Gerald Giam

Reduce abortions by helping pregnant mothers financially

Medical doctor Ng Liang Wei wrote a letter to the Straits Times forum today suggesting that a fund be set up to help mothers to defray the cost of their pregnancies so as to give them less reasons to abort their babies.

I fully support this idea. I have blogged about the issue of the staggering number of abortions in Singapore before. I think for too long, the debate on abortion (at least in the US — we haven’t debated much about it in Singapore) has been centred on pro-life vs pro-choice. Pro-lifers say abortionist are killing babies, while pro-choicers say anti-abortionists are restricting the freedom of women to do what they want with their own bodies. The argument goes on and any attempt to find common ground is squashed.

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Go tie yourself to a tree, judge tells homeless man

I was saddened yet at the same time angry when I read this news report:

Straits Times, Aug 18, 2009

Jailed for living in illegal tent

By Sujin Thomas

HOMELESS and unemployed, Noor Mohammad Yassin Ismail pitched a canvas tent at East Coast Park in May, 2007, and lived there for almost a month – without a lease or licence to do so.

He was discovered on June 26 of that year, after he was apprehended by park rangers.

In court on Tuesday, Noor was asked to produce his Identity Card or passport but he said that he had lost both items.

It prompted District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan to retort in jest: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

Pleading for leniency, Noor, who is tanned and skinny, said that he seldom ate, only doing so if friends gave him food.

He added that his mother is paralysed and looked after by a younger sibling, while an elder sister does not care about him.

He was fined $800 but could not afford to pay the fine so he was jailed four days instead. He could have been fined up to $2,000.

Jailed for living in illegal tent

By Sujin Thomas

HOMELESS and unemployed, Noor Mohammad Yassin Ismail pitched a canvas tent at East Coast Park in May, 2007, and lived there for almost a month – without a lease or licence to do so.

He was discovered on June 26 of that year, after he was apprehended by park rangers.

In court on Tuesday, Noor was asked to produce his Identity Card or passport but he said that he had lost both items.

It prompted District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan to retort in jest: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

Pleading for leniency, Noor, who is tanned and skinny, said that he seldom ate, only doing so if friends gave him food.

He added that his mother is paralysed and looked after by a younger sibling, while an elder sister does not care about him.

He was fined $800 but could not afford to pay the fine so he was jailed four days instead. He could have been fined up to $2,000.

It is bad enough that this poor (literally) man who doesn’t even have food to eat and a place to stay is jailed, but when I read what Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said to him as he sentenced him, I was completely aghast! Does the judge have no compassion whatsoever? He jails a destitute man and then insults him.

What is my country coming to? A land where the powerful elites sneer at the weakest members of society instead of helping them?

I thank reporter Sujin Thomas for highlighting this case.

Insensitivity at our void decks

I was shocked to hear the story related by PM Lee in his National Day Rally speech in Mandarin about the Malay wedding and the Chinese wake. For those who didn’t tune in that early, here’s a rough translation:

A Chinese grandmother died. The family decided to hold wake at the void deck of the next block. But without waiting for approval from the town council to hold their wake there, they proceeded to set up their wake. Coincidentally, that void deck had already been booked by a Malay family for a wedding. The invitations had been sent out. Now they discovered their wedding location had been snatched by another party. The Malay family of course felt very unhappy. The town council staff attempted to resolve the matter by asking the Chinese family to relocate their wake to another void deck. But the Chinese family was unwilling to accommodate. They felt that even though the coffin had not arrived, the wake had already been set up and tearing it down will bring bad luck. So a problem arose. Obviously the party in the wrong was the Chinese family. But they were unwilling to move. Fortunately, with the intervention of the MP and town council staff, the Malay family very graciously agreed to move their wedding to another block. As a gesture of gratitude, the town council waived the rental charges, and also helped them put up signs redirecting wedding guests to the new location. This happened last year.

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We forgot about democracy, justice and equality

The Sunday Times did a survey of 100 Singaporeans asking them to recite the National Pledge. Here were the results:

35 people got it exactly right.
14 people could recall only some phrases.
12 completely forgot the Pledge.
39 others fared pretty well but missed out on a few words, especially those in the third and fourth phrases – ‘to build a democratic society based on justice and equality’.

Gasp! So this means that many Singaporeans know the importance of racial and religious harmony, and are happily pursuing prosperity and progress, but have forgotten about democracy, justice and equality?

Truly sad. Since the PAP government is not making any effort to educate Singaporeans on these values, I hope that civil society and the Opposition would, for the sake of our nation!

Anyway, for the 65% who couldn’t remember all the words of the Pledge, here they are:

We, the citizens of Singapore pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality,
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

Happy National Day, Singapore!

Here’s wishing all my fellow Pink NRIC holders, citizen-soldiers, workers, fathers, bloggers, political activists and all other Singaporeans (and those who call Singapore home) a very Happy 44th National Day!

I thank God for blessing our country with peace and prosperity, a diversity of cultures to enjoy, and passionate and wonderful people to share this beautiful island under the sun with!

Although I don’t usually like the manufactured patriotism of our national songs, I think this innovative medley by local band Isk, Hosni & Friends (or 20 Dischanger) simply rocks! I must have listened to it almost 20 times in the past 2 days, which is very unusual for me for any song.

Building a Truly Great Nation

The Workers’ Party National Day Statement 2009

National Day in Singapore has always been an occasion when Singaporeans look back with pride at our achievements as a young nation.

Our country was founded 44 years ago on the ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. It was a moment which we can justly be proud of. Yet, for some time now, it seems that we have been losing our way on some of these ideals.

Continue reading “Building a Truly Great Nation”

Singapore: Multiculturalism or the melting pot?

Last week, Straits Times reader Amy Loh wrote to the paper expressing her disquiet about how the government’s emphasis on the need to speak Mandarin could be perceived as a clear signal to encourage residents of mainland China origin to choose to continue speaking only Chinese. She cited examples of how almost all new shop signs in Geylang are in Chinese only, fast turning this into a Chinese enclave.

In response, the Straits Times in an editorial slammed Ms Loh as being “xenophobic”, pointing to economically vibrant cities like London and Sydney as evidence that “recruiting foreigners” has brought great benefits to those cities. The paper went on to explain that the Geylang shop signs were in only Chinese for “purely commercial reasons”, as if that were an excuse for their cultural insensitivity.

This exchange raises another more important issue that Singapore, with its growing diversity and immigrant population, needs to start dealing with: The issue of multiculturalism versus a melting pot social make-up of our country.

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Needless name-calling by the Straits Times

I felt irritated when I read this editorial in the Straits Times yesterday (16 July 2009). Continue reading “Needless name-calling by the Straits Times”

Why can’t we all be colour blind?

A friend sent me these videos, produced by state oil company Petronas, promoting racial harmony in Malaysia on the occasion of their Merdeka Day (National Day). I found them really heartwarming — at least better than any of the racial harmony events and National Education propaganda that we see in Singapore.