Singapore Mirror - December 2012

When people were busy getting married because they thought a date was special 12.12.12 (want to, want to, want to?) I urged them to stay committed. Love alone is not enough if you have been following the news. Otherwise, the marriage may become 21.12.12 where it could all end. 

Boxing

How many Mexicans does it take to bring down Manny Pacquiao? Just Juan (one, Juan Manuel Marquez). Pacquiao is legendary, fighting in so many different category and fighting bigger boys and yet he won so many of them convincingly. Was the Pac man over confident and under-trained this time? I never got to see him fight "live" and this was the first. When he was fell, the camera was on his back and I could not see what happened until they replayed it. He was jabbing at Marquez when Marquez landed his right smack on Pac man's face. He went out cold.

If only Singapore have such a legend. Yes we have a world bowling champion - Shayna Ng. We do not have a Manny Pacquiao. We only have casinos where many "pua keow". At least we got to see something. Last time if you have taken leave to watch Mike Tyson, you merely go to the toilet or fetch a beer and the fight was over.

Bus Strike

There was once I went to Hong Kong with my family and my friend's family. We have young children. The Hong Konger friend took us around and we travelled by all their transport. We took the tram, the bus, taxi, ferry, cable car. They have a better transport system than us. Public transport is public and they do not need to be profitable. Their buses and MTR (trains) operated till late ferrying more people and since this is so, people stay out late and businesses in retail and F and B gained. Of course in Hong Kong property prices are sky high and when you have a small house you just want to go back, shower and sleep so you tend to stay out late I supposed. 

What I am saying is we can emulate Hong Kong in this area. Recently, we have a bus drivers' strike. Things like that should not happened if the right people learn to listen enough. We have a bus operator's ex CEO who made millions, a chain of under-maintained tracks may be, now with the bus drivers' main grouse being a slight increase in salary and they are talking about bus fare hike. So what else is new? The outlook is gloomy, property and car prices are in the sky and now this? So we get it. When the bus strike happened it was really our fault. You and I. We must learn to pay more. At the end of the day are we paying shareholders and CEOs more because of real success?

Sex Scandals

Durex was right or wrong when their survey said Singaporeans are not having enough sex? Both. All you have to do is to follow the news splashed across the newspapers most days recently. Under-aged prostitute sex involving top people, contracts for sex from top scholar officials, Asean scholar sex exploits, now Speaker of Parliament for some error of judgement.

Are we having not enough or too much sex? The world around is grappling with recession and we have are about sex? Most unfortunately, these are not sex with their legal spouses. What is missing and what is happening? 

Firstly, do not laugh at others because what happened to them can also happen to us. In martial arts speak from Aikido: "The Mountain should not laugh at the river because it is lowly and the river should not laugh at the mountain because it cannot move". We should stop watching and talking about people but instead take a real hard look at ourselves. What are you doing right now? Not just about your sex life but your work, your relationships. The problem is that nobody will come forward when they were not caught so they still look good while at it.

They say that we should learn from history but I do not think the human race has learned anything. In ancient China, emperors went to war over women, so did the West. Remember Helen of Troy? The face that launch a thousand ships? I shall borrow a phrase from Warren Buffet. He was using it to describe the stock market but in a way it can be used for anything - "you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide is out". 

We are all humans and can make mistakes. Husband and wife can drift apart when we are all busy and stressed or have different focus and along come someone who seems to care or pay attention and then one thing leads to another. It is about staying committed. If you can't, don't. It is unconditional just like the love for your children and believe you me, it is easier said than done. It is about who haven't got caught. Please watch yourself or you may regret it. Regardless of your race, language, religion, status and creed or sex. 

Moving Forward

What is the Singapore that you envisage moving forward? Again, stop looking at others. Take a long hard look at yourself. What kind of society will we become? Are we becoming so selfish that we can become nasty? Do you only do things for personal glory, self interest and convenience at the expense of others. Ask yourselves. For we cannot do all such things because these things are the opposite of being gracious and kind and because you and I will be what makes Singapore.