Fake IDs used by students

Recently, a newspaper article was published in The Straits Times. It was about the students buying fake identification cards and using them for illegal things like buying cigarettes underage and also buying alcohol. According to the article, The Straits Times had surveyed 80 youths and about half of them admitted to owning fake ID cards. This result is indeed unexpected. The students are actually willing to pay for fake ID cards even though they know that it is illegal. I feel that the youths these days no longer care about the law. As long as they are able to get what they want, they would do it through any means.
These youths are using their illegally obtained fake ID cards also to go to clubs. This is an illegal act and these clubs should do more then confiscate their identification cards and let them off with just a stern warning. I feel that they should hand these youngsters to the police.
I think that the parents are responsible for such incidents. Nowadays, both parents go out for work and no longer have the time to constantly supervise their children. Thus, without supervision or proper guidance, these youths fall prey to such vices like drinking and smoking.
The government should step in and take harsher actions on these shops which actually create fake IDs and sell them to the youngsters. With such an easy mean to obtain fake IDS, I am sure that this would lead more youths to get their hands on one. Shouldn't the government try to stop this trend rather then waiting for police reports from either stalls or pubs?

Don't eat if the toilet is dirty

I refer to an article in the Today newspaper "Check out the toilets before you choose place to have a meal". According to the article, we should check to cleanliness of the toilets in the hawker center before deciding what to eat. Some toilets in Singapore do not even have basic necessities like toilet paper or hand-washing soap. This raises the question about how the hawkers maintain their cleanliness even after using the toilet. Without hand-washing soap, how do they make sure that their hands are clean while preparing the food?

This is indeed frightening to think of; a hawker not washing his hand properly after using the toilet and then handling your food. I feel that the food would definitely be dirty being handled this way. Not long ago, there were customers who had actually eaten food which was tainted with faeces and other bacteria. Would the issue of cleanliness of the hawker center toilets turn out to be another case of food poisoning soon if nobody steps in? I should think yes. With the food handled with dirty hands, I am sure bacteria would be passed to the food, causing bad cases of food poisoning to the customers.

Just by checking if the toilets are clean before deciding whether or not to patronize the hawker center is insufficient to ensure that this problem is solved. As a customer, he should report this case to the relevant authorities to ensure that action is taken to solve the problem. The hawkers should also be one of the people who have the responsibility to inform the authorities of the problem at hand. They should care the hygiene of the food they sell and also of the health of their customers. Perhaps the government should step in too, checking hawker centers regularly to ensure the hygiene of the toilets and also the stalls.

Influx, what is happening?

I refer to the article on the Today newspaper "If citizenship is valued ... ". Over the last few years, the inflow of foreigners have been very rapid. As the population of our small country increase, the number of foreign workers increase. Many feel that the influx should be curbed. They feel that public transports and the streets of Singapore have became too crowded and that they are given not enough privileges above the permanent residents. Thus, the government has responded by enforcing some privileges that only Singaporeans can enjoy.

In my opinion, the influx has its pros and cons like many other things. This increase in foreign workers would definitely boost the economy. Like the article mentioned, "A large part of our economy is driven by foreigners". Singapore is such a small country with a rapidly growing economy. Without these foreigners to help us, the growth of our economy would slow down and we might not be leading this rather well off life.

Then again, maybe the government are really biting off more then they can chew. Although the economy is indeed improving due to the help of the foreign workers, there are social problems which encourages the idea of decreasing the flow of foreigners. With the influx of people from all over the world, there are bound to be clashes between the people due to racial differences.

Road deaths decrease, concern still rising

Over the last few years, the government has been trying to reduce the number of road deaths by promoting road safety among the people in Singapore. According to a recent report, all these efforts have not gone to waste. Road deaths have decreased significantly. People have become more aware of road safety and are taking more precaution.
However, the government is still concern about the elderly and also the motorcyclist. According to the article, old folks find that it is very inconvenient to use a pedestrian crossing or using the overhead bridge. This means that older folks have a higher chance of jay walking. This is a serious issue. Old folks are weaker and more prone to injuries. If they meet with a traffic accident, the possibility of fatality is rather high. So, the government has to find a method to solve this problem. In my opinion, I feel that a method to solve the problem is to rethink the positions of the overhead bridges and pedestrian crossings. Although to shift these bridges is going to be a very expensive project, I feel that it is worth it for the sake of the people's welfare. Another method is to install escalators in overhead bridge. Some elderly feel that it is a tough job climbing the overhead bridges. This would help them overcome this problem. I understand that there are already escalators in some of the overhead bridges in Singapore. Finally, the last solution would be the traditional way of education. Education can solve many problems we have Singapore now. Perhaps the community clubs and resident council could arrange talks to tell the elderly about road safety. This would be a long process and that the effect would not be seen almost immediately.
Another concern is about the motorcyclists. The vehicle these people ride provides them with little if not no protection. This means that if they meet with an accident, they would probably be very severely injured. In the article, these accidents are due to the fact that many motorist are unable to see these motorcyclists well and thus hit into them. So, the article mentioned about a possible method which is to ask the motorcyclist to wear more bright and visible colours. This is definitely a rather good idea. However, getting so many motorcyclist to wear bright colours is going to be a big challenge. Of course, I would suggest the use of education to solve this problem once more. By educating the motorists and the motorcyclists to be more aware of their surroundings, I am sure many fatal accidents can be prevented.