Bible verse for Christian MPs (Member of Parliament)

Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who
are perishing. Yes speak up for the poor and the helpless, and see that they get justice."

Challenges our Pupils facing in Schools

In Singapore the meaning for the word "scholar" in Mandarin is "奖学金得 主 人"
Outside Singapore, this word bears different meanings which include "学者", "知识分子", 思想家、文论家 .
Where are all our elites "学者" or "知识分子"?
In Singapore, all our elites are selected and trained to be good civil service adminstrators.
We don't really have locally breed thinkers. One of the main setbacks in our education system is we produce elites who are limited to operate machines, but they are not capable of designing or building such machines.
Practice of elitism in our education system could potentially suffers the same setback like 拔苗助长?
Are parents and even the schools these days are drilling our young kids, at the age of ten or younger, to prepare them
for streaming exams, particularly the gifted programme selection
streaming? PSLE IP streaming has the same impact on the "yang miao".
One of the main issues our pupils in schools are facing : too many exams at too young an age, the incorrect age and
for the wrong objectives and purposes.Our system are focusing too much on selection and streaming and missed the strategic purpose of inculcating values in learning and enhancing their capacities to learn.

新加坡人比较笨 by 李敖 in 2002

李敖曾多次抨击新加坡
　　●“台湾人还是比较好的，虽然混蛋、但是可爱。香港人比较坏。新加坡人比较笨。大陆人比较不可测。”
　　●“很多新加坡人的祖先两手空空从中国飘洋过海到那里讨生活，他们的努力勤勉是值得尊敬的。但就事论事，他们的文化水平却十分低落，所以，新加坡人的种也跟着受影响。”
　　●“如果你问我李敖啊，新加坡出类拔萃的人，除了李光耀、他儿子（李显龙），这些政治人物以外，我李敖只能想出一个人，我所知道的，就是一个可爱的女孩子，孙燕姿……不是没有，是我李敖不知道，没有多少个出类拔萃的人物。给我的印象，就是笨。
Others who ever made similar comments that Singaporeans are stupid, include Hong Kong actor Jacky Chan, ex-PM of Malaysia Mohd Mahathir, ex-Taiwan foreign minister Chen Tang San, etc.
Foreigners only know Singapore for having a very competent government and their leaders. Singaporeans tend to leave "everythink" to the government.
This is not a very fair comments, I know of outstanding Singaporeans who are living in USA today:
- chief scientist that led the NASA spacecraft landing on planet Jupiter,
- Aircraft architect working for Boeing in Seattle, USA,
Not sure they are still holding Singapore passports.
Most of the people who left Singapore have something in common, they are either Nantah or Poly graduates who did not make it to pursue their tertiary education in Singapore University or National University of Singapore.
Is this the result of elitism in our Singapore education system, streaming, streaming and streaming.

National defense and economic planning independence from politics is neccessary.
Stock market crash due to political uncertainties can be avoided, eg passing away of key leaders of our country. Japan stock market did not overact
when LDP lost election in August this year.
"DJP takes over LDP in Japan"
That was the headline in Japan in late August 2009 this year.
My reaction to this headline is Japanese lost faith in LDP who rule Japan last 50 years.If the day this happens to S'pore, will Singapore opposition parties ready
to play like what has happened to Japan?

Elitism in Singapore Education System

Elitism in the context of education is the practice of concentrating attention on or allocating funding to the students who rank highest in a particular field of endeavour, the other students being deemed less worthy of attention. Elitism in education could be based upon learning ability, knowledge, or other abilities. Profoundly gifted world renounced scientists including Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein were late developers, will never make it under such an education system. Most often, such talents are usually mono-linguals. In our present day Singapore education system, certainly they are not qualified to be enrolled into the top tier schools like RJC, Hwa Chong JC, NJC or other schools that offer IP (integrated programme). Besides, how many among our cabinet ministers come from these top tier schools?

Our education system is such that the quest for knowledge feeds the competition for grades, which students partake in so that they can move on to next level of their education or secure a better paying job. Once attained, students tend to lose the motivation to upgrade themselves. Sadly, it is perhaps for this reason that the initiative to promote lifelong learning and inculcate it as an attitude and practice didn’t start in the schools but originated from the labour movement. Our education policy has undergone too many changes that may be in conflict with the ancient philosophical wisdom of "Bai Nian Shu Ren"( 百年树人 ).

Our education system is good at producing administrators that meets the competitive rules of a "POND" or "GARDEN". We lack the "dare to fail" spirits of entrepreneurships that can compete based on the rules of the "OCEAN" or "JUNGLE". The civil service takes in the most talented scholars who might not have had the exposure to or have ventured into business. Singapore is a country with good administrators but a society badly in need of entrepreneurs.

I share the same concern with Mr David Goh's view expressed in our local Forum (The Straits Times dated 15th September, 2009). Under our present streaming exercise, being a late developer myself, I will certainly not be able to be enrolled into Hwa Chong JC, and thereafter pursue my tertiary education.
海上升明月,天涯共此时

Full-time NS for all female Singaporeans in Nursing

Full-time national service 12-18 mths for all Singapore ladies:
nursing in government hospitals and polyclinics, make sense?
Value propositions:
- reduce long term healthcare cost
- less dependency on foreign labour
- Strengthening of our nation total defense
- Enhance national identities for Singapore ladies
- solution for our ageing population
Welcome feedback and comments...

My Passion

I am of the opinion that life belongs to the community and as long as I live in it, it is my privilege to do whatever I can
to improve our well-being of this generation and our children's children.