Youth Olympics

2 years ago, it was decided that Singapore was going to host the Youth Olympic Games. This week, the Youth Olympics Games kicked off and up to now, many countries has done well in many of the games.
Sports is a very good way to congeal people. These athletes are from different countries and speak different language. They even have different culture. Sports to these athletes is like a universal language. It is like how music is a universal language to musicians of all races or nationalities. Through sports, it is not difficult to get the athletes to bond with each other, to make friends with each other.
However, I feel that the Youth Olympic Games has many flaws. Firstly, I feel that the athletes are too competitive. The main objective of the Youth Olympic Games is international relationship between youths. The athletes are too focused in winning medals. Thus, they would not be as interested in trying to make friends with the youth athletes from the other countries. I personally feel that there is not sufficient interaction between the youth athletes. Although there has been efforts to allow the young athletes to understand each other cultures, I still feel that there is insufficient efforts to bring the youths together.

Polio Is Down 99 Percent, But That's Not Good Enough

According to Mary Carmichael in an article in the newsweek, the reduction in polio cases around the world by 99 percent may not be enough.

World leaders has done an extremely good job in trying to stop the outbreak of Polio but they must also understand that it is important to completely eradicate Polio. According to Mary Carmichael, Polio is a disease that would keep returning to haunt us unless we completely get rid of it. About 66% of the countries that had eradicated Polio were re-infected again. These countries are currently lacking in funds to support their causes. There is also the problem of Muslims resistance to western vaccination. Some Muslims resist the vaccination because they feel that this is just a western plot to sterilize them.


“If an infectious disease is brought down to low levels in the population, a given individual's risk of catching it will be lower—and that individual may be less likely to bother getting vaccinated against the disease because it doesn't seem like the threat it once was.”

The victims are mainly from the more rural or developing countries, thus they may not understand the point of continuing with vaccination when they thought that the threat of the disease is over.

This human complacency exist everywhere in the world not only in third world countries. This is similar to the taking of antibiotics. When we are recovering, we usually stop short of the complete dosage recommended and therefore our body cannot entirely kill the virus / bacteria which stay in our body to rear their heads later. Stronger antibiotics are then needed.

Continuous education is our only hope for change.

Book Review – Lord of the Flies (William Golding)

William Golding was a British writer. He won a Nobel prize for the book that he had written - “Lord of the Flies”. He was born on September 11th 1911 and died on 19th June 1993 when he was 81 years old. Apart from “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding also wrote many other great novels like the trilogy “To the Ends of the Earth”. This novel had won him the Booker’s prize for literature in 1980. William Golding’s fictional stories have a very wide range of topics.

The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written during the first years of the cold war. The theme of the book is mainly about civilization and people’s desire to rule. This desire for power destroys all the rules and laws that we create to live peacefully and harmoniously.

The novel “Lord of the Flies” is mainly about a group of boys who crashed landed on an uninhabited island. With no adults around, these boys have to take care of themselves and survive. However, the boys have many arguments on what to do and soon the two boys Ralph and Jack struggle to gain leadership over the group of boys. Eventually the group splits into two small groups. The group under Jack loses their civility and become savages.

This story tells us about the sometimes invisible evil side in every human being. This evil side can sometimes only be seen when the person is placed in a particular situation. For example, when the person is in an extremely dangerous situation, the person might reveal his evil side just for survival. In the novel, William Golding uses children as his characters instead of adults. This is to show that evil exist in every single being be they young or old. Children are a symbol of innocence, however in the story, these children show their darker sides.

“Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.” Although in this context the children did not mean that they were the beast but rather that they were imagining the beast. However, we can interpret this quote as the children being the beast which was true at the end of the story where most of the boys became savages - the “beast”.

"The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." At first, the boys had respected the conch. Blowing the conch would have meant a meeting was to be held and also the boys could only speak in a meeting if they held the conch. This conch was a symbol of civility, rules and values. However, when the conch was destroyed, it represented the end of civility within the boys and also the end of their rule system. They no longer abided by the rules. They had turned from civil people to savages.

In conclusion, the book mainly explores the darker side of the human being by placing the boys in an unfamiliar and possibly dangerous environment. William Golding does this by illustrating the boys’ darker side unleashed through their struggle for survival. The book makes us reflect about ourselves, if we would give in to our “darker” side when under pressure. The book ends abruptly leaving us a question if the children would revert back to their old selves when they return to civilization or would they remain as savages.

