Commentary (wait, what?)

Well, well, technically, this IS the last post of the year, not the one below, but let's not get too worked up over details, shall we? xD These are the links to the 10 comments I have made this term:

1. Raphael's "Singapore's Got Talent!"

http://twoeyeone.blogspot.com/2011/08/singapores-got-talent.html#comments

2. Daniel's "Copycats of the East"

http://swordofthedragonslayer.blogspot.com/2011/08/panel-discussion-2.html#comments

3. Eliel's "Dog Meat Sold in Singapore"

http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2778771748267035122&postID=7364289593599383498&isPopup=true

4. Ivan's "Shakespeare Language, Our Language"

http://ivanlablog.blogspot.com/2011/07/shakespeares-language-our-language.html#comments

5. Nathanael's "Who is the real Shakespeare" 

http://loonathanaellablog.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-is-real-shakespeare.html?showComment=1312860920912#c1818108420950943785

6. Kenneth's "Swear words"
http://lablogbypar.blogspot.com/2011/08/swear-words.html?showComment=1313373534540#c3023264936064505558

7. Leonard's "Merchant of Venice - Custom and Lifestyle T3P4"

http://leonard-languageartsblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/merchant-of-venice-custom-and-lifestyle.html#comments

8. Jiefeng's "To launch or not to launch?"

http://2i121.blogspot.com/2011/08/to-launch-or-not-to-launch.html?showComment=1313766380644#c9097721705992170012

9. Glenn's "Effort or Talent"

http://arts-language.blogspot.com/2011/07/effort-or-talent.html?showComment=1312867045047#c3500549079428850302

10. Kai Xiang's "Blog Post 21: Singapore's General Elections: PAP"

http://destinyckx.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/blog-post-13-singapore-general-elections-pap/#comment-20

And that's it! If I have the time, I'll probably respond to the comments made on my posts. But since there's like 4 tests next week, coupled with personal commitments, time is tight and I think I'll have to do the replies sometime next week, maybe after all the tests? 

Cheers,

Roystan

Final post of the year

Time flies, doesn't it? I can remember when back in January, everyone returned to school, and everyone was happy to see each other after a 2 month hiatus. Now, it's a week into August, and everyone is preparing for the final term tests and the End-of-Year examinations. I can still remember how the class reacted when we heard that we had to do 30 blog posts by the end of Term 3, which seemed herculean at that time. I was no different, and I imagined 30 posts to be a really uphill task. However, here I am, writing the last post of the year.

It has truly been an eventful second year in Hwa Chong, and many things have happened so far. Obviously, I won't actually relate every single thing that happened so far, so I'll just focus on blogging. I feel that blogging is a good way for students to express their thoughts and feelings about various issues. The challenge in blogging is not actually writing the posts, but rather, to find appropriate topics to blog about. For myself, I found it pretty challenging to search for topics to blog about, and had to search many articles either online or in newspapers. This so-called chore was also a blessing in disguise, as I got to read up and do research on various events and happenings all over the world.

I admit, when I first heard that we needed to do 30 blog posts by the end of Term 3, I was taken aback. I couldn't imagine myself having to find 30 separate topics and writing at least around 500 words on each of them. At that time, I wasn't particularly happy about blogging, and I felt that blogging was more of a chore. However, as the days went by, I realised that I wasn't actually forcing myself to come to Blogger. To be honest, I think my attitude towards blogging has changed considerably, and I find myself enjoying blogging. It's a nice avenue to openly share my thoughts about various issues, and the 30 posts are more than enough for me to share my opinions. Over time, I realised that blogging is not actually that much of a chore, and it really depends on how you look at it. If one views blogging as a tedious and tiring process just to get ACE, then obviously this person is not going to enjoy blogging.

In conclusion, my attitude towards blogging has changed a lot ever since Term 1, when we learnt that we needed to have 30 blog posts. Blogging is definitely a good initiative and I fully support it.

Cheers,
Roystan

Life is fragile ):

Most of you must have already known about the attacks on Norway, which apparently had the greatest number of casualties since WORLD WAR TWO. For me, Norway was a rather obscure country, and not much actually happened to the country that attracted this much global attention; actually, I was of the impression that Norway was like a "If you don't harm me, I won't harm you" kind of country. However, suddenly, Norway was thrust into the global spotlight, and for the wrong reasons. As stated in the first sentence, two attacks were carried out on Norway, with a time gap of merely around two hours. It is the deadliest attack by any single gunman in recorded history. It was an extremely painful and shocking experience for both the Norwegians and others all around the world, and many world leaders showed support and condemned the attacks. I read a few articles about the incident, and what really struck me was the reactions and feelings of the survivors of the attacks, particularly the attack on the island (the second one).

According to an interview with one of the teenage survivors, she recalled how terrified she was, and how she was so worried and afraid she would die like all the other dead bodies surrounding her. She was also filled with regret and remorse, as she thought back on all her past deeds and thought about how foolish she was. To put it simply, there was seemingly no hope left for this survivor, and the only road left was a desolate one to death. It was truly a traumatic experience for her, and no doubt, many of the survivors would be receiving psychiatric treatment to get over the trauma. Reading various articles about the incident, both in newspapers and online sources, really provided different perspectives on the attacks and made me realise how important life is.

Most of us waste our precious time away, partaking in foolish acts and only caring about the short-term benefits. However, little do we know how precious life actually is; it is so fragile, and it can be taken away from us in a single gunshot. Many of us have been taking life for granted, which also stems from our sheltered childhood. We think that our lives will never be threatened and many of us, including myself, do not see the true value of life. In Norway's case, no one expected that they would have been the target of terrorist attacks, since they have been not been attacked since World War II. Similarly, although most, if not all of us have not had our lives in danger before, we must not take our lives for granted and foolishly think that nothing will ever happen to us. This incident has taught me an important lesson; it has taught me how important life was, and how fragile it can be. From now onwards, I have learnt to treasure life more, and will not take it for granted. I hope many of you have also realised the fragility of life through this very unfortunate incident. ):

Roystan

From EM3 to PHD?

Yesterday, I chanced upon an interesting article in The Straits Times. For those who are interested to find it, it's under the Home section, page B17. Like what the title of this post suggests, the article was about Mr Lim Yok Zuan, who was awarded a graduate scholarship by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and is applying to study immunology at Oxford University. However, the thing is, Mr Lim was not exceptionally gifted from young, and was actually in EM3, which was today's equivalent of the Normal (Technical) stream. Being able to study for a PHD is extremely noteworthy in its own right, and it's even more amazing when you factor in the fact that Mr Lim was an EM3 student!

Without a doubt, this piece of news is pleasantly surprising, and I myself am rather surprised at this. It's truly a herculean feat to be able to receive a PHD after being in EM3 for so long. However, what really struck me was how he had improved. It was not by purely studying book after book (or 'mugging', as with our lingo today), but his improvement was driven by his interest. He was first attracted to physics after browsing through an encyclopedia, which inspired him to learn and read more about physics. In turn, this also improved his English and his grades as well. I firmly believe that this is the right way to learn. I feel that one can only learn and study with full concentration if one has the passion for the subject. In this case, Mr Lim managed to pull up his grades significantly because he was driven by his passion. This is quite unseen today, where most students only study for the sake of studying, and for the sake of getting good grades. I feel that many of us can learn from Mr Lim, and that we should always try to develop an interest for what we are studying, and instead of dismissing studying as a chore, we can adopt a different perspective and see it as something beneficial and fun to us!

Another thing that triggered much thinking was the emphasis on the fact that Mr Lim was an EM3 student. Singapore's education system has always been meritocratic, which means that students are judged by merit (ie. grades). I feel that this may have ill effects on students as well, primarily those in the weaker streams, like the Normal and Normal (Technical) streams. Not every EM3 student gets to become a potential PHD student, and I dare say that Mr Lim's case is one in a million. When one goes into the lower streams, is this akin to telling the student that he or she is never going to achieve much in life? Will this have adverse effects on the students' confidence? In Mr Lim's case, if he had never come across the encyclopedia, chances are he would become another normal EM3 student, with a low-end job without much of a future. Therefore, this begs the question: Is Singapore's education system beneficial to everyone? Mr Lim might have been a late bloomer, but unfortunately, his needs are not catered to in the fast-paced education system. Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard, but where is he now? What I'm trying to say is, our education system might be able to nurture the best and most competent leaders, but does it come at the cost of neglecting the weaker and less bright students?

