Only 'hardware' what about our 'software'?

My colleagues and I were at Changi Village Hotel on Friday for a workshop.

We were divided into different groups and mine consist of 4 Singaporeans and 1 Indian National.

The whole session was rather fun and when we came to the final activity which was kite making, we were lost.

Fortunately for me, we had an Indian National in the group who was able to make one easily. So were the rest of the group who had at least a foreigner. However, the group that was made up of all Singaporeans took a while to complete.

In our own groups, we went out to the field next to the jetty to fly the kite. Was it a surprise that the kite that was made by the sole Singaporean group, was not able to fly?

A Singaporean commented that no wonder we need Foreign Talent. Another one said it's true that we don't know everything. A third one then said that perhaps Singaporeans born in the 50s or 60s will know how to make a 'layang'.

My reaction was, what happened to our upbringing? Were we robbed of our childhood?

The facilitator of the program agreed with me. According to her, among all the company communication workshop that she had conducted, only Singaporeans had a problem. The rest of the Nationality was able to make one easily citing that they all have childhood experiences in making one.

As a Singaporean reading this, you may think that why would I need to know how to make a kite? No big deal what, Lilian!

But as a Singaporean who was there that day and now writing this blog post, I felt very strongly about it.

Disappointed that we advance from a 3rd to 1st world country merely by having more 'hardware'. That is, one can see more landscapes, skyscraper, skygarden, world's best airport, highest outdoor pool, tallest hotel in Asia, casino, NEL, Circle Line, Downtown Line, etc.

Something is missing. What happen to our 'software'?

Kampung spirit is rare.

We need a courtesy month to remind us to be courteous.

Reminder notices and advertisements on giving up seats to people who needs it more, are seen on public transport.

Phua Chu Kang to remind us to be gracious.

We reserved parking lots with bins and seats with tissue packs.

'No urinating' signs are seen in lifts.

Big yellow boxes are drawn to show commuters where they should stand while waiting for the trains to arrive. That is, by the side so as to let people alight first.

Maybe sometimes queue poles to know how to queue.

An advertisement to remind us to be filial.

And lately, another new advertisement to please remember to educate your children not to litter. The ad uses a graduate who went through proper education but was found littering hence Corrective Work Order awaits him.

What have we become? If we are not like that, why these reminders and advertisements?

When foreigners see these ads, they perhaps may think that Singaporeans are a bunch of rude, unfilial, disorganized and ungracious people.

As we advance, don't forget our 'software'.

Ah Wang the bus driver

As per previous years, I volunteered my time to be a bus leader for a 1 day temple trip organized by HGCC (Hougang Constituency Committee).

The trip which took place yesterday was not new to me and as usual apart from the 1st year, I was assigned a new member to be my partner :) Should I be saying, thank you for the trust in me to be able to lead the new member? Haha!

My partner this year was Pritam who just joined WP. Very new member but not new to politics I must say. Despite knowing that he would have difficulty communicating with the bus full of residents, Pritam volunteered his time. Very commendable indeed.

This year, we were assigned to a rather outspoken bus driver from bus 7. Due to his personality, we shared a fair bit during the journey.

At 8am before we set off for the 1st location, I went up to him to ensure that he has no problem getting to the places that was in the itinerary.

His reply was, 'Don't worry, I'm a Singapore citizen, born and bred in Singapore not PR or foreigners, I know my way.'

Hmmm I guess he was referring to the recent experiences that commuters had with SPR bus drivers.

Next, as the bus was moving off to the 1st location, Ah Wang, the bus driver asked me,' You all do this every year?'

I nodded my head and told him that if he meant bus leaders, yes, we volunteer as long as our schedule permits. I carry on to explain that if he is referring to the 1 day trip, yes, as far as I can remember, it's an annual event.

Ah Wang's reply made me smile and I cannot help but agree with him.

He said,'When WP organizes event, no one knows but when the PAP organizes one, it's reported all over the place.'

Along the journey, through my conversation with the residents I realised that most of them had been staying in Hougang for the past 20-30 years. A handful of them was from SengKang whom we applaud to welcome them :)

Ah Wang was sort of shouting at the top of his voice while driving so that the residents can hear him. He was full of praise for these residents! He praised them for not succumbing to the upgrading temptation that was offered in the last election and many more.

I do not know how many of them heard him. All I can remember was my conversation with Ah Wang. He was telling me how tough life can be if he loses his job. He is constantly afraid that his job would be replaced by foreigners.

If we happen to see any foreigners working along the journey, Ah Wang will start his grumbling again :)

I can feel his fear, really.

