Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
Aaron Ng
Aaron is a final year undergraduate at the Communications and New Media Programme, National University of Singapore. He is currently the managing editor of The Campus Observer, an editorially independent paper operating in NUS. He also does freelance design, both for web and for print. Eventually he hopes to be an academic and manipulate future minds.
Homepage: http://aaron-ng.info
Posts by Aaron Ng
Beware overnight coaches to Malaysia
Dec 8th
I came back this morning from Malaysia on an overnight coach from Perak after attending a friend’s wedding there. I came back safely but if you read the news, you will know that a coach traveling towards Singapore from Perak crashed the day before, killing nine people. And, among the dead was a guest, a 26 year-old doctor, at the same wedding I attended.
It seems that overnight coach drivers have a propensity to be reckless. I was fast asleep on my way to Perak but my friend who was beside me told me the coach driver was going as fast as cars on the North-South highway (that means at least 110km per hour). Of course, anecdotal evidence cannot be generalized but when one combines reckless speeding with poor visibility at night (and now, the rainy season), the recipe for disaster is complete.
I guess taking a day coach would at least eliminate the visibility factors for potential accidents. My friends and I got the news when we were still in Perak and it was mega dampener on our mood. I cannot imagine how my two friends who got married felt. This is perhaps the last time I’m going to sit on an overnight coach to Malaysia.
Hijacking a country
Dec 4th
What the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) did in Bangkok last week was simply appalling, even by my liberal standards of democracy and human rights. I am all for freedom of speech and even civil disobedience, provided the situation warrants it, but to take a country hostage by seizing airports and disrupting the lives of millions of other people needlessly is simply inexcusable.
To me, the PAD is like the bands of Somali pirates that hijack ships, or even the group of terrorists that attacked Mumbai. Of course, the parallels might appear extreme to some. After all, the PAD didn’t seek to kill anyone or create massive chaos. However, by virtue of their actions, the PAD has effectively disrupted the livelihoods of millions of other Thais, and if you are a poor Thai who depends on tourirst dollars to survive, you are basically handed a slow death. The PAD didn’t take away lives directly but I think the torment inflicted on many Thais in terms of earning a livelihood is going to last a while, and I don’t think that is much better than what Mumbai suffered.
Putting aside my rants, this episode demonstrates to me the pitfalls of a democracy that is unable to check itself. For a week, I was actually a little grateful living in a country with draconian laws on assembly. At the very least, Changi Airport isn’t going to get hijacked by a bunch of people seeking to force their wills on others. I still dislike the restrictions placed on demonstrations in Singapore, despite the relaxation on rules this year, but at least for now, I appreciate the necessity of regulating protests and demonstration to avoid such political hijacking.
I think the political liberal in me has taken a small step to the right.
Brands’ Singapore-Malaysia blogger challenge
Dec 3rd
As part of my new year resolution (I know it’s not 2009 yet but I’m trying to keep the momentum), I’m going to make a second post in a single day.
Some of you might know that Brands, most famous for their chicken essence, organised a Singapore-Malaysia blogger challenge today, the first of its kind (or at least, it’s the first I know of). Basically, it’s a competition between a team of 5 Singaporean bloggers and 5 Malaysian bloggers. Representing Singapore were Eastcoastlife, Mr Endoh, Wilfrid Wong, Sheylara and myself. Malaysia was represented by Red Mummy, Sultan Mufazzar, KY, Suanie and Capt’n Hook, who was standing in for Babe in the City – KL.
I got the invitation from Brands because Eastcoastlife recommended me. Prior to this, I’ve not been in contact with her and I was kinda wondering why she recommended me, especially when this blog has been in graveyard status for a while. I kinda put the thing on the back burner due to more pressing deadlines as a student and teacher but eventually, I said yes because I was assured it wasn’t anything too onerous (thankfully, they didn’t bluff me on this count).
So, I had been drinking a bottle of chicken essence every day for the past two weeks as part of the preparation for the challenge, along with trying out the set of puzzles Brands gave to the bloggers who were to take part in the challenge. I realised I suck at certain types of mental challenges, which thankfully my team mates today more than made up for. I was a little disappointed that logic type of questions weren’t featured, though. I guess those questions typically take much more time to solve so the organisers probably decided to go for questions involving memory, concentration and simple arithmetic.
In the end, Team Singapore won the challenge, but not by much. The final score was 47-54. I remarked to Endoh and Eastcoastlife’s husband (who was there with us) that it looked like a great 4D number. Let’s see if the number will be today’s 4D draw’s top prize. It certainly felt good to win the challenge but what was even better was to meet fellow bloggers and get to know more of the actual person behind the blog. I had a really great time chatting with Eastcoastlife, Endoh, Wilfrid and Sheylara. They are extremely easy-going, friendly, and more importantly, funny and humourous folks. I’m certainly glad to have the chance to meet them in person today.
It was also really cool to chat with the Malaysian bloggers too. Socio-political stuff is one of the things I dabble in on this blog so it was an eye-opener to hear from some of the Malaysian bloggers the situation for Malaysian bloggers who choose to dabble in socio-political topics in Malaysia. Of course, these bloggers are not exactly a good representation of Malaysian bloggers by academic standards but after talking to some of them, I get the sense that Singaporean socio-political bloggers have it really good compared to them.
I don’t have pictures because I didn’t bring a camera (it’s half-way round the globe in Massachusetts with my wife). Wilfrid, however, had this ultra professional digital SLR which he was constantly snapping pictures with, so I guess he’ll probably put up more pictures on his site once he gets the chance to sit down and download them from his SLR so check his site for pictures.
It’s now time for me to get back to work and I’ll try and post an entry on my thoughts about the Bangkok crisis in a couple of days. I consider myself to be a liberal in terms of my political views but what’s happening in Bangkok has made me revise my position a little, which I’ll talk about in my next entry.
This blog is not dead and neither am I
Dec 3rd
Don’t worry. My blog is still alive, and I am too. The reason why this blog hasn’t been updated in months is because of work. My blog activity has, for the past year, been pretty much seasonal. When the teaching semester starts in NUS, my blog activity tends to drop to zero as the semester progresses, and towards the end of the semester, my blog activity tends to pick up again.
I have a million things I want to write about but I’ve been putting them off because of various commitments and issues. I recognise this is not a good excuse, so one of my new year resolutions (it’s a little early, I know) is to commit myself to blogging at least once a week, if not more.
So, for those who have been checking my blog from time to time, I apologise for my virtual disappearance and I’m now back to more active blogging. 
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.
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