This article has indeed made me think for quite a while, but at the end of the day, I'm happy for Mr Lim, and his achievement is truly astounding. He is truly a role model for students who are under stress due to their results. His case shows that you don't have to be an Einstein from young (haha ironic I know) in order to succeed in life. What are your thoughts about this? :)

Cheers,
Roystan

DBSS?

A few weeks ago, I watched a news report about the DBSS (Design, Build and Sell Scheme) project. From what I have gathered, the aim of this project is to build flats with designs resembling that of condominiums and in good locations like Tampines and Bishan. Of course, all these perks come at an additional price too, with the apartments under this scheme costing significantly more than normal HDB flats. If my memory does not fail me, I recall that the reporter mentioned that the cost of one particular apartment reached around $800,000 to close to a million! Thus, many people were turned off by the sky-high prices of the flats, especially newly married couples who were looking for a comfortable place to stay in.

In my opinion, I am very much against the DBSS. I mean, what is the point spending so much money for a condominium wannabe? Furthermore, it's not like the flats under the DBSS is much cheaper as well; rather, it is the exact opposite! Eight hundred thousand for a flat that only differs from a normal HDB flat aesthetically? What's the logic in that? I find it sad that there are some people who are willing to splash out huge amounts of cash for the DBSS flats, because honestly speaking, I find their acts very foolish, as I do not see very distinct advantages of DBSS flats over normal HDB flats. Also, some might argue that the DBSS flats differ very much from HDB flats because its design resembles that of condominiums, and therefore Singaporeans get to enjoy condo-like apartments for a lower cost. However, I seriously do not see the similarity of DBSS flats and condominiums. I live near the Tampines MRT station, which has a plot of DBSS flats nearby. At first glance, the flats looked very elegant, mostly due to the fresh coat of white paint on the outside. However, with further scrutiny, I realised that there was not a lot of differences between these flats and the normal HDB ones. In my opinion, I feel that the main draw of condominiums, other than the better living conditions, are actually the plethora of facilities available for residents to use, and the security provided by the security guards constantly guarding the condo 24/7. These two factors were absent from the DBSS flats, which begs the question: What's so great about it? What's so great about spending more money just for something that looks good on the outside. Sure, there are cupboards and wardrobes pre-installed in the flats, but this doesn't cut it. I'm sure it takes more than aesthetics and pre-installed furniture to persuade potential buyers to spend more money.

In conclusion, I reiterate my view that the DBSS project is negative and brings no significant benefits for the buyers. For better or worse, condos are here to stay, and there is really no point in introducing a new type of apartment that has a higher price than normal HDB flats but offering nothing significantly new other than the price. If one can afford to buy these premium flats, then why can't one save up a little longer so as to be able to spend the money well on a condominium with proper facilities? However, this is only my view, and I'm sure that there are people who would argue against my point. What do you guys think? Are you willing to pay more for the DBSS flats?

Cheers,
Roystan

YAY SPECIAL PROGRAMMES

Today I attended the Special Program briefings. The students were offered a choice of 5 briefings to attend, and could choose a maximum of 2. The different briefings were SMTP (Math), SMTP (Defense Science), LEP, HP and BSP. As I knew my math and science weren't too good and I probably couldn't cut it if I joined SMTP in Sec 3, I decided to choose the BSP and HP briefings, because I felt that my literature and history were two of my strongest subjects and I had passion for these two subjects. Also, I was considering BSP because I thought it would be good to learn more about China's culture and history. After all, I think the main thing that differs Hwa Chong from the school in Bishan (god I hate using this horrendously overused comparison) is the emphasis on Chinese culture.

The first briefing was the BSP one, and the students' presentation was basically about the different events and immersion programmes offered for BSP students. One thing that stood out was the prominence of Chinese in all these events. Although this shouldn't be too unexpected of BSP, I still found it pretty surprising that there was such a dominance (is this the right word to use :/) of Chinese in the program. To be absolutely honest here, I walked away from the briefing not really feeling too excited about joining BSP. Although I was still very much interested in learning about China and its culture, and despite the fact that Chinese is an important aspect of the Hwa Chong curriculum, I was left in a dilemma of whether BSP was actually the "surefire" way to go.

The next (and last) briefing was the HP one, and it left a pretty big impact on me. The presenters were really good, and they really managed to liven up the atmosphere and make the audience feel welcome. I don't think I really need to elaborate much on what was mentioned in the presentation, so I'll cut to the chase here. Basically, the Humanities Research Paper (HRP), Humanities Research Symposium for Youths (HRSY), Humanities in Celebration (HIC), the University of Melbourne course-cum-exchange program, and the curriculum in Year 3 and 4 was talked about during the presentation. As I was more of a lit and history guy, I felt genuinely interested in HP as it really felt like it catered to my interests. And to be honest, the part where participants of HRSY get to travel to Brisbane also caught my interest too! xD

At the end of the day, I think that HP is the most preferable program for me. The curriculum seems extremely interesting and it really feels like I will be able to pursue my passion in this program. However, I do know that there are standards to meet in order to be in this program, and hard work is nevertheless required of me. For now, I think the best thing to do is to just study hard, and try to attain desirable results so as to be able to make it to the program of my choice, in this case HP. It really seems like a fun and enriching experience, and I am sure that if I am able to make it to HP, I will definitely enjoy my 2 years in it! What Special Programme do you want to join?

Cheers,
Roystan

Math Test :/

So far, in my approximate 20 months or so in Hwa Chong, academically things have been pretty smooth for me. I didn't really worry too much about any tests whatsoever, and I wasn't actually extremely nervous about the results after the test. However, just recently, I had possibly the most difficult test so far.

It was a math test, and I just took it two days ago, on Wednesday. It was about geometry, more specifically congruence and similarity of triangles, and certain circle properties. All along, geometry was one of my weak areas in Math, as I found it hard to be able to look at the diagram and visualise to solve the question. Therefore, I was pretty nervous and worried for this test, and I studied rather hard for it.

Now, I have this extremely bad habit in math; when I encounter a difficult problem in any test paper, I tend to panic during the test, and as a result am unable to concentrate on the other questions, costing me precious marks in the test. Fortunately, the first two questions were mildly acceptable, and I was quite relieved that I was doing pretty ok in my weakest area of math. However, when I reached the third question, I was stumped. I managed to comprehend the diagram, but when it came to answering the questions, I was absolutely befuddled. I had the feeling I was missing something, but I just couldn't put my finger on it! I tried to look at the question from multiple angles, but it was to no avail. The question seemed like absolute gibberish to me, and I made the bad mistake of working on the question for a long twenty minutes. Even after twenty minutes, I still failed to solve the question, and even worse, it was already 11, and the test ended at 11.30; I also had 4 more questions to go, excluding the question I was stuck on. By that time, I was already extremely panicky, and to add to my woes, Question 3 was worth a whopping 12 marks, and as the test was upon 40, losing the full 12 marks would seal my fate to an A2 at the most. The next 3 questions were manageable, but the last question, Question 7 was another mind-boggling problem. Like Question 3, I simply could not find the solution to the question; I felt that I was missing something painfully obvious, but I just couldn't spot it. By then, there were about 5 more minutes left, and knowing that I would not be able to solve these two problems within the short span of time, I hurriedly did some working on the paper, hoping to salvage some method marks to increase my grade. Although there were only 2 difficult questions out of 7, the painful irony was that these two questions accounted for 19 marks, which was almost half of the total 40 marks of the test paper. Therefore, it is easy to see why I got so panicky during the test.

