singapore?

What is Racial Harmony? Do we still celebrate it in Singapore? Is it really important?

Racial Harmony is a day where we commemorate Singapore's success as a racially harmonious nation and a society built on a rich diversity of culture and heritage. It is a must for us to maintain peace and harmony between one another especially in a country like Singapore where there is a diverse mix of races and culture.

Primary and Secondary schools emphasize on the need of having racial harmony in the school by setting a side a day every year to commemorate this event. Students were ask to wear their traditional clothing to school and it would be better if they come in a different culture clothing. Junior College in Singapore do celebrate it too but Polytechnics does not emphasize that much on celebrating racial harmony.

As a student and a Singaporean, I'm thankful that Singapore is a peaceful country that does not have racial riots or conflicts among the people. However, we should not take things for granted. We should continue in prolonging this peace that we have and maintaining harmony between one another.

If a country is not in harmony, others make see these as an opportunity for them to do wrongdoings. Take for example the 9/11 attacks. No one saw it coming and predicted that it will ever happen. Unfortunately, it did.

This could happen if there's no racial harmony in the world.

The 9/11 serves as a wake up call for the entire world of the importance of racial harmony. 9/11 could eventually happen again (*touchwood) if everyone could not be bothered about it.

Labels: Amirul

Social Networking Website, Where's the Privacy?

Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, MySpace and Youtube, to name a few, are social networking websites that allows user to post informations about themselves such as their photos, videos and personal information. Users of these social networking website are vulnerable as they are literally 'click away' from being found under the search engines. For example, if we want to find out more about our idols, all we have to do is google their names and all of the information we need will appear.

For example, this guy, Park Jaebom, a korean artist and leader of the popular boy band group, 2PM, was forced to quit and leave his group when a post he make on MySpace few years ago got leaked out into the internet. He posted his views of Korea showbiz while he was a trainee there, obviously something not nice. Eventually, anti-Jaebom hacked into his account and leak that information to the internet. He was ashamed of his act and eventually left Korea for Seattle.

Park Jaebom is a classic example of invasion of privacy. His post were meant for his friends to see but eventually people manage to get hold of that piece of information. I personally think that the internet is never safe. We have to be mindful of what we post as we don't want unwanted threats against ourselves. I do have a Facebook account but I am mindful of what I can or cannot share on the internet.

Labels: Amirul

World cup 2010

World Cup is a very popular topic among all ages and happen once every 4 years. This year, World Cup is held in South Africa, from 11 june to 11 july. Everyone would want to watch it as they would want to support their favorite team. For me, I supported team South Korea. One of the reason is that I'm a Korean pop fanatic and that's why I supported them. The matches were aired lives at 2.30am and many of us would stay up late just to watch it. For a student like me, I tend to put aside my studies to watch the match. Even my parents stayed up with me to watch the match together.

This goes on for quite a while and I feel lethargic the next day. This caused me to dread going to school as I often fall asleep during lectures. I missed out on a lot of things my lecturer told me and I often skipped school because I was too lazy to get out of bed. This affected my studies and attitude.

World Cup also meant as a source of income for some people. People place bets on the teams they think will win on different matches. However, there are some who resort to illegal booking especially the underage, teenagers like me. Illegal booking is prohibited by law. Chances of winning is 50-50. Its either you win or you lose. When you win, it triggers a stimulus inside you to bet again. An addiction for gambling. However, when you lose, you owe people a sum of money and this would lead to individual borrowing money from others such as friends, siblings, relatives and to a worst extent even the loan sharks.

World Cup have its pros and cons. It allows family and friends to gather together and watch something that they share in common which is football. On the other side, it makes people to start gambling and bet on the games.

Nonetheless, CONGRATULATIONS TO SPAIN FOR WINNING WORLD CUP 2010!!!!!!! =D

Labels: Amirul

Flyers like chewing gum?

Wrigley, Dentyne, Trident and Extra are a few brands of chewing gum. I love chewing gums as I can blow a huge bubble with it. They are different flavors to choose from for example watermelon, apple, orange, mango and blueberry to name a few. However, chewing gums was ban in Singapore an only approved pharmacy are allowed to sell it for therapeutic value . The reason for the ban is that people do not dispose of their gum properly and like to stick it at chairs and tables. This have cause several complaints among the citizens about chewing gum sticking onto their hair or clothes.

What have flyers have in common with chewing gums? Well, like chewing gums, flyers can also be seen as something annoying and irritating. It serves for a temporary purpose which is to inform passer-by on whatever they have to offer and then they either end up on the floor or the garbage bin. Why is this so? In my opinion, I think that Singaporeans doesn't like to receive something that wont benefit them. For flyers, it may contain certain informations but it might not be important to the individual. The reason that they end up on the floor is that once passer-by receive the flyer, they intend to throw it away after reading it and if there's no garbage bin in sight, they will just let it slide off their hands.

