Category: Singapuraku

  • Kembali Ke Fitrah: Mengapa Alfian Sa’at Ambil Hati Nasihat Dari Zulfikar Shariff?

    Kembali Ke Fitrah: Mengapa Alfian Sa’at Ambil Hati Nasihat Dari Zulfikar Shariff?

    Salam admin,

    Semalam Cik Zulfikar Shariff ada post di Fb nya satu nasihat yang datang dari Pergas sendiri. Dalam post itu juga Cik Zulfikar menasihati bahawa barang sesiapa yang menghadiri majlis bermaksiat harus berfikir akan akibatnya bila berdepan dengan Allah swt kelak. Dia menyeru mereka yang berniat untuk menghadiri majlis sedemikian untuk berdoa agar ajal mereka tidak tiba ketika melakukan sesuatu yang dimungkari Alla swt.

    Zulfikar Shariff - Guidance

    Pada pendapat saya, nasihat Cik Zulfikar tepat pada waktunya. Ianya satu peringatan bagi semua masyarakat Muslim supaya menjauhkan diri daripada kegiatan-kegiatan maksiat. Para ulama, guru-guru dan juga ibu-bapa, pada pendapat saya, juga memberi nasihat sedemekian.

    Tetapi Alfian Sa’at tidak dapat terima nasihat dari Cik Zulfikar. Kita semua tahu mengapa sebenarnya Alfian tidak setuju.  Tetapi apa salahnya seorang Muslim yang lebih pakar menasihati masyrakat umum yang mungkin, telah lupa akan dasar sebagai seorang Muslim.

    Alfian juga menuduh Cik Zulfikar sengaja menakut-nakutkan masyarakat.

    Alfian Saat 1

    Memang betul kata Cik Zulfikar. Kalau kita fahami yang dunia ini sementara, kita akan melakukan yang sebaiknya untuk megejar pahala untuk akhirat nanti.

    Mengapa Alfian tidak dapat makan nasihat? Mengapa harus ditindas nasihat kata-kata Cik Zulfikar itu? Sebagai seorang yang dikenali ramai lapisan masyarakat, Alfian mempunyai tanggungjawab menjadi contoh sebagai kepada anak-anak kita.  Memang diakui, Alfian seorang yang tersohor dalam bidang teater.  Namun, itu bukan bermaksud yang dia itu manusia serba sempurna, tiada dosa, dan mengetahui segalanya.

    Alfian juga berpendapat agar Cik Zulfikar lebih konsisten dalam menggunakan peringatan tentang kematian dan akhirat bila memberi nasihat tentang segala yang dimungkar Allah swt. Permintaan itu melampau. Apa tujuannya? Atau mungkin Alfian sendiri akur akan ketepatan nasihat Cik Zulfikar?

    Alfian Saat 2

    Mungkin, hati Alfian belum terbuka. Kita sama-sama mendoakan agar suatu hari nanti, Alfian diberi petunjuk dan kembali ke fitrah.

    Buat masa ini, saya harap anak-anak muda kita berfikir dengan lebih kritikal tentang isu LGBT ini, berlandaskan ajaran Islam. Jangan terikut-ikut sangat, biarpun kita kagumi bakat dan karya seseorang itu.

    Nasihat untuk membina, bukan untuk menghancurkan.

    Rashid

    [Reader Contribution]

     

  • The Chiongs: Documenting Their Same-Sex Marriage

    The Chiongs: Documenting Their Same-Sex Marriage

    About The Chiongs

    Our little family consists of me Mama Olivia Chiong, my wife Mommy Irene Chiong and our daughter Baby Zoey Chiong. This blog was started as a way for me to share my thoughts on our life together.

    Parenting in the most expensive city in the world is not easy. Same-sex parenting is of course just that little bit harder and more expensive. Since we have chosen to have a child in Singapore, we are well aware of the many challenges that lie ahead of us.