Although I was extremely frustrated and disappointed during the test, after the test, I felt like this was a wake-up call, and a rather apt one too. Admittedly, I was probably playing more than I was supposed to these days, slacking a little more on my studies, even in Term 3, which can be described as the final hurdle before the end of year examinations. This test helped me realise that academic life wasn't as smooth-sailing as I had previously thought, and in order to consistently succeed, I needed to put in a great deal of hard work. Soon after the test, I reasoned to myself that the test was already over, and there was no point harping over something that cannot be changed. The test was over after all, wasn't it? What's the point of being all sad and moody over something that cannot be changed? I decided to get over this disappointment and work towards the next test. I'm expecting a B4 or so, worst case C5, but I have decided not to be too demoralised by this. The most important thing now, in my opinion, is to actually get over this, and work even harder for the next test. Most of my classmates also found the test extremely difficult, but for me, I do not see this as a hindrance to my school life. Rather, I see this as a stepping stone for me to work harder, and for me to do even better in future tests, regardless of subject.

Cheers,
Roystan

Visit to Terracotta Exhibition at Asian Civilisations Museum

Two weeks ago, on Sunday, I accompanied my family to the Asian Civilisations Museum. We made our way day because of the special exhibition that was being held there. In fact, this exhibition is still at the museum at the time of writing, up till 16th October.

First, let me introduce this exhibition. The name of this exhibition is Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor & His Legacy. The show comprises of around 100 artifacts loaned from 12 museums in China's Shaanxi province. What is more remarkable is that this is the first time that authentic and not replica pieces of the famous terracotta warriors will be shown in Singapore and South East Asia. The terracotta warriors were first discovered in 1974 outside Xi'an by a group of peasants. To my understanding, the tomb was ordered to be built by China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, and he believed that with the tomb built, he would be protected by the warriors and the horses in the afterlife.

The museum wasn't extremely crowded, even on a Sunday morning, and that rather surprised me as I expected more people to turn up, seeing how this was a temporary exhibition. Anyway, after paying the entrance fee, we went in, and the first thing that greeted us was small clay figurines, masterfully crafted by the people of the past dynasties. The clay figurines were based on different professions and animals from that day, like storytellers, entertainers and tigers and dogs. One thing that stood out was the expressions and depicted actions of these clay figurines. It was easy to tell that the people who made these figurines put in a lot of effort and time, to recreate all the expressions and actions, and they were depicted perfectly, even though the clay figurines were static and stationary. There was also a section depicting how the workers made the clay figurines. In the next room, there was also a special exhibition, named rather aptly "Life after Death: An Installation by Justin Lee". The exhibition consisted of a self-constructed terracotta army flanked by maidens holding modern technology like laptops. In fact, the terracotta warriors was wearing headphones! There were also Singapore emblazon flags rising above the army. This exhibition is basically just showcasing a blend of Western pop art with traditional Eastern imagery, creating an interesting exhibit, and in the ACM's words, "decidedly Singaporean".

The next exhibition was the star of the show. In it, there were displays of the different varieties of clay warriors that were found in the tomb. There were officers, cavalry men, archers and more. What was unique about this was that each of the different type of soldier had their own distinguishing feature, which made them easy to recognise. For example, the officers wore a tunic, instead of the normal battle armour that soldiers wore. Like the first exhibit, this truly shown the hard work and meticulousness of the workers that made the figurines. Like what many of you know already, each warrior has a distinct expression on his face, thus making the terracotta army even more astounding. This, coupled with the fact that it was estimated that there were around 6000 warriors and chariots inside the tomb, makes it clear why the terracotta tomb is seen as something out of the ordinary. Speaking about chariots, a life-sized replica of a chariot, pulled by 4 warhorses is also included in the exhibit. The reason why the authentic one could not be shown is because it was simply too fragile to be transported overseas. On a side note, there was also an iPhone app made by the ACM, that had a feature that allowed users to use it to view the figures "move" when the phone was facing the figurines. I did not manage to use it so I cannot really comment much on it.

My trip to this exhibition was truly fulfilling, as I had a first-hand look of the terracotta warriors, and could see in person the terracotta warriors that can be described as a historical marvel. Although I had read up quite a bit on the terracotta warriors and the background of the tomb, nothing beats actually going to the exhibition in person and actually looking at these life-sized figurines yourself. Only then will one begin to understand why these terracotta warriors have been the center of much discussion among historians all over the world, and why the tomb has been regarded as an archaeological treasure by many. I really recommend everyone to take 1-2 hours to go down and view the exhibition for yourself. If I do not remember wrongly, the entrance fee isn't too expensive, costing $8 for an adult and $4 for students. There is also a special offer for families of up to 5 people, which costs $20. That was the amount my family paid when we visited the museum. Go visit it, and savour the atmosphere and the vast history surrounding you!

Cheers,
Roystan

The King's Speech

A few days ago, I rented The King's Speech from Video Ezy, because I heard that this movie was extremely well-received and I was eager to watch it as well. Now let me express my thoughts and feelings about this successful movie. :)

The King's Speech can be described as an historical drama, which depicts how King George VI overcomes his stammer with the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue, during the period around the 1920s to the 1930s, before World War II.

The movie begins with the Duke of York, who is the future King George VI (who is known to his family as Bertie) trying to make a speech to the public. However, he fails horribly, due to his terrible stutter. His wife Elizebeth tries to find various speech doctors in an attempt to cure his stutter. However, all of them fail until she persuades Bertie to seek the help of an Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue. After his father dies, Bertie's elder brother, David, who is the natural heir to the throne, takes to the throne. However, David wants to marry a (soon-to-be) twice divorced American socialite. As he cannot marry a divorced woman and retain the throne, David abdicates and Bertie very reluctantly takes to the throne. Meanwhile, Lionel has been helping Bertie improve his speaking, and although their friendship is tested and strained at some point, Bertie finally realises that he needs the help of Lionel to be able to speak eloquently. Finally, the movie ends when Bertie successfully makes a radio speech upon the declaration of war with Germany, with the help of Lionel coaching him throughout.

The King's Speech may appear to be a boring drama to some people, but in actual fact, it is an emotional and warm film. King George VI had a terrible stutter, and had a career that forced him to speak to the masses - only that Lionel Logue helped reconcile the two. On a side note, there is a certain sign of class tension, in which Lionel is a mere commoner and Bertie is a royal. The actors were marvellous throughout, and the emotional tension and conundrums that were present throughout the story were acted out and depicted extremely well. Colin Firth was brilliant in acting as Bertie; fear, hopelessness, self-irony, self loathing, courage, anger, he plays it all with supreme masterful skill. Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue was excellent as well, and his character was shown though tenacity and humour at times, resulting in a man who refused to be restricted by others of a higher social class.

The buildup to the final speech was nothing less than wonderful. The final scene was the most important one of them all, with King George VI walking up to the microphone slowly and silently, with all the staff and the household in tense silence, almost like he was walking up to the guillotine. Throughout his speech, there were different scenes of the whole of England listening to his broadcasted speech. This helped create a sense of great importance, and I cannot express how much of an emotional impact this had on me.

All in all, The King's Speech is an amazing historical drama, with values like resilience an important theme of the story. Ordinary people like you and I can also easily grasp the essence of the movie. I feel that it really reaches out to the viewer; it may be based on royalty, but in actual fact, the story itself is a simple one that is a resounding triumph.

Cheers,
Roystan

CIP: How it changed my mindset

Hi readers, I just came back from a tiring day of CIP with a few other friends of mine. So far, I had attended two full-day CIP sessions, each spanning 9 hours. To describe it briefly, it was something like Flag Day, in which volunteers had a tin with them and walked up to people and asked them for donations.

To be honest, in Secondary 1 I never really thought of CIP being an important part of school life. In my first year, most of my CIP were from compulsory CIP activities, the only exception being an Open House helper. At that time, I was practically going through the motions, and my only goal was just to meet the minimum requirement of 10 hours. Also, I didn't quite see the point of doing additional CIP as I felt that there wasn't much point in doing so. In retrospect, my thinking is really foolish and selfish, and I can't believe I was so different a year ago!

Anyway, my negative attitude carried on with me onto Secondary 2, and even then I didn't see the point in being a volunteer. However, the recent CIP sessions changed my mindset completely. As is for most people, walking up to random strangers on the street and asking for donations is quite awkward and most people would inevitably be a little too embarrassed the first few times. What's worse is that there was a high chance of rejection, which further adds on to the embarrassment.