So, should we ban flyers like we did with chewing gums? Is the severity of flyers the same as that of chewing gums? I personally think that we should not ban flyers. It does not harm anyone when it is not dispose off properly. Yes, its true that it will create a mess if its not thrown into the garbage bin but that problem can be fix, for example, the government can educate the citizens on disposing the flyers properly or to take the flyers only if they need it.

Hence, I don't think that flyers is equal to chewing gums.

Labels: Amirul

Foreign Talent

I am really proud of team Singapore for winning the World Team Table Tennis Championships held at Moscow. It is their first win and they have made the country proud with the win. CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM!!!!

However, there have been a recent discussion on whether there's a need to celebrate the victory. As we all know it, our table tennis is represented by foreign talents, and they are from China. What made it more hillarious is that at the finals of the game, Team Singapore is going against Team China!!!! Its like I'm from China but I'm representing Singapore. Most Singaporeans gave a negative view on this issue.

Singapore have a very small talent pool of people and that's why they open their door to the world and invite foreign talents into the country. Should we depend mainly on Singapore's own local talent, we won't be in the state we are in now. Thanks to these foreign talent, Singapore have progress and develop into a dynamic and modern country.

Look around us. The shelter above our head was built by a group of Bangladeshi workers who came to Singapore for a living. Some of us needs maid to do household chores and take care of our grandparents. If we don't have this people to do this jobs, who can we depend on?

We should really set aside the negative thought and probably stop stereotyping people. The fact that they are contributing to the economy or other sector of Singapore, they are still considered Singaporeans.

Labels: Amirul

Teenagers Out Of Control???

Gossip Girl, one of the most watched teen drama in the US and here in Singapore. The drama series portrays the lives of privileged teenagers going through their normal lives while overcoming obstacles that normal teenagers like us face. However, the lives that they portray on tv is way much different for a normal teenager lives. See the videos below to find out:

General scope of their lives

In general, these privileged teenagers went clubbing, get themselves embroiled with the media, have premarital sex, backstabbed each other, did not respect their parents and display a lot of affection in public. Is it alright for teenagers like us follow their kind of lifestyle?

In a society like the US, it have become a social norm to hear teenagers getting pregnant at the age of 16 and already have a family. However, Singapore's society is very conservative. They are really particular about the teenagers' lives and afraid that the west might influence the teenagers. But even so, if we were to look around or even read up the news, this thing is already happening in Singapore.

Have the younger generation become too bold in expressing their emotion to the opposite sex? Public display of affection has become a common sight here in Singapore. In the train, bus interchange, shopping malls and even on the void deck. Their acts have made the adults worry about them. Is it time for teenagers to attend good etiquette behavior?

I personally think that it is every parents duty to educate and teach their children the right thing since young. Shaping the teenagers character and attitude since young is better than asking them to change when they reach their teenage years.

Labels: Amirul

Facebook Banned in Pakistan

Facebook is a social networking website that is widely known and used around the world. It enables one to create a profile to share about their lives and make friends with people from different parts of the world. Facebook allow people of the same interest to join a group where they can share and interact with one another. Facebook is a free for all to use regardless of their age.

Recently, issues of the use of Facebook were raised in Pakistan in response to a group called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day". This group was created to challenge people to draw Mohammed, one of the highest prophet in Islam, as a drawing contest. This spark an outrage in the Muslim community as they felt it as an insult to them and their religion. This could in fact resulted in racial riots between the Muslims and the creator of the Facebook group. Hence, the government officials of Pakistan decided to ban the use of Facebook in the country.

Facebook is meant for people to share their feelings and make friends with other people. It should not be used as a tool to discriminate, insult and jeopardize other people. I personally think that such publication or group created to insult or discriminate others is simply bringing harm to ownself. Issues like this should be kept personal and not be posted on a public website to prevent any conflicts.

Facebook should not be ban just because of a minority of people who brought down the name of Facebook due to their silly acts. The government itself should do something about the issue and prevent such incident from occurring again. They should also emphasize in the importance of racial harmony in the country.

Labels: Amirul

Ms Lim,
Thank you for teaching us (such a noisy class) this semester!
But im sure you did loveee us right? :X
Hahas! Im assuming!

Anyways, this is not in proper English cause it's informal.
The main purpose is that i just wanna share with you the picture we took together today!
& you look pretty! So don't worry (:

& all the best in teaching & have fun in your other new classes!
Thankyou very much once again! ♥

-liangping

Labels: Liang Ping

Youth Olympic Games.