The Trouble With Immortality

In an article published in the newsweek on 18 june, 2010, Jonathan Weiner talked about the implications of immortality and why we should not hope for immortality.

Many people desire immortality. However, immortality may not be as good as many of us seem to think. With the current global warming getting worse, immortality would be a worse option. If we were to live forever, it would mean that we would have to live in a worse environment compared to the one we are living in now. There may be many advancement in technology which would bring convenience into our lives but environmental issues would still be a very big problem.

The world’s population is already increasing at such rapid pace and is currently very crowded already. With immortality, the earth would soon become over populated and the quality of life would rapidly deteriorate. Also, with an overcrowded planet, there would not be much space between people and this might also lead to an increase in contagious diseases.

There is a large difference between leading a long life and leading a quality life. Without a quality life, a long life would be meaningless. However, it is impossible to get both. So, we should stick to a quality life rather than desiring to get a long life. I agree that everyone wants a good long life which is impossible to achieve with immortality. The longer we live, the worse our environment is going to get. It is impossible for us live a good life with the deterioration of the environment and the increasingly overcrowded earth. Thus, immortality is definitely not a solution for a good long life.

We should not be striving for immortality for ourselves. Instead, we should try to strive for immortality for the Earth. We should be protecting our planet, protecting the resources. If we do that, then we would have succeeded in obtaining “immortality” for the human race.

Book Review – Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)

Jules Verne was a French author who mainly wrote science fiction stories. He was born on 8th February 1828 and passed away in 1905. He is known very well for his novels like “Around the world in 80 days”, “From the Earth to the Moon” and also “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea”. Jules Verne was one of the few who pioneered Science Fiction. He had predicted space exploration, underwater and even air travel. His works inspired people to invent things like the submarine.

In the mid-19th century, exploration of unknown lands was very common. So, while the explorers study the face of the earth, Jules Verne had the idea about travelling to the depths of the world. Besides that, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was starting to get noticed. Throughout his novel, Jules Verne used Charles Darwin’s theory in his novel.

The novel starts with Professor Lindenbrock finding a coded text on a piece of paper he found in an old book. After his nephew, Axel, managed to decode the text, Professor Lindenbrock decided to take Axel along with him on a journey to the center of the world which the scrap of paper said was possible.

They went to Mount Sneffels with their guide, Hans, and began to descend down the volcano. Along the way, they saw many magnificent sights and learned a lot. For example, they found an untouched coal mine and even found an underground ocean. However, they also met many setbacks.

Their first setback was when they ran out of water. They went around the vents looking for water but all they met was a dead end. The party turned back to take a different route but along the way, Axel could no longer bear the dehydration and faints. After many attempts to find water, they finally found a torrent of water which they named Hansbach, after their loyal guide who found the water.

Their second setback was when Axel got lost. He attempted to retrace his steps but still could not find his uncle. After a few days of suffering they were reunited. At this point, they found a large underground water body. Which they sailed across but realised that it was larger than they had expected.

Eventually they reached the shore and were once again blocked by a granite wall which they blasted apart. However, they were thrown onto a raft and swept down by the currents into the chasm. Their fall was stopped by a spout. They soon realise that the spout was lava and that they were in a volcano which was about to erupt. As the lava spewed out of the volcano, the party managed to return to the surface of the earth riding the lava.

This story may not have been set very far into Jules Verne’s future with a recognizable setting of the 19th century, but it depicts human underground exploration. Jules Verne’s fictional characters manage to accomplish in his novel what up till now we are still unable to achieve in reality. This science fiction novel attracts modern readers despite being written so long time ago because it reflects our dreams, our desire to explore what is beneath us. Despite living on planet earth, what happens underground is only theorized by scientists. The story is filled with many interesting science facts and theories which captivate the readers and interest them in that particular field of science.

"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth." This is a very true statement. In the field of science, only mistakes would lead one to truth. When one makes mistakes, others will be there to correct and give their opinions. By listening to these voices, we would find that there is actually more ways to think about a certain issue. This way, we would be able to work on the possible theories and find the truth. However, this statement would of course not only apply to science. It applies to our daily life. When trying to strive for the truth or answers in anything, failure is inevitable. In our journey for truth, we would meet many road blocks and only overcoming them or finding another path would we then reach our destination.

