Global Politics: Russia

I believe I'm in the minority of views on this point. I feel the Russians have been unfairly treated over the Georgian problem.

The two breakaway regions were apparently given to Georgian back in the Soviet days by Nikita Kruschev and the population appeared to be genuinely unhappy with Georgian rule. Assuming we worked on the basis of national integrity, they became issues of contention for which it was previously agreed upon that Russian peacekeepers were needed.

From what appeared to happen, Georgia seemed to have unilaterally decided to take back South Ossetia by force. I do not know if the response was a disproportionate use of force, but it sure seemed mild compared to a half-the-world invasion of Iraq on a hunch that they *might* pose a threat. So, the accusations on that count seemed totally unfair. From a military standpoint, I believe holding key military installations and buffer zones is a sound tactic to deter a counter-attack, especially if the Russians no longer trust the Georgians not to pull a stunt like that. Ideally they should withdraw into the 2 territories proper, but if Western leaders have allowed Israel to have a giant buffer zone in the south of Lebanon for years, I do not see how their current calls hold any water.

Recognizing the breakaway regions, however, seems like a very bad move on Russia's part, particularly given the poor environment of distrust. I thought there should have been continuing negotiations on that. Now, it just feels like a tit-for-tat in response to Kosovo. It now opens the door for Ukraine to be worried about the Crimean region that Kruschev also gave to Ukraine during the Soviet era.

Anyway, it's all a bad situation and getting worse by the day. My sympathies are for Russia in this case (it usually isn't) and I think Western leaders, particularly the UK and the US, need to take a long hard look at their own behavior before lambasting Russia about theirs. At the very least, they need to apologize for their actions in Iraq or this feeling of double-standards will stick for a long time.

Maids redux: This breaks my heart knowing we have policies and a social culture that support or ignore such issues.

The Maid Trade - Singapore

Some of the more (imho) horrendous "rules" (assuming it varies from agency to another):

1) No relationships. "Practical", but would any civilized person tolerate controlling another's personal life? Do you think I would go to the US if I was told I was forbidden to have relationships with people there? The ugliest part of the video was the agency trainer publicly disparaging an Indian construction worker as ugly and not worthy to be a boyfriend.

2) Inequality. $200 for Indian maids, $300 for Thai maids? Discrimination by nationality?

3) No freedom to practice one's religion (even mainstream ones!!!)??? Will probably have to verify this ... seems like a "WTF moment" here considering how sensitive an issue religion is in Singapore.

4) Maids paying for their travel to Singapore.

5) Off-days discrimination for different races! Then again, off-days are treated as a privilege, not a right. It's like labor laws are totally not respected.

Sports and Imports - IOC concerned

Good. I'm not the only one concerned that nations are so blinded by the desire to win that the Olympics has turned into a pseudo-professional sporting event (I remember the old days when USA fielded college players in Basketball until they got tired of not dominating the sport).

Nation-switchers trouble Olympic chiefs

The government is right, it's common practice ... but is it right?

Social/Semi-politics: What the Government does for/on behalf of the people ...

This recent blog entry "More on National Day Rally 2008" of NMP Siew Kum Hong made me think a little about how the Government and the society in Singapore are now so intertwined, it's hard to separate activities of the two. The following paragraph is what drew my attention:

I think there are some things that the Government cannot do (e.g. the repeated calls by singles for the Government to help them meet people, e.g. to make it easier for them to use dating agencies, are just a little bit too much for me), but there remain a lot of things that the Government can do, which it has not done.

I think Mr. Siew is right, that finding a spouse or life partner is something that is private and personal. Direct government assistance in this case, just seems ... wrong. Strangely enough, I do not feel as offended if private groups organize to provide opportunities for people to meet up (e.g. blind lunch "dates" for executives whose only "free" time is over lunch on a work day). There are a good number of these informally organized schemes in the US ... I do not know if the same is true here in Singapore.

Now comes the kicker. Singles get desperate to get hitched for a lot of reasons. In Singapore, one of these reasons could be economic. Government housing is, in many cases, forbidden to singles. The one exception I can think of is for someone to live with their parents. Singaporeans are effectively penalized for not performing their "duty" to the family fabric of society in Singapore as envisioned by the government. Rightly or wrongly, the government has decided to enact policies to preserve the family-oriented social fabric of Singapore life in its current form (imho, wrongly, since I believe society needs to be allowed to constantly and gradually evolve over time). The trouble is, the effects of the policy percolates to other aspects of life the government should not try to enact policies or laws in, such as an individual's personal love life. This, unfortunately puts these individuals in a catch-22 ... "If I do not want to have to spend tons of money living in a private apartment, if I do not want to sacrifice my privacy living with my parents, then I better get myself a wife. But ... sigh ... I'm so damn ugly no one wants me and the government would not help!"

Frankly, the PAP government has micro-managed Singapore for so long (kinda like playing "Sim City" or "The Sims") that it has virtually dug itself into this hole along with the rest of Singapore. I see stagnation coming (or here already) and I do not feel hopeful.

Sports: Singapore's Silver Medal at the Olympics

I congratulate the team on doing well. However in my mind, as a nation, this is still a hollow victory. The three key members of the team Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Li Jiawei became Singaporeans as a deliberate action on the part of the Singapore Government under the "Foreign Sports Talent Scheme" to train and compete for Singapore specifically for their Table Tennis skills.

Here's an interesting quote from the article about Foreign Sports Talent:

STTA president Lee Bee Wah said: "It doesn't mean that we should look at them [foreign-born table tennis players] differently because they're not born and brought up in Singapore. The important thing is that they have embraced Singapore and want to be a part of it. And they wanted so badly to win a medal for our country. We should not be harping on where they are born. I hope mindsets change."

