Rilek1Corner

Category: Singapuraku

  • Teaching Your Kids To Respect Other Cultures

    Teaching Your Kids To Respect Other Cultures

    One of my daughters and her husband recently adopted my precious and beautiful grandson. He is from the mountain aboriginal people of Taiwan. His beautiful black hair, long legs and broad shoulders are amazingly like his daddy’s.  But his bronze skin is very different from that of my three-year-old granddaughter’s, who when she saw a picture of her new baby cousin said, “He looks funny.”

    We are all different yet…

    There will come a time when your children will be exposed to children and adults from other countries and continents. Their color, dress, habits and language will be different than what they consider normal.

    These cultural differences should not be viewed as embarrassing or inappropriate by you. Instead you should view their questions as an opportunity to broaden their horizons and educate them on the differences that make us all unique and special.

    …the same

    It is important to teach your children that though their skin may be lighter or darker than the child sitting behind them, they are both very much alike in the fact that they both need to be loved, both need to be treated with kindness and respect and both enjoy doing all the things kids love to do.

    It is important that you teach your children that cultural diversity is not a reason to exclude, demean or even bully someone. A child in Singapore is a child throughout the world.

    Experience is the best teacher

    When it comes to understanding and being comfortable with cultural differences, the best thing you can do is to give your children a variety of cultural experiences. This can be done by:

    • Visiting exhibits and various cultural events such as festivals and ceremonies
    • Eating a variety of foods favored in other countries
    • Reading about different places or origin and cultures of people you and your children come in contact with
    • Befriend the parents of children from other cultures in your child’s classroom, sports team or dance class
    • Focus on the similarities rather than the differences-help your child realize that different clothes, accents, etc. don’t change the fact that both children enjoy soccer or that both children struggle with spelling

    Set the bar

    In spite of the fact that our children test our patience and push our buttons, they look up to us. They mimic our attitudes and actions. So by being respectful and accepting of  people from all walks of life, we will be teaching our children to do the same.

     

    Source: http://sg.theasianparent.com

  • Bishan Gay On trial For Molesting 12 Year Old Boy

    Bishan Gay On trial For Molesting 12 Year Old Boy

    A freelance tutor yesterday denied molesting a 12-year-old boy in a toilet at a shopping mall popular among students.

    Cheng Hoe Huat, 52, is on trial for using criminal force on the boy by touching his private parts in the male toilet on the first floor of Bishan Junction 8 on Nov 13, 2013.

    A frequent visitor to the mall, he told the court he would spend almost every weekday there, reading newspapers and the Bible and writing spiritual journals.

    Cheng, who uses a walking stick, said he would talk to the boys he meets and make friends with them.

    He testified that he came to know a group of madrasah boys by chance that day. The boys approached him while he was seated outside The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. He asked them how the madrasah taught sex education compared to other schools.

    After they left, he continued with his reading until around 4.30pm or 5pm. Before leaving, he made a trip to the toilet. He denied asking the boy, who was then in Primary 6, to go with him.

    Conducting his own defence, Cheng claimed he did not recognise the alleged victim or any of his four friends who were among the 13 prosecution witnesses who testified in court.

    The boy, who is now 13, gave his testimony behind closed doors on Wednesday. His father was also among the prosecution witnesses.

    The boy lodged a police report at Bishan Neighbourhood Police Centre a day after the alleged incident.

    Junction 8 is a popular hangout spot for students from nearby schools, such as Catholic High School and Raffles Institution.

    District Judge Lee Poh Choo will give her judgment on May 8. If convicted, Cheng could be jailed for up to five years and/or fined for molesting a person under 14 years old.

    No caning is imposed on males above 50.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • I’m Angry My Workshop Overcharged Bike Repairs!

    I’m Angry My Workshop Overcharged Bike Repairs!

    I dono weather tis prize reliable to what they to my bike…reason tat im not happy is…d way they speak n tell us about wats wrong wif our bike n prize….

    evrybody shud b angry if u wer told to pay tis amount n suddenly it became bigger amount….like tis one idiots at WingYapMotor name “AHSIONG”….