“If at every instant we may perish, so at every instant we may be saved. Let us then be prepared to seize upon the smallest advantage." Opportunity is everywhere. However, we sometimes we just are not able to see or detect it and then realise that it is lost only after it has passed. We should constantly be on a lookout for opportunity and always be prepared to exploit them. If we are able to get every single opportunity that comes our way and make the best use of them, we would be extremely successful in our life

MRT vandalism

In the case of MRT train being vandalized. so far only a 33 year old Swiss national has been arrested. The police are still investigating and arresting people who were involved in the vandalism.
Vandalism destroys the aesthetic beauty of something. By vandalizing, these people are being very inconsiderate. There are many other people using the MRT train. Should these vandals not think about the users? Besides, there vandalism would mean that the train company have to spent money and resources clearing up the mess that they made. When the train is pulled out of service for cleaning, if the company does not have another train to replace the one out of service, then it would cause a lot of trouble for the commuters.
These vandals do not understand how the electronics work. When they trespassed and vandalized the train, what if they had damaged a piece of important equipment. If that happened, it might put a lot of people in danger. If the train malfunctioned, it might cause a tragedy, leaving many injured or even worse, dead.
The MRT staff should also be blamed for this incident. When the vandals had trespassed, why didn't they notice it. If those who had trespassed were not vandals but terrorist, they could have planted a bomb and the consequences would have been disastrous. Also, the staff did not notice the vandalism for two days. The train went in and out of the station and none of the staff noticed it. I feel that the MRT staff should be more alert and aware of their surroundings. This incident has shown that the staffs were not vigilant enough. This time it is vandalism, who knows what will happen the next time due to the staffs' lack of vigilance.

Deterring a Dirty Bomb

In an article, Sharon Begley of newsweek discussed the importance of protecting nuclear materials so that terrorist groups would not be able to get these nuclear materials to create nuclear weapons. She also shared with us the many ways to track these nuclear materials.

Many countries are turning to nuclear energy as a source of energy because it is known as a form of green of energy. Thus, these countries are thinking of many ways to guard their nuclear waste from theft especially from the terrorist organizations. However, many of the countries have never thought about nuclear forensics and how it would benefit them.

I agree with Sharon Begley that we should start focusing on nuclear forensics now. Nuclear forensics is something that we have not really been doing much research about. With further and more in-depth research on nuclear forensic I believe we would be to prevent nuclear attacks be terrorists on our country.

It is definitely important to research more on nuclear forensics to protect our countries however, perhaps we should still place our main focus on increasing the security at nuclear facilities so that terrorist would not even be able to steal the nuclear materials for their nuclear weapons. If we are able to secure the nuclear materials, we may not even require nuclear forensics to protect ourselves against nuclear attacks.

Singapore oil spill

Not too long ago, there was an oil spill off the eastern coast of Singapore. The oil spill was a result of a collision between two ships. The collision occurred at around 6.10 pm and spilled approximately 2000 tonnes of crude oil into sea.

Despite the advancement of technology, we are still extremely reliant on crude oil as a source of energy. Thus, crude oil transportation is very common and this increases the number of oil spills around the world too. For example, there has been a recent oil spill also along the gulf of Mexico. However, there are possible solutions to these oil spills.

Firstly, oil tankers with double hulls are available in the markets. This oil tankers have two hulls and thus even if the oil tanker comes into a collision, the second hull would prevent the oil from spilling out into the sea. However, these tankers are much more costly. Therefore some of the tankers used by some companies are still single hulled.

Oil spills can be prevented if people are careful enough. When an oil spill happens, immediate action is required to contain and clean up the oil spill. If the oil spill is not cleaned up as soon as possible, it would lead to environmental problems. Oil spills would lead to the death of many marine animals or even marine birds. For example, we can see this in the Valdez Exxon oil spill. It is considered to be the most serious oil spill in history. It had caused the death of approximately 250,000 sea birds and also billions of salmon and herring eggs. Although this oil spill had happened 21 years ago, the effects of the oil spill is still felt today.

Rainbow Death Task 2

Point of view:

Hubert Wilson writes this poem from the point of view of a by-stander. He writes the poem in a very detached manner. Hubert Wilson does not tell the poem through the point of view of an American soldier. We can see this from where he says “America did not foresee” he doesn’t use the word “We” but rather “America” which shows a slight detachment.

