www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

Last week I have written a tribute to our late first Prime Minister. Over the week of national mourning, I told people that we should celebrate his life. There were brickbats from some quarters too which I think is natural. http://gforce-guru.blogspot.sg/2015/03/tribute-to-lee-kuan-yew.html I used to ask people this question sometimes - To those who are younger: What would you be doing at the age of 35? And to those who were older: What were you doing at age 35? Maybe some of you were still job hopping and fooling around at that age. Lee Kuan Yew was our Prime Minister at 35. Imagine that. What kind of responsibility do you have? When the heavens poured down that day on his funeral, a certain saying was debunked. I have heard that at the end of the day, no matter how popular or well loved you are, the number of people attending your funeral is determined by the weather! Some said it should have not have rained. I beg to differ. Even in his passing, Lee Kuan Yew has proved na...

Many people would be scared if  they saw in the mirror, not their faces but their character. Therefore, we will need to see that Man in the mirror - up close and personal for the character. I am talking about you! This is why Singapore and the world needs a mirror not for Narcissus to fall in love with himself but to see our character and reflect on our thoughts. Singaporeans Fare Poorly In Spoken English?  Is it our education system? Our culture unfortunately has low tolerance for failure and/or rejection. Edison learnt 9,999 ways how not to build a light bulb. If he were Singaporean, we will still be living in the dark. So too, Newton whose life could have been quite different if the apple there became a durian here. We need more visionary leaders and companies built to last. Here is a song for the weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uh2G7WoXsU (Built To Last - Melee)  Do we still have critical life skills, original thoughts, ideas and the abil...

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 ca...

Some Singaporeans are still sore about too many foreigners on our shores and the infrastructure in housing and transport were unable to cope. When Feng Tianwei won the Olympic table-tennis individual Bronze for Singapore, the first time in more than 50 years, some quarters were unhappy though many accepted her as our own. Many had forgotten that when France won the soccer World Cup, they have many Africans who migrated to France. Zinedine Zidane was one. It's not like you ask Messi and Ronaldo to switch now but many came with just a hope not knowing how things will pan out in a foreign land. We, ourselves were once migrants from several countries including many of our captains of industries and leaders. Many had forgotten that it took us years from the first generation to arrive at where we are now. Do you know that we used to have spittoons at certain places in the old days? Our habits of littering is still prevalent these days after years of relentless campaigns. Humans are...

I have been cursed but I thank my sponsor for the tickets in these World Cup Soccer Qualifiers. My passion for soccer is still there though somewhat diminished. Cursed because in previous seasons, our National Team did much better against stronger opposition such as Japan, Iraq, Jordan and the other big boys but I wasn't there and now watching the current team I felt our team's standard have deteriorated. We have to do our own preparation as soccer fans worked hard too fearing for our David v Goliath situation. Our fears came through in a poignant moment. At Jalan Besar, many food stalls owned or manned by Chinese nationals outnumbered the locals. I noticed it applied to the patrons too and when we finally got in to the stadium, I thought we were at an away game! Where are the Singaporeans? Too busy making $$$? The fans were properly separated. I really like the true blue Singaporeans who not only turned up each time but they were organised like fan clubs decked out ...

Recently, I was in pensive mood and wanted to walk down memory lane and so I penned several articles on Singapore soccer during those golden years of Malaysia Cup days and I received some accolades from readers as it brought back fond memories of a bygone era. I have also put in some songs and music which were played at the National Stadium during interval at the time. If you like me were soccer crazy, your eyes may have been wet. For those who may have missed it, here goes: http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2011/07/when-kallang-roared-part-one.html http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2011/07/kallang-roar-part-two.html http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2011/07/kallang-roar-part-three.html http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2011/07/kallang-will-roar-again-part-four.html http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2011/07/singapore-soccer-way-forward.html Fast forward to last Friday when Singapore took on China in their World Cup qualifying opener at Kunming. Of course I wanted a S...

Just a mere 0.34%. Congratulations to Dr. Tony Tan now President Tony Tan. We should all close rank now and work with him. He can be a good President but Dr. Tan Cheng Bock would have been a "natural" to unify people because it takes many years on the ground to connect with people, to understand people. In other words, he already knew what had to be done as opposed to others having to find out what needs to be done. Singapore has lost such a great opportunity. It would also be wise to read that 65% of the people voted against the winner. Had Messrs Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian not stood for election where would these votes go to? Some said he could go to either or become spoiled. My take is that Singapore is now divided into three camps. There is this die-hard pro establishment camp that will always vote towards the government line no matter what happens (35%). They wanted stability, fear changes, wealthy business people or they feel the establishment always have the...

家, or home, is where the heart is, no matter where you are. What is a home? The dictionary's definition are: the place or region where something is native or most common, a dwelling place or retreat, the place in which one's domestic affection is centred, a house, an apartment or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family or household. A House Is Not A Home - (Burt Bacharach & Dusty Springfield): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF0c2so977A A home is a residence or refuge. The physical aspects of which are it is a building where you live, rest or store your personal property. Even animals have their homes. It is a also a place where a person grew up or where they feel they belong. It can be just a native habitat or a place where all your friends are. Yet if you ignore the physical aspects of it such as a place or location, it becomes a state of emotion or somewhere you find comfort and love. Nomadic people's culture means they never had a perma...