    Wah…yesterday say to me change tis n tis at tis prize…den today wen i wana collect my bike….KNN..

    He up again by including GST….wat d hell….make me angry sia….lucky i never gv him 1 gud 1 at his fucking face…

    jus remember….if here wer to be malaysia….ur workshop already kana burn….but tis is singapore…we got rule…juz wait till karma hit u back…..fuck…..

    here d receipt tat idiot charge me….

    Roy EKHSS Receipt

     

    Roy EKHSS

  • Dua Pekerja Rumah Kanak-Kanak Pertapis Dituduh Menganiaya Penghuni Rumah Kebajikan Itu

    Dua Pekerja Rumah Kanak-Kanak Pertapis Dituduh Menganiaya Penghuni Rumah Kebajikan Itu

    DUA orang diheret ke mahkamah semalam bagi menghadapi tuduhan menganiaya kanak-kanak di Rumah Kanak-Kanak Pertapis.

    Muhammad Abdul Gani, 26 tahun, dan Joanne Joy Coloma Dadiz, warga Filipina berusia 29 tahun, bekerja di rumah kebajikan di Kovan Road itu semasa kesalahan tersebut dikatakan terjadi.

    Abdul Gani menghadapi 10 tuduhan menganiaya lapan kanak-kanak – lima lelaki dan dua perempuan berumur antara empat dengan 11 tahun – di bawah jagaannya antara 2012 dengan Januari tahun lalu.

    Dadiz dikenakan satu tuduhan menganiaya kanak-kanak kesembilan, seorang budak perempuan berumur 11 tahun, dengan sengaja melakukan suatu perbuatan yang boleh membahayakan keselamatannya.

    Dia dikatakan duduk selama tiga minit di atas budak itu semasa budak itu meniarap. Kesalahan tersebut dikatakan berlaku pada Disember 2013.

    Dalam dua tuduhan yang dihadapinya, Abdul Gani dikatakan masukkan seorang budak lelaki berumur empat tahun di dalam almari, dan dalam satu kejadian, dia dikatakan mengangkat kanak-kanak itu dengan memegang kepalanya di bawah telinga.

    Dia juga didakwa menggunakan rotan kayu dan memukul tiga budak lelaki berumur lapan hingga 10 tahun dan seorang kanak-kanak perempuan berumur 10 tahun, mengakibatkan kesakitan ke atas mereka.

    Pada 2012, Abdul Gani dikatakan menendang sebuah kerusi yang seorang budak perempuan berusia sembilan tahun sedang berdiri di atasnya, mengakibatkan budak itu terjatuh dan cedera.

    Kemudian pada Januari tahun lalu, dia dikatakan menampar budak itu di pipi kanannya.

    Peguam Abdul Ghani, Encik Abdul Jalil Muhammad Tahir, berkata beliau baru diberi taklimat dan meminta kes itu ditangguh bagi mendapatkan penangguhan untuk membuat perwakilan.

    Dadiz, yang tidak mengaku salah, berkata dia mahu mendapatkan seorang peguam.

    Kes mereka telah ditetapkan bagi persidangan praperbicaraan pada 18 Mei.

    Ikat jamin $20,000 ditawarkan kepada Abdul Ghani dan $10,000 kepada Dadiz. Mereka diarah jangan mendekati mangsa atau keluarga mereka secara langsung mahupun tidak langsung.

    Jika sabit kesalahan, mereka boleh dikenakan denda hingga $4,000 dan/atau penjara hingga empat tahun bagi setiap pertuduhan.

    Kementerian Pembangunan Sosial dan Keluarga membuat laporan polis Februari tahun lalu selepas menerima maklumat tentang beberapa kanak-kanak di rumah kebajikan itu diberi hukuman tidak sesuai oleh kakitangan di situ.