"I hope mindsets change" Ha! I hope the official mindset changes! I have nothing against foreign talent. However, when we trumpet our victories through deliberate and specific effort to import individuals (please note that these sportsmen/women were specifically enticed to come and be Singapore citizens and not a general call for skilled sports persons to apply for Singapore citizenship, which would in my opinion, be a palatable approach) in order to win competitions, all these victories are to me just empty victories.

This reminded me of how back when I was in Raffles Institution, sport ECAs such as Basketball and Soccer were simply eliminated because they were non-performing. Whatever happened to sports because people enjoyed the game? Whatever happened to nurturing interest and talent in a sport?

That is the kind of nurturing "mindset" I would like to see: Putting resources into sports for people interested in them, even for foreigners, to help nurture real talent. Right now, we are just going to individuals who have the skills and asking "Hey, you look like you're capable! How about becoming a Singaporean?". I remember how hard I laughed when then-PM Goh Chok Tong suggested we could get into the Soccer World Cup by 2050 (?) ... by buying all the necessary talent ... dream on!

Society: Soul sucked out Part II.

I know ... I'm always pointing out the negative examples. I'll start this off by saying that I've seen plenty of positive examples of good social behavior from Singaporeans and I'll admit that I'm biased in the sense that I take the latter for granted.

However, I'd like to take the stand that we, as a people, should be working towards the good. Bad examples should be highlighted and eliminated ... hence the focus.

Anyway, this is from personal experience (yesterday, in fact): I was at the Chinese restaurant in campustown. There was a middle-aged man with his family eating there ... and I assume one of them was his daughter studying here. Turns out, there's a good chance they were from Singapore because the waitress asked them when they were returning to Singapore. Anyway, they seemed on good personal terms with the waitress.

Then, horrors of horrors ... after eating, they left without clearing the dishes as was expected at the restaurant and on campus in general! I was sure they were not in a rush ... the waitress reminded them they had a small dessert they had not been served yet and they stayed over 10 minutes to finish it and continued to chat with the waitress.

Why had they done that? The only reason I could think of is that the waitress had insisted they not clear the dishes. From what I know of this waitress, she would not go out of her way to insist on that before they start on their food (at least, she does not do that for me, and I'm a regular too). He left a tip, but surely that's not a license to not clear the table? The thing that shocked me most was the fact that he knew them well ... then why not clear the table to help them out?

I can understand if we do not clear the table because the serving staff would be blamed for not doing their jobs (a friend and I recently got frowns for clearing our own table at another restaurant outside campustown). This was clearly not the case ... I really consider that guy's behavior to be a case of bad social graces.

Society: The soul sucked out of Singaporeans?

A rather disturbing opinion piece on the Straits Times forum about benefits for pregnant women by Mr Yeh Siang Hui. It is just one person's opinion, but I wonder how prevalent this view is amongst employers.

"Maternity leave not a perk"

Here are some quotes (pretty sure it is not taken out of context):

The rationale is simple. The measure of reward and recognition an employee receives is commensurate with the level of her contribution. An employee who chooses to become pregnant and take maternity leave chooses to compromise her level of accountability to her employer.

A pregnant worker surely cannot expect her employer or colleagues to regard her pregnancy with the same joy and excitement as her family or friends - as, after all, a pregnancy in the workplace is nothing but bad news.

In respect of colleagues, their workload will increase (not necessarily with any assurance of extra reward). In respect of the employer, the pregnant worker not only does not contribute to the company during her maternity leave, but she actually causes loss to the company as she continues to draw pay for zero productivity during that period.

It is therefore perfectly understandable - and human - for an employer or a colleague to exhibit signs of dissatisfaction.

Mr Yeh is not wrong, of course. However, I wonder if his rationality is a symptom of our "souls" getting sucked out of us, leaving us as rational emotionless beings. The US, despite being demonized as "corporate", has a culture that is in general far more human-oriented. Not only will most reputable employers happily grant maternity leave, they congratulate their employees, share in their joy, actually spend the time to visit the family and take time at some meetings to enjoy baby pictures with the rest of the employees.

Humans are social creatures, it should be natural for us to share in the joys of other humans. In the case of employment, the people involved are not even total strangers ... even then, in many cases, I do not understand why one cannot share in the joy of a stranger. In general American culture has not lost this sense of social togetherness (there are exceptions, of course), however I wonder if Singapore culture is going to lose it.

Singapore journalism: The sad state of affairs?

Ok, I was browsing the Straits Times news, and the following article caught my attention: "S'pore, India sign joint army training pact". Knowing a good number of Indian friends at my lab, I thought it would be a nice topic to chat over. However, as I read the article, one thing struck me ... the article just tells us an army training pact just got signed. No details of what the pact is about or what it entails!

Previously, I would just have shrugged it off and said "oh well ...". However, this time I chose to pursue the matter and googled for it (keywords: "Singapore India Army Training Pact"). This article from the Hindustan times showed up: "India, Singapore ink pact for joint army training".

Now this article actually had proper details, as readers should reasonably expect! I quote:

The agreement provides for the temporary basing of a detachment of SAF personnel for a maximum period of eight weeks, up to two times a year. However, small SAF detachments not exceeding eight personnel may be allowed to be stationed with their equipment in India.

“Besides the bilateral agreement, associated protocols on training, administration and logistics, as also on financial arrangements were also signed. The agreement comes into effect from today (Tuesday) and shall remain in force initially for a period of five years,” the spokesman added.

The Hindustan Times article was not much longer than the one in the Straits Times and in my opinion was way more newsworthy than the latter. What in the world is going on with Singapore journalism these days?