For me, I was extremely shy to walk up to people to ask for donations at first, so I felt like a fish out of water, as I was seemingly just standing there rooted to the spot without any action whatsoever. After the while, it became better and I gradually became more confident. It was still pretty demoralising when people evidently tried to evade me or stare frostily at me when I ask them for donations. However, as the day went by, I got used to being rejected so I guess it didn't really matter. However, what I felt was the real challenge was standing out in the sun asking for donations for a straight 3 hours plus, and then another 3 hours after a 1 hr lunch break. It was extremely taxing, and factoring in the bulky weight of my tin, I felt pretty exhausted after a mere hour or so.

Evidently from what I had described above, doing this is definitely not a simple task, and is extremely taxing on the volunteers. This experience had made me appreciate the volunteers even more. They are doing all these tiring tasks for free, and I can really understand how difficult and tiring it can be to do volunteer work. Yet there are still many people who willingly help out! I'm really ashamed of how selfish I was last time, really. After this CIP session, I really learned to appreciate all the work that others do for us, and more importantly, I am aware of the positive effects of volunteering. In the future, I was surely volunteer for CIP again, not for the sake of doing it, but more importantly, for the sake of helping others.

Cheers,
Roystan

Trip to Universal Studios :)

Hellooo everyone! This is the first post of Term 3; well actually, this is before Term 3, but never mind. :D Last Friday, my family and I went to Universal Studios Singapore, which recently had its official opening (I think?). I felt compelled to relate my experience, so here goes! :)

Last Friday, my family and I went to Universal Studios Singapore (USS), which recently had its official opening ( I think?). I felt compelled to describe my experience there, so here goes! :)

I was actually feeling pretty excited for this trip, as this is the first time that Singapore had such a big-scale and prolific theme park. I shan't describe too vividly how we went there (as in transportation), and I'll cut to the chase. 

Needless to say, the tickets were really pricey, with the adult peak ticket costing $72 each, and the child peak ticker at $55. Since we had paid so much, I was expecting to use the best of our time there. From outside, the park didn't look particularly colossal, and actually looked pretty small, what's with the multitude of tourists streaming in. When we first stepped into the park, we were welcomed by a remake of the American streets of the past. There were many buildings designed to look like the older buildings of the past, and it really helped induce a nostalgic feeling of some sort. 

The first attraction that we went to was 'Lights, Cameras, Action!'. It was essentially a display of a Category 5 hurricane, which is the deadliest type of hurricane, hitting an old boatshed. It served to show the audience how special effects, be it visual or audio, were utilised to create a realistic environment for the viewers. It was a stunning show, and I was in awe at the sheer power of the special effects. It really felt like the place was hit by a hurricane! Although this wasn't a 'ride', it was still thrilling and I really enjoyed it.

After that, we proceeded on to the Egyptian area, where there were cafes and attractions modelled and designed to recreate the atmosphere of Egypt and its pyramids. There was a ride there, named Revenge of the Mummy, and after placing our bags into a locker provided, we went to queue for the ride. And queue we did! The queue moved at a snail pace, and there seemed to be an endless line of people in front of us. I estimate we waited for around 45 minutes, give or take 10 minutes, before we got to sit the ride. It was basically about how we needed to obtain the Book of Life to defeat some evil pharaoh, Imhotep. The name Imhotep is vaguely familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it. Anyway, the whole ride resembled a ride through the tombs of the pharaohs, and it was extremely thrilling and tense, as there was a feeling of imminent doom, what's with the pharaoh trying to hunt you down. The roller coaster made unexpected and sudden movements, like suddenly moving backwards. This all added to the fun of the ride, and I must say it was quite worth the wait.

Afterwards, we headed to the Jurassic Park area, where as the name suggests, is an area revolving around the age of the dinosaurs. There was a really popular ride there, called the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, which was a river raft ride in which we could sit in a circular raft and travel through the dinosaur habitats. There was a signboard indicating the estimated amount of time the people who just came in had to wait before sitting the ride. It said '75' and although this was pretty long as compared to the mummy ride, it was around one at that time and we figured that it was the ideal time for lunch after sitting the ride. However, as we found out the hard way, this was not the case, and we were stuck in the seemingly unmoving queue for close to TWO hours. The wait was horrible; there was virtually nothing to do over the course of two hours! To be frank, when we finally reached the end of the queue, I felt pretty accomplished ;) as we managed to wait for nearly two hours straight without doing anything! :D My family of four shared the raft with another American family. It turned out that there was a technical problem in the morning, which resulted in the water needing to be completely drained out, which explains the long wait. Actually, this family had previously queued for around an hour, when they were told that they could not sit the ride yet! This resulted in them having to wait foe another two hours or so, above the one hour previously! Our predicament didn't seem as bad as before after hearing their account. The ride was a fun one, as we travelled through the dinosaur habitat, which was brilliantly recreated. At the end of the ride, there was an unexpected plummet down, and needless to say, everyone was soaked! It was a pretty cool surprise, and although the short ride of around 4 minutes wasn't worth the tortuous wait, I still greatly enjoyed the ride. I'll recommend it to anyone, as the drop wasn't actually very scary, and is relatively easy to handle. Just be sure to prepare for your clothes to be soaked! :D

In a place like Universal Studios, extravagant prices were the norm, but for people like me who are too used to $3.50 chicken rice, the price of the food there was shocking. One set, consisting of a main dish, dessert and a drink, cost a whopping $10.50! Worse still, the food there weren't really of stellar quality, and tasted like the average hawker centre food. What a ripoff! In the end, lunch cost around $43, and if we had the same food at any hawker centre or food court, I daresay the price would probably be half the price, at the same quality!

After our not-so-affordable lunch, we went to the area named Far Far Away, which is an area dedicated to children fairytales like Shrek. Actually, in hindsight, I think most of the area was about Shrek. :O As we were sick and tired with long waiting times, coupled with the fact that it was already around 4, we were relieved to see that most of the attractions had short waiting times. The first attraction we went to was Shrek 4D, which was a short story involving the main characters of Shrek, all shown in stunning 4D. The show was your typical prince-save-princess tale, well actually ogre-save-ogress, but the 4D was simply amazing. It was a nice show, and I'm sure the audience were all impressed with the 4D as well. Well, I was!

Next up was a junior rollercoaster. If my memory doesn't fail me, I think it's called Enchanted Airways or something. It was a pretty typical rollercoaster, no biggie. 

After the ride, we walked around the area, and decided to sit on some Madagascar-themed ride. It was a water ride, and I expected it to be similar to the Jurassic Park ride. However, I was mildly disappointed as it turned out that the ride was like a quick visual synopsis of the first Madagascar movie, only that we were travelling on water and not seated in a cinema, But all in all it was pretty okay since the wait was short.


When USS first opened to the public, there were numerous technical difficulties. It resulted in a certain ride breaking down and being rendered nonfunctional after merely a week or so. After rambling on for so long, let me present to you the Battlestar Galactica. It consisted of 2 types of rollercoasters, the Human and the Cylon. Apparently, Battlestar Galactica is a television series on its own, and featured the Human empire facing off with the Cylon empire. The Human was a traditional seated rollercoaster, whereas the Cylon was a suspended rollercoaster that at times became inverted. Here's a confessionL I have a phobia for rollercoasters. However hard my family tried to persuade me to take the ride, I stubbornly refused to. In hindsight, I don't really regret going against my parents at that time, as I may have been traumatised for a long time (okay, just kidding ^^). Anyway, I did not take both rollercoasters, and if I ever have the chance to go to USS again, I may want to try this, But for now, I'm staying put with Enchanted Airways. :D


The last ride was some teacup thing that had you spinning around in a teacup. It was supposed to make you dizzy and stuff, but it was still pretty manageable to me, so yeah it was okay. :)


At the end of the day, I was dead beat and reached home at around 10.30. It was really enjoyable, and I really like how we don't have to travel to other countries to visit a world-class theme park because we can do that right here in Singapore! However, in retrospect, I probably won't be going to USS again in the near future, since the prices there were so exorbitant, and that the theme park was actually pretty small, with considerably few attractions relative to other Universal Studios overseas. It was still a wonderful trip, and I recommend anyone who has not been to Universal Studios to spend a day at USS; you won't regret it. :)


Cheers,
Roystan

O Comments, Comments, wherefore art thou, Comments?

