Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
Archive for August, 2008
Donating back to NUS: here’s how
Aug 27th
Two Saturdays ago, the Straits Times ran a story on alumni donations back to local universities and I was quoted in two paragraphs of the story talking about NUS. Today, I was finally asked by a colleague who read that story whether I really disliked NUS that much.
While the story might have given that impression, the truth is, I gave a very long interview and said alot more things which, taken together with the parts attributed to me in the story, will give a very different impression. I do not blame the journalist because I believe she had her own considerations in crafting her story and besides, there’s still the editor on top of her who can change her story.
Anyway, just to put things in perspective, I did say I threw away donation appeals from NUS but I also said the reason is because the name NUS does not have much affinity with me. NUS is a big institution with many schools and departments. What I have an affinity for is not the institution NUS but the school and department I was with because I spent the bulk of my undergraduate days with them.
I noted that I would have given much more serious consideration if the letter came not from NUS but from my school (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) or my department (Communications and New Media). The reason is because NUS is so big and fragmented that students no longer identify themselves primarily as an NUS graduate but rather, they identify themselves as a graduate of their school or department. This might appear as weird but I do talk alot more fondly about my school and department than about the institution called NUS.
I was also quoted giving the example of a fee increase during my undergraduate days and how that episode made students feel NUS was out of touch with them. However, I also noted that NUS has markedly improved in the next following years and there have been many more consultations with students on impending decisions that could have a big impact on them. I also said this is a step in the right direction and will certainly help students feel that NUS cares for them and in turn, this might improve alumni donations in future. The later half of what I said wasn’t published.
Also, I gave my suggestions during the interview as to how alumni donations can be greatly increased. I noted that students have greater affinity for the schools or departments they were with and NUS should consider working with schools and/or departments to appeal to students to donate money. I think there is a greater chance of success if the school’s dean, the department head or perhaps even a very long-serving and popular professor makes an appeal for donations.
I would hesitate to donate to NUS because I don’t know whether my donation would go to my former school or department, or will the money be used for other purposes. However, if I am donating to my former school or department, I do know that my donation will probably go towards benefiting the entities I want my money to benefit. I think a big part of why alumni are not responding to calls for donation is because the university is not doing targeted soliciting. It is important to know what kinds of appeal works with which kinds of alumni. Sending generic donation appeals is akin to randomly shooting in the dark and hoping that something gets hit.
I told the reporter if my department head or a professor I know wrote me an appeal for donation, I would donate. Similarly, if my dean sent an appeal, I would give very serious consideration. I am not sure if I should be thankful to the reporter for not publishing the secret to me opening my wallet but I believe this is the secret to opening the wallets of many alumni. 
Albert Einstein’s thoughts on society
Aug 22nd
Albert Einstein is famous for being a physicist but it seems that he has plenty to say outside of physics. He has many interesting thoughts on society and here are some quotes taken from his book, “The World As I See It” (1949), which I think is worth pondering.
Two quotes on political systems:
“My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader.”
An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels. For this reason I have always been passionately opposed to systems such as we see in Italy and Russia to-day.
On the need for a military:
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilisation should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
I have plenty of food for thought for the rest of the week.
Pro family policies: as good as it gets
Aug 21st
The newly unveiled measures to encourage Singaporeans to have more babies is about the best that the government can offer to help couple remove financial hesitations with regards to having babies. Of course, some people will say that more can be done and should be done but I think the government has offered a fairly generous and reasonable package of incentives and there really isn’t much left that can be done.
While money is no longer a big obstacle to having babies given the rather generous handouts, there are other concerns that I have which the government cannot possibly address, and I don’t expect the government to even try. It’s a personal battle that I have to fight together with my wife.
Unlike a few generations ago where the mentality towards having kids leans towards “have them first and worry about bringing them up later”, I think these days, particularly among the more highly educated Singaporeans, the mentality has reversed. One can point to many factors that cause this reversal but the point is, the reversal in mentality is here to stay. And, I am unable to (at least not yet) convince myself to adopt the mentality of the folks from my grandparents’ era towards having kids.
There are a couple of personal reasons for this. The biggest reason is the high level of competitiveness in schools and I’ve seen for myself the kinds of tremendous negative consequences such competitiveness have on people I know. I will not provide details to protect the identities of the persons I am referring to but it scares me. Seeing such cases have enlightened me and while I might not pressure my future kids in school, the level of competitiveness in schools might just make my kid voluntarily pressure himself/herself.
I would hesitate to blame the education system for providing pressure on students, though. I think it’s more of parents who are causing voluntary pressure in kids. Some parents send their children for all kinds of tuition and enrichment classes and children do share such experiences with classmates. If the majority of the kids in the class have extra tuition and enrichment classes, kids who don’t are going to be seen as an anomaly and they will feel pressured even though these kids might have enlightened parents who are trying their best to avoid pressuring the kid. Such a pressurized education environment isn’t something the government can address with policies.