    Life is not meant to be lived in fear. I believe in living my life the way I want instead of living life the way others expect me to. Sure, we may face some obstacles along the way, but how can you know true happiness if you have not had to fight for it? As humans, our emotions play a big part in the ups and downs of our lives. Happiness is a state of mind that can only be achieved if you have known sadness. It is all relative.

    So thank you for coming to check out my blog. Stay a while, get to know us and feel free to ask questions. I can be reached at olivia (at) thechiongs.com

     

    Source: http://olivia.thechiongs.com

  • Hawker: Regular Customers Are Like Family

    Hawker: Regular Customers Are Like Family

    When flooding occurred at the Marine Parade Food Centre in November 2013, it was so bad that even the walkways were submerged.But that did not stop loyal customers from queueing at the D’Authentic Nasi Lemak stall.

    So determined they were that they sat on the tables to keep their feet dry and enjoy their food.

    This is just one of the many memorable moments for stall owner Sulaiman Abu in his 20 years there.

    The Marine Parade Central Market And Food Centre will undergo major renovations once the lease runs out in 2017.

    The other two centres – Geylang Bahru Market And Food Centre and Bukit Merah Central Market And Food Centre – will close in November next year.

    Several hawkers told The New Paper that they were unsure about the future of their businesses once the centres close.

    “I have no concrete plans as of now,” said Mr Sulaiman.

    “I may move to another centre during the renovations but it really depends on how many stalls are available.

    “I think the best solution would be to have a temporary food centre.”

    Ms Annie Lau, who is in her 50s and runs her mother-in-law’s Soon Huat Lor Mee stall at Bukit Merah Central, said: “I am not sure whether my mother-in-law wants to continue the business after the centre closes. We will see how things go.”

    Various hawkers, whose businesses have been around for more than 10 years, said that they have many loyal customers, most of whom live or work around the area.

    “Some of my regulars come so often we know what their orders are before they are placed,” said Madam Irene Koh, 54. She has been operating her Mei Ji Fishball Noodles stall for 35 years.

    Mr Sulaiman added: “I have many regular customers who are now working adults but have been frequenting my stall since they were in primary school.

    “Some even have their own families now and bring their families here for meals. These regular customers are like family to me.”

    A second-generation co-owner of Katong Chicken Curry Puff at Marine Parade Central, who wanted to be known only as Mrs Koh, said she even has foreign fans.

    “A few of my customers are from the US. They would visit our stall whenever they visit Singapore,” said Mrs Koh, who co-owns the stall with her husband, Mr Koh Jee Kok. They are both 64.

    PECULIAR ORDERS

    The hawkers have also received some peculiar orders.

    Mr Sulaiman said: “Some customers would order mee rebus without the noodles. And there were a couple of customers who ordered only the nasi lemak’s sambal (chili paste).”

    Another hawker, who wanted to be known only as Mrs Ho, said she has had customers who woud order noodles from her Hui Wei Ban Mian stall at the Geylang Bahru Food Centre without the good stuff – meat, eggs and vegetables.

    But the 42-year-old woman, like most of the other hawkers from the three places, hopes to return after the renovation.

    Madam Siti, 59, who owns Warong Mak Esah & Pak Bakar at the Geylang Bahru Market And Food Centre, said: “I have set up my business in other centres but I still think this food centre is the best place to be.

    “I have made so many friends here, especially with my regular customers. I would like to return.”

    Mr Sulaiman added: “I would like to come back to continue serving the best food to my regular customers.”

    Patrons also hope that their favourite food stalls will return.

    Madam Candy Ong, 52, who goes to the Marine Parade Food Centre every day for lunch, said: “I will definitely miss my favourite food here, such as sliced fish noodles and yong tau foo.

    “I don’t know where I will go when the centre closes. I hope the hawkers will return and the prices stay the same.”

    A 67-year old retiree, who declined to be named, also said: “I have been visiting this centre since my younger days. I would miss coming here.”

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • School Heads: Rigourous Risk Assessments Done Before Overseas Expeditions

    School Heads: Rigourous Risk Assessments Done Before Overseas Expeditions

    Whether it is kayaking or trekking, students at Raffles Institution have a variety of choices when it comes to leadership courses. But before embarking on any expedition, the school will conduct a rigorous risk management assessment.

