Shocking indeed ...

I was very amused when I read this. Before anyone start chiding this middle-aged woman for her heartless actions, I must say I am also very sad that the Middle-east situation has deteriorated to current levels.

Like any Singaporean of heartlander origin, I don't have anything intelligent to say about the war. All I know is, this Middle-East crisis is NO PLAY, PLAY. It existed even before I was born. My 'hip and happening' son told me it had started since the biblical times. So, unless I am GOD, I am not going to comment about it.

I can't help when a cynical smile crept up upon me (and all these while, I had problems trying to contribute mine to the 4 million smiles campaign). I mean, don't you think the headline is really quite funny?! MFA was deeply shocked that innocent lives were lost in Lebanon?! Maybe they thought Israel was having an airshow in Lebanon?

Or, those guys in MFA played too many cyber war games. In reality, I would assume there would be innocent lives lost in ANY war. Hey, this is definitely not one of those terrorist drills we have in Singapore.

Nonetheless, such expressions are not uniquely Singapore lah. I have come across many world-class politicians making a fool of themselves in a similar fashion too.

Singapore, war

A bending willow, Singapore's sorrow

My heart is feeling heavy after reading two articles from TODAY. One was titled "Size matters - for S'pore foreign policy'" and the other "Greet, smile, thank, but don't complain".

Article 1

Article 2

I can't quarrel with the underlying pragmatism (equals logic, loosely) for the messages put across in them.

In the first, the government tells us that Singapore is small and she cannot afford to be principled and idealistic in our foreign relations. We can't contribute significantly in the global arena given our smallness and survival should be our top priority because the world can do without us. How enlightening and truthful to hear it from the horse's mouth!

Suddenly, we are not world-class and invincible. We are reduced to a "tiny red dot" overnight.

Luckily, I understood this all along or I would be seriously disillusioned. Yep, yours truly was never caught up with the euphoria about us being world-class and an economic myth. While I am proud to be Singaporean, I do not trumpet our achievements loudly to foreigners and in foreign lands. More so, when I feel that we are not as great as we thought ourselves to be. Bigger countries had to struggle with more and worse obstacles. At most, we are lucky and partly because we are small.

Soon, Singaporeans will have to realise the sad reality of us needing to stoop low for a mere five scoops? of rice - 为五斗米折腰 as the chinese saying goes.

In the second article, we see how our smallness affects reality around us. The taxi drivers have started bending their willows. We will greet, smile and thank but we simply can't complain because the IMF/World Bank delegates can do without our taxis. I wonder if the same rule also applies when these customers complain about us 'unreasonably' and without giving solutions??!

Does having a cabinet of eighty or more "million-dollar ministers" and MPs solve Singapore's problem of size?

This is Singapore's sorrow. My Heart feels it too.


Singapore, sorrow

The Heart aches for the $50 million

Yay, this is my FIRST post!

Ok, not exactly a great leap for mankind. But, a giant step for yours truly here.

I used to think blogging is for the young ( like those English-educated radical young ...) and I was understandably "paiseh" for harboring such a frivolous and unconstructive thought!

But, what do you know?! I bumped around the blogosphere for a few months and made some major discoveries:

1 Not all bloggers are young. (Even Xiaxue is not that young). They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes in a figurative way. There is even a meek kitten which blogs.

2 There is also a strong gender equality. Blogging is not dominated by male or female. Being a female, this is comforting as there would not be any "glass ceiling" to affect my blogging career. (In fact, nice pictures of the gentler sex always please and excite readership, I think).

3 While some blogs are very intellectual, really, most are less demanding of our cerebral agility. However, all is not lost. Those with less emphasis on intellectual content usually compensates with their creativity and sincerity. I am happy to say that most bloggers blog with a message, only those who can't understand these messages call them internet chatter.

Today, there are some discussions amongst bloggers on the closure of Biopolis, the much touted partnership of A*Star with Johns Hopkins? (Sorry, still learning to link). If you want details, well, go to TODAY. There is a very long reply from A*Star to explain the fall-out.

Of course, many questioned the monies lost. $50 million is not a small peanut. Given that any foray into new industries will produce some spectacular losses at some point in time. I am just wondering how much more to 'invest' and how many more of such ill-fated ventures will we see in future?

To risk sounding like a hindsight guru, I had heard my heart's whispers when the partnership was celebrated fiercely in the MSM at its launch, eight years ago. My heart was telling me that there are no short-cuts to the heart. Everything starts from the capillaries, the veins, the arteries, the aorta and finally to the four chambers etc (Ok,I am not trained in the wonders of the human anatomy so there may be inaccuracies but I think that's the general idea).

Would-be bioscientists who are lured by the opportunity of earning big bucks and driving sports cars can be quite dangerous. We know money can buy morality, sometimes.

In Singapore, we are constantly being asked to move on. So I will. I only wished the MRT can also move on too.

(Note: The NEL is notoriously resistant to the Government's call to move on. It was halted for a few hours again!)

Singapore, Biopolis