And of course, there’s National Service for boys. I’ve been through National Service and it’s not completely bad. I learned quite a few things out of it. However, I didn’t have a choice. And I want my son (if I have one) to have a choice. If I cannot let him have a choice, then I rather not have him in the first place. I understand the rationale for having compulsory military service but I don’t want to have my kid already have the decision made for him. I didn’t have a choice and I don’t want him not to have a choice as well.
So, the bottom line is that while there are no financial disincentives, there are other personal reasons not to have kids. The quality of childhood life is an important consideration in having kids, and now that I think about it, it is perhaps a more important reason than the financial cost of bringing up kids. I guess Singapore is a great place to work in but when it comes to raising kids, I am not quite certain.
Anyway, I think I still have a few years to think. Maybe I will change my thoughts in time to come as I experience more and learn more but right now, I don’t think I want to have kids, at least, not here.
Taking someone’s ass to be your face
Aug 19th
The title of this entry is a the literal translation very famous Hokkien (a local dialect) saying, which goes something like this when romanised: gia lang eh kar chng di bin per. This saying is typically invoked to poke fun at people who have no shame and have no qualms about taking the glory of another and passing it off as their own.
This saying succinctly sums up the feeling of some Singaporeans about the Olympics silver medal effort by the Singaporean women table tennis team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. All members of the team were born in China and grew up there before they were lured by Singapore into taking up a citizenship here. Even though they are Singaporean citizens now, I believe some of my fellow Singaporeans think that the victory says more about China’s ability to produce talent than our ability to win by our own efforts.
Does it really matter if the athletes who won the medals weren’t born and raised here? Actually, I don’t think it’s a problem. Singapore was, historically, an immigrant society and it is not uncommon to welcome people from other lands to start a family here and call this little island home. The only problem for me with regards to sports is that Singapore generally goes out and pick out those who have already shown potential to give them Singaporean citizenship.
This explains why I’m much more delighted with swimmer’s Tao Li’s performance than the table tennis team’s achievements. Tao Li came to Singapore to study English before she was discovered to be a talent in the pool. At the very least, she wasn’t deliberately imported to win medals. Of course, her temperament does need some moderation but that’s a story for another day.
I would liken Tao Li’s case to that of Anastasia Liukin, the American Olympic gold medalist gymnast born to Russian parents. The Americans didn’t pluck Liukin from the Russians only when she showed promise of being a world champion. Liukin moved to America when she was very young and started playing around in her parents’ gymnastics club while her parents, both world class gymnasts themselves, were coaching other kids. Her talent was recognised only after she got to America so I think the Americans can certainly bask in the glory of Liukin’s achievements.
While I’m happy for the women’s table tennis team, I’m hesitant to celebrate this ‘victory’. I’ll wait for Tao Li to bring home an Olympics medal before I start to celebrate. I don’t want to be gia lang eh kar chng di bin per.
Share the road? Sure, but learn the rules first.
Aug 15th
The quote by avid cyclist and Safe Cyclist Task Force (SCTF) member Leo Tan in this newspaper report kind of irked me. According to the report, he supposedly said the new signs that are going to be put up to alert drivers to cyclists ‘stand as symbolic recognition by the state that motorists must share the roads with cyclists‘.
He seems to imply that motorists do not want to share the roads with cyclists and therefore the state has to give symbolic recognition that cyclists do have a right to cycle on the roads. I don’t have a problem sharing the road with cyclists. But, I have a big problem with cyclists on the road because from my experience, many of them do not follow traffic rules.
I have lost count of the number of times I’ve had to jam the brakes in order to avoid hitting cyclists who beat the red light. I’ve also seen a number of cyclists on the road who cycle and talk on their mobile phone at the same time. And, some cyclists are obviously inexperienced and swerve left and right when cycling but they insist on cycling on the roads anyway.
Seriously, if we want to allow cyclists on the roads, they need to learn AND obey traffic rules. Cyclists who do not obey the rules not only endanger themselves, they endanger other road users. Cyclists are not covered by motor insurance (at least to my knowledge). If they cause accidents, they inconvenience other people because the motorist cannot make claims against them. And if cyclists do get into an accident, the probability of serious injury is higher because many of them don’t seem to want to wear helmets.
I think cycling is a good alternative mode of transport but until there is a proper mechanism to regulate cycling behaviour on the roads, for their own safety and for the sanity of motorists, please take the cyclists off the road. I’ve had enough scares from nonchalant cyclists who think that they are exempt from traffic regulations.
Politics and sports
Aug 14th
MM Lee has now likened politics to sports in invoking the comparison of teams competing in sports divisions to political parties competing in general elections.