    Said Head of Department at the Raffles Institute for Experential Learning Kuak Nam Jin: “MOE (Ministry of Education) has a very well-established risk management matrix. We follow that very closely. We go on recce trips to look at the place. The staff would often embark on the entire route of the destination to find out how vigorous or intense it is. We have to find out in history whether other schools have used it before, what is the feedback?”

    Once a place has been chosen, training to prepare the students physically for the trip begins, according to Mr Kuak: “We would prepare our students physically for the trip which often involves general physical conditioning pretty much like PE conditioning. And then there’s also specific training.

    “For instance if you are climbing a mountain, then you really need to get students to be climbing the stairs, carrying their backpack so that they develop the right type of muscles in the physical conditions to allow them to perform on the mountain.”

    The safety of such expeditions is in the spotlight, in the wake of a tragedy where six students and a teacher from Tanjong Katong Primary School died, while climbing on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah as part of an overseas learning journey, called the Omega Challenge last week. Their Singaporean adventure guide was killed as well, and a teacher and a student from the school are still missing.

    Another school head said scenario training will be conducted to equip students with necessary skills to react to emergencies – such as dealing with an injury.

    “We have to think about many categories of risk, covering issues from whether the children have enough food and water, to where the nearest medical facilities are,” said Ms Haslindah Bahrom, Vice-Principal and Chief Safety Officer at Eunos Primary School. “If there are possible risks, we discuss how to mitigate them. It’s not just for overseas excursions. We do this for learning journeys within Singapore – and even for activities within school, like Sports Day and carrying out experiments in our Science labs.”

    The onus is also on educators to assess the student’s ability for such physically demanding programmes.

    Said Ms Haslindah: “As you train your students, you are able to identify which students are having trouble keeping up with the training or they may have old injuries that may come back to haunt them or they are struggling with that. I think as educators you have to make a decision whether the student should drop out of the programme or we make a decision to moderate the intensity of the programme so that every student can participate in the programme.”

    HOLISTIC LEARNING EXPERIENCE

    Educators encourage parents to send their children on overseas expeditions as they contribute to a holistic learning experience. Some students who took up the Omega Challenge at Tanjong Katong Primary told Channel NewsAsia that the expedition had taught them valuable life skills.

    “It teaches you perseverance and discipline and it pushes your limits and tests them,” said one of them, Zara Karim. “Mount Kinabalu taught me a lot of skills like how to work with people, how to communicate. And that’s been very useful in project work and working within CCA with people.”

    The students added that the six-month training before the expedition was sufficient to prepare them for the physical challenges.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Earth In Period Of Active Seismic Activity

    Earth In Period Of Active Seismic Activity

    Nature’s wrath struck in 2004, when a tsunami hit the coasts of several countries around the Indian Ocean. This marked the beginning of what geologists call an “active cycle”, where the Earth experiences greater seismic activity.

    Said Professor Kerry Sieh, director at the Earth Observatory of Singapore: “The Earth goes through cycles of seismic energy release, and less release and more release.

    “We have definitely been in the active cycle in the last 11 years since 2004. All the magnitude-8.4 earthquakes and bigger, up to 9.2, they all happened in the last 11 years. Several of those have been in Asia.”

    The previous active cycle was in the 1950s to mid-1960s, which saw several earthquakes with a magnitude of a high 8 and above 9. But for the next 40 years, there were no records of a quake with a magnitude above 8.3, until 2004.

    Since then, a string of devastating earthquakes has caused much destruction, like in Sumatra in 2005 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

    “We don’t know whether we are at the end of the cycle or not,” said Professor Sieh. “My hunch is we will continue to see a larger number of large earthquakes. But that’s only a hunch because we don’t really have a way of telling whether we are at the end of the cycle or not.”

    In response to the recent Sabah quake, Professor Sieh supported the call by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to relook safety protocols for climbers on Mount Kinabalu and also offered his team’s expertise.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

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