Situation and setting:

This is situated during the Vietnam war from 1955 to 1975. In this poem, we can evidently see the emotion anger. From strong sentences like “Nefariously America led astray -/Generations untold WILL pay -/Execrable effects of agent orange spray!” , we are able to understand that the writer of this poem does not like the idea of America using such weapons to attempt to end the war. He feels that it is unfair for the innocent to bear the consequences of the war even when they had not started it.

Language and diction:

Potpourri refers to dried and fragrant plant materials mixed together to produce a natural scent. However, in the poem, the potpourri is no longer just a tool to produce fragrance in the house. Instead, potpourri was used as a weapon to kill.

The word toll used in the poem to show how the “innocent and unborn” would suffer and bear the consequences of the war. He tries to show how unfair it is for these children.

Personal response:

War would definitely bring about many harms. We should not start a war impulsively. Instead, we should think about the implications the war would bring to the other generations.

Rainbow Death

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

This poem is by Hubert Wilson. Huber Wilson was a soldier who was involved in the Vietnamese war. Hubert Wilson served in the USAF security service He was sent to a Agent Orange hotspot during the Vietnamese war. As agent orange was used a lot in those areas, the environment was contaminated and it affected him. His health problems progressively got worse. At first it was only headaches and limb pains, then his central nervous system deteriorated and he started to experience spasms, severe headaches and worse limb pains. However, nobody could detect any specific medical conditions. Thus, he was not able to receive any medical help or assistance from any doctor.

The rainbow death which Hubert Wilson mentions in his poem refers to the Agent orange. Agent orange was a chemical substance used during the Vietnamese war against Vietnam. Agent orange was a herbicide and defoliant- contaminated with TCDD or Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin). Approximately 4.8million Vietnamese were affected by Agent Orange and which resulted in about 400,000 deaths among the Vietnamese people and many more babies deformed at birth.

This poem “Rainbow Death” is basically to bring up the issue on the consequences of war. He tries to show that even after war has ended, the effects of these wars would still stay. Hubert Wilson also tries to show us the horror of modern warfare. As technology continues to improve, our weapons of war becomes more powerful and more destructive.
Resources:
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

Violence off the rugby field

Recently, there has been a case of rugby violence between Anglo-Chinese school (independent) and Saint Andrew's secondary school. In this incident, I feel that both parties are in the wrong. Both the aggressor and victim of this incident showed an apparent lack of sportsmanship. The aggressor showed that he could not control his emotions and allowed himself to get emotionally affected by the victim's taunts and also not being able to accept his loss graciously. The victim had also shown the lack of sportsmanship. Although he had won the match, he should not have been so arrogant and went to taunt the aggressor. Should either party had shown some restrain, the incident would not have happen. This incident has not only affected the two students, it has also tarnished their schools reputation. Schools have reputation to uphold and if any of their students act rashly and get into trouble, it would ruin the school's image. This students should really think before they act.

Besides, this incident has given out the wrong message just before the start of the Youth Olympic Games(YOG). The YOG is starting this year with Singapore as the first host of the event. The YOG like any other sports competition is meant to be a symbol of sportsmanship. Sports is not all about winning or losing. Sports is character building. Through many years, we have lost the true meaning of sports. Perhaps it is time for us to refocus on the meaning of sport.

Interpersonal: interview with my sister

1) What is your definition of prejudice and discrimination?

ANS: Prejudice and discrimination happen when we give different treatment to people with a particular characteristic which is irrelevant to the matter at hand.

2) What is your opinion of prejudice and discrimination?

ANS: I feel that it is inherent in everyone and every society. It is natural for us to be able to relate to someone who is more similar to us. But it does not mean such actions are right. Prejudice and discrimination can be seen every where, whether in developed or undeveloped societies. For example, in Australia, although there are laws that are anti-discrimination, discrimination and prejudice still exist. It simply cannot be erase.

3) Is it possible to do away with discrimination?

ANS: I do not think so. No man is equal. Be it race, gender, wealth or religion, man is divided. All of us are different and the disparities set one group apart from the other. Thus, it is impossible that there is a solution which would end discrimination.

4) What role can education play in this matter?

ANS: The only things education does is tell the children that this is wrong. Prejudice may still exist, only that the children would try to hide it. They would not dare to reveal their feelings even if they disagree that discrimination is wrong.