The Youth Olympic Games(YOG) 2010 will be in Singapore and recently, the olympic torch relay had already started from Berlin and will be coming to Singapore in a few days time. As it is the first season and Singapore had the honour of holding the event, the In-Charge is making the event a very grand event. We even created mascots for the event one of which is Lyo which represents a lion and the other is Merly which represents a merlion. The lion and The merlion represents Singapore which means that YOG 2010 is considered very important to Singapore too. The roads in Singapore were also marked with the Olympic logo and a give way sign on the expressways and other roads. This is to ensure that there will not be any jams or delays for the event. People that do not give way will get fined.

Singaporeans have been preparing themselves actively for the YOG 2010. Many students were involved in a Samsung Human Torch event which mark off the start of the torch relay on the 23 July. The torch will be reaching Singapore on 6 August for a traditional six-days torch relay around Singapore.

As a student of Nanyang Polytechnic, we are asked to perform on the 7 August when the torch is arriving at our school. The Prime Minister will also be coming to our school to witness the event.

Labels: Savona

My Pets

Teacher! You said we could do any topic. No. You told ME. Hehehe. Remember in Koufu? So now, I've chosen to blog about my pets.

My very first pet that I had was a hamster. I named her, Shadow. Cool. Hehe. Why Shadow? Shadow was greyish in colour. My cousin too had a hamster which was white. So, when we let the two hamsters played together, my hamster looked like a shadow to the white hamster. That was how it got its name. :)
Looking after a hamster is not easy. We have to frequently clean its cage. I didn't look after it for long. I gave it to my cousin in the end.

The second pet that i had was a kitten. I named her Malaque. It's a malay's name. In English, it's call Angel. Why that name? Cats have 9 lives, and Malaque had lost one. When she was still a very small kitten, she liked to be wrapped around a towel while she was sleeping. I put her on our sofa as I could reach her a arm's length. Without me realising it, my grandpa sat on her! I only realised it about an hour later. She died. My grandma asked me to throw her away, but I insisted. I sat in the kitchen and cried while looking at it. And miraclely, she came back to life!

As she grew bigger, she turned out to be very mischievious. She would run all over the house, stole food from us, and purposely scratched us just to make sure that we would entertain her. However, she was still our loving cat. Everytime I came back work from my campsite, my grandma would always said,"Wiwie! Your daugther was very naughty while you were away!" Hahaha. She was referring to Malaque. I really really adore her.

She went missing about a week ago. Usually, when I reached home from school, she would greet me at the doorstep. But on that day, she didn't. I went around the house and called out for her, but she didn't reply. My aunty told me that Malaque was playing at the house corridor in the after and didn't come back. Until now, I'm still waiting for her.

Last two night's, I dreamt about Malaque. She came back home for me. :( I told my grandma. She told me that Malaque might be looking for me. *tears* My friends had been very supportive towards me. They too have their own pets. Every once in awhile, they would ask me whether Malaque was back.

I wonder how she is right now. :'(

-Dewi a.k.a Wiwie-

Labels: Dewi

WORLD CUP 2010!

Recently, there have been a world cup fever going around the world. Although there is a time difference in Singapore and in South Africa, Singaporean are still staying up to watch the world cup at midnights. And normally the next day we could know who stayed up to watch the matches. World cup is one of the grandest world cup matches and it is only in every four years that we could get to watch world cup, therefore, many would rather sacrifice their sleeps rather to watch the world cup as it only happens in every four years.

During the world cup period, it can be seen that everyone's talking topics are mostly on world cup and the team they support. World cup causes people to have lack of sleep and feel very lethargic and this will result in students not being able to pay attention in class, not doing their work, etc. And working adults will not be able to concentrate in work and may make a mistake in their work.

Some adults will also try to bet on which team will win and this will increase the number of people that will be addicted to gambling. During this period, a lot of people are always seen at the Singapore pool outlets, there are also some that does illegal betting. Some may even borrow from illegal money lender just to bet on the matches and will get themselves into undesirable state.

Labels: Savona

Are flyers like Chewing Gum? Should they be banned?

As we walk around Singapore, we can always see flyers on the floor or near dustbin areas. Some people giving out flyers in public will give it to the passersby and these

passersby will just throw the flyers away if they do not feel like the information stated in the flyer is related to them and this will cause a mess in the areas.

I feel that there is no need to ban flyers as it is a method of companies to get to their audience and the responsibilities should be bear by those that received the flyers. These people should not throw the flyers anywhere they like even if they do not wish to look at it, they should at either reject taking the flyer or at least throw it inside a dustbin. These will then keep Singapore clean and will not create a mess like chewing gum. Chewing Gum was ban as they were sticky and people tend to stick them on seats, handles, etc to play a prank on others. But flyers could not be use to play a prank on others. Instead, if the advertisement on the flyer is printed on a side of the paper, people could use the paper as a rough paper even if they do not wish to read it or recycle it.

