JBJ passed away.
I may not have liked his style of politics, but I cannot say I dislike the man. In fact, I had grown more and more sympathetic for him as the years went by. He will be remembered by me, at least. Fiery warhorse of an opposition politician who just never seems to back down from anything (which is good and bad).
What I find a little sad is how unresponsive people have been so far in light of his passing. I read about this 30 minutes ago from the online Straits Times. I checked various sites:
PAP - expected ... no mention of JBJ.
SDP - posted an article about his passing.
WP - sad. Not a squeak. I kinda expected more from WP where a timely tribute to their old leader was concerned.
NSP - nothing.
SPP - sad. Had expected Chiam See Tong to have paid a quick tribute to an old colleague, but well ...
Edit: Turns out Acting Secretary General Desmond Lim has indeed placed a note of condolences. It just happened to be placed in a rather awkward position under Mr. Chiam's Bio entry.
TOC - news article offering their condolences.
SgPolitics.net - summary of CNA article.
Wayang Party - very short statement to refer to the SDP site.
other blogs - nadda.
Maybe I'm too early. Will check again 2-3 days from now.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
National Anthem:
A sudden wave of patriotism somehow swept me and I decided to take firm action (and procastinate from my work) to "rediscover" the meaning of our beloved anthem "Majulah Singapura". ("rediscover" because I do not believe anyone has ever spent the time to explain to me what the words meant when I sang it as a child!)
Here are the lyrics from the wikipedia entry on our anthem followed by the english translation:
Mari kita rakyat Singapura
Sama-sama menuju bahagia
Cita-cita kita yang mulia
Berjaya Singapura
Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura
Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura
Come, fellow Singaporeans
Let us progress towards happiness together
May our noble aspiration bring
Singapore success
Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore
Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore
Not content, of course, to just know the general meaning (sadly, unlike my mother, my mastery of Malay is close to zero), I proceeded to look at the individual words:
Majulah - Not listed in the Malay-to-English online translator (!!??!!). Am safely assuming some term that is similar in meaning to "Onward"
Mari - "come"
Kita - "us" or "we"
Rakyat - "citizen", "people", "public"
Sama - "same", "together"
Menuju - Not listed.
Bahagia - Not listed. Hmmm am I using a Bahasa Indonesia dictionary here?
Cita - Not listed. Ok, this translator sucks.
Yang - "that", "which", "who"
Mulia - "distinguished", "honorable", "noble", "respectable"
Berjaya - "succeed", "successful"
Marilah - Not listed. Am assuming a derivative form of "Mari".
Bersatu - Not listed. Assuming it has something to do with "unite".
Dengan - Not listed (!!??!!)
Semangat - "Enthusiasm", "Soul", "Spirit", "Vigor", "Zest"
Baru - "recent". At least this word, I know. Hehehe
Semua - "all"
Berseru - Not listed. Sing perhaps?
Ok, procastination over. Eventually, I hope to sing the song and remember exactly what I mean when I sing it. My memory has been fading over the years and I'm not even old yet ...
A sudden wave of patriotism somehow swept me and I decided to take firm action (and procastinate from my work) to "rediscover" the meaning of our beloved anthem "Majulah Singapura". ("rediscover" because I do not believe anyone has ever spent the time to explain to me what the words meant when I sang it as a child!)
Here are the lyrics from the wikipedia entry on our anthem followed by the english translation:
Mari kita rakyat Singapura
Sama-sama menuju bahagia
Cita-cita kita yang mulia
Berjaya Singapura
Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura
Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura
Come, fellow Singaporeans
Let us progress towards happiness together
May our noble aspiration bring
Singapore success
Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore
Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore
Not content, of course, to just know the general meaning (sadly, unlike my mother, my mastery of Malay is close to zero), I proceeded to look at the individual words:
Majulah - Not listed in the Malay-to-English online translator (!!??!!). Am safely assuming some term that is similar in meaning to "Onward"
Mari - "come"
Kita - "us" or "we"
Rakyat - "citizen", "people", "public"
Sama - "same", "together"
Menuju - Not listed.
Bahagia - Not listed. Hmmm am I using a Bahasa Indonesia dictionary here?
Cita - Not listed. Ok, this translator sucks.
Yang - "that", "which", "who"
Mulia - "distinguished", "honorable", "noble", "respectable"
Berjaya - "succeed", "successful"
Marilah - Not listed. Am assuming a derivative form of "Mari".
Bersatu - Not listed. Assuming it has something to do with "unite".
Dengan - Not listed (!!??!!)
Semangat - "Enthusiasm", "Soul", "Spirit", "Vigor", "Zest"
Baru - "recent". At least this word, I know. Hehehe
Semua - "all"
Berseru - Not listed. Sing perhaps?
Ok, procastination over. Eventually, I hope to sing the song and remember exactly what I mean when I sing it. My memory has been fading over the years and I'm not even old yet ...
Poverty in Singapore:
Strangely enough, for someone who does not like a good number of PAP policies and takes their statements with a good dose of salt, it appears that I had always bought their line that poverty had been eliminated in Singapore.
It sure seemed true to me back in the 80s and 90s, perhaps my eyes were blinded or I had been delusional (probably the latter). The following video, however, reminded me that I undoubtedly witnessed many of those scenes depicted whenever I visit my girlfriend in Chinatown as well as in a good number of places over the last 10 or so years.
Now the questions to be asked as a nation, are: How severe is this problem? How do we solve this problem?
I do not know. I'll not, for now, be offering any solutions or trying to wrap my head around it. I will, however, post my personal (rambling) feelings about it.