It is an interesting comparison, no doubt, and there is certainly some truth in what MM Lee was trying to point out. Indeed, a team that is in division one is usually of much higher calibre than that of a team in division three and if one has to bet on a winning team, it’s a safer bet with a division one team as compared to a divison three team.
However, when I think about his analogy, it doesn’t make sense to me. How do we know if a team is of division one calibre unless there are other teams around to compare with? Therefore, I disagree that it is wrong to vote for alternative political parties for the sake of it. Without a basis of comparison, how do we know whether a team is a division one team or a division three team? Being the only team in the only division of a competition says nothing about the calibre of the team.
If MM Lee is serious about wanting to lay claim to the PAP being a division one team, all the more he should encourage people to vote in alternative teams so that there is some basis for comparison. And, he should be also calling for lowering of barriers to entry to the competition. Otherwise, he does not have a reasonable basis of claiming the PAP being a division one team.
The price of growing up
Aug 11th
It’s been more than a year since I’ve gotten married (you would know if you’ve been diligently looking at the counter to your right), and it’s more than half a year since I’ve got a place of my own and moved out. I’ve also graduated for a year now and have been working since I graduated.
Looking back at the past year, a lot has happened, and the transition from being a student to a working adult is certainly a big one. When I was a student, there are many things that I never had to concern myself with but now that I’m a married and working person, I realise there are many things to juggle by myself which my parents used to take care of.
A large number of things that hit you when you’re working and married concerns money. When living off parents, mortgage repayments, utility bills, conservancy charges, tv licenses and other expenditures are in the furthest recesses of the mind. Only when you move out to a place of your own you realise how much all these add up every month, and you wonder why you have to incur so much costs each month just for being alive.
And before you even start wondering about incurring these monthly expenditures, you are already hit with the 10% down payment for your home and a five-figure renovation bill (these days, given inflation and all, the cheapest renovation will set you back at least $10,000). For someone who just started working, you find yourself penniless, or worse, in debt because you have to take a home renovation loan.
It gets even worse if you took a tuition fee loan and computer loan during your university days. Now that you’ve started working, the financial institutions are all too eager to start you on your monthly repayment. The end result of all these is that you never seem to be able to accumulate much in your bank account. The pay comes in and then in a week, 50 percent or more is gone.
When I was young, I wanted to grow up so badly. Now that I see and feel the price of growing up, I wish I can be a permanently carefree teenager.
The sad state of blogosphere
Aug 6th
I hate to say this but the local blogosphere is in a sad state from the perspective of blogosphere as an avenue for serious discussion of socio-political issues.
There are many bloggers making use of blogs as a platform to discuss issues of importance to society. However, I think the readership of all these ‘serious’ bloggers combined cannot even match that of Xiaxue. She claims to have 50,000 readers a day after having an online spat with another high profile blogger.
I have nothing against blogs that style themselves along the lines of tabloids. I just find it sad that people are actually more interested in gossip about celebrity bloggers than in serious issues. In the past, one could make the argument that Singaporeans do not engage in active socio-political discussions because of high barriers to entry to publishing. However, blogs changed that but still, celebrity gossip trumps socio-political discussions in terms of popularity.
If most people reading blogs are more interested in Xiaxue versus Dawn Yang, then the establishment isn’t going to take comments from socio-political bloggers too seriously since they aren’t really much of a threat. This just means that discussing socio-political issues online isn’t really worth doing because the impact isn’t there; the establishment doesn’t take the socio-political blogosphere seriously.
I guess perhaps the best thing that the PAP has done to make the average Singapore apathetic is to give a roof over the head and a full stomach. I think the average Singaporean will only become interested in socio-political issues if they are starving or they have to sleep on the streets. This is also the reason why I think Singapore will never experience the kind of political tsunami that Malaysia recently experienced.
Poverty and hunger drives people to desperation. And desperate people will have a greater propensity to do anything that appears remotely capable of making their situation better. As long as Singaporeans are kept generally well-fed and sheltered, Xiaxue versus Dawn Yang will always be more interesting than politics and social issues.
Red or white
Aug 4th
Since this week is National Day week, I’m going to write another entry regarding National Day.
During the National Day parade, Singaporeans at the parade location are always decked out in red. However, members of the PAP are always dressed in white as far as I can remember. This is something I find very interesting. Why are they not dressed in red?
Of course, half the national flag is white so it really isn’t a problem to be decked in white. However, I just think that being National Day, everyone should be united and wear the same colour, and that includes politicians. It gets a little discomforting when leaders try and differentiate themselves from the rest of the populace on National Day.
And, it doesn’t help matters that white is the party colour of the PAP. In wearing white on National Day, are the PAP members trying to subtly hint that the party and the country is one?
Of course, the list of possible interpretations can go on but I think it would be nice if PAP members switch to red during National Day parade. It may be a symbolic gesture with no practical purposes but it is a nice gesture. At least I would appreciate it.
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