Hello Ms Huang, this post is just a list of the posts that I have commented on. I really feel kiasu here, but never mind, I guess this will help sort out these stuff more easily ;)

1. Glenn Ang "My thoughts on War"
http://arts-language.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-thoughts-on-war.html#comments

2. Chong Kai En "Expository Essay: What do you think people of your age can do to improve life in your country?"
http://kaiensblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/expository-essay-what-do-you-think.html#comments

3. Daniel Tan "Mother's Day Exclusive"
http://swordofthedragonslayer.blogspot.com/2011/05/welcome-readers-to-this-exclusive.html#comments

4. Eliel "Junior Colleges In Singapore"
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2778771748267035122&postID=1812226140185956298&isPopup=true

5. Leonard Goh "Debate Topic 2"
http://leonard-languageartsblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/debate-topic-2.html#comments

6. Ivan Yeo "Singapore General Elections: Social Media"
http://ivanlablog.blogspot.com/2011/05/singapore-general-elections-social.html#comments

7. Lam Wen Hong "Japan Earthquake"
http://language-artist.blogspot.com/2011/04/japan-earthquake.html#comments

8. Alex Liew "Playing Children"
http://ineedawebsitelolwut.posterous.com/post-9-playing-children

9. Loo Nathanael "GE 2011"
http://loonathanaellablog.blogspot.com/2011/05/ge-2011.html#comments

10. Yeo Kee Xuan "Should the Parents Maintenance Act be abolished?" 
http://spongebobsayshitoyou.blogspot.com/2011/05/should-parents-maintenance-act-be.html#comments



Cheers,
Roystan

Perseverance: My story

This will be the last post of the term, and I will be sure to end it on a happier note! :D Today, I will be writing on perseverance, albeit with a twist. Read on! :)

Two weeks ago, on Wednesday, we had Infocomm Studies at the last period. As the lesson was held in the computer lab, some of my friends and I decided to head to the canteen at the JC to have lunch, as it was closer to the computer lab. At the canteen, I ordered rice with chicken in some sort of sauce. I tucked in promptly, as I was exceptionally hungry that day and could not wait for lunch. However, after I finished my lunch and put back the plate, tragedy struck. All of a sudden, my stomach had a sharp and excruciating pain, and it felt like it was stabbed by ten knives. The pain was sudden and unexpected; one moment I was talking normally to my friends, the next moment I was clutching my stomach. I must have looked like a fool to the people there; what with me constantly groaning in agony and with the expression on my face.

After a while, the pain seemed to subside a little. At the same time, I saw someone buy muah chee in the canteen. As I did not feel as pain, I reckoned that a little muah chee wouldn’t do much harm to my stomach. Furthermore, it was at $1 for a packet! Who could resist that offer? I went on to buy a packet of muah chee and starting eating it. However, as if my stomach was annoyed at my cocky attitude and wanted to punish me, the pain worsened again! It was like the beginning, and once again, I was victim to nature and could not continue eating my muah chee. At that time, I was of the opinion that if my stomach was feeling pain, muah chee could relieve my pain, because muah chee was made up of peanuts and some paste, and I figured that two negatives made a positive. Now that I think back on this, I am really amused at my foolish thinking LOL. My friends also urged me to find a toilet, but as I was unfamiliar with the place, I decided to head back to the high school section instead of trying to find a toilet in that unfamiliar environment with my agonising stomach.

The trip back was an arduous and painful one. It required perseverance and determination of the highest degree. Not once was I needed to muster so much courage; not once was I needed to have so much willpower; it was one of the longest trips ever. Ok, well, I may have been exaggerating a little here; but you get the picture. To put it plainly, it was not fun. Every few steps (or limps) I took required me to bend down for a while. At the same time, my face was twisted into emotions and expressions that cannot be described in words. All my friends were laughing at my comical expressions (shame on you guys!) and I bet other students who saw me must have been thinking I was some strange kid (haha, look at that nerdy bald bespectacled guy).

As I reached the clocktower, another obstacle proved to be in my way. There are were so many steps leading up to the clocktower, and it was indeed an uphill battle for me to be able to make it up. Fortunately, I still managed to make it up there, and I rushed (or limped ): ) as quickly as I could to the nearest toilet, ignoring the melodic music that was playing (which was part of the Wednesday Lunchtime Performance). As I finally reached my destination, I headed to the cubicle, and as I heard the ‘pop’ sounds echoing under me, a wave of relief swept through me. I know this sounds rather... gross, but I assure you, I’m merely writing a recount of my not-so-enjoyable experience. :)

Well, the title of my post is about perseverance, and indeed, I have learnt the importance of perseverance. Without sheer grit and perseverance, I would not have made it back to the toilet. No amount of lectures, worksheets, or sharing sessions will ever teach me of the importance of perseverance better than this one incident. However, I DO NOT want it to happen again. One is definitely enough!!

Cheers,

Roystan

The first step is NOT denial

Hello readers, today I shall blog on a human interest topic, denial. Hope you guys enjoy reading! :D

Let me paint a scenario here: You are in a lesson one day, with around 25 other classmates in the same room. Suddenly, you have a sudden urge to break wind. As hard as you tried, you could not hold it back and had to break wind. The sound was loud, and many people started staring in your direction. What do you do, then? Do you admit that you were the one who broke wind and apologise to your classmates, or would you try to pretend that it wasn't you to save your face. I believe, in the image-conscious society of today, most people would choose the latter.

However, is denial always the best way out? When we face embarrassment, do we just lie our way out and save our faces? When we face defeat, do we deny the fact that we have been knocked down and refuse to get back out? Is denial, the easiest way out, the best way out? Do we merely evade our problems? Any sensible person would face the problem head on. Instead of evading blames and salvaging our pride, why not we just admit to our mistakes and learn from there? Why do people always choose to take the easy way out of everything? I firmly believe that denial is never the best way to handle issues, and we must take our obstacles heads-on, instead of dodging them.

Let's look at this from another aspect. By going through denial, you are lying both to others and to yourself. What is the point of lying to yourself? Does it make you feel better? Does it reduce the suffering? Although denial may help you to evade any harm for a short period of time, in time to come, even more serious social and emotional problems can arise, and cause even greater repercussions.

In conclusion, I advise everyone never to take the easy way out by denying everything. Denial does not solve any problem; it only prolongs the harm. I hope you guys have learnt something from this post, and resolve to take problems HEADS-ON!

Cheers,
Roystan

Learning to bounce back from defeat

Hi readers, today I would like to blog about a topic that probably strikes close to home, defeat. We will inevitably face defeat in our life, but what is important is how we bounce back from defeat, even stronger.

I got the idea to write about this, because only a few days back, I encountered a minor setback in my school life. I had just received my Integrated Humanities test paper back, and I had expected at least an A2 due to the long hours of studying that I put in. Alas, this was not to be, as I had made a fatal careless mistake which resulted in my results dropping to below my expectations. Needless to say, I was visibly disappointed when I saw my marks, and even more due to the amount of time I put in revising. However, I managed to pick myself up after a while, and convince myself that I would bounce back from this setback and achieve even higher next time.

I am sure many of you have faced setbacks in your life before. Be it attaining poor results not up to your expectations, or screwing up in a certain competition, defeat and setbacks are part and parcel of our lives. In order to properly bounce back from defeat, we must first understand that defeats do not necessarily mean that there is no more hope for us. One defeat does NOT determine our future; we must not be too affected by a single defeat or setback. Likewise, instead of crying over spilled milk, what is important is that we learn from our mistakes, so that we do not make the same mistakes in the future. There is a Chinese saying, "失败是成功之母", which means that failure or defeat is the 'mother' of success, and that to succeed, we have to fail first. This further emphasises my point, as the most important thing about defeat is not the consequences of the setback, but instead, how we manage defeat and bounce back ten times stronger afterwards. Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's butler, once said to Batman when Batman lost all hope, "Why do we fall sir? So that we can pick ourselves up."