Lowering Weightage of Chinese language

This post was written to reflect my own personal opinion and that is I'm for status quo which is no lowering of weightage for Chinese language.

Sadly, I'm one of the many that opted for Poly tertiary education to avoid Chinese. Having not been able to learn more about the language is indeed regrettable.

Because of the standard of my Chinese, I have difficulty writing a Hammer article in Chinese! And sometimes I need English subtitles to understand Mandarin TV dramas :(

Luckily I enjoy singing and that's how I got to eventually have the chance to expose myself to more Chinese characters.

I have learnt to understand and appreciate the use of my mother tongue.

To me, lowering the weightage means lowering the significance of the language. By doing that, we are indirectly telling students that this is not so important and that to them means lesser effort. One will eventually lost touch with something that you spent lesser effort on.

Chinese is something that we use to connect to our roots and culture. Imagine losing touch with that!

With China integrating into the international community, there is no doubt that it is more closely link to the world. Hence it is now a common sight to see Singaporeans working or doing businesses there and vice versa. Without the knowledge and use of the language and it's culture, it's going to be an uphill task.

We are talking about PSLE here, which is the minimum standard one should have. Since it is the last line of defense for the language, there is no way to compromise.

Some of our dramas made Chinese teachers wore thick black glasses to emphasize seriousness and boredom. Are students getting the wrong impression here? Perhaps the perception that students have with regards to Chinese is something that can be looked into?

In conclusion, If Chinese PRC can score As for English why can't we Singaporeans, who are expose to both languages from young be it in kindergarten or through conversations with parents and grandparents, do so for our Chinese language?

We grew up eating glass...

Yup, we always say this in Mandarin that is '吃玻璃长大'.

Who are we? Members of WP who are involve in selling our 'Hammer' newsletter every Sunday. This phrase '吃玻璃长大' came from Bernard and i'm sure most of us agree with him :)

I joined WP since 2006 and I can say that I'm one of the regulars who will turn up on Sunday. Not every week but at least 70% of the time.

On Sunday, regardless of whether our members had any prior sales experience, will give our all to sell the paper and sometimes if the public wishes to, we engage them further.

What is most encouraging is uncle Eng Tor who is in his 70s will join us too. That kind of dedication and enthusiasm he displays is worth mentioning again and again.

When we approach someone to buy a paper, there will be some who will walk away without looking, smiling or acknowledging the seller. It happens so often that we are immune to it. This is when we felt that we '吃玻璃长大' that is we are transparent to them :)

Apart from people as such, once in while we will also come across people who will come up to us to say,'The fact that you people wake up so early on a Sunday morning, you all should be appreciated.'

With that, they will drop in their money into our tins and buy themselves the paper.

People who bought our papers are mainly age 40 and above. It makes me wonder why the younger ones are not interested.

Was it because they can get information from the Internet or it's simply Bo chap? I hope is the former.

Apart from the people who are involved in the selling process, the 'Hammer' has an editorial team. This team will edit and screen through all submitted articles before sending it for design layout.

The layout will then be done together with photo selection. The last step is to send it for colour proof and eventually publish the paper.

All these are done in house except for printing. Having known the processes that the paper went through, it makes me appreciate it even more.

In conclusion, we welcome anyone who is interested to contribute articles to us :) and if you happen to see us selling the 'Hammer', please don't ignore us :(

A smile is good enough, really.

Vote 18 Campaign

I'll be crossing my fingers too. From the WPYW's President's blog:

Since the first YouthQuake forum organised by the Workers’ Party Youth Wing (WPYW), the issue of lowering the voting age to 18 has been one that is being discussed frequently amongst the WPYW. The first YouthQuake forum triggered some discussions online and in the newspaers, and even a Parliamentary question was raised, but as usual, it was easily dismissed with a not-so-convincing argument.

When the electoral reforms like increasing the number of NCMPs, and the addition of the Cooling Off Day were announced a few months ago, the WPYW ExCo were thinking – this will be a good time to bring the issue up again, since the lowering of voting age is also closely related to electoral reforms. We went about planning for street surveys to gather the thoughts of people on the issue, and also plan to carry out a number of petition signing public outreach to gather support for this.

However, one obstacle we meet along the way is that we realised that what we are planning could possibly require a police permit or some sort of license under the Public Order Act, since a gathering or assembly to demonstrate support for or opposition to the views or actions of any person, group of persons or any government or to publicise a cause or campaign falls under the Act.

Not wanting to take chances, I have gathered our planning documents and just wrote an email to the Police Licensing Division minutes ago to enquire on the matter, as President of WPYW. Hope that I have a favourable reply soon and clear indications the next steps we can take.

Keeping my fingers crossed….