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Tag: Singapore

  • Base Guitar Yazid Lovehunters Dipamerkan Di Pameran Ole Ole Temasek

    Base Guitar Yazid Lovehunters Dipamerkan Di Pameran Ole Ole Temasek

    Tanpa gitar bes di sisi, Yazid Abu Bakar daripada kumpulan Lovehunters berasa dirinya sekadar seorang biasa.

    Namun, vokalis dan pemain gitar bes itu berkata beliau berasa bertenaga sebagai seorang penghibur sejurus memegang gitar bes di atas pentas.

    Salah satu gitar bes yang telah menjadi teman Yazid dalam bidang muzik ialah gitar berjenama Fender siri 60th Anniversary Precision Bass Diamond.

    Gitar itu kini dipamerkan di pameran Ole Ole Temasek – 50 Tahun Muzik Pop Melayu Singapura sehingga 17 Mei ini di Muzium Negara.

    Ia dianjurkan sempena Pesta Warisan Singapura yang menyusur perjalanan muzik Melayu di Singapura – permulaannya, kebangkitannya dan kemunculan kumpulan dan penyanyi hebat yang mewarnai persada muzik Melayu Nusantara dari tahun ’60-an hinggalah sekarang.

    Semasa Gah! menemuinya di pameran tersebut, Yazid berkata gitar bes itu eksklusif kerana hanya terdapat 500 gitar jenis itu di seluruh dunia.

    Beliau telah membeli gitar itu 10 tahun lalu di Los Angeles pada harga sekitar $3,000.

    Justeru, beliau berasa berbesar hati apabila kurator pameran, Art Fazil, menghubungi beliau dan ingin mempamerkan gitar besnya.

    “Saya rasa amat dihargai kerana ada juga pameran yang mahu menunjukkan bakat dan barangan pemuzik Melayu Singapura. Ia satu penghormatan yang tidak boleh dibayar dengan wang,” kata Yazid.

    Selain gitar yang dipamerkan itu, Yazid juga memiliki satu lagi gitar eksklusif jenis Recken Becker yang telah beliau simpan selama 20 tahun.

    Yazid telah menempah gitar berharga sekitar $6,000 itu sendiri dari Los Angeles.

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • Masjid Al-Ansar Tersergam Indah Semula

    Masjid Al-Ansar Tersergam Indah Semula

    Penantian penduduk Bedok untuk menunaikan solat di dalam Masjid Al-Ansar baru berakhir hari ini dengan perasmian oleh Menteri Bertanggungjawab bagi Ehwal Masyarakat Islam, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

    Setelah hampir tiga tahun, masjid itu akhirnya dibuka kepada orang ramai sempena solat Jumaat hari ini.

    Masjid gah yang terletak di tapak bangunan lama di simpang antara Bedok North Avenue 1 dengan Chai Chee Street itu menjalani kerja pembinaan semula sejak September 2012.

    Keseluruhan bangunan masjid lama kecuali menara dirobohkan agar masjid serba baru dapat dibangunkan.

    Masjid itu pada mulanya dijangka siap dalam suku keempat tahun lalu namun ditangguhkan ke awal tahun ini disebabkan kerja meluaskan ruang besmen masjid untuk memuatkan lebih banyak kenderaan.

    Kos pembinaan masjid juga bertambah daripada $12.3 juta yang dijangka kepada $15.92 juta.

    Antara peningkatan yang dijalankan ke atas Masjid Al-Ansar termasuk peluasan ruang solat. Ia kini boleh menampung sehingga 4,500 jemaah berbanding 3,500 jemaah sebelum ini.

    Masjid itu turut dilengkapi kemudahan buat warga emas dan golongan kurang upaya seperti lif dan tanjakan.

    Bangunan sementara Masjid Al-Ansar, yang terletak di 161A Bedok North Avenue 1, mungkin dirobohkan bulan depan.

     

    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

  • Female Teacher Under Stress, Commits Suicide

    Female Teacher Under Stress, Commits Suicide

    A female teacher who could not bear with the stresses of her job decided to end it all – by slitting her wrists and jumping off the 13th storey of her flat.

    The incident took place this morning at 4AM at a HDB flat along Marsiling St 17. The female teacher was identified as 28 year-old Malaysian Luo Pei Wen. She lived alone in a room she rented from her landlady. She had been working as a Mandarin teacher at a local secondary school.

    According to her landlady Luo had rented her room for over half a year. Her appearance had become increasingly frail in recent weeks.

    “I chatted with her yesterday, she complained that the stress was very great and that she was feeling tired. I didn’t expect her to commit suicide,” the landlady said.

    She said that she had brought her eldest daughter shopping when the suicide took place. When she arrived at her block, she realized that someone had committed suicide but did not suspect that it was Luo.

    When she returned home, she realized that Luo had not left her room and decided to check on her. After knocking her door to no response, they opened the door and realised that there was a large pool of blood. After calling Luo’s school to check if she had gone to work, she realized what had happened.

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

  • M Ravi Apologises To The Law Society

    M Ravi Apologises To The Law Society

    Lawyer M. Ravi on Wednesday apologised for claiming that the Law Society’s counsel shouted at him and assaulted him during a hearing in February.

    Mr Ravi, who has been suspended from practice following concerns about his mental health, attended a hearing in High Court in February after the Law Society of Singapore, represented by Shook Lin and Bok lawyer Pradeep Pillai, applied to have his practicing certificate suspended and to compel him to undergo a medical examination.

    In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Mr Ravi said: “I had published a media statement…(which) stated that during the hearing, Mr Pillai had shouted at me and assaulted me. My statement was malicious, utterly and demonstrably false…Both Mr Pillai and his team of lawyers had acted with decorum at all times during the hearing.”

    He added: “I accept that my statement was defamatory. I hereby unreservedly and unconditionally apologise to Mr Pillai. I further undertake not to repeat my statement.”

    When contacted by The Straits Times, Mr Pillai declined to comment further.

    He said: “The apology speaks for itself.”

    A spokesman for the Law Society added: “The Law Society always maintained that Mr M. Ravi’s allegation was false… The (society) is glad that Mr Pillai has been vindicated.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

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