Many successful individuals had encountered setbacks in their lives before as well. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, but eventually became the owner of Microsoft. Henry Ford's early businesses failed and left him broke FIVE times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company. Akio Morita's company, Sony, started off as a failure, with its first product, a rice cooker, managing to sell less than 100 units. However, he and his employees worked hard to make Sony the multi-billion dollar company it is today. We can learn from these famous people as well; when they failed, did they sob and give up? No! They learnt from their follies, picked themselves up, and persevered on, eventually managing to succeed in their lives. Likewise, we can learn from their positive attitudes, and treat every defeat as an OPPORTUNITY TO GROW!

I hope that this post has inspired you guys to pick yourself up from defeats and bounce back up even stronger. A strong mentality will guide us through the toughest of storms, and acceptance of defeat is a skill that will last us through our life.

Cheers,
Roystan

Competition: How much is enough?

Hi readers, today I would like to post on something that we commonly encounter in our lives: competition. I shall try to evaluate how competition from others can either help or ruin someone, and I hope you guys enjoy reading!

Firstly, what is competition? Competition is when you face rivalry from another person/group of people in something you do. We encounter competition everyday. Be it trying to attain the best results in our studies, or competing with others in sports, competition is part and parcel of our lives. Competition naturally breeds stress, and although most of us detest stress, experts have stepped up and commented that competition and stress play integral roles in our lives, helping shape us for the future. However, I would like to go one step further, and question: How much competition is enough?

I apologise if my question seems a little unspecific and cryptic. To put it in plain terms, I am trying to question if too much competition is detrimental to a person's growth and personality, despite the initial benefits. For example, John is a nice person who takes studies seriously but not to the point of obsession. He knows how to balance work, play and his social life, and has an easy-going personality. He excels in his studies as well, constantly in the top few in his class. However, one day, someone named Jack comes into his class. Jack turns out to be something of a supercomputer, extremely smart, and even surpassing John in terms of results. John is rather appalled at Jack, and thus competes with Jack in order to retain his title of top in class. To do this, John constantly studies everyday, neglecting his health and friends. He eventually manages to beat Jack in a test, but at the expense of losing most of his friends and suffering from illnesses. At the end, is the result really worth all the trouble he had gone through?

With the example I have provided above, I aim to explain how too much competition can harm someone, instead of benefitting and helping that person. If one faces much intense competition from someone else, the person would inevitably be determined to win the competitor. However, due to the equally high calibre of the competitor, to defeat the other person would be extremely hard as well. Therefore, the initial person would definitely try to defeat that person by hook or by crook. Therefore, the competition causes the person to actually neglect his life, and solely focus on winning. The person would also develop the mindset that winning is everything, and go to huge lengths for the sake of victory. To only focus on winning would mean that the person is extremely narrow and shallow, and this mindset is extremely unhealthy and would not help the person. There is definitely more to life than winning. Also, the person would develop the mindset that winning is everything, and his actions would revolve around the sole purpose of victory. Similarly, this is extremely unhealthy and detrimental to one's growth.

In conclusion, I hope I have successfully argued my point, by stating how too much competition can cause one to adopt poor and winning-oriented mindsets in life, which would ultimately harm the person in the future. However, this is not to say that competition is purely bad. If one knows how to properly manage competition and stress, and not get too worked up and obsessed with winning, then one would know how to reap the benefits of competition from others, like learning new things from the experiences.

Cheers,
Roystan

Mr Yam Ah Mee: Overnight star

Hi readers, today I am going to write about a topic that just happened. I am going to write about the overnight fame of Yam Ah Mee, and how the Internet can double up as a tool to ruin people's lives.

Firstly, let me provide a little background information about this incident. Yam Ah Mee was appointed to be the Returning Officer (RO) for the 2011 General Elections (GE), which meant that he was tasked to announce the official results of each constituency to the public. This also means that he had to keep a straight face and tone at all times. After he had announced the results for each party contesting in the constituency, he had to publicly declare the winning candidate(s) as the one(s) elected for that constituencies, using the same words over and over. As there were 27 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and Single Member Constituencies (SMCs), he had to repeat the sentence "Pursuant to Section 49, Sub Section 7e, Paragraph A of the Parliamentary Elections Act, I declare (Winning candidate(s) ) of the (Party of the candidate(s) ) as the candidate(s) elected for the electoral division of (Name of constituency)" for 27 times. Due to this, and his straight and outright boring tone, he left a huge impact on many Singaporeans, and one even went to set up Facebook groups and fake Facebook accounts in his name, which has attracted much popularity over the past 2 days. Now, let me voice my opinion on the whole matter.

Personally, I pity Mr Yam Ah Mee. Even though many netizens claimed that they "honoured" him, the fact remains that he has received a great deal of unnecessary. Is it really necessary that he gets so much (negative) publicity and attention just because he did his job well? It was his duty to announce the results in a plain tone so that he would not display any bias, and he did that job well. What else was he supposed to do? Express elation when his favourite candidate is elected? Or scream in exhilaration when the party that he dislikes loses? It's the basic responsibility of the RO to be impartial and fair to all political parties, and I must commend him for this. However, instead of receiving any gratitude for doing his job well, he is now subjected to many jokes and teasing over the Internet. Just look at the largest Facebook page created for him, which has around 40,000 'likes' at the time of writing. If we put ourselves into the shoes of Mr Yam and his family, how would they like being the butt of many jokes? It is definitely unpleasant to be laughed at just because his job made him sound weird and comical to the public.

Which brings me to my next point; The Internet is indeed a scary place. Rumours can spread like wildfire, and it is with the Internet that this overnight fame can be possible. With the Internet, even more people can be made aware of Mr Yam, and it certainly shows how the Internet can easily ruin someone's life. Nothing is secret on the Internet, and if somebody posts something, it can easily be seen by many others all over the Internet. In this case, after someone set up a Facebook group 'celebrating' Mr Yam, so many other Facebook users went to 'like' it, and some techno-savvy people even went to make remakes of his speech, using different tunes like disco music. While some might dismiss this as mere fun on the netizens' part, if we look beyond this and actually examine how the Internet had been used as a tool to spread the messages, we realise that the Internet is indeed scary. Everything can be spread in the shortest period of time. We can easily know what is happening all over the world at a single click. This might be a good thing, but if some individuals abuse the Internet and use it to malign others, then the consequences could be fatal.

In conclusion, I am trying to convey two messages here. Firstly, this case shows how people are still resistant to change, as seen from the childish attitudes towards Mr Yam's monotonous voice, and how the Internet can be easily used to spread messages. I hope that this post has been a good read for you guys.

Cheers,
Roystan

2011 General Elections: A major milestone in Singapore's history

Hi readers, today I would like to talk about the upcoming general elections. This year, 82 out of 87 seats in Parliament are being contested, up from 47 out of 84 seats in the previous 2006 General Elections, and a record high. Undoubtedly, this election is shaping up to be the most heated ever since the 1965 General Elections. Now, I would like to voice my opinions on my take on the PAP up till now, and my views on the election.

Firstly, a little background information about my GRC. My family is under East Coast GRC, and The Workers' Party is contesting in this GRC. I have not actually been to any rallies, so my opinion is based on the many news reports I read on the Internet, articles in the newspaper, and videos of various rally speeches.

Many complaints have been levied against the PAP recently, ranging from laments on the constantly rising cost of living to the lack of help given to the needy and elderly. These complaints have fueled much discussion, with many people questioning PAP's ability to continue leading Singapore.

I admit, in the past I was actually supporting the PAP. Whether it was because of the so-called propaganda known as education, I was pretty staunch in my support for the PAP, as in my opinion, they have actually built up Singapore from the slums of 1960 to the metropolis of 2010. However, my once firm support started to weaken, when I read this article, talking about how Dr Lily Neo openly questioned Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, in Parliament over the PAP's assistance schemes for the elderly. Even though I was merely reading text, I could sense her frustration, the frustration of wanting to do something but being unable to do so. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has been criticised for the overshot of the YOG budget, not by a little, but to a whooping S$387 million. Worse still, the allowance for the recipients of public assistance have increased from $260 a month in 2007 to $400 a month in 2010, a mere $140 more per month after 4 years. That also means, approximately the recipients have received a mere $3.50 more a day. $3.50 is not even enough for someone to buy a full meal (food & drinks) at a hawker center. This begs the question: Is Singapore's progress actually beneficial to the citizens? Although the government has boasted of the country's excellent GDP growth rate despite the 2008 recession, is this economic growth at the expense of the people? The citizens form the backbone of every society, and if the government is sacrificing the wellbeing of the citizens in order to continue progressing, what is the point of continuing ruling Singapore?

