Comment on Singapore budget

Recently, the government has announced the Budget for 2011. This budget includes various incentives for Singapore citizens. These incentives include tax rebates, subsidies for the lower income families and "Child Development Credit". The group which benefits the most from the Budget will be those low income households, and the Budget is also aimed at helping these households, who find it hard to catch up with the society financially.

Although the budget claims that it will help the needy and lighten their burden, I only agree with this statement to a certain extent. Much as the poor receives subsidies, this sum of money only helps them in the short-term, and they would still find themselves lagging behind the higher income groups by a huge gap.

For example, the budget included personal income tax rebate and Utilities-Save (U-Save) and Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates. This is to close up the gap between those from the high-income group and those from the low-income group. Despite the fact that Singapore enjoyed high economic growth in last year, the average income of the poor has not increased significantly. Therefore, the poor might be unable to cope with the rise in standard of living if the rich continue to get richer. This is why the government has given high subsidies to the poor.

The government is also issuing child development credit to households who have children to help children pay for their expanses. The amount each household gets per child is either $300 or $400, depending on whether the annual value of home is more or less than $13000.

However, these measures only have short-term effects as the government is only giving these grants for a limited period of time. Although it does help the needy cope with the high costs of living by letting them save on taxes, it does not help them in the long run because the income gap between the poor and the average income is still wide.

The longer term policy would be the one that upgrades the skills of the worker. This will equip workers, especially those from the lower income group, with skills that they can use when they enter the workforce, enabling them to perform better in their jobs.

Use of social networking

The use of social networking sites has become an important way of connecting with people. Now that we have advanced technologies that enables us to connect to the internet like mobile broadband, as long as we have our laptops with us, we can access social networking sites almost everywhere.

Social networking sites enable us to connect with almost everybody(who has an account on that network site), whether it is your friends, colleagues, business associates, or even people you know from overseas. As for one of the popular networking sites(especially among youngsters), Facebook, it allows us to connect to almost anyone, anywhere. You just have to post a message on your “wall” and all your “Friends” that you have added on Facebook can view it. The use of Facebook is especially efficient if you want to chat with an overseas friend, Facebook can come in especially useful.

Even some politicians use social networking sites like Facebook to garner supports of the citizens. For example, the current President of the United States, Obama, used Facebook as a tool to connect with the United States citizens. Along with his charisma, he managed to win the majority votes from the people and won the presidential elections. Some other politicians who use Facebook include George Yeo and Khaw Boon Wan.

However, Facebook can also be used by other people or organisations for the wrong purposes. For example, some protestors in the recent Egypt revolt made used of Facebook to both communicate with fellow protestors and to get people to support their protests. Some Egyptians even got some tips from Tunis protestors that onion could be used as tear bombs against the pro-government rioters. The explains how the Egyptian protestors were successful in overthrowing their ex-president, Murabak.

Facebook can also be a tool for terrorists to connect with each other and plot attacks. However, doing so on Facebook is not a very good platform for the planning of terrorist attacks. Things posted up on the internet, no matter how “secure” they are, can be seen by anyone who manages to “hack” the code to the website. Plans for a terrorist attack have to be kept secret to those within the “operation”. Therefore, if the terrorists really do their plotting on the social networking sites, it would not be very wise as undercovers could foil their plans if they manage to view the plans of the terrorists.

Future school

Hwa Chong Institution has implemented the "Future school" system to promote collaborative learning. "Future school" is a programme where pupils are required to bring their laptops to school and certain lessons will be conducted online. The school set up this programme so as to broaden the scope of learning for pupils and enable them to use the Internet as a tool to learn. There are pros and cons for this system.

The advantage is that pupils who find "classroom lessons" boring can experience a new way of learning, which might interest them. The future school system also makes it easier for pupils to search for information, as they have the access to the internet. Moreover, this programme help students to be more resourceful and more IT-savvy.

However, there are also major cons to this system. Often, technical difficulties, like not being able to connect to the internet, can be very time-consuming as students will have to try connecting to different proxy servers. If the proxy server is down and the computer totally cannot access the internet, the lesson plans of the teacher will be disrupted as the teacher has to find a way to conduct the "online lesson" without the use of the internet.

Another challenge that is faced is students, having easy access to the internet, playing computer games in school. For example, some pupils stay back after school to play games positioning their computers at angles such that a person standing outside cannot see the screen. This is for the fear that a teacher walks by and notices them, or a technician, doing his ad-hoc inspection of the classes, catches them. Some of the more daring pupils play the games during lesson time, at a point in time when the teacher is unable to see the screen of the person's laptop.

Overall, I feel that the Future School programme is a rather new pedagogy, which is helpful to a certain extent. However, students should use the internet as a tool for learning, and not abuse the autonomy given to them.

Nature vs Nurture

I agree with MM Lee’s comments to a certain extent. I feel that the parents’ genes do play a part in determining whether the children are smart. However, there are exceptions. If one of or both the parents are non-graduates, it does not mean that the child will not be smart. Perhaps, the non-graduate parent/parents are smart but were born to poor family. Their family most likely could not afford tertiary education and therefore, the potential of the parents are not entirely unleashed. Therefore, their children are likely to be smart too and may excel if given the proper education. I also agree with the point that children born in poor families are less likely to get into top schools. The parents of these children often have to work very hard in order to earn enough money to keep the family going. As a result, they are not able to spend much time with their children and make sure that their children do their work. Some of the children may end up using the time when their parents do not monitor them to play games or watch television. Moreover, the parents of these children cannot afford tuition for them and hence, the children may be unable to catch up with their peers. However, a minority of children born to poor families do get into top schools. Some of these children were determined to break out of the poverty cycle after experienced it in their childhood and are motivated to work hard in order to get a good job in future.