Intrapersonal: Dairy extract of Jeremy Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Maycomb is not as it seems. I once used to think that Maycomb was probably the best place to live, everybody was friendly towards you. After today's events, my perception of Maycomb has changed. It now seems like this community a cold and heartless place. Prejudice against those who are different and racism can be seen every where.

Why should a person be punished for a crime he did not commit? Why should those who are different be excluded from society? Today, I attended Tom Robinson's trail. He was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Although Atticus had managed to bring out many strong evidences to prove that Tom Robinson was innocent, Tom Robinson was still convicted. Why? Because he was a Negro, because he was different from them. Tom Robinson may be a Negro but does that deny him of his rights to get a fair trial. Why is racism so common in today's society? It is the ideas about the Negroes which have been passed down from generations until now. Perhaps, if we change the perception of people about the Negroes, we would be able to end this chain of discrimination. Only when all this prejudice ends then the Negroes can walk on the streets with pride without having to endure all the discriminating stares shot at them and also all the unfair treatment they receive. Why won’t anybody stand up for the Negroes? I am sure many people know that this discrimination against the Negroes is wrong. Perhaps, they fear they would be shunted by society if they do so.

How can place with nice people be blinded by their prejudice and disregard the truth? It is not right to be prejudice against people just because of their skin colour. It is just not right.

Multiple Intelligence Test

Multiple intelligence is indeed an interesting topic. Just finding out one's intelligence quotient is insufficient to find out more about a person. One's abilities are more then just intelligence alone. Although a person's intelligence quotient may not be very high, but the person may have other astonishing abilities which this multiple intelligence test would be able to show.
This multiple intelligence test may have been an interesting and fun test to complete but I feel that this test may not be very accurate. Apart from the answers which are not very detailed which many of my other classmates have mentioned, I also feel that the test might not be very accurate because you are the one who actually answers the questions. The answers you give would only be based on what you think about yourself, which may not always be accurate. A more accurate test would be a test in which other people related to you are also surveyed to find you what people think about your abilities. This would make the results of the test more accurate.

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.

National Identity

National identity has been an issue the government has been concerned about. They have many programmes to try to teach the younger generation about the importance of national identity.

National identity is indeed an important part of building a strong and united nation. National identity is very important especially in times of crisis like economy downturns. In such times, only if the people stay united, then will they make it through these events.

As mentioned earlier, the government has been trying to teach the younger generation about the importance of national identity. For example, there is the annual N.Emation, in which the students of different schools create an animation which would expresses what they feel about total defense and the country. These videos usually show the importance of unity as a country and nation.

However, has all these efforts the government put in paid of? Has people come to posses this important trait - national identity? Perhaps yes. according to a survey done, about 97% of the people surveyed said that they are proud to be a Singaporean and another 98% consider Singapore as their home. These data shows that Singaporeans posses a sense of national identity.

Singaporeans, Bad Drivers?

I refer to the article on the TODAY newspaper "Are We A Nation Of Bad Drivers?" (january 16-17 2010). In my opinion it is somewhat common knowledge that Singaporeans have bad driving habits. However when the the TODAY paper surveyed 100 people, only 50% of the people surveyed said that Singaporeans were bad drivers.

Singaporeans indeed have bad driving habits. For example, many drivers speed and overtake other cars without signalling. This might result in fatal accidents happening. It is as if Singaporeans treat the roads and highways as a giant race track, racing each other every where they go.

So, what is the problem? Does the government has poor control over the roads of Singapore? Perhaps not. In the article, Mr Richard Tan, the manager of the SSDC, mentioned that the training they offers emphasizes a lot of safety. Maybe it is the attitude of the drivers. Singaporean drivers do not really care about safety rules as they probably think they are invulnerable. Also, they do not care about others and are very inconsiderate.

This inconsideration which Singaporeans posses perhaps have been in us ever since we are young. These are some of the more usual inconsiderate actions we see in modern day youths - not letting up their seats in crowded public transports, not giving way to others on escalators. If we educate these children properly from young, maybe we can gradually and slowly change this trend of bad drivers in Singapore.

Revamped Blog !!! ><

This blog has been REVAMPED slightly... New application has been added and Mousehunt pictures has been posted too. There would be more changes to improve on the layout of the blog. Possibly just more applications or maybe even a new skin claps, claps.


Note: the MouseHunt pictures are place in no particular order