The above examples actually question whether the PAP has become more materialistic in their goals, and opt for materialistic gains like money instead of the welfare of the citizens. Not only this, the PAP has also been slammed for being increasingly complacent. For example, pertaining to the escape of Mas Selamat, instead of issuing any formal apology, the government instead tried to provide many excuses to cover up this incident, until PM Lee recently apologised to the public for the mistakes that PAP had made, including this.

Now, let me give my two cents on this elections, and the possible implications or benefits that it may bring. No one can deny that the opposition stands an extremely high chance in this election than ever before. But does the high number of opposition candidates mean a definite improvement in lifestyle for Singaporeans? Does a change in government bring along more benefits for the country? Now, let me try to express how I feel about the election.

Please note that I will not have any extremist views, neither will I openly voice my preference and support for any one political party.

Firstly, I do agree that the standard of PAP has been on the decline. I am personally appalled at how the price of everything, from GST to housing to COE, has been constantly on the rise. There is a sad but true joke: The price of everything has all increased. Only one thing has remained the same. Wages. The higher standard of living, coupled with some of the ministers' poor attitudes towards handling issues (Mah Bow Tan with housing prices,  Wong Kan Seng with Mas Selamat, etc) has stirred up much unhappiness in the community. This could possibly be the result of much complacency on the PAP's part. Think about it; the PAP has dominated Singapore's political landscape for over 40 years; inevitably, PAP would have taken this for granted, and over the past few years, many policies of theirs have been met with much criticism. For example, the green light for the casino was greatly debated upon, and many analysts have voiced their worries on the possible future social repercussions, in spite of the short-term economic benefits (jobs, revenue, tourism, etc).

Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang had made a great analogy on the importance of opposition members in Parliament. To quote him, "Bear in mind that just putting on a safety belt and hope that the driver will drive you to your destination is not enough. A co-driver is essential, especially as (the) road gets tougher to navigate. The co-driver is there to slap the driver when he drives off course or when he falls asleep or drives dangerously." Indeed, Singapore needs checks and balances in order to prevent PAP from remaining complacent and implementing policies that might not be very beneficial. With more opposition members in Parliament, as compared to a mere 2 seats occupied by opposition parties previously, the opposition members would likely be able to question some of PAP's policies. Hopefully, when there are checks and balances, the policies that PAP have in mind would be properly thought out and vetted by different parties, so as to ensure that not only one party dictate how the country is run. Undoubtedly, different perspectives on how to run a country would help to provide insight for the government, so that they can pick out the best suggestions and implement them to help benefit the country best.

However, will having more opposition members in Parliament help improve Singapore? K Shanmugam questioned this analogy, saying, "Do you really want a co-driver who will be fighting with the driver to take over the wheel and slapping, kicking him? Is this the way forward?" This is an extremely valid point. I am sure that no one would want to see Members of Parliament constantly bickering about how to run Singapore. What is the point of having checks and balances if the two parties have different viewpoints and cannot get along together? What the Members of Parliament must understand is, they are no longer fighting with each other for seats in Parliament. Instead, they are working together, so as to help Singaporeans. Therefore, in order for this driver and co-driver analogy to work, there must definitely be a compromise between the members of different parties. If not, the whole point of having more opposition members in Parliament is rendered useless.

Another concern I have over opposition members in Parliament is their lack of experience in running a country. When people vote for the PAP, they know that at least PAP's policies would not be so disastrous, as most of the politicians have experience being in Parliament, and therefore have a first-hand experience in managing Singapore. On the other hand, none of the opposition members, barring Chiam See Tong, Low Thia Khiang, Steve Chia (ex-NCMP) and Sylvia Lim (NCMP), have been in Parliament before, and thus, there is a worry that they are not competent and are thus not able to manage Singapore well if voted into Parliament. I share this worry as well, as I am personally not so sure if they will be able to step up and walk the talk, if they are voted into Parliament. With PM Lee, I have a certain level of confidence in him, that with him in charge, at least Singapore's policies would not go haywire and would not 'screw up' too badly. However, in 1963, PAP was part of the opposition, and although Lee Kuan Yew and the rest of the candidates had no prior experience to running a nation, they still managed to step up and deliver, making Singapore the first-world country that it is right now.

Recently, PM Lee made a public apology, where he apologised for the mistakes that PAP has done. This display of humility and remorse is indeed refreshing, and something different from how the different parties have been slamming one another for the past few days. I myself am quite impressed by PM Lee's courage to step up and publicly admit that the PAP has indeed made mistakes. Barack Obama himself had publicly admitted that he had made a mistake quite some time ago, and seeing how PM Lee himself is willing to admit his mistakes, perhaps the PAP is not as arrogant and complacent. However, seeing how he had made this apology only 4 days before Polling Day, one can't help but wonder if this is merely a last-minute attempt to arouse sympathy from the public and to win back votes. Nevertheless, as I have mentioned before, I am not on either side, and I cannot find myself to just doubt PM Lee's intentions just because he is under PAP.

This election has also been significantly different from previous elections, due to the prevalence of social media as a form of communication. For example, many politicians have their own Facebook pages, where they post pictures and posts of what they are doing. Currently, Nicole Seah has a whopping 75,000 people 'liking' her Facebook page, coming in second only to MM Lee, who has 81,000 'likes'. In my opinion, this is due to the increased number of Gen Y voters this election, and therefore the politicians have to use social media, so as to more easily reach out to these young voters. A few comments about social media suggest how the PAP has not done enough with social media to reach out to younger voters, and this could possibly reduce their support. PM Lee had participated in a webchat with around 5,000 people over the Internet, which, I suppose, is a good start to utilising social media.

Despite the strong opposition, there is still a possibility that all the opposition have done would be wasted, and PAP might still have a landslide victory. If this happens, I fear that the PAP may become even more arrogant, as even a high level of opposition proved to be useless in reducing their dominance. Potential opposition members might also be dissuaded to join opposition parties. In the worst-case scenario, the PAP might ignore all the criticism directed at them, and continue implementing their policies without thinking for the people. If the opposition loses by a large margin, we might never see such a strong opposition ever again, which might have severe repercussions for Singapore in the future.

Although I cannot possibly cover everything in the GE, I hope that I have brought up the key issues of this election, and helped to provide thought-provoking arguments. Tomorrow is Polling Day, and I am extremely excited for the results of this election, and I hope that this would be a new turning point in Singapore's history.

Cheers,
Roystan

Newspaper article

Hi readers, I have written a fake newspaper article for The Maycomb Tribune, reporting on the death of Tom Robinson. Due to technical difficulties, I am unable to show you the full article on this post itself. Thus, you can find my article at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/54273093/Maycomb-Newspaper-PDF

Happy reading! :)

Cheers,

Roystan

Xenophobia in Singapore

Hi readers, today I will be blogging on xenophobia, primarily the presence of xenophobia in Singaporeans. For starters, here is a basic definition of xenophobia. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, xenophobia is the fear and hatred of strangers and foreigners or of anything that is strange of foreign. Today, I will be blogging on my thoughts on the main causes of xenophobia, and how it affects Singapore.

Firstly, according to Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, Singaporeans accounted for 70%, or 3.2 million of the city-state's 4.5 million population as of mid-2006s. After further calculation, that means around 30% of Singapore's population in 2006 were foreigners, up from 14% in 1980 and 26% in 2000. The main aim of encouraging foreigners to come to Singapore was to help make up for Singapore's declining birthrate. The government hoped that with more foreigners, that would be a higher birthrate, hence eradicating some of Singapore's social, economic and defense problems. How significant are foreigners today?