Recent Reports about Malay community being unable to blend into the society

There have being recent discussions about MM Lee's comment that the Malay community could be left out as a result of their religious beliefs. For example, the Malays cannot eat pork and consume alcohol. Therefore, when going out with colleagues of other races for a meal, the colleagues are only limited to eat at a halal restaurant and if the colleages decide otherwise, thos "staunch" Malays will have no choice but to leave the group.

The Malay communitiy should not be so rigid in what their religion says. For the scenario stated above, they could joined their colleagues at the non-halal restaurant and just do not order pork and alcohol. I do agree with the MM to a certain extent that the Malays being rigid will distant them from the society. Being in a multi-racial society, people should learn to accomodate others. For example, friends of the Malay could agree to going to the non-halal restaurant for that one occasion. However, the Malays should also do their part in "compromising" during certain times when most of the friends insist of going to the non-halal restaurant. The Malay could just join in for a chat if he feels uncomfortable ordering food at that restaurant. In this way, people of different races can come and mix together.

Racial harmony and mutual understanding is vital in Singapore's multi-racial society. Singapore, unlike Malaysia, is a communal country. In Malaysia, the Malays have "special rights" and the other races are hence "left out". In Malaysia, different races also live in different towns, and we seldom see two races living together in the same village. This has causeed a racial split between the Malays and the non-Malays. This also explains why Malaysia is not as successful as Singapore given their land size and population.

Unrest in the Middle East and Africa

The recent in some Middle Eastern and African nations, which include Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan, started because of a protest in Tunisia which forced it leader to step down. Tunisian's outsted president, Ben Ali, was suspected of pocketing money during his reign. His assets are currently frozen and are undergoing investigation.

Then came the protests in countries like Egypt and Jordan. Egyptian leader shut down internet communication networks to make it harder for rioters to plot attacks on the government. Google and Twitter then came up with a web-free way of "tweeting" in response to the move by the Egyptian government.

Most of these riots are instigated due to government leaders suspected of corruption. In a country, a clean government is essential. When any member of the government is corrupt, the government will lose the trust of the citizens. This may lead to foreign investors pulling out from the country for fear that a riot might break out, work stoppages might occur and these will affect the country's economy adversely.

For example, Singapore has a "clean" government and there have not been any reports on corruption activities taking place among politicians. This plays an important role in attracting MNCs during the early years after independence and even now. The "clean" Singapore government has contibuted to Singapore's success by gaining the trust of foreign companies.

From this incident, it also shows that a support from citizens for the government is vital for a successful country. If the government becomes too authoritarian or even authocratic, they will not garner the support of the citizen. Examples of such countries are North Korea and Myanmar. North Korea has a Communist government, which deprives many people of their rights. Although the citizens there do not dare to go on strike and oppose the government as the North's government imposed a law that states that offenders will be executed. However, one day, the citizens of North Korea, who are currently suffering under the strict Communist rule, may organise a strike against the government. There could be several causes that leads them to do so. They include the fact that the citizens are at the beck and call of the president and the president has the right to do order citizens to do anything, even if it is unreasonable and unjustifiable. Another instigating factor could be that the already-impoverished North Korea has devoted a large sum of money on military purposes. This causes the citizens to earn less money and results in starvation.
Myanmar has a similar ruling system in the sense that the government has the power to pass any law at their whim and fancy. The Junta governemnt of Myanmar is a military government and they have the right to take any action that they want against any citizens. For example, Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy figure and Nobel Peace Price Laurette, was detained for many years. It all started when Aung San Suu Kyi's party won an election decades ago. However, the then-ruling Junta government refused to step down and give up their position. Till now, the Junta has not given up power. Myanmar has also seen the negative effects. There is a great amount of exodus every year as the citizens are unhappy with the Myanmese government.

Queensland Cyclone

After reports on the recent floods in Queenland, there came a cyclone which caused large scale damage. Cyclone Yasi, which was a category-five cyclone and moved at speeds up to 280 km per hour, ripped buildings and power cables apart. Despite the severe damages caused and the large number of homes destroyed, no life has been lost so far.

This cyclone would cost the Australian economy a lot of money due to the immense amount of damages wreaked. Firstly, the government has to pay for the high cost of repair of utilities and infrastructure like water pipes, electrical cables, street lamps and roads. Private properties like houses and cars would also have been damaged by the strong winds.

Another type of damage that would do great harm to the Australian economy would be the damage of crops. During the floods, the crops would be "drowned" by the water. Moreover, the strong winds might cause the crops to be uprooted. These damages could affect the agricultural sector of the Australian economy and prices of food in countries that import Australian crop would rise.

Comment on Lee Wei Ling's article "Who cares for caregivers"

I agree with the point that caregivers for handicapped people have an “extra burden” on the shoulders. The people they are caring for are usually heavily reliant on them, and therefore they have to commit a huge portion of time to look after the handicapped relative. Having a handicapped relative who you need to take care of also means that you need to set aside a huge sum of money for his daily expanses and his medical fees. Both do not come cheap. I do not know why the nursing home rejected the fathers’ request to put his son there in the case stated in the article. However, his reaction of attempting to stab his son and then commit suicide was rather extreme.