For the rest of this article, I'll leave politics aside. I am (still) unaware of the extent of the problem, but it would seem to me that it is commonplace enough that it warrants our attention as a nation. IMHO, the PAP is deluding itself and the people if they think this is not a problem (like the way they dismiss maid-abuse as the exception when in fact, their employment environment treats them as no better than slaves).
First off, I feel a sense of shame and powerlessness. Shame because I have lived 36 years without seeing the proverbial "elephant in the room". Powerlessness because, as an individual, I feel I am well-to-do enough to help some but not all. I am not so selfless as to give all that I have to the poor, and not so trusting as to believe that they are all truly in need.
I am also (strangely enough) socially "shy". As far as possible, I do not wish to build strong personal relationships with people, particularly with people I am trying to help. Each relationship puts a large amount of stress on me as I would often feel I've let people down by not spending enough time with them (in fact, I often DO NOT spend enough time with ANYONE because of that). This makes me a lousy social worker and heightens my sense of powerlessness to help these people.
Finally, there is a massive communication gap between myself and most of the poor in Singapore. My mental frame of context is probably very different from theirs and my linguistic skills are limited in all practical terms to English. I can perhaps converse a teeny bit in Mandarin and Cantonese, but that's about it.
I would like to see help show up for the poor and destitute in Singapore. There are some questions I would like answered:
1) How extensive is the problem? Do we have data? The reason for this question is not to excuse ourselves from the need to help them, but to find out how much effort would be involved. The thing that bugs me is that I am aware of private organizations that offer help to the poor and needy ... but WHY do we still see so much of these instances of homelessness?
2) How can we reach out to them? Do the homeless get insulted or run away when approached? Can they be interviewed to find out how they got into their situation and how they think we can help them get back on their feet? Are some of these individuals (usually busking) just bored at their age (as one old person in Martyn See's video indicated)?
3) How do we get our nation involved? How do Singaporeans in general feel about the homeless and the poor? Do they consider these people "useless and lazy" (we'll then have to change their mindset)? Are they aware of the plight of these people (I had just woken up to the "elephant" after 36 years ... am not surprised if many people are still blind to the problem)? Would Singaporean girls be willing to take up a 4-5 month "National Service" to volunteer their time to organize and canvass help for these people in all ways (money, lodging, food, employment) possible?
Shame is setting upon me again ... as I sit here procastinating from my own struggle to graduate, I feel like I have little or no time to try and help ...
Strangely enough, for someone who does not like a good number of PAP policies and takes their statements with a good dose of salt, it appears that I had always bought their line that poverty had been eliminated in Singapore.
It sure seemed true to me back in the 80s and 90s, perhaps my eyes were blinded or I had been delusional (probably the latter). The following video, however, reminded me that I undoubtedly witnessed many of those scenes depicted whenever I visit my girlfriend in Chinatown as well as in a good number of places over the last 10 or so years.
Now the questions to be asked as a nation, are: How severe is this problem? How do we solve this problem?
I do not know. I'll not, for now, be offering any solutions or trying to wrap my head around it. I will, however, post my personal (rambling) feelings about it.
For the rest of this article, I'll leave politics aside. I am (still) unaware of the extent of the problem, but it would seem to me that it is commonplace enough that it warrants our attention as a nation. IMHO, the PAP is deluding itself and the people if they think this is not a problem (like the way they dismiss maid-abuse as the exception when in fact, their employment environment treats them as no better than slaves).
First off, I feel a sense of shame and powerlessness. Shame because I have lived 36 years without seeing the proverbial "elephant in the room". Powerlessness because, as an individual, I feel I am well-to-do enough to help some but not all. I am not so selfless as to give all that I have to the poor, and not so trusting as to believe that they are all truly in need.
I am also (strangely enough) socially "shy". As far as possible, I do not wish to build strong personal relationships with people, particularly with people I am trying to help. Each relationship puts a large amount of stress on me as I would often feel I've let people down by not spending enough time with them (in fact, I often DO NOT spend enough time with ANYONE because of that). This makes me a lousy social worker and heightens my sense of powerlessness to help these people.
Finally, there is a massive communication gap between myself and most of the poor in Singapore. My mental frame of context is probably very different from theirs and my linguistic skills are limited in all practical terms to English. I can perhaps converse a teeny bit in Mandarin and Cantonese, but that's about it.
I would like to see help show up for the poor and destitute in Singapore. There are some questions I would like answered:
1) How extensive is the problem? Do we have data? The reason for this question is not to excuse ourselves from the need to help them, but to find out how much effort would be involved. The thing that bugs me is that I am aware of private organizations that offer help to the poor and needy ... but WHY do we still see so much of these instances of homelessness?
2) How can we reach out to them? Do the homeless get insulted or run away when approached? Can they be interviewed to find out how they got into their situation and how they think we can help them get back on their feet? Are some of these individuals (usually busking) just bored at their age (as one old person in Martyn See's video indicated)?
3) How do we get our nation involved? How do Singaporeans in general feel about the homeless and the poor? Do they consider these people "useless and lazy" (we'll then have to change their mindset)? Are they aware of the plight of these people (I had just woken up to the "elephant" after 36 years ... am not surprised if many people are still blind to the problem)? Would Singaporean girls be willing to take up a 4-5 month "National Service" to volunteer their time to organize and canvass help for these people in all ways (money, lodging, food, employment) possible?
Shame is setting upon me again ... as I sit here procastinating from my own struggle to graduate, I feel like I have little or no time to try and help ...
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