Take myself for example. I have lived in my house for around 9-10 years, ever since 2001. I have regularly seen Filipinos walking around the estate, and have been seeing less locals as time goes by. Singaporeans are known to be especially resistant to change, and I feel that it would take a long period of time for foreigners to be truly accepted and welcomed. There are many instances of Singaporeans exhibiting their distaste for foreigners. For example, the members of the table tennis team that clinched silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics were all from China, and despite the players proclaiming their loyalty for Singapore, many people still continued to criticise the players for stealing the spots in the national team from the locals. Speaking on the topic of stealing spots, one of the largest complaints by Singaporeans are that the foreigners are stealing their jobs. One comment from prolific entrepreneur, author and performance trainer, Adam Khoo, incited much rage from many people, when he said that he would rather hire a foreigner with a lower wage demand than a local with a higher wage demand. Many Singaporeans who are sandwiched in the middle class are facing much competition for the limited jobs from foreigners, which leads them to lament about the foreigners 'stealing' jobs from them. This, I feel, is the main reason why many Singaporeans have xenophobia, and how it applies to Singapore's society. On the other hand, some might argue that foreigners provide competition for the locals, so that the locals would be motivated to work harder and not remain complacent. This point is not invalid, but the fact remains that for the average Singaporean, life will get harder with the constant competition from foreigners.

Another reason why Singaporeans possess xenophobia is probably due to the huge cultural differences, and Singaporeans' resistance to change. Having many different people, who speak in different languages, who have different practices, who eat different food, would no doubt be hard for many people to accept initially. Therefore, Singaporeans would naturally be hostile towards people who are extremely different from them, and this also contributes to the prevalence of xenophobia in Singapore.

There are many reasons and causes for the presence of xenophobia in Singapore, and I have listed down several of the key issues. I hope that you have a better understanding of xenophobia after reading this post, and as always, comments are welcome! :)

Cheers,

Roystan

To know, or to be known: that is the question

As you all know, a few Hwa Chong students have found their way onto STOMP, albeit not because of their good deeds, but rather, because they were photographed holding ice-creams on the public bus. Somehow, if you have not caught wind of this incident, this is the link to the page: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/ugly_commuters/606506/even_students_from_elite_school_cant_follow_noeating_rule_on_bus.html Now, I would go on to voice my two cents on this matter.

Firstly, as a Hwa Chong student, I was initially taken aback and a little angry at this certain individual who seems to want to tarnish the school’s reputation and mock us for being ‘elite’. As seen from the multitude of comments, mostly flame wars between ‘patriotic’ HCI students and members of the public, there have been many people trying to defend HCI. However, what really irks me is the way that they are defending HCI. Seriously, calling the photos photoshopped? Insulting other stompers and mocking them by calling them retards? I shall not reveal their STOMP usernames, or their true identities, for that matter, but I am utterly appalled at their response. Are these what HCI students are bred up to be? Are these the so-called ‘moral values’ that HCI intends to inculcate in students? Granted, these are only a few black sheep, and they might have been caught in their moment of anger which resulted in them posting such ridiculous remarks, but the fact remains that people remember you for your bad deeds, not your good ones. Likewise, by seeing how HCI students attempt to defend their school by fighting fire with fire, it is inevitable for members of the public to think badly of HCI students. Despite warnings from teachers in HCI, these students continued their verbal assault, and were unrelenting in the discussions. It is indeed especially horrible to see HCI students not thinking with their heads, and turning to violence (albeit not physical) to solve the issue.

The next thing I am going to blog about is the whole idea of moral courage. What exactly is STOMP for? Is it a medium for the public to shame others online by revealing all their wrongdoings online for everyone to see? By doing this, is this really helping the person in the wrong to change? By simply hiding behind your camera, do you really think that this would make the person really want to change? I respond to these questions with a straight no. How useful is STOMP in making someone change for the better? For example, if you see a group of people being rowdy at midnight, do you go up and stop the people straight on, or do you simply hide behind the camera, assume anonymity, and take pictures of the people in the wrong? Why can’t Singaporeans simply walk up to the person/people in the wrong, and tell them straight that they are wrong and need to change? What I feel about most Singaporeans is that they are too prideful, and have the mentality that ‘if it does not affect me, I do not bother about it.’ This selfish mindset, coupled with the ‘kaypoh’ nature of Singaporeans, lead many Singaporeans to resort to these public sites to publicly shame 

others.

The final topic I am going to talk about is the veil of anonymity that one gets when online. I feel that the anonymity online is the root of the problem of STOMP. As I pointed out in the above paragraph, Singaporeans would rather not go up to the person and chide him, revealing his own identity in the process and possibly causing a grudge, but instead would rather utilise the anonymity online, by posting (sometimes) derogatory remarks and posts, in the knowledge that there would not be any implications whatsoever. This anonymity instantly removes any credibility, and thus giving netizens courage to flame others openly online, all because they know that nothing will happen to them in real life. As seen from the second and third paragraphs, the main reason that people dare do stuff that they would not in real life is all because of this anonymity they gain online. Is the Internet really a platform just for mean-spirited people to exploit the anonymity for their own personal gain? There is a old story from one of Plato’s books, about how Gyges, a once honest shepherd turned to evil deeds and usurped the throne, all because he discovered a ring that could make him invisible. All because of this invisibility, Gyges is then willing to do things that he would never dare to in real life. This story further emphasises on the sad fact that anonymity online nowadays is easily exploited and used for underhand purposes.

In conclusion, what I want to say about this whole STOMP hoo-hah is that the fact remains that people still misuse the Internet, and instead abuse their cloak of invisibility for their own personal wants. Is it really because of STOMP that Singaporeans had lost their moral courage and will only dare to go online to criticise others? Though supposedly not a plausible side-effect of STOMP when it was first introduced, I feel that the unfortunate fact remains that STOMP has caused many Singaporeans to lost much moral courage and credibility.

Cheers,

Roystan

Diary Entry

Day 9
9 July 1916

Dear Diary,

It's been 9 days since the Battle of the Somme began. The first day already spelt doom for the Allied Forces, with the estimated casualties at that time reaching around 40,000. 9 days seemed like 9 centuries for us soldiers. Everyday was filled with soldiers busily running from trench to trench, stepping in the mud and exposing ourselves to typhoid, malaria, and anything else. Everyday was full of gunfire and airplane bombings. Day by day, our comrades fell in battle, their dead bodies littering the trenches. Every corner we turned, there was a grotesque corpse with twisted emotions on their faces. Whether it was grief, regret or despair, we had no time to pause to think; the enemy was on their way. The trenches were unbelievably horrible; the mud was seemingly filled with every minute abomination. As the soldiers took off their boots everyday after a weary day at war, uncountable creepy-crawlies could be seen residing in their boots. It was a terrifying sight, and the threat that disease posed to us only added to our paranoia that we would soon meet the Reaper. Was this what we had signed up for? Was this the glory that we had been promised prior to joining the army? As the days continue to go by, all I can hope is for this war, this cruelty, to come to a halt. I pray that one day, I would live to go back to my homeland, where there would be no food shortages, no riots, only peace and harmony.

Description of photograph

Task 1: Descriptive paragraph (20 minutes) 

View the slideshow through the link  below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8492000/8492777.stm

 Select one of the photos / images and write a descriptive paragraph on it. Engage the 5 senses -- thus means you should describe not only what is seen, but what is heard, smelt, tasted and felt. Use literary devices (sound, imagery, diction) to bring the scene to life.

Everything had been bombed down. Remains of the many houses littered the ground, while grey debris scattered all around. Wood, cement, metal, and various materials filled the ground, evident that the enemy had struck, hard. The once majestic trees had met their demise, and grey hard rocks were seen on one side of the ground. There was a stench of gunpowder, and the entire area reeked of smoke and more importantly, there was the putrid smell of death and demise. Three soldiers, all clad in unkempt uniforms stained with mud and cement, hurriedly run across the area, trying to avoid the uncountable objects strewn all over the ground, the sounds of their boots hitting the various metals and cement announcing their arrival. Carrying a rifle in case of enemies, they scanned the area, in a futile attempt to locate any comrades. Their eyes gave away their emotions; desperation and panic were painted vividly in their eyes. As such, the soldiers continued forward, for it was the only direction they could go; there was no turning back.