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • Degree Mills And Fake Qualifications: The Cesspool Of Meritocracy

    Degree Mills And Fake Qualifications: The Cesspool Of Meritocracy

    Here is what an executive of a dodgy institution said as revealed by a 2012 Washington Post news article on Indian higher learning (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-university-system-in-deep-crisis/2012/03/20/gIQAzUOgdS_story.html)

    “We guarantee 100 percent success. No matter what, we will place a business management degree in your hand from a reputed university that we are affiliated to. You can go abroad, apply for jobs with these degrees. The certificate will not even say the words ‘distance education,’”

    It looks like the “abroad” of choice may well be Singapore given the ease with which foreigners get jobs and citizenships with qualifications from degree mills or fake qualifications. And the scale of the problem? Here goes

    • A government commission listed 21 “fake” universities, many no more than a mailing address, a sign over a shop or a hole-in-the-wall office.
    • A technical institutions regulator named 340 private institutions without accreditation from the government
    • Of more than 31,000 higher education institution, only 4,532 universities and colleges had accreditation.
    • One state-run university awarded 2,660 doctor degrees in just 2 years for subjects not taught there.

    That is just India.

    What Meritocracy?

    The government emphasise meritocracy as the cornerstone of its success. Merit must also be paid, as the narrative goes and hence a veritable gravy train for the ministers and the civil service. Never mind the moral hazard of this peculiar line of reasoning but do they merit that gravy train?

    The sordid affair of the IDA need not be repeated here. However can the IDA managers think of nothing but utterly inane reasons for their actions to sop off the public, only to flip-flop later? What about the ICA giving away citizenships without, it appears, minimum due diligence?

    These acts are not of those civil servants elsewhere commonly underpaid but of the best remunerated civil service in the world.  High pay for  merit?

    Excellence, Competence, Reliability

    Another line of reasoning is none of these are due to the agencies but of an imperative to deliver workers indiscriminately to feed the strategy of growing the economy far beyond what can reasonably be expected given constraints of land, population and not least high income.

    However, Singapore’s place in the sun can be attributed to its “brand” of excellence, competence and reliability. It can be argued that meritocracy played a strong role at least when it really meant what it meant, not what it is today. Maintaining the brand require a quality labour force but the indiscriminate employment of foreign workers without proper diligence on skills, qualification and suitability can only adulterate quality and tarnish the brand.

    It will eventually risk the economy for the government is striving for first world status not by the pursuit of the required diligence but by relying much on third world quality of labour and work attitudes. As a retired German engineer, a frequent visitor told the writer as he saw it

    “Ja, what can you expect (regarding train breakdowns)? You have first world infrastructure maintained by so many third world workers.”

    A fundamental contradiction apparent to everyone but government it seems. Does productivity needs mentioning?

    Conclusion

    In 2014, the US state of California convicted Juan Malaluan Tenorio, Jr, Glyn Cordova Villegas, James Quijano Leoncio, Philip Tolentino Sarmiento, Laurence Viernes, German Zagada and Jude Dagza Leoncio up to 3 years imprisonment. All 7 were found guilty of using forged nursing school transcripts from the Philippines to become Registered Nurses.

    Draconian it may be but lives were in harm’s way. However, at a minimum, citizenship / PR approvals and various employment passes needs to be rigourously reviewed even if it cost tens of millions. That is a small price to pay to maintain not only the integrity and reputation of the Singapore economy and its institutions but also the quality of the labour force. The whole process including those who employed foreigners must be subject to closer scrutiny.

    The apologists may argue there is a difference between qualifications from degree mills and fake qualifications but this is mere semantic of irrelevance to Singaporeans displaced by foreigners of dodgy qualifications. It is worth remembering that in the past overseas degrees from many well known universities were regarded as somehow second class.  When there is easy acceptance of getting ahead not by merit nor excellence but by cheating and obfuscation, then meritocracy has plunged into the cesspool of degeneracy.

    Besides, can anyone imagine the CEO of a famous brand like Daimler Benz ever risk tarnishing the brand by going…….. cheap?

     

    Chris K

    *Chris is a retired executive director in the financial industry who had mostly worked in London and Tokyo. He writes opinions and commentaries mostly on economic and financial matters.

     

    Source: www.therealsingapore.com

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