Also, flyers are mostly given out by old people and if it was really ban, these old people would loose their jobs. Companies will also loose a marketing method to get to their targeted audience. Therefore, there is no need to ban flyers like how the government have banned chewing gum. The government should instead educate the public on how to handle flyers properly if they wish to dispose it and these people should only take the flyers if they think that they would like to look at it.

Labels: Savona

Are Singapore's medals won by foreign talent glorious?

The championship won by foreign talents representing Singapore, is it glorious? Many Singaporeans would ask. This was also a question which my family talked about when the China players won championship for Singapore. Personally, i find that there is nothing much to be happy at when we heard the news of Singapore winning the championship. As the medals that we achieved was not won by a Singaporean, so how can that be glorious?

Many would say that even though the players are not Singaporean, but they are representing us. However, i feel that unless if it is a Singaporean that represents us, it would not be glorious. After all these athletes are not Singaporean and they will not play for Singapore glory, they just play for the sake of keeping their job, their own title and materialistic needs such as money. Frankly speaking i doubt any of the foreign talents would be willing to play for Singapore if they will not get any rewards or title. On the other hand, if you get a Singaporean to play for Singapore without such benefits, they will be willing to play as they are proud to do a part for Singapore. For such cases, even if these Singapore representatives do not win any medals, Singaporeans will still find it more glorious than getting a foreign talent to represent Singapore.

Love Singapore!

Labels: Savona

any room for privacy given the hyper-link online social networking now?

As there are many online social networking sites now, many people's private details would be opened to public. However, these people could choose how they wish to privatize their profile and who they would allo to view their profile. This would allow them to

only show their profile to whoever they had stated.

Although privatizing may be done, but only some networking sites have such features. Some accounts may also be hacked by others and these hackers would then retrieve the personal information of the users.

Therefore, on the question of privacy in online social networking sites, it is based on personal view. If the person do not mind letting others look at their profile, then they would not feel that they do not have their privacy. However, if they mind, they would feel that they do not have their privacy.

Labels: Savona

Flood in Singapore: who should bear the consequences?

Flood in Singapore: who should be responsible? This have been a talking topic of the public recently when Singapore have been raining heavily recently causing flood in man areas. i felt that there is no exact person or organisation that should bear the responsibility as everyone have a part in it. The drainage were blocked by rubbish; these are the public's responsibilities. The rubbish in the drains were not cleared; these are the Public Utilities Board's responsibilities. And the governtment also have their responsibilities to ensure that the drains are cleared of rubbish and water can flow through them well.

We could also say that no one is at fault as the rain was a natural process and no one could control the amount of rain that would fall. No one could predict the amount of rainfall there will be

on those days of flood. Even if the drainage system and everything was in good condition, there could still be a flood if the rain continued for many days.

Therefore, we should not push the blame and let others bear the consequences. We should learn from this and try to improve the places to be a better place and do not throw rubbish into the drains as it will obstruct the drainage. We should also learn how to deal with such cases to prepare ourselves for any similar problems in the future, as a saying goes; once bitten, twice shy.

Labels: Savona

KPOP fever in Singapore, good or bad?

As seen in Sunday lifestyle newspaper, many people in Singapore are into Korean pop (K-pop) nowadays, such as learning their songs, exact dance moves in a dance school and even to the extent of styling themselves with their Korean idol looks.

In my opinion, the good thing is that people get to learn new dances. Being K-pop, also allows them to get to listen to more songs. This also means getting to know new friends of the same interest in the dance school!

However, it is bad as whenever the Korean idols come to Singapore, the fans will go to queue overnight just for their showcase or fan sign which I think that parents will not like their child doing such things. Even in airports, for their arrival, fans will crowd around the area just to wait for their idols to be out, causing inconvenience for other people that took the same plane as the idols, as it is hard for them to get out. Fans also spend a lot of their money on Korean idols stuffs causing them not able to save money.

Even though people know that loving KPOP need to pay a lot in terms of cash, time and efforts, they still continue to do so, because it is hard to stop loving KPOP once you are into it. I am just one great example!

-liangping (:

Labels: Liang Ping

do we have racial harmony in Singapore? if yes, is it based on understanding or tolerance?

Do we have racial harmony in Singapore? Personally i think that it

is a yes, and majority are based on understanding as Singaporeans all grow up in a country that is already with many races from the beginning. For example, a particular race could grow up with many different races either staying near them or even studying in the same school as them. They might have even played with people of different races since young, therefore this build up the mutual understanding of the different races.

There are also a minority which is based on tolerance as we could always hear many racist comments on different races, but the different races just choose to tolerate a

nd ignore the comments.

However, there are also a handful of Singaporeans that do not like people of the other races. These group of people just feel that people of other races are inferior and disgusting.

Usually we could also see certain people trying to act like they are the boss and this would just make people of other races to link these individuals with their race and the other races hate this particular race. Thus, Singapore do have racial harmony and the racial harmony is based on